Grant to play De La Salle in 2025, a rematch of California prep football powers
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- Grant will host De La Salle on Sept. 19 in a high-profile nonleague matchup.
- Grant added six nonleague games after two Metro League teams forfeited 2025 slots.
- Folsom opens at Grant and faces teams like Serra and Mission Viejo in tough slate.
Is it too early to talk high school football?
Not in California, where there’s a pulse of the sport beating year-round, including in the greater Sacramento region.
Here is a refresher of what’s going on.
Dead period in play
The summer period of workouts are over, and the same with the 7-on-7 passing leagues, games and camps.
Schools under the umbrella of the California Interscholastic Federation are on a mandatory “dead period” from July 1-14. This means no on-campus workouts or contact between coaches and athletes is allowed. The is rule in place, as voted by member schools of the CIF’s Sac-Joaquin Section, to make sure coaches and athletes get some down time — otherwise it would literally be nonstop activity.
High school football programs can engage in “limited” participation from July 15-27, which includes conditioning, drills and weight-room activities, but no full contact or helmets or shoulder pads are allowed. The official start of football practice is July 28.
Teams will generally have intrasquad scrimmages Aug. 8, with game-like scrimmages against other programs Aug. 15-16.
Grant vs. De La Salle
As if Grant’s famed football program didn’t already have a whopper of a nonleague game to kick off the 2025, the Pacers of Del Paso Heights added another monstrous program to the schedule this week.
A three-time defending CIF Sac-Joaquin Section champion with two state crowns in that run including 2024, Grant opens the coming season at home against four-time defending section Division I Folsom on Aug. 22.
On Sept. 19, Grant will host nationally renowned De La Salle of Concord in a nonleague contest, a game that was initially scheduled, then it wasn’t, but now is again (And thank goodness, for fans’ sake, because this is a game people want to see).
The teams played for the first time last season, in Concord, where the Spartans prevailed.
Grant also plays two Fresno powerhouse programs, in Central on Aug. 29 and Clovis East on Sept. 12. The Pacers on Sept. 5 play Cardinal Newman in Santa Rosa, a program that set Northern California and state winning-streak marks later shattered by De La Salle. Grant caps its nonleague schedule later than anyone in the section, playing at defending CIF state champion Lincoln in San Diego on Sept. 27.
Grant is playing six nonleague games because two Metro League teams elected to forfeit 2025 games against the Pacers, citing concerns that their work-in-progress programs are not up to the Pacers’ level of play. Kennedy and McClatchy of the Sacramento City Unified School District let Grant officials know during the winter about the forfeits, allowing Grant a chance to schedule nonleague opponents.
Grant will play Metro League games against Antelope, Destiny Christian of Sacramento and West Park of Roseville.
Folsom’s schedule
After opening at Grant, Folsom on Aug. 30 plays at Central Coast Section and NorCal powerhouse Serra of San Mateo, a team that played for the CIF State Open Division championship three times in recent years. Serra beat Folsom 22-21 last season.
The Bulldogs play at Southern Section heavyweight Mission Viejo of Orange County on Sept. 5. The Diablos are coming off of a 10-1 season. They went 13-3 in 2023 and beat De La Salle 27-14 in the CIF State Division I finals.
Folsom on Sept. 12 caps its nonleague slate with a game against Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco and opens Sierra Foothill League play at Rocklin on Sept. 19 with the aim of winning the toughest league in the section for the 10th time in 11 years.
This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 1:16 PM.