Folsom scrimmage hopefully helps Bulldogs prepare for Grant

Whitney and St. Mary's are two good football teams, but I don't know if scrimmaging any team will help prepare you for playing the Grant Pacers. Folsom High, of course, opens up the season on the road on Saturday at Grant, a game that will be televised on ESPN. Folsom was hoping to play well in the scrimmage and did so, but how much that will help the team on Saturday remains to be seen. The Bulldogs will need to be at their best if they hope to win on Saturday. "This is coach speak, but we're going to have to play sound fundamental football if we are to beat Grant," Folsom coach Paul Doherty said. "We can't turn the ball over. We can't beat ourselves with self-inflicted penalties. We have to maximize each possession. We will have to play a clean football game." The best news for Folsom is it left its scrimmage on Friday a healthy group, so everyone should be able to go on Saturday night, barring any injuries that might occur this week. Doherty was pleased with his team's performance during the scrimmage. "I thought we played OK," Doherty said. "We were competitive against St. Mary's and we played a good, physical team in Whitney. The scrimmage went about 2 ½ hours, which was good. "I thought some of our new receivers got some good reps in, players like Jayden Padgett and Arhian Acuna. Those guys are getting better every week. "We've also had a couple of young linemen step up and make a case for themselves as we hunt for the best guys possible; Colin Graham and Nick Shoop. "Defensively, we were clean. I think we gave up one score to St. Mary's. They've got some playmakers on that team. EJ Coleman stood out for us and Nick Wegner as far as linebackers go; those two guys played lights out football against a good team."