Folsom’s dream season ends in CIF State loss to LA powerhouse. ‘Ran out of time’
It wasn’t the end that the Folsom Bulldogs had hoped for and expected, but it’ll be the journey that best defines their basketball season — and also how they played the game the right way.
Playing what longtime coach Mike Wall called a “beautiful brand of basketball” with “an incredible team” throughout the playoffs, the Bulldogs met their match on Friday night inside Golden 1 Center against a Los Angeles County powerhouse that mirrored their style of share-the-play play and was similarly superbly coached.
The Damien Spartans of La Verne were too good on offensive rebounding, were balanced offensively and proved to be as good as advertised in defeating Folsom 58-55 to win the CIF State Division I boys basketball championship.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort that Folsom, the only boys team left standing from the 200-member CIF Sac-Joaquin Section, came up short in its quest to win the program’s first CIF crown in this sport since 1985. The Bulldogs competed to the final whistle, a testament to veteran coach Mike Wall and his gritty group, making two 3-pointers in the closing seconds.
Fourth-year starting forward Joven Dulay and Weaver both scored 16 points for Folsom, and senior grinders Jack Shull, Scott Nardinelli and Alec Day provided a lot of everything, as did junior reserves Will Hakes and Kellen Garcia.
“Super proud of the effort,” Wall said. “These guys gave us everything all season, and they battled all to way to the end, played the game the right way. We just ran out of time.”
Luck was not on the Bulldogs’s side as 3-pointers rimmed out and baseline inbounds plays circled the rim and out, and it was Damien that celebrated its third state championship in 11 years under coach Mike LeDuc, the second winningest coach in state history.
Coaching since 1979 in Southern California, LeDuc pushed his victory total to 1,127, and the mild-mannered leader embraced coaches as it ended.
How difficult is it for section schools to win a D-I state title since the event started in 1981? Only Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove won it all at this division, doing so in 2013 under coach John DePonte. Jesuit reached D-I state finals in 1993 and 1994 under coach Hank Meyer, and Sheldon of Sacramento reached the finals in 2012 under coach Joey Rollings.
Wall, Folsom’s head coach for 25 years and one of the state’s top-tier coaches, studied the box score and noted that the statistics told a similar story in terms of fouls, assists, steals, turnovers, made buckets and such. Except rebounding.
Damien won that battle 32-21, which was bad enough, but what doomed the Bulldogs was getting beat on the offensive glass 11-2.
“Brutal,” Wall said. “That was really the difference. They got extra bites of the apple, so to speak.”
What also hurt the Bulldogs was getting outscored 10-0 to start the second half after Folsom led 28-27, in what became a 17-3 run. Folsom scrambled from then on to get back into it, but it was too little, too late as the Bulldogs finished 29-7.
“That was the run that killed us,” Wall said. “We could feel our basketball life drifting away.”
Wall raved about his four starting seniors and sophomore guard Parks Weaver — how they worked together, how much fun they had on road trips, the joy of winning big games, the Sierra Foothill League record of 14-0 and the 6-1 playoff record entering Friday.
Folsom won the Gold Division of the Damien Classic in December, doing so on Damien’s home court against other state-ranked teams. Folsom in January dropped a 66-64 game to eventual section D-I champion Modesto Christian after defeating that program last season for the section D-I crown. Along the way, Folsom’s spirited rooting section applauded their guys, be it at home playoff games or at Golden 1 Center, and the Bulldogs got here without transfers but instead with a core group of players who grew up in the youth program.
“They played their butts off this season,” Wall said. They really showed that they belonged in a game like this. They showed themselves, showed me, showed everybody how good they were. They put Southern California on notice that this was a possibility.
“A fun, great group to be around. I’ll miss the seniors. I’m going to miss them a lot. They showed what can happen when you play the right way. They’re a model of how you play the game of basketball.”
Dulay, the 6-foot-6 Folsom forward, is headed to Idaho State on scholarship and said he will remember this campaign and team.
“It was an amazing season,” Dulay said. “I love all my teammates. I’m really grateful for them. This was a dream season. You might not be the biggest team or fastest team, but you play basketball the right way, trust each other, trust the coaches and just play for one another, and you can go a long ways.”
As a great coach, Wall can certainly appreciate going against a great coach.
“Their level of execution was on another level from what we’ve seen all year from anyone we’ve played,” Wall said. “They just execute. They’re very poised. It’s a phenomenal team. All the credit to (LeDuc) for the discipline they showed. Very impressed with them as a team. Pretty incredible.”
Elijah Smith and Zaire Rasshan each scored 18 for Damien, which finished 32-7. Elijah Garner added 16 points for Damien.
Said LeDuc, “Folsom has a great program, and they have a great coach, and we knew it was going to be a battle. We knew we had to be as tough as them and as smart as them.”
He added: “Folsom was in our tournament in Christmastime, and they won our Gold Division. I got to watch (Wall) play, and I hadn’t seen them play, and I walked up to (Wall) and said, ‘Coach, you do an incredible job.’ So I knew how good those guys were and what a great coach he is.”
A great coach and a great team that came up just short against a great coach and a great team.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 10:58 PM.