Pierce named to all-state team
Posted on 18. Dec, 2009 by Brian Porter in '09 Season
Grant Pierce was one of four District 8-5A players and the only selection from Plano to the Class 5A All-State Football Team, as released Friday by The Associated Press.
The Plano senior was one of four punters selected to the team and pegged as the state’s second-best punter in Class 5A. He becomes Plano’s second all-state punter in five seasons. In 2005, Brian Sheffield was named to the team as a punter and kicker.
Grant Pierce should be considered among the best punters ever at Plano and his all-state selection proves it. / ThadFenton.com
Pierce was a difference-maker, as he was also named by coaches as the All-District 8-5A first-team kicker and punter. Never, in any game in which he attempted at least one punt, did he have a lesser punting average than the opponent’s punter.
Plano West’s Jackson Jeffcoat, the state’s top defensive recruit, was the only District 8-5A selection to the all-state first team. Pierce was joined on the second team by Allen’s Cedric Ogbuehi, a standout offensive lineman. Allen’s Matt Brown was an honorable mention selection at quarterback.
Pierce demonstrated a strong leg from the start of the season in both kicking phases, but his greatest asset to the team was as a punter. He averaged 38.6 yards per punt on 49 attempts, landing 17 punts inside the opponent’s 20 and six more inside the opponent’s 10. He was called upon to punt more than five times in multiple games.
Most old Plano fans wanted to draw comparisons between Pierce and Sheffield as punters. Sheffield was termed the best punter Plano ever had at the time.
It is a fair comparison. Sheffield had a 38.3-yard average on 43 punts that season, landing 19 inside the 20 and 10 punts inside the opponent’s 10. Pierce had a slightly higher average and Sheffield had slightly more punts land inside the opponent’s 20.
Mesquite’s Clark Gaddis was selected as the first-team punter and Southlake Carroll’s Cade Foster was the first-team kicker.
A case could have been made for Pierce as a selection to the all-state team as a kicker because of his execution on kickoffs.
He had a 37.7-yard net average on kickoffs, a number near perfect considering a touchback is a net of 40 yards. He sent 21 kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks and nine other kickoffs netted an opponent’s start inside their own 20. More than half of his kickoffs left opponents starting with at least 80 yards to drive. Pierce was also 31-for-33 on conversion kicks and 5-for-12 on field goals.
See the complete Class 5A All-State Football Team, as selected by The Associated Press’ members, here.
