De La Salle gets back on winning track, beats California 41-7
SAN RAMON, Calif. — It sure looked like the same ol' De La Salle-Concord football team on Friday. The Spartans beat California-San Ramon, 41-7, despite the Grizzlies coming in with a 5-1 record.
Whatever problems De La Salle has had with its nonleague schedule this year, the Spartans looked like they are still the cream of the East Bay Athletic League.
Charles Greer rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, backup quarterback Toa Fa'avae completed all five of his passes for 140 yards and a touchdown and Jonathan Guerrero caught five passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. De La Salle was playing without starting wide receiver/safety Journey McKoy. It didn't seem to affect anything on the field.
The Spartans (4-3) struggled on offense on their first two possessions, then ran up and down the field. De La Salle got a first down on a pass from Carson Su'esu'e to Guerrero on the game's opening offensive play. But two penalties forced a punt. When the Spartans got the ball back, it was a first down and then a sack that forced another punt.
De La Salle got the ball on its 40 for its third possession. Su'esu'e handed off to Fa'avae, who had lined up outside and came back around. Fa'avae then threw the option pass deep down the left sideline to Guerrero for 45 yards. Two runs later, the Spartans were in the end zone.
From that point on, it was old fashioned De La Salle football. The defense mostly contained the Grizzlies and the offense rolled.
California best two drives came in the third quarter. The Grizzlies busted out a pair of big runs from quarterback Jayden Macedo (38 yards) and Devan Love (25). That set up a 5-yard pass from Macedo to Nick Fasshauer for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 21-7.
De La Salle answered with a touchdown — a 59-yard bomb from Fa'avae to Guerrero — but the Grizzlies came back down the field and got a first down at the 15. A bad snap turned the ball over to the Spartans but another bad snap gave it right back. California stalled out and tried a 26-yard field goal that Jayden Shah made. But a personal foul call negated the kick and Shah missed from 41 yards.
Greer put this one away with a 52-yard TD jaunt and Fa'avae added the finishing touchdowns with a 39-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
The Spartans finished with 418 yards on 42 offensive plays. The Grizzlies had 272 yards on 55 plays. Macedo finished 17 of 25 for 155 yards with the touchdown and an interception. Love was held to 31 yards on seven carries.
Su'esu'e completed seven of 10 for 85 yards. He also had an 8-yard TD run.
De La Salle had gone 30 years — a span of 318 games — without losing to a team North of the Fresno Area before losing five times in a span of 13 months, the last a 45-35 defeat last week at St. Mary's-Stockton.
All the five defeats were close — by a combined 21 points — but the Spartans aren't used to losing period. De La Salle still hasn't lost to a North Coast Section opponent since 1991.
De La Salle hosts one-win Monte Vista-Danville next week, while California plays at surging Clayton Valley Charter, which breezed past San Ramon Valley-Danville on Friday.