CERRITOS COLLEGE — After putting up an unheard-of 84 points in last week’s NorCal regional victory, most expected Folsom to blast its way to a second consecutive CIF Division 1-AA title. Instead, Cathedral Catholic held the Bulldogs scoreless in the first half and ultimately forced overtime before Kaiden Bennett’s 17-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Hutton on the first OT possession held up as the winning score in a 21-14 barnburner.
Bennett, a Boise State commit, threw for four touchdowns and ran for two more in an 84-46 victory over Central, but on Friday night, his contributions came in the form of clutch plays, rather than eye-popping numbers. His quick jailbreak screen pass to Clemson-bound Joe Ngata resulted in a nine-yard catch-and-run touchdown with 1:37 left to tie the game, and after an eight-yard run on the first play of overtime, his short bubble screen pass to Hutton on the left side gave Folsom (14-1) the lead for the first time all night.
Cathedral Catholic (12-2) tried to continue pounding the ball on the ground, but after three Shawn Poma runs gained six yards, D.J. Ralph threw just his third pass of the night, and though Zion Sorani beat the defender to the end zone, he couldn’t secure the pass, setting off a wild Folsom celebration.
Bennett threw for 262 yards and ran for 147, but on this night, the eye-popping stats belonged to defensive lineman Chandon Pierre, who had five sacks, including four in the fourth quarter. A 6-foot-3, 255-pound defensive lineman, Pierre has yet to receive any FBS offers.
“They’ll come,” said head coach Kris Richardson. “He’s got plenty of Big Sky schools already, and they know how to play out there. We’ve got a number of overlooked guys. I could give you a whole list of seniors that I believe can play next-level football.”
Two of Pierre’s sacks came on the Dons’ final possession of regulation after Hutton’s game-tying score, but perhaps the biggest came after a rare mistake by Bennett, a rushed pass that was intercepted by sophomore Dee’shon Swafford and returned 59 yards into Folsom territory. That gave CC a chance to go up two scores, but a 15-yard penalty pushed the Dons out of field goal range and Pierre’s sack sent them back to midfield and forced a Dean Janikowski punt. The kick pinned the Bulldogs at their own 10, but over the next 4:18, Bennett would lead a 13-play, 90-yard drive to tie the game.
Cathedral Catholic’s inability to cash in after the interception was a problem both teams had over the course of the night, particularly during the first half. Folsom reached the red zone three times over the first two quarters but could never capitalize. Nikolas Otineru sacked Bennett on fourth down to kill the opening drive and, after getting down to the 3-yard line, back-to-back Miles McCormick sacks forced the Bulldogs to attempt a 28-yard field goal, which McCormick blocked. A third chance would come and go without points in the final minute of the first half, and the Dons missed a field goal of their own in the first quarter.
“We got more points than them, so I’ll take it,” said Richardson. “Not the way any of us saw it happening, but we’re walking away with another state championship.”
Though both teams had a bevy of missed opportunities, the Dons will be the ones regretting it moving forward. Most of them will have another shot in the coming years, but Poma, who bounced off tacklers all night for 151 yards on 32 carries in his final high school game, will not be among them.
“Shawn is the best running back in San Diego County, bar none,” said head coach Sean Doyle. “I don’t care about any of these awards he should’ve gotten but didn’t get, he’s the best back and he proved it tonight.”
Poma was the bell cow for a team that ran on 56 of 59 plays, though, to be fair, there were six plays that could have resulted in passes if not for Folsom sacks.
It was that Bulldog defensive line, with its six sacks, that had turned the tables on Friday night, and while the crowd at Cerritos’ Falcon Field may have come to see video game-like offensive numbers, fans left having seen two killer defenses battle it out.