Police escorted, De La Salle heads to St. John Bosco to play Mater Dei

Spartans to practice at arch rival of Saturday’s CIF Open Division foe, the national No. 1 ranked Monarchs

De La Salle's Dominic Kelley breaks free on a go-ahead and ultimately game-winning 35-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter while QB Brayden Knight signals touchdown en route to a tough 10-7 victory over Pittsburg in the CIF North Coast Section Open Division title game at Diablo Valley College on Nov. 22. | Photo: Dennis Lee / Photo: Dennis Lee

If you can’t beat ‘em, supply a practice facility.

Oh, this is nothing new.

De La Salle’s juggernaut football team has practiced at St. John Bosco at least three other times in preparation for its CIF State Championship bowl game.

What’s a little different is this year, the Spartans (12-0) are playing in the Open Division championship game to face national No. 1 Mater Dei, which happens to be St. John Bosco’s arch rival No. 1.

De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh and Bosco coach Jason Negro have been chummy for years, largely since he turned the Bellflower school into a national juggernaut. De La Salle, which once won 151-games in a row — still a national record — were always an open book to other programs on how they reached such lofty heights.

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Negro, as many others, were most interested in De La Salle’s blocking schemes, often utilizing smaller, more fit linemen to attack bigger squads.

The friendship has endured more than a decade — even though Bosco defeated De La Salle to win state Open titles in 2013, 2016 and 2019.

“We’re very appreciative of coach Negro and Bosco family to allow us to practice at their fine facility,” Alumbaugh said.

The Spartans got a police escort at 7 a.m. Friday morning and should arrive sometime in the middle of the afternoon. Practice is scheduled at Bosco’s Panish Family Stadium early evening. The escort took three Spartans buses to highway 680, where it zoomed out to highway 5 for the six-hour, 350-mile journey to Mission Viejo.

The Spartans need all the preparation it can muster — they’ve already had three weeks off since it defeated Pittsburg 10-7 to win their 32nd straight North Coast Section title — to compete with the Monarchs, who are a 41-point favorite according to a CalPreps computer generated projection. The prediction: Mater Dei 44, De La Salle’s 3.

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Much has been made of the score and it probably did the Monarchs no favor.

The Spartans, led by a trio of third-year starters in their backfield, quarterback Toa Faavae and running backs Derrick Blanche Jr. and Dominic Kelley, along with Oregon-bound two-way lineman Matthew Johnson, another third-year starters, relish the unfamiliar role as underdogs.

The Spartans are ranked No. 17 in the SBLive national rankings.

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And the challenge of knocking off what most consider an unbeatable and certainly battle-tested foe. The Monarchs, featuring Washington-bound quarterback Dash Beierly, Oregon-bound running back Jordon Davison, are most loaded on the defensive front.

That unit includes Utah signee Semi Taulanga (6-0, 300), Oregon commit Tomuhini Topui (6-3, 315), Oregon signee Nasir Wyatt (6-3, 220), sophomore Montana Toiolo (6-3, 275), Shaun Scott (6-3, 230) and sophomore Dailon Clanton (6-1, 210). 

Mater Dei 4-star linebacker Nasir Wyatt with a big hit on St. John Bosco freshman QB Koa Malau’ulu, during a surprising 59-14 lopsided victory over St. John Bosco at Santa Ana Stadium on Oct. 25. / Photo: Heston Quan

This unit might be De La Salle's biggest challenge.

The Spartans will likely need to accomplish at least 3-5 of these keys to be competitive.

• Limit Davison

• Break at least a couple long touchdown plays

• Move the sticks and control the ball

• Pull off one or two new gimmicks to keep the Monarchs off balance

• Get big games, and timely completions from quarterbacks Faavae and Brayden Knight

• And the most obvious: Don’t turn the ball over and limit big plays.

With one of its fastest teams ever, and strong season history of ball security — six fumbles lost in 12 games — the Spartans appear built for the moment.

But playing the Monarchs, they’ll need an extra gear.

Or another police escort on the field.