Rocklin Thunders: Folsom’s 11-year league winning streak comes to an end
When this one was over, players didn’t just race over to the marching band to belt out the Rocklin High School fight song. They hustled up into the rooting section to share the good cheer.
And then the whole lot hustled over to the far end zone to take a knee, to soak in the words of their coaches and to soak in the moment, with the scoreboard still showing a result they craved all throughout their high school careers.
Rocklin 40, Folsom 7.
One might have had to be here in person in Placer County on Friday night to see it and believe it. The No. 2 Thunder drubbed the top-ranked Bulldogs, dominating all facets of a game that could decide the Sierra Foothill League championship game with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Shoot. This could be a preview of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship, but that’s too far ahead to even debate.
Most Rocklin players celebrated and danced, or tried to dance, given their fatigue in keeping the prolific Bulldogs in check or chasing them around on defense. One cried. That was two-way lineman Josh Kelly, and those were tears of joy. He’d smile, then break down, then smile, and repeat. That’s what happens when you knock off a team that’s used to knocking teams around. It was Folsom’s first league loss in 11 seasons, halting a regional-record league winning streak of 54.
“Those tears, they’re more than OK,” said Rocklin quarterback Joey Roberts, who has also experienced all manner of emotions this season, going from backup to leading man. “Great win for us. Folsom hasn’t lost a league game in so long. We always come out with the intent to beat them.”
Easier said than done. Folsom has stormed through the SFL since joining ranks with the section’s top football conference before the 2014 season, stretching that league winning streak to 48 before it was ripped to shreds by a group of Thunder that was winless against the Bulldogs at all levels of play until now.
This was Rocklin’s homecoming night. Who has the nerve to schedule Folsom for Homecoming? Rocklin did, and the halftime floats and fireworks show added to the festive action.
Folsom last tasted defeat in league play in 2011, in the Delta League, a loss to the Joe Cattolico-coached Pleasant Grove Eagles. Four seasons ago, Rocklin’s administration spoke to their own coaches and others within the league about an effort to have Folsom removed from the SFL. Reasoning: The Bulldogs were too good, were throttling all comers, were reducing games to a second-half running clock exercise.
The prevailing theme soon changed to this: Folsom isn’t going anywhere, so close the gap and beat the Bulldogs.
Anthony Johnston rushed for scores of 1 and 26 yards, and the senior tailback caught a touchdown from Roberts for a 21-7 lead late in the half, set up by a Teeg Sloan interception and 45-yard return. Rocklin came in touting that it had the section’s top defense, and it rang true. The Thunder had three sacks and four interceptions, including a 65-yard return into the end zone by Elias Mullican for a 31-7 lead.
And the Thunder didn’t let up. Roberts hit Kyran Bell for a 52-yard scoring strike as coaches implored an “all gas, no brakes” mantra. The final points were off a safety when the snap for a Folsom punt went through the end zone.
It was that sort of night for the Thunder (8-0) and that sort of agonizing night for the Bulldogs (6-2), who came in without ace quarterback Tyler Tremain, knocked out last week with a bad shoulder during a 31-10 loss to De La Salle. Folsom looked out of sorts against Rocklin. The Bulldogs punted four times in the first half. Folsom has won four CIF State championships since 2010, some in which the Bulldogs did not punt four times in an entire season.
Then again, Rocklin makes teams look and feel out of sorts with its relentless pass rush and quick linebackers and secondary, trademarks of any Jason Adams-coached team. Kaleb Larson and Austin Adams also had interceptions for Rocklin, which will rise in The Bee’s rankings to the top spot next week, the first since the program’s 14-1 team that reached the CIF State Division II finals in 2009.
The relentless effort starts with two-way lineman star Bobby Piland, a piledriver with the shock of blond hair that comes spilling out of the back of his helmet. He was double-teamed as a defensive end and ate defenders up as a blocker. He’s done this for four varsity seasons.
“He works harder than anyone and leads us,” said Roberts, the quarterback.
Roberts didn’t expect any measure of quarterback success this season. Most backups don’t, but he’s been steady in relief of star passer Kenny Lueth, who has missed three games with a knee injury that isn’t serious enough to end his season.
“Kenny’s the best quarterback in the section,” Roberts said. “He’s been good for me. Helps me prepare, corrects me if I make mistakes.”
Said Piland of his steady passer, “We’ve got his back. Joey’s worked hard. He’s improved a lot. We’re all behind him.”
Piland said his team was disappointed not to have played Folsom in the spring schedule, a game scratched in the final hours due to COVID-19 testing chaos.
“We wanted this game and opportunity so bad,” Piland said. “We let it all out tonight and didn’t let up. I have a lot of respect for Folsom. To play a team like that and to win like we did, it’s a blessing.”
Said Rocklin linebacker Rio Patton, this week’s Bee Prep of the Week, “All of us on defense are physical. We get after it.”
Folsom started the season in a burst, dominating its first six opponents but is suddenly on a two-game skid, its first such skid since, remarkably, the 2007 season.
“Tough one,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said. “It’s as low as it gets for a lot of these guys who haven’t lost like this before. Rocklin earned it. They outplayed us and out-physicalled us and out-energized us. They play with a lot of energy and hit hard and with physicality. We’ve got to get better and we will get better.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2021 at 6:08 AM.