Folsom Bulldogs head to title game, here's where you can watch it locally

As former Folsom High Principal Kathryn Allaman liked to say, "It's a great day to be a Bulldog." Indeed it is! After winning the Nor-Cal I-AA football championship on the road in Concord last Friday night with an upset win over De La Salle, the Folsom High varsity football team is headed to Mission Viejo to compete for a state title this week. "I am enormously proud of Coach Doherty and the entire team of the Folsom Bulldogs. I am completely confident that the Bulldogs will close the deal and win a fifth state championship," said Folsom Mayor Mike Kozlowski. "The success is also a credit to the tons of hard work put in by the boys and girls of the Folsom Junior Bulldogs program and their parents—evidence that setting large long-term goals is the only way to success." Folsom will face Cathedral Catholic High School out of San Diego this Friday night at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and will be playing for its fifth state title. Folsom defeated Cathedral Catholic 21-14 in overtime in 2018 en route to its fourth state title since 2010. For those who are not planning on traveling to the big game, there are ways to watch it Friday night. NBC Sports Bay Area will be broadcasting the game. NBC Sports Bay Area can be found on Xfinity channel 40 (SD)/720 (HD), AT&T U-verse channel 770 (SD), 1770 (HD) or DirecTV channel 696 (SD/HD). If you are looking to join other Folsom fans to watch the game, select local establishments are planning to show the game beginning at 8 p.m. Friday. FLB Entertainment Center, also known as Folsom Lake Bowl in Folsom, is one of those planning on broadcasting the game so residents can come together to cheer their local team, according to owner Dan Dreher. "We are proud to support our local Folsom Bulldogs," said Dreher. "Join us at FLB to root the Folsom Bulldogs on, as they fight for the state championship." Other locations that have advertising the broadcast include the Canyon Grill and Ale House in American River Canyon, who has already announced their plans on their social media pages. The game starts at 8 p.m. It is expected that other businesses will plan to air the game in town, check with your favorite eatery to see if they plan on showing the big game if you are looking for a place to watch locally. While all eyes will be on Friday's much-anticipated game, last week's championship game was one for the ages. Folsom became the first team from the Sac-Joaquin Section to defeat powerhouse De La Salle since 1978. Down 14-0 on the road against Northern California's premier football team, who beat them earlier this season, 31-10, the Bulldogs didn't flinch. Folsom took it one play and one drive at a time; forced four turnovers, and gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns before stopping the potential game-winning two-point conversion to hold on for the 28-27 win. Since quarterback Tyler Tremain has come back from a shoulder injury, the team's confidence has grown with each win. Not only has the offense improved with Tremain back, but the better Folsom's offense plays, the better the defense plays. Both were outstanding given the opponent on Friday night in the Nor-Cal Division I-AA championship game. "Jordan (Banning) has said this, but every time we play these guys, we take it in the teeth, but we get better," Folsom head coach Paul Doherty said. "These kids are more and more familiar with the standard of high school football and De La Salle is the standard. You can tell them and teach them and coach them, but until they see it for themselves, they don't know it. They saw it in October and it paid off today. The maturity of this group … these kids are incredible." Down 14-0 seven-plus minutes into the game, the Bulldogs began to creep back with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Tremain to Austin McMillan with 1:12 to play in the first quarter. Just past the mid-point of the second quarter, Folsom tied the game at 14 with a nine-yard run by Tremain, the first of three on the night. The Bulldogs defense forced four De La Salle turnovers in the first half that kept them in the game; interceptions from DJ Brown and Rico Flores Jr. and fumble recoveries from Greco Carrillo and Hunter Masterson. "I knew these guys could do it," Folsom's defensive coordinator Val Laolagi said. "We had to blitz when we had to blitz, but we kept it vanilla because we just wanted to see them play. They've faced a veer five times this season and they just kept hammering them. You can see some of those trick plays, our defensive backs get lulled to sleep, but the guys kept fighting. They kept coming back. It's a testament to how much they work. We want to keep our season going and they proved tonight that they deserve to." Tremain's 15-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put the Bulldogs up 21-14. De La Salle tied the score with 8:45 to play when the referees ruled Walker Lyons fumbled after catching a pass from Tremain. Folsom coaches argued that a whistle blew, but referees said the 60-yard fumble recovery for a score stood. The Bulldog offense then calmly moved the ball 80 yards on 14 plays, the drive capped off by a three-yard run by Tremain. Donovan Maxey-Parler had three big carries for 29 yards on the drive, while Tremain gained 22 yards on three carries. The Bulldogs now led 28-21. De La Salle took only three offensive plays to score on a 42-yard touchdown pass that Folsom coaches argued wasn't a catch. The refs said differently, and the call stood. De La Salle decided to go for two points and the win, but their run to the right was stopped short of the goal-line and the Bulldogs only needed to run the clock out to hold on for the 28-27 win, setting off a memorable celebration by the team, which received great support from a large and supportive crowd that made its way down from Folsom. "This win means everything," Folsom senior defensive end Justin Eklund said. "I'm speechless. We're the first Folsom team to ever beat De La Salle. That's a great thing we have for our seniors, and we're going to try to wrap this thing up next with in SoCal." "It's amazing being the first Folsom team to do this," sophomore offensive tackle Lucas Hardeman said. "My big brother went against De La Salle on this field and they lost, but I'm so happy to come back and give it to them. I thought the offensive line was awesome tonight and our quarterback is a baller. He's a 10 on the toughness scale." "I can't even put into words," Maxey-Parler said. "To beat them in the playoffs at home after losing to them earlier is something special. We got hit in the mouth against them earlier, but we've learned to bounce back. We know it's not over until it's over." "Ever since we were in the junior program and super little, I've always looked forward this," senior linebacker Caden Bienvenue said. "No Folsom team, no matter how good, the 16-0 teams never beat De La Salle. To do that tonight playing with my brothers that I've played with since we were young is the best feeling ever. The difference between the first game and this one is when we got down in the first game it got in our heads. These past few weeks, we've realized we can overcome some adversity. We were able to rally back, and it's just amazing" Tremain added, "We have an awesome team. Being down 14-0 early is tough, but we've been through so much adversity we knew we could come back. We just played our game. Our offense line played amazing, and I've never seen our defense play that well. We have a great defensive coaching staff and some great ballers on that side of the ball. "Our team has been through so much. Nothing is fazing us right now. We just keep the scoreboard out of mind and play every play like it's our last." Added Folsom associate head coach Jordan Banning on avenging the earlier loss to De La Salle, "The hardest part this season has been trying to keep 65 kids from believing everything they read on social media. And trying to keep 65 kids focused on the next game. And trying to keep 65 kids believing that they're capable…that's the hardest part. You just have to remind yourself every day that you're capable. You've got to show up and you've got to get the kids to believe it."