5 takeaways from De La Salle's win over Serra

Speed, experience, big plays and a little payback key the Spartans 29-point win in NorCal showdown

Jaden Jefferson, who finished fourth in the state 100-meter dash (10.40 seconds), scored on a 43-touchdown run in the third quarter during De La Salle's 39-10 win over Serra on Sept. 6, 2024 at Owen Owens Field. / Photo: Dennis Lee

CONCORD, CALIFORNIA — Five takeaways from De La Salle’s 39-10 win over Serra Friday night at Owen Owens Field. 

• LIVE SCORING: De La Salle routs Serra
• HOW THEY FARED: NCS Top 15
• HOW THEY FARED: CCS Top 15
• FRIDAY ACTION: CCS roundup
• FRIDAY ACTION: NCS roundup
• NCS WEEK 2 SCORES: Thursday | Friday | Saturday
• CCS WEEK 2 SCORES: Thursday | Friday | Saturday

This was a battle of state-ranked Northern California powers, No. 6 De La Salle and 12th-ranked Serra. The Spartans broke a two-game losing streak against Serra, which handed De La Salle a 28-0 defeat last season. It was De La Salle's first shutout loss since 2005 and its worst shutout loss since 1979.

SPEED THRILLS

The great football separator from the bad to good, good to superb and superb to elite — at any level but particularly in high school — is speed. De La Salle’s is elite. 

The Spartans have at least four breakaway running backs — Jaden Jefferson (43-yard TD), Duece Jones-Drew, Derrick Blanche Jr. (180 yards, 62-yard TD) and Dominic Kelley (two rushing TDs). 

That’s not even counting their quarterback Toa Faavae, who anchored its school record-breaking 4x100-meter relay team. He rushed for his third TD of the year on Friday and added a 47-yard back-breaking TD pass to another track sprinter Jayden Nicholas. 

De La Salle's Derek Blanche Jr. (22) rushed for more than 180 yards and a touchdown in Friday's 39-10 win over Serra at Owen Owens Field on Sept. 6, 2024. / Photo: Dennis Lee

That’s a big problem for even a truly stout defense like Serra, which last week shutout Folsom in the second half. 

Quick strike is so vital because even the best executed prep running teams are challenged to finish off long, sustained drives. That was evidenced Friday by a young Serra that committed three turnovers, two after long drives.  

The Padres definitely had the Spartans frustrated — the Spartans ran off just 23 offensive plays in the first half — but 10-12 play drives were eventually met with unsatisfactory finishes, other than a spectacular 14-yard touchdown run by promising junior Iziah Singleton after DLS had extended its lead to 26-3. Even a late 12-play drive that got down to the DLS 3 ended with an interception on the game's next-to-last play.

Besides the success that De La Salle sprinters (football players all) had on the track last spring (fourth-fastest 4x100 time in California at 40.83 seconds), head coach Justin Alumbaugh knew he had a game-breakers after the Spartans recorded six touchdown of 60 yards or longer in a scrimmage against Jesuit-Carmichael. 

They also showed instant offense last week in a 42-14 opening win over Grant on the game’s third play — a 64-yard TD burst by Jones-Drew. 

Dominic Kelley (21) celebrates after scoring one of his two touchdowns, leading host De La Salle to a 39-10 win over Serra Friday night at Owen Owens field on Sept. 6, 2024. / Photo: Dennis Lee

That’s why Alumbaugh, pinned at his own 5 with less than a minute left in the first half, didn’t take a knee. Blanche busted off a 49-yard run and two plays later, Faavae found Nicholas for the TD bomb that ultimately flipped the switch on this once tight game. 

“We’ve got guys who can break it at any point,” Alumbaugh said.

SERRA SHOULD WIN WCAL

A 29-point point loss — after beating De La Salle by 28 last year — doesn’t qualify as ringing endorsement. But the Padres, with 10 talented sophomores, exceptional line play and an excellent stable of running backs, should rebound from a true gauntlet of a nonleague schedule to claim its fourth straight outright West Catholic Athletic League title. 

St. Francis, Riordan and St. Ignatius all are formidable and will test the Padres certainly more than the last two seasons. 

Serra sensational junior tailback Iziah Singleton (21) dove into the end zone, finishing off a tough 14-yard run in the third quarter. / Photo: Dennis Lee

But the Padres, who had to replace 18 graduated starters coming into the season, should be rolling by October. This group of sophomores is reminiscent of the 2024 Class as 10th graders. They're led by running back Jeovanni Henley, defensive back Malakai Taufoou and defensive lineman Lemani Fehoko, who already has an offer from Tennessee. Junior tailback Singleton looks like a 1,000-yard rusher.

Senior QB Andrew Heneghan won’t win games with his athleticism, but he’s 100% the heart of the team and perhaps the campus. He also makes great decision. “Everyone loves him,” Walsh said. “And no one loves Serra more than him. He could be the school’s spirit commissioner.” 

PAYBACK MATTERS, EXPERIENCE MATTERS MORE

Revenge factors are generally overrated, especially in high school. On Friday, I’m not so sure. Alumbaugh talked about the sting from last year’s 28-0 loss — “Trust me, that’s one I’ll be taking to my grave,” he said. — and Walsh talked about the “juice” and force De La Salle played with in the key situations. 

• DJ Asaiasi, a senior DL, blocked a 29-yard field goal midway through the second quarter.

• Senior LB Niko Baumgartner recovered a Serra fumble at the 5 later in the first half. He was all over the field with eight tackles.

• Senior Blanche busted off the ensuing long run and the senior connection of Faavae to Nicholas turned the game on its side. He finished with 182 yards rushing in just 12 carries.

• In the second half, Kelley, another bullish senior back, ran through tackles to go for 24 yards, then 12-yards for a touchdown. 

• Oregon-bound senior defensive tackle Matt Johnson, all 6-foot-6, 270-pound of him, dominated the second half.  He had a sack and numerous hurries, while also contributing on the offensive line.

De La Salle 4-star defensive lineman and University of Oregon commit Matt Johnson (56) was a menace all night. He had a second-half sack in the Spartans' 39-10 win over Serra. / Photo: Dennis Lee

“Clearly their game plan was to show Serra who’s boss,” Walsh said. “Clearly it was ‘Let’s pick a fight with Serra and see what they’ve got.’ We took a couple of jabs and I’m proud of them and we’re going to learn from this. But at the end of the day, that was a championship squad out there.” 

Perhaps the Spartans played with an extra chip, but Alumbaugh said he saw it last week versus Grant and even before that. “I just love the physicality we’re playing with and love how our guys are playing up front and our runners just ran so hard — all of them.” 

COACHING, ORATOR TREASURES

The best part of this job is the opportunity to speak with athletes and coaches after games. None are more pleasurable from the coaching ranks than Alumbaugh and Walsh. 

Full disclosure, I’ve been covering these lads since they were Little Leaguers — yes in the old newspaper days, prep writers covered Little League to fill summer months — and built strong professional and even personal relationships. So, perhaps I'm bias. 

But there is such a level of perspective, levity, humor, compassion and honesty in both men — after inspiring wins and brutal defeats — it’s no wonder why they’ve had such success leading young men. 

Serra coach Patrick Walsh, a former De La Salle running back great, is in his 25th year as head coach for the Padres. / Photo: Dennis Lee

Teen-agers pick out phonies like no other. 

That’s why the Padres and Spartans are at the top of the heap. Talent and speed, as mentioned, help greatly. But these two gents speak openly and clearly to pain, joy, key moments, winning and losing like no other. They don’t miss a thing. 

Walsh is always a master of capturing the moment with anecdotes or analogy or existentialism.

Alumbaugh is constantly raw and earnest to the bone, as he showed in a 2023 season-ending loss to Mission Viejo, revealing the struggles of a season filled with real loss, the death of popular assistant coach Steve Jacoby. 

De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh took over for legendary Bob Ladouceur in 2013. / Photo: Dennis Lee

It was moving to hear and see the 180-degree turn that this season has thus far repaid, well beyond the two impressive wins by a combined 81-24 count against two Top 15 ranked teams in the state. 

“Our kids are having fun out there and they’re enjoying the moment and everyone has noticed,” Alumbaugh said, noting that a “slew” of alumni were at the game including Stanford freshman, All-State 2023 linebacker Drew Cunningham who high-tailed from practice Friday in the thick of Bay Area traffic to make the game. 

A number of his former players still watch Hudl game film just to be a part of it. It’s nice to see a selfless sort like Alumbaugh, with a wife and three kids under the age of 7, who works 80-hour weeks, having so fun.   

THE SPARTANS ARE BACK. ... SORTA

That’s the word all around, but frankly, the Spartans never left. 

The same principals, toughness and brotherhood have been at the forefront since their last state championship in 2015. It’s just that the playing field has largely changed, especially with the evolution of Mater Dei and St. John Bosco from the South.

De La Salle really has remained steadfast in not accepting gobs of transfers. Really never have. 

Largely the group who enroll at De La Salle as freshmen are the players largely seen as seniors. 

That said, it’s the lone private school in a massive region with all those built-in advantages.

De La Salle junior speedster Jaden Jefferson if off to the races on his way on a 43-yard touchdown run in the third quarter of the Spartans 39-10 win over Serra in Week 2 of the 2024 season. / Photo: Dennis Lee

Because of the impeccable reputation built by architects Bob Ladouceur and Terry Eidson (still on staff), they often got and get the best players from the Bay Area, especially plucking keepers from Brentwood, Antioch, Pittsburg, Danville, San Ramon and Pleasanton. 

Yesteryear is peppered all over this team, as 10 of 12 assistants are former players with one exception being Eidson, who has been in the program more than 40 seasons. Among other coaches with prominent DLS and football-playing roots are Maurice Jones-Drew (WRs), Terron Ward (RBs), Willie Glasper (DBs), Blake Wayne (QBs), Greg Brown-Davis (DL) and Boss Tagaloa (DL). 

The Spartans, who have more state titles (seven) than any in the modern state era, haven’t played in the Open Division since 2019 and they’ve lost six straight state-title games, failing to reach the state finals only once (2021) since the inception of the Bowl Games in 2006. 

They’ve hardly fallen off the map. 

But when your resume includes a national record 151-game win streak and the program was featured in a book and Hollywood movie, “The Game Stands Tall,” the bar is set high. 

With aforementioned speed, experience and strong line play, De La Salle certainly appears on track to get back to the state’s pinnacle game. But they have a formidable road ahead, including big challenges from St. Francis and San Ramon Valley ahead, along with a European All-Star team in London, and its biggest potential challenger in the playoffs, Pittsburg.    

Derrick Blanche Jr. (22) finished with 12 carries, 182 yards rushing, including a 62-yard touchdown jaunt to finish off the scoring. De La Salle finished with 332 yards rushing and 408 overall in a 39-10 win over Serra on Sept. 6, 2024. / Photo: Dennis Lee

Signs can get derailed, but so far Alumbaugh likes the path they are on. 

“I’m having fun not because of the wins,” he said. “These guys have had a great approach. It’s been how they’ve showed up to practice and showed up for one another. There’s no clicks. To put up 39 points on a Serra defense, that doesn’t happen very frequently.”