Going Out A Winner

Veteran Nevada Union football coach Gary Sharpe shows off his "Miner's Helmet" retirement gift given to him by his team following Nevada Union's 42-6 win over Davis Thursday evening. The win gives NU its second straight 10-0 freshman football season and with it another Delta Valley League championship,

Nov. 13, 2009

Miners Complete 10-0 Campaign;

Stunning comeback gives Hillmen Frosh crown

Nevada Union's Miners and Placer's Hillmen were the big winners Thursday night as the foothills area freshman football teams both racked up respective league football championships.

At Grass Valley, Nevada Union sent retiring coach Gary Sharpe out in a big way as the Miners pummled Davis, 42-6, to cap a perfect 10-0 campaign and grab the outright Delta Valley League championship.

Sharpe is retring this season after coaching for 36 seasons at NU. His last two frosh squads posted back-to-back 10-0 seasons.

Meanwhile, at Rocklin, Placer's frosh football team pulled off stunning comeback at Whitney and with it grabbed the Pioneer Valley League championship.

Trailing 32-6 at the end of the first quarter, the Hillmen roared back to dominate the final two quarters and then used Dominic Granieri’s 26-yard field goal with 11 seconds to play as the difference in a thrilling, 39-38 win.

“It was an unbelievable win,” said Placer coach Jim Gray about the victory. “We finally figured out what Whitney was doing and the whole game changed. We just didn’t know if we had enough time to pull it off. The kids never gave up”

Both the Hillmen (9-1, 6-0) and Wildcats (8-1-1, 5-1) had entered Thursday’s fray with identical undefeated  PVL records.

In the first half, Placer used a 65-yard touchdown run from Isaac Brahce to get the scoring going but after that it was all Whitney. With the Wildcats’ “spread” offense motoring up and down the field almost at will, the hosts took advantage of two Placer fumbles to build a seemingly comfortable, 32-6, advantage at the end of the first quarter and 32-14 at halftime.

But in the second half,  Placer’s wing-t offense started to click and the aroused Hillmen defense started to force the Wildcats into three and out series’.

With Michael Robinson (180 rushing yards) scoring four touchdowns and Tony Sukaroff, Jacob Peek, Eddie Vandedoes and Ryan Talley leading the defense, the tide turned and the Hillmen proceeded to pull off the big victory.

“We had a great season,” said Gray. “It was a great group of kids who believed in what we were doing.”

Bear River 42 El Dorado 6 – The Bruins capped their 4-5 season with a runaway win at Placerville over the Cougars.  Cody Heard scored four touchdowns for the Bruins on a 10-yard run, a 70-yard punt return and on pass receptions of  40 yards from Dylan Smith and 45 yards from Hayden Macklin.

Smith added another score on a 15-yard run while Austin Dowling tallied on a 35-yard scamper.

Defensively, Dowling and Andrew Harris both came up with pass interceptions while leading the tackle department were Cameron Barrios, Michael Raigoza, Derek Lilienthal, Sean Hardwood and Zack Winter.

Lincoln 20 Colfax 12 – The Falcons lost four fumbles and the Zebras used the spark of a second half kickoff return for a touchdown to score the Pioneer Valley League win.