By admin 
On a cool October evening five years ago in Placer County, the Rocklin Thunder halted Folsom’s 11-year, 54-game league winning streak with a resounding effort that included players dancing for joy and hugging all comers.
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The streak was a Sacramento-area record and included stints in the Delta and Sierra Foothill leagues.
The Sacramento Bee-ranked No. 1 Bulldogs carried a 23-game SFL winning streak into Friday night’s showdown with No. 5 Rocklin and lived to survive it. Cal-bound quarterback star Brody Rudnicki barreled, spun and crashed his way into the end zone from 17 yards out in the second overtime for a 29-23 victory in front of a packed house at Folsom.
Folsom moved to 5-0 on the season in winning its 17th consecutive game on its home blue turf at Prairie City Stadium. And now the Bulldogs set their aim on winning the program’s 11th SFL championship since entering the top league in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section before the 2014 season.
All told, Folsom has won 78 of its last 80 league games, and Friday’s effort was punctuated by a play that did not count but fired up everyone on the Folsom sideline and in the stands nonetheless.
EJ Coleman returned an interception 100 yards for what appeared to be a touchdown to further dash Rocklin’s last chance to pull the upset. But per high school overtime rules, the game was over as soon as he intercepted the ball.
Folsom coach Paul Doherty wasn’t sure what sort of effort his Northern California No. 2-ranked team would produce. His team is down 10 key players with all sorts of injuries, including UCLA-bound receiver Rob Larson nursing a hamstring. He has not played this season but is expected back within two weeks.
“We’ll see what we’ve got,” Doherty said before the game. “No one’s going to feel sorry for us.”
After the game, the coach who has won five consecutive section Division I championships applauded the effort of his team, which won its second overtime game of the season. The first was 23-17 over North Bay power Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa in a season opener.
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Rocklin dropped to 3-1 but showed plenty in defeat. The Thunder were also without some key personnel, including perhaps their best senior player in Cameron Taylor II, a running back and defensive leader who will miss another week or so with a foot injury.
Still, the Thunder battled the Bulldogs under coach Jason Adams, the coach when Rocklin beat Folsom to halt that Sacramento-area league winning streak in 2021. Rocklin’s 6-foot-5 junior quarterback and multi-sport star Parker Lively impressed with his passing and poise, though he would like to have that sealing interception back.
He has a scholarship offer from Sacramento State. The program’s offensive line coach, Kris Richardson, attended the game, wearing Hornets green. Richardson was part of that 11-year league winning streak as Folsom’s co-coach with Troy Taylor.
Lively was at the controls of a Rocklin offense that chewed up clock as Rocklin dominated the time of possession, the best remedy against a team known to score in bunches. Lively scored on a 1-yard plunge to pull the Thunder to within 13-9, and that came after a Folsom player was tackled in the end zone on a punt return for a 2-point safety.
Luke May put Rocklin up 16-13 with 6:40 left in the game on a 3-yard run to cap a long, time-consuming drive, and Abhi Ghimire tied it for Folsom with a 26-yard field goal with 58 seconds remaining.
In the first overtime, Lively hit Rhys Mays for a 13-yard touchdown for a 23-16 Rocklin lead. Rudnicki countered a moment later with a 3-yard scoring run. The ball is placed at the opponent’s 25-yard line in overtime.
The SFL schedule doesn’t ease up for anyone. Next week, Rocklin hosts No. 2 Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills and Folsom plays at No. 6 Granite Bay
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