Bee’s Best Top 25 football: Yes, Folsom is No. 1 again. Where does your team rank?
Here they come again, adorned in red, white and blue. It’s another fast and skilled outfit, bearing all manner of championship intent.
The Folsom Bulldogs thunder into the 2022 high school football season as the top dog. They have more speed, talent, depth and top recruits than anyone around. This is nothing new. The Bulldogs have been The Bee’s preseason No. 1 team every year since the start of the 2012 campaign, the longest streak in regional history (Cordova was The Bee’s preseason No. 1 throughout much of the 1970s).
So here it is, the 100th year of the founding of the school, and the Bulldogs remain the talk of the town. Folsom is coming off an 11-4 season, which doesn’t look Folsom mighty, but the hurdles cleared made last fall all the more memorable. Folsom lost a ton of talent to graduation, including courageous quarterback Tyler Tremain, The Bee’s Player of the Year. But the lower level programs on campus had unbeaten seasons, and there is a wealth of returning talent, including 2021 Bee All-Metro receiving targets Rico Flores, a commitment to Notre Dame, tight end Walker Lyons and fast-rising running back Onterrio Smith Jr.
Folsom lost three of its final four regular-season games heading into the 2021 playoffs, a team undone by stout competition and injuries. Once they got healthy, the Bulldogs bit back and made history, roaring to their eighth Sac-Joaquin Section championship since 2010 and fourth Northern California crown since 2014. The largest and most satisfying hurdle was downing nationally renowned De La Salle 28-27 in the Northern California 1-A regional final in Concord.
De La Salle had famously peeled off a 316-0-1 run against NorCal teams over a 30-year span before falling early last season to Saint Francis of Mountain View in a nonleague game. De La Salle had gone 20-0 against the top teams in the Sac-Joaquin Section since 2012, including 5-0 against Folsom. DLS beat Folsom 31-10 at Folsom earlier in the 2021 season in nonleague play.
So what does Folsom plan now under coaches Paul Doherty and Jordan Banning? More joy, of course. Austin Mack takes over at quarterback. He is a 6-foot-5 junior with national recruiting interest. Defenders who started for Folsom in the CIF state finals loss to San Diego power Cathedral Catholic include linemen/linebackers Theo Greule, Elijah Gulewich and Diallo Washington and defensive backs Greco Carillo, D.J. Brown, Joseph Chavez and Slade Wilson.
Folsom opens the season at home Aug. 19 against Bee No. 3 Monterey Trail, then hosts Bay Area powerhouse Serra of San Mateo on Aug. 26, followed by road games against heavies Pittsburg (Sept. 16) and De La Salle (Sept. 23) before the Sierra Foothill League starts play. That schedule in order: Oak Ridge, Whitney, Del Oro, Granite Bay and Rocklin, each of them Bee preseason ranked.
No. 2 Rocklin went 12-1 last season and returns guys in the trenches, linebacker star Derek Houston, secondary man Austin Adams (son of coach Jason Adams) and gritty quarterback Joey Roberts, who led the charge in a 40-7 rout of Folsom in SFL play. That halted Folsom’s regional-record 11-year league winning streak.
No. 3 Monterey Trail and spirited coach T.J. Ewing have reached a section championship in three straight years, losing last fall to Central Catholic of Modesto in Division II The Mustangs will again be a run-heavy outfit, led by Ali Collier, who went for 1,549 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2021. MT has a brutal schedule, opening against Folsom, hosting De La Salle and then playing at Saint Francis of the Bay Area.
No. 4 Elk Grove, No. 6 Jesuit and No. 7 Sheldon will compete for the Delta League championship, won last season by Jesuit. Elk Grove returns two All-Metro linemen in James Minot and Stanford-committed Simi Pale. Jesuit returns quarterback Trenton Dewar, and Sheldon brings back All-Metro leaders in quarterback Jayden Machado (2,480 yards, 28 touchdown passes) and receiver Scott Nixon (1,007 yards, 13 scores) for coach Chris Nixon, father of Scott.
No. 5 Granite Bay, which beat Folsom last season, returns skill players and linemen for coach Joe Cattolico, who as coach at Pleasant Grove in 2011 handed Folsom its last league loss for 10 years.
Two 2,000-yard rushers return for another go in Curron Borders of No. 11 Antelope, coming off a 10-1 season, and Lamar Radcliffe of No. 14 Sacramento Charter. The Dragons, which went 9-3 last year, usher in new coach Kimbbie Drayton, an assistant last season to Justin Reber, who is now the athletic director at Inderkum, ranked No. 18.
Practices for all section schools start July 25. Intrasquad scrimmages are Aug. 5-6. Scrimmages against other teams with referees are Aug. 12-13. Season openers are Aug. 19-20.
Who’s back in 2022? Take a peek at The Bee’s 2021 All-Metro football teams to see who graduated and who returns.
THE BEE’S Top 25
(With last year’s record)
1. Folsom 11-4
2. Rocklin 12-1
3. Monterey Trail 8-3
4. Elk Grove 8-4
5. Granite Bay 8-3
6. Jesuit 10-2
7. Sheldon 8-4
8. Vacaville 8-3
9. Capital Christian 7-3
10. Del Oro 7-5
11. Antelope 10-1
12. Placer 5-6
13. Whitney 6-6
14. Sacramento 9-3
15. Christian Brothers 7-5
16. Vista del Lago 8-4
17. Oak Ridge 3-7
18. Inderkum 5-5
19. Yuba City 7-4
20. Woodcreek 7-4
21. Casa Roble 7-5
22. Dixon 7-4
23. Rosemont 11-3
24. Lincoln 8-3
25. Pioneer 8-2
Bubble teams: Argonaut 12-3; Bradshaw Christian 10-2; Burbank 6-5; Center 6-2; Colfax 7-3; Cosumnes Oaks 5-5; Del Campo 4-7; Delta 7-4; Johnson 8-1; Laguna Creek 5-5; Liberty Ranch 7-4; Marysville 5-5; McClatchy 6-5; Natomas 6-4; Nevada Union 6-5; Pleasant Grove 3-7; Roseville 7-5; Sutter 10-2; Union Mine 8-2; West Park 6-4; Wood 8-4; Woodland 9-3; Woodland Christian 10-1. - Joe Davidson/SacBee_JoeD on Twitter
This story was originally published July 18, 2022 at 5:00 AM.