Biggs senior running back Zach Smith (2) rushes the ball against Weed on Friday, November 17 in the Wolverines 6-0 victory.

GRIDLEY

ORLAND, CA (MPG) - The Gridley Bulldogs football team lost to the defending California Interscholastic Federation Division 5-A state champion Orland Trojans in a 42-6 defeat of the CIF Northern Section Division V semifinals on Friday, November 17.

Orland previously beat Gridley 35-14 in a November 3rd contest, which was for the Butte View League title.

Gridley scored on the opening drive of the game as junior kicker Nolan Weagant kicked a 35-yard field goal to give the Bulldogs an early 3-0 lead. Weagant added a 37-yard field goal later in the first half as the only points of the game for Gridley.

Orland responded as junior running back Manny Rodriguez scored on a 12-yard rushing touchdown to take a 7-3 lead. The Trojans had a 14-3 lead after the first quarter when caught a 41-yard passing touchdown from Orland senior quarterback Diego Rico.

Rodriguez was a nightmare for the Bulldogs defense as he scored four touchdowns on the night and had 163 yards of offense.

Gridley head coach Mike Meyer expressed to the Herald that the Trojans were able to make a lot of big plays. Five of the six touchdowns Orland scored on were on plays that were 25 yards or more.

He added that the Bulldogs did make mistakes in the game, which consisted of missed tackles, penalties and missed assignments.

“Orland played less mistake free and the score reflected that,” Meyer said.

After completing his first season in charge of the Gridley football program, Meyer said he wanted to thank the senior class of 2024 for leading the team and creating a new standard for the football program.

The Bulldogs had a young roster this season as 25% of their roster was seniors and will be graduating next spring, Meyer is excited about growing the program for next season 

He told the Herald that he is going to try and figure out the best schedule in the offseason for the team to be together as much as possible as they all go into other sports or programs throughout the school activities.

“Teams that work hard together, play hard together,” Meyer said.

BIGGS

WEED, CA (MPG) - The Biggs Wolverines punched a ticket to their first CIF Northern Section title game since 2016 as they shut out the Weed Cougars 6-0 on Friday, November 17.

Biggs senior running back Matthew Munanui (21) scores the lone touchdown late over Weed on Friday, November 17 to punch their ticket to the CIF Northern Section Division V game on Wednesday, November 22 at Portola.

Biggs head football coach Brian Harrison told the Herald it means a lot to the community as Harrison had received phone calls, text messages etc. from supporters who are living in the community and former residents of Biggs showing endless support.

Harrison told the Herald the game at Weed felt like a home game because of the amount of people who made the nearly two and a half hour trip.

He added the only score of the game came late in the game with a couple of minutes to go as they punched in a touchdown score to take the lead.

Prior to the game against Weed, Harrison told the Herald that stopping the Cougars offense was to start off containing the edges and not allowing senior quarterback Dj Horton get to the outside and get a running lane.

Harrison said to the Herald that they did a great job defensively and held the Weed offense to a significant amount of yardage less then they are used to.

With the victory over Weed, they played in the Division V final on Wednesday night at Portola. Harrison added Portola will run the ball for most of the game and it will be another dogfight between both teams.

If Biggs won the title, they would have to wait and see if they were eligible for the CIF State tournament for a potential NorCal Regional game to play for a state championship.