Grizzlies Lose District Title; Look To Playoff Game

Last Friday the Grace Grizzlies traveled to Arco to take on their district rivals the Butte County Pirates.  The two teams are the only teams in their district making this matchup the de facto district championship.  The Pirates have been at the top of the state rankings for much of the season.  They are the defending state champions and came into the contest with just one loss on their record.  The Grizzlies have had an up and down year.  They have bounced around the spectrum playing teams that are top tier teams as well as teams where they were heavy favorites.  Entering Friday night's game the Grizzlies had three losses on their record with two of those losses to teams ranked as the number one team in their respective states Oregon and Utah.  Being on the road against Idaho’s number one team Grace were deemed the underdogs in this game.

As the game got going Butte County was able to strike first on the game’s opening drive taking a 6-0 lead.  The Grizzlies were unable to move the ball on their first drive and were forced to punt.  The Grizzly defense stepped up on the second drive for the Pirates and held Butte County on fourth down, turning the ball over on downs.  However once again Grace was unable to move the ball much and had to punt again.  Just when it looked like the Grizzlies would escape going down two scores in the first the Pirates broke a run loose around the end and finished the first quarter leading 14-0.

The second quarter started with the Grizzlies finally able to move the ball down the field.  Grace powered the ball all the way down to the five yard line but could not finish off the drive and turned the ball over on downs.  The wind was taken right out of the Grizzlies' sails just a few plays later when the Pirates broke loose again and scored on a ninety-three yard touchdown run.  The Grizzlies now trailed 20-0 with just under eight minutes left in the first half.  On the ensuing drive Grace finally broke through the Pirate defense on a pass to Braden Kimball to cut the lead to 20-6.  The Pirates turned right around and answered back however and the lead went to 28-6 with just one and a half minutes left in the half.  The Grizzlies moved the ball quickly in their two minute offense trying to score before the halftime buzzer.  Grace did get the ball to just inside the twenty five yard line when they threw an ill timed interception and the first half ended with Grace trailing 28-6.

Butte County opened up the second half with a successful onside kick that they quickly capitalized on breaking the backs of the Grizzlies and going up 34-6.  The Grizzlies had to dig deep and not give up on the game.  Grace took the following drive down the field to inside the five yard line once again.  This time the Grizzlies were able to punch the ball in with running back Trevor Mathews.  Grace now trailed 34-14.  That was the only positive Grace would get out of the quarter.  On Butte's very next offensive play the Pirates scored on another long run from fifty-seven yards out and the lead was up to 42-14.  Grace started the next drive with relatively good field position but a bad snap on third down set the Grizzlies up with a fourth and twenty that they failed to convert and turned the ball over on downs to finish the third quarter.

Butte started to work the clock in the fourth and drove down the field earning a first and goal for the second time in the game.  Just like the first time the Grizzly defense fought hard on the short field forcing a fourth and goal but could not keep the Pirates out of the endzone on that fourth down.  The game was now well in hand for Butte County leading 48-14 with just half a quarter left in the game.  Grace, not wanting to lay down, went to a hurry up offense that moved the ball very quickly down the field on two long passes.  One to Cooper Andersen and one to Mathews.  Derek Hill got in on the action catching a ball just outside of the endzone creating a first and goal for Grace.  Gavin Draper got his second touchdown pass of the game connecting with Andersen.  That brought the score to 48-22.  The Grizzlies did follow the score with a successful onside kick but were unable to use it to their advantage and turned the ball over on downs once again.  The Pirates took over and ran the clock out winning the district title over the Grizzlies 48-22.

With the loss the Grizzlies miss out on a bye during the opening round of the playoffs.  Due to the maxpreps rankings Grace will enter the playoffs as the eighth place team though I would put them closer to the fifth or sixth.  This means they will have to take a long road trip to Cottonwood to play the Prairie Pirates Friday night at 6 p.m. Pacific time.