Le Grand special postseason run comes to an end with loss in NorCal Regional Championship
Fall River High’s power running game was ultimately too physical and too tough to stop for Le Grand.
Fall River marched down the field, scoring touchdowns on six of its first seven possessions en route to a 42-21 win over Le Grand in the CIF Northern California Regional Division VII Championship on Saturday afternoon in McArthur.
“We hadn’t had to deal with the veer option at all this year,” said Le Grand coach Aaron Martinez, whose team finished with an 8-6 record. “It was hard to gauge their size and speed, not knowing their level of competition. They were a disciplined, physical team.”
Fall River (12-0) attacked Le Grand with its straight-ahead, smash-smouth rushing attack led by quarterback Ryan Osborne and the running back trio of Evan Bidwell, Jarom Oilar and Evan Dobson.
Osborne, Dobson and Oilar all scored rushing touchdowns to punctuate Fall River’s first three drives to give the undefeated Cascade Valley League champions a 20-7 lead early in the second quarter.
Le Grand had some success hurting the Fall River defense over the top with the passing game.
Quarterback Julian Bucio connected with Jeremiah Lopez on a 60-yard pass on Le Grand’s first offensive play of the game to help set up a 1-yard touchdown by running back Louis Aguallo.
Bucio later found Ronnie Ramirez for a 54-yard touchdown pass to pull the Sac-Joaquin Section champs within 20-14 with 7:19 left in the first half.
However, with Le Grand trailing 28-14, there was a key play to end the first half and a key play that started the second half that turned the game in Fall River’s favor.
Le Grand was driving in the final seconds of the first half, but Fall River tackled Isacc Davison at the 5-yard as time ran out in the second quarter to stop Le Grand from scoring.
Le Grand then started the second half by fumbling on a handoff exchange between Bucio and Aguallo.
That set up Fall River deep in Le Grand territory and Osborne scored a touchdown on a 3-yard run to extend the lead to 36-14 with 10:48 left in the third quarter.
“We felt we were going to make it a one-score game because we felt we could hurt them with our passing game,” Martinez said. “Instead we put the ball on the ground and it becomes a three-score game. We really become one dimensional after that because we were down.”
Davison scored on a 22-yard touchdown run to pull Le Grand within 36-21, but Fall River answered with another scoring drive as Bidwell scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 42-21.
Bucio was intercepted deep in Fall River territory on Le Grand’s next drive and Fall River ran out the final 10 minutes of the game with its rushing attack.
A special season, which included winning its fifth section championship in school history, ended for Le Grand.
Meanwhile, Fall River advances to next week’s CIF Division VII State Championship Bowl against Morro Bay (8-6).
“Obviously our guys were disappointed,” Martinez said. “It’s been a long season. I told our guys don’t let this cloud a great season. We really did accomplish some things. We talk about putting our imprint on history and they did that.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2021 at 8:52 PM.
