All week, all season long, Monterey Trail junior defensive end/linebacker Elijah Folau was prepared for this exact moment.
His team clinging to a one-point lead at 35-34 with 1:14 remaining, everything – the Metropolitan League championship – was on the line. Grant had just called a timeout following Washington State commit Wayshawn Parker’s touchdown, immediately signaling they were going for two and the win instead of the tie.
The defending state champions had a chance to hand Monterey Trail its first league defeat since 2017. But as Grant’s running back dashed to the right, Folau made a move to break free from the right tackle, erupted to the football and knocked it loose.
Fumble. Stop.
Monterey Trail players celebrated and rejoiced, shortly thereafter recovering the onside kick. And the Mustangs won their sixth consecutive game while securing at least another share of the league crown in an instant classic in Elk Grove.
“We go over the goal line millions of times in practice, so I’ve seen it before,” Folau said. “Going into that game of knowing that if it has to come down to the goal like, we’re going to be the better team to stop.”
As a child, Folau was always the one with a football in his hand, striving for these types of moments.
With social media buzzing about “Recess All-Americans,” Folau was most certainly one of those individuals before turning into a star at Monterey Trail High School and in the Sac-Joaquin Section. Instead of playing basketball like most of the other students in elementary school, Folau was playing football with his friends.
While Folau said he was not the most athletically gifted, he would outsmart the competition then, all the way back in fourth grade. It’s the same now, just at an even higher level of play.
“Just how long I’ve been playing,” Folau said. “Just growing up I’ve always had a ball in my hand, just always getting better, just walking around with a football, throwing it up in the air and catching it. It’s just something I’ve always been doing. I just get better every time I touch the ball.”
And although Folau dealt with an ankle injury entering his junior season, he found all the ways to work and endure that – especially mentally.
Lateral movement. Stepping up as a leader.
Monterey Tail is reaping the rewards, Folau among the team’s leading tacklers with the second-most tackles (54) and a team-high eight tackles for loss. On top of that, he’s forced a mind-boggling five interceptions.
“I’ve been very much a leader to my team so that we can keep getting better and better so that we can get into the playoffs coming up next week and pulling this off.”
As Folau reflects on his career and success, he attributes most – if not all – of it to head coach T.J. Ewing, the assistants and the entire program as a whole.
“He’s always pushing me about doing better,” Folau said. “Even though if I do something good, you can always do it better. If I do something bad, you can tell me how I did it wrong or how to do it better.”
Using the program as motivation, Ewing aims to bring more glory to Monterey Trail. Perhaps the first-ever section crown.
No team might be more battled tested than this one, as Monterey Trail opened the season against powerhouses Folsom, Pittsburg and St. Francis before rattling off six straight victories – including over ranked foes in Grant and Laguna Creek.
“It’s really going to help us playing better teams, more ranked teams,” Folau said. “It boosted our confidence going into our league and coming out of our league.”
