Downey will open Sac-Joaquin Section Division II football playoffs at home

The Modesto Metro Conference will follow four teams into the Sac-Joaquin Section postseason, but only one will play before a home crowd.

Eighth-seeded Downey (8-2) will open the Division II playoffs at Chuck Hughes Stadium against No. 9 Granite Bay (5-5), an at-large team hailing from a Sacramento-region power conference.

This will be the second time in four seasons Downey and Granite Bay have met in the playoffs. In 2012, Granite Bay whipped the Knights 56-20 in quarterback Aaron Zwahlen’s last game. Zwahlen threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns, but the Hawaii freshman also was intercepted three times, including a pick-six. Granite Bay went on to win the CIF State Division I championship.

“The draw always seems to be tough, but until we beat one of these Sacramento teams, we won’t get any respect as a conference,” Downey coach Jeremy Plaa said.

Modesto, Beyer and Gregori will hit the road for their postseason openers. The Panthers (7-3) are seeded No. 10 in Division I and will play No. 7 Merced (7-3) at Veterans Stadium at Golden Valley High in a clash of league champions.

Beyer (6-4) drew the No. 16 seed in Division II and will travel to top-seeded Grant (9-1), while No. 15 Gregori (6-4) faces state-ranked and second-seeded Elk Grove (10-0) in the Division I tournament.

Gregori coach Jason McCoy said Downey has more than home-field advantage working in its favor.

The Knights have won four consecutive games since a 42-34 loss to Modesto on Oct. 2. Last week, Downey stunned Gregori 46-0, summoning a total performance to earn a share of its fourth consecutive conference title with Beyer and Modesto.

Junior quarterback Brett Neves was 17 for 22 for 198 yards and a touchdown, senior running back Tyran Daniels rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns, and linebackers Aaric Holt, Dwayne Heller and Poaka Kekua combined for 36 tackles.

“They took it to us. It was our Senior Night and we didn’t do a good job,” McCoy said. “I think they’re (Downey) playing their best football right now.”

The opportunity for a three-way split was created by Beyer, which upset Modesto the week before. On Monday, Plaa again tipped his cap to Beyer coach Doug Severe.

“Our theme of the week was gratitude. The idea being with Beyer beating Modesto, the door was open for us,” Plaa said. “We had great competition in practice – probably the best we’ve had all year – and it showed up on Friday night. We got to keep the streak going.”

Granite Bay presents a much tougher challenge. The Grizzlies’ run-heavy attack features multiple weapons. Five players have at least 34 carries, according to MaxPreps, while senior quarterback Kyle Kraft provides balance. Kraft is completing 57 percent of his passes for 140.6 yards per game. He has thrown for eight touchdowns against just one interception.

Christian Fisher leads the way on the ground with 85 carries for 310 yards and seven touchdowns. Sam Cusano, the fastest of Granite Bay’s fleet of running backs, has 289 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

“They’re quicker than any team we’ve seen all year long,” Plaa said. “They run the Fly Sweep sideline to sideline. They lost their quarterback in Week 2, so they’ve become one-dimensional with what they do. But they still run the ball extremely well.”

Though the numbers are modest, Plaa says they are misleading. Granite Bay was fifth in the Sierra Foothill League, widely recognized as the deepest large-school league in the section.

Defending state champion and Division I No. 1 seed Folsom (10-0) sets the bar in the SFL. Oak Ridge (8-2, No. 3 Division I), Rocklin (7-3, No. 3 Division II) and Del Oro (4-6, No. 5 Division II) also earned automatic berths.

Granite Bay was an at-large selection. The winner Friday likely will play Grant.

The Knights have gone 43-13 in the last five seasons with four league championships and five postseason appearances. In two of those seasons, Downey won a first-round game, including 20-19 over Antelope last fall.

One week later, the Knights were stopped by Grant.

Despite all of its local success, Plaa realizes his program won’t contend for top playoff seeds and section titles until it slays a few of the dragons.

“Until you beat a team like Grant, you can’t talk about section titles,” Plaa said. “I think our kids are up to the challenge.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Downey will open Sac-Joaquin Section Division II football playoffs at home."