Golden Valley football’s game against Nipomo will be an all-day affair.
The Grizzlies will depart their school at 11 a.m. for a three-hour charter bus ride up the coast to play the Titans on their home turf at 7 p.m.
“We’ll get up there and do normally what we do when we get out of school,” said coach Dan Kelley. “It’s a challenge, but we’ve got to accept it and treat it like a business trip. Go up there and take care of business.”
The Grizzlies (5-5) are entering the matchup as the No. 2 seed in Division 6 and are coming off a 34-12 win over West Ranch. The team tied for third in the Foothill League with Saugus.
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Golden Valley made a deep run in last season’s playoffs, but feels no nerves or pressure to repeat their performance this year, according to Kelley.
The Grizzlies hardly have reason to with playmakers like DeGabriel Floyd, Jalin Lewis, DJ Turner and Ahvie Harris on offense. They’re set defensively, too.
Junior linebacker Derrese Morganfield leads the team with 91 total tackles, followed by CJ Ravenell at 60 and Floyd with 47. Kelley has also seen immense improvement from sophomore Corey Neal, who is tied for sixth on the team with 38 total tackles.
“It’s nice to have some weapons on offense as well because, obviously, you want to score points, but we’re going to lean against our defense and we’re going to pump our defense up,” said Kelley.
