He continued to struggle the following week, but recovered late and, under great duress, completed the game-winning touchdown pass in the final minute to Jameson Powell, who has 150 catches for 2,118 yards and 30 touchdowns in two seasons.

“Our guys have a lot of respect for him after competing against him last year and seeing firsthand what he’s capable of,” said Ramirez, the second-year head coach who was Pittsburg’s defensive coordinator a decade earlier. “He has a unique ability to extend plays with his legs, not to mention the ability to make every throw on the field.”

Making matters worse for the Pirates is that Lyons is not an individual player and has a plethora of weapons, including Powell, USC-bound tight end Nela Tupou (32 catches, 566 yards, 12 TDs) and running backs Carter Jackson (100 carries, 910). yards, 10 TDs), a Nevada signee and Daymion Rivera (1,032 total yards, eight TDs).

“Our focus was on getting ourselves in the right position rather than focusing on one player,” Ramirez said.

But here lies the problem. They can cover anything and Lyons has an uncanny ability to make something special out of nothing.

That said, if anyone has the athletes to handle it, it’s the Pirates, says Folsom coach Paul Doherty.

In fact, there are five Pittsburg defensemen who signed letters of intent to fairly strong Division I programs on Wednesday; Four-year starters, defensive end Juju Walls and safety Jadyn Hudson (both to UCLA), linebackers Etene Pritchard (San Diego State) and Dominik Calhoun (Boise State), and strong safety Jamar Searcy (Washington State), who is the team’s main offensive lineman represents threat at running back (1,414 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns) along with quarterback Marley Alcantara (2,598 passing yards, 36 TDs).

Doherty broke it down like a series of numbers.

“Pitts D is loaded,” he said. “We focused on 28 (Searcy) at safety and then forgot that 1 (Walls), 10 (Hudson) and 8 (Pritchard) are even better. Then there’s 15 (Calhoun) and 25 (LB Elijah Bow) bringing it, 90 (DE Trevon West) is a kid and 3 (CB Timothy Edwards), 7 (CB Truly Bell) and 29 (freshman CB Kenny Bell) can roll it.

“We don’t have any answers.”

Doherty didn’t talk or comment as a coach, although of course with Lyons there is always an answer.

“We have never played against a team like this,” he said. “The closest we came to Pitt was a year ago, and they’re all back, better than ever.”

Folsom, of course, has history on its side, with three straight wins over the Pirates in the last three years: 38-17 at Folsom in 2021, 23-15 at Pittsburg in 2022 and the hammer last year.