Grizzlies get ready for gridiron
Golden Valley head coach Dan Kelley has been looking forward to this season for about 18 months.
In 2019, a school-best 8-2 season (3-2 in the Foothill League) ended with the Grizzlies inexplicably being denied an at-large bid in the Division VI playoffs, an oversight widely cited as an example of the problems in the CIF’s current at-large playoff-bid selection process.
From that group, he was supposed to have 27 players coming back, but due to the delays and COVID-19, he’ll probably have about 40-45 total players, like most of the teams this year that are seeing reduced numbers due to a variety of factors.
One of the aspects that Kelley knows he will be able to rely on, however, is the play of his experienced returners like Luke McCoy, who was praised for his play as a running back and linebacker, in addition to being voted a captain last year as a junior.
“(Jaxson Miner) was a big contributor last year,”
Kelley said, talking about his quarterback. “And he’s only a junior this year, so he’s got one more year, but he’s stepping up as a leader this year.”
Miner, who threw for 777 yards as a sophomore last year, completed 53.1% of his passes with a quarterback rating of 91.2, according to MaxPreps.com. Kelley is no doubt looking forward to seeing how another year of development will further an offense that scored almost 33 points per game last season.
Carlos Meza will be looking to finish his career as a three-year starter for the Grizzlies with a strong senior effort at middle linebacker and wide receiver. A contributor on both sides of the ball, Meza garnered 60 tackles, four tackles for a loss and three interceptions as a defensive leader from the middle linebacker
position, and a couple hundred receiving yards.
Kelley expects Meza to be relied on more on the offensive side this year, in addition to his experience on defense.
Speaking of increased roles on offense, Jacob
Cipperley was an all-league punter who also was starting free safety last season for the Grizzlies, but the senior wide receiver is expected to play a bigger role in the offense this season for the first three downs in the 2021 season, as well.
At the line of scrimmage, Kelley is looking at three seniors who will be important pieces for the team this year: David Kim, who’s playing defensive tackle and offensive guard; Steven Eakins, who plays offensive line and defensive
tackle; and Raysean Gilmore, who plays defensive end and offensive tackle.
“Those three guys are going to be our nucleus,” Kelley said. “When it comes to defense and offense, we’re going to build around those guys.