By Larry Hicks | OBSERVER Editor
High school football typically doesn’t offer “game of the year” matchups to start the season, but the potential for such a title certainly exists when two of the Sacramento region’s most dominant programs square off Saturday, Aug. 23, in Del Paso Heights.
The Grant Pacers host the Folsom Bulldogs at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on ESPN. Yes, it’s that big a clash.
Grant has won three consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section crowns — two in Division 3 and one in Division 2 — and two state titles in the past three years, winning a Division 3-AA title in 2022 and a Division 2-AA championship in 2024. The Pacers have won nine section championships in various divisions and three state crowns since 1990.
Folsom has won 10 section championships — including the past four in Division 1 — since 2004 and a state crown in 2023.
Both teams are loaded with college prospects, including Pacers receivers Koby Shabazz and Zo Edwards, and lineman Roger Vanderhoef. Folsom counters with blue-chip quarterback Ryder Lyons, receiver Jayden Padgett and lineman Vlad Dyakonov.
The schools aren’t strangers; this is their seventh meeting. In the first contest, Grant clobbered Folsom in the 2010 preseason, also televised on ESPN. Folsom got revenge later that season, routing Grant in the playoffs. Overall, Folsom leads 4-2.