Local teams should all have good seasons

The 2022 football season is here and kicks off Friday at high schools throughout the Sacramento area. The Folsom Bulldogs, last year's Sac-Joaquin Section Division I and Northern California I-AA champions, will host Monterey Trail, a team that reached the Division II section championship game, losing to Central Catholic. Vista del Lago heads down to Manteca to face last year's Division III champs in a game that Vista coach Kyle Landes hopes helps prepare his team for postseason play. Oak Ridge also opens on the road at Cosumnes Oaks, one of three teams the Trojans beat a season ago. The Trojans feel they are much improved and are looking forward to a redemption tour this season. Let's look a bit deeper into each team. The Bulldogs were sailing along last season with a 6-0 record before De La Salle came to town Oct. 8 and not only handed the Bulldogs their first loss, but also knocked out their quarterback, Tyler Tremain, for three games. Folsom lost two of three games to Rocklin and Granite Bay and went on to finish behind those two teams in the Sierra Foothill League. Tremain returned for the postseason and the Bulldogs rattled off four straight wins, the final three probably representing the most thrilling and satisfying win streak in the team's history; a 22-21 thriller over Jesuit on the road, a dominating 20-3 win over Rocklin to win the section championship, a team that earlier trounced the Dogs, 40-7, and then the monumental 28-27 victory over De La Salle, the same team that spanked the Bulldogs, 31-10 , about two months earlier. Folsom lost the state championship game to Cathedral Catholic, 33-21. Looking back, Folsom coach Paul Doherty said the emotional win over De La Salle was too much to overcome. This school year begins another promising season for the Bulldogs. Folsom has three players committed to play at Division I school as the season opens: receiver Rico Flores Jr. to Notre Dame, tight end Walker Lyons to Stanford, and running back, defensive back Greco Carrillo to San Jose State. They have six other players with Division I offers and are otherwise loaded with talent, particularly at receiver and tight end. The play of quarterback Austin Mack will be critical. In the end, the Bulldogs will probably go as far as Mack can take them. The 6-6 junior has offers from several Division I schools including Stanford, San Jose State, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Cal, Washington State, Oregon State, Colorado and Arizona. Doherty said Mack has a high ceiling of growth and as he enters his junior year, he's not near as good as he's going to be down the road. If he can handle the pressure of running the Folsom offense, the Bulldogs will be just fine and another section championship and perhaps a trip to a state championship game is possible. Doherty likes to remind his team, however, that they did finish in third place last season, so first things first; the Bulldogs want to get that Sierra Foothill League title back. Vista del Lago The Eagles went 5-1 in the Capital Athletic League a season ago, losing only to Capital Christian, 62-40, and finished second behind the Cougars. It would have been nice to be league champions, but as the final score shows, last year the Cougars were the better team. Vista stepped up after the loss to beat arch-rival Christian Brothers, 45-40, in a thriller, and then beat Sac High, 47-33, which proved to be a nice ending to the regular season. Under first-year head coach Kyle Landes, the Eagles challenged themselves by adding Granite Bay to their schedule, and when Ponderosa had to cancel because of COVID, Landes found a strong Sheldon team to play. The Eagles lost those two games, but no doubt playing them and having those perennial playoff teams on their schedule toughened them up. Vista earned the No. 3 seed in the Division IV tournament and received a first-round bye. A 36-21 win over Placer in their playoff opener advanced the Eagles to the semifinal round, a place they hadn't been since reaching the Division III finals in the 2012. That's where the ride, ended, however, as a big second half led Vanden to a 67-27 win over the Eagles; as the Vikings went on to win the Section IV championship and CIF 3-AA state championship. Despite the loss, last season was a successful one for the Eagles. Under Landes' leadership and the talent the team has returning, this season will likely be just as successful. The Eagles have a new quarterback in junior Johnny Koett, but the team believes he's a good one. Three other juniors will star for the team, including guard and center Andrew Powers and Brandon Nazworth, respectively, and perhaps their best offensive player, receiver Matt Long, who had a great coming out party as a sophomore a season ago and all signs are pointing to another big season this year. Oak Ridge The Trojans won only three games a season ago in Casey Taylor's first year coaching at his alma mater after great success at Del Oro. Two of those wins against Elk Grove and Grant, are teams that are no longer on their schedule, so the Trojans are going to find new teams to beat this year. It shouldn't be too difficult. The Trojans finished ahead of only Grant a season ago and have nowhere to go but up with the Pacers now out of the Sierra Foothill League. With awesome team chemistry and a tight team bond, this team could be the most improved in the area. Mix in that it's year two under Taylor and the fact that the players are more comfortable with the scheme and how he coaches, it makes perfect sense. With quarterback Maddox Varella in his second year and backs Jake Hall and Dwight Martin ready to run behind a huge offensive line, the Trojans will be much tougher to stop this season. When Varella goes to the air, he has receivers Sebastian Sutton, John Hayward and Tyler Guthmiller to throw to as well as a strong group of tight ends in Gavin Molloy, Kai Reisinger and Kaleb Edwards. The Trojans are switching from a four-man defensive front to a three-man front, a move that Taylor hopes will be effective in putting more pressure on the defense and ultimately creating more turnovers. The team has bought in. League predictions Folsom certainly has to be considered the favorite in the Sierra Foothill League despite finishing third a season ago, as only an injury to the quarterback was the reason, proven when Tremain returned and the Bulldogs rolled the Thunder in the section championship game. If Mack stays healthy, Folsom should win the league. I'm going Granite Bay as the runner-up with Oak Ridge third followed by Rocklin, Del Oro and Whitney. In the Capital Athletic League, Capital Christian will defend its league title with Vista del Lago right on its tail in second place. I'm going with Christian Brothers in third place followed by Sac High, Del Campo, El Camino and Rio Americano.