The Grand County Red Devils football team held the North Sevier passing attack at bay in a 20-7 victory in Salina on Friday, Sept. 23, to improve to 1-1 in 2A South play, 4-2 overall.
Grand collected five sacks and an interception against the pass-happy Wolves, who attempted 32 passes, completing 18, while running only 20 running plays (quarterback sacks count as rushing attempts in the statistics). Junior Brayden Schultz had the interception, along with two tackles; while senior Johnathan Park had two sacks, senior Dakota Johnson had a sack and nine tackles, junior Nick Downard had a sack and six tackles, junior Jarett Reidhead had a sack, and senior Jacob Johnston had nine tackles. North Sevier amassed 125 passing yards on their 18 completions, while being held to minus-29 rushing yards.
Grand activated the scoreboard with a 3-yard touchdown from Downard in the second quarter, going up 6-0. Schultz added a 1-yard touchdown run, followed by a run for the two-point conversion, in the third quarter to put Grand up 14-0. After North Sevier got on the board with a 12-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, Schultz added another 1-yard score for the final of 20-7.
Schultz, normally a wide receiver, led Grand with 117 rushing yards on 16 carries. Downard also carried the ball 16 times, amassing 72 yards. Grand only attempted five passes, completing two of them, for 24 passing yards. As a team, Grand collected 270 rushing yards.
The Red Devils currently sit tied for second in the 2A South Standings as San Juan is 2-0 in region play, while Beaver, South Sevier, Enterprise and Grand are 1-1 and North Sevier is 0-2. Grand plays at Enterprise on Friday, Sept. 30.
Enterprise lost 31-13 to San Juan on Friday, Sept. 23, after going undefeated through their first five games. Enterprise, whose mascot is also the Wolves, average 13 pass attempts and about 90 passing yards per game, while they rush for almost 190 yards per game. Their top rusher, Caleb Koopmans, ranks second in 2A with seven rushing touchdowns.
Grand versus Enterprise will likely have an impact on playoff scenarios as the season winds down. The winner will have a 2-1 region record, which will be at least tied for second and could be tied for first if South Sevier defeats San Juan in Monroe on Friday, Sept. 30. The winner will also own the all-important tiebreaker over the loser, should the foes finish the season as the only two teams with the same record in region play (three- and four-way ties are usually subject to coin tosses).
The Red Devils and Wolves square off on Friday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. in Enterprise.
Grand holds Wolves under 100 yards of offense in region victory
