CARSON, CA -- Folsom was originally dubbed Granite City and was occupied by gold miners seeking fortune in the Sierra Nevada foothills. That wealth proved elusive, but oh what a bonanza the Folsom High football team realized this season.
The Bulldogs, after staking Oceanside to a seven-point lead, scored on nine consecutive offensive possessions and set a state bowl game record for points in a game in routing the Pirates 68-7 at the StubHub Center on Friday night.
Talk about gold strikes, Folsom's 915 points for the season is No. 2 all-time nationally and a California record. The Bulldogs also forced a running clock for the 16th consecutive time in this Division I title game.
"It's been an incredible ride," Folsom co-head coach Kris Richardson said. "It's in the record books and people will look back on this team and not only say it's one of the greatest teams in Sac-Joaquin history but one of the greatest in the state of California."
The trigger man in Friday night's carnage was fittingly enough the kid with a firearms manufacturer for a surname, Jake Browning. He completed 27 of 35 passes for 445 yards and six touchdowns. Browning finished his glittering senior year with 91 touchdowns and 229 for his career. He also ran for a score.
Browning's season TD mark tied the national record and his career mark is a national record.
And yet, after the demolition was completed, Browning emerged from the fray sounding like an old 49er trudging out of the Sierra Nevadas with his pockets empty.
When the Washington signee was asked by a camera man if he had anything to say to the folks up in the Pacific Northwest, Browning said: "I'm just going to celebrate this right now. I'm not going to try to speak to the whole city of Seattle or anything. I definitely have a big task going to college and everything and I'm a little nervous about it, but a good nervous because it's a whole new challenge."
Browning's regular-guy routine is not a facade. That's just him, said junior two-way lineman Jonah Williams (6-foot-5, 270 pounds), whose game-long pressure on Oceanside quarterback Matthew Romero aided the Bulldog defensive effort.
"He's incredible," Williams said. "There's a lot of numbers associated with him. But then when you actually meet him in person he's not the golden child. He's a really humble kid -- he's just one of the guys."
Browning made it look easy, throwing touchdowns to six receivers, including Cole Thompson who broke the state record with his 34th TD catch of the season. For his career, Browning threw for 16,781 yards, 229 touchdowns and was intercepted 40 times, but not once on Friday night.
It's almost amusing to think about it, but all of Folsom's production came after Romero scored on an eight-yard run to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead with 8:01 left in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs didn't panic -- they went to work.
"We had a lot of time left on the clock; it was only the first quarter but we definitely wanted to make sure we responded," Browning said.
Folsom (16-0) proceeded to score six consecutive first-half touchdowns, including five in the second quarter to put the game out of reach, 41-7.
A 4-yard Browning TD run in the first quarter started the landslide, and was followed by a 22-yard TD pass from Browning to receiver Jake Morgado, a 23-yard TD pass to Josiah Deguara, a 1-yard TD run by Bailey Laolagi, a 9-yard scoring run by Tre Green and a 6-yard Green TD reception from Browning.
Laolagi wasn't done. The senior two-way star, on the final play of the game, picked up a Romero fumble and sprinted 62 yards for a touchdown as time expired. He was then deluged by his teammates in the end zone as Folsom secured their first state bowl win since 2010 and second overall.
"What a play," Richardson said. "Bailey does that kind of stuff all of the time. We weren't expecting it. We were subbing some guys. I'm not even sure how Bailey got on the field in that situation, but he got out there and made a great play and finished it off with another exclamation."
Folsom outgained Oceanside (14-1) 497 to 123 and managed 21 first downs, moving the ball with ridiculous ease at times. They did not punt in the game and, in fact, did not punt all season.
This game marked the fourth time the Bulldogs have scored more than 60 points. They also topped 70 twice.
The Bulldog defense was also splendid, led by Sam Whittingham and Tyler Crandall with eight tackles each. As good as Folsom's offense was, it's defense only yielded 166 points for the season (10.37 per game).
On the opposite side of the field, Oceanside reacted not so much like a team crestfallen by sudden defeat, but more like one flattened by a rogue twister.
"They're an outstanding football team," Oceanside coach John Carroll said. "Unfortunately we couldn't give them our best because of injury. But they were clearly the better football team and deserve to be the state champion."
Oceanside was hindered by the absence of linebackers Tommy Woo and Marcus Lau Young, among others, due to injury.
Said a happy Richardson before departing for team photos: "We really wanted to get this senior class a state championship. They really deserved it. They came out today and we let it fly and they played their (rears) off. I'm pretty excited."
