Graves leads Folsom to big win over Oak Ridge

Folsom High's varsity football offensive linemen are going to eat well at least one day this week.Quarterback David Graves said if they blocked well he would buy them lunch at Mr. Pickles and the line held up their end of the bargain.Not only did the line keep Graves off his back, but they also gave him enough time to shred Oak Ridge's defense for five touchdown passes. He also ran for another score in Folsom's 46-22 win."This is what I was hoping for," Graves said of the big win. "I'm a really big believer that if we execute offensively, we can't be stopped and if we play defense, we can't be beaten."The offensive line was great tonight and the guys I throw the ball to are excellent athletes."Folsom will attempt to improve its record to 3-0 on Friday when they host Sac High at Prairie City Stadium. The Dragons are 1-2 on the season and will have their hands full with the Bulldogs. They've yet to score 20 points in a game, while Folsom's offense has yet to be stopped."Sacramento has really good athletes and a big, strong wide receiver," Folsom coach Kris Richardson said. "They're a well-coached team and they will challenge us."Against Oak Ridge, the Bulldogs offensive was nearly unstoppable as they gave Oak Ridge fits. On the other side of the ball, Oak Ridge gained a good chunk of yardage on the ground thanks to hard-nosed running by Jordan Matanane, Jacob Allen and Brett Thompson, but had difficulty passing the ball and couldn't keep up with Folsom's explosive offense. "It sure would be nice to see if Folsom's got a punt game," Oak Ridge coach Eric Cavaliere said. "They're explosive and when they get the ball to people in space, you've got to make the first tackle and we didn't do that."Graves hooked up with his brother, Dano, for the game's first score, on a 26-yard pass. Later in the quarter following a Patrick Muir fumble recovery, Graves found Jordan Richards for a 13-yard scoring strike.Folsom increased its lead to 20-0 early in the second quarter on a 65-yard pass from Graves to Tyler Trosin, who broke two tackles and beat a hard-charging Thompson to the end zone.Oak Ridge came back to tighten things up, as Thompson, now seeing the ball as a running back, scored on an 11-yard run.If there was a key moment in a 24-point win, it came late in the first half. Kyle Gohagen recovered a Folsom fumble and the Oak Ridge offense marched down to Folsom's 30-yard line and looked good in doing so. The drive stalled there, however, and Folsom took only 1:09 to turn a decent drive by Oak Ridge into points for itself. Graves zipped the ball to a closely-guarded Andrew Benavides, who snatched it out of the air at the goal line for a 27-yard touchdown. The play came after a 33-yard scamper by Graves, which put the Bulldogs in prime scoring position just before the half. At the break, Folsom led 26-7. "That was big," Richardson said. "Any time you can get points right before the half and get some momentum, that's huge."Folsom's defense stopped Oak Ridge on the initial drive in the second half, and the offense did its part and scored, this time on a three-yard run from Trosin. The touchdown made it 33-7 and for all intents and purposes, finished off the Trojans.Oak Ridge came down and scored on its next drive on a 48-yard run by Matanane through the heart of Folsom's defense, but the Bulldogs scored twice more on a nine-yard pass from Graves to Brandon Babineaux and on a 44-yard quarterback keeper by Graves.Oak Ridge's final score came on a five-yard run by Allen.The Bulldogs are riding high after two impressive victories."We executed great offensively," Richardson said. "Dave didn't get pressured at all as our offensive line took away their stunts. It was another solid night for our defense too."Oak Ridge JV winsRyan Adams ran for a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter and Oak Ridge eventually pulled away in a 29-14 win over Folsom.Trailing 14-0, Folsom cut the lead to 14-6 on a Kyle Moeller-to-Troy Watson 20-yard scoring strike. Late in the first quarter, Folsom's Trevor Jones scored on an eight-yard run and Moeller's two-point conversion tied the game at 14.The Bulldogs, however, never saw the lead.Willie Tucker tackled Moeller in the end zone midway through the second quarter to give his team a 16-14 lead at halftime.In the third quarter, Sean Osborn recovered a Folsom fumble in the end zone to make the score 23-14. The game's final score came in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Will Tostenson hooked up with Matt Stewart to give the Trojans a 29-14 win.Folsom coach Matt Navone was disappointed with the loss."There were just a collection of little plays that went Oak Ridge's way and if they would have went our way it would have been a different story," Navone said. "We had trouble stopping their run and our offense didn't get going until the second quarter."It wasn't a question of effort, just a question of execution."Freshman improve to 2-0Folsom High's freshman football team improved to 2-0 with a 26-6 win over Oak Ridge on Thursday. Tanner Trosin threw for two touchdowns and scored another one on the ground to lead the way to victory. The loss dropped Oak Ridge's record to 1-1. Trosin hooked up with Desmond Lewis on an 83-yard score in the first quarter and then found Doug Vernon in the second quarter for a 20-yard touchdown. Carter Moore's extra point put Folsom up 13-0 at halftime. Late in the third quarter, Joe D'Ottavio scored on a 10-yard run and Moore's extra point made it 20-0. Oak Ridge's lone score came on a touchdown run by Shay Mueller. Folsom finished off the scoring on the next drive on a 2-yard run by Trosin. "I'm excited by the play of our defense," Graves said. "We're really playing well. Offensively, the boys are executing the spread well." Bryant Stanberry, Alex Wood and Francis Latorre led the defense in tackles, while Kyle Hampton picked up a key sack in the third quarter, which ended an Oak Ridge drive.