El Cerrito High's Chad Walker (20) holds onto the jersey of Grant High's Kenyon Shabazz (11) as Shabazz tries to catch a pass in the the end zone in the second quarter of their CIF Division 3-AA regional finals football game in El Cerrito, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
El CERRITO – The outlook was promising for the El Cerrito High School football team at the end of the first quarter Friday, as the Gauchos held a one-touchdown lead and had shut out a high-scoring Grant-Sacramento squad.
But the visiting Pacers were dominant after that. They scored the last 36 points of the 3-AA North championship game to end El Cerrito’s hopes of an undefeated season with a 36-7 victory.
“They did a great job getting the playmakers involved, but I think a lot of it was us. We just poorly executed what we needed to do,” El Cerrito coach Jacob Rincon said. “Overall (this season), I think we did a great job. Obviously we didn’t reach the ultimate goal we wanted, but we did a great job and I’m proud of the guys.”
Grant (11-2) will host San Jacinto (13-2) in the 3-AA state championship game on Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. El Cerrito finished its season with a 13-1 record.
In Friday’s game, both teams saw their long opening drives end on downs. A tackle by El Cerrito’s Daniel Harper stopped Grant ballcarrier Joseph McCray short of a first down on a fourth-and-10 play.
On Grant’s second possession, El Cerrito’s Guardian Harper recovered a fumble to end the drive. Two plays later, Gauchos quarterback Michael Vanhook found Kamani Jackson open over the middle for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 36.5 seconds left in the first quarter. A point-after-touchdown kick by El Cerrito’s Nathaniel Arce made the score 7-0.
But Grant proceeded to drive 78 yards to score on a four-yard run by McCray. A two-point conversion pass failed, so El Cerrito still held a 7-6 lead with 10:33 left in the first half.
However, the Pacers produced a couple of big plays to take a 22-7 lead into halftime. McCray connected with Kenyon Shabazz on a 26-yard scoring play, and then with just 34.3 seconds until halftime, Kyrell Goss-Pruitt took a pass from McCray 61 yards for a touchdown. Then Goss-Pruitt ran in a two-point conversion attempt and Grant had a 15-point lead, El Cerrito’s largest deficit this season.
“Once we got locked in, I think we showed what we were capable of doing,” Grant coach Carl Reed said. “They are a very athletic team. They had a lot of speed and matched us … Defense wins championships, and it showed up two weeks in a row for us.”
Grant’s pass rush was outstanding, as it limited the Gauchos to 105 yards passing and produced four sacks. The Pacers also closed the running lanes, as El Cerrito only rushed for 38 total yards. Tony McAdoo led the way with 50 yards on the ground.
The Pacers had a pair of rushing touchdowns in the second half on a five-yard run by Joshua Hamilton (with a two-point conversion run by Goss-Pruitt) in the third quarter and a 20-yard scoring run by Semaj Mafu-Hart with 7:05 left in the game.
Goss-Pruitt was dynamic with the ball in his hands, as he had four receptions for a game-high 158 yards. Mafu-Hart rushed for a game-high 91 yards.
In addition to Harper, Warren Smith also recovered a fumble for El Cerrito.
