Folsom, Grant to meet again on ESPN

Two of the top football teams in Northern California, the Folsom Bulldogs and Grant Pacers, who open the football season playing against one another on Saturday, August 23, at Grant, will be broadcast on ESPN. ESPN announced their schedule of high school football games earlier this week and it will open the season in Sacramento. It would be hard to find two better programs the last few seasons than Folsom and Grant. Folsom won a state title in 2023 and a season ago reached the Nor-Cal Division I-AA championship game where they lost to Pittsburg, 28-27. The Bulldogs with seven starters returning on offense, led by Brigham Young commit quarterback Ryder Lyons, has a chance to win another state title this season. Grant, meanwhile, has played for a state championship the last three seasons, winning a Division 3-AA title in 2022 and a Division 2-AA championship in 2024. "It's definitely going to be an exciting matchup," Folsom senior tackle Vlad Dyakonov said. "We have been waiting for this the whole offseason." Said Folsom senior receiver Jameson Powell, "I'm very excited to have this opportunity for my team. This year we have a lot of guys that are underrated and overlooked. I feel this is a great opportunity not only for them but for the whole Folsom football community to show what Folsom football is about. My thoughts on the game as a whole have not changed, bigger stage, same game. We are just going to go out there and do what we do best and play football." Folsom High football coach Paul Doherty is also excited about the game. "I'm glad we're not hosting, but this game is good for high school football and good for football in the Sacramento area. I'm glad to be a part of it." These two teams have played before on ESPN, way back in the season opener in 2010 when the Pacers came to Folsom and embarrassed the Bulldogs on national television, 49-14. Fourteen weeks later, of course, the Bulldogs repaid the Pacers with a 41-20 victory in winning the Sac-Joaquin Section championship game. The next season the Pacers whipped the Bulldogs again in a non-league game, 43-16, but in the team's next four meetings, the Bulldogs have come out on top by 31 points or more, the most recent win coming in 2021, 54-0. "There's no bigger stage than a national broadcast on ESPN," Folsom Associate Head Coach Jordan Banning said. "I think the Grant game was already circled on everyone's calendar for a while now even before the ESPN announcement. I think everyone feels that this game will set the tone for the 2025 season for who the apparent top team might be in the section. "Not everyone will remember 2010 when we opened against Grant on ESPN at Folsom. That game didn't go our way but ironically I feel like that loss on that stage put our program on the path to get us to where we are today. It was the first game that opened our eyes to what high level high school football was. That season would end with us beating Grant for the section championship and going on to win our first state championship. "The atmosphere will be electric and I expect nothing less than a hard fought football game from both sides. It's Sacramento area football at its finest and we're all honored to be playing in this game. There's no better way to kickoff 2025."