Grand Terrace made the CIF Southern Section Playoffs Division 7 for the 4th consecutive season. This year its as the 10th seed playing the 9th seed Sunny Hills Lancers from Fullerton. Both teams came into playoffs taking 2nd place in their league standings coming up close to winning league. Grand Terrace came onto the field on offense and Sunny Hills quickly picked them off to get their first drive of the game.Once Grand Terrace got the ball back Mekhi Lewis #12 came out firing the ball, and got his revenge with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Lonzel Bradford #13. Sunny Hills answered with a strong drive by Jun Ahn #4 getting 50 rushing yards combined with a 4-yard score to tie the game up 7-7 in the first quarter. Grand Terrace were able to pass for two first downs, but was finally stopped by a 3rd down sack by Vince Silva #22 of Sunny Hills. Having to punt the ball back to Sunny Hills. Sunny Hills had to start the drive on the 13-yard line off the punt. GT’s Troy Steptoe #27 made a huge play throwing the QB Luke Duxburv #8 down into the end-zone but the ref called it down at the one yard line. On 3rd and long, Sunny Hills tried to throw deep , but Justin Robles #24 intercepted the ball with a 1-handed grab. After a 25-yard return by Robles #24, GT started the drive on the 13-yard line ending it with a 2-yard scamper by Jeremy Massey #37 for the touchdown extending the lead to 14-7. Sunny Hills tried to duplicate their last drive with a touchdown on their third drive. Duxburv #8 of Sunny Hills dropped back to pass but was sacked by Andrew Quiroz #8. Next play Duxburv #8 passed to his favorite Receiver Jaydon Medina #9 in the flats as he outran the defender running to the left of the field sprinting down the sideline to juke GT’s safety for the 35-yard touchdown answering another Grand Terrace touchdown. Grand Terrace didn't get anything going on their next drive ending up punting the ball back to Sunny Hills.Sunny Hills took the good field position to score a 23-yard touchdown pass from Duxburv #8 to Wilson Cal #11. Making it their Third consecutive drive with a touchdown getting their first lead of the game 21-14. Grand Terrace Titans persevered through the bad calls and adversity with Lewis #12 letting a pass fly to Damion Williams #4 for a 40-yard strike to tie it up 21-21 with 30 seconds to go before half. Lonnie Chaves #79 Starting Offensive Lineman for Grand Terrace had some words of encouragement to win the game, “In the second half we need to pick up the intensity.”
At the half, the game is tied 21 all. In the 2nd half each defense needed to find an answer for the high powered offenses that were on display in the first half. It forced the defenses to get multiple stops in the second half in order to come out of this game victorious onto the second round of playoffs. Grand Terrace came out on kick return, as Williams #4 caught the kick to run back an electrifying 80-yard return for a touchdown that made a huge statement for the game that GT didn’t just come to play, they came to win! Sunny Hills defense, backed up into their own redzone came up with an interception by Cal #11 to stop a good drive by GT. SH couldn’t convert on 3rd down, so they punted the ball. After back to back punts, SH started the drive on the 40-yard line. Jun Ahn #4 found an open hole and used his elusiveness and agility to break 2 defenders then outran the next for a 40-yard rushing touchdown that tied it up 28 all. SH Duxburv #8 tried to throw a deep ball, Taking a big hit by Lupe Prieto #6 forced a bad pass and tip interception to Robles #24 for his second INT of the game. It gave Titans the ball on the 40-yard line of Sunny Hills. Two first down runs by Anthony Valencia #33 was big to set up Lewis #12 11-yard touchdown dime to Bradford #13 for his second touchdown catch of the game. After a bad punt, GT was in business at the opponent’s 40-yard line. Massey #37 put on a stamp on this game hitting the hole going at what seemed 100 mph running into the end-zone amazingly untouched for an 27-yard touchdown. 42-28 GT with 4 minutes of play left. SH had a long 3rd and 10 as David Gusta #60 of GT threw two defenders out of his way to sack Duxburv #8 twice with help from Troy Steptoe #27 applying the pressure. “Dash” Robles #24 made the biggest play of the game picking off SH in the end-zone for a touch-back leaving GT to knee the ball on offense to secure the second high school playoff win in school history.
Grand Terrace Titans defeated the 9th seed Sunny Hills Lancers with a score of 42-28. Head Coach of Grand Terrace, Ryan Smalls had a snippet about this tough win, “Every game only gets tougher."Grand Terrace will play the 1st seed Valencia next week for a second round game of the CIF playoffs.