De La Salle avenges historic loss to St. Francis, routs Lancers in rematch
CONCORD — De La Salle didn’t need any special pregame speech Friday night. The opponent and last week’s gut-wrenching loss to Serra were plenty to motivate the home team.
The Spartans scored a touchdown on their first series and held a double-digit lead at halftime.
But they really got things rolling in the second half.
It wasn’t vintage De La Salle, but the result was certainly satisfying as the Spartans routed St. Francis 35-3 to avenge last year’s historic loss to the Lancers.
One year after St. Francis became the first team from this region in 30 years to beat De La Salle, the Spartans prevailed decisively in one of the games they had long circled on the calendar.
“You can make a list of redemption for us right now,” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said after his team improved to 2-1. “We’ve just got to get better. But those guys that were on the field last year, they remember it. It stung and last week stung. They had a good mojo to them this week and, hopefully, they can kind of carry it forward.”
De La Salle took command behind standouts such as Notre Dame-bound tight end Cooper Flanagan, who scored the first touchdown on a 47-yard reception from Carson Su’esu’e.
Flanagan also contributed as a linebacker, filling in for an injured teammate.
He normally plays defensive end.
Flanagan said the Spartans played with a chip on their shoulder. They were missing two captains because of injury — lineman Derek Thompson (foot) and linebacker Peter Rachwald (shoulder) — and had multiple freshmen and sophomores playing defense. But that didn’t stop them.
“This is one that we needed,” Flanagan said.
Dylan Greeson scored on a 70-yard run in the first half and a 3-yard run in the second half.
The senior also had a 65-yard run that, unfortunately for him and the Spartans, ended with a lost fumble before halftime. Kingston Keanaaina punched the ball out of Greeson’s possession and Isaiah Tuiono recovered for St. Francis.
Greeson was injured during that play.
“They hit me in the back,” the running back said. “I think they hit me in the spleen. Made me want to throw up. But I should have held onto the ball.”
Still, the night felt good for the running back who sports a mustache.
“It felt amazing, especially against a team like this and what happened last year,” said Greeson, who finished with 146 yards in four carries. “It was a really good feeling. The loss last week and losing to them last year, it was a huge game for us.”
Charles Greer’s 1-yard run widened De La Salle’s lead to 21-3 in the third quarter and Toa Faavae’s 27-yard run on a quarterback keeper in the fourth quarter completed the scoring.
Leonardo Maiuolo accounted for St. Francis’ only points when he kicked a 27-yard field goal early in the second quarter to cut the margin to 14-3.
Kamau Julien’s long kickoff return set up the score.
St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno has built a program that strives to run behind massive linemen to set up the pass. So far this season, the Lancers’ ground attack hasn’t matched last year’s efficiency.
“We battled,” said Calcagno, whose team fell to 1-2. “We did some good things. We just didn’t do enough of them. We play this schedule for a reason. It’s not how we start. It’s how we finish. We have to get better.”