01-03-2025
Modesto Christian has section four-peat hopes spoiled by veteran, skilled Folsom
Championship games are supposed to be tough, gritty and competitive. And the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship game between No. 1 Modesto Christian and No. 3 Folsom was.
All 32 minutes, the Crusaders and Bulldogs traded heavyweight blows. Transition layups and deep threes with the occasional and-one mixed in for good measure.
And at the end of the night, the team that did the boring things the best won the game.
Folsom made more timely shots, hustled to more loose balls, played better defense and came out with a hard fought 62-52 win to deny Modesto Christian the highly coveted four-peat. It would have been the Crusaders' 23rd section championship, widening the gap between them and the program with the second-most wins, Ripon Christian.
'Staying boring and doing the little things,' Modesto Christian guard Gavin Sykes said on what it takes to win championships. 'When you get here, you see all the lights and stuff and you get shocked. But rebounding, boxing out, all the little stuff really matters.'
Modesto Christian's leading scorer on the season, Sykes finished with 15 points as the tall, athletic Bulldogs went the extra effort, making sure the Long Beach State-bound senior did not replicate his 45-point outburst in the semifinals that got them back to the section's biggest stage. Sykes was one of just three returning starters from last year's championship winning team, joining Myles Jones and Ry Atkins.
'We didn't make enough shots and we had 15 turnovers, you're not going to win a game playing like that,' Fantazia said. 'Our guys were waiting for superman to come save them and that didn't happen tonight. But it's not on Gavin. That's happened to all the greats. We wouldn't be here without him.'
The greatest beneficiary of Folsom's anyone-but-Sykes defensive approach was Atkins, who finished with arguably the best game of his career, a 16-point, 15-rebound double-double. Trevor Dickson added 12 points, connecting on four of eight threes and Stanford-commit Jones added nine points and five rebounds.
The Crusaders led 15-11 after the first quarter, but after a 19-point second frame, the Bulldogs took a 30-28 halftime lead. The Crusaders never led in the second half, playing Folsom even in the third quarter and scoring just eight fourth-quarter points to the Bulldogs' 16.
Chase Rawlins starred for Folsom, connecting on a pair of first-half threes to spark a Bulldogs 9-0 run near the end of the second quarter, turning a Modesto Christian 23-20 lead into a 26-20 Folsom advantage. He also went on a personal 5-0 run in the fourth quarter to keep the Crusaders at bay. Rawlins finished with a game-high 25 points. Fantazia says the Bulldogs' depth took a toll on the Crusaders. Folsom's bench outscored Modesto Christian 23-0. Siyahe Siaisiai, a 6-foot-9 junior, scored 12 points and made two threes off the bench.
'There's a reason Mike Wall has over 500 wins, he's one of the best coaches in NorCal history. He was gonna come out with a plan and I think it was to kind of wear Myles out, wear Gavin out and it worked, hat's off to them,' Fantazia said. 'Their bench and them being older than us definitely played a part in the game.'
After earning the school's first ever D-I three-peat last season, Friday night's loss ended the Crusaders' hopes at becoming the first team to four-peat in Division I since Sheldon in the 2010s.
Fantazia has led the Crusaders against some of the nation's best teams over the past four seasons. They won a Northern California Open Division title over Campolindo in 2022, took on St. Joseph of Santa Maria and California's all-time leading scorer Tounde Yessoufou and took down nationally ranked teams along the way. The past three Crusaders outfits claimed section titles No. 20, 21 and 22.
'Us coaches were talking on the way up, for the past four decades, Modesto Christian has been arguably the best program in NorCal and we think this might have been the Golden Era of Modesto Christian in the last few years. … Coach Porter has been like another father to me, Richard Midgley has been like a brother to me. To be able to follow in their footsteps and keep Modesto Christian where it's supposed to be makes me proud.'
Fantazia could not go out on top at the section level. After juggling coaching Modesto Christian and Modesto Junior College all season, the Crusaders' NorCal run will be his last on the Crusaders sidelines. Next season, Chris Teevan will take over full-time and Fantazia will focus strictly on the MJC program. After a heartbreaking loss Friday night, Fantazia turns around and coaches the No. 4 Pirates in the 3C2A Northern California playoffs Saturday night at home.
He says he doesn't know if he would do it again, but there is no doubt he has given his all to both programs.
Folsom and Modesto Christian will each advance to the CIF Northern California postseason. Brackets will be released on Sunday. Both teams could be in the Open Division, playing against the very best in California. Jones reflected on the loss and explained what it would take to rebound and make a run in the Open. The Crusaders have been one of the most successful teams since the open division began around a decade ago.
'Obviously, it's hard to shake off, this is a really tough loss,' he said. 'But we'll do our best to use it as motivation for our next game so we don't have this type of feeling again.'
