De La Salle-Concord football ranked No. 1 nationally
When Hall of Fame football coach Bob Ladouceur stepped down as head coach at De La Salle-Concord in January 2013, all was supposed to change.
The Spartans, 14-0 last season after winning their sixth CIF State Bowl championship, open their season Aug. 28 against perennial national and Texas power Trinity-Euless at Newsome Stadium in Mansfield, just outside Dallas.
Said De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh: When you talk about high school football, Texas naturally comes up.
The Spartans have been a top 10 team nationally the past two years, and with 12 returning starters, including 1,900-yard rushers Antoine Custer and Andrew Hernandez, blue-chip linemen Devin Asiasi and Boss Tagaloa, and Sweeney running the offense, they start the coming season on top.
Lowell’s John Donohue, 63, was named the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year in baseball after guiding the Cardinals (26-9) to a third straight San Francisco Section title and their 20th overall.
Deer Valley-Antioch graduate Brianna Guillory was the only Bay Area athlete to bring home three medals at last month’s state track and field meet in Clovis, and her biggest fan — literally — was her cousin Dior Lowhorn, former Metro basketball Player of the Year, USF standout and now professional player.
“I remember us racing and playing tag,” said Lowhorn, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound guard who plays for the Singapore Slingers in the ASEAN Basketball League.
The University of Iowa-bound standout placed second in the 400 (54.29 seconds), fifth in the 200 (23.99) and ran a terrific leg on Deer Valley’s second-place 1,600 relay (3:45.84).
De La Salle and NASPAA are hosting a football public-address announcers’ clinic, featuring Raiders PA announcer Gary Williams, on July 25 from 9 a.m. to noon.
Former Castro Valley standout and four-time state champion Nate Moore placed second in the triple jump (52 feet, 1¼ inch) and long jump (24-9) at the USTAF Junior Nationals in Eugene, Ore., last week, as did former De La Salle 110 hurdler Marquis Morris (13.29).