Consider last year's blowout loss avenged for the Folsom Bulldogs.
The defending CIF State champions improved to 2-0 Friday night with a 35-21 win over Orange County powerhouse Mission Viejo, a year after the Diablos dealt Folsom their only defeat of the season, 53-14.
"For sure, it was on everybody's mind," Folsom coach Paul Doherty said of 2025's defeat. "We didn't play our best football. To their credit, I think (our players) know that. They got one on us, they blew the doors off us."
Quarterback and Cal commit Brody Rudnicki ran for three touchdowns and threw for two more while the game had the makings of a blowout in the first half before Mission Viejo scored consecutive touchdowns to make it a one-score game in the fourth quarter.
But the Bulldogs' defense that didn't allow a first down until the Diablos' fourth possession stiffened, getting an interception from CJ Wallace IV a week after he housed a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown in the win against Cardinal Newman . The game was sealed with a sack from EJ Coleman.
Folsom needed a big night from Rudnicki. The Bulldogs were without receiver and UCLA commit Rob Larson, as well as senior running back and linebacker Joseph Eyerman VI, who has been offered from Cornell.
Folsom's offense this season has a different look with Rudnicki under center after Ryder Lyons, the back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year, lit it up with 118 passing touchdowns during his Folsom career. Rudnicki is less of a scrambling playmaker than Lyons and more of a bruising runner who can move the pile in short yardage situations, like he did throughout Friday's win.
"It's a game changer, for sure," Doherty said of Rudnicki's running. "We try to get enough production out of the running backs ... but some of those looks are better with him. He's a big old sucker. He's fast, he's athletic. He made a ton of plays with his feet, and we treated this like a championship game, a state championship game."
The urgency of Friday's game came through in Doherty's strategy early on. He elected to go for it on fourth down deep in his own territory on Folsom's first two possessions. They converted both, including a pass play on fourth-and-7 on the first. Both drives resulted in touchdowns and a 14-0 lead.
Doherty said that aggressiveness was colored by last week's win over Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa — a game that went to overtime that Folsom nearly dropped on its home field.
"You got to play to win. We didn't play well enough to win last week — we were playing not to lose a little bit," Doherty said. "I told the kids we were going to play to win, and I thought the down and distances were reasonable.
The first touchdown was a 22-yard strike to sophomore receiver Jaden Angel, who scored two touchdowns on the night. Senior receiver Travis Beatty was a tough cover for Mission Viejo throughout, making a series of catches over the middle of the field that moved the chains.
The Diablos got a 30-yard touchdown from junior receiver Jeremy Bonhomme and a 6-yard score from sophomore running back Wyatt Boardman that made it a 28-21 game before Rudnicki's third rushing touchdown sealed the game in the fourth quarter.
Mission Viejo came in as Cal-Hi Sports as the state's No. 6 ranked team while Folsom was No. 9, making it one of the biggest games in California in the early portion of the season. Both teams combined to have 41 players who gotten Division I college scholarship offers.
Folsom will continue defending its state title next week with a road game against Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Francisco. They will play another road game at Inderkum on Sept. 18 before kicking off Sierra Foothill League play Sept. 25 at home against Rocklin.
