A second round match up for 9th seed Grand Terrace Titans wasn’t going to be an easy one, as they faced off against 8th seed Valencia Tigers. The weather was fierce as they played this game in 61 degrees.
Valencia Tigers on the first drive showed an run heavy offensive scheme, but was stopped on a 4th down dropped pass after a long efficieant drive.
Valencia’s second drive was more of their running game as they got 3 first downs. They had first and goal at the 4, but was stopped by the big and tough GT front seven that plugged up the hole on forth & goal.
As Grand Terrace Titans couldn’t get a first down, so they had to punt the ball for an 2nd consecutive punt.
Valencia opened up the read option plays with their inside runs as Valencia’s Qb Shaun Mchale #7 ran for a 20-yard gain that made it first and goal on the 5-yard line. Elijah Oropeza #21 bulldozed through an open hole for the 3-yard touchdown putting up the first points of the game in the second quarter with 3 minutes of play. 7-0
Grand Terrace started their third drive of the game on their own 40-yard line after a 10 yard return. Mekhi Lewis #12 threw a perfect ball to Corey Young #18 and he ran it for 56 yards down to the 4-yard line. Anthony Valencia #33 ran up the middle and dived for the touchdown. Tying it up 7-7.
Grand Terrace were able to get a last second play before halftime. Gavin Huxhold #23 hit a 44-yard field goal and made it look easy giving them a 10-7 lead at halftime.
Valencia Tigers started their first drive of the half with a 25 yard punt return. Lupe Prieto #6 blitzed around the edge and laid the running back out to force a fumble getting GT the ball.
Grand Terrace wanted to score off the turnover as Lewis #12 passed to Lonzel Bradford #13 and he made some magic breaking 5 tackles running down the sideline for 55 yards, but GT couldn’t capitalize in the goal line as they missed the field goal.
Valencia needed to score on the next drive to get some momentum as they continued running the ball getting first downs. As They scored on a fake screen to Michael Garcia #4 that passed it to the open tight end Cade Caffrey #44 for a wide open 44-yard touchdown that completely fooled the GT defense.
Grand Terrace drove down the field efficiently, but the drive ended as Lewis #12 forced a pass to the endzone and was picked off by Garcia #4 of Valencia.
Grand Terrace had first & goal after a first down pass to Bradford #13 plus a penalty that set up Valencia #33 to bulldozed it in for the touchdown to get the lead back 16-14.
Valencia Tigers were stopped on their own 30-yard line giving the ball back to GT after a dropped pass. The GT crowd went wild to get the ball back with 3 minutes to play with a 2-point lead.
After one first down run by GT, they weren’t able to drive down the field to run out the clock, so they had to punt the ball back to Valencia.
Valencia got the ball back with 1:10 to play. Mchale #7 started it off with a huge 25-yard run off an option play, then threw a 20- yard pass to get his team into field goal range with 13 seconds to go as the coach called on the kicker to make the field goal. Augustin Barajas #9 drilled the kick and it barely skinned in the bottom of the goal post for the win 17-16. The Grand Terrace crowd stood in silence as they were in shock that Valencia made that long field goal to crush GT’s dream of a CIF Championship.
The players held their heads up high as the coaches reassure them they played their hearts out and had an amazing season. They had the seniors walk to each underclassmen to say bye and gave encouragement for next year as they told them to remember this feeling and work hard next year to not lose and feel this way, by winning all the games next year to make it to the CIF Championship. Fans should be ready for next year because these future seniors are going to come out and play their hearts out next year for the chance to overcome the second round woes Grand Terrace has had the past two seasons.