‘I don’t think we’ve closed the gap with De La Salle’: Folsom coach on Friday showdown
This football season has been a Northern California showcase of elite programs, and The Bee’s top-ranked club has been right in the thick of it.
Folsom had a 17-12 loss to NorCal No. 1-ranked Serra of San Mateo last month and also a 23-15 decision over NorCal No. 4 Pittsburg of the North Coast Section last week. Now Folsom takes its act to Contra Costa County on Friday to play De La Salle, a program that for decades towered over the NorCal field.
Not so much now, and that isn’t because De La Salle players suddenly forgot how to block and tackle. It’s more of a credit to how Serra and Folsom have closed the gap, inspired to play better to topple the best. Serra beat De La Salle 24-21 this season for the program’s first such triumph in 11 attempts under coach Patrick Walsh, a DLS alum.
De La Salle is NorCal ranked third, right behind Folsom. The Bulldogs absorbed a 31-10 home loss to De La Salle last regular season, thanks in part to special teams and defensive breakdowns but mostly because DLS did what DLS does: pounce.
The rematch was a striking blow for all of Northern California. Folsom beat DLS to halt a five-game skid to the Spartans since 2012, registering a 28-27 victory at De La Salle to win the NorCal I-AA championship. That also snapped De La Salle’s record streak of reaching a state final at 14 years, since the tournament was formed in 2006.
The Folsom victory also snapped an 0-20 streak Sac-Joaquin Section power programs had against De La Salle dating back to 2012 and a 45-0 showing against the section altogether since 1982.
The intent of these showdowns is to get better, primarily, but for both sides to showcase their programs. These NorCal showdown games also go a long way to state playoff seedings. This sort of regular-season scheduling was unheard of regionally until last decade.
And there’s more motivation for Folsom.
“We want to play in the (CIF State) Open Division championship,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said, alluding that should Folsom win out this season, including a potential rematch with Serra or DLS in the NorCal finals, then an Open final would happen. “We want to play Mater Dei or Bosco, the best teams (in the country). But we are so far away from that. We were that far away from De La Salle and finally had to beat them. I don’t think we’ve closed the gap with De La Salle. We just got them in one of those games, but those guys are still incredible.”
After beating Pittsburg last week, Doherty said of the DLS showdown, “Our kids have been through it. I think (DLS) is a little better than we are. We’ve played De La Salle enough to know they’re a better football team than we are. They were a better team than were last year, but I felt like we played better on that one night. If we play well, we can beat anyone.”
Central Catholic plays at Bosco
Defending Sac-Joaquin Section D-II champion Central Catholic of Modesto has also engaged in ambitious scheduling. The storied Raiders, owners of a section record 21 section championships, will play at MaxPreps national No. 1 St. John Bosco in Bellflower on Friday.
Central Catholic lost at Serra 42-30 on Sept. 10 in another whopper of an inter-sectional showdown. The Bosco game came about because of fate and friendship.
Central Catholic sought out a game after its game against Windsor of Santa Rosa was canceled in the spring. Raiders coach Roger Canepa and Bosco coach Jason Negro are friends, and the game was quickly scheduled.
This story was originally published September 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.