Although San Ramon Valley entered the regular season finale with high hopes, De La Salle used three defensive touchdowns, two courtesy of junior Taveis Marshall, to cruise to a dominant 49-14 win over the Wolves.
Armed with an extra week to prepare and the memory of last year’s too close for comfort 28-27 win, Marshall was eager to remind the Wolves and this area at large of the Spartans' dominance.
“We felt like we had a chip on our shoulder to come out here and prove that we are still the top team in this area,” Marshall said.
The win advanced De La Salle’s unbeaten streak against Northern California competition to an astonishing 288 games.
At first glance, it seemed as though we had a competitive game on our hands, as both De La Salle and San Ramon Valley scored on their first drives. De La Salle opened the game with an 11-play drive, capped by a 12-yard touchdown pass from junior Erich Storti to senior Kairee Robinson. San Ramon responded with a 10-play, 90-yard scoring drive, finished off with senior Clark Baker’s five-yard touchdown pass to senior Matt Gillespie.
However, after a tightly contested first quarter, things just proceeded to get worse and worse for SRV. On the first play of the second quarter, Storti’s nine-yard touchdown run put the Spartans back up by seven.
Baker faced heavy pressure all night from the De La Salle defensive line, and the absence of suspended guard Michael Lanning did not help either. This heavy pressure led to both of Marshall’s interception returns for touchdowns, the first going for 38 yards and the second for 68. The Spartans weren't done yet, and junior Andrew Jones’ one-yard run before halftime all but sealed the victory at 35-7.
Deja vu struck again late in the third quarter, after another one of Baker’s passes was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, this time courtesy of senior linebacker Brenden Riso. Two possessions later, De La Salle marched down the field again, scoring after freshman Dorian Hale’s pass found senior Jack Powers for the 15-yard score, and a 49-7 lead.
Credit is due to San Ramon however, as the Wolves were able to end the game on a positive note, with a Jason Javier 14-yard touchdown run.
San Ramon Valley will now have to play the wait and see game to find out where they will be seeded in the Open Division, as Freedom's loss to Liberty made it pretty certain that the Wolves would remain in the Open field regardless of this outcome. The seeding is another story. De La Salle, however, knows they are bound for the top seed in the Open Division.
San Ramon head coach Aaron Becker is confident his boys will bounce back.
“Just gotta get back together tomorrow morning, watch some film, get better, and realize we still have life left to play," Becker concluded.
Scoring Summary
1st
DLS- Robinson 12 yard catch from Stroti
SR- Gillepsie 5 yard catch from Baker
2nd
DLS- Stroti 9 yard run
DLS- Marshall 38 yard interception return
DLS- Marshall 68 yard interception return
DLS- Jones 1 yard run
3rd
DLS- Riso 46 yard interception return
DLS- Powers 10 yard catch from Hale
4th
SRV- Javier 14 yard run
Player Stats
San Ramon Valley
Rushing: Medley 14-47, Javier 15-59-1, Sinclair 2-7, Mandeville 2-16, Baker 1-4
Passing: Baker 12/23 101 1 TD 3 INT
Receiving: Gillespie 4-41, Winaker 2-16, Roberts 1-23, Facteau 1-6, Medley 2-12, Gross 1-3
De La Salle
Rushing: Robinson 15-50, Stroti 4-16-1, To’oto’o 4-23, Garrett 4- 22-1 fumble
Passing: Stroti 3-4-52-1, Jones 1-1 28, Garrett 1-1 14, Hale 1-2-5-1
Receiving: Robinson 2-16-1, Freeman 1-36, Foskey 1-28, Powers 2-29-1
