In a dark, rainy parking lot outside Grant High School’s football stadium, the jingle of a large cowbell rang out Thursday morning as Pacers football boarded the bus on the way to Saddleback College to face Pacifica in Friday’s Division 2-AA state championship game . “I feel great. I’m ready,” said Malachi Simonton, a Grant High graduate, as the team got ready in the team locker room just before heading to the bus. For the second year in a row, Grant Ist traveled south to play in the big game. However, last season the team fell to La Serna in the Division 2-AA title game. So the ultimate goal for this year’s team isn’t just arriving in Southern California later Thursday: “I just don’t want to go to the game and lose. I want to win everything. You won’t remember it if you lose. I want to win,” said Koby “Cheese” Shabazz, a Grant Hoher senior. “That’s my main goal. I don’t want to just show up because they don’t know you for just showing up. They know because you win. That’s why we’re going.” Two seasons ago, the Pacers actually won it all, defeating San Jacinto 36-34 in the 2022 Division 3-AA championship game. So when I had the opportunity to interview the head coach before the team left just after 7 a.m., I asked what is the message for the team as they head toward a state championship? He responded with a three-word sentence: “Do the job. It means doing the job 100%,” Grant High football coach Carl Reed said. “This is a goal we set ourselves in the summer, actually back in January when training started. It was to get the job done.” That’s the mantra that remains the driving force for a busload of student-athletes focused on doing more than just playing in the big game. “Oh yeah, we’ll do that Finish the job,” Simonton said. Other Northern California teams competing in the state football championships include the Twelve Bridges Raging Rhinos, the Vanden Vikings in Fairfield, the Sonora Wildcats and the Summerville Bears in Tuolumne County. For more coverage of top California stories, click here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter