Bulldogs back on top: Folsom beats St. Bonaventure to win CIF state football championship
A good number of the Folsom Bulldogs were just starting their academic climb when the championship foundation was put in place and the trophies started to stack up.
Now, the generations are connected. Now, the preschoolers and kindergartners of 13 years ago are the young men having the time of their lives.
On Saturday night in Orange County, Folsom played stellar defense and used a late, magical drive behind its incomparably gifted and gritty sophomore quarterback Ryder Lyons to deliver a 20-14 victory over St. Bonaventure of Ventura in the Division 1-A California state championship game at Saddleback College.
Folsom now has five CIF crowns in six title-game appearances. The Bulldogs won state banners in 2010, 2014, 2017 and 2018, just missed in 2021, and then came through again here. The first four titles were under coach Kris Richardson (and Troy Taylor through 2014), and this one is under Paul Doherty.
Doherty is a beloved figure on campus, be it in physical education classes, the weight room or the football field. A Bulldogs cheerleader held up a sign on the field after the game that read: “In Doherty We Trust!”
Add in the 10 Sac-Joaquin Section championships since 2010 and the Bulldogs are still the undisputed top dog in the Sacramento-area playground. They are in the midst of the greatest football run in regional history.
But no one exhaled until this one was officially over. Not Doherty, who needed sunglasses for the first half on his sun-splashed sideline and then needed his defense to come through under the stadium lights. Defensive coordinator Sam Cole and assistant head coach Jordan Banning didn’t relax, either. Both of them are Folsom products to the core, so they take these seasons personal.
Not even Lyons’ mother could rest easy. Kamee Lyons watched a lot of the action in a fit of frayed nerves in the stadium seats, next to husband Tim, who rolls with all of it because dads generally handle this sort of thing better than the moms. Kamee found her son after the game, borrowing a quickie credential to gain access to the field, and they embraced. She told him he played great. He countered with, “Oh, I played so bad!”
Lyons rarely admits he had a good game, or that he had a super season, but there is no question that he produced a season to remember. Lyons opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, a score that held up through halftime. Abram Woodson pulled Folsom to within 14-13 of the Seraphs of the Southern Section with 2:41 left to play, but Lyons was stopped inches shy of the goal line when he tried to run in the 2-point conversion.
No matter. The defense held, Folsom got the ball back with 2:06 left, and here came Lyons again. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder marched the Bulldogs for the final time. He hit fellow sophomore Jameson Powell for a 2-yard touchdown bullet with 20 seconds to go, and the defense held from there to set off a celebration.
Lyons, Bulldogs invite pressure
Lyons in the last three games accounted for 11 of his team’s 12 touchdowns, using his arm or legs. In five playoff games, Lyons accounted for 16 touchdowns — nine passing and seven rushing. Lyons carried the ball 22 times for 97 yards. He completed 13 of 21 passes for a modest 137 yards, but there is nothing modest about his season totals. He passed for 3,570 yards and 38 touchdowns while rushing for 926 yards and 23 TDs.
“We never gave up,” Lyons said, all grins and expressions of profound relief. “The moment never felt too big for us.”
As for his effort in general, Lyons said he will celebrate for a day and then “get back to work.”
“I can play so much better and I’ll get back to work to get better,” Lyons said, adding that this was a thrill ride with friends for life.
Lyons is more than just a football player. He is a 4.0 student who dabbles in the guitar. He will play basketball this winter as he ponders his mounting stack of football scholarship offers, including from Notre Dame and USC.
The fearless kid was even telling his parents the day before the game that he was hoping for a tight, physical game, explaining that blowouts are boring.
“I told him he was crazy!” his mother said with a laugh. “I don’t like stress and anxiety. He loves the pressure.”
So, too, do the Bulldogs in general. They played their best in pressure-cooker situations, including tight playoff wins over Inderkum Oak Ridge and Pittsburg in the Northern California final.
“A ton of our kids played incredibly well,” an elated Doherty said. “(Lyons) is the best player in our section, maybe a little bit wider than that. At the end of the game, you just let the quarterback play.”
Junior running back Daymion Rivera rushed for 69 yards on seven carries for Folsom. Senior linebacker Mason Kelly led the defense with nine tackles.
Bulldogs defense sparkles again
Doherty praised Cole, the defensive coordinator, and what that unit did to highlight a 13-2 season. The losses came against teams that played for CIF crowns this weekend in NorCal No. 1 Serra of San Mateo (21-14) and De La Salle of Concord (14-7).
Folsom’s defense included “The Goons” on the defensive line in Theo Gruele, Lucas Hardeman, Elijah Gulewich and Diego Villareal. Junior linebacker Logan Hutton forced a fumble inside the 5, and safety RJ Whitten played much of the season like the national recruit that he is, breaking up passes, making tackles, blocking kicks.
“So proud of everyone,” Cole said. “It was a great collective effort.”
Cole said the Bulldogs made sure to include the mental aspect of a sport that, of course, is known for collisions. He said Folsom players were able to ponder their journey, to size it up and appreciate it, and then they became hitters come game time.
“The defense has bailed us out time in and time out,” Doherty said. “That’s coach Cole, who’s a Folsom Bulldog through and through. I’m happiest for him, a guy who puts in so much time and energy for these kids.”
Northern California teams were 0-12 in title games at this venue the last three years entering Saturday. Acalanes of Lafayette beat Birmingham in the contest before the Folsom-St. Bonaventure showdown. The Bulldogs did their job in saving face in a sport dominated by the bruisers of Southern California in most of the upper divisions.
The championships for Folsom were earned. First, it was the Sierra Foothill League crown, then the section title effort over rival Oak Ridge, and then this crowning achievement. .
“I feel so good for the kids,” Doherty said. “”They did everything that we asked of them. There’s nothing guaranteed. None of this is easy. But, man, what an experience.”
Asked what he plans to do to celebrate, Doherty said: “Sleep.
Then he added he’d take his young sons to ice cream first.
Meanwhile, Lyons said he was ready to “party,” but that meant nothing more than spraying water on teammates.
Folsom will return 11 starters next season, and the school’s junior varsity and freshman teams went 10-0. The current team included 16 starters who came out of Folsom’s youth feeder programs. The tradition rolls on.
This story was originally published December 9, 2023 at 8:55 PM.