What we have learned five weeks into the regional high school football season
Five weeks into the high school football season, and some themes and trends remain the same while others refreshingly shift for the better.
What we have learned so far:
The Bulldogs still bite
Folsom is still really good, sometimes great, undeniably dangerous and yet uncharacteristically vulnerable.
With a rousing 36-33 rally to beat rival Oak Ridge on Friday night, the Bulldogs extended their Sierra Foothill League winning streak to 37 and overall league winning streak to 42, dating back to their Delta League days in 2011.
No team in the Sac-Joaquin Section can match top-ranked Folsom’s 1-2-3-4 power punch of quarterback Jake Reithmeier, running back Daniyel Ngata, receiver Elijhah Badger and tight end/defensive end terror DeShawn Lynch. But the gap may have closed within the SFL ranks, and this is a good thing because predictability can be a bore in sports.
Folsom hosts a defending CIF State champion in Menlo-Atherton on Friday, then finishes the regular season against No. 6 Rocklin, No. 13 Granite Bay, Grant and No. 5 Del Oro, all eager to knock the Bulldogs down to size in what figures to be some tight and tense games.
Said Ngata, “We don’t get scared. We’ve been in a lot of big games before.”
Oak Ridge is No. 2
The Trojans are stinging from the Folsom setback, but coach Eric Cavaliere has a team that aims to roar into the Division I section finals opposite of Folsom, and wouldn’t that be a jolly good show at Sacramento State?
The Trojans look the part as rock-solid No. 2, though No. 3 Inderkum has flexed its muscle, none more than a 37-10 win at No. 5 Del Oro. Inderkum is the likely top seed in D-II if it runs the table from here under longtime coach Terry Stark.
Attendance has dropped for the section finals this decade at Sac State, in part due to what the section office deems, “Folsom Fatigue” – meaning, fans have tired of the Bulldogs winning so much, including seven section banners since 2010.
We imagine quite a crowd will show up if Folsom and Oak Ridge meet again, a good many on hand pulling for a new champion.
Bounce-back seasons
Teams can indeed recover from brutal seasons to rise again, and kudos to the student-athletes, rooting sections, coaches and administrators for sticking it out when it has become so easy to bail.
A year ago, Cosumnes Oaks, Foothill, Galt, Laguna Creek, Nevada Union, Oakmont, Pleasant Grove, Rocklin, Roseville, Vista del Lago and Whitney all endured varying degrees of frustration in long 2018 campaigns, undone by injuries and better teams.
Now all have barreled right back into relevance, each stressing momentum and the postseason as a viable goal.
Game balls to the coaches, please: Andrew Bettencourt of Cosumnes Oaks, Tim Cobleigh of Galt, Mervin Brookings of Foothill, Ryan Nill of Laguna Creek, Brad Sparks of Nevada Union, Tim Moore of Oakmont, Matt Costa of Pleasant Grove, Jason Adams of Rocklin, Joe Cattolico of Roseville, Mike Stuebing of Vista del Lago and Zac McNally of Whitney.
Spiritual grit at Union Mine
The mark of a good program is how it recovers from loss, and none was more profound and saddening than Union Mine losing coach Chic Bist early this season to a long bout with pancreatic cancer.
The Diamondbacks, coached by Bist’s son Jacob, are 3-2. It all came together beautifully Friday in El Dorado in a 36-21 victory over powerhouse Colfax.
Loyalty and running love
Coaches and teams remain loyal to what works, specifically offensive schematics.
In an era of wide-open passing with spread teams the norm, a number of area programs still lean on the run, including No. 3 Inderkum with its wing-T, No 4 Monterey Trail with its veer, No. 7 Elk Grove with its triple-option and No. 15 Rio Linda with a bevy of backs, none more daunting than Cameron Skattebo.
Multi-sporting works
It’s OK to play more than one sport, no matter what the specialty guru coach insists.
The NFL Draft is proof, with 85 percent of first-year NFL players having played more than one sport in high school.
Take a look at Daniel Susac at Jesuit. A projected high-round pick in next spring’s Major League Baseball Draft as a catcher, Susac played his first game this season at quarterback and triggered a must-have 45-15 win over Rio Americano by passing for three touchdowns.
The area’s best teams are chock full of players who dabble in various sports.
Numbers crunch
Successful teams must have decent roster numbers to be able to conduct productive practices, not to mention surviving arduous games.
Low numbers this season have plagued Burbank, Florin, Kennedy, McClatchy and Mira Loma. Though each has had football success in the past, these programs are a combined 0-20.
And each coach vows to stick it out.
At Bella Vista, the Broncos seek their first win since 2016 but have the right close in place in first-year man Justin Reber, who has 33 players and bounds of optimism.
Volleyball update
Nevada Union leads the area in victories with 21.
The Miners recently traveled to the Bay Area for the Jacket Tournament in Berkeley and went 6-0.
In facing out-of-area teams, the Miners only dropped one set. They enter Foothill Valley League this week in what figures to be a four-team race along with No.4 Lincoln, No. 12 Oakmont, and No. 19 Ponderosa.
No. 13 Pioneer won the CIVT tournament at El Camino with a 6-0 showing, beating River City, Union Mine, Elk Grove, Mira Loma, El Dorado and El Camino.
Paige Rudi leads Pioneer with 186 kills. Isabella Fuentes leads the team in assists with 556.
No. 5 Rocklin opened up Sierra Foothill League play with a sweep of Folsom. Earlier in the week, the Thunder beat No. 6 Nevada Union in four sets. Kennedy Crane and Ivana Erlandsen in that game combined for 30 kills.
The Bee’s Top 20
Football
Regional Rankings
1. Folsom (3-1)
2. Oak Ridge (3-1)
3. Inderkum (4-0)
4. Monterey Trail (3-1)
5. Del Oro (4-1)
6. Rocklin (4-1)
7. Elk Grove (3-1)
8. Davis (4-1)
9. Capital Christian (3-2)
10. Vacaville (3-2)
11. Pleasant Grove (4-0)
12. Cosumnes Oaks (4-1)
13. Granite Bay (2-3)
14. Center (5-0)
15. Rio Linda (3-1)
16. Bear River (4-0)
17. Lincoln (3-2)
18. Whitney (2-3)
19. Placer (2-2)
20. Oakmont (4-0)
Dropped out: Christian Brothers, Sheldon
Bubble teams (alphabetical order): Casa Roble (2-3), Christian Brothers (3-2), Colfax (2-2), Del Campo (3-1), Foothill (4-0), Franklin (2-4), Grant (1-3), Highlands (4-0), Jesuit (1-3), Laguna Creek (3-2), Liberty Ranch (2-3), Nevada Union (3-1), Ponderosa (3-2), Rosemont (5-0), Roseville (3-2), Sheldon (2-3), Union Mine (3-2), Vista del Lago (4-1).
Sac-Joaquin Section
Large School
1. Folsom (3-1)
2. Oak Ridge (3-1)
3. Buhach Colony (5-0)
4. Inderkum (4-0)
5. Monterey Trail (3-1)
6. Del Oro (4-1)
7. Rocklin (4-1)
8. Elk Grove (3-1)
9. Turlock (3-2)
10. Davis (4-1)
11. Capital Christian (3-2)
12. Vacaville (2-2)
13. Edison (3-1)
14. Sierra (5-0)
15. St. Mary’s (1-3)
16. Oakdale (3-2)
17. Vacaville (3-2)
18. Pleasant Grove (4-0)
19. Central Catholic (1-4)
20. Cosumnes Oaks (4-1)
- Joe Davidson/Julian Lopez
Small Schools
1. Escalon (4-0)
2. Hilmar (5-0)
3. Center (5-0)
4. Bear River (4-0)
5. Ripon (4-1)
6. Ripon Christian (3-1)
7. Highlands (4-0)
8. Woodland (2-2)
9. Colfax (2-2)
10. Denair (3-1)
- Joe Davidson/Julian Lopez
Volleyball
THE BEE’S TOP 20
1. St. Francis (15-0)
2. Oak Ridge (16-2)
3. Cosumnes Oaks (12-3)
4. Lincoln (7-3)
5. Rocklin (13-8)
6. Nevada Union (21-3)
7. Christian Brothers (15-6)
8. Del Oro (10-6)
9. Rio Americano (15-7)
10. Vacaville (13-2)
11. Whitney (9-7)
12. Oakmont (8-3)
13. Pioneer (17-4)
14. Woodcreek (12-5)
15. Vanden (5-1)
16. Vista Del Lago (3-4)
17. Pleasant Grove (3-5)
18. Bear River (10-5)
19. Ponderosa (8-6)
20. Granite Bay (7-8)
- Cameron Salerno
Football
Week 6
All games start between 7-7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Capital Christian at El Camino
Friday
Capital Valley Conference
Antelope at Roseville
Bella Vista at Woodcreek
River Valley at Yuba City
Delta League
Cosumnes Oaks vs. Pleasant Grove
Sheldon at Elk Grove
Jesuit vs. Franklin
Sierra Foothill League
Granite Bay at Grant
Oak Ridge at Rocklin
Del Oro at Whitney
Nonleague
Amador at El Dorado
Argonaut at Dixon
Big Valley Christian at Delta
Pioneer at Highlands
Burbank at Inderkum
Kennedy vs. Florin
McClatchy vs. Valley
San Juan at Mira Loma
Natomas at Lindhurst
Nevada Union at Fairfield
Cordova at Oakmont
Rio Linda at Foothill
Woodland Christian at Vacaville Christian
Woodland vs. Wood
Wheatland at Colfax, 7:30pm
East Nicolaus at Golden Sierra
Menlo-Atherton at Folsom
Marysville at Gridley
Monterey Trail vs. Paraclete
Bishop O’Dowd at Placer
Western Sierra at University Prep
This story was originally published September 23, 2019 at 11:20 AM.