Grizz And Cowboys Battle On Grace’s Senior Night

Last Friday night the Grace Grizzlies and North Gem Cowboys played in a cross county match-up of two potential playoff teams.  This game was also a cross classification match-up, with Grace being 2A and North Gem in the 1A classification.  Both teams are senior heavy and battling for playoff position in their respective classifications.  With the new Max Preps rankings system in Idaho, even these non-conference games can have an impact on teams’ playoff hopes.  In addition to all of the playoff implications, there was the additional matter of county bragging rights, as well as it being Grace’s senior night.

Prior to the kickoff Grace honored its nine senior football players as they were escorted out onto the field by their parents.  The nine senior players are Braden Kimball, Derek Hill, Bryant Jensen, Brett Hobbs, Kaylum Balczeski, Carson Welch, Trevor Mathews, Landon Moss and Carson Reeves.  Later in the evening Grace also honored their senior cross country runners and cheerleader.  Senior cross country runners are Laxin VanGass, Lilly Gilbert, Breanna Heer, Cally Coleman, and cheerleader Aleah Medina.

The game started with North Gem kicking off to the Grizzlies.  A freshman got things started for Grace as Dillon Wood returned the kick for good yardage, setting the Grizzlies up with good field position.  It would not take Grace long to put points on the board and those points came from senior Brett Hobbs, after which Gavin Draper added the two point conversion and Grace led 8-0 just one and a half minutes into the game.  The next few possessions were dominated by defense.  The Cowboys were forced to punt on their opening drive then North Gem made a big stand on a Grizzly fourth down to regain possession of the ball.  The Grace defense proved tough as well, and the Cowboys were forced to punt a second time.  Grace was stopped this time, however, as they drove down the field and capped it off with a Trevor Mathews score, followed by a Bryant Jensen two point conversion catch.  With that, the time ran out in the first quarter with Grace leading 16-0.

The second quarter was more of the same, with the Grizzlies trying to get scores for multiple seniors on senior night.  Jensen made the next touchdown on an end-around run with Mathews adding the two point conversion.  The half wrapped up with Carson Reeves taking his first handoffs of the year and scoring another Grace touchdown and the two point conversion and Grace led at the half 32-0.

In the third quarter, another Grace senior got the chance to score as Landon Moss took the ball around the right side, scampering for the longest run of the night and adding another touchdown for Grace.  The Grizzlies lead at the end of the third quarter 40-0.

Now with a running clock the pace of the game really picked up as the Grizzlies finished the game with one more score, this time from Derek Hill followed by a two point conversion by senior Kaylum Balczeski.  The final in this one was 48-0 in favor of the Grizzlies.

Despite not being able to make it to the endzone the Cowboys showed some real toughness in this game.  North Gem was down a player and only had nine total guys dressed for the game, in contrast to Grace who had three times that number.  The Cowboys were able to put a couple of drives together behind the tough running of Yost and Hatch but in the end, the size and depth of Grace was too much for the undermanned Cowboys.  The Cowboys will hold their heads high and get back to work as they play for a chance to claim the district title this week when they travel to Rockland to take on the Bulldogs.

Grace meanwhile will face a huge obstacle as they themselves will be playing for a district title this week as they travel to Arco to take on Butte County.  The Pirates are currently the number one team in the state but did suffer their first loss of the season last week.

Both of these games will be exciting ones to watch.  The two fanbases should represent well as they both travel very well for their respective teams.  Good luck to both North Gem and Grace this Friday as they take on those big challenges.