Once the obvious anointment of De La Salle was completed with the Spartans going straight to the Open Division title game on December 19 at Sacramento State, the focus turned to the next two teams in the pecking order and the I-AA game on Friday night.
There was little doubt the winner of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I contest between Folsom and Elk Grove game would advance to the 1-AA game.
Folsom (14-0) got it done in a SJS D1 title-game 35-27 victory that has their state leading winning streak now at 30 games. It was anything but easy against an Elk Grove team that gave the Bulldogs all they could handle in front of 15,000 fans at Sacramento State last Saturday night.
Folsom led 28-14 at the half but had already gone for three onside kicks and a fourth down situation. So it was no surprise co-coaches Kris Richardson and Troy Taylor would have to pull out even more rabbits from their hats when Elk Grove cut it to 28-27 after three quarters.
Senior quarterback Jake Jeffrey continued his stellar season when many doubters felt the loss of Jake Browning (now starting at Washington) would mean the demise of the Bulldog Empire. Instead, the 6-0, 180-pound Jeffrey led Folsom to a fourth straight section title. He had a season-high two interceptions like he had in the close win over Clayton Valley to open the season, but finished 26 of 33 for 368 yards and three touchdowns. Although he didn’t score on the ground Jeffrey led Folsom with 66 yards rushing.
The two rushing TDs in the game were scored by seniors Tre Green and Roger Neal.
According to Sacramento Bee veteran sports writer Joe Davidson the Bulldogs are “in deep bunker mode” so getting through for comments from Richardson or Taylor was next to impossible, so we relied on Davidson who got a few seconds of Richardson’s ear.
“We just keep finding a way to win. Very resilient team, very proud of them,” Richardson told Davidson about a team that only has one starter back from its 16-0 team that won the 2014 CIF Division I Bowl Game.
Bellarmine and Folsom have never met before and they are about as different as two football teams can be. Folsom likes to air it out and Bellarmine prefers to grind it on the ground.
In winning the CIF Central Coast Section Open 1 title in a 26-13 win over Milpitas at San Jose City College, the Bells pretty much sewed up the visitors spot based on the competitive equity formula the CIF 10 section commissioners used in placing the teams in the Bowl games. The announcement on Sunday that Coach Mike Janda and his boys would be heading to Folsom was also somewhat anticlimactic.
In the Milpitas win Bellarmine (12-1) was in control from the outset and once they took a 10-0 first quarter lead the running game that waited for the offensive line to open the holes, and a stingy defense, took it from there.
The backfield of running backs Antonio Garcia, Devon Buenrostro, Vincent Fernandez and Kyle Macauley, combined for almost 300 yards rushing and two touchdowns, plus dual threat quarterback Troy Martig passed for 195 yards and one TD and also scored on a 32-yard quarterback draw. Cole Bunce kicked 25-yard and 27-yard field goals.
The Bellarmine defense only gave up 199 yards of total offense to Milpitas but can they do it against the high-octane offense of Folsom? Or will the double-wing running game offense of the Bells be able to control the tempo of the game and keep the offense of Folsom off the field?
“They run the double-wing, and it's very effective,” Richardson told Davidson. “They can get into spread sets, and their quarterback (Martig) is a stud – should be a heck of a game.”
Folsom only played two games against teams from outside the Metro Sacramento area, and one was Clayton Valley to open the season in a 27-26 victory, and the other was Clovis North-Fresno in a 42-25 road win against a team that had five losses but made it to the CIF Central Section Division I semifinals.
Some thought that Clayton Valley would be chosen in a re-match with the Bulldogs, but the power rating of the Ugly Eagles dropped as the season went along and the team is very banged up, plus the CIF hinted they really didn’t necessarily want re-matches, so Bellarmine, despite being an underdog, is likely going to be a more competitive opponent for Folsom at this stage of the season.
The two do have a common opponent in Del Oro but comparing scores can be misleading. In the beginning of the season both Bellarmine and Del Oro were at full strength when Bellarmine pulled out a 34-31 victory in Loomis in week two.
“Bellarmine edged Del Oro in a thriller earlier this season, but comparing scores doesn't always make sense as Del Oro got waxed by Folsom when they were thinned by injuries,” Davidson said.
The match-up may be for a trip to the CIF State I-AA game against the Helix-La Mesa at Mission Viejo winner on Friday night in Orange County, but still it has to be fun, and Jeffrey knows that.
“I think it will be a great game. They’re a really good team who run a really good offense. I think it's going to be a close, fun game.”
He hasn’t been there as often as Folsom, but Janda has had a team in a CIF Bowl game when his 2011 Bells team that went 12-2 and took De La Salle to two overtimes before a season-opening 26-23 loss culminated in a 42-37 loss to Santa Margarita Catholic in the CIF Division II Bowl Game.
“Number one, we know this will be a real challenge for our team,” said Janda, who got career coaching win No. 269 in the Milpitas victory.
“They’re very fast and very strong, they’re sharp and they execute well,” continued Janda. “We need to minimize mistakes and try to play error-less ball, and try to keep the ball away from them. For us we’re going to do what we’ve done all season and do it better.”
He’s in the Metro Sacramento area now but Richardson knows about Bellarmine and Janda.
“I love the match up. Growing up in the Bay Area, everyone knew about
Bellarmine, knew how good that football program is,” Richardson told Davidson. “They're a lot like us, been successful, been to state bowl games. Coach Janda has been there for years and he's got a great system working, like us, with year-round football.”
So is anyone making predictions?
Cal-Hi Sports Editor Mark Tennis, who saw both teams play this year, wouldn’t predict an outright winner but he offered his opinion on the match-up.
“I think Folsom is the superior ball club, especially now that all their new players are clicking more than when I saw them against Clayton Valley. Bellarmine may be a little over their head but they have a lot of depth on the line and the skill positions and capable of going on long drives, and that’s one of the keys to beating Folsom.”
The CIF Northern Regional Division I-AA Bowl Game is Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Folsom, and the Bulldogs may be favored by most of the analysts, but one thing is for sure and that is the bell will toll for one of the two teams, and it won’t be a total surprise if it’s not the Bells.
