Bulldogs ready to try and repeat

Another year of high school football, another season of state championship aspirations for the Folsom Bulldogs. The Bulldogs returns seven starters on offense from last year's CIF State I-A champions, including quarterback Ryder Lyons, who's late touchdown pass gave the Bulldogs a 20-14 victory over St. Bonaventure. Lyons, as a sophomore last season, threw for 3,578 yards and 38 touchdowns and rushed for 929 yards and scored 23 touchdowns. He's back for his junior season and should be an even better quarterback having a state championship season under his belt. The Bulldogs only loss at a skill position was Brian Ray III, along with backup running back Abram Woodson and tight end Colin Gallagher. Returning will be starting running back senior Daymion Rivera, who rushed for 681 yards and eight touchdowns and also caught 31 passes for two scores. Junior Jameson Powell, Folsom's leading receiver with 86 catches for 1,231 yards and 14 touchdowns is back, as are junior Isaiah Williams (20-220-2) and senior Nela Tupou (18-280-3). Folsom, like usual, has lots of depth on offense, as senior Carter Jackson is back after a two-year stint at Granite Bay. All he did a season ago was rush for 1,531 yards and score 21 touchdowns. "Our deepest group is at running back, as we go eight deep and five are seniors," Folsom coach Paul Doherty said. "You've got Daymion and Carter and then we've got Erick Orme Jr., Gabe Magdaleno, Maurcio Zaupa and those are just the seniors." Folsom's got plenty of receivers who will see the field as well, including sophomore Robbie Larson, junior Jason Hill Jr., junior Felix Rodriguez, senior Jacob Bambino and senior Beckham Andrus, to name a few. Again, the Bulldogs have plenty of depth. "We go 15 deep at receiver," Doherty said. "We have six outside receivers, three in the slot and three tight ends and all 12 of those guys caught passes in our scrimmage." Folsom must replace three starting linemen from last year. The coaching staff doesn't foresee this to be a problem, but until that unit gets out of the field and plays, it's hard to tell how they will do. Three-year senior starter Luke Sorensen leads the group and he and fellow senior Isaac Ross are the two returning starters at guard. Tackles include junior Vlad Dyakonov and sophomore Malachi Coleman, while the center will be sophomore Zach Ramirez. Another serious contender to see time is senior Zach Woodward. "The offensive line was probably the most impressive group during our scrimmage," Doherty said. "It's a young group with tons of potential." If the line holds up, there's no reason to think Folsom's offense will struggle this season. Folsom's defense returns only three seniors of the team's top-11 tacklers a season ago, but they are three good ones in lineman Theo Greule (68 tackles, 5.5 sacks), linebacker Logan Hutton (70 tackles) and safety Jaron Hodson (53 tackles). Those three will lead the defense that was helped in a big way by a senior transfer from Inderkum in Josiah Sharma, who will be playing next season for the University of Texas. At 6-5, 285, Sharma will be one of the biggest guys on the field and one of the more noticeable, although as the season nears it's unknown whether he will have to sit the first five games or not. "The best thing Josiah has brought to this program is his attitude and gratitude," Doherty said. "He's such a happy, grateful kid. He's grateful to be at Folsom. He loves being coached. He's loves being in the weight room. He loves learning about nutrition. On the field, he's getting better every day. That's the contribution he's made so far. He's been a breath of fresh air for our culture." With Greule and Sharma up front, opposing offensive lines will have their hands full. Folsom's got two other solid starters on the line as well, in junior Lua DeBerry and senior Ryan Hardeman. Another key player figures to be Tupou, and Ross will also see some time on the line as well. Two starters at linebacker include Hutton and senior Chris Warren. The other starter will likely be either senior Jasiah Banks, sophomore Joseph Eyerman or senior Jasper Wu. Folsom features great depth in the secondary, as the coaching staff listed 10 players who will likely see time on the field this season. Those players include Hodson, Bambino, Jackson, Hill Jr., Banks and Eyerman along with senior Kam Totton and juniors Brooks Dupree, Joaquin Rodriguez and Matsen Wurm. When Folsom High defensive coordinator Jordan Irsik was asked what he liked about his defense, he said, "They have really high football IQ and they play physical football." So it looks to be another strong year for the Bulldogs, as they look to be one of the strongest teams in northern California. What will it take for them to achieve their goals? "We've got to come together as a team and we've got to want to play together and for each other," Folsom High coach Paul Doherty said. "When you have a lot of talent, naturally the kids can be immature; that's part of growing up and developing into young men and football is a good tool to develop that. Last year the players bought into each other and had great team chemistry. There were no scholarship kids. The seniors bought in and we had a lot of first-year starters who wanted to play as much football as they could and keep winning games. That's always the challenge; to get the kids to buy in to each other and play for each other. If we can do that, we could be a pretty good team."