De La Salle remains undefeated despite scare from El Cerrito

EL CERRITO — A week following a narrow win over St. Mary’s-Stockton, No. 1 De La Salle afforded itself the luxury of breathing room in a 35-14 win over No. 7 El Cerrito. Head coach Justin Alumbaugh, though, wasn’t exactly singing his team’s praises.

Far from it.

“I don’t like how we’re playing defense,” Alumbaugh said after the program’s first visit to West Contra Costa County since playing at Pinole Valley in 1998.

The De La Salle coach offered praise where he believed praise was due. Junior wide receiver Jaden Jefferson reeled off two explosive touchdowns — a 45-yard run and a 99-yard kick return on a field goal attempt. Senior quarterback Toa Faavae had two rushing touchdowns of his own. Senior running back Dominic Kelley reeled off the game-sealing, 18-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth. The defense, though, was the subject of pure criticism.

Alumbaugh assessed that his defense is not only technically unsound, but not physical enough. The most prominent defensive breakdown came in the third quarter. On fourth-and-five, El Cerrito’s Jonathan Craft, a Fresno State commit, looked on the verge of being sacked in the backfield, but managed to scramble from multiple defenders and turn a turnover on downs into a 32-yard rush. Additionally, the Spartans’ secondary dropped several potential interceptions, giving the Gauchos’ offense second and third chances.

“We had way too many stupid penalties,” Alumbaugh said. “Too much of a lack of discipline. I told them all week: (El Cerrito) is a really good team. They believed it, and we were right. That’s a really good team. Those guys do a great job. They’re physical. They have good size. They have good athletes. They have good schemes. That’s a great team, and we made way too many mistakes to not put the game away.”

Alumbaugh added: “A lot of physicality comes from being in position to be able to hit, and we’re out of position too much. When you’re out of position, you can’t play physical.”

On El Cerrito’s sideline, assistant coach Tim Johnson assumed the reigns as head coach for a second straight week. When asked about head coach Jacob Rincon’s absence, Johnson said the reason was not made available to the staff.

“Whatever is going on, they’re keeping it in house,” Johnson said.

Despite a three-touchdown loss — the Gauchos’ first loss of the year — Johnson praised his group for their ability to compete with the Bay Area’s best team. Craft and sophomore running back Joezon Broussard each had touchdowns on the ground while junior Gary Youngblood ended up with the game’s lone interception.

“I think we’ve got a hell of a team,” Johnson said. “I think with the circumstances of our leader not being here, the team held together, the staff held together.”

De La Salle opened the scoring with a touchdown on its first drive as Jefferson dazzled with a series of cuts and jukes and spins, the end result being a 45-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Faavae helped expand that lead to 14-0 on the Spartans’ second drive, capping off a 10-play, 70-yard drive with a five-yard scramble into the end zone. A running clock appeared to be in the cards. El Cerrito, with the help of De La Salle, would soon have a response.

With about eight-and-a-half minutes left in the second quarter, the Spartans gifted the Gauchos pristine field position when a bad snap resulted in a bad punt, allowing El Cerrito to start its third drive of the game at De La Salle’s 28-yard line. After rushing for 10 yards to convert on fourth-and-nine, Craft powered his way into the end zone for a three-yard rushing touchdown, slicing the Spartans’ advantage to 14-7. Before the end of the half, De La Salle would get that touchdown right back.

El Cerrito attempted a 46-yard field goal before the half, but De La Salle ended up turning it into another touchdown to extend their lead thanks to another dynamic play from Jefferson. Jefferson fielded a wobbly, line drive kick right in front of the end zone, then turned on the burners and sprinted 99 yards across the field, extending the Spartans’ lead to 21-7.

“That’s a huge momentum swing,” Alumbaugh said. “With zero seconds left on the clock, you go from being up 14-7 to being up 21-7 when he caught the ball on the one-inch line. That’s not a play you spend a lot of time practicing on. We called the time out and told him what to do. And he did. He had a couple guys blocking in front of him. That was awesome.”

“That’s totally on me,” Johnson said. “I’m going to take responsibility for it.”

El Cerrito opened up the second half with a touchdown of its own as Broussard cut right through the teeth of the defense for a 21-yard score, cutting De La Salle’s lead to 21-14. Broussard’s score, though, was as close as the Gauchos would get to tying the game as touchdowns from Faavae in the third (one-yard quarterback sneak) and Kelley in the fourth (21-yard run) ended chances of an upset. Johnson, though, believes another meeting with De La Salle is in the cards.

“(If not for) a few mishaps, the game could’ve been a lot different,” Johnson said. “They have a hell of a team, we have a hell of a team, and I think we’ll see them again in Open (Division).”