National No. 1 Mater Dei, 5-time California state champion Folsom nearly collide midseason

Top-ranked Monarchs decline invitation after Bulldogs have league opener, Homecoming game cancelled by Davis due to safety concerns

Folsom's Jameson Powell had five catches for 55 yards and a touchdown in his team's 63-20 win over Long Beach Poly Aug. 23 2024. Powell is a four-star junior receiver with 16 college offers. Folsom is looking for a game this week after its Homecoming Game with Davis scheduled for Friday was cancelled. / Photo: Todd Shurtleff

Two of the top high school football teams in California, including national No. 1 Mater Dei, almost met for an impromptu midseason game this week.

After a night to sleep on it, Monarchs first-year head coach Raul Lara politely declined.

Mater Dei versus Folsom will just have to meet for a first meeting in a state championship game.

On Sunday mid-afternoon, Folsom, the Sac-Joaquin Section's top-ranked team and a five-time state champion, had its Sierra Football League home opener and Homecoming Game Friday with Davis cancelled due to safety concerns.

Davis is down to 21 players due to injuries and their athletic director told the Sacramento Bee "to play a team of Folsom's caliber, a fantastic program, with their size, physical ability and the physics of all of that, it became our reality that we could not in good conscious send our team there."

That left Folsom coach Paul Doherty at first frustrated and bewildered — "I tried to walk (Davis coaches and administration) off the ledge (with their decision to cancel)," he told SBLive — and then left scrambling to find an opponent.

Someone noted that the best team in the nation was "stuck" with a 9-game schedule this season and had a bye this week. Doherty didn't know Lara, a five-time Southern Section title head coach at Long Beach Poly who took the Mater Dei post April 25 after the Monarchs surprisingly dismissed Frank McManus earlier that month.

Doherty went through several of his Northern California coaches, then Long Beach Poly coach Steve Barbee, who got him in touch with Lara. Doherty said Folsom (3-1), even during its Homecoming Week, was willing to make the 400-mile drive to Santa Ana.

"Coach Lara was receptive, but said he needed a night's sleep to think about it," Doherty said.

Early the next morning, Lara delivered the bad news to Doherty: "He said it was a no-go, that his team was just in a very physical game (with St. Francis Academy, a 25-14 Mater Dei win) and they just couldn't pull it off," Doherty said. "It would have been great for us to play them, but I appreciated he considered it and got back to us so quick."

Mater Dei defense swarms the Bishop Gorman ball carrier on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. The Monarchs breezed to a 31-15 win in a battle of the top two ranked teams in the nation. / Heston Quan

In June, Lara told SBLive that the Monarchs were looking to fill their open date either Aug. 30 or Sept. 20. The school at that point was willing to provide 'financial assistance' to a program that would play at the Santa Ana Bowl.

"When I got hired, it was late in the ball game," he told Tarek Fattal in June. "Everyone was full already, no one was available. We're looking out of the area for teams that are willing to travel."

The Bulldogs were willing to travel, but with only five days to prepare for a game, plus with the Trinity League play on the horizon starting Oct. 4 — all the Trinity League squads are on byes this week — Mater Dei (4-0) simply couldn't pull the proverbial trigger. The Monarchs open Trinity League play Oct. 4 at Santa Margarita.

All six teams in the Trinity League are ranked in SBLive's California Top 25.

The teams could face off in a CIF State Open Division Bowl Game, but after the Bulldogs were defeated by San Mateo Serra 22-21 in Week 1, that makes it a difficult possibility. The two powerhouses have never met.

Mater Dei has won three CIF Open Division titles while Folsom has never played in the state's highest division game, though it has knocked on the door several times. The Bulldogs have won five titles in Division I.

With 5-star junior quarterback Ryder Lyons they opened the season as the No. 1 team in Northern California

Doherty has spent the rest of the week "looking far and wide, calling anyone and everyone for a game," he said. He said he had a couple strong leads in Arizona and Oregon, and still has a couple of "irons in the fire," including Oakland Athletic League's Castlemont.

"We're a little frustrated and disappointed but still hopeful something will arise," Doherty said. "I got 40 guys who haven't played much this season and we're definitely looking forward to this week. We're good sportsmen. We've not about piling on. If we can't get a game this week we'll get ready for Oak Ridge the following week."

There's been plenty of debate around the Folsom community and Sc-Joaquin Section around the forfeit, player safety and missed Homecoming and game opportunities.

SJS assistant commissioner Will DeBoard took a big picture look.

"Schools need to determine what is in the best interest of safety for their kids," he told SBLive. "The Sac-Joaquin Section doesn't have any rules in place that penalize schools for forfeiting regular season games. Safety is the largest concern here, and we've seen this happen a few times across the Sac-Joaquin Section."

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