It's Folsom, De La Salle once again

Folsom's 23-15 win over Pittsburg Friday was big for a couple of reasons. For one, the goal every week is to win, so mission accomplished there, and secondly, with De La Salle the next opponent, Folsom will need all the momentum and confidence they can get in their attempt to beat the Spartans for a second time in a row, and first time in the regular season. No Folsom fan will forget last season's 28-27 victory in the Northern California I-AA championship game. The Bulldogs came back from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit, forcing four turnovers and overcoming a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns by stopping a two-point conversion in the game's final two minutes to hold on for the win. Impressive as it was, It's a new season with two different teams. Both teams enter the game with a 3-1 record. De La Salle had to fight hard before pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat Monterey Trail in their opening game, 36-20, while Folsom defeated the Mustangs a week earlier, 47-18. A week after Folsom lost to Serra of San Mateo, 17-12, De La Salle was upset by the Padres, 24-21. Since the Spartans have cruised to a big win over Saint Francis, 35-3, and then slipped by Cathedral Catholic, 28-20, on the road, while Folsom's blew out Edison, 65-0, and then got by Pittsburg, 23-15. Friday's game in Concord will be the fifth meeting between the teams since 2018. In 2018, Folsom was shutout in Concord, 14-0. In 2019 and in the first meeting a season ago, both at Prairie City Stadium, De La Salle won handily, 42-27, and 31-10, respectively. The Bulldogs have played the Spartans enough now to know the keys to victory. Folsom has to slow the De La Salle veer running attack averaging 248 yards per game, perhaps more specifically get off the field on third down, and don't allow big plays to 6-6, 255-pound tight end Cooper Flanagan, the team's top receiving threat. The Bulldogs need the keep the game close early, as both meetings a season ago they fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter. At halftime in the first game last season, Folsom trailed 24-7. "We also need to win the special teams battle," Folsom coach Paul Doherty said. "Last year they returned the opening kickoff and then got a blocked punt and next thing you know we're down 14-0. Also, along with getting off the field on third down, defensively, we have to extend drives on offense any way we can and keep the ball away from their offense. We can't have three-and-outs and our defense can't be out on the field all night long. We'd like to be able to run the ball, but in last year's game here we weren't able to. We'll see what we get this year." Doherty hopes the offense can be more productive this week than it was against Pittsburg. "We always tell the guys that when you watch film, it's never as bad as you think, and it's never as good as you think," Doherty said. "We thought we played poorly on offense Friday, but after watching the film it really wasn't as bad as we thought, and, in fact, we did some things better than we did against Serra. We've just got to keep working and keep improving." Having Hardeman helps The return of Lucas Hardeman was noticeable in last week's win over Pittsburg and his return from a shoulder injury will definitely help against De La Salle and moving forward. Hardeman raised havoc on the defensive line for the Bulldogs, and also played some snaps on offense. "Lucas made all the difference for us," Doherty said. "Diallo might have had the better game statistically, but having Lucas in there definitely helped Diallo have one-on-one match-ups. I thought Lucas was the best player on the field. We're trying to build some depth and versatility on our defensive line and having Lucas in there definitely helps." Linebacker was a question mark at the start of the season for the Bulldogs, but that group is gaining experience and confidence. Colin Denny and Mason Kelly have been making more plays every game, and while Julio Garcia didn't play much against Pittsburg because they run the spread, look for him to be much more of a factor this week against De La Salle. For Folsom's sake, let's hope he is, as Doherty called him the best of the bunch.