Celebration of Folsom football is a success

Friday at Folsom High was a day to celebrate Folsom football, as Folsom High School teams shared the new blue turf with the teams in its youth program as well, as the teams scrimmage against one another. The Jr. Peewees scrimmaged against one another while the Peewee team did the same at 6 p.m. and at 7 p.m. the Jr. Midgets scrimmaged against one another while the Midget team did the same. At 8 p.m., the Folsom High varsity and junior varsity split the teams and scrimmaged against each other, while the freshman team played all the special team plays. "I thought it went really well," Folsom High varsity football coach Paul Doherty said. "It's a community event more than anything. There are a lot new families and a lot new faces and this event brings every together on the same night to enjoy some Folsom football. "No one got hurt, the kids competed incredibly hard and it was fun to see it." In the varsity scrimmage, there were many things that Doherty saw that he liked. "For starters, it was a lot better than last year," Doherty said. "Last year we scrimmaged over at Livermore and it was sort of chaotic. The coaches weren't as prepared and organized and it wasn't as smooth. This year it was better. "I was looking for improved quarterback play and I thought we got it. I have been disappointed in years past when we got to our first live periods our quarterback play has been hectic, frantic, sloppy. This year we had more live competitive periods in practice and I think that helped a bunch. All three quarterbacks who played significant snaps played really well. They ran the offense and managed it well. Ryder played much better than a year ago. Brody did too. Carson Murphy looked the best he's ever looked." Doherty liked other things about the scrimmage as well. "It was a very physical scrimmage," Doherty said. "We were more physical than I would have thought we'd be. We played better all around; offense, defense. On defense we had some big tackles, some fumble recoveries and some interceptions. We just played cleaner. "We seem much further along than we were last year, not that that means anything. We've still got a lot to clean up, of course. Best thing about it was that we had no injuries." Folsom will host a scrimmage against Whitney and St. Mary's on Friday night; freshman at 4:30 p.m., junior varsity at 6 p.m. and varsity at 8 p.m.