Prep football rankings: Was Rocklin’s win over Folsom the school’s biggest ever?
As the Rocklin High School press box and stadium cleared out Friday night, the sound of leaf blowers cleaning the stadium reverberating throughout Placer County and the scoreboard still lit with the final score, Ryan Spears asked a stop-and-think question.
“Is this the biggest football win in school history?” the Rocklin High School athletic director asked as he was tidying up on his way out.
Well, let’s ponder that for a moment, as we like to ponder such topics.
Rocklin belted Folsom 40-7 to halt the Bulldogs’ 54-game league winning streak, dating back 11 years. That’s beyond big because no one in their right mind projects that sort of blowout against Folsom. The win vaults Rocklin from No. 2 to No. 1 in The Bee rankings, the first Bee top ranking for the Thunder since the 2009 season, which also happens to be part of this “biggest win ever” debate.
If Friday wasn’t Rocklin’s signature triumph since the school opened in 1992, then it most certainly happened 12 seasons ago. The Biggest Win Ever very well might have been the 2009 Division II Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinal against Grant played at Folsom, a neutral site. I covered that game for The Bee, in the pre-social media era, and it was an edge-of-your seat thriller in front of an overflow crowd between the upstarts with the cool mascot and the established, nationally known Pacers.
Rocklin staged a dramatic goal-line stand in the closing seconds to deny Grant, which came in unbeaten at 12-0, top-ranked in the region and as the defending CIF State Open Division champions. The Thunder won 21-19. Rocklin visits Grant on Friday.
The other “biggest game ever” could have been what happened the following week in 2009, a 21-14 win over rival Del Oro in the section Division II finals at UC Davis. That 2009 Rocklin season was headed by star do-all player Jackson Cummings, and it ended at 14-1, at Home Depot Center in Southern California with a 33-30 loss to Servite of Anaheim in the CIF State Division II championship.
I’ll go with the 2009 effort over Grant as Rocklin’s greatest football moment, and one of the biggest for any program in area history. If Rocklin and Folsom meet in the section Division I finals next month and the Thunder win, that becomes the biggest. Of course, if Rocklin goes on to win a CIF Northern California Regional Division I-AA title, that would be big, and even bigger, and it could be a game against De La Salle, and wouldn’t that be wild? If Rocklin were to win a CIF State crown, that’s the biggest of all the biggest because it’s hard to get to that last game and even harder to win it.
There are far too many weeks, teams and hurdles to clear to forecast that far ahead, but the 8-0 Thunder are on their way to their first 10-0 start since that 2009 team. The one holdover is Jason Adams. He was the Rocklin defensive coordinator in 2009 and is the head coach now with Sam Pulino. Coach Adams has delighted this fall in watching his team come of age, including his son, Austin Adams, who has played well in the secondary (he had an interception on Friday). Austin was a knee-high little lad when Rocklin soared in 2009, no doubt wondering then why his pop wore shorts in biting cold weather.
Still does. Tradition and superstition, son.
Rocklin’s starting defense has allowed three touchdowns this season. The team has received big efforts from an army of players this season, because it takes an army to win it all. This includes: two-way lineman and team leader Bobby Piland, and others such as Adams, Kaiden Baker, Brad Baur, Eli Hardy, Derek Houston, Anthony Johnston, Josh Kelly, Nathan Kent, Kaleb Larson, Elias Mullican, Anthony O’Brien, Rio Patton, Spencer Patton, Joey Robers (superb in relief of hobbled star QB Kenny Lueth), Teeg Sloan, Peyton Smith and plenty of others.
Folsom moves to No. 2 in the rankings, still ahead of Jesuit. Folsom rolled Jesuit in an opener but Jesuit has cruised since, winning seven consecutive games, including dropping 70 in a 35-point win over Elk Grove on Saturday, the most points the Herd has allowed in its storied football history, a nugget unearthed by our friends from Cal-Hi Sports.
Quick hits
▪ Foresthill has the nation’s reported No. 1 interception leader in Aemon Aldrich with 11. The Wildfires (7-1) host Woodland Christian (7-0) on Friday with the Sacramento Metropolitan title on the line.
▪ Trajan Clark’s five touchdowns lifted Davis past Pleasant Grove 42-19, the team’s first victory in a trying season. Davis had surged in recent years before hitting walls this season, and extra kudos to the Blue Devils rooting section for coming out to home games.
▪ River Valley beat Bella Vista 46-40 for its first victory of a season stalled by COVID-19 testing issues and injuries, but the Falcons of Yuba City never stopped pushing, a credit to coaches Brennan McFadden and Dave Humphers.
▪ Christian Brothers has senior stars and an emerging freshman in Phillip Bell, who had 174 yards receiving against McNair and two touchdowns and had three more TD grabs in a 43-36 win over El Camino.
▪ Garrett McGriff is having a Bee Player of the Year type of season. In the last two games alone, the Jesuit star has rushed for six touchdowns, scored on defense, had two interceptions, 11 tackles and is breaking up passes.
▪ Nick Afato does it all for Yuba City, including Friday in a win over Roseville: three passing touchdowns, two rushing and 13 tackles on defense. He did not change the oil in the team bus before or after.
▪ The last winless teams in the region are hard-luck teams thin on bodies and heavy on bad luck: Grant (0-7), Fairfield (0-7), San Juan (0-8), Western Sierra Academy (0-6) and Lindhurst (0-5).
THE BEE’S TOP 25
1. Rocklin 8-0
2. Folsom 6-2
3. Jesuit 7-1
4. Granite Bay 6-2
5. Vacaville 6-2
6. Antelope 8-0
7. Inderkum 5-2
8. Elk Grove 4-3
9. Lincoln 6-2
10. Cap Christian 6-2
11. Sacramento 7-1
12. Vanden 6-2
13. Woodcreek 6-2
14. Whitney 4-4
15. Oak Ridge 3-5
16. Del Oro 4-4
17. Monterey Trail 3-5
18. Yuba City 5-3
19. Christian Bros 5-3
20. Sheldon 6-2
21. Vista del Lago 5-3
22. Bradshaw Christian 8-0
23. Casa Roble 5-2
24. Union Mine 6-1
25. Rosemont 7-1
Bubble teams (alphabetical order): Burbank 5-3; Colfax 4-2; Cosumnes Oaks 4-3; Dixon 4-3; Foresthill 7-1; Laguna Creek 4-4; Liberty Ranch 4-3; McClatchy 5-3; Pioneer 6-1; Ponderosa 4-2; Rodriguez 7-1; Sutter 6-1, West Park 4-4; Wood 6-2; Woodland, 6-2, Woodland Christian 6-0. - Compiled by Joe Davidson
This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 7:06 AM.