Folsom football finale is almost unwatchable — literally, amid sudden fog
For Folsom Bulldogs fans, this is hard to watch.
Oh, Folsom won. They earned the CIF State Division 1-AA football championship with a 42-28 victory over Cathedral Catholic in Mission Viejo.
But for everyone, except perhaps Folsom quarterback Brody Rudnicki and his stellar receiving corps, the on-field action became nearly impossible to decipher as Mother Nature rolled out a thick layer of fog Friday night in Orange County.
Highlights — if they can be called that when no one can see what’s happening — posted to social media tell the tale.
Streaming platform NFHS, carrying the title game, was able to work in some behind-the-goal-posts shots as teams (mostly Folsom, in the blowout-in-progress) advanced from red zone to end zone. Action closer to midfield was barely legible.
Host venue Saddleback College had no visibility issues for the day’s earlier matchup, in which St. Mary’s of Stockton took the Division 2-AA title for its first-ever state crown.
That game kicked off at 4 p.m.
Folsom vs. Cathedral Catholic kicked off at 8 p.m.
By 8:30 p.m., the National Weather Service’s San Diego office had formally issued a dense fog advisory, warning drivers and others that visibility had dropped to a quarter-mile or less in coastal Orange County. Another CIF State final venue, Buena Park High School some 30 miles away, had no reported visibility issues. Another Sacramento-area representative, Sutter High, kicked off there at 8 p.m. for the Division 4-AA championship.
The irony there: Folsom journeyed south for this title game from the Central Valley, where a 400-mile stretch of fog has been stagnant, blanketing millions of residents in cold and sunless conditions for the better part of three weeks, according to the weather service, NASA and bitter Californians used to more respite in the winter months.
The Bulldogs glimpsed some sun as they flew Thursday to SoCal, but it didn’t last until game time.
Friday night’s layer in Mission Viejo is marine fog coming in from the coast rather than the tule fog that has settled over the valley. But fog is fog.
Whether it may have given something of an edge to Folsom, which has had the chance to play and practice under tule fog for nearly a month, is hard to say for certain. But visibility certainly didn’t rattle Rudnicki who, in backing up the region’s top quarterback in Ryder Lyons, accounted for all six of Folsom’s touchdowns vs. Cathedral Catholic.
But just over a year ago, Folsom battled Oak Ridge in heavy fog at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I banner.
The Bee’s Joe Davidson contributed to this story.
This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 10:26 PM.
