By admin 
It isn’t a written mandate inside the football offices at Granite Bay High School, but the running joke is that the lead running back for the Grizzlies must rock a shock of locks.
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As in, the kind hair that snakes out of the back of the helmet and bounces as the runner bounds down field. That was the case for four varsity seasons for one of the absolute all-time greats for the storied Placer County program in Isaiah Ene, who set scores of rushing and tackling records for the Grizzlies and has made an impact as a true freshman for the Sacramento State Hornets.
It is now the time for Gabe Smyth.
The senior rushed for two second-half touchdowns, and he caught one of Dominic Cattolico’s three touchdown passes as the Sacramento Bee-ranked No. 6 Grizzlies held off the tenacious No. 19 Ponderosa Bruins, 37-26, on Friday night in a nonleague contest in Shingle Springs.
“Our running backs have to have long hair,” Granite Bay coach Joe Cattolico said with a laugh. “Gabe is a really good player. He’s a guy who’s been waiting his turn. Isaiah Ene was a great player, and Gabe did good things last year, but he’s been waiting for his opportunity to shine, and he’s doing a really good job for us.”
Dominic Cattolico, son of the coach, continued his strong senior campaign. He fired first-quarter touchdown strikes of 26 and 7 yards to Zion Vaea for a 14-0 Grizzlies lead, and his 26-yard scoring strike to Smyth gave Granite Bay a 24-12 advantage.
Smith’s 3-yard touchdown run pushed the score to 31-19 as the Grizzlies improved to 3-0 with the Sierra Foothill League schedule looming.
Ponderosa showed how good it can be in defeat, dropping to 3-1 but encouraged with the Capital Valley Conference schedule kicking off on Sept. 25. The Bruins lost to Granite Bay 42-7 last season and are a more experienced group this season, standing at 3-1 under veteran coach Davy Johnson.
“They’re really good,” coach Cattolico said of Ponderosa. “We went and saw them play the first half last week (a 49-13 win over Casa Roble), and I was scared all week. Davy does a great job. I know Davy’s dad (retired coach Dave Johnson) from San Jose from way back, so he comes from a football family. Their kids play hard.”
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Johnson was a star player at Union Mine High in El Dorado County in the 2000s and has worked exhaustively to get the Bruins up and rolling. Part of his plan is to keep players in the neighborhood at Ponderosa and not lose them to neighboring schools.
“We have a lot of senior leadership, and we’ve got kids that have bought into this program since they were in the sixth grade, so this is their seventh year in the program,” Johnson said, adding that playing strong programs such as Granite Bay can only help his program grow.
“I’ve got a ton of respect for Joe Cattolico,” Johnson added. “They run a great program. They’re first class, and I like playing teams like that.”
Colton Ridgley is one of the senior leaders for Ponderosa, a third-year varsity quarterback who ran for two touchdowns against Granite Bay and had a touchdown pass to Ethan Hammersly to pull the Bruins to within 31-26 early in the fourth quarter.
Cattolico also has a lot of seniors, but the lineup also includes underclassmen. The young players will have to grow up fast with the SFL menu fast approaching. Granite Bay’s SFL slate starts with Bee-ranked No. 7 Jesuit and follows with top-ranked Folsom, No. 5 Rocklin, No. 4 Del Oro, No. 12 Whitney and No. 2 Oak Ridge.
The SFL teams are a combined 20-1, with only Oak Ridge suffering a 20-14 loss to state-ranked Central East of Fresno.
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“The league is great again,” coach Cattolico said.
This story was originally published September 18, 2026 at 11:09 PM.