Folsom, Oak Ridge draw home games in Division I football playoffs

Folsom will host No. 8 Downey and Oak Ridge will host No. 7 Lincoln-Stockton in the opening round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section (SJS) Division I football playoffs.

The brackets, released during the section's Nov. 8 bracket show, placed the Bulldogs as the top seed and the Trojans at No. 2 in the eight-team Division I field, according to Joe Davidson on X.

The rest of the Division I bracket features No. 5 Edison at No. 4 Inderkum and No. 6 Franklin-Elk Grove at No. 3 Grant.

A post on X circulating Nov. 8 stated that all SJS football playoff games leading to the section finals will kick off at 6 p.m., adding that the section and coaches liked the idea. The section had not issued a formal announcement confirming the kickoff time as of Nov. 9.

How they got here

Both area teams closed the regular season with wins on Nov. 6.

Folsom beat Jesuit 56-38, scoring 28 unanswered points late in the second quarter to build a 42-17 halftime lead, according to the Folsom Times. Running back Osias Bolton scored five rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Brody Rudnicki added one on the ground.

Oak Ridge locked up second place in the Sierra Foothill League (SFL) with a 44-14 win over Whitney in El Dorado Hills. The Trojans finished the regular season 7-3 overall and 5-1 in league play. Their only conference loss came against Folsom, 28-21.

Division II bracket

In Division II, the bracket includes No. 8 Chavez at No. 1 Del Oro, No. 5 St. Mary's at No. 4 Whitney, No. 6 Jesuit at No. 3 Central Catholic and No. 2 Rocklin at No. 7 Manteca, according to the bracket release on X. Rocklin cannot host playoff games due to SJS sanctions tied to 7-on-7 passing league issues.

Vista del Lago and Ponderosa

Vista del Lago finished its regular season 5-5 after beating Ponderosa 36-22 on Nov. 6. Quarterback Jacoby More completed 22 of 29 passes for 365 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Receiver Luke Roberts caught five passes for 98 yards and three touchdowns.

Whether the Eagles or Bruins earned playoff berths had not been confirmed in available bracket information as of Nov. 8.