The Snake River Conference

The transition to 1A has been overdue for many years at Grace High.  But now that it's come, what can we expect from conference play and the conference tournament.

The conference is split up into two pods, north and south.  The North pod includes Glenns Ferry, Hagerman, Challis and Shoshone.  The South pod: Grace, Hansen, Oakley and Raft River.  Come tournament time the #1 from each pod will be put up against the #4 from the opposite pod and 2 to 3 respectively.

The Grizzlies have started off the season well and have an unblemished conference record at 3 - 0.  But only one of those games has come against a team in their pod, a 20 point win against Oakley.

Current Conference Standings

North Pod
Shoshone 6 - 0  2 - 0
Hagerman 3 - 3  2 - 0
Glenns Ferry 3 - 4  0 - 2
Challis 1 - 5  0 - 2


South Pod
Grace 4 - 2  1 - 0
Oakley 2 - 5 1 - 1
Raft River  1 - 5  1 - 1
Hansen 0 - 5  0 - 1

Grace takes down 4th ranked Glenns Ferry

Grace 71, Glenns Ferry 47

Jordan Brady scored 24 and teammate Chase Ackerman added 20 as Grace defeated Glenns Ferry on Saturday night.

The Grizzlies’ (4-2, 3-0) defense was also in high gear, holding the Pilots to just five points in the opening quarter.

“The team came out really quick tonight and we were able to get ahead and stay ahead,” said Grace head coach Rory Lloyd. “All the kids had some really good playing minutes, too.”

Grace nexts host Soda Springs on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Boys and Girls hoops take down Oakley

Boys

Grace 60, Oakley 40

    Grace traveled to Oakley on Tuesday night and came away with a victory over the Hornets.

    The Grizzlies (3-2, 2-0) were led by Chase Ackerman with 19 points and Jordan Brady with 17, but the reall story was the defense, which held Oakley (1-5, 0-2) to just 16 points in the first half.

    Chase and Jordan, two seniors, led our offense, but our defensive intensity was the key to our success tonight,” said Grizzlies head coach Rory Lloyd. “The whole team really stepped up and did a great job.”

    Grace next plays at Glenns Ferry on Saturday at 7:30 p.m

Girls

Grace 55, Oakley 43

    Led by Stephanie Lloyd’s 10 points and nine from Hannah Skinner, Grace (2-5, 1-1) defeated Oakley on Tuesday evening.

    Down by four at the half, the Grizzlies’ defense took over and allowed their opponents just 12 points the rest of the contest.

    “We really began picking up our defense in the middle of the second quarter,” said Grace head coach Kevin Smith. “We also stopped turning the ball over. The whole team worked their butts off and came away with a big win tonight.”

    The Grizzlies next travel to Bear Lake to take on the Bears on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Grizzly Basketball off to good start

The Grizzlies have started off the basketball season pretty well this year. They played three games this week, one of which against a district team. They opened the season at home against in county rival North Gem. Jordan Brady led the Grizzlies with 30 points and they beatcthe cowboys handily, 69-32. Two days later the Challis Vikings made the trip to Grace, but they couldn't get anything going against a physical and quick Grizzly defense. Grace won their first district game 58-28 and were led by Chase Ackerman who scored 21 points. The next day the Grizzlies traveled to Bear Lake to face a much bigger 3A team. The tired Grizzlies couldn't keep up and fell 56-29.
A good 2-1 start to season for the Grizzlies and the team will be in even better shape when Josh Jenson recovers from a broken wrist sustained during the football season.

The Unlikeliest of Things

Just six weeks ago, if you would have told me the Grizzly football
team would be making the 10 hour trip to Moscow, to play in the state
title game, I would have said you were off your rocker. At that point
the team was 0-5 and although all their losses had been close, with
the exception of Oakley, everyone had pretty much chalked the season
up to a year of rebuilding, the 7th one in a row.
But here we are, driving to Moscow to watch the boys play for a state
title. The past six weeks we have witnessed a turnaround of epic
proportions. A team that hasn't won more than a single game in the
past 4 seasons, has now rattled off six wins a row. It's easy to tell
that the mentality has changed for these players. They expect to win,
as opposed to hoping to win.
They now face the ultimate test. The Troy Trojans sit at 10-0 and
have ran all over their opponents in the northern part of the state.
They come into this game as heavy favorites but its really difficult
to tell how they might match up because of the lack of any common
opponents this season.
From film on the Trojans it looks like they will try and pound it
down the field with their strong run game. Grace's defense will need
to step it up on the front line to stop them. The reason Notus was
able to jump out to such a big lead was because of graces inability to
stop the run. Let's hope they have ironed out those issues and are
ready to step up on defense.
The trojans might have difficulty adjusting to the Grace offense
though. The White Pine League doesn't often see a team come in and
try the spread offense on them, so the Grizzlies might find a slight
advantage in that aspect.
For the first time in school history Grace has a shot at the football
state title, will today be the day?

--
Sent from my mobile device

Dan Angell's Week 13 Power Rankings

1A D1
Troy 10-0 96.66
Prairie 8-2 91.56
Wallace 8-1 89.38
Grace 6-5 80.51
Notus 9-1 78.74
Challis 6-3 78.45
Oakley 5-3 77.32
Potlatch 4-4 76.99
Hagerman 8-2 75.41
Genesee 5-3 73.38


Grace’s Cinderella run has brought it to the big ball in Moscow, where the Grizzlies will meet Troy, which has dominated the panhandle all year long. But how good are the Trojans, really? They’ve been playing only teams up north, so it’s difficult to get a read on them. Grace has played against teams all over southern Idaho, so I’m a lot more confident in its computer rating.
However, Prairie and Wallace also call the north home, and Troy went 3-0 against them, beating Prairie twice. The computer says Troy is no Notus, a team that was merely good and looked great by beating up on weak squads before meeting a team in Grace that could play with them. It believes the Trojans are a great squad, and it likes Troy to beat Grace by 19 in the title game. But with the way Grace has played for the last two months, it wouldn’t shock me a bit if the Grizzlies write a dream ending to their season.

Grizzlies plunder another band of Pirates

 Before you could even blink, the Hagerman Pirates had jumped out to a 14 - 0 lead against the Grizzlies last night at Holt Arena.  The speedy spread offense of the Pirates looked great in that opening quarter.  A 58 yard run and a 51 yard pass had the Grizzly defense wondering what had just happened.

 On the other side of the ball the Grace offense struggled to get into a rhythm.  The running backs were getting stopped at the line of scrimmage and Jensen was struggling to hit his receivers.

 The Grizzlies showed some life early in the second quarter when Jensen hit Ackerman for a 32 yard touchdown pass.  The defense then settled down and was able to keep Hagerman out of the end zone for the remaining of the half, but the offense just couldn't quite get another score before the 2nd quarter ended and they went into the locker room down 8 - 14.

 The Pirates got the ball at half but couldn't move down the field and were forced to punt.  The Grizzlies stuck with their game plan and continued to run the ball right at the Pirates defense, except now they were finally creating holes and ripping off runs of 8-10 yards a play.  They easily marched down the field and Kendal Bitton found the end zone on a 5 yard run.  The conversion was missed giving us a tie game at 14 - 14.

 Another stop by the Grizzly defense forced a punt, but the Hagerman kicker placed it well and the ball went out of bounds at Graces' 10 yard line. On first down the Grizzlies went deep and found Ackerman running a fly route right up the middle for a 90 yard touchdown.

 Once again the defense gave up nothing and Hagerman was forced to punt.  The Grizzlies turned to the wildcat offense and it paid off as Trevor Simonson found room around the edge and ran 65 yards for the TD.

 The Grizzlies are now sitting pretty at 30 - 14 with just 7:30 left in the game.  The defense continued to play hard but a few missed assignments by the secondary allowed the Pirates into the end zone on a 17 yard pass with 4 minutes left.

 With the score at 30 - 22, the Grizzlies hope to run some time off the clock and need to get some crucial first downs to get to the point where they can run the coach's favorite offense, the victory formation.  They did exactly that. The Pirate defense was no match for the upfront blocking of the Grace O-line and before you knew it, the clock had reached :00 and the Grizzlies were celebrating their first ever trip to the State Championship game.

 Grace will now play the winner of the Prairie/Troy game which is taking place at the Kibbie Dome tomorrow at 6pm.  Both Prairie and Troy have excellent records and are tough teams, but the Grizzlies will be ready to take advantage of the opportunity and would love nothing more than to bring home the 1A state title for the first time in school history.

Grizzlies hunt for vengeance

 The Grizzlies 4 point loss on September 24 to the Hagerman Pirates left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth's of those who participated and watched.  Grace had done well to contain a high powered pirate offense. But the Grizzlies offense in the 4th quarter struggled and some key turnovers cost them a potential win.  On their last possession they drove the ball deep into Pirate territory, but a fumble by QB Josh Jensen gave the ball back to Hagerman and the defense was unable to get a stop in time.

 

 That loss gave the Grizzlies their 5th tough loss in a row.  But from there on out, they have been flawless.  Now they are coming into the game against Hagerman with a 5 game win streak.  The emotional comeback win over Notus last week proved that Grace has the heart and determination to accomplish the goal of a state title, but will they have the speed to match up with the Pirates tonight in the Dome. 

 Hagerman runs an offense that is similar to Grace's.  They like to spread out the defense and beat you with their speed.  They will put 4 receivers wide, with the QB in shotgun and run a little draw play all night long.  The defense will be playing man coverage and keying on receiver Ryan Luttmer, who has over 800 yards receiving on the year.  If the defense can contain the QB and if the secondary steps up and plays tough man coverage, Grace should fair well.

 The Grizzlies plan on coming into this game with the same offensive game plan that they took into Notus last week.  A strong rush attack to suck some defenders into the box, which will hopefully open up their potent passing game. 

 The amazing win last week is most definitely on the minds of everyone in Grace and it's sure to bring out many people to Holt Arena tonight to see Grace play in the semi-finals for the first time ever.

 The coaching staff has been working hard all week to make sure the boys aren't living in the past and are focused on the immediate goal of beating Hagerman.

 A win tonight would put the Grizzlies in the state title game against the winner of Prairie and Troy.  If the Prairie Pirates win and return to the state title game for the 3rd year in a row that would make three Pirate teams in a row that could potentially fall victim to the Grizzlies.

 

 Tonight's Odds:  O/U 83      Spread    Grace - 7

Class Act Leads to Great Show

 - Dan Angell

Dan AngellJournal file photo\u000dGrace High School quarterback Josh Jensen keeps the ball on an end run against Rockland High School during their game on September 3 at Rockland\u002e

Posted: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 11:13 pm

GRACE — It's common for a quarterback to deflect praise.

Grace sophomore quarterback Josh Jensen is no different. As he leads Grace into the 1A Division I state semifinals at 8:45 p.m. tonight against Hagerman at Holt Arena, he's adamant that his teammates make him a valuable weapon.

“I've only been sacked twice in the last five games we've won, and our backs are running the ball phenomenal,” Jensen said. “They've stepped up all around.”

While Jensen is unquestionably the Grizzlies' leader and their most exciting player, it's certain that he wouldn't be under center, and Grace might not even be playing tonight, if senior wide receiver Chase Ackerman hadn't made a big sacrifice for the Grizzlies by giving Jensen his quarterback position.

Despite how highly Grace coach Steve Millward thought of Jensen at the start of the season, the Grizzlies' plan was to go with Ackerman at quarterback, who had started the 2009 season as Grace's quarterback before breaking his collarbone on the first play of the season. Upon returning, he won a tough battle for the job.

“He and Chase were neck and neck,” Millward said. “In the Red-White scrimmage, Josh outperformed him, but we felt Josh had a better team.”

That was fine with Jensen, who was content to start at safety and wait to get his chance at quarterback after Ackerman graduated.

But in the Grizzlies' season opener against North Gem, a 24-20 loss, Ackerman was ineffective. Millward was willing to give his senior another chance in the next game against Rockland, but Ackerman convinced him otherwise. Instead, he asked to switch to wide receiver and give the Grizzlies another pass-catching threat to complement Damian Martinez.

“I struggled in the North Gem game, and Josh was playing better at quarterback than I was,” Ackerman said. “We didn't have the receiver threat if I was playing quarterback, so that gives Josh one more weapon and gives us one more big weapon on offense.”

Millward told Ackerman that the position was his to give up, and Ackerman confirmed that he wanted to make the switch for the good of the team. So Millward called Jensen into his office and told him that from then on, he would be Grace's quarterback.

When Millward told him of the switch, Jensen was ready to go. That didn't surprise Millward, who had coached Jensen since seventh grade. The second-year Grace coach was an assistant before taking over last year, and he'd seen firsthand Jensen’s maturity and intelligence.

“I had coaches from Malad and Soda who couldn't believe it,” Millward said. “Even back in seventh grade, he had a knowledge of the game that rivaled juniors and seniors in high school. He's a great student of the game and he's able to absorb a lot of information. The big thing is he has the athletic ability to translate that to making plays out on the field.”

The switch didn't pay off right away. The Grizzlies lost their next four games as Jensen struggled to get used to leading through adversity. After a game against Hagerman in September, however, Jensen had to face adversity head on.

He felt like he personally gave the game away because he fumbled inside the Pirates' 10-yard line on Grace's final possession with the Grizzlies trailing by four. The Pirates recovered and won the game, and Jensen took the loss hard.

When practice started the next week, he had stepped up to another level and his teammates were there with him.

“Ever since then, everything's just worked out a lot better,” Jensen said. “We've started working together really well, and we're playing great as a team.”

Since that Hagerman game, the Grizzlies haven't lost. Jensen and the team's rapid progress culminated in last week's stunning comeback win over Notus in the quarterfinals.

The Grizzlies trailed 48-20 with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but Jensen cooly led them to a 52-48 victory that was clinched with just seconds left when Jensen hit Martinez in the end zone.

Millward didn't call that play, or many of the others in those wild 10 minutes. The coach estimates he called five plays in the Grizzlies' final four drives. The rest was all Jensen managing the offense. Clearly, the switch of quarterbacks paid off.

It did the same for Ackerman. The former quarterback quickly adjusted well to catching passes and quickly became Jensen' go-to receiver. He caught a touchdown pass in his first game at receiver against Rockland and has caught one in all eight games he's played at receiver.

Millward said the sacrifice is symbolic of how the Grizzlies have come this far. Now the united Grizzlies face the last team to beat them in Hagerman, a game they've waited for since that loss that turned Jensen into a true leader and the Grizzlies into a true team.

“As soon as we got that Notus game, everyone was looking over plays,” Jensen said. “We're looking at it as payback time. They're better, but so are we. We're not even close to the same team.”

Dan Angell's Week 12 Power Rankings

1A D1
Prairie 8-1 95.02
Troy 9-0 93.2
Wallace 8-1 89.38
Grace 5-5 79.61
Notus 9-1 78.74
Challis 6-3 78.45
Oakley 5-3 77.32
Potlatch 4-4 76.99
Hagerman 8-2 76.31
Genesee 5-3 73.38


Biggest upset in the state? Well, actually, not really. Notus was favored to win the game, but the computer recognized that the Pirates were doing nothing but beating bad teams and kept them well behind Troy, Prairie and Wallace. Meanwhile, Grace only played good teams, so the computer realized the Grizzlies had a chance. Sure enough, Grace pulled it out, giving the Pirates their first loss and vaulting Grace to No. 4, Notus’ old spot. The semifinals will again feature a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup with Troy facing Prairie, while Grace meets No. 9 Hagerman.


Computers Predictions:


Grace 44, Hagerman 40
Prairie 36, Troy 34




http://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/sports/?p=5468

Do you believe in miracles?

 The Grace High football team does!  Like most amazing stories, this one is best told from the beginning.  The Grizzlies came into the game excited to be playing in the state tournament and you could tell they were prepared and ready to play.  But things slowly started to go against them in the first half.  Grace swapped scores with the Notus Pirates early and with 5 minutes remaining they were down 16 - 14 and it looked like it would go back and forth like this all night.  But a costly fumble in their own territory gave Notus an opportunity to score quickly before the half.  The Grizzlies went into the locker room down 24 - 14.

 Notus received the kickoff to start the 2nd half and they wasted no time and scored again making it 32 - 14.  Notus had many offensive weapons but the one that most hurt the Grizzlies was running back Ryan Vibbert.  The Pirates ran the counter reverse to perfection.  Grace had no answer. That one play yielded more yards for Notus than all their other plays combined.  If it didn't go for a touchdown, then it was going for 30 plus yards. 

 A few stops by the Notus defense and Grace found themselves down 48 - 20 with 9:30 remaining in the 4th quarter.  This is where things get good.  Grace received the kickoff and wasted no time, scoring in 45 seconds and putting the score at 48-26.  A defining moment came shortly after.  As the kickoff team prepared to take the field, Coach Millward encouraged the boys to compete and to have heart.  They broke the huddle with a unison cry of "compete".  But sophomore QB and team captain Josh Jensen wasn't satisfied.  As the team walked out onto the field he called them together again and they changed their huddle breaking cheer to "win".  At that moment you knew what these boys had made the 5 hour trip for.  A recovered onside kick and quick score by Trevor Simonson sparked hope for the Grizzlies and the game announcer proclaimed "we have a ball game"!  The score is now 48 - 32 and there is still 7 minutes left.

 

 The Grizzlies opt to kick it deep and put trust in the hands of their defense.  It proved to be exactly the right thing to do as Grace forced a fumble and recovered it at about the 50.  The offense once again showed their ability and marched down for another score.  This time they were able to convert a crucial 2pt conversion by passing it to Chase Ackerman in the left corner of the end zone, making the score 48 - 40.  

 An onside kick is now necessary.  It comes close to being recovered by the grizzlies but ends up in the hands of a Notus player.  The grizzly defense once again comes up huge and stop notus on 4th down when they tried to fake the punt.   

 

 Wasting no time, Grace find the end zone again making the score 48 - 46 with just 1:57 on the clock.  Now they must go for the 2pt conversion to tie.  An unblocked Notus blitzer tied up Josh Jensen in the backfield and the conversion failed.  It seemed that Grace had come so close but would end up falling just 2 points short.

 The onside kick is recovered by Grace, but the refs saw a first touching by the Grizzlies before the ball had gone 10 yards and Notus is given the ball at the Grizzly 45 yard line.  On 1st down the defense holds them to about 2 yards. Time is ticking. Grace has two timeouts left, but Coach Millward is waiting for the opportune moment to use them.  Notus rushes on 2nd down and gains minimal yardage and Millward calls a timeout, stopping the clock with about 1:25.  The 3rd down play proved to be the same and Notus only gains 1 or 2. Grace uses their last timeout to stop the clock.  It's now 4th and 3 and Notus is going to for it.  The defense was ready for it and they stopped the run well short of the 1st down marker.  

 Grace now has the ball back with just over a minute left and no timeouts.  A crucial 10 yard run by Simonson to get a first down, stops the clock momentarily.  The offense hurries to the line of scrimmage and Jensen spikes the ball setting up a 2nd and 10 from the Notus 46 yard line.  The grizzlies now have some time to huddle up and get a good play set up.  A short flag route to Ackerman and then some impressive footwork by the receiver put the Grizzlies in the red zone with just 11 seconds remaining in the game.  Jensen spikes the ball again and gives the offense some time to gather themselves.  The play is called and again Ackerman's number is was called.  A high pass in the end zone is leapt up for by the senior receiver but couldn't quite get the handles on it because of a defender taking him out at the legs.  Ackerman fell hard on his back and was not getting up.  The coaches and medical staff run to his aid.  A few minutes later he is on his feet and seemed to have been just dizzied by the hard fall.  But because of rules on injured players, Ackerman must now sit out the next play.  Because the pass was incomplete the clock had been stopped with 5 seconds left.  One last chance for the win.  Jensen rolls right and you can tell he's eyeing the end zone him self.  But Senior Damien Martinez is open for a split second and a bullet pass from Jensen is caught in the end zone as time expires. The sidelines empty as the team swarms around Martinez.

 The Grizzlies had done it.  What seemed to be a blowout defeat, turned into the most memorable game in Grace High history.  The team will now move on to the semi-finals of the state tournament and will play district foe, Hagerman, at the Holt Arena. 

 Grace High will always "Remember, remember the 5th of November"

Journal's Playoff Preview

Grace (4-5) at Notus (9-0), 7 p.m.

On paper, this is a mismatch. Notus has blitzed through all nine of its opponents and hasn’t had a team stay within four touchdowns of it all season long.

However, Grace coach Steve Millward believes the Grizzlies match up well with the Pirates, which could be true because of how well Grace has played lately. The Grizzlies have won four straight against decent competition, while Notus has feasted on weaker opponents in the Third District.

Grace’s offense has taken off in the last four weeks, mostly because of the combination of quarterback Josh Jensen and receiver Chase Ackerman and the running of Trevor Simonson. All of them will have to step up against a Notus team that has held five opponents to one score or less this year.

Grace’s defense is also in for a stern test, since the only team to hold Notus under 40 points this year was Dietrich in a 36-6 loss. For the season, the Pirates are averaging 53.4 points a game.

http://www.journalnet.com/sports/local/article_37af8122-e89c-11df-8362-001cc4c002e0.html

Grizzlies feel they will match up well against the Notus Pirates

 The Pirates are coming in as the District Champions of the Western Idaho conference. They tout an impressive 9 - 0 record. They have outscored their opponents 484 - 118. They average 468 yards of offense per game.  What makes this number even more seemingly impressive is that in 6 of their 9 games they have mercy ruled their opponent, ending the game prematurely.  Looks pretty impressive doesn't it?  But a closer look into the Pirates schedule might having you thinking differently.

 The only seemingly impressive win came the first game of the season against a division II school, Salmon River.  The Salmon River Savages are 8 - 1 on the season.  Their only loss being to Notus in that first game.  Salmon River has done well all season but they seem to have the same strength of schedule issue that the Pirates have, they play in a weak conference.
  

 The Grizzlies will look be looking to load the box with 6 guys for most the game in an effort to stop Vibbert who is rushing for 118 yards per game and has racked up 1000 plus yards this season.  Coach Coburn hopes to force Notus into their sub par passing game.  The defense has been studying the game film all week and feel that they will have the advantage if they can force the Pirates to rely upon the arm of Pritchard, their starting quarterback.

 The Grizzly offense will look to take advantage of a weak Pirate secondary that isn't used to playing against a pass first offense.  The young Grizzlies feel like they have finally settled into the new 8-man offense and the past few games have shown that.  If things continue we could be looking at an extremely high scoring game this Friday.

 The Grizzlies will have to travel across the state to play and this will definitely work to the advantage of the Pirates, but Grace is used to playing the underdog role and has thrived as such in the latter part of the season. 

 The winner of this game will go on to face the winner of Hagerman and Rimrock.

 Odds -   O/U 98        Spread  Grace -9

Dan Angell's Week 11 Power Rankings

 Dan Angell's blog has posted the latest statewide computerized rankings.  Despite playing a poor Raft River team, Grace jumped up to the #6 spot after having been ranked #9 the week prior.  The computer even has Grace barely edging out district champion Hagerman.  


 This weeks 1A D1 top 10

Troy 8-0 100.03
Prairie 7-1 92.67
Wallace 8-0 91.73
Notus 9-0 80.62
Challis 6-3 78.45
Grace 4-5 77.73
Hagerman 7-2 77.68
Oakley 5-3 77.32
Genesee 5-3 73.38
Potlatch 4-3 70.16


Computers Predictions
Grace 24 Notus 30
Wallace 28 Prairie 26
Hagerman 40 Rimrock 0


http://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/sports/?p=5449

Grace ends regular season with win, advances to first round of state playoffs

- Idaho State Journal

Grace 56, Raft River 8

After allowing an early touchdown to Raft River, Grace came back to take complete control, scoring a 56-8 win and earning a postseason berth for the first time in eight years. The Grizzlies have won their last four games after beginning the season 0-5.

“I’m really proud of this team,” Grace coach Steve Millward said. “They came out at halftime with a lot of extra energy. They wanted to be in the state playoffs so bad they could taste it.”

Now his team will enter the playoffs with a game at Notus at 7 p.m on Friday.

Sophomore quarterback Josh Jensen threw for over 200 yards and four touchdowns, while junior running back Trevor Simonson and senior fullback Kendal Bitton scored two touchdowns each.

On the defensive side, the Grizzlies (4-5, 3-3 1A Division I District 4, 5, 6) did not allow the Trojans another point after that first quarter score. Instead, Grace’s defense stepped up with its strongest showing of the season.

“The defense was a little nervous at first, especially on defense, but once we started scoring, they settled down and played really good football.” Millward said.

Millward said he already has film on the Pirates, who won the Third District, and will begin watching as soon as possible.

“I feel like we can match up pretty well against them,” he said. “We’re confident going up against this team.”

Raft River game preview

 Tonight's game means everything for this years Grace High football team.  The Grizzlies (3-5) will host the Raft River Trojans (0-7) tonight at Roswell field in Grace. This is a must win for the Grizzlies who are looking to make the playoffs for the first time in 8 years.  It will be a true test of the composure and focus of a team that has never experienced what it's like to be in a "must win" situation.

 The Grizzlies are coming in as heavy favorites which could have an affect on how the players play.  In their last 3 wins they were coming in as slight underdogs and proved that they deserved some respect, but tonight will show how they respond when the roles are reversed.

 The Trojans are averaging just 14 ppg, while their opponents are averaging 47.  The grizzlies offense shouldn't have much trouble scoring on the Trojans, but they can't afford to give up anything on defense and let the Trojans stay in the game early.  The last 3 games the grizzlies have won because of their ability to score, but their defense has struggled to make stops at times.  Defensive coordinator Mike Coburn will be pushing for his defense to hold Raft River scoreless tonight to set the pace for what he wants to see in the playoffs next week.

 The Challis Vikings are hoping for an upset by Raft River tonight due to their Wednesday night win over Shoshone.  A Raft River win would put Challis into the playoffs at the #2 seed instead of Grace.

 It will be Senior Night for the Grizzlies and I expect they will come out fired up for the opportunity to play in such an important game. The weather looks relatively good for a night this late in October which will hopefully pull out all the Grace High Alums to come witness the Grizzlies earn a playoff berth.

Tonights Odds:     O/U - 61          Spread   Grace -40

Grace football team shows how quickly improvement can take place

- Idaho State Journal, Dan Angell

One of the most amazing phenomenons to me is how much players improve between seasons in high school sports.

In one season, a team is struggling to beat any of their opponents. They end up losing more games than they win and don't go to the playoffs. Then the calendar turns, and yesterday's juniors become today's seniors. Suddenly, the team that couldn't win games is thinking playoffs and more.

We've seen it this year from Pocatello, Preston, American Falls, Firth and Rockland. Four of those teams had a losing record last year, while Rockland was at .500. A year later, all of those teams are on their way to the playoffs.

Now we might be seeing it one more time with Grace.

Yes, Grace, one of the unlikeliest teams to pull off a turnaround, especially after the way the Grizzlies started the season. Last year and in years previous at the 2A level, Grace was known as the league doormat, a hopeless team that had no idea how to win.

This year, the Grizzlies moved down to 1A Division I, and coach Steve Millward entered the season optimistic about what his team could do. Then the games started, and before anyone could blink, Grace had lost to North Gem, Rockland, Mackay, Oakley and Hagerman.

Five games in, and the Grizzlies were 0-5. Of course, the thought around the area was, “Same old Grace.” In the community, people were openly questioning the direction of the team.

Lost was the fact the Grizzlies had played nothing but top opponents and they had been in almost every game. That was what Millward and his players focused on.

“The main thing we talked about was after the first three games, we felt we'd played tough teams and hung in there,” Millward said. “The kids hung in there knowing we could be a better team than we'd shown. Apart from the Oakley score, the kids knew we were in every game we'd played. They had the confidence to play a mistake-free football game.”

Their sixth game was against Hansen, a team that was nowhere near the level of any of their first five opponents. The Grizzlies finally played that mistake-free game and pasted the Huskies 52-22, earning confirmation that what they were doing was working.

Since then, nobody's been able to stop them. Challis tried and couldn't, giving up 54 points in Grace's first home win of the season. Shoshone couldn't either. The Indians' defense was expected to be a challenge, since it had raised eyebrows around the state a month ago when it held defending state champion Oakley to 14 points.

It wasn't. Grace shredded Shoshone for 70 points, one point fewer than the Grizzlies scored in their last seven games of 2009. The people who'd complained just a month ago were now standing around Shoshone's field well after the Grizzlies had picked up their third straight win, not wanting to leave.

Grace has put itself in position to do the unthinkable. Four weeks ago, the Grizzlies were 0-5 and riding a 12-game losing streak. Now all they need to do is beat Raft River on Friday and the Grizzlies' playoff dream comes true.

“Now it's like everybody's unified,” Millward said. “We're trying to keep them focused on Raft River, but you can feel it in the air. There's a lot of excitement.”

The next-best thing about the Grizzlies' rise is that other struggling programs can watch and dream.

When I was at last week's Rockland-Castleford game, I ran into Sho-Ban coach Brandon Eskelsen, who brought his players to the game to show them what success looks like. Now he has another model to show his kids, one to which they can easily relate.

If Millward and Grace can overcome their past and win, why can't Eskelsen and Sho-Ban? Why can't Michael Curran at Bear Lake, or Dave Spillett at Century? These coaches can now tell their teams, “Look at what Grace is doing. There's no reason that can't be us next year.”

But for now, the moment belongs to Grace. That's pretty appropriate, since the school decided to make its 2010 slogan, “This is The Moment.” I'm not sure they even knew this is the way they'd finally succeed.

“This is surreal,” Millward said. “I'm having to pinch myself to make sure this is real.”

What a moment, indeed.