Top-ranked Folsom planned to play No. 3 Rocklin. Instead, the Bulldogs beat Lincoln
The day started with Folsom High School expecting to play Rocklin in a Sierra Foothill League rumble.
It ended with the top-ranked Bulldogs taking on another gritty team from Placer County in the Lincoln Zebras, all courtesy to the theme that has sullied an otherwise encouraging spring of football: COVID-19 testing and frantic, 11th-hour scheduling chaos.
With Tyler Tremain firing touchdowns to five different receivers and Mitch Anderson scoring from a yard out on senior night, Folsom raced past the Zebras 41-14 Friday night at Prairie View Stadium in a game that felt a great deal closer.
That’s a credit to Lincoln and coach Chris Bean, who said, “finding out at 3:30 today we are playing the No. 1 team is a daunting task for anyone. We knew this was going to be a massive challenge.”
Rocklin had a delay in test results Friday but was later cleared to play. It expected Folsom to be able to push the game back to Saturday, to follow the freshman and junior varsity contests. Those earlier games will play out at Folsom on Saturday.
Folsom wanted a varsity game Friday, to ensure Senior Night festivities, and the school did not want to chance it in case there were any more testing issues with Rocklin. What’s more, it wasn’t a Folsom football decision as much as the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District decision, so any notion that the Bulldogs were ducking Rocklin came across as extreme to players and coaches.
Folsom on Friday afternoon looked into playing De Le Salle, the national powerhouse that hasn’t lost to a Northern California team since 1991, but that never gained any traction. Rocklin coach Jason Adams also spoke to De La Salle coaches. The Thunder finally found a game: They will host St. Mary’s of Stockon on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
“It’s exhausting, it’s draining, but the kids are so resilient,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said of the day and night in general. “It started in the summer with workouts with no ball, then the temperature checks, then 6 feet apart. Can’t do this, can’t use equipment, can’t go to school, can’t do a lot. The kids keep coming back.
“It’s too bad we didn’t play Rocklin. We wanted to. I feel for Rocklin. I know a lot of their kids. We had to do what we thought was best for our kids — get a game in now. We couldn’t wait. The district wasn’t going to wait.”
Tremain, a junior, dazzled again as he picked up more momentum heading into a fall season, surrounded by a host of other sophomores and juniors. He passed for 366 yards and hit national recruit tight end Walker Lyons for an 11-yard score, national recruit receiver Rico Flors for a 32-yard touchdown, Austin McMillan for a 17-yard score and Justin Arnaz for a 45-yarder to make it 27-7 early in the third quarter.
J.T. Willis, Lincoln’s superb senior leader, closed it to 27-14 with a 7-yard touchdown to Caden Noonan. Then Anderson scored, and Tremain sealed it with a 45-yard touchdown strike to senior Dorian Blackwell.
Folsom (5-0) only has a handful of seniors, and each was acknowledged before the game: Anderson, Lonnell Turnin, Blackwell, Michael Chavez, Victor Flores, Appollo Jeffs, Vincent Scalise, Jake Merlander and Mohammed Rehman.
Lincoln came in 3-0 and left thrilled for the experience. These teams have not played since they were members of the small-school Golden Empire League in the 1980s.
“Our kids battled to the last whistle,” said Bean, the Zebras coach. “It’s all about playing football and making memories. Our kids didn’t back down. What a great life lesson. Couldn’t be more proud of them. Love our kids.”
Folsom next plays at Oak Ridge, the preseason Bee No. 1 team that lost a close opener at Folsom, 23-18. Lincoln plays at Oakmont.
This story was originally published April 10, 2021 at 5:37 AM.