Grant clobbers Downey 63-21 in Division II football quarterfinal

SACRAMENTO – Going into the postseason knowing a first-round win would yield a rematch with regional power Grant, Downey High School’s football team took a step back and had a “not-again” moment.

After all, the Knights were bounced from last year’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs by the Pacers, and it was neither close nor competitive.

But even after Grant repeated the pounding Friday night with a 63-21 victory over Downey, Knights coach Jeremy Plaa wasn’t asking for mercy from the schedule-makers.

He was asking for a rematch.

“Our theme has been to get to the next level, and I talked to our coaches at halftime about needing to play this team again next year, and that’s what our offseason mentality needs to be,” said Plaa, whose team finished 10-2 after claiming a Modesto Metro Conference title. “When we saw Grant in the second round, it kind of took the wind out of our sails because we were thinking ‘not again.’ But we need to beat a team like this to win a section title, and we have the kids to do it with two teams at 10-0 at the lower levels.”

Downey’s game plan was to make Grant beat it through the air and hope for a lot of mistakes from the 12-0 Pacers. And, in a way, both happened.

Grant quarterback Donovan Brown, seeing single coverage all night on his very athletic group of receivers, completed 10 of 15 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns.

The Pacers scored on every possession except those at the end of the second and fourth quarters, and hurt themselves with 169 yards in penalties. On this night, they were good enough to overcome those mental mistakes.

“Their quarterback was a lot more accurate this year,” Plaa said. “Even watching him on film and from last year, too, we thought that we could make them have to beat us with the pass, and they did.”

And even with Downey keying on the run, Grant rumbled for 309 yards on 37 carries. Junior DeShawn Collins, who had 2,033 yards entering the game, was held in check with 86 yards on 14 carries, but Mike Green II came through with 110 yards on 12 carries.

Trailing 35-0, Downey scored just before halftime on a sneak by quarterback P.J. Wilson. He would hit junior receiver Andrew Raspo for second-half scores covering 49 and 11 yards as Downey battled until the end.

As the running clock wound down, the game ended in a very fitting way. As Grant attempted to pass, the ball was tipped and intercepted by Jakob Magana, his 14th of a memorable season.

“That’s a good football team, so we needed some things to go in our favor, and they didn’t at all in the first half,” Plaa said. “I’m proud of the kids because we gave it all we had, but we needed to play a perfect game tonight.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Grant clobbers Downey 63-21 in Division II football quarterfinal."