FOLSOM, CALIFORNIA — Like a kid in a candy store, Ryder Lyons skipped onto the Folsom High School football field late Friday afternoon, stretching his arms, flashing a smile and greeting his teammates with an emphatic “let’s go.”
Three hours later, surrounded by reporters, coaches and a beaming family of five, the 5-star Folsom junior quarterback was still giddy after a resounding 63-20 win over longtime state and Southern California power Long Beach Poly.
He was the last to leave.
Lyons, who accounted for 265 yards — some of the spectacular variety — and three touchdowns, shook off a smashed and probable broken middle finger on his left hand that was already splinted.
LIVE SCORING: Folsom breezes past Long Beach Poly
“It’s all right, the nail came off, it’s a little swollen but it’s my left hand,” said the right-hander.
He hurt the finger sometime in the third quarter up 27-14. Lyons followed up a 60-yard touchdown catch and run by Kamarie Smith — one of two from Poly’s talented four-star junior receiver from Deuce Jefferson — with a 22-yard scramble on fourth down, setting up a 4-yard touchdown run by Carter Jackson.
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On the next drive, Lyons fired a 50-yard bomb to Rob Larson, setting up a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Powell, setting the rout in full motion. On the TD, the nimble and strong 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior kept rolling right, side stepping would-be sackers, creating more time to find a wide open Powell in the back right corner of the end zone.
Powell, a four-star junior, connected 86 times for 1,231 yards and 14 touchdowns when both players were sophom*ores last season. They led the Bulldogs to their fifth state championship with a 20-14 win over La Serna in the Division 1-AA title game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
Lyons accounted for more than 4,600 yards in 2023 (3,578 passing, 929 rushing) and 62 touchdowns. On Friday, he completed 11 of 18 for 182 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 83 yards, pedestrian by his standard, but spectacular by anyone in view.
"BEST IN THE COUNTRY"
“That’s why he’s the best quarterback in the country,” said Powell of Lyons’ combination of strong arm, escapability and strength. “On that play, I just pointed to where I was going to go and he put it right there. We have an unspoken communication on the field and know where each other is at all times.”
Lyons’ scramble late in the third quarter was minor league compared to the one at the end of the half, that left all in the packed stadium thinking they’d seen a ghost or something supernatural.
On first down from the Poly 13, Lyons scrambled right, couldn’t find an open receiver and was pinned along the sideline.
“We were screaming for him to throw it away, throw it away, throw it away,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said.
Instead, Lyons thought if he bought more time, he would find Jameson, Larson or Isaiah Williams, but Poly smothered the secondary. So Lyons did his best Houdini/Barry Sanders/Marshawn Lynch prep impression.
He side-stepped a couple rushers, ran through several arm tacklers, and then bulled over the last line of defense into the end zone. A 13-yard touchdown run was probably the longest, toughest and most unlikely of an already stellar career.
Asked to replay it and Lyons smiled, knowing it was a special play, then took his time to answer the question.
“I snap the ball with high intentions,” he said. “I’m always trying to score the ball. I’m very competitive. …like probably the most competitive person out here. So if I feel there’s any chance of me being able to score, I’m gonna go for that. It may be a flaw, but we’re working on it.”
Doherty, grinning with the memory of the score, isn't diagraming a big plan to change anything.
“It was a touchdown so we’ll take it,” Doherty said. “When you have a kid of that caliber, those things are going to happen. We saw that happen at least a couple of times last year. But that’s as impressive of a play as we’ve ever seen.”
BUILT THAT WAY
His third-quarter performance — he sat out the fourth during a running clock — was equally impressive considering his injury. But fighting through pain is in his nature.
“I think there’s a competitive factor,” Lyons said. “I didn’t want to come out of the game. I definitely wanted to stay in. The game wasn’t over at that time. We were only up by two scores. The mindset is always to keep scoring and keep winning games.”
His father Tim, a former four-sport athlete at Clayton Valley-Concord and strong safety at BYU, said his son has a history of fighting through pain — and making big plays. According to his father, Lyons unknowingly played through a broken foot during an eighth-grade championship football game.
“He played quarterback and linebacker,” Tim said. “Even if his arm was broken he’d want to play. It’s just how he’s built.”
He comes from a supremely athletic family.
His older brother Walker was a 5-star tight end for Folsom, who after serving on a mission, is a freshman at USC. His younger brother Rock, an eighth-grader, is nearly as tall as Ryder and “will probably be the biggest of the bunch, like 6-7 or 6-8.”
His two sisters Kapri and Kassidy are also athletic and played competitive sports.
But Ryder is special, a high energy athlete that somehow finds a way to be cool under fire — like all the great quarterbacks: Montana, Rodgers, Manning.
An all-around athlete and all-around kid — he gets straight A’s and plays three musical instruments (he wanted to play the national anthem on a sax before the game, said his dad) — it wasn’t until he played quarterback under Doherty at the youth level did he know his calling.
SUPER POWER
“I thought he was going to be a basketball player, but the moment he played quarterback, it’s like he forgot about everything else in the world,” Tim Lyons said. “He’s just totally locked in. It’s really fun to watch. ... Every game in every sport, he does something like, 'Where did that come from?' "
But under center, directing the offense, evading the rush, bowling over defenders, threading the needle with passes, keeping his cool “is his super power,” his dad says.
Doherty, who coached for nearly three decades and been around sports his whole life, agrees Lyons is a special breed. This coming from a quarterback factory that has produced annual state leaders in passing yards and touchdowns, including current NFL Bengals quarterback Jake Browning.
Doherty rattled off three or four signature plays in Lyons’ 15-game career, and followed up with: “I’d love to take credit for any of it,” he said. “It would be good for our brand. But you can’t coach that stuff. Some kids can just play football.”
But Lyons does much more than play football and hat’s what makes him so special, say those around the program. Because he’s not just a football player. He’s not all football. And perhaps, that’s what makes him a better leader. And certainly a better person.
After Friday's game he immediately credited his offensive line, the team's stellar defense which included a safety and pick six by linebacker Jasiah Banks, and the impressive two-headed backfield of Jackson (14 carries, 122 yards) and Daymion Rivera (12-95), who each rushed for two touchdowns.
“He’s just an incredibly grounded kid,” Doherty said. “When he’s with his baby nephew (Doherty pointed at Lyons’ nephew at the game), he’s in that world When he’s in our film room, he’s in that world When he’s at school in math class, he’s in that world. When he’s with his friends. .... He’s just very present. He’s very much where his feet are, which is a pretty awesome quality for a kid to have, especially a kid of his stature.
“I wouldn’t be nearly as grounded as him with the attention he gets.”
Hhe’s being coveted by virtually every big-name college program in the nation. He’s got 31 offers, including Oregon, USC, Alabama and Ole Miss, who appear to be on his favorite list.
The obvious favorite is USC because of his bond to his brother. The two speak daily, Lyons said, and he’ll try to make every one of his brother’s games in person as long as the schedule allows.Lyons has made it public that he'd love to throw passes to his brother.
But Lyons said Friday, recruiting hasn’t been on his mind for weeks. It’s all about his high school team and high school life. Considering he’s got more than 20 games and two years to go, his feet are planted in Folsom.
Though he was moving them pretty well on the field Friday and on the sideline during a running clock fourth quarter, offering a few dance moves to the delight of the school’s packed and raucous student section.
He noted that he’s the only top 12 rated junior quarterbacks who has yet to commit.
“I’m just focusing on Friday nights right now," he said. "We have some big games coming up. That’s my main focus and I think (college) coaches will understand that. I’ve been focused on this (Long Beach Poly) game and I’ll be focused on Serra-San Mateo next week.”
