Prep football:
In top matchup, De La Salle-Concord and Antoine Custer, above, rout Long Beach Poly 52-6.
fans, photographers and videographers alike, De La Salle’s 18-play, 71-yard touchdown drive to start the third quarter was anything but pretty.
But to the Spartans’ coaching staff after a sloppy first half, it was a Monet.
“It was old-school De La Salle,” head coach Justin Alumbaugh said following a 52-6 dismantling of Long Beach Poly on Friday night at Owen Owens Field in Concord. “Of the 18 plays, we ran the same formation 17 times. We put it on the line and they responded. It was beautiful.”
It was old-school results as well. The teams were playing for the first time in 13 years, but the Spartans (6-1) beat Poly, a program that has produced the most players to make it to the NFL, for the third straight time.
The two nationally recognized programs had epic battles in 2001 and 2002, also won by De La Salle 29-15 and 28-7.
De La Salle, ranked 17th nationally by MaxPreps, blew the doors off this one after Anthony Sweeney capped the open ing third-quarter drive with a 1-yard sneak.
The Spartans had six first downs on the drive, which chewed up 6 minutes, 45 seconds and put them up 30-6. They’d score three more touchdowns in the next six minutes — a 19-yard run by Antoine Custer (27 carries, 192 yards, two TDs), a 6-yard run by Andrew Hernandez and a 30-yard interception return from Tre White — to turn this into a rout.
The fourth quarter was played with a running clock. Poly, which played with-
out four-star quarterback Malik Henry (undisclosed injury), managed a mere 83 yards and three first downs.
“Our defense played great,” said Custer, who also started at defensive back. “We tackled great. We’ve come a long way since Texas.”
The Spartans missed numerous tackles in a seasonopening 26-21 loss in Texas to Trinity-Euless.
“I thought we played really hard tonight,” Alumbaugh said. “I really liked our effort. When you play that hard, you can overlook some mistakes. And we had a lot early.”
The sloppiness started from the get-go for the Spartans, who lost fumbles on their first two possessions. But Poly (5-2) couldn’t take advantage either time, and after a short punt, 4-star tight end Devin Asiasi hauled in an 18-yard scoring toss from Sweeney, making it 7-0 with 2:28 left in the first quarter.
A sensational 35-yard reception by Isaiah Randle set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Custer for a 14-0 lead with 10:58 left in the half.
De La Salle committed its third turnover on an interception by middle linebacker Amanaki Vaea at the DLS 15. But Poly, as it did all half, moved backward.
After a sack and a penalty, the Jackrabbits were called for a hold in the end zone for a safety, giving De La Salle a 16-0 lead with 5:08 left in the half.
After the Spartans saw a touchdown called back due to penalty, Sweeney connected on his second TD pass to Asiasi, this one for 19 yards with 1:25 left in the half.
A two-point conversion failed and Poly’s Aaron Shampklin returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown, giving the Jackrabbits a glimmer of hope. They had 58 yards of offense and trailed 22-6 at halftime. De La Salle had 254 total yards through two quarters.