High School

De La Salle dominate San Ramon Valley early, cruise to 42-14 win: Live score update recap

Spectacular opening kickoff return by Jaden Jefferson vaults Spartans to 35-0 lead by early 2nd quarter en route to decisive win in battle of unbeaten, state-ranked teams

Mitch Stephens

Duece Jones-Drew scored on a 5-yard run less than two minutes into the game to make it 14-0 for De La Salle in its 42-14 win over San Ramon Valley
Duece Jones-Drew scored on a 5-yard run less than two minutes into the game to make it 14-0 for De La Salle in its 42-14 win over San Ramon Valley / Photo: Dennis Lee

Last season indicated that perhaps San Ramon Valley's football team had closed the gap on De La Salle's legendary program.

So did San Ramon Valley's 7-0 start to the season.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, it did not carry over to Friday's showdown between the state ranked and undefeated teams as the host Spartans (7-0) raced to a 35-0 lead early in the second quarter en route to a 42-14 victory.

Jaden Jefferson, a fleet and talented junior two-way player, set the tone with a spectacular 89-yard opening kickoff return for a touchdown and the Spartans moved to 25-0-1 against the Wolves, who last year led both meetings going into the fourth quarter.

After Jefferson's touchdown, the Wolves messed up a handoff three plays later, Niko Baumgartner recovered and Duece Jones-Drew scored two plays later and it was 13-0 with less than two minutes gone.

Derrick Blanche Jr. added a 13-yard touchdown run, Dominic Kelley contributed rushing scores of 4 and 81 yards and middle linebacker Bubba Vargas contributed a 29-yard pick 6. Combined with seven sacks on quarterback Rhett Thompson — two each by Matthew Johnson and Myah Telona — and the Spartans were in control throughout.

high school football, california, De La Salle
De La Salle LB Bubba Vargas with a backhanded interceptions before rambling 29-yards in for a touchdown. / Photo: Dennis Lee

To their credit, Thompson and the Wolves (7-1) never gave up and he threw touchdown passes to Evan Economos and Owen Scott to make the score respectable.

PREGAME

Although San Ramon Valley has never beat De La Salle — the teams tied once in the 1970s — the two Northern California powers have have played some highly competitive games lately, including two games last season.

They figure to play another starting 7 p.m. Friday night at Owen Owens Field in Concord in one of the top games in the state.

De La Salle (6-0), coming off a unique 31-9 win over the NFL Academy in London 10 days ago, is ranked sixth in the state by SBLive Sports, while San Ramon Valley (7-0), is No. 23.

The Spartans won two tight games last season, 33-27 in overtime at San Ramon Valley and 17-7 in the North Coast Section Open playoff final.

TOP PROSPECTS: Marco Jones leads 16 of them between SRV-DLS

SRV is led by Texas A&M-bound LB/TE Marco Jones (379 career tackles), DE Kaleb Pleis (10.5 sacks), QB Rhett Thompson (88 of 133, 1,434 yards, 21 TDs), RB Matt Garibaldi (660 rushing yards, 9 TDs) and wideouts Owen Scott (34 catches, 479 yards, 7 TDs) and Evan Economos (18, 427, 7).

Football, California high school, De La Salle, San Ramon Valley
San Ramon Valley MLB and TE Marco Jones before Friday's game at De La Salle. / Photo: Dennis Lee

De La Salle, one of the fastest teams in the state, features third-year starting QB Toa Faavae (10 total touchdowns), third-year starting RBs Derrick Blanche Jr. (656 rushing yards, 6 TDs) and Dominic Kelley (286, 7), speedy two-way standouts Jaden Jefferson, Jayden Nicholas, Duece Jones-Drew and Ant Dean along with stout defenders Matt Johnson (Oregon commit), Niko Baumgartner and Myah Telona. 

Follow along here for live updates from the game, which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. PT Friday, October 18.

You can also watch San Ramon Valley vs. De La Salle on the NFHS Network 

LIVE SCORE UPDATE: SAN RAMON VALLEY AT DE LA SALLE

(Refresh for live updates once the game starts; the most recent updates will be at the top)

FOURTH QUARTER

TOUCHDOWN SAN RAMON VALLEY! Rhett Thompson 27-yard touchdown pass to Owen Scott. De La Salle 42, San Ramon Valley 14. 5:35 4Q.

THIRD QUARTER

TOUCHDOWN SAN RAMON VALLEY: Rhett Thompson 35-yard touchdown pass to Evan Economos, who has four TDs against DLS the last three meetings. De La Salle 42, San Ramon Valley 7. 3:05 3Q.

THERE GOES DOMINIC KELLEY! De La Salle running back sprints 81 yards perhaps untouched. De La Salle 42, San Ramon Valley 0.

SECOND QUARTER

HALFTIME SCORE: Despite three interceptions by San Ramon Valley, one spectacular one by Marco Jones, De La Salle leads 35-0 at halftime.

BIG HIT! De La Salle FRESHMAN Landon Miller with huge hit stopping SRV ball carrier half-yard short on fourth down.

TOUCHDOWN DE LA SALLE! Dominic Kelley finishes off 14-play, 72-yard drive with 4-yard TD. De La Salle 35, San Ramon Valley 0.

FIRST QUARTER

BIG HIT! By who else, Marco Jones, SRV's 4-star LB with a big stick on Duece Jones-Drew. Ouch.

football California De La Salle
San Ramon Valley linebacker Marco Jones with a big hit on Duece Jones-Drew in Friday's big loss to De La Salle. / Photo: Dennis Lee

PICK 6 DE LA SALLE! Middle linebacker Bubba Vargas with a 29-yard interception return for touchdown. Yes. Barely halfway through first quarter. 2-point conversion pass Faavae to Jaden Jefferson. De La Salle 28, SRV 0.

TOUCHDOWN DE LA SALLE AGAIN! Derrick Blanche Jr. with a 13-yard touchdown run after short punt. De La Salle 20, SRV 0. 6:50 1Q. XP blocked.

TOUCHDOWN DE LA SALLE! Just five plays into the game, De La Salle up two touchdowns. A fumbled exchange was recovered by Niko Baumgartner — this kid has been everywhere all season — and two plays later, Duece Jones-Drew runs it home from 5 yards out. De La Salle 14, SRV 0. 10:25 1Q.

OPENING KICKOFF TOUCHDOWN! The remarkable Jaden Jefferson with a spectacular opening 89-yard kickoff return. De La Salle 7, San Ramon Valley 0. 11:41.

football california De La Salle high school Concord
Jaden Jefferson on his way to a spectacular 89-yard opening kickoff touchdown. / Photo: Dennis Lee
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Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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