For the first time in several decades, a Point Loma High football player, who is only a junior, has been named to the All-CIF First Team on offense.
Davey Folsom, an interior lineman, stands 6-foot 4-inches tall and weighs 315 pounds. A quiet, polite person off the field, it is his brute strength that drew the attention of opposing players and coaches.
“It’s a major accomplishment,” Folsom said, “and being the first one of this era to do it definitely means something.”
“It’s a heck of an honor,” said Pointer head coach Mike Hastings. “Making first-team as a senior is a real honor, but Davey made it as a junior,” he said after the team’s annual awards banquet last month.
But achieving at this level didn’t come easily.
“I definitely worked for it,” Folsom said. “I trained constantly,” he noted, “going out Saturdays and Sundays with (offensive) line coaches, working on my technique and just learning the game better.”
Folsom and the Pointers play in the toughest league in the county, so among opposing coaches who saw him play personally were two (Madison and Cathedral) who guided their Western League teams to state championships.
Perhaps Folsom’s finest moment came during a game against Madison. “On one play Davey picked up the Warhawks’ Army All-America linebacker Sampson Niu (6-foot 1-inch, 215 pounds) and lifted him off the ground, carrying him three yards before putting him on his backside,” said Hastings.
That moment, seen on video passed around to county teams, showcased Folsom’s abilities and skills to a wide audience of knowledgeable football people. “Coaches from Saints and Cathedral had nothing but praise for him,” added Hastings. “After seeing how he played against them they knew he was a monster.”
And what does Folsom hope to do for an encore in his senior year?
“Maybe all-state or all-American,” he said. “We’ll see.”
As might be expected, a number of big-name colleges have Folsom on their radar. Asked to list them, he casually reels them off.
“A few Pac-12 schools, and I’m definitely looking into them. Schools like UCLA, Cal Berkeley, Washington State, San Diego State, Virginia and Boston College.”
Folsom also has commanded attention as a shot putter on the Pointer track team.
“Yale, Stanford and Brown are recruiting me for shot put,” Folsom added.
“We hope Davey can become the Division I (college) player we think he can become at the next level,” Hastings said. “He’s got one good off-season ahead of him and a great senior year to play, but the sky’s really the limit for what he can accomplish moving forward,” Hastings added.