Football: Broncos not overlooking Otay Ranch
You hear players say it all the time during the playoffs: “every game we know can be our last, so we have to play it like it could be our last.”
Many of them are referring to the harsh reality of the postseason: win and advance or lose and go home. But the mantra has a little more meaning than that for Milan Grice.
The Rancho Bernardo High running back saw his season come to an end during the Broncos’ 42-10 win over San Marcos in the San Diego Section Division II semifinals last year.
Grice had been dealing with an ankle injury all season and went down for good in the third quarter. He was on crutches by the fourth quarter and was not able to play in the Division II championship game, which Rancho Bernardo lost 14-7 to El Capitan.
“It really hurt me a lot not being able to contribute to the team,” said Grice, who gashed Mira Mesa for 173 yards and two touchdowns in the Broncos’ 26-14 quarterfinal win last week. “This year I am excited to have a chance at actually being able to play.”
But first second-seeded Rancho Bernardo (9-2) will have to take care of business Friday night in the Division II semifinal, where it will host No. 6 Otay Ranch. The Mustangs (7-5) might not have a pretty record, but they have had some impressive victories.
“I don’t know too much about them,” said Grice, a 5-foot-8, 178-pound junior, Sunday evening. “But I hear they have played a tough schedule and we need to prepare well. I know they are a great team and we have to respect them.”
The Mustangs own a 14-7 win over the top seed in Division II, Valhalla, and they topped No. 3 Granite Hills (9-2) last week in the quarterfinals 35-20. Their losses are against some of the county’s best, including Grossmont (28-27), St. Augustine (41-14), Steele Canyon (17-6), Eastlake (28-7) and Bonita Vista (20-7).
The Broncos entered last year’s semifinal at San Marcos as the underdog. This year Rancho Bernardo is playing at home and is the favorite.
“I think it will be a lot more pressure on us,” admitted Grice. “But we have a chip on our shoulder, because we lost the title game. We really want to finish the mission.”
The Broncos will need to slow down a balanced Otay Ranch attack in order to reach a second straight section championship game and keep their hopes of winning a title for the first time since 1995 alive.
Mustangs running back Samuel Stephens has 1,013 yards and six touchdowns on 193 carries. Receivers Adrian Rodriguez, who is 6-2, and Devin Lloyd, who is 6-4, have given opponents all kinds of trouble. Rodriguez has 27 receptions for 666 yards and nine touchdowns, while Lloyd has 23 catches for 384 yards and two touchdowns.
The Broncos feature one of the best defenses in the area, though, and should be up to the task. The secondary, led by Anthony Barnum, Jeff Molino and Nathan Lovato, has picked off 11 passes this season.
Expect this to be a tight game all the way to the finish. The key match up will be Rancho Bernardo’s secondary against the tall receivers of Otay Ranch. Offensively, expect the Broncos to feed the ball to Grice often and take their shots deep to Devaughn Vele.
The winner of this game will play the winner of the other semifinal between No. 1 Valhalla and No. 4 Mt. Carmel in the Division II championship game Dec. 5 at Southwestern College.
Prediction: Rancho Bernardo 20, Otay Ranch 14