Prep football playoffs and rankings: History shows Jesuit can beat Folsom in rematch
Revenge is a beautiful thing in sports.
Take a loss on the chinstrap, wipe away the blood and field-turf debris and gear the rest of your season for another shot at a team that just delivered its best shot. That’s what the Jesuit Marauders have done this football season.
They absorbed a 56-7 opening-night crusher to powerhouse Folsom and vowed to get off the deck, to get better and to do their part to meet the Bulldogs again. It’s happened. Jesuit has won 10 consecutive games, and here come the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon to Loyola Field for a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinal.
This time, the meeting will be on Jesuit’s home turf in Carmichael. Why is the one at Jesuit if Folsom won the head-to-head meeting? Folsom entered the playoffs having lost three of its last four games, and Jesuit entered with a nine-game winning streak. It was enough for the section selection committee to make Jesuit the No. 2 seed and Folsom the third seed behind top-seeded and top-ranked Rocklin. That was the right call.
Can Jesuit pull it off? Yes, and here’s why: The Marauders have come of age. I believe this is the best Jesuit team since the 1998 group that went 12-1 under coach Dan Carmazzi. There is depth everywhere, especially at quarterback. There has been superb interior line play on offense and a relentless pass rush headed by Kai Wallin. There is a playmaker in do-all threat Garrett McGriff.
And Jesuit doesn’t stall out at home. Jesuit’s field is where opponents sputter out, undone by an avalanche of turnovers or blown coverages on defense and special teams. Jesuit must lead the country in pick-6 scores on its home field this season.
Generational gap closures on Cordova, Grant, Folsom
Jesuit’s 10-game winning streak is a credit to the program, to the captains, to the role players, and especially to coach Marlon Blanton, one of the good people and coaches in this business. He holds his emotions close to his chest, but you can bet he wants this win. It’s no fun for anyone in Jesuit colors to get floored like his team has been by Folsom during a 12-game losing streak to the Bulldogs dating back to 2008, well before Blanton’s arrival.
Folsom hasn’t been a Blanton problem. Folsom has been a Jesuit football program problem. Really, Folsom has been a regional headache for everyone pretty much since 2010, with a few exceptions. This is no new trend. The mighty have cast large shadows before.
Cordova led the region in victories in the 1970s and ‘80s with 70-man rosters and a powerhouse run game, and people wondered if the Big Red machine would ever hit a speed bump. It did. The region closed the gap, and then surpassed the Lancers. Grant led the region in victories in the 1990s and 2000s with field-tilting, shadow-casting linemen and the fastest skill players and defenders around. How to stall the Pacers? Close the gap, and then pass the Pacers. It happened.
In 2018, Sierra Foothill League schools and administrators pushed to have Folsom removed from the section’s top league because the Bulldogs were deemed too good and that running-clock scores against stout SFL teams was bad for the region. Folsom remained fixed in the SFL, but the league closed the gap, finally, punctuated by Rocklin handing the Bulldogs their first league loss since 2011 earlier this season with a 40-7 thunderbolt. Granite Bay capped this regular season with a 31-21 win over Folsom.
Yes, star Folsom quarterback Tyler Tremain missed those games due to injury, but the defense still got taken to task. Until they beat Lincoln of Stockton 38-14 on Friday, the Bulldogs were out of sorts.
“They were down on themselves,” coach Paul Doherty said after the game. “They’ve been doubting themselves a little bit.”
Folsom-Jesuit loser adds to unwarranted heat
The unfortunate part about Saturday is the losing coach will take unfair heat for it. Doherty needs a victory to get back to the section finals, a game Folsom has won seven times since 2010. His first Folsom team in 2019 was derailed in the section semifinals by Monterey Trail. Doherty is as good of a coach as you’ll find and he’s got the challenge of holding off the eager gap-closers. As he said earlier this season, “This team hasn’t won anything yet. I haven’t won anything yet. But we can do it.”
In his 10th Jesuit season, Blanton seeks his first section crown. A loss and some disgruntled alums and boosters are sure to call for his removal. Again. Max Miller heard this sort of noise during his Cordova coaching run in the 1980s. Same with Mike Alberghini at Grant, even after 13-1 seasons.
We’ve heard the rumblings for years about Blanton. None of it is warranted. It comes in as static and wasted energy. Blanton is motivated, too. Critique stings, but he has endured much worse. For a spell as a child in the East Bay, Blanton wondered where his next meal would come from. He later fed off the benefits of football and rose to coaching prominence as a De La Salle High player and graduate.
History shows rematches resonate
Rematches rev up a postseason, and some of it favors Jesuit here in this script. In the 1970s and ‘80s, it was common for Cordova and Christian Brothers — the area’s elite — to square off in a Metro League title bout and then again in the City Championship, now simply called the section semifinals. The loser of the regular-season game often won the rematch in the playoffs.
That theme also played out in the 1990s and early 2000s between Grant and Nevada Union, the area’s top teams. Four times the loser of the regular-season Grant-NU showdown won the section championship, muscling past its chief rival along the way each time.
In 2010, Grant blasted Folsom in a season opener in front of a national ESPN audience. The Bulldogs geared every meeting, every weight-room session, every practice and every game toward a rematch. Folsom won its next 12 games, got that rematch in the D-II section finals and rolled, 41-20, en route to the program’s first CIF State championship.
Jesuit last bettered Folsom in 2007, prevailing 35-21. Folsom’s string of wins have included beatdowns such as 52-12, 51-14, 55-9, 56-14, 50-7, 55-21, 63-13. In 2017, Folsom beat Jesuit 55-9 early and then 27-14 in the playoffs. The gap was closed but not enough in that one. Here’s the next chance.
“We’re playing really well, have great leadership and enjoy each other,” Blanton said recently. “We’ll see how far we can take it.”
THE BEE’S TOP 25
1. Rocklin 11-0
2. Jesuit 10-1
3. Folsom 8-3
4. Monterey Trail 7-5
5. Granite Bay 8-3*
6. Elk Grove 8-3
7. Antelope 10-0
8. Lincoln 8-2
9. Vacaville 8-3*
10. Sheldon 8-4*
11. Vanden 9-2
12. Yuba City 7-4*
13. Whitney 6-5*
14. Del Oro 7-5*
15. Cap Christian 7-3*
16. Vista del Lago 8-3
17. Sacramento 9-3*
18. Woodcreek 7-4*
19. Christian Bros 7-5*
20. Placer 5-6*
21. Roseville 7-5*
22. Pioneer 8-3*
23. Casa Roble 7-4
24. Union Mine 8-2*
25. Bradshaw Christian 9-1
* Season complete
Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals
All games Friday at 7 p.m., unless noted
Division I
No. 5 St. Mary’s at No. 1 Rocklin
No. 3 Folsom at Jesuit, Saturday, 1 p.m.
Division II
No. 4 Antelope at No. 1 Central Catholic
No. 7 Monterey Trail at No. 6 Elk Grove
Division III
No. 5 Patterson at No. 1 Oakdale
No. 3 Manteca at No. 2 Lincoln
Division IV
No. 4 Merced at No. 1 Kimball
No. 3 Vista del Lago at No. 2 Vanden
Division V
No. 5 Ripon at No. 1 Escalon
No. 7 Casa Roble at No. 6 Hilmar
Division VI
No. 5 Bradshaw Christian at No. 1 Bradshaw Christian
No. 3 Livingston at No. 2 Argonaut
Division VII
No. 4 Esparto at No. 1 Woodland Christian
No. 7 Mariposa County at No. 3 Le Grand
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.