By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer
As the Grant Union High School Pacers take the football practice field, you can hear drumming in the distance. The school’s celebrated drumline has provided the soundtrack for more than a decade of winning and swells of community pride.
The Pacers and their heartbeat, the drumline, have created a culture that the Del Paso Heights community has bought into and adopted as its own. Winning cures many ills, and that’s what Grant football does.
Having beaten Rocklin High School 41-14 last week for the California Interscholastic Federation Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2-AA championship, the Pacers are rushing toward their second consecutive state title. The Pacers face La Serna of Whittier in the CIF Division 2-AA Championship at 4 p.m. Friday at Saddleback College.
It continues a dramatic turnaround from Carl Reed’s first season as coach in 2021 when the team went 1-9.
The Pacers have won back-to-back section championships, a school first. Reed, a Grant assistant for 20 years before his promotion, attributes the team’s remarkable turnaround to a coaching staff with deep ties to the school and community, and players instilled with a ferocious will to win.
“The kids themselves bought in. They did not want to go through another losing season again,” Reed said. “We had the right people that came into place to help usher the change in the program.”
After the losing season, coaches and players had a meeting where each shared their expectations and adopted the slogan “win the day.”
“It gave the players a sense of ownership in the program,” Reed said. “We’re trying to keep the tradition of Grant alive and make it Pacer pride. Winning is great but it’s also moving and making sure they’re set up to go to the next level.”
The coaching staff, composed almost entirely of former players, has plenty to do with the winning. “Nearly all the coaches … were Pacers,” special teams coach Oscar Haynes said.
Reed took over in 2021 for Mike Alberghini, who had made the Pacers a state football powerhouse, winning a section-record 282 games.
Principal Darris Hinson said he’ll always credit Alberghini for being able to take the student who was a little too “edgy” and give them a positive way to channel their pent-up energy.
A Culture In School – And For Life
Many of the teachers, coaches, parents and Hinson himself are deeply steeped in the football program and the community. Wide receivers coach Sean Odom graduated in 1986, became junior varsity coach in the ’90s and joined the varsity staff about five years ago. He said Pacer culture is family. “These kids know our coaches from 5 years old and up,” he said. “It’s very rare that you get that continuity with coaches.”
Dr. Gina Warren, founder and executive director of Neighborhood Wellness, said “Pacer for Life” is about the responsibility and obligation to give back to the community to ensure youth are successful.
“It’s more than just football … it’s about the support of the youth and the families,” Warren said.
Warren is the wife of former Councilperson Allen Warren; they both graduated from Grant, in 1982 and 1983, respectively.
The neighborhood and the football program support each other, which helps students realize their dreams.
“It’s about perseverance. It’s about showing determination,” Warren said. “All of that translates to life and when you see kids being successful.”
Grant has sent 12 players to the NFL since the late ’90s, according to Pro Football Reference. This year, three players – Kingston Lopa, Devin Green and Wayshawn Parker – have commitments to play at Oregon, UNLV and Washington State, respectively.
Grant is one of California’s top high schools where college football recruiters scout talent. “It means a lot to play here,” said Lopa, who has played football since age 5 and made the Grant varsity as a freshman. “I always looked forward to playing for Grant.”
He said having coaches who went to and played for Grant is part of the culture that makes Pacer football special. Just days after the losing season of 2021 ended, the team started training for what would lead to last year’s state title.
“Once summer hit, I knew we were going to go far because it was nonstop,” said Lopa, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound receiver and safety who returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown against Rocklin, then caught a scoring pass on offense.
Hinson called Lopa an incredible talent who comes from a long line of Pacers.
“You have this history of families that have come through this school and their siblings that have come through the program. The Lopa family has influenced Grant as a school and also in athletics,” Hinson said.
The culture of Pacer football also extends off the field into players’ academic performance and their behavior in and outside of the classroom.
“We have a group of young men who are doing well in the classroom, they are concerned about meeting their graduation requirements … so they can have an opportunity to play at the next level,” Hinson said. “It is part of the cultural shift. … It’s what you do in the classroom that gives you an opportunity to go play at the next level and our kids are starting to understand that a lot better.”
Reed said his players raised their GPA to 3.0 collectively this season. “They’ve taken huge steps in the classroom and we don’t lose kids to ineligibility anymore,” he said. “It’s just big things like that where school becomes the most important thing for student-athletes, as it should be.”
An Unwavering Source Of Pride
Pacer pride has helped uplift Del Paso Heights, win or lose.
“Grant is the community,” Odom said. “Everybody wants to come to a Friday night game at Grant. Even when we were losing we had a full crowd.”
“It’s a sense of belonging and a legacy of excellence,” Reed said.
Hinson, a graduate of Grant and former football player, was part of the 1992 team that won the school’s first section championship. Grant since has won eight more section titles and two state championships.
“We have a decorated and historic program,” Hinson said. “Football runs deep in this community.” He credits Alberghini for helping unify the community, for being “able to bring those kids together and do something special.”
Del Paso Heights has a crime rate 1.9 times higher than average for Sacramento County. Its population of 34,879 is roughly 23% African American, according to 2010 Census figures.
Since the 1980s, Del Paso Heights has faced its share of social challenges, from crime to poverty.
Grant football player JJ Clavo was shot and killed by a 15-year-old in 2015. In June, the tragic killing of senior Billy Ray Scott the day before commencement in nearby North Highlands rocked the school.
Odom said that despite the neighborhood’s “unfavorable” reputation, it’s not nearly as bad as some believe. Clavo’s murder “had nothing to do with the school but it’s unfortunate he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Hinson noted that regardless of what people say about Del Paso Heights, “there isn’t a community in Sacramento that’s afraid to come to this neighborhood to see their kids compete in sports.”
“We know that if we give an opportunity to our kids to represent this community, they’ll always rise to the occasion,” Hinson said.
The Sound Of Victory
The school’s award-winning drumline was founded in 2009, a year after Grant won its first state championship. Drumline director James Van Buren – or “Mr. V,” as many students call him – started teaching science at Grant in 2007 and football players soon began coming to play the drums he kept in his classroom.
Van Buren said he was approached about creating a drumline to accompany the football team at its games in summer 2009. “I said sure, I could do that,” he said.
The drumline has been featured on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” when it raised tens of thousands of dollars to play in Japan and South Africa. The band just returned from London and Paris. The drumline accompanies the football team to every road playoff game on the road, where other schools are trying to literally silence it.
The drumline utilizes keyboards and needs electricity to play. Van Buren said he began bringing a generator to road games after playing at so many schools that didn’t provide electricity to the visitor.
“We are the number one band in Sacramento and I would argue the state,” Van Buren said.
At Rocklin last week, Grant led 27-14 when the power went out, leaving everyone cold and in the dark, as reported by The OBSERVER.
Grant Pacers Stampede Rocklin Thunder 41-14
“They knew we were getting electricity somehow and what they figured is they had to turn the momentum around,” Van Buren said. “They literally turned off the power thinking they were going to silence us, but they didn’t realize that we brought a generator.”
By the time the final gun sounded, it was Rocklin – ironic mascot: Thunder – that was silent. All that could be heard in the stadium was the drumline.