Prep football: Folsom rallies to take another dramatic win over De La Salle
They won it on a play that wasn’t even scripted in their many pages of options.
It wasn’t a bubble screen, or a sweep, a dive or anything of the sort. The Folsom Bulldogs on Friday night in Contra Costa County secured a monstrous and memorable regular-season win by going unconventional, by using its emerging quarterback star to do something he hasn’t practiced all season.
That was an over-the-top touchdown leap out of shotgun formation on fourth down at the 1-foot line against a De La Salle defense that already made two stops inside the 5. Austin Mack, all 6-foot-6 of him went airborne with 15 seconds to go, barely getting the ball over the goal line, and The Bee’s top-ranked Sacramento-area team rallied for a 24-20 victory over the Spartans in front of an overflow crowd at Owen Owens Field.
Why not a pass? Well, Mack was sacked six times.
“I wanted to go for the field goal,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said. “The kids wanted to go for the win.”
The kids overruled their boss. So did the assistant head coach, Jordan Banning, who told Doherty, “take the 6-6 guy over the top!”
Mack was all for it. The junior is best known for his pocket passing, and he went for 184 yards and a touchdown, but he used his legs on the last drive to gobble up yards as time ran down. The game-winning play had no name beyond, ‘Everyone block and you’re gonna get in the end zone,’” Mack said.
This was after De La Salle charged back to take the lead on two touchdown runs by its own long and lean junior quarterback, Carson Su’esu’e.
But it was Folsom (4-1) that celebrated in Concord, on a field De La Salle rarely loses on. Shoot, De La Salle rarely loses, period. Remarkably, the Spartans (3-2) have now suffered four defeats to Northern California teams in the last year, two of them to Folsom, with the Bulldogs beating DLS 28-27 in the Division I-AA NorCal final. DLS entered last season with a 318-game unbeaten streak against NorCal teams north of Fresno over 30 years.
Want more? Folsom is the first NorCal team to beat De La Salle on it home turf twice in a row since Salesian of Richmond in 1978 and ‘79.
What’s it all mean? Well, for now, it cements the fact that the Sac-Joaquin Section has sent blows right back to DLS after the Spartans De La Stomped the Sac-Joaquin Section for 40-plus seasons. Folsom, actually, is the breakthrough for the section, so this is another triumph for the region in general. Folsom has won two straight over the Spartans after losing five in a row to them from 2012 through last regular season when DLS dropped a 31-10 hammer on Folsom.
“Folsom’s success was built on previous coaches,” Doherty said, referring to Kris Richardson and Troy Taylor, now coaching at Sacramento State. “This is great for Sacramento football. It’s great for Folsom. Best of the best.”
The best is what De La Salle was labeled, without debate, and any criticism that DLS has been a downer this fall is not crediting Folsom and Serra of San Mateo near enough. And this: They’re high school kids. Losses happen. The NorCal pecking order this season, as it stands now, is Serra at No. 1, then Folsom, then De La Salle, then Pittsburg.
Serra owns a 17-12 win at Folsom and a 24-21 decision at DLS. Folsom last week beat NorCal No. 4 Pittsburg 23-15, and now this.
“We’re not a great team right now,” DLS coach Justin Alumbaugh said. “They made plays. They’re a great team.”
Folsom showed resolve in the late drive, much like it did to beat DLS in the NorCal finals. Said Mack, “This win is so incredibly big for Folsom. Us being a public school, we’re still on the rise.”
That’s saying a lot about a program that has since 2010 won nine section and four CIF State championships in five state-finals appearances. Back to that field goal option. What about it, Mr. Mack?”
“No!” the Folsom leader said with a laugh just before teammate Rico Flores embraced him. “Field goals are for people who are scared to win.”
Folsom led 10-0 at the half, a credit to Bulldogs defensive coordinator Sam Cole, whose troops hit hard and strung out plays. Mack hit Mason Norberg for a 17-yard touchdown for a 7-0 first quarter lead, and Jake Tremain, one of the top kickers in NorCal, hit a 25-yard field goal for that 10-0 lead. Donovan Maxey-Parler pushed it to 17-7 for Folsom with a 19-yard touchdown and finished with 68 yards rushing. DLS made its run, took the lead, only to be stalled by Mack’s up-and-over.
Folsom coaches reminded players that the real games start next week. That would be a Sierra Foothill League opener at rival Oak Ridge, which is Bee-ranked fourth at 5-0. DLS has a bye and then plays at section power St. Mary’s of Stockton on Oct. 7.
Should DLS and Folsom win section championships, the teams could meet again, only Folsom would host. The Bulldogs might just start practicing the over-the-top play just to be sure.
This story was originally published September 24, 2022 at 12:06 AM.