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State championship bowl games

Palma 21 MO 6 Q3 10:38
Pass was deflected in the air and MO receiver caught in end zone. Missed extra point
 
Excellent work!!!

Good memory on the same failed 2 pt conversion play with MT.

That review was especially honest from a self-proclaimed "Grant homer." All your points are valid but it is so easy to be the armchair HC after the game. On the field game dynamics can make such observations difficult. No doubt Reed will be better prepared next time.
Agree brotha. Just my opinion. X and O's are part of the game. If I can see if from my chair at home, live, they should be able to see if from the press box. Please don't get my feedback wrong, I respect Reed and his coaching staff. This one just hurts and I am just venting. Nothing more noting less.

Given the opportunity I would not want to be in his shoes. He is a better man than I am. I have worked with kids for the past 20 years. Unlike him and all those coaches out there, whom I have all the respect in the world for, I know I could not do there job, at this point in my life. Coaching X and O's, yes! Making the sacrifice required to teach, coach, mold young men on the field, and spend less time with my family for the sake of football, no! My opinion is just my opinion and holds no true value to anyone other than to me.
 
Oh that truly hurts. And I don’t live in SoCal.
I don’t care if you live in Alaska. Your constant aggression of posters on here is boring. You obviously are offended by NorCal football, at least you act that way, and do your utmost to bash it when you’re triggered. You seem to show up only when Socal is mentioned or something negative about NorCal so you can pile on , almost like an apologist and you give off the vibe like you’re certain you are the smarted guy in the room. Maybe lighten up or put the beer down.
 
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Palma 35 MO 13 Q3 0.57
Nunes 5 yard TD on bootleg
Set up by MO trick play fumble and Chieftains recovering on 15
 
Should the 3rd best team in NorCal be in a dog fight with essentially the 25th best team in So Cal?
 
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CA CIF State Div 4A Football: Palma 42 Mission Oak 13 Q4 5:22
Frosh Dukes 3 yard TD run - 4th TD of his night
 
Palma 42 MO 19 Q4 4:44
Long MO TD pass. Palma substituting generously in Q4 . Missed 2 pt conversion
 
SB is making these amazing 2nd down long passes. The Bulldogs are in trouble. Still tied at 7 but all the momentum is on SB's side.
 
Incredible comeback - Folsom scores with 20 second left. Folsom 20-14. Announcers said that SB's regional game was won with a similar time and score offset against St. Augustine.
 
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Hail Mary coming from SB. 1 second remaining.

PS - not a hail mary, but a trick run play... that failed.
 
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Good win for La Serna and a tough loss for Grant. I like the La Serna head coach. Totally confidence in his team with a little cockiness/edge. That's the kind of attitude a player can stand behind. Fast team, good tackling, and they played hard. They didn't make a lot of plays, just the ones they needed. The coaching staff didn't do anything exceptional, just there job, putting his team in a position to win, not lose.

Grant's offensive coordinator and ultimately the head coaches, taking nothing away from the La Serna team because they played championship ball, did not have there best performance. In reviewing the tape in the off season, there will be a lot to learn from this game. Areas that I think they might reflect on.

-As mentioned by another poster, how one dimensional they were on offense. Lets say you are forced to run. Okay, but there was no mix of run plays or formations. No reverse plays, counter plays, toss sweeps, QB leads, etc. The defense loaded the box and the offense stayed in spread and shot gun (usually with one back in the back field most of the half). This allowed seven defenders in the box on defense plus they were using there DB's to set the edge, making it a total of 8 defenders to stop the run. In that scenario, at minimum I was hoping to see Grant go to their big boy package.

-The lack of a passing game. Expecting the freshman QB to come out and run the normal offense may be a stretch, especially against a solid defense with some of the play makers that La Serna had. Let the young man get adjusted to the game. Throw some screen plays, check downs to the RB, play action, boot play, etc. A couple of completions could have built a lot of confidence for him. Honestly, with so many people in the box, I was waiting for the trick play (RB pass, or a double pass). Pretty much anything in the air would have keep La Serna honest.

-I mentioned the play calling earlier, but to add to that, the amount of time it took to call a play was crazy, especially on the last drive. I was confused why it took so long to call the same play (Power left/power right). Did they really need to think about it that long. It only allowed the defense time to rest and get set up. I was hoping to see them put some pressure on the defense and go tempo. Run some hurry up plays. La Serna had several players going both ways as well and this was a missed opportunity to wear some of them down by the forth quarter.

-Field position. All of La Serna's points came from a short field, starting in Pacer territory. They did not have a lot of success driving the ball the length of the field. Grant going for it on a couple of 4th down's and failing put a lot of pressure on their defense.

-Special teams. Just line up in a normal punt formation and kick the ball. Again, play field position. Instead Grant kept giving La Serna the ball at mid field on in Pacer territory. Again, too much pressure on the defense. Even though they did a good job and got multiple stops this led to La Serna punting the ball deep into Pacer territory, forcing them to start drivers from their own 8 and 13 yard lines. Why put that kind of pressure on your offense (who was already being one dimensional at the time) to drive the length of the field.

-Taking a time out for the 2 point conversion only to run the same play you ran the whole drive. The conversion was critical so I understand taking a time out. But no offensive creativity on that call. They ran the same play against Monterey Trail for the 2 point conversion and failed.

-Green and Parker. I can't recall seeing them in the back field together, except a few times. And I don't think they were on the field together at all in the 4th quarter. Green in at RB and Parker in at the slot. Force the defense to defend both of your outstanding backs at the same time. Take away the power play up the middle from Green or take away the quick swing pass to Parker in open field? Or put Parker in motion, fake the power to Green and had it off to Parker on a sweep play. One dimensional wasn't the problem. One dimensional with no creativity or one dimensional without utilizing your weapons is.

-Kicking the onside kick. In that situation, with a young back-up QB, just kick the ball deep and play defense. In that scenario, if you get the stop, you get the ball around mid field and you give the offense a short field to work with. The way it played out, even if they had gotten the stop after failing to get the onside kick, they would have been out of times outs and once again pinned deep into their own territory. Running the ball at that point is not an option. And now you would be forcing the young QB to drive the length of the field with his arm, on the last drive of the game, with limited time, with a state championship on the line. That's too much pressure to put on him especially when he didn't throw a signal pass in the 4th quarter.

I am a Grant homer, and I love what Reed and the coaching staff has done with this program. And where I believe they are going to take it in the future. This one got away from us, thanks to the hard work of La Serna and the missed opportunities of the Grant coaching staff. They will learn from this one and get better. As good of a team as La Serna is, Grant beat Grant.

To the players, especially the seniors, great job! I really enjoyed watching ya'll play the last couple of years. I know your 3 losses this year by a total of 6 points will hurt for a while, especially the one yesterday, but thank you for putting the Pacers back on the map. Best of luck in the future. I look forward to seeing you on Saturdays, and maybe Sundays too.
I share these sentiments! I’m excited for what the program is doing! Hate to see them lose but this was definitely a learning experience for them. Especially the coaches….

I like our chances with QB1 able to play the second half…..

The OC is young and needs to continue in his development. Got to always develop a back up qb and add different sets to utilize the playmakers. The Pacers lost 3 games this years on 2 point conversions and special teams…

My recommendation is to work on special teams and have a litany of plays to run on 2 point conversions. So many things to critique. But I’ll just celebrate a great year of HS football!
 
Remc,

Thank you brotha. And yes, I hear you, valid point. But respectfully I somewhat have to disagree with the execution part of it. The couple of throws he had to make required him to read the defense and make a judgement call. Why place him in that situation? Let him complete a couple of quick, but easy passes that will lead to some positive yards, get the nerves out, and build some confidence. The RB check down was wide open on pass plays all night because they choose to double cover Lopa (inside help and over the top man). Let the young man build some momentum. From an X and O's stand point, this was pretty basic to me.

I promise you this, I played with Reed and was coached by his father (as a Defensive Coordinator and Track Coach). I am not saying anything he does not already know. Dude is competitive and will be harder on himself then me or anyone else. That is part of the life that we live and understand growing up in that neighborhood. It will hurt for him and anyone associated with the program, but Reed will be good. He will focus on the miss opportunities, coach up his staff, and be better prepared next time.
You've got some valid points about how they could have eased the freshman QB into the flow of the game. Just a smidgen of what you said could have pulled that game in Grants favor. Too bad they didn't have a headset on you to be able to do what you suggested. All Grant needed was just a little touch more of balance on offense. But let's credit La Serna. They were a mentally and physically tough, resilient bunch. They earned every bit of that
 
Central Valley Christian (CVC) 3 Los Gatos 0 Q1 8:16
TD pass called back after penalty (Illegal man down field) and kicked FG
 
Central Valley Christian gets on the board first with a field goal. CVC 3-0 over Los Gatos.
 
Based on talent alone, La Serna had no biz being on the same field as Grant. Grant is a perrennial "open division" caliber program from a big city, and La Serna is a small neighborhood public school usually an also ran in the D-4 playoffs.

No doubt the Grant coaches (and everyone else in the Sac area) completely underestimated this La Serna team, which obviously was much better than their normal product. The Grant game plan did not account for being in a close game, hence they had no new wrinkles prepared.
100 percent false. Grant has been struggling for years now for many different reasons. They've been trying to find themselves for quite a while. A failed experiment of joining the SFL left them battered and bruised. They've managed to beat lower level teams in the SJS while essentially being relegated to the lower bowl divisions for competitive equity. This is NOT the Grant of old- not even close. They would have finished 4th in the SFL this year and that is being kind.

I still like Grant. They would mid the lower mid tier teams in southern california like Bakersfield, Servite, and many others....to name a few.

I just like that Grant is competitive again, although not at the higher levels. Not even close. They lost to Oak Ridge this year who lost to Folsom not once, but twice! I think they got lucky against Rocklin
 
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