For our first look at the North Coast section Division 1 football season, we focus on Open Division champion De La Salle. The two teams that played for the Division I title, champion Pittsburg and runner-up Clayton Valley, will be featured in Part II.
Beginning last season the NCS went to a split bracket for its Division I teams. Top-seeded De La Salle and No. 2 seed Pittsburg were on the Open side of the bracket with No. 8 seed James Logan facing the Spartans in the first round and No. 7 seed Amador Valley facing the Pirates. On the Division I side, Clayton Valley was the top seed at No. 3 and faced sixth-seeded Antioch while No. 4 seed Monte Vista matched up with fifth-seeded California.
The winner of the Open Division automatically qualified for state CIF seeding placement while the loser dropped down to Division I to play the winner of the D1 side of the combined bracket.
After all was said and done, De La Salle was the Open winner in a 42-14 win over Pittsburg. The Pirates then faced Clayton Valley for the D1 title and they emerged victorious with a 28-14 victory.
De La Salle
Last season: 10-3
Because De La Salle lost two games to teams north of Fresno, the Spartans were not chosen for the Open Division by the CIF for the first time since 2009. Instead they drew the top seed in Division I where they lost a 28-27 heartbreaker at home to a Folsom team they had beaten 31-10 during the regular season.
One of the first things out of the mouth of De La Salle head coach Justin Alumbaugh when interviewed at a practice last week pretty much summed up last season and the expectations for the upcoming season.
“I don’t think any of the guys on last season’s team feels good about how it ended,” Alumbaugh remarked. “I think our guys have a bone to pick with themselves, and to be honest, ourselves as coaches and ourselves as a program.”
“The players need to look within themselves,” Alumbaugh continued. “I’m sorry but at De La Salle you don’t have a 10-3 season and feel good about yourselves.”
De La Salle dialed back playing any out of state teams, but they still have the toughest schedule of any team in Northern California.
The Spartans open on the road at defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division II runner-up Monterey Trail. Next up, and in what used to be an annual matchup but hasn’t taken place since 2016, Alumbaugh and his Spartans host defending Central Coast Section Open Division champion and state CIF Open runner-up Serra. In week three they host a Saint Francis team that ended the De La Salle 30-year, 318-game winning streak against teams north of Fresno.
After St. Francis, the Spartans travel to San Diego where they meet defending state CIF Division I champion Cathedral Catholic. The Dons beat Folsom in the state D1 title game - De La Salle hosts Folsom the week after returning home. Folsom pinned the second loss to a team north of Fresno on the Spartans. After a bye week perennially tough St. Mary’s-Stockton is next and then comes four games against East Bay Athletic League-Mountain Division opponents: California, Monte Vista, Amador Valley and Clayton Valley.
“It’s a well-rounded schedule and it’s going to challenge our kids and that’s what we want,” Alumbaugh said. “The goals are always the same. We want an undefeated season but it’s going to take a lot of work with this schedule.”
Six of the top returners are seniors: OL Derek Thompson, TE Cooper Flanagan, RB Charles Greer, DL Chase Tofaeono, OL Cooper Powers and DB Journey McCoy. All six were either first or second team all-EBAL, all-NCS; Thompson was a Cal-Hi Sports all-state Juniors First Team selection. Junior Marley Alapati, an all-EBAL, NCS and all-state honoree, has moved out of the area and will transfer to Serra.
Alumbaugh had especially high praise for the 6-5, 228-pound Notre Dame-committed Flanagan. According to Alumbaugh, he will also get more time at defensive end this season. The Spartans leading returning receiver had 22 catches for 370 yards and four TDs last season.
“Cooper is in the conversation as one of the top guys in the country at his position,” Alumbaugh said. “He’s no joke.”
“I’m excited to have a good season and show off my stuff, and be part of a successful team for sure,” Flanagan said. “I’m looking forward to catching some balls, and at De La Salle, it’s blocking a lot.”
Speaking of blocking, at De La Salle, it’s the offensive line that drives things and there’s no better right tackle in Northern California than the 6-2, 290-pound Thompson, who also has the grades to be a Harvard commit.
“The goals are always the same,” Thompson said. “If we can bring a state championship back here we’ve done our job.”
The anchor on the defensive line might only be 5-11, but at 270 pounds the all-EBAL and NCS first-team selection Tofaeono is built like a fireplug, and will be almost as hard to move as one by offensive linemen.
When asked if it starts with the line at De La Salle, Tafaeono responded: “all the time.”
As for the goals?
“Getting to state is always the goal but bonding as a team to get there and recovering from our past is a big part of it,” Tofaeono said. “We’re coming in hard to get back to state and win it.”
Almost all the linemen will go both ways and another player that should make a huge impact is all-EBAL and NCS senior offensive right tackle Powers.
After rushing for 1,258 yards and 17 TDs last season, Greer, an all-state, NCS and all-EBAL second team running back, will be called on to carry an even bigger load than last season. Greer had over 30 percent of the total rushing yards last season with around 2,000 yards and 33 TDs graduated or longer on the team.
Another key returning player is all-NCS and EBAL second team defensive back Journey McKoy. He led the team with five interceptions and recorded 27 tackles. McKoy also will be getting more time as a receiver where he had six catches for 68 yards last season
A running back that will be asked to step up is junior Derrick Blanche. Another player Alumbaugh says will be on the field a lot is senior Dylan Greeson. He will play running back, linebacker and defensive end.
There will be a new quarterback to replace Luke Dermon, or should we say two new quarterbacks. Carson Su’esu’e, a 6-5, 190-pound junior, is bigger and stronger, and showed a decent arm in practice with a TD pass that travelled around 50 yards in the air. De La Salle has been talking about having to throw the ball more since Alumbaugh took the reins from his mentor and legendary Spartans head coach and movie man Bob Ladouceur for the 2013-14 season.
“Dry land is not a myth,” said Alumbaugh with a grin after Su’esu’e aired it out.
“When you’re playing high level teams like Folsom, Serra and St. Francis, they’re well coached and they have good players too. We’re a run-first team, and that’s who we are and that’s our culture, and we’re going to rely on our offensive line offensively,” Alumbaugh continued. “But we want to be able to be more dynamic because it just peels guys out of the box and makes it easier on our lineman and easier to run the ball, and we have receivers and tight ends that can get open this year.”
The second quarterback is 6-1, 180-pound left-handed sophomore Tao Faavae, who is a definite threat to run out of the vaunted veer De La Salle offense.
Besides Flanagan and McKoy, two other two-way players that Alumbaugh feels will contribute at wide receiver and defensive back are freshman Jaden Jefferson, who may start, and sophomore Rob Santiago.
Alumbaugh is also looking at 6-4, 210-pound junior Drew Cunningham to contribute as a second tight end as well as returning as a starting linebacker
Alumbaugh has added some alums to his staff. Terron Ward, the primary running back on the 2009 team that won a state CIF Open Division championship and went on to Oregon State and then had a short NFL career, is coaching the running backs.
Maurice Jones-Drew, a 2002 alum that went on to UCLA and then played nine seasons in the NFL, and arguably is the greatest Spartans running back ever, is coaching special teams after helping out the last season. He was able to work it out concurrent with his responsibilities as an analyst with NFL Network and work he does for the Los Angeles Rams.
“It’s always important to come back,” Jones-Drew said. “I’ve got a ton of knowledge playing football both in college and the pros, and also in my work.
“I get to see top-notch coaching, top-notch players performing at a high level, so, it’s always good to come back and give kids what I can,” Jones-Drew continued. “It feels great to be back here and be around the school every day. It’s become part of my routine to come here and help, and having an impact on this program is important to me.”
With the players not able to put on the pads until August 8, Alumbaugh was cautious in his assessment.
“The outlook is we’ll see. We’ve got to see how much these guys want it, but I’ve been very pleased with the off-season,” Alumbaugh said. “Until those pads go on you never know exactly what’s going on, but as far as the off-season work this feels very much like a Spartans football team.
“The kids are taking ownership,” continued Alumbaugh in conclusion. “We have good senior leadership, we’re athletic enough, we have enough linemen, two guys that can play quarterback, good secondary and receivers. If they want it this could be a real De La Salle team. That’s the goal and that’s what we’re hoping for.”
De La Salle may have lost two games last season to teams north of Fresno for the first time in three decades, but the streak against NCS teams in still intact after 30 years and someone is going to have to knock them off that pedestal.
