Football: De La Salle to open season against Florida heavyweight

CONCORD — The To be Announced on the front of end of De La Salle’s football schedule has finally been announced.

The Spartans will open the season at home Aug. 23 against Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in a nationally-televised game.

The 6:30 p.m. contest will be the second meeting between the programs. In 2011, the Fort Lauderdale school broke open a tight game in the second half on its way to a 30-6 victory in Florida.

“We have film of what they did to us last time,” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said Monday. “This should give us plenty of motivation. It adds an edge to our off-season. They know they can’t slack off because they have such a great opponent coming in.

“We’re going to be overmatched athletically. We know that. Those guys are loaded. They always are. Couple that with them being well-coached, it’s a tough assignment.”

But it’s an assignment De La Salle welcomes.

“If we ultimately want to be state champs, those are the type of teams that we’ve got to play,” Alumbaugh said. “Those guys athletically and coaching-wise are going to resemble any team later on down the road, if we are fortunate enough to get to where we want to go.

“We want to challenge ourselves. We want to challenge our kids. We want to challenge ourselves as coaches and as a program.”

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS? WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED

For just 12 cents a day for a year, you can have access to all the digital content at mercurynews.com and eastbaytimes.com. You just need to sign up at one of these two links: Mercury News or East Bay Times.