The grind continues for the Granite Bay Grizzlies, and that is a chore warmly embraced by a surging football program in Placer County.
Fresh off its second consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship, beating Oak Ridge 35-23 on Friday night at Sacramento State, the Grizzlies learned Sunday that they will indeed play another game at Hornet Stadium.
Granite Bay (11-3) will play similarly surging St. Ignatius of San Francisco (10-3) next Friday at Sac State in the first Northern California Regional D-I game.
The winner gets NorCal bragging rights to last a lifetime and a shot to play in the CIF State D-I Bowl Game in Caron the following weekend.
Granite Bay has won 10 consecutive games since suffering frustrating losses to power programs in Oaks Christian, Westlake and Pittsburg. The Grizzlies, with their vaunted Fly sweep offense, devastating line play and physical defense, crushed four playoff teams.
SI hails from the power-packed West Catholic Athletic League in the Bay Area.
The Wildcats beat Bellarmine-San Jose 13-10 in overtime on Friday to win the Central Coast Section Open title for the first time. Bellarmine had taken four of the previous five Open titles.
SI lost to Serra of San Mateo and Bellarmine in WCAL games and its season opener on a late touchdown to Marin Catholic of Kentfield. Marin Catholic is in this weekend's NorCal D-III Regional against Sutter.
This is what Granite Bay coach Ernie Cooper told his giddy group after beating Oak Ridge on Friday, "We're going to do the same thing (in preparing for next week. I'll look at the schedule, but we are who we are ... I think we're the greatest football team in the history of Granite Bay High School."
NorCal Regionals
OPEN DIVISION
North: Folsom (14-0, 5-0) vs. De La Salle (13-0) at Sacramento State - Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
South: Narbonne (14-0, 5-0) vs. Centennial (Corona) (13-1, 5-0) at Cerritos College - Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION I
North: St. Ignatius (10-3, 5-2) vs. Granite Bay (11-3, 5-0) at Sacramento State - Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
South: Long Beach Poly (11-3, 6-0) vs. Clovis North (12-1, 4-1) at Veterans Stadium Long Beach City College - Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION II
North: Clayton Valley Charter (12-1, 5-0) vs. Oakdale (13-1, 7-0) at Lincoln High School, Stockton - Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
South: Serra (12-2, 4-1) vs. Edison (13-1, 5-0) at Orange Coast College - Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION III
North: Marin Catholic (13-1, 7-0) vs. Sutter (13-0, 6-0) at Harrison Stadium, Oroville - Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
South: Madison (12-1, 4-0) vs. Monrovia (12-2, 5-0) at Monrovia High School, Monrovia - Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
DIVISION IV
North: McClymonds (9-3, 5-0) vs. Central Catholic (12-2, 6-0) at Lincoln High School, Stockton - Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
South: Santa Fe Christian (10-3, 5-0) vs. Rio Hondo Prep (12-1, 4-0) at Del Norte High School, San Diego - Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
- Joe Davidson
- On Twitter: @SacBee_JoeD
- On Podcast: ESPN1320.net
- On Cable: SureWestSports.com
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