Prep football rankings: Granite Bay, Yuba City move up; Rocklin-Folsom controversy
If this spring football season has taught us one thing, it’s this: the 11th-hour scheduling is just as intense as the game action, if those games even happen.
It’s been a season of “schedule to change,” with a lot of fingers crossed and finger pointing.
On Friday afternoon, top-ranked Folsom was expecting to play that night against No. 3 Rocklin in a Sierra Foothill League game, but 21 Rocklin COVID-19 test results got caught up in channels at the laboratory — or even misplaced — leading to uncertainty. Rocklin coach Jason Adams told The Bee on Friday he expected and hoped Folsom could wait it out, to give the Thunder time to collect the needed data, to re-test in a pinch if needed, and to play the game 24 hours later, to follow the freshman and junior varsity games.
Folsom administrators and those within the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District didn’t want to go that route, preferring to stick to its scheduled Friday Senior Night festivities. Folsom coach Paul Doherty was willing to play anyone but his vote wasn’t going to overrule his bosses at Folsom, or their bosses at the district level.
Folsom scrambled to find an opponent, reaching out to national powerhouse De La Salle of Concord, which wasn’t sure at that hour if its game with California High would play out due to testing timing (it did). The Lincoln Zebras accepted the invite to Folsom and competed, despite the final showing otherwise, in a 41-14 Folsom win as Tyler Tremain tossed five touchdown passes.
Rocklin thought it had a Saturday night home game in place by late Friday afternoon against St. Mary’s of Stockton, a longtime playoff regular. By Saturday late morning, that game was a no-go as St. Mary’s had a positive test, and a re-test didn’t clear the student-athlete. That positive test is what prevented the Rams from playing at No. 2 Monterey Trail on Friday night, leading to the Mustangs to scramble and find San Leandro for a road game that night.
Monterey Trail nearly had a chance to play Folsom, had the timing been better/worse.
Who’s to blame and did Folsom ‘duck’ Rocklin?
Where it gets chippy is the he-said, who-said angle. Rocklin parents/backers/boosters went to social media and in messages to The Bee to suggest and say that it was coach Doherty who bailed on the Thunder, fearing a loss and the end of a long streak. That doesn’t make sense.
If Folsom was willing to take on De La Salle without any preparation, the same DLS that has not lost to a Northern California team in 315 tries over a remarkable 31-year run, then the Bulldogs are not a program that ducks teams.
Folsom principal Howard Cadenhead told The Bee on Monday that “the coordination between two county health departments, their contact tracing protocols and their cohort definitions added a level of complexity we felt would not be able to navigate on a Saturday.” He added that a major concern was if “one of Rocklin’s tests had come back positive, our county regulations would not have allowed us to move forward with the game, and our varsity players and cheerleaders would have been without their Senior Night.”
So schedule whom you can while you can.
Added Peter Maroon, the athletic director for the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District to The Bee, “we got contacted by Rocklin on Friday at 2 p.m. that they had to cancel for Friday because they didn’t get test results back for some kids, and they asked us to give them some time to see if Saturday might work. We had to look into another game to ensure a Senior Night. By 3:30 on Friday, Lincoln agreed to play Folsom and was already getting on the buses. It was kicked to the District level and the superintendents from both talked. We got a sure game against Lincoln, and Folsom was not ducking anyone. We saw all the social media complaints but we weren’t going to play that and get into it.”
Ideally, yes, Rocklin at Folsom on any day in any venue would have been ideal, perhaps the game of the spring season.
Can Folsom and Rocklin still play?
There has also been a plea of sorts from Rocklin backers that Oak Ridge vacate its home finale Friday to allow Rocklin to play host to Folsom, the logic being that Folsom already played Oak Ridge. That’s not going to happen. Oak Ridge coach Eric Cavaliere said his team will host Folsom, and Rocklin will play Whitney.
Could Folsom and Rocklin play on April 23 or 24? In theory, anything could happen during a spring where everything has happened, but it’s a long shot since the Sac-Joaquin Section and most others in the state have long ago stated that the final prep football games will be this weekend.
There is also this bit of perspective that is needed amid scheduling chaos: Be thankful for any games played. Rocklin had a scrimmage against Jesuit and will play five regular-season games. That’s six contacts in a season when none were even expected. Rocklin’s frustration is understandable, and parents care about their kids, but consider what Elk Grove is going through. One of the region’s most storied programs is still waiting to play a game after so many cancellations on their end or that of the opponent.
Vinny and the Bulldogs
The lone senior on the Folsom offensive line is a good one: Vinny Scalise.The 6-foot-3, 250-pound center has been a rock in the trenches for the prolific and otherwise young Bulldogs. He is a 4.0-GPA student who aspires to study business marketing to become an entrepreneur.
Scalise already dabbles in sales of sorts, saying, “I’ve been selling shoes and stuff ever since middle school and fell in love with it and someday want to open my own store. I sell Jordans to Yeezys to play old Vans, just anything that has the market eyes.”
If there’s a college in the market for a good center, Scalise is there for the taking.
QUICK HITS
▪ Grant in its opener beat Franklin 20-16 as Peni Kaufusi hit Kyrell Gross-Pruit for two touchdowns, and the Pacers held on a last-play goal-line stand, though Franklin players thought their guy got into the end zone. The referees did not signal touchdown, and plays at this level are not reviewed, nor can the CIF overturn.
▪ Anthony Grigsby dazzled at Davis as the senior quarterback fired four touchdown passes to lead Cosumnes Oaks to a 31-16 victory.
▪ Cordova has found its quarterback as Jalen Thomas passed for three touchdowns in a 39-20 win over Florin.
▪ In a moving gesture of sportsmanship, Woodcreek’s first play against Kennedy did not include a center. That was to honor the center that was not on the field, Manny Antwi, the Cougars beloved senior lineman and team captain who died after a season opener last month.
▪ Friday’s decades-long Metro League rivalry game between Kennedy and McClatchy is off as McClatchy ended its season due to low numbers.
▪ Bear River, down to 17 bodies, ended its season and will not play chief rival Colfax in a finale. Colfax beat Bear River on Friday 37-7, and coach Tony Martello showed class in playing everyone on his roster out of respect to retiring Bear River coaches Terry Logue and Scott Savoie.
▪ Sacramento’s home game against Vista del Lago is off after the Dragons ended their season with dwindling roster numbers. Vista needs a game.
THE BEE’S TOP 25
1. Folsom (5-0)
2. Monterey Trail (4-0)
3. Rocklin (3-0)
4. Granite Bay (3-2)
5. Oak Ridge (2-3)
6. Elk Grove (0-0)
7. Cosumnes Oaks (1-1)
8. Vista del Lago (4-0)
9. Vacaville (4-0)
10. Yuba City (3-0)
11. Lincoln (3-1)
12. Oakmont (3-0)
13. Antelope (2-1)
14. Grant (1-0)
15. Capital Christian (1-1)
16. Franklin (1-1)
17. Pleasant Grove (2-1)
18. Placer (2-1)
19. Inderkum (2-3)
19. Jesuit (2-2)
20. Casa Roble (3-0)
21. Del Campo (3-0)
22. Pioneer (3-0)
23. Davis (1-3)
24. Whitney (1-3)
25. El Dorado (3-0)
Bubble teams: (alphabetical order): Amador (1-1), Bradshaw Christian (1-1), Christian Brothers (2-3), Colfax (3-0), Kennedy (2-1), Natomas (2-2), Nevada Union (1-1), River City (1-2), Roseville (1-2), Sacramento (2-2), Sheldon (1-1), Union Mine (2-1), Vanden (2-2), Wood (2-2), Woodcreek (1-2). - Joe Davidson
This story was originally published April 13, 2021 at 6:46 AM.