Our weekly look inside the nation's Top 10 high school football games begins in Northern California, where No. 17 Folsom plays host to fellow unbeaten Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills).
If Oak Ridge is going to have any shot at pulling the upset, it will need to find a way to slow down a Folsom offense that has averaged more than 50 points and 550 yards the first five games of the season.
In other matchups that involve teams ranked in the latest MaxPreps Xcellent 25, No. 2 DeSoto (Texas) will bring its explosive offense to bear against unbeaten district rival Mansfield Timberview (Arlington). Also, No. 19 Colerain and its steamrolling rush attack prepares for a key Greater Miami Conference matchup against Sycamore (Cincinnati).
After putting together a solid 8-2 record in picks last week, Stephen Spiewak remains atop the standings in our season-long predictions contest. Stephen's overall record of 48-21-1 is two better than Jamie DeMoney and Leland Gordon and five clear of Colin Ward-Henninger and Kevin Askeland.
Here's a look at this week's Top 10 games along with predictions by MaxPreps staff writers and contributors Mitch Stephens, Stephen Spiewak, Kevin Askeland, Leland Gordon, Colin Ward-Henninger and Jamie DeMoney.
Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) at Folsom (Calif.)
Oak Ridge will travel two exits down the freeway to take on Folsom in the headline game around the nation this week.
Photos by Derek Carroll/Gary Jones. Graphic by Ryan Escobar
Unbeaten Oak Ridge attempting to end a six-game losing streak against Folsom and, in the process, knock the Bulldogs out of the national rankings. To get that done Friday, the Trojans must somehow find ways to mitigate Folsom's prolific passing game. Junior quarterback
Jake Browning already has 1,986 passing yards and 30 touchdowns. He had an eye-popping 5,248 yards and 63 scores last year. One plausible strategy for Oak Ridge is to employ a game of keep-away using its running game. Led by Air Force-committed fullback
Tanner Hughes (6-foot-1, 220 pounds), the Trojans are averaging 122 rushing yards per game.
Just the facts: Folsom has won at least 11 games and totaled more than 4,000 passing yards every season since 2009. … Oak Ridge went 12-2 last year but lost in the Division I Sac-Joaquin Section championship game to eventual state champion Granite Bay. The Trojans' last section championship was in 2004.
Mitch Stephens: Folsom 42, Oak Ridge 35
Kevin Askeland: Folsom 56, Oak Ridge 24
Jamie DeMoney: Folsom 49, Oak Ridge 28
Stephen Spiewak: Folsom 38, Oak Ridge 20
Leland Gordon: Folsom 34, Oak Ridge 27
Colin Ward-Henninger: Folsom 35, Oak Ridge 21
