After leading a turnaround season, Phil Grams is Bee’s Football Coach of the Year
The Ripon Christian High football team was picked to finish sixth in the eight-team Trans-Valley League when returns came back in The Bee’s 2025 preseason poll of coaches.
But that didn’t deter head coach Phil Grams and the Knights. They had their goals set.
What they wanted to attain was simple. It started with meetings in February. Grams stressed to his team the importance of being better people, the soon-to-be seniors maturing over the offseason and returning as a unit with another year of experience.
They were preparing for their first full offseason as members of the best small-school football league in California. After section realignment put the Knights in the TVL, they went 5-7 overall and 1-5 in league play in 2024. With a junior-heavy team that season, Grams made sure his offseason meetings were intentional.
He demanded more, and that is what the team gave him.
During their annual overnight stay at the football field near the eve of their season opener, the Knights laid out their goals for this year. Two of the things on the list were going into the final week of the regular season with the chance to secure at least a share of the TVL title and making a section title appearance.
When they got on the field, the second-to-last place ranking in that preseason coaches poll didn’t mean anything.
“We thought we matched up with everyone in the TVL well, and that Sonora was a juggernaut,” said Grams, who wrapped up his sixth season coaching the Knights. “We felt pretty good about our chances all year.”
The Knights finished tied for second place in the TVL with a 4-2 record, advancing to the Division VI championship game, where they took on league foe Sonora. For the third time in four seasons, the Knights won 10 games.
After pioneering a bounceback season for Ripon Christian against some of the section’s toughest small-school competition, Grams is The Bee’s 2025 Football Coach of the Year.
“My emotional attachment to this team was unlike any other team I had because of the way we grew up together,” Grams said. “The guys responded to coaching and became better people first. Every coach felt the same attachment I did, and it was just a great group to be around, coaching staff and players.”
Every accomplishment this season was special
Grams instilled confidence in his team early, building off each of the 10 wins and learning from the three losses.
Opening the season with a 35-21 win over then-defending state champion Summerville was the first sign the Knights could be special. Three straight dominant nonleague wins against Le Grand, Calaveras and Mesa Verde followed.
Ripon Christian beat rival Ripon, pulled out a dominant 38-8 win over Escalon and beat an undefeated 11-0 Liberty Ranch team in a 52-49 CIF-SJS semifinal shootout.
“We won in different ways and that’s when you know you have a special team,” Grams said. “One week we’d be passing the ball to win. Another week, we’d be running the ball to win.”
A league win over Hughson set the tone for the rest of the regular season.
Just one week after a 14-point loss to Hilmar, Ripon Christian bounced back, gutting out a 21-14 win over the defending league champion Huskies, snapping the Huskies’ 22-game regular season winning streak and putting the rest of the league on notice. The Knights trailed 14-13 entering the fourth quarter and scored eight points in the period to secure the victory and keep alive their hopes of entering the final week with a shot at the league title.
“Our kids showed up that night and got it done,” Grams said. “That might be the one that got us over the hump.”
After a successful regular season, the Knights went on a playoff run that saw them advance to the section title game for the third time in four seasons.
The two losses that ended their league title hopes and their hunt for a blue banner was Sonora. The Wildcats went 15-0 and won their second straight state championship.
Grams credits those around him
Grams gives his players a lot of credit.
With the season they had, this year’s team is in rare air, being thrown into prestigious conversations among school alumni and local football fans comparing the best teams the school has had.
They finished with one of their highest end-of-season section rankings ever (No. 18) and nearly every team on their schedule not only had a winning record, they also made a playoff bracket in their respective division.
“It’s one of those years where if you look at the history of Ripon Christian football, this may be one of the best teams ever.”
The Ripon Christian senior class is one of the most decorated in school history. Some have been three-year varsity starters, including All-District seniors Mason Tameling and Amos Cady. Aaron Van Hofwegen and Lushen Sanders also had key roles in the team’s wins. Grams calls the class “special” and notes that most of the players were eighth-graders at a flag football camp he put on with the varsity team several years back.
Grams said this season’s success was due in large part to the fact that this senior class went through the gauntlet that is the TVL last season. The near-30 varsity players to start the year were also a program high.
“You win football games with your seniors, and we had a group of juniors that experienced the TVL (in 2024),” Grams said. “They came back more mature and ready to go. All those factors combined got us over the hump this year.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
