CONCORD — Clovis North brought bus loads of fans, a team of cheerleaders and dozens of band members. It decorated the visiting bleachers blue and blew up an inflatable Bronco behind one of the end zones.
De La Salle responded with old-school football.
In a throw-back to the Concord school’s storied past, the Spartans dominated this California Interscholastic Federation Division 1-AA regional championship game from start to finish, routing its previously undefeated opponent 41-0.
The visitors thought they deserved the home game because they were 13-0 and De La Salle had two losses, to Orange Lutheran and Serra.
But given what unfolded, would location have made up six touchdowns?
“We knew they were coming in with a chip on their shoulder, but so were we,” said DLS running back Derrick Blanche, who ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns in 19 carries, all in the opening half. “I think we were the underdogs because they were undefeated and we were not.”
De La Salle led 13-0 after the first quarter and 33-0 at halftime. The entire fourth quarter was played with a running clock as the Spartans advanced to the 1-AA state championship game for the second year in a row.
They will play Mission Viejo, a 49-21 winner over Granite Hills.
When the game ended and DLS coach Justin Alumbaugh was being interviewed by reporters, the architect of the Spartans program, Bob Ladouceur, stopped by to embrace the man who succeeded him a decade ago.
“Big Daddy liked it,” Alumbaugh said.
How could he not?
De La Salle (11-2) went back to the offense that made it a national powerhouse — the veer option — and punished its visitors from the Central Valley starting with its opening drive.
De La Salle won the coin toss and wanted to be on offense first.
The Spartans drove 65 yards in nine plays — all runs — to take a 6-0 lead. Toa Faavae’s 2-yard sneak accounted for the touchdown. The PAT was no good.
“The films that we had, it just looked like everybody was running the spread at them,” Alumbaugh said. “Well, let’s get downhill on them as quick as we possibly can and let’s go right at these guys. Get our guys off the ball and get our runners running downhill. That’s the veer.
“We wanted to win the toss and we wanted to take the ball and go down and score. Now, that could have worked out poorly because they’re a running team. If they stopped us and got some first downs, that game clock could drain.”
The clock drained all right, but in De La Salle’s favor.
By the time Clovis North got its initial first down, with 3:06 left before halftime, the home team led 26-0.
A two-minute drive just before the break all but put the score out of reach as Blanche’s 1-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds on the clock capped the 60-yard series that started with 1:25 on the clock.
The halftime statistics reflected the 33-0 score. De La Salle outgained Clovis North 239 yards to 42 in the first two quarters, with 208 of the Spartans’ yards in the rushing column.
“We knew they were going to be physical; we trained all week for it,” DLS linebacker/tight end Drew Cunningham said. “We wanted to get the ball right away, drive all the way down and send a message. We ran it right down their throats to see how they were going to respond. We knew if we kept on doing that we were going to have success.”
The Spartans did not let up in the first half of what was easily their most impressive victory of the season.
Faavae ran for two touchdowns and threw a 10-yard TD pass to Landon Cook.
Jaden Jefferson finished the scoring with an 81-yard run down the right sideline in the third quarter.
Statement made. Statement heard.
“We loved all of it,” Cunningham said. “Hearing all of those complaints, saying it should have been down in Fresno. We were just happy to have one more game here at Owen Owens. Once we saw that Bronco and the buses they brought, we just thought it was straight disrespect to do that on our field.
“We took that to heart. We took it personally.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com