CONCORD, CA - De La Salle leaned on a dominant effort from its defense and the dynamic duo of running backs Kairee Robinson and George King to lead the way to a 31-7 victory over visiting St. Francis on Friday night.
After giving up a touchdown on its first series of the game, the Spartan defense pitched a shutout the rest of the night and managed to force three turnovers, including a pair of key fumbles on back-to-back St. Francis possessions in the second quarter that resulted in 10 points and completely swung the momentum of the game to the home side.
“The key was shutting down the run,” said De La Salle defensive lineman Michael Puckett. “We came into this game knowing they wanted to run. They run what we run and they fire off the ball. In the beginning of the game, we had some trouble in the secondary but we brought it together at halftime and we just shut down their offense altogether.”
In the teams’ first meeting since 2003, Robinson and King combined for over 210 yards on the ground and three touchdowns to help deliver St. Francis its first loss of the campaign, averaging north of six yards per carry.
Robinson was the bell cow in the Spartan backfield, rushing for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 17 touches. He busted off an electrifying 47-yard touchdown run on the eighth play of the game to open up the scoring.
On the Lancers’ second possession of the game, Puckett swooped up a fumble from running back Darrell Page and sprinted 56 yards the other way for a scoop-and-score touchdown that gave the Spartans a seven-point advantage.
“I got the ball and all I did was cut inside, and I saw the student section which came in clutch for us last week, and ran all the way,” said Puckett.
On the very next St. Francis offensive play from scrimmage, Spartan linebacker Jhasi Wilson pounced on a fumble from running back Opeti Fangupo at the 26-yard line. Fortunately for the Lancers, De La Salle (3-0) was forced to settle for a 26-yard field goal by kicker Jackson Walsh, giving the Spartans a 10-point lead that they would carry into the locker room at halftime.
“Our defense gave us the ball in some really good spots, but they shut us down more than I’d like,” said De La Salle head coach Justin Alumbaugh.
All in all, the De La Salle defense forced a total of four fumbles and recorded three sacks, ultimately limiting the Lancers to well under 200 yards of total offense. Following the opening touchdown and consecutive turnovers, the Lancers were forced to punt on their next seven straight drives before losing a fumble in the final minute of the contest.
“I liked our defense and, with the exception of the first couple drives, I thought we did a really good job,” said Alumbaugh. “That’s a physical team and we held them without a lot of rushing yards.”
In the second half, De La Salle twice took advantage of phenomenal field position to score a touchdown in each of the final two quarters.
After holding St. Francis (2-1) to a quick three-and-out, one of five on the night, the Spartans started their second drive of the second half in enemy territory at the 27-yard line. De La Salle promptly opened up a 17-point lead when Robinson scored from five yards out on an outside run to make it 24-7.
After forcing another three-and-out late in the final quarter and once again starting in plus-territory at the 48-yard line, the Spartans put the finishing touches on a big win with a powerful 17-yard touchdown run by King in which he ran through multiple tackles.
Despite what the final score indicated, the St. Francis defense gave the Spartans fits on offense for a good chunk of the night, preventing the home team from developing any sort of rhythm on that side of the ball. The Lancers forced De La Salle to punt a total of four times, including a pair of three-and-out’s, and came up with a big fourth down stop late in the second quarter. If not for the Spartans getting such excellent field position on a few occasions, the final score could’ve looked a lot closer.
“That’s a really good defense and those guys are really physical,” said Alumbaugh. “I don’t think we responded well enough offensively and we didn’t move the ball well.”
On their lone scoring drive of the night, St. Francis wide receiver Maurice Wilmer hauled in a 29-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Reed Vettel to cap off a ten-play, 83-yard march down the field. The touchdown was set up by a long 42-yard reception by senior Ryan Higgins on a beautiful fade down the sideline. Higgins led the offense with three catches for 61 yards.
In week four, St. Francis will enjoy their bye week. Meanwhile, De La Salle will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to take on national power Bishop Gorman in a marquee match-up on Saturday night.
Individual Stats
Rushing: De La Salle - Robinson: 17-142-2, King: 18-71-1, Jones: 3-9, Storti: 5-6, Garrett: 2-7; St. Francis - Page: 12-28, Robinson: 1-5, Fangupo: 2-7, Andrighetto: 4-(-1), Vettel: 2-0
Passing: De La Salle - Storti: 3-7-15, Jones: 2-5-15; St. Francis - Vettel: 9-16-141-1
Receiving: De La Salle - Powers: 3-23, King: 1-(-1), Foskey: 1-8; St. Francis - Higgins: 3-61, Wilmer: 1-29-1, Pakola: 2-11, Page: 2-21, Williams: 1-19
