Grizzlies run all over Eagles in 45-7 win

Granite Bay's varsity football team came into Vista del Lago and did exactly what they wanted to do on Friday night. The Grizzlies moved the ball on the ground, predominately, leading to seven straight possessions of putting points on the scoreboard, all the while holding down Vista del Lago's offense with a stout defense, as Granite Bay won the game, 45-7. As he is most weeks, Granite Bay's Isaiah Ene was the player of the game, as he carried the ball 24 times for 228 yards and scored three touchdowns. He also opened the scoring by throwing a touchdown to Darnell Turner. "He's obviously a really good football player and even a better young man," Granite Bay coach Joe Cattolico said. "He had a great game, and I thought our kids did a lot of good things around him. The kids blocked well for him and other players made plays to compliment him." One of those players was quarterback Dominic Cattolico, who completed four of six passes for 86 yards. Turner caught two passes, including a 31-yard touchdown from Ene, for 76 yards. "Dominic had a good night," Cattolico said. "He's thrown the ball well three weeks in a row, and did a good job running the offense. He didn't end up throwing it a lot tonight because of situations and circumstances, but when we asked him to throw it he did it well." In the second half, Brody Walker scored on a seven-yard run, while Dylan Tetz put up the last points on the scoreboard with a 63-yard touchdown run. Jimmy Deslaurier also kicked a field goal on the last play of the first half, giving the Grizzlies a 24-7 lead. Defensively, Granite Bay held the Eagles to seven points and benefited from two turnovers; an interception from Ene and fumble recovery by Christopher Ledell. They came on consecutive possessions at a key point in the game, the last possession of the first half and the first possession of the second half, and both turnovers led to points on the scoreboard. "We seemed to bend but not break on defense," Cattolico said. "They had a bunch of yards, but not a lot of points." Vista del Lago didn't have many highlights, as the scoreboard indicates. Their only touchdown was a nice play, however, as Christian Guzman threw a 23-yard touchdown to Cael Rens and Rens made a nice catch as well. The score in the second quarter cut Granite Bay's lead to 14-7, but that was all the points Vista scored. Chavez played well in the first half, completing 9-of-11 passes for 103 yards, but in the second half only completed 1-of-5 passes for a yard. Jack Cromwell carried the ball 10 times for 47 yards to lead the Eagle offense. Gavin Brainerd had probably the best game of all the Eagles, as high had several good kickoff returns for the Eagles. The game could have been closer had the Eagles done better on Granite Bay's side of the field. They turned the ball over twice on downs inside the Granite Bay 30-yard-line and also turned the ball over on an interception on a ball that was deflected. "We shot ourselves shot ourselves in the foot a bit," Vista del Lago coach Mike Struebing said. "We turned it over once and just couldn't get it done. We're close, but I don't want that to be our defining characteristic of our season. We're talking about how close we are, but we need to get there. We need to find a way. Clearly, these guys are capable. They came out tonight and played a more physical style this week. I'm proud of how we fought. "We talk about football being a process sport. We've just got to find a way to get these guys to respond and grow."