Only 3 weeks left in prep football season, if we're lucky

Enjoy these last few weeks of high school football while – and if – you can. The merry-go-round of COVID-19 cancellations continues throughout the greater Sacramento region with a handful of Placer County teams affected by quarantines. Placer remains on hiatus after reporting a positive test among its varsity team before the March 26 game. The Hillmen were scheduled to play at Oakmont, which is now coming off its own two-week absence due to quarantine. The Vikings will instead host Antelope Friday night. Antelope, which missed the first two weeks of the season, nearly missed out on a game for this week as Bella Vista has been under quarantine since before Week 3 games took place. Colfax will miss out on its scheduled contest with Nevada Union as the Miners are under quarantine as well. The moral of the story here is cherish these final few weeks of the season. Only three weeks of football remain, and with how this spring season has been, it's wise to treat each one as if it were the last. FORESTHILL (0-2) AT GOLDEN SIERRA (0-0), THURSDAY Foresthill showed some bright spots in a 51-20 loss against North Tahoe last Friday. Quarterback Nick Meltz showed some nice touch in his deep balls, one resulting in a 20-yard touchdown pass on a fade to Brayden Durand. Junior fullback Kiernan Hammer showed his explosiveness with a 30-yard touchdown run and a 77-yard kickoff return for a score in the third quarter. The Wildfires hope to get in the win column Thursday at Golden Sierra. RIO LINDA (1-1) AT LINCOLN (2-0) Lincoln was impressive after an unanticipated week off on March 19 due to its original opponent being quarantined. Four Fighting Zebras reached the end zone last Thursday, highlighted by Ethan Rappa's 80-yard kick return touchdown near the end of the first half. A welcomed brand of physicality from the Lincoln offensive line led to a 35-13 win over Ponderosa, a team that blanked Rio Linda 56-0 the week prior. The Knights, meanwhile, rebounded with a 21-8 win over Galt last week as junior Juan Black ran for 161 yards and two scores. FOLSOM (3-0) AT WHITNEY (0-2) Last week against Del Oro, Folsom looked like a typical Folsom team that we've seen dominate the Sierra Foothill League for the last seven-plus years. The Bulldogs haven't lost a league game since joining the SFL in 2014 and have a league winning streak of 50 games dating back to its Delta River League days in 2011. Head coach Paul Doherty returns to his old stomping grounds. He coached Whitney from 2015-16. Whitney held Granite Bay scoreless in the first half of last week's game before suffering a 27-15 loss to the Grizzlies. Seniors Austin Hauptman, Dylan Hale and Jordan Tinetti, juniors Wesley Houck and Ian Don and sophomore Jess Brelsford have shown they can be disruptive across the line of scrimmage for the Wildcats' defense. RIVER VALLEY (1-1) AT ROSEVILLE (0-1) Roseville had an opportunity to at least tie the game late in its season debut at Antelope on Saturday. Despite a late turnover and a 21-14 loss, there was much that left new Tigers coach Adam Reinking pleased. Quarterback Cole Errecart showed his ability to keep plays alive with his legs and make big throws downfield. Joe Brijs picked up where he left off after a conference-leading 19 touchdowns in his junior season. Bret Knudsen, Andrew Lucero and Blaine Kamaka led the defensive charge for Roseville. River Valley owns a 26-18 win over River City and a 40-6 loss to Yuba City this season. INDERKUM (1-2) AT WOODCREEK (0-1) Woodcreek was on the wrong end of a late scratch last week. After scrambling to arrange a last-minute opponent in Week 1, the Timberwolves found themselves in a similar situation in Week 2 after Bella Vista had to cancel. Woodcreek lined up a game at Union Mine for last Saturday, but the Diamondbacks removed themselves from that opportunity and instead played Burbank, leaving the Timberwolves without an opponent. Woodcreek now looks to have its first Capital Valley Conference opponent in the always-tough Inderkum, which lost to upstart Vista del Lago 40-31 last week. Inderkum, which entered four of the last five postseasons unbeaten, has lost two of its first three games this season. OAK RIDGE (1-2) AT DEL ORO (0-2) The Trojans and Golden Eagles' losses have come to similar opponents in Folsom and Rocklin. By no means does that mean they're not competitive. Oak Ridge held off Whitney in a defensive slugfest after taking Folsom down to the wire in Week 1. Del Oro came back to make it a one-score game twice against Rocklin and they have at least three players who could legitimately start at quarterback. There is no game in the SFL that is not worth watching. ROCKLIN (2-0) AT GRANITE BAY (2-1) Rocklin, along with Folsom, appears to be the class of the SFL at the moment. With wins over Del Oro and Oak Ridge and interchangeable parts at seemingly every position, the Thunder are out to make the most of this shortened season. Senior Richie Watts and junior Kenny Lueth have similar numbers rotating at quarterback. Watts has a 61.1 completion percentage with two TDs and a 109.5 QB rating while Lueth completes 70.6% of his passes with one TD and a 118.8 rating. This is a big test for Granite Bay, which bounced back from a close loss at Folsom with a stout second-half defensive effort against Whitney last week. Cole Roth averages nearly 130 rushing yards per game and has scored seven times in the Grizzlies' 2-1 start. ANTELOPE (1-0) AT OAKMONT (1-0) These two Roseville Joint Union High School District schools will lock up for the first time since 2017. Oakmont coach Tim Moore is looking for his first win against the Titans in his tenure with the Vikings. Oakmont hasn't played since March 12, a 15-7 win over Ponderosa. The Vikings missed the next two weeks while under quarantine. Antelope, which had its own struggles with quarantines, rode running backs De'Magea Hogan and Curran Borders to a 21-14 win over Roseville on Saturday. TRUCKEE (1-2) AT BEAR RIVER (2-1), SATURDAY The Bruins earned their second win of the season last Friday when longtime coach Terry Logue met his son Zach Logue, the coach of Western Sierra Collegiate Academy, for the first time. Emotions were high in the 28-0 win for Bear River. Truckee, meanwhile, dropped a 21-7 loss at Colfax, who Bear River will play in back-to-back weeks to close the season on April 9 and April 16.