NEVADA UNION FOOTBALL GRANT PREVIEW

The Miners have started the season with a bang. They are 1-0 with their victory over McQueen of Reno 27-10 as well as ranked a #13 in the maxpreps rankings and # 4 in the Sacramento Bee polls and Cal-High Sports has Grant at No. 4 (from 15) and Nevada Union No. 5 (from 14) in their polls.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/preps/archives/2012/08/state-rankings.html#storylink=cpy

That sounds like the makings of a great team, but wait. This week they travel to Sacramento where they will go toe to toe with archival Grant.

Touchdown Productions NU vs McQueen 2012 replay

The Pacers are ranked at #9, four positions better than Nevada Union and the Miners will be required to play in a very hostile environment. Grant's head coach Mike Alberghini will be looking for revenge as the Miners defeated the Pacers for the City Championship as well as in the Section Final game in 2005. The teams have not played since there was a realignment in league play. The Miners now play in the Sierra Foothill League and Grant plays in the Delta Valley League.

I went back and viewed the 2005 game, thank you to Touchdown Productions. The game was held at Hooper Stadium prior to the turf and it was a mud pit. The Miners won the game due to their line of scrimmage play.

This season the front line is not as dominating but their line-backing core is just as good if not better. The Miner's running game is diverse and the quarter back is very consistent.

Dave Humphers breaking down a play - Photo Clifford Oto

In game one Grant played Paradise to a 28-7 victory this past Friday night. Maxpreps has very little information about that contest so it looks like Coach Alberghini is withholding information. I did take a look at the stats of Paradise and one thing that jumped out at me was they ran the 56 times and only threw the ball eight times.

Mike Alberghini - photo news10

Grant also only lists 21 players on their roster, which if that is the case, by the fourth quarter the Miners could be the fresher team and pull away for the victory.

If either team plans to be in the discussion for a state championship, this is a must win game! While coaches always talk one game at a time. We all know their is a temptation to look ahead, this is one game that cliche holds water.

Prediction - NU 14 GRANT 10

Be sure to check back for my game summery as well as Touchdown Productions replay of "The Game of the Week." I will be back for another week along side Jim Adams and Paul Brown, so I guess I did an alright job for a rookie. Thank you Jim and Paul for the support!