De La Salle powers past San Marin, now gets Pittsburg in much anticipated NorCal heavyweight matchup

Spartans spread the wealth to increase unbeaten North Coast Section streak to 277 games; Pittsburg breezes past Clayton Valley

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. On Friday in a 42-10 win over San Marin, Blanche finished off the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown in the third quarter. / Photo: Dennis Lee

The much talked about Northern California heavyweight showdown is set. And it surely will be more entertaining than Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul.

The Spartans (11-0) increased its unfathomable unbeaten streak to 277 games (276-0-1) Friday with a 42-10 home win over San Marin in a North Coast Section Open Division semifinal.

The state's No. 5 team improved to 11-0 by ammassing 456 total yards, according to the De La Salle broadcast team of Damin Esper and Pat O'Rourke, including 326 on the ground, almost evenly dispersed between five runners.

• STATEWIDE CALIFORNIA FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD

They'll now face Pittsburg (10-1), the state's No. 9 team, which defeated Clayton Valley Charter 35-14 in the other semifinal. The game will be played Nov. 22 at Diablo Valley College.

• NORTH COAST SECTION SCORES

Pittsburg is the last team to defeat the Spartans, a 35-27 victory at the Oakland Coliseum in 1991.

Derrick Blanche led the way with five carries for 75 yards and a 40-yard touchdowns. Dominic Kelley added 72 yards on four carries and a touchdown and Duece Jones-Drew added 65 more on four carries and a score. Jaden Jeffers (3, 56) and Greg Jones (8, 60) also ran at will for the Spartans, who also got a 26 yard-touchdown run from senior quarterback Toa Faavae, who added a 66-yard TD pass to Landon Cook.

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San Marin finished 7-3 and got an excellent performance from junior Daniel Rolovich, who was 20 of 32 for 209 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown to Joseph Cipollino, which cut De La Salle's lead to 35-10 in the third quarter.

Blanche finished off the scoring with his 40-yard jant with 7:30 left in the third quarter.

Oregon-bound defensive tackle Matthew Johnson had two of De La Salle's three sacks and Nike Baumgarnter added eight solo tackles.

De La Salle 4-star defensive lineman and University of Oregon commit Matt Johnson (56) was a menace all night in a 39-10 win over Serra earlier this season. On Friday in a 42-10 win over San Marin he had two first-half sacks. / Photo: Dennis Lee

The winner of next week's game will almost assuredly be selected to represent Northern California in the Open Division State championship game against the Southern California champion.

The Spartans have the most state titles (seven) of any in the state since the CIF created the State Bowl championships in 2006. They are looking for their first state crown, however, since 2015.

They first need to win next week's Open Division title game, which would be their 32nd straight crown and 41st overall. The loser of next week's game will still have a chance to win a NCS title, as it will take on the winner of next week's D1 semifinals between San Ramon Valley and either Marin Catholic or Cardinal Newman, which play Saturday.

San Ramon Valley breezed past California-San Ramon 35-7 on Friday in a first-round D1 game.