Porterville, Granite Hills clash in cross-town showdown

Tonight’s matchup between Granite Hills’ and Porterville’s football teams is becoming a recurring theme.

One team looks at the other like an annoying little brother that won’t go away. The little brother, of course, wants to prove it can play with the bigger boys.

The younger “sibling,” the nine-year-old Granite Hills, is still trying to wedge its way into the longstanding Porterville-Monache rivalry which, by the way, caps the season next week.

“The kids are really excited about (playing Porterville),” Granite coach Gary Stoddard said. “We’re looking forward to finishing strong against these guys and then see if we can find some remedies for next year.”

Stoddard and his staff have plenty of work to do to tweak the Grizzlies’ roster, which has amassed a 1-8 record thus far.

“I think, unfortunately, with the season we’ve had, everyone’s kinda relieved (tonight is the last game),” Stoddard before this season started were so high.”

While the Grizzlies expected a stronger season than their current predicament, no one else was buying it.

In a preseason poll collected from coaches around the Valley, Granite was predicted to finish second to last in their league. Who did they think was dead last?

The older brother — Porterville.

The Panthers, however, have exceeded far beyond the pundits’ assumptions and currently hold a 4-4 record after last week’s solid win at Chavez.

“The boys are stoked,” Porterville coach Rick Stewart said of the team’s attitude of late. “We’re focusing on this game, but it’s not a rivalry. Our rivals are Monache. This is just another game.”

Despite beating the Panthers the past four years, it looks like it may take a few more Grizzly wins before they earn their cross-town opponents’ respect. Not that Stewart doesn’t have any for Granite.

“We’re not looking ahead to Monache at all,” Stewart said. “We still have to go 1-0 this week and we’ve gotta stuff their run. (Running back Tony) Trujillo is a good player.”

The last time the two met, Granite pulled off a 13-12 victory against a Panthers squad that Stewart said was down to 17 players and no kicker. Panthers running back Josh Dieterle had 230 yards rushing and the offense racked up more than 400 total, but Porterville just couldn’t score in the red zone.

“They had a key interception and we had two untimely fumbles that cost the game,” Stewart said.

Stoddard added details to the story.

“We were able to score two touchdowns on them,” he said, “ one on a long run and the other was a fluke pass play that got us down to the 3-yard line.”

Stewart was forced to go for two-point conversions after each score and couldn’t get it done.

It marked the third time Stoddard has coached against a Stewart-led team and the third time Stoddard has won.

“I’m not interested in losing this game, either,” he said. “But if he does win, he definitely deserves it. If they beat us, it’s not out of sheer luck.

“They work hard,” Stoddard continued. “They run plays to perfection. They’re disciplined. And you can tell they’re well-coached assignment-wise.”

In other words, the Panthers are everything the little brother wants to be. And beat.