MitchMash: Pick Folsom for the California Open Division Bowl Championship to set up Grant versus De La Salle

If all goes according to plan up at the top in the North over the weekend, here's an outside-the-box thought for the CIF Commissioners come Sunday.

Pick Folsom.

No, not for the Division I game as everyone anticipates. Pick the Bulldogs for the Open.

Understandably, the California football world figures De La Salle (Concord) will roll to its 23rd consecutive North Coast Section Division I title and be escorted right to the CIF Open Division Bowl Championship game (the Open selection in both the South and North earns a regional pass straight to Carson this season).



De La Salle has been to the State Bowl Championships all eight years, seven at the Open level. The last two seasons, with the creation of the regional play-in game, the Spartans have crushed Folsom in the Open Division, which we think largely instigated the free pass Open change.

Folsom, a nationally ranked team the last two years with a national record-breaking quarterback in Washington-bound Jake Browning, couldn't get by the De La Stomp juggernaut and has never been seen on California's largest stage.

Let's guarantee it and move them straight through this year.

Browning is likely going to break the national touchdown passing record on Saturday. He's thrown for more than 15,000 career yards and 214 touchdowns, including a crazy 76-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio this season. His team averages 57 points per game, and this year it boasts a stout defense that has allowed barely 10 points per game and features five FBS-caliber players.

Yes, a De La Salle versus St. John Bosco (Bellflower) rematch would be epic. But pitting the offenses of Bosco and Folsom against each other would be equally compelling.

And here's the best part about this move: De La Salle versus Grant (Sacramento).



This is a game we've been talking about for a decade, especially since the pre-regional days when the commissioners picked Grant over De La Salle in the 2008 Open state game.

The Pacers, led by the legendary coach Mike Alberghini, not only made the commissioners look smart, but also helped solidify the Sac-Joaquin Section as a superior football entity with a stunning 25-20 upset of Long Beach Poly.

Remember that?

"We shocked the world," skipping players and fist-flailing coaches kept shouting during a raucous post-game celebration. "We shocked the world."

Since that game, everyone around Northern California has clamored for a Grant versus De La Salle matchup. Both parties have talked about it but, for whatever reason, the trigger hasn't been pulled.

By picking Folsom — kaboom! — that lightning bolt game would be on. (Assuming of course, favored De La Salle, Folsom and Grant win their section title games this weekend).



We could see 20,000 folks packed in at Sacramento State for that one. Sure, De La Salle — with one of its best offenses in its fabled school history — has earned the right to the Open and certainly a home Division I date.

But the Spartans love to travel, and no one is more equipped to do so. Sacramento State is a fabulous venue with just the right seating capacity for a rabid atmosphere.

And make no mistake. This Grant team, with perhaps the best offensive line in its school history, led by likely future Sunday-playing left tackle Darrin Paulo (6-foot-6, 320 pounds), would give De La Salle one hell of a battle.

The Pacers have three possible FBS tailbacks, led by 2,300-yard junior DeShawn Collins, and with a very capable quarterback in Donovan Brown, could move the ball on anyone.

De La Salle seems like they could move the ball on the '85 Bears this season, but Grant definitely has the athletes to match up.

We know it's well out of the box, but just imagine what a grand spectacle that would be.



While you're at it, CIF commissioners, someone please get the Central Coast Section to make a late change to its policy which sends its Open Division champion directly into the Division I pool.

Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton), a school of 600, is on the brink of pulling a "Hoosiers" and taking the CCS's Open Division title. The fact the Gators are in the Open championship is a monumental accomplishment.

If they beat Bellarmine Friday to improve 13-0, they'll likely be in the mix with De La Salle, Folsom and Grant and thus shut out from a regional game — a travesty.

Instead pull them down to their rightful spot, the Division III regional game, where they played last season and represented Northern California so gamely behind the Bay Area's most dynamic two-way player, Ben Burr-Kirven, who leads the Gators once more. He's committed to Washington.

We recognize it would be an act of Congress to get it done. But it's been an act of Knute Rockne, or perhaps Jimmy Chitwood, to get the Gators to this position. They deserve to move on.