Grizzlies Show Strong Defense In Quarterfinal Game

The Grace Grizzlies were back in action last week after enjoying a first round bye in the playoffs.  The Grizzlies faced off against the Prairie Pirates in the quarter finals.  Grace was the designated home team though the game was played in the ICCU Dome in Pocatello.  This was the second year in a row that the two teams faced off in the playoffs in a win or go home game.  The Grizzlies knocked off the Pirates last season in a close game up north in Cottonwood.  The Pirates entered this year's game boasting a prolific offense in the state's toughest district.  If you were previewing this year's game perhaps the key match up you would look at would be the head to head comparison of the two starting quarterbacks.  Draper from Grace and Quintal from Prairie are among the top quarterbacks in the 2A classification this year.  Quintal’s slight edge on paper was enough to light a fire under Draper as he headed into last weekend's game.  However the way the game shook out the story focused on a relentless Grizzly defense.  That's not to say that the Grace offense didn't play well but the defense really stifled the Pirates.  The Grizzlies held the Pirates scoreless in the first quarter while their offense was able to put up fourteen points.  In the second quarter the Grizzlies added a score early on before finally allowing the Pirates into the endzone.  The score for Prairie was not easy as they had a first and goal from inside the five and it took them all four downs to get the job done.  The Grizzlies defense would continue to make things difficult for the Pirates while the offense would continue to put up scores.  The first half would end with Grace leading the game 27-8.  The second half would be much of the same as the Grizzlies continued to control the game.  With just over seven minutes left in the game the Grizzlies gave up their only other score of the game and Grace cruised to a 40-16 victory.

Gavin Draper made good use of his arsenal of weapons on offense finding five different receivers for touchdowns.  Draper finished the game with three hundred twenty-six passing yards and a qb rating of 125.8.  Chase Smith scored the only rushing touchdown for the Grizzlies adding to his season totals.  But like I said the real story was the defense who held the Pirates to just thirty-three rushing yards and a hundred fifty-four passing.  The defense also grabbed three interceptions as well as four sacks.  Leading the way for the Grizzlies on defense was a pair of seniors.  Carter Kimball had two of the interceptions and one of the quarterback sacks while Parker Yost kept the pressure on the Pirate quarterback all game long accounting for the other three sacks in the game as well as several other tackles.

Parker Yost keeps the defense strong against the Pirates.

The one knock on the Grizzlies was several penalties in the game most of which came in the form of holding.  Those are mistakes they cannot afford in this week's match up as they will face Kendrick Friday night at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.  The Tigers hold the state's longest winning streak and are ranked as one of the top five eight man teams in the nation.  The Grizzlies will need to be on point on both sides of the ball to compete with what has been the state's most dominant program over the last four years at any level.  The Grizzlies have been overlooked for much of the season and feel as though they deserved a better ranking than what they ended with.  Friday’s game will give them the chance to prove to the naysayers that they do belong at the top of the state rankings.