Grizzlies face Tigers tonight in Battle of the Orange Belt

Granite Hills High School had a rough football season this year with a 2-7 overall record and will play possibly their final game of the season tonight at Woodlake High School in the “Battle of the Orange Belt” rivalry game.

The Grizzlies (2-7, 2-3 ESL) are one win away from qualifying for the CIF Central Section Division VI playoffs but they're up against the East Sequoia League's No. 1 team, the Div. V Tigers (8-1, 5-0 ESL) who are on a six-game winning streak after defeating Farmersville (0-10, 0-6 ESL) 52-6 last week.

Woodlake has both a run and pass game thanks to quarterback Damian Hernandez and running back Victor Rojas. Hernandez has been pretty accurate this season with 2,087 yards and 20 touchdowns on 142 of 200 completions with six interceptions. His main targets are Bryan Cuevas (784 yards, eight touchdowns) and Hector Magana (418 yards, two touchdowns). On the ground, Rojas has totaled 684 yards and 14 touchdowns on 78 carries.

After starting out ESL with a win, Granite Hills hit a rough patch that continued last week with a 35-0 loss to Strathmore (8-1, 4-1 ESL).

Senior Jason Alvarez (546 yards, seven touchdowns) and junior Roman Valles (417 yards, two touchdowns) have provided a decent run game for the Grizzlies but junior quarterback David Ramirez has struggled in the pocket where he has completed just 43 of 114 passes for 613 yards and five touchdowns with 11 interceptions.

Last season Granite Hills beat Woodlake 13-0 for the first time since the rivalry started in 2012.