Folsom extends rivalry streak to 19 years as Ryder Lyons posts big second half
It was a rivalry rumble, so the theme entering kickoff on Friday was that anything goes, especially when emotions are involved and a ton is at stake.
But it’s only gone one way over the years in this series, and on Friday night, The Sacramento Bee No. 1-ranked Folsom Bulldogs toppled No. 2 Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills 28-9 to extend an unfathomable streak that has to be double-checked to fully comprehend.
In winning this home contest at Prairie City Stadium in front of an overflow crowd, Folsom extended its winning streak against the Trojans to 24 games, spanning 19 seasons. That’s no typo. It’s been a joy for Folsom and a continued anguish for Oak Ridge.
Most all of the games in the series have been intensely played, including this one. The streak includes Folsom beating Oak Ridge in each of the past three CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championships at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.
The difference in the meetings between the schools located some 8 miles apart on the Highway 50 corridor in 2022, 2023 and this season has been an opportunistic defense and the rifle right arm of 5-star prospect Ryder Lyons. The BYU-bound Lyons knows scores of the Oak Ridge players since youth ball, the extra intrigue being that he lives in El Dorado County.
Despite a gimpy ankle that has dogged him much of the season, Lyons broke this one open, using sheer grit and touch to turn a 9-7 Oak Ridge halftime lead into another Folsom triumph as the Bulldogs inched closer to the program’s 10th Sierra Foothill League championship since joining the section’s top conference before the 2014 season.
What Folsom also seeks is a 12th section championship and fourth in succession in the large-school Division I bracket.
Lyons gave Folsom a 7-6 lead with a 15-yard scoring toss to Ole Miss-bound receiver Jameson Powell in the second quarter before Oak Ridge’s Kyle Boeker — the top kicker in the section — drilled a 31-yard field goal for the 9-7 Trojans halftime lead.
It was all Folsom from there. Lyons had scoring strikes of 43 yards to Isaiah Williams and a 38-yarder to Rob Larson with 1:40 to go in the third quarter for a 21-9 lead. With 7:03 left to play, Lyons hit Stanford-bound two-way star Jason Hill Jr. for an 84-yard scoring play, and any Oak Ridge student-section chants of “Overrated” were long since doused.
Trojans coach Casey Taylor did exactly what he wanted to open the game, using an 11 minute, 3-second drive to control the clock and the tempo, capping it with a 1-yard Tyler Andujar touchdown.
But Folsom was too much in moving to 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in the SFL. Oak Ridge is 4-2 and 1-1. Folsom set up second-half touchdowns after interceptions by Travis Beatty and Daniel Eagleton.
Before the game, Folsom coach Paul Doherty said the teams know each other so well that it raises the intensity to a playoff-like pitch. Both teams were a bit shorthanded: Oak Ridge without two-way star Isaac Pierce, who suffered an injury to his pancreas in last week’s win over Granite Bay; and Folsom missing running back grinder Joseph Eyerman VI, out with a season-ending knee injury.
“It’s exhausting preparing for a game like this because the familiarity makes it much harder on coaches,” Doherty said. “Oak Ridge knows what we do. They’ve scouted us more than we have scouted ourselves. It’s harder on coaches to handle kids and emotions and personality, and then to handle the X’s and O’s and strategy and trying to hide the next wrinkle. It’s not easy.”
Can Oak Ridge close the gap on Folsom?
Oak Ridge has all the makings of a program poised to close the gap on Folsom with large enrollment, a supportive administration and community and lower-level programs that have big rosters and winning ways.
Taylor is a 200-plus game winner, mostly from his Del Oro coaching days, and he has a stellar coaching staff. Their time is coming in El Dorado Hills, a championship program without a lot of championships to show for it since 2006, despite often finishing the season Bee-ranked No. 2 or 3. A rematch could happen in the playoffs.
Oak Ridge in 2019 won the section Division I crown under coach Eric Cavaliere, now the school’s athletic director. Folsom lost to Monterey Trail in a section semifinal that year in Doherty’s first season, though he now has four section banners to his and his stellar staff’s credit.
“I think teams are catching up to us every year, closing the gap,” Doherty said. “One year, we surge ahead, then we might fall behind a little. It’s not going to be long, whether it’s Oak Ridge or Grant or whomever.”
Lyons ‘loves playing football’
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Lyons has not been the running threat as he has in the past because of the sore ankle, but the young man craves to compete. A 4.0-GPA student, Lyons continues to impress his teammates and coaches with his zest to achieve.
“He’s a kid that loves playing high school football,” Doherty said. “I can appreciate that more than anything with so many kids out there that think they’re too big for high school football.
“Ryder is all about his teammates, his coaches, playing here, on the blue field at his school. It’s all genuine, and he loves it, and he should. These little Junior Bulldogs that come to games? Those kids are his biggest fans. He’s got a real relationship with those kids on so many fronts. It’s really cool. Just so cool.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2025 at 10:39 PM.