De La Salle's Charles Greer (21) runs for a touchdown while being chased by Clayton Valley Charter’s Charles Cox III (17) during the third quarter of their game at Clayton Valley Charter High School in Concord, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. De La Salle defeated Clayton Valley Charter 42-6. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
CONCORD — If this is the season that De La Salle loses to North Coast Section team — something that has not happened in 31 years — it will have to come in the playoffs.
Friday night, with the home bleachers at Clayton Valley Charter packed and buzzing in anticipation of a possible historic result for the Ugly Eagles, the outcome was more of the same.
De La Salle prevailed 42-6, extending its unbeaten streak against opponents within the section to 263 games.
Given the way the teams played the past month, Clayton Valley had what some considered a real chance Friday. But De La Salle had other ideas as the Spartans ran, ran and ran some more, following the program’s blueprint that has led to so many victories like the one Friday.
“That’s the first time I watched a whole game (this season) and said, ‘That’s a De La Salle Spartan team out there,'” coach Justin Alumbaugh said after his team finished the regular season 7-3. “We were not perfect or anything like that. But our defense was flying around. Our special teams were flying around.
“Our offensive linemen were moving guys, our runners were making guys miss and the quarterback was making good decisions.”
The precision led to the entire fourth quarter being played with a running clock as De La Salle scored 42 consecutive points after Clayton Valley struck first on a 14-yard run by Nicholas Khashabi in the first quarter.
The Spartans finished with more than 300 rushing yards, much of it behind senior linemen Derek Thompson and Cooper Powers.
“This is the expectation. This is why you come to De La Salle,” Thompson said in a jubilant postgame locker room. “Finally we played a complete game. It took us a lot longer than we ever wanted it to. Hopefully, we can ride this in the playoffs.”
Derrick Blanche and quarterback Toa Faavae each rushed for two touchdowns before halftime as De La Salle built a 28-6 lead.
Charles Greer exploded for a 74-yard TD run in the third quarter after the defense opened the period with a goal-line stand.
Coming back from injury, Greer carried four times for 104 yards — all in the second half.
Faavae finished the scoring with a 51-yard bomb to Johnathan Guerrero.
“We were really motivated,” said Blanche, who finished with 96 yards in 15 carries. “The odds were against us for sure. We had to come out here and do what we do, do what we work on, and it all just turned out in our favor.”
The Spartans said they had a great week on the practice field and got extra motivation when media predictions — including one that had Clayton Valley winning 35-17 — were posted throughout the locker room.
“We haven’t been quite that bad,” Thompson said. “We finally rose to the occasion.”
For Clayton Valley, the loss was tough to digest with the playoffs starting next week. The Ugly Eagles (6-4) moved the ball Friday, including late in the first half when they could have pulled to within two scores and again to start the third quarter when they reached the De La Salle 1-yard line.
But the home team was unable to score on both occasions.
“Offensive line just made a lot of mistakes that we hadn’t made in a while,” Clayton Valley coach Tim Murphy said. “Obviously that is a testament to them forcing those mistakes on us. It’s hard to go into the playoffs with a negative feel. But we’ll be back.”
Murphy said he felt good about his team going into the game. But, he added, “I didn’t feel like we were the favorite. I kept trying to tell everyone we’re definitely still the underdog. I felt like we’d play better than that. But they obviously played really well.”
