Sac-Joaquin football Top 25: Is the field closing the gap on Folsom?

The Bulldogs remain undefeated, thanks to a string of narrow victories.

Published on October 26, 2026

Folsom quarterback Brody Rudnicki waits for the snap during a high school football game against Oak Ridge in El Dorado Hills, Calif., Oct. 16, 2026.

Martin Christian

The Abridged version:

Folsom remains at the top of Joe Davidson’s Sac-Joaquin Section Top 25 rankings.
Oak Ridge, Destiny Christian, Grant and Del Oro round out the top five teams.
Sutter is the top small school in the region, while undefeated Mira Loma leads the 8-man field once again.

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In the fall of 2018, the Folsom Bulldogs towered over the regional competition in high school football.

Folsom’s gridiron success irked other members of the Sierra Foothill League to the point that coaches plotted an exit strategy. Not for their own teams, but for Folsom to play teams elsewhere, as long as it wasn’t anywhere near Sacramento. The other SFL coaches organized an effort to have Folsom booted out of the SFL for football, never mind that there is no clause for spite woven into the language of prep sports realignment.

The gripe from the coaches was that the Bulldogs made the rest of them look like raw meat – the runaway victories, the mercy-mandated running clocks in the fourth quarter, the incoming transfers and national recruits who were homegrown, the postseason championships and the gall of it all.

Nothing happened. Folsom remained fixed in the SFL, and the Bulldogs kept on winning, capturing CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championships. Folsom has won 84 of its last 86 SFL games and the last 27 in succession. That’s quite a feat for the deepest and most rugged league in Northern California.

After their attempt to force Folsom out of the SFL, the rest of the SFL teams went to work to close the gap on the Bulldogs. The other teams got better. They geared up their weeks and regular seasons for the combined effort of dethroning the Bulldogs.

Close wins define Folsom’s season

In the 1990s and the 2000s, the Grant Pacers stood as the region’s heavyweight program, fielding the best teams, the top players, the biggest national recruits and the most championships. Opposing coaches boiled, deeming Grant’s hard-earned good fortune to be bad for the regional product. But the area closed the gap.

This season in SFL play, Folsom needed double overtime to hold off Rocklin 29-23 before holding off No. 2-ranked Oak Ridge 28-21. Then last Friday at Prairie City Stadium, they survived a gallant effort by No. 5 Del Oro to win 42-41. Folsom improved to 9-0 on the season with the program’s 11th SFL crown within grasp. Folsom entered the league before the 2014 season.

This is all good for area football. It’s good to have a top dog with everyone chasing them; the intrigue is how long Folsom remains on top. Only the Folsom camp is pulling for the Bulldogs. Everyone else is waiting for Folsom to fall, circling like vultures. The tight SFL games are good for the rivals as a measuring stick. Rocklin, Oak Ridge and Del Oro players are convinced to the core that they are a better team than Folsom.

Folsom has benefitted from fortunate breaks in games, which happens to the juggernauts. Players, coaches and fans from Rocklin, Oak Ridge and Del Oro will tell you that the referees hosed them this season while aiding Folsom. I saw each of those thriller games, and I can tell you that Folsom fans during each of those games hissed and howled that their team was getting robbed by the refs, too.

Don’t blame the refs

This is all wasted energy. The referees are not favoring Folsom. Have the referees missed some calls? Yes. But to suggest it was deliberate to boost the Bulldogs is a laughable reach. Keep in mind that every single player, coach and fan for every football team at every level of play is certain they’re getting a raw deal by the refs. It’s part of sports.

The Del Oro crowd blamed the referees last Friday, insisting Folsom players were out of control in excitement after scoring plays. Their biggest gripe was Del Oro getting flagged for an excessive celebration penalty after a nifty touchdown strike from Luke Taber to Chase Carmazzi with eight seconds to play, thus pushing the point-after touchdown attempt back 15 yards. The PAT was missed. Fans cursed and threatened the referees as they were hustled out of the stadium on a golf cart, including F-bombs and shouts of “scumbags!”

Oak Ridge has not defeated Folsom since 2006. Del Oro has not topped Folsom since 2009. Rocklin beat Folsom during the 2021 SFL season, but the Bulldogs got their revenge in that season’s section final. Folsom coach Paul Doherty said after the heart-check victory over Oak Ridge that “this isn’t our Super Bowl” and that “I’m sure someone’s going to get us (in the SFL).”

That day is coming. It may not happen this season, but it will happen. Folsom and Oak Ridge could meet in the Division I section finals for the fifth consecutive season. Del Oro and Rocklin are in the Division II field and will chase that championship with all manner of zest and gusto, inspired by their seasons and gritty efforts against Folsom.

Meanwhile, the effort to close the gap is a good thing for this exceptional brand of regional football.