Grant Pacers to host Folsom Bulldogs in titanic football opener on ESPN
Two accomplished high school football powerhouse programs that have towered over the Sacramento region for years with the best teams and best players will meet in a titanic season opener with a national television audience.
As part of its “High School Football Kickoff” schedule, ESPN will air the Aug. 23, Saturday night showcase pitting the host Grant Pacers of Del Paso Heights against the Folsom Bulldogs, marking the fourth time the schools have clashed in this sport in either a highly anticipated season opener or in the postseason. ESPN announced its opening week of high school coverage with games across the country airing on Thursday and Friday and capped by a triple-header on Saturday, starting with preseason national No. 1 Mater Dei of Orange County taking on No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas of Florida in a 12:30 p.m. game.
The first time was in a 2010 season opener at Folsom, won big by Grant, though Folsom got its revenge in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section finals, en route to the Bulldogs’ first CIF state championship. Grant rolled Folsom in the 2011 opener, and in 2014, Folsom rolled Grant in a meeting of 14-0 teams in the CIF Northern California Division I finals in front of an overflow crowd at Sacramento State.
Folsom went 16-0 that season, led by all-time area quarterback great Jake Browning, now preparing for his fourth season with the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL.
Folsom is the four-time defending section Division I champion with 11 section crowns and five CIF state crowns since rising to power in 2010. Folsom was The Bee’s Team of the Decade for the 2010s.
Grant was The Bee’s Team of the Decade for the 1990s and 2000s under section Hall of Fame coach Mike Alberghini, who died in February and embraced the Pacers and their legacy to the very end. Alberghini applauded Folsom’s swift rise, with then-Folsom coaches Kris Richardson and Troy Taylor using Grant setbacks to refocus their programs.
The Pacers under alum co-head coaches Carl Reed and Syd Thompson have won three consecutive section crowns in Divisions II and III with a trophy case that features 10 section championships and three CIF State crowns. Grant has the honor being the only school in this section to win the CIF State Open title, the highest classification in the state.
Folsom finished Bee-ranked No. 1 last season and Grant finished No. 2. It’s hard to argue that pecking order to kick off this season, and the Aug. 23 game might be the first of two games between the programs this campaign. Grant has been moved up by the CIF section office into Division I due to the section’s “sustained success” model, so a section finals encounter could happen at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium on Thanksgiving weekend.
ESPN officials toured Grant’s venue and saw that Grant has a revamped press box with new windows and the cool breezes of air conditioning. Contracts were finalized this week.
“It’s been talked about for three years: ‘When is Grant going to play Folsom?’” said Reed, who called Folsom a “great team.”
The Grant coach added, “We want that game and they want that game. It’s big. It’s great, the top two teams in the section playing each other. It’s a statement for both of us. Why don’t we play? Why not? It’s a big game for the city.”
Folsom coach Paul Doherty said the Bulldogs are “thrilled for the opportunity to compete against the defending state champions. It should be a great mathup and it’ll be great for high school football in the Sacramento area. They have great players, great coaches, a great community and a history of great football.”
Grant boasts of a lineup of college scholarship talent, including junior receivers Koby Shabazz and Zo Edwards, safety Savion Bandy, linemen Roger Vanderhoef and Ronnie Noa-Keil and edge rusher Sosaia Noa, among others.
Folsom is led by BYU-bound 5-star quarterback Ryder Lyons, already one of the region’s all-time greats, and other national recruits in receiver Jameson Powell, lineman Vlad Dyakonov and a host of others.
Folsom, Grant have brutal schedules
Grant opens against Folsom, and it doesn’t get an easy draw any time soon.
The season’s second week has the Pacers hosting Central Section powerhouse Central East of Fresno on Aug. 29, then another nonleague contest at decades-long North Coast Section heavyweight Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa. Grant on Sept. 19 will be hosting nationally renowned De La Salle of Contra Costa County, a program that has competed in a CIF State final more than any other program since the state format was adopted in 2006.
Grant’s nonleague finale on Sept. 27, at Lincoln of San Diego, a defending CIF state champion.
After taking on Grant, Folsom on Aug. 30 plays at Serra of San Mateo, which played in the CIF Open state finals in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and edged Folsom early last season. Folsom plays at state-ranked Mission Viejo of Orange County on Sept. 5.
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 1:31 PM.