Top-ranked De La Salle tops No. 3 St. Francis
Amir Wallace (22) and top-ranked De La Salle take the field before a 31-7 win Friday night over No. 3 St. Francis. Kairee Robinson led De La Salle with 136 yards rushing and two touchdowns. It was the first meeting between the schools since 2003.
Michael Puckett was in the right place at the right time for the De La Salle High defense on Friday night.
It’s a place the junior lineman doesn’t always frequent.
“He likes to go to Puckettville sometimes,” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh joked. “But he plays hard and he loves football . ... He did some really good things tonight.”
Puckett’s 56-yard fumble return for a touchdown early in the second quarter was the turning point in a 31-7 nonleague win over visiting St. Francis.
“I’ve got to get the ball, and I’ve got to go,” Puckett said of his thoughts as he saw the ball squirt out of running back Darrell Page’s arms and hit the ground.
Puckett, who also had a sack in the game, broke a 7-7 tie with his return, and the Chronicle’s No. 1 ranked team never looked back.
“It’s tough when you give (De La Salle) a cheap one,” St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. “They’re good enough as it is. Tip our cap to them, but I thought out guys battled hard tonight.”
De La Salle (3-0) opened the game with an eight-play, 80-yard drive and scored on a 47-yard run by Kairee Robinson. The No. 3-ranked Lancers (2-1) didn’t blink, however, and answered with an 83-yard drive and a touchdown pass from Reed Vettel to Maurice Wilmer.
Wilmer’s touchdown, which came on a leaping grab between two Spartans defenders, tied things with 2:50 left in the first quarter. Vettel was 3-of-3 for 81 yards on the drive. He finished 9-of-15 for 140 yards.
St. Francis then forced a punt and drove inside De La Salle territory with all the momentum — only to lose it when Puckett made his big play. Opeti Fangupo fumbled on the Lancers’ first play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive, and the Spartans turned that into a 27-yard Jackson Walsh field goal and a 17-7 halftime lead.
Robinson finished with 136 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans, who will travel to Las Vegas next Friday to face national power Bishop Gorman.
This was the first meeting between the two storied programs since 2003. St. Francis does own a win against De La Salle, defeating the Spartans 18-16 in 1989.