By all accounts, Drake Tofi isn't that big of a fellow.
He's a hair over 5-foot-9 and barely 165 pounds. And he runs like a sledgehammer, with the subtlety of a knee to the face mask.
With Tofi playing large and his upstart Monterey Trail High School football bunch growing by the week in this amazing season of promise, the No. 10 Mustangs stunned No. 4 Folsom 22-21 in overtime Friday night in Folsom.
Monterey Trail, a 5-year-old program going against a school that has been around for decades, went for the win in overtime rather than slug it out with the area's highest-scoring squad.
That gusto is typical of the no-holds-barred mantra of coach T.J. Ewing, and what better athlete to drive that point home than Tofi, the gritty junior who rushed for all of his 223 yards up the gut?
After Dano Graves hit Kori Babineaux for a 10-yard touchdown on the first play in overtime and the extra point made it 21-14, Tofi pounded it in moments later from a yard out. Tofi then bulled in for a two-point conversion, and the wild celebration was on.
Make that three celebrations this season – 27-0 against Elk Grove in Week 2 for the first win over the Thundering Herd, then 44-0 over then-No. 9 Sheldon last week in a Delta River League opener. This one was even better, given the opponent and the stakes. Monterey Trail is 6-1 and 1-0 in the DRL, and Folsom is 6-1 and 1-1.
"We're a team that competes," gushed Ewing. "We wanted to win. We went for it. I'm thrilled. I'm so proud of these guys."
And Tofi? "Great kid, tough kid," Ewing said. "I love kids with the four-letter last names. That's a football name."
So is Fili – remember, four letters? – as in Kalamani Fili. He's the Mustangs' spirited linebacker who set the tone with crushing hits.
Monterey Trail had the speed and ferocity on defense to contain Folsom. And it had the running game with Tofi, Sedale Hunter (61 yards), Derek Bellamy (32) and quarterback Mike Calvan (71) to keep the Bulldogs' offense off the field for large chunks of the game.
Graves, a junior who came in leading the state with 31 touchdown passes, had two Friday, but nothing came easily. He completed 12 of 22 passes for a season-low 127 yards as the spread offense didn't have much room to breathe, or much time with the ball. The Mustangs, meanwhile, live by the veer offense, with a bunched-in line.
"They run the veer better than anyone I've seen in a long, long time," Folsom coach Kris Richardson said. "T.J.'s done a great job with that team."
The respect is mutual. Ewing told every Folsom player he could find, "You're a great team – that's why we're so excited. Great team."
So, suddenly, is Monterey Trail.
Call The Bee's Joe Davidson, (916) 321-1280.
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