High School

North Carolina-bound blinder Jaden Jefferson leads No. 5 De La Salle past California

State champion sprinter goes for TDs of 99 and 85 yards in first minute of another blowout win for Northern California power

Mitch Stephens

Lakeland defensive back Christopher Cresser (26) and his teammates did a great job containing North Carolina-bound speedster Jaden Jefferson (15) all night in De La Salle's 10-6 home win over Aug. 29, 2025. Jefferson found much more running room on Thursday with 161 yards rushing on just seven carries.
Lakeland defensive back Christopher Cresser (26) and his teammates did a great job containing North Carolina-bound speedster Jaden Jefferson (15) all night in De La Salle's 10-6 home win over Aug. 29, 2025. Jefferson found much more running room on Thursday with 161 yards rushing on just seven carries. / Photo by Dennis Lee

In a game of big plays, speedy Jaden Jefferson set the tone and propelled his De La Salle Spartans to a 52-14 East Bay Athletic League victory Thursday over California at Owen Owens Statdium.

Jefferson. California's record holder in the 100-meter dash, returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, then after a 3-and-out, the North Carolina-bound athlete took a handoff from Brayden Knight and went 85 yards around the left side for another score.

ALL VIDEO CLIPS ON TWITTER COURTESY OF NFHS NETWORK/DELASALLE TV

From there, Jefferson added a 21-yard touchdown run, Brady Smith contributed TD runs of 5 and 51 yards to life the Spartans, the fifth-ranked team in California, to their ninth straight win. California, which got two beautiful 41-yard touchdown passes by Banerjee Arjun, one each to Luke Taylor and Darius Brown.

De La Salle senior quarterback Brayden Knight was terrific with seven completions in 10 attempts for 123 yards and he scored on a 7-yard run.

The Spartans made all seven of the extra point attemps and Justin Uribarri added a 27-yard field goal.

De La Salle hasn't lost to a North Coast Section opponent since 1991 and will no doubt be the No. 1 seed after next week's game at home against Clayton Valley Charter in its regular-season finale.

California (7-2) hosts Amador Valley in its regular season finale next week.

According to De La Salle statistician Damin Esper, the Spartans needed just 34 plays to go for 464 yards, led by Jefferson's 161 yards rushing on seven carries. Smith added 7 carries for 96 yards.

Arjun was 10 of 20 for 174 yards.

Jefferson's touchdown on the opening kickoff set the tone as he caught it just outside the goal line — any kickoff into the end zone is an automatic touchback in California — and he scooted up the right sideline along the California bench.

He somehow alluded any contact and by the time he reached midfield no one was going to catch him.

His 85-yard touchdown run was scintillating, he sidestepped a hard-charging safety, ran through another tackle at the 40 and by midfield he was gone.

Jefferson's best TD run was nullified by a penalty, but he did a fantastic Reggie Bush immitation, sweeping left, racing down the sideline, before crossing the field completely en route to an easy score. It didn't count, but it was specatcular.

De La Salle has now outscored opponents 358-81, including piling up more than 50 points the last three weeks.

Published |Modified
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.

Home/California