LAKE OF THE PINES — Sometimes there are nights things just don't go your way. The Golden Sierra football team and head coach, John Hilton, had one of those nights Friday.

Host Bear River scored quickly, finding the end zone on its first four possessions, to run away with the nonleague matchup of longtime rivals 41-0.

"That Bear River team is one heck of a team," Hilton said. "Our first two games we came out and got the first score and that gave us some confidence. Tonight they (Bruins) just came out and ran right over us."

A quick start was exactly what Bear River co-head coach Scott Savoie wanted.

"Last year we got off to a horrible start against them (Golden Sierra)," Savoie said. "Tonight the kids were very focused and offensively we executed very well."

While the Bruin offense moved at will against the Grizzlies, the visitors found the yards tough to come by. Overall, Golden Sierra managed just 35 yards of offense with just one first down.

"Bear River has a ton of team speed and they play very physical on defense," Hilton said. "We tried a lot of things to get a spark — moving some guys around and changing things on the fly. We just couldn't get anything going."

Late in the first half the Grizzlies nearly got the break they were looking for as Mike Aplanalp returned a missed field goal deep into Bear River territory. But the nifty run was negated by a penalty and the Griz offense went three-and-out.

On the Bruins' next play, Golden Sierra's defense forced a fumble at midfield but Bear River took it right back as it returned an Aplanalp interception for a touchdown.

"I'm proud of the guys," Hilton said. "They battled all night and there wasn't any quit in them. It's hard to look at the scoreboard and take much from a game like this. Monday, we'll be ready to go and we'll move on from this."

Bear River added one final score in the second half while Golden Sierra had its best drive of the night late in the fourth quarter. After a Bear River penalty turned a second-and-14 situation into a manageable second-and-9, Aplanalp carried for 4 yards and then hit Alex Salyers over the middle for a 14-yard completion and the lone Grizzly first down.

Two incomplete passes and a negative run quickly ended Golden Sierra's promising drive. Jim Hansen led the Grizzlies with 12 yards rushing and Aplanalp added 8.

"My hat's off to those guys," said Savoie of the Grizzlies. "They're a hard-working group and we have a lot of respect for them. We wanted a much better start because last year they really came out and put us on the ropes (Bear River trailed 20-14 before rallying for the win). Now we focus for Woodcreek next week."

Hilton and the Griz will hit the reset button.

"We'll watch the film at some point this weekend and learn what we  can. We've got El Dorado next week and like I told the guys after the game, 'we can't dwell on this loss too much. We have to focus on next Friday and get back to work.'"