Bulldogs handle Del Oro, 35-20

Folsom and Del Oro played their closest game since 2009 on Friday, but the Bulldogs still came out on top by a comfortable 35-20. It wasn't the prettiest of wins for the Bulldogs, as two turnovers and a turnover on downs in their own territory left the game close at halftime 21-14. In fact, Del Oro missed a 40-yard field goal attempt near the end of the half. "You always wish you played better, but Del Oro is a good football team," Folsom coach Paul Doherty said. "They're much improved from last year. On the road in the SFL and we got the win and we'll take it. Expectations are high, but we played reasonably well and got the win." Folsom, for the third time in three league games, started slow, as Del Oro put together a nine-minute touchdown drive to open the game with Ty Sauve scoring on a one-yard run to give the Golden Eagles a 7-0 lead. Folsom's first drive ended in an interception by Del Oro's Jamison French, so the Bulldogs trailed 7-0 after one quarter. Folsom then put together three straight touchdown drives, ending in touchdown passes from Ryder Lyons to Rob Larson, Isaiah Williams and Larson again, as the Bulldogs led comfortably 21-7. The third touchdown was set up by an interception by August Dupree. Folsom also ended Del Oro's next drive with an interception by Daniel Eagleton just in front of the goal line. Folsom's offense went nowhere, but instead of punting on fourth and 12 around their 40-yard line with about a minute to play in the first half, the Bulldogs went for it and came up short. That led to a 17-yard touchdown run by Del Oro's Nolen Sauve that brought the score to 21-14. Folsom couldn't recover the Del Oro kickoff, which led to the missed 40-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the first half. "We had a 21-7 lead with two minutes to go in the half, but being aggressive, we went for it and didn't convert and then they put seven on the board and that killed our momentum," Doherty said. Folsom scored the only touchdown in the third quarter on a five-yard pass from Lyons to Jamison Powell, as Folsom extended its lead to 28-14. As Folsom was closing in on another touchdown, Del Oro intercepted Lyons a second time, this one by Chase Carmazzi, that kept the Golden Eagles in contention. Del Oro scored one last time in the fourth quarter to make it a one-score game, Nolen Sauve taking it in from two yards out to make the score 28-20. Folsom's Brooks Dupree, however, returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards for the touchdown to secure the win. Nolen Sauve completed 13 of 27 passes for 136 yards and was the Golden Eagles' leading rusher with 62 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. Ashton Greenhalgh was Del Oro's leading receiver with four catches for 78 yards. Del Oro (4-3 overall, 1-3 SFL) travels to Jesuit this week, while Folsom (6-1, 3-0) plays host to Whitney (2-5, 0-3).