What We Saw: Folsom vs Serra SM

While giving up 42 points may not be a good sign for what the state No. 5 Folsom football team wants to accomplish this season, the 56-42 victory on a hot Saturday at Serra of San Mateo cleared a huge hurdle since the Padres had beaten the Bulldogs the past three straight seasons. Ryder Lyons also again shined with seven touchdowns accounted for. Serra also may be back as one of the very top teams in Northern California after a 5-6 season last year.

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It’s not for sure since no one knows for certain how the CIF decides things at the end of the CIF section playoffs for the CIF regional bowl seedings, but the Folsom football team probably lost out on getting a bid to play in the CIF Open Division state championship last season for losing to Serra of San Mateo, 23-22, on a last-second field goal in just the second game of the season.

The Bulldogs still went on to win their fourth straight CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 title, but instead of being unbeaten at that point of the season they had a loss, which was enough since De La Salle of Concord was unbeaten after winning its 33rd straight CIF North Coast Section D1 crown. The Spartans were thus selected to play in the Open Division where they lost to Mater Dei of Santa Ana, 37-15.

All that Saturday’s win in a wild-and-wacky 56-42 scorefest vs host Serra of San Mateo accomplished for Folsom was just the simple fact of beating the Padres. That broke a three-game slide in the relatively new series and improved Folsom’s record to 2-0 after last week’s 51-13 win on ESPN vs Grant of Sacramento. Some of the coaches and players acted like Steve Young of the 49ers winning in the Super Bowl after being the backup to Joe Montana. “Get that monkey off our back,” one coach was overheard saying.

The win also set it up nicely for the Bulldogs going into a showdown next week on Friday at Mission Viejo. The Diablos, who along with Folsom and Centennial of Corona have been the three best public school programs in the state over the past 15 years, will also be 2-0. They will be No. 3 in the next State TOP 50 rankings and will be No. 3 in any Southern California ranking that makes sense (after the usual Mater Dei and St. John Bosco at 1-2). This week’s No. 3 team in the state and down south was Centennial of Corona, but the Huskies lost on Thursday this week to No. 9 Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) in overtime and the week before that Santa Margarita lost to Mission Viejo. A Folsom win over Mission may not lock up the NorCal Open berth with De La Salle still in the mix, but the Bulldogs would then move up to No. 3 in the state themselves and would be favored in the rest of the games they’d be playing in the regular season and section playoffs.

“The kids wanted it a lot to get past them,” said Folsom head coach Paul Doherty. “They are a tough team to prepare for. No excuses but after playing at Grant and then out here on a Saturday it was a different vibe for sure. We were able to pretty much get some points on the board against them this time, but it took a couple of exceptional plays by a couple of exceptional players to win.”

Serra, which had the No. 1 team in Northern California for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons before falling to a 5-6 record last year, tied the score at 42-42 with two minutes left on a 53-yard field goal by senior Saul Marks (one of the highest ranked kickers in the nation) that had plenty of room to spare.

It only took the Bulldogs three plays to break that tie when BYU committed five-star QB Ryder Lyons spotted teammate Jameson Powell wide open down the sidelines to his right (a defender slipped and fell) and Powell took the pass in for a 52-yard touchdown with 1:47 left.

The Padres still had plenty of time remaining for a matching score, but on their second play of the next series it was junior linebacker E.J. Coleman of Folsom who grabbed an interception and made a game-clinching 45-yard return for a touchdown and 56-42 lead with 1:06 left.

Lyons, who was mobbed like a rock star after the game by a group of student journalists from different schools from around the Bay Area, was unofficially credited with 23 completions in 30 attempts for 380 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for three scores and unofficially had 11 carries for 59 yards. His third TD run that came with four minutes left in the game on a 10-yard draw up the middle of the field gave Folsom a 42-39 lead.

One of Lyons’ passes was picked off and run back for a 35-yard touchdown by Serra standout junior Jeovanni Henley, who was a key player missing for most of last season with an injury. Henley also rushed for a pair of scores for the Padres’ offense.

Lyons also was seen limping for a good portion of the game. Doherty said he tried to take him out of action at one point, but that Lyons refused. He does play with a certain toughness that is hard to describe. Serra’s pass rush didn’t get to him as much as it did two years ago when the two teams played at Serra early in Ryder’s sophomore season (his second start) and in fact hit him hard multiple times. He still got back up every time and eventually nearly led a comeback win.

Powell, committed to Ole Miss, had a 77-yard touchdown reception earlier in the game and he had a 29-yard TD catch on Folsom’s third series. He was unofficially credited with eight catches for 216 yards.

Lyons doesn’t have a tight end like his older brother Walker (now at USC) or like Taniela Tupou the last two years (also now at USC and listed as a tight end), but still has multiple talented receivers to look to in addition to Powell. Junior Rob Larson had the first touchdown grab on a 19-yard back shoulder pass in the end zone that enabled the Bulldogs to tie the score at 7-7 in the first quarter.

Serra head coach Patrick Walsh said before the game he had no idea what to expect out of this year’s team with 11 new offensive starters, but it was quickly apparent after the unit drove 58 yards in eight plays on its first series of the game to take a 7-0 lead that it is a group that has good size up front and can run the ball with Henley and senior Iziah Singleton.

Henley, a junior who will get major D1 offers probably as a DB, had a 1-yard plunge for that first score and was charted with 12 carries for 78 yards. Singleton powered for 82 yards on 12 carries. He also took a screen pass from junior QB Jacob Bandel for a 38-yard touchdown shortly before halftime that cut the margin to 28-25.

Folsom had a 77-yard TD pass from Lyons to Powell with just seconds before halftime that made the score 35-25 and it looked like the Bulldogs might take firm control of the game early in the third quarter after Marks had a field goal blocked. Lyons then threw the pick six to Henley that put Serra back in the game.

Bandel was unofficially credited with 14 completions in 23 attempts for 256 yards. In addition to his 38-yard TD to Singleton he also threw a swing pass in the first half to junior teammate Charles Walsh that Walsh split the defense and flashed his speed for an 80-yard touchdown.

That was a special moment for the Walsh family since Charles is the son of Patrick and it was his first varsity touchdown for Serra. Patrick scored 70 touchdowns during his career as a prep running back playing at De La Salle from 1990 to 1992. It was the school record there until D.J. Williams scored 82 between 1997 and 1999. Some also may remember Charles on the sidelines as a kid dressed in a Chewbacca outfit (minus a mask) with his dad during the 2017 CIF D2-AA state championship game when Serra defeated Cajon of San Bernardino (which was led by current NFL superstar Jayden Daniels in his junior season).

“We lost, but I’ll take it for us as more that it’s about what we can learn about ourselves,” Coach Walsh said. “We learned a lot about our culture, about how to play in these kind of games.”

Walsh, who only started a handful of seniors counting both sides of the ball, also was asked about playing a schedule that will see his team host De La Salle next Saturday and then travel down to Southern California for a matchup at St. John Bosco.

“We just always want to know when we have for the WCAL (West Catholic Athletic League) and CCS,” he said. “If I went 7-3 for the rest of my career in the regular season, but we could win WCAL and CCS titles I would take that all the time.”

Two other players noticed for the first time in their careers were Folsom junior defensive tackle Dontay Kendrick (6-2, 265) and Serra freshman fullback-defensive end Taupaki Latu (6-0, 240).

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports