St. Mary’s of Stockton player get their hardware and the blue banner after win Saturday at Sac State of Folsom in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I final. Photo: Paul Muyskens.
After heartbreaking section playoff losses the last two seasons, including last season at Folsom, the St. Mary’s of Stockton football team was able to capture the blue banner after a dominating 56-25 win over Folsom at Sacramento State.
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The Rams won their first CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship since 2008 by topping the four-time defending champion Bulldogs.
“It’s incredibly meaningful for our community and for our kids,” said a cold and wet Rams head coach Tony Franks after the game. “It’s not so much looking in the rear view mirror and talking about the past. It’s about this team and this year and the accomplishments that they were able to put together. This is just tremendous.”
Dusty Frampton had a monster night for Rams in win vs. Folsom. Photo: Paul Muyskens.
Getting the ball first, the Rams and Bulldogs looked like the offensive track meet would be on as the Rams drove down on their first possession to make it 7-0 with a Jake Dunniway touchdown pass to Marcus Aponte and the Bulldogs would quickly counter with an 81-yard touchdown pass from Joe Curry to Joe Ngata to make it 7-6 after the missed extra point but that was as close as it would get the rest of the night as the Rams would score the game’s next 28 points to lead 35-6 midway through the second quarter.
At the end of the first half and start of the second half, Folsom scored 19 straight points to cut the deficit to 10 but that was as close as it would get. Late in the third quarter, the Bulldogs tried a fake punt from their own end zone and were unable to convert, which set the stage for a short Rams’ drive and the start of 21 straight points by St. Mary’s to end the game.
Junior RB Dusty Frampton score the game’s final three touchdowns to finish the night with 294 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries. All season, St. Mary’s fans pointed out that Frampton only got in one play when their team lost 55-16 to national powerhouse St. John Bosco (Bellflower). The Braves won the CIF Southern Section D1 title on Saturday night 42-28 over state No. 1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana, making that loss look even better.
“Dusty had a great night and we wanted to be able to run the ball,” said Franks. “Folsom has a tremendous offense and we wanted to keep the ball out of their hands.”
Jake Dunniway completed 16 of his 22 pass attempts for 268 yards and four touchdowns with Marcus Aponte (seven receptions for 120 yards) and Keaton Hampton (five receptions for 107 yards) each catching two touchdowns. Folsom QB Joe Curry ended 32 of 52 on the night for 383 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for a score.
As the field started to clear after the game, some of the fans on the St. Mary’s sideline started to chant “We want Freedom” as a reference to the Freedom of Oakley team the Rams will probably play on Friday in the NorCal D1-AA championship. That’s likely who they will get when the announcement is made by the CIF on Sunday morning.
9 Comments
BULLDOG JIM…. ?!?!?!?
Where you at ?
LOL
Fred,
I am here! Great game! St Mary’s put a serious whipping on my Bulldogs and proved they belong in the Top 10 and will probably end of in the Top 5 once they take state. I do not see Freedom or the southern Cal representative being able to stop them. As long as they do not suffer any injuries next week.
Thank you Jim.
In all fairness stopping this group of 32 seniors will be a tall task . Against Bosco we were missing our best defense of lineman our best offense of lineman and our running back we did score 16 points against them but turned the ball over three times in the red zone those 21 points made a huge difference in that game
Since then our boys have been playing possessed !!!
Folsom is a great program and they will be back
Fred,
It is a shame that DLS and St Mary’s were not scheduled to meet this year. I know DLS does not back down from a challenge and I think St Mary’s would have ended their NorCal win streak. Just like I think Folsom would have ended it two years ago with their amazing team with Jake Browning. I am pulling for St Mary’s to run the table, along with Del Oro, to show that the SJS can bring it.
DLS did not want to put us on the schedule, they tried.
They dont want to put Folsom on the schedule.
With the cushy new CIF format called the open.
Why would they want to loose the Nor Cal mystic..of never loosing to a Nor Cal team.
They knew we were good this year..They know Folsom is always top notch.
Folsom and the SJS by the way are the ones who pushed for the NorCal Open Division game to be discontinued because they felt it was unfair to lose to DLS and then have other teams like Granite Bay go on to win state titles in lower divisions. Now fans of the same schools complain that DLS doesn’t want to play them. DLS wanted the NorCal Open Division games.
Bring on Bosco!! why do we have play a looser like Freedom! They Stink! Over rated!!! Let DLS play someone for D-1 .. have them play Folsom!!
Be careful what you wish for.