Bark and bite: Folsom Bulldogs beat Oak Ridge to win ninth section championship since 2010
They played all but half a quarter of this season without their national-recruit tight end star, and they competed Friday night minus the services of their top player and second-best receiver.
If there was a night when the Folsom Bulldogs were ripe to be plucked, this was it. It would be now. It didn’t happen.
Competing with extra resolve and all manner of purpose, Folsom beat longtime rival Oak Ridge 23-13 at Hughes Stadium in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship game, and then the Bulldogs giddily sang and dance. This is old hat for this program.
Folsom celebrated its ninth such championship since 2010 as the greatest regional run in prep football roars on. In that stretch, Folsom has hoisted four CIF State championships, and just last year the Bulldogs soaked in a CIF Northern California Regional championship victory over the most storied team in national prep history in De La Salle.
Oak Ridge has not defeated Folsom since the 2006 season. That losing streak is now 18. When the teams met in a Sierra Foothill League opener on Sept. 30 in El Dorado Hills, the Bulldogs broke open a 21-13 game at the half to win going away, 42-13, in large part due to deep bombs to Rico Flores Jr. in the third quarter.
Flores didn’t suit up on Friday in the rematch. He was sidelined with a broken foot suffered during a semifinal win over Central Catholic of Modesto, and he attended this game in a cast. Walker Lyons, the tight end star headed to Stanford on scholarship, was also in street clothes, having been sidelined since the season opener with a broken leg.
To add to Folsom’s angst, No. 2 receiver Onterrio Smith Jr. missed Friday’s game because he was ejected from the Central Catholic game after being flagged twice for unsportsmanlike conduct for celebrating his touchdown catches. Per CIF rules, ejected players have to sit out the following game.
Folsom (12-1) didn’t reinvent the wheel for this one to make up for the loss of two deep threats. The Bulldogs just turned to their runner with the best set of wheels. That would be Donovan Maxey-Parler. The senior speedster who can also run with power maximized his six carries. He rushed for 93 yards and two devastating touchdowns to buckle the superb Oak Ridge defense.
His first score was a 42-yard burst for a 13-6 Folsom lead with 8:18 left to play. That came after a 45-yard kickoff return by Slade Wilson. Maxey-Parler’s exclamation point score was a 45-yard burst down the Oak Ridge sideline for a 23-6 lead with 2:31 to go. That came after Oak Ridge fumbled.
“Just awesome,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said of his team’s effort and also that of Maxey-Parler. “Ultimate team player. He’s all about what we do. We split his carries all year so he could be fresh for games like this and next week.”
Austin Mack completed 24 of 28 passes for 223 yards, hitting fast-rising receiver prospect Brian Ray 12 times for 129 yards. Ray has gone from unsung and unknown outside of the program to a reliable, intriguing recruit as a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior. There is depth and there is Folsom depth.
Maxey-Parler was proudly spent after the game, from his runs and the post-game mob scene.
“It feels great to win this,” the humble runner said. “We feel good for our coaches. They work harder than anyone.”
Has winning become so common in Folsom that people don’t fully appreciate it? The players and coaches certainly appreciate what it takes to get there and to win it.
“I think a lot of people in the community may take it for granted,” Doherty said. “A lot of the people, the parents, they expect it, as they should. Yes, it’s hard to win.”
Jake Tremain booted field goals of 29, 21 and 23 yards for Folsom, and Wilson made plays all over to help key an unsung defense. This is Folsom’s 11th football section championship, the first two coming in 1989 and 1990 under former coach Tom Doherty, still a regular to Folsom games as a proudly retired coach.
Oak Ridge was led by Maddox Varella, Sebastian Sutton and Jake Hall, anchors all season for a bounce-back season. Oak Ridge won three games in 2021 and charged back under second-year coach and school alum Casey Taylor to tie for second in the SFL and finish 10-3.
“Our kids played hard and love one another and play for one another,” Taylor said. “Our defense is outstanding, and we played great defense all year. Tonight was a tribute to that. They kept us in it. We got a chance — finally scored. But got to give credit to Folsom. They came back out, got a couple of touchdowns. We turned the ball over on offense and didn’t have consistency. They’re good. We were backed up all night. It was tough. They were beating us up front. We usually control the line of scrimmage. That was not happening tonight.”
Folsom will find out who it plays in a NorCal regional Sunday when the CIF releases brackets at about 2 p.m. It could be De La Salle again in Division I-AA, this time at Folsom. Shorthanded or not, the Bulldogs vow to be ready.
