At halftime, it appeared De La Salle’s season opener was going to be like a typical recreation. However by the primary minute of the fourth quarter, the Spartans have been getting fairly the scare from Monterey Path.
However two late touchdowns from working again Charles Greer and the ultimate two of 4 interceptions on the night time helped the Spartans end off the Mustangs for a 36-20 win.
Within the eyes of De La Salle head coach Justin Alumbaugh, there wasn’t a scarcity of effort however a obtrusive lack of execution.
“Monterey Path’s good — Coach Ewing does an awesome job, these guys play their tails off,” Alumbaugh mentioned. “We knew when we've alternatives that we have been going to must put them away, and we had alternatives and we didn’t. That’s partially due to their effort and largely as a result of we didn’t get accomplished what we should always have.”
The Spartans scored the primary 16 factors of the sport on a area purpose and two touchdowns, the primary a cross from Carson Su’esu’e to Cooper Flanagan and the second a 16-yard run from Blanche (although they missed a point-after kick). After a Mustang landing, Su’esu’e added one other scoring cross to JC Romo proper earlier than half to take a 22-7 lead into the break.
De La Salle almost scored on the opening drive of the third quarter however turned it over on downs. Monterey Path drove all the best way again immediately for a landing and appeared to attain the two-point conversion to make it a seven-point recreation, however the referees waved the rating off. That proved very important when the Mustangs opened the fourth quarter by blocking a punt and returning it for a landing, making it 22-20.
“Our particular groups killed us — a muffed PAT, a blocked PAT and a blocked punt, that’s ridiculous,” Alumbaugh mentioned.
From there, the Spartans turned to their offensive line and Greer, who carried the ball 18 instances within the second half (based on DeLaSalleTV), serving to cap off back-to-back lengthy drives with touchdowns to assist De La Salle draw back with the win.
All of Greer’s carries got here within the second half as a result of he sat out the primary half for undisclosed causes. Alumbaugh declined to straight reply when requested why he sat out within the first half, however indicated that regardless of the motive was, there can be no lingering results.
“Charles is an effective younger man and we totally intend on him beginning subsequent week,” Alumbaugh mentioned. “He’s an electrical runner. You may inform the distinction as quickly as he was within the recreation, so it was good having him in that second half, there’s little doubt.”
The Spartan protection compelled six turnovers on the night time, together with selecting off 4 Mustang passes. Alumbaugh expressed frustration at not placing extra factors on the board off of these turnovers.
Because the top-ranked workforce within the Bay Space, the Spartans will play their house opener in a nationally-televised matchup in opposition to the No. 2-ranked workforce Serra, who opened their season with a 17-12 win at San Joaquin Part powerhouse Folsom on Friday night time. Alumbaugh mentioned that he and Serra coach Patrick Walsh, each De La Salle alums, won't discuss this week as a substitute of their often texting or speaking each different day.
“Patrick and I have been joking that we each want one another better of luck on a 9-1 common season,” Alumbaugh mentioned.