Northern California Division IFolsom 52, Grant (Sacramento) 21
Folsom wins its second Northern California title in five years after a superb all-around performance in a 52-21 win over previously unbeaten Grant Friday night.
Photo by Gary Jones
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Folsom football coach Kris Richardson has been trying to convince people for three seasons now, and especially this one. But anyone who knows anything about football already knew.
The Bulldogs aren’t all the
Jake Browning pinball-game show. Not nearly.
Here's a first: Jake Browning catching a
touchdown pass, the first of his career.
It was a 5-yarder from Josiah Deguara.
Photo by Gary Jones
Yes, the face of the program has numbers that Wall Street would clamor for. Video game players too. He’s the national career touchdown leader (now 223) and has thrown for more than 16,000 yards in just three seasons.
But on Friday night, if no one was convinced before, the nation’s No. 5 team is legitimately the nation’s No. 5
team following a thorough 52-21 throttling of Grant (Sacramento) in the CIF North Region Division I title game before a disappointed 6,123 fans at Sacramento State.
Well, perhaps the Folsom fans weren't all that disappointed. It's just that this one, between two undefeated perennial Northern California juggernauts, was supposed to be a proverbial barn-burner.
Folsom (15-0), which led 46-0 entering the fourth quarter, goes for its second state title in five years next week against Oceanside at the StubHub Center in Carson. Oceanside defeated Edison (Fresno) 37-22.
Browning had his most modest night of the season, completing 13 of 24 passes for a measly-for-him 259 yards and three touchdowns — he also caught the first touchdown pass of his career — two to
Cole Thompson, who tied the state single-season record with 33 scoring receptions. The Washington-bound Browning came in averaging 361 yards passing per game this season with 82 touchdowns and just five interceptions.
Folsom's Josiah Deguara out-wrestles Tieneal
Martin for the ball.
He threw a season high two interceptions, but hey, a now 85-to-7 TD-to-interception ratio isn't half bad. The Bulldogs, Browning said, are all good.
"The numbers are always secondary," Browning said. "What matters is we won, everyone played great and we're playing for a state title next week. We're building more memories. I'll have to be a little less careless with the ball but my teammates picked me up. They always do."
The game was dominated by Folsom’s massive offensive line, superb running game and strong, fast, active defense. The Bulldogs piled up 240 yards on the ground with 87 coming from
Bailey Laolagi and 78 from
Tre Green, giving them 504 yards for the game against an equally fast and active defense. .
"We executed great tonight," said 6-foot-5, 270-pound junior lineman
Jonah Williams. "Our backs ran great, Jake was fantastic, our receivers caught the ball and our defense was off the charts. I’m proud of our guys."
Folsom coaches Kris Richardson (left) and
Troy Taylor celebrate.
Photo by Gary Jones
Grant scored three times in the final quarter long after the game was long decided, two came in the final 2:04 on long touchdown passes from
Donovan Brown (10 of 20, 234 yards). The TD tosses were 55 and 52 yards to
Ariyon Huff and 26 yards to
Xaiver Cox.
The Bulldog defense, led by defensive ends
Sam Whitney and
Lukas Hendricks, along with linebackers Laolagi and
Sam Whittingham, was faster and more physical than a superb Grant offense. Laolagi had a 17-yard interception return for touchdown highlighting a dominating first half when Folsom led 26-0.
"Our defense was awesome," Browning said. "They are always awesome. That entire Grant team is ridiculously good and they’ve been putting up 50 and 60 points every game, but our defense had them shut out until the final quarter."
Said Richardson: "A lot of people see all our numbers and think that’s what we’re all about. We have athletes and big and strong kids up front. These guys work so hard. It takes so much work to get to this point. I’m proud of these guys."
The last two years, the Bulldogs reached the Northern California Open regional game, only to be defeated handily by De La Salle (Concord). This felt much different.
"It feels incredible," Richardson said. "The last two years we had fantastic seasons but ended at this point. Winning always beats losing. Now we’re 15-0 and heading to Carson with De La Salle. Now we’ll be representing Northern California and we couldn’t be happier."
Cole Thompson (10) tied a California single-season record with his 32nd and 33rd touchdown catch of the season from Jake Browning.
Photo by Gary Jones
Justin Rice helped lead Central Catholic to yet another state title game appearance.
File photo by Mark Bahrenfuss
The host Raiders (11-3) won their third straight regional championship as
Justin Rice rushed for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns. Rice now has 2,092 yards on the season.
Down 21-7 at the half, Capital Christian (13-1) closed to 21-14 with 4:44 left in the third on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Jack Haney from sophomore Jacob Norville. But that’s as close as they would get.
Quarterback
Hunter Petlansky scored from the 1 to make it 28-14 and then added the clincher on an 8-yard keeper with 5:39 to go to make it 35-14.
Justice Shelton-Mosley scored Capital Christian’s first touchdown on a 2-yard run.
Central Catholic, under coach Roger Canepa, has won the last two state titles and has gone a combined 40-6 the last three seasons.
Northern California Division IIClayton Valley Charter (Concord) vs. OakdaleSaturday, 7:30 p.m. at Clayton Valley Charter High SchoolNorthern California Division IIISutter vs. Campolindo (Moraga)Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at Acalanes High School (Lafayette)
Southern California stories by Colin Ward-HenningerSouthern California Division IOceanside 37, Edison (Fresno) 22
Running back Josh Bernard helped lead Oceanside to another Division I state title game.
File photo by Steven Silva
Tonight the Pirates are going to party like it's 2009. That's the last time Oceanside won a state title, defeating Bellarmine Prep from the North. This year they will get another crack at it after defeating Edison handily in Friday's Southern California Division I Regional Bowl Game.
The Pirates will take on
Folsom, which dismantled an athletic Grant team in the Northern California Regional.
This one was never in doubt, as Oceanside opened up a 16-0 lead in the first quarter and led 30-6 at halftime. The Tigers made a valiant effort to get back into the game, but the lead was just too large to surmount.
On the first possession of the game the Pirates marched down the field, going 75 yards in just eight plays with
Josh Bernard finishing off the drive with the touchdown run.
The Oceanside defense got in on the act with 1:09 left in the first quarter, when a blocked punt lead to a safety to increase the lead to 9-0.
From there the Pirates were clicking on both sides of the ball, having little trouble scoring on offense and little trouble getting stops on defense.
Information based on various Twitter reportsSouthern California Division IVSt. Margaret's (San Juan Capistrano) 48, Christian (El Cajon) 21
Led by quarterback George Krantz, St. Margaret's came away with a thorough victory in the Southern California Division IV Regional Bowl Game.
File photo by Ian Tennant
Quarterback
George Krantz tossed four touchdown passes to lead St. Margaret's to a convincing victory over Christian in the Southern California Division IV Regional Bowl Game on Friday.
The St. Margaret's offense was sparked by its defense. After the Tartans blocked a 25-yard field goal attempt, sophomore
Auston Locke took a pass from Krantz and raced 94-yards for the first score of the game.
Christian then tied the game on a touchdown pass from
David Jeremiah to
Trevor Howell with 9:40 left in the half.
Oscar D. Gomez Jr., St. Margaret's
File photo by Ian Tennant
After an
Oscar D. Gomez Jr. touchdown run extended the Tartan lead to 14-7, Krantz connected with Locke once again for a score to make it 21-7.
It was then time for the St. Margaret's defense to strike, this time with an interception, and Krantz promptly delivered a touchdown pass to
Fernando Delgado to take a commanding 28-7 lead.
Things looked bleak for the Patriots, but a long touchdown pass from Jeremiah to
Nick Sexton cut the lead to 28-14 and gave Christian some momentum heading into the locker room.
The tide continued in the Patriots' direction when
Adrian Petty's 21-yard run cut the St. Margaret's lead to 28-21 with 7:27 left in the third. But the Tartans simply proved too much on both sides of the ball.
Krantz responded with his fourth touchdown pass of the game, a 68-yarder to
Nick Shanks, and Shanks followed it up with an interception return for a touchdown on the ensuing possession to give the Tartans a 42-21 lead. A field goal gave them a 45-21 lead heading into the fourth quarter, simply too much for the Patriots to overcome.
St. Margaret's will face
Central Catholic (Modesto) in the Division IV state title game next week.
Information based on various Twitter reportsSouthern California Division IIRedlands East Valley vs. Ridgeview (Bakersfield)Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at Citrus Valley High School (Redlands)Southern California Division IIIEl Capitan (Lakeside) vs. Paso RoblesSaturday, 7:30 p.m. at El Capitan High School
