With Ryder Lyons out, junior quarterback accounts for six touchdowns as Bulldogs win sixth state championship.
A week after leading
Folsom back from a double-digit deficit in the NorCal Regional, junior quarterback
Brody Rudnicki led the Bulldogs to a 42-28 win over
Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) on Friday in heavy fog at Saddleback College in the California 1-AA state championship.
Last week, Rudnicki threw two late touchdowns to beat Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) after taking over for five-star senior
Ryder Lyons, who left the game with a shoulder injury. Friday, he accounted for six total touchdowns, three of which were in the first quarter. He also went over 300 yards from scrimmage.
247Sports rates Rudnicki as a three-star prospect. He has nine offers including BYU, where his mother was a gymnast on a nationally-ranked squad. He transferred to Folsom from Oak Ridge following his freshman season, knowing that he would have to wait for his turn behind Lyons.
Folsom quarterback Brody Rudnicki and safety Daniel Eagleton celebrate the Bulldogs NorCal title against Archbishop Riordan last week. Tonight Rudnicki accounted for six touchdowns while Eagleton intercepted a pass as Folsom won the state title over Cathedral Catholic. (PHOTO: Anthony Brunsman)
Rudnicki got his first start Sept. 12 for a banged up Lyons and cashed in with a 316-yard, five-touchdown passing performance.
Tonight was Rudnicki's first start since and he got Folsom (14-1) on the board early with a 4-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead.
Brody Ball continued as he flung a 32-yard score to three-star junior
Rob Larson, his 18th touchdown catch of the season, to make the score 14-0.
On the next possession, Rudnicki continued the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown run and it was 21-0 Bulldogs in the first quarter.
Cathedral (11-3) got on the scoreboard as five-star junior
Honor Fa'alave Johnson scored on a 15-yard rushing touchdown to cut the deficit to 21-7.
Folsom got the ball back with two minutes left in the first half at midfield after stopping Cathedral on fourth down. Rudnicki hit senior Oregon State pledge
Jameson Powell for a long pass before finding four-star sophomore
Elijah Tuua in the end zone with 19 seconds left to take a 28-7 lead.
Rudnicki and the Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas and made the score 35-7 two minutes into the second half as the quarterback ran for his third touchdown.
Fa'alave-Johnson immediately scored for Cathedral on a 64-yard rushing score to make it 35-14 with 9:32 left in the third quarter. He had over 200 rushing yards.
With 9:02 left in the game, Rudnicki scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the game to end a six-minute drive and extend the lead to 42-14.
Lyons checked in at quarterback for Folsom midway through the fourth quarter. He handed the football off on every play, then on fourth down he ran the ball out of bounds with under five minutes to play. Lyons is headed to BYU and finished his career with over 12,000 total yards, 173 touchdowns and two state titles.
