Top 8 takeaways from Pittsburg's 28-27 win over Folsom

One of four games by decided by one put, the CIF high school football regionals were laced with tough matchups, thrilling finishes and one of the better championship games I've seen in 40 years
Pittsburg's football team, in the middle of the program's 100th season, fought back from a 21-0 deficit to defeat Folsom 28-27 in the CIF Division 1-AA Northern California championship on 12-6-20024
Pittsburg's football team, in the middle of the program's 100th season, fought back from a 21-0 deficit to defeat Folsom 28-27 in the CIF Division 1-AA Northern California championship on 12-6-20024 / Photo: Ernie Abrea

The CIF State football regionals had to draw a lot of smiles around Sacramento, home of the California Interscholastic Federation. 

Its football committee were the ones who slotted all of their section champions into competitive equity divisions, which always draws a lot of scrutiny. With six games decided by three points or less, including four by a single tally, fans were on the edge of their seats. 

CIF REGIONAL SCORES | Plus state championship pairings

I wasn’t sitting, but I was more than thoroughly entertained in one of those four, Pittsburg’s 28-27 win over Folsom for the NorCal D1-AA. The game came down to a 2-point conversion by Folsom with 2:03 remaining. The Pirates stuck QB Ryder Lyons, then made a stop in Folsom territory to win their third NorCal title. 

PITTSBURG 28, FOLSOM 28 | Live updates

Pittsburg will play San Diego Lincoln in the state tile game 8 p.m. Friday at Saddleback College. The game will be streamed on NFHS Network (a subscription is required).

Here are eight takeaways on Pittsburg’s 28-27 win over Folsom which I attended.

1. Marley and we

high school football photo, California
Pittsburg senior quarterback Marley Alcantara may stand only 5 feet, 7 inches, but his game actually bettered the play of 5-star junior quarterback Ryder Lions in a wild 28-27 Northern California Division 1-AA Regional final at Pittsburg High on 12-6-2024 / Photo: Ernie Abrea

As the teams lined up for the postgame handshake, Pittsburg quarterback Marley Alcantara left the line, reading the field to see where and how his QB counterpart Ryder Lyons was doing. The end of the season can be an emotional place and Alcantara knows that. Lyons was standing by himself, away from the line. Alcantara nodded, gave a quick man hug, his head landing just above Lyons’ numbers. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Lyons towered over the 5-7 Alcantara. Lyons, in obvious distress, had little to say and the two went opposite ways. 

On the field the two quarterbacks had accounted for all eight touchdowns, but Lyons, harassed and hurried much of the night by the “monsters,” as Folsom coach Paul Doherty called Pittsburg’s five Division I college stalwarts on defense, was 14 of 32 for 138 yards. He rushed for two and threw for two scores, elevating his season total to 60. His two TD passes in the first 14 minutes, when Folsom took a 21-0 lead, were beautifully thrown and timed, the second a 30-yard dime off the run in the right corner of the end zone to sophomore EJ Coleman was a thing of beauty on both ends. 

After an early lost fumble, Alcantara was 19 of 28 for 255 yards and four touchdowns — all four throws of 17 yards to freshman Kenneth Ward, two to Rolp Mosley of 11 and 25 yards, and last, a 5-yard post strike for the go-ahead score to Truly Bell — were all picturesque if not perfectly placed and thrown. 

So, on this night, the better quarterback play was won by the 5-7 kid, the one with not a single Division 1 offer — he’s committed to NAIA Southern Oregon — over the the No. 2 junior quarterback recruit in the country, the SBLive California Co-Offensive Player of the Year in 2023, with a whopping 31 college offers, to all the best programs in the country. 

“It turned out to be the Marley Alcanara show and not the Gatorade Player of the Year show,” Pittsburg coach Charlie Ramirez said. 

And, as consistent with his makeup, Alcantara didn’t make it about that. That is why he’s adored by his teammates, coaches and community. Surely, he’s been frustrated by his lack of recruitment, being overlooked because of his frame. He’s used it, abused opponents due to it, but never let it get in the way his teams are trying to accomplish. 

Alcantara couldn’t give a flip about comparing the numbers between he and Lyons. All that he was concerned with was a single letter. The “W,” and since the Pirates got that, everything else is noise, window dressing, hyperbole. He’s clearly all about the ‘we,’ and not the ‘me.’ 

“I respect game, you know, and he’s got loads of it,” Alcantara said. “Obviously he’s got all the accolades and whatever like that, but tonight we got the win. That’s all that matters.” 

Make no mistake, Alcantara is noticed and has been recognized. He was the Bay Valley Athletic League Offensive Player of the Year, and a first-team member of the San Francisco Chronicle and Bay Area News Group’s All-Area teams.  

In 37 games, 28 as a starter, he’s thrown for 6,181 yards and 87 touchdowns to go along with 592 rushing yards and six more TDs. He’s elusive, he extends plays, makes impeccable decisions, possesses a strong, accurate arm and has a brilliant football mind — “I’ve been telling college scouts, hey, this is going to be your boss someday,” Ramirez said.

That may be true, but on Friday, he was simply a winner. 

Folsom coach Paul Doherty was impressed but not surprised watching Alcantara, having watched him for a half two years ago against California-San Ramon. He noted then the team moved right down the field in impressive fashion with him holding down the fort for starter Jaden Rashada, a four-star quarterback now at Georgia. 

“I’m not saying he was better than Rashada, but wow, he really had their team moving up and down the field just like tonight,” Doherty said. “He’s got tons of weapons around him. He does a good job distributing the football. Handing off. Short passes. Long passes. Picks all the right matchups. Had us outgunned on perimeter with big long tall receivers and those guys made plays. He made all the right plays to make his team successful. He was impressive.” 

2. Dangerously down

So down 21-0 against one of the top 10 teams in the state, a five-time champion, with one of the best quarterbacks in the country, wasn’t there some concern on the sidelines? Panic? Fear? 

“It’s about composure,” Alcantara said. “I just kept hyping the guys up, you know, like we’re still dangerous. It doesn’t matter how much we’re down, we’re still dangerous. We’re still Pittsburg, you know, we can still execute at a very high level.”

3. Hundred reasons

Pittsburg second-year coach Charlie Ramirez said there were at least 100 reasons why when accepting the Northern California Regional D1-AA hardware from North Coast Section representative Louie Rocha, he didn’t just hold it high into the chilly air and flail his fist to the packed Pittsburg fans. 

Instead, he sprinted to the stands, as did his players and coaches, so they could all be a part of it. This is the 100th anniversary of the Pittsburg program and Ramirez knows how rich it is. He graduated from the school in 1994, he played linebacker on the Pirates’ team that beat De La Salle for the 1991 NCS title on the floor of the Oakland Coliseum, the last time De La Salle has lost to a NCS team. He was the team’s defensive coordinator for 10 years before replacing Vic Galli as head coach two years ago. Galli knew Ramirez was the right man for the job and Friday he proved it once more, with not only excellent play-calling and just the right tenor, but for his post game celebration sprint to the fans. 

It was raucous. It was the right thing to do. It was community, family, brotherhood, all the principals Pittsburg and all the best football programs are built on. 

“We have one of the richest traditions in high school football in the entire state,” Ramirez said. “One hundred years of football. It was a tribute to them for always backing us no matter what our record. … Football is so important to this community and if we were going to win this game, we were going to pay tribute to the community, to the families, to the fans.”

4. Right 2-point decision

High school football california
This was not the 2-point conversion try at the end of the game, but it displays the tough sledding for Lyons and Folsom during a 28-27 Pittsburg victory on Friday for the CIF Division 1-AA Northern Regional title. Pittsburg fought back from a 21-0 deficit two minutes into the second quarter. / Photo: Ernie Abrea

Much will be discussed with Doherty going for 2 with 2:03 left, but with three timeouts and Lyons at quarterback, getting three yards was definitely in Folsom’s favor. But Juju Walls, who drew rave reviews from everyone Friday, shed a tackler, went low and got Lyons low and Jamar Searcy came flying in high to take down Lyons for a 2-yard loss. 

The play call, a QB keeper right, wasn’t the most imaginative, but the decision to go for it I think sound. Indeed, after holding Pittsburg 3-and-out (but using all three timeouts), Folsom had a chance to win it with a field goal and 1:20 remaining. Simply the Pirates secondary was brilliant, offering no separation. And the pass rush delivered by Walls, Etene Pritchard and Dominik Calhoun was outstanding. Simply, as Doherty said going in, Folsom hadn’t seen a defense nearly as fast, athletic and physical as this before.

5. Don’t call him Ralph

high school football photo california
Pittsburg junior Rolph Mosley goes up high for a possible TD catch in the Pirates 28-217 win over Folsom in Friday's CIF Division 1-AA championship game at Pittsburg High school. / Photo: Ernie Abreau

Rolph or R.J. Mosley (don’t call him Ralph) was the most productive and eye-opening offensive player on the field, not playing quarterback with eight catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns. His first touchdown, an 11-yarder while shielding off a receiver and catching with one hand, was one made at the next level.  

The long and rangy 6-4, 180-pound junior, with five college offers including Georgia, set up another score, turning a short out into a 40-yard gain with a terrific move after getting belted. On his 25-yard touchdown catch, he stopped, then went and got five yards separation on the corner back to haul in a perfectly lobbed pass from Alcantara to tie the game at 21-21. 

Alcantara said he predicted the big night for Mosley, who came into the game with 38 catches for 435 yards and six touchdowns, pedestrian numbers compared to what he showed off Friday. Mosley is one of four receivers with at least six touchdowns, along with Makari Kenion (37, 607, 8), Ward (20, 543, 8) and Bell (16, 316, 6). 

Ward, a freshman, started the scoring with a full-extended 17-yard grab in the right-corner of the end zone to cut Folsom’s lead to 21-7 midway through the second quarter. 

“I told (Mosely) today, ‘you’re gonna have two touchdowns today,’ “ Alcantara said. “I told him that. I guess you just gotta put it out there into the universe.”

6. Best player on the field

High school football, California
Pittsburg RB/SS Jamar Searcy (28) offers a stiff arm during the Pirates' 28-27 win over Folsom for the CIF Division 1-AA Northern California Regional title on Friday. At Pittsburg High School, 12-6-2024 / Photo: Ernie Abrea

Doherty said the best player on the field Friday was Searcy, the 5-8, 180-pound Washington State signee, who came into the game with 1,414 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns. He finished with less than 60 yards rushing and no touchdowns, but it was his work on the defensive end that caused the Bulldogs fits. 

Besides his assisted tackle on the 2-point conversion, he forced a fumble of Lyons at the Pittsburg 12 that Japheth Tofaeono recovered early in the fourth quarter. Poetically, Searcy also recovered another Lyons fumble and the final last gasp for Folsom on fourth down with about 40 seconds left. 

Interestingly, Searcy was reluctant after the game to give interviews because he didn’t think he was worthy since he failed to get in the end zone for the first time in a game all season. 

“The kid was everywhere,” Doherty said.

7. Two points, two losses

Hard to call a season disappointing when you were four points short of being perfect and playing for a second straight state championship. 

But with many of its key parts back, including Lyons to favorite wideout Jameson Powell, leading rusher Daymion Rivera and USC tight end signee Taniela Tupou, along with a number of transfers, including Division 1 signees, running back Carter Jackson (Nevada) and Josiah Sharma (Texas), Folsom were basically a state title or bust proposition from the get to. 

They lost 23-22 to Serra Week 2 to alert them nothing is guaranteed, then won 11 straight (one by forfeit) by a 527-90 count. The Bulldogs weren’t lazy or lethargic. Or complacent. Doherty and staff are too good of coaches and they’ve built an impeccable culture. 

Simply on Friday, they ran into an equal team, one it barely edged 28-25 the previous season in a regional final. The home team won again, in a highly intense, down to the wire white knuckler. 

The sting of a season-ending loss will most likely just motivate Lyons and the Bulldogs to greater heights in 2025. Sorta how the Pirates were motivated in 2024. 

“We knew playing them last year, they had almost all of their guys back and they were going to be better,” Doherty said of Pittsburg. “It’s hard to acclimate to their speed. We had the momentum early and they stole it away and had it most of the game. We had a little at the end but couldn’t finish. They made a few more plays than we did.”

8. No told-you-so here

Picking high school games is all in fun, and I don’t spend much time diving into the weeds on them. It’s always a first instinct, based on simply rhythms, coaches and programs. Someone after the game gave me a back slap for picking this one on the money, a one-point Pittsburg win. Had the Bulldogs kicked the extra point who knows what would have happened. Normally, I don’t really think these predictions carry any weight, but I saw numerous lopsided Folsom victories predicted, including one by four touchdowns, 49-21. No matter that it caught me by surprise, imagine the reaction of Pittsburgh players as well as Calpreps’ 41-21 Folsom victory prediction. And though these are generally fun and harmless, I did tell coach Doherty I don’t think those picks did Folsom any favors. The game was obviously a tossup and it turned out so.


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Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.