Prep soccer: Folsom earns upset win over Granite Bay with last-minute scoring strike

The same day The Bee released its first boys’ soccer rankings in years, we saw the first upset amid top-ranked teams.

Folsom players leaped and celebrated Tuesday afternoon after Rami Zantout scored in the final minute to lead the Bulldogs to a 3-2 win over the fourth-ranked Granite Bay Grizzlies. The win moved the Bulldogs over .500, up to 4-3-1, as they look to make an argument to be ranked themselves.

“It was a little rough today, but they pulled off the result,” Folsom coach Paul Ramirez said. “Winning those ugly games is just as important as winning the nice ones where you dominate the performance.”

The Grizzlies scored the first goal of the game with 12 minutes left in the first half. Thualfikar Alsakati crossed a perfect ball from the left side of the field and Bulldogs goalkeeper Nathan Donat got a touch on it. Everyone thought Donat had it but he couldn’t hang on.

“It was an unlucky situation. I ran it through my head for the first three minutes behind it, but I told myself to keep going and forget about it,” Donat said.

Donat has been playing soccer since he was 4 years old, but he did not start his goalie career until he was 11. He was under steady fire Tuesday but picked up his game when he could have buckled. He was quick to give credit to his teammates for making his job easier.

“My defense was on point. I most definitely could not have done it without them. It was not all me,” he said.

In the second half, both teams came out with a burst of energy and tons of action. Folsom forward Eric Herasymchuk tallied a score three minutes into the half to tie the game at 1. Granite Bay responded just three minutes later with a one-touch shot from Thualfikar Alsakati, who received a perfect pass from Luke Garman in the box to make the score 2-1 Grizzlies.

But Herasymchuk wasn’t done. He finished a second goal off a deflection, bringing the game to a 2-2 tie with 24 minutes left in the half.

“I just had to put it in the back of the net,” he said as he was crashing the goal to get the finish.

Grizzlies then heavily pressured the Folsom goal. They had two shots nail the crossbar in the second half alone. One of them was Brody Davito, who volleyed a shot off the corner kick into the crossbar. Then Austin Matsipura struck deep from five yards outside the box and nailed the crossbar as well. The crowd rose to its feet as the goalpost was still shaking.

“The boys played well for the majority of the time, but a few lacks in discipline, dropping back, and communication,” Granite Bay coach Bashar Alsakati said. “I thought we had more opportunities and should’ve put away a lot more than we did, but at the end of the day, soccer is soccer.”

It’s not like they didn’t have their chances. It was finishing the chances that was the problem, as it often is in soccer.

“We weren’t all there collectively for the full 80 minutes. (Diego Angelina De La Cruz) had 3 clean headers and we weren’t able to capitalize on any of those,” Alsakati said.

As sometimes happens, it was the other team that took advantage of a scoring drought. With a minute left, Zantout fired a shot from 10 yards outside the box that just snuck its way into the top of the goal, sparking a Folsom celebration.

“(Zantout had a) nice solo dribble beating three guys, you don’t really see that too often,” Ramirez said.

Folsom has a few days off before facing crosstown rival Vista del Lago on Saturday. Granite Bay faces fifth-ranked Whitney on Thursday.

This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 11:59 AM.