St. Mary’s has a pair of highly-recruited WRs in sophomore Osani Gayles (13) and junior Kenneth Moore (3). De La Salle’s Ace Robinson and Matthew Johnson (56) both played well. Johnson is committed to Oregon. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Despite scoring on the opening kickoff, NorCal No. 1 and state No. 7 De La Salle needed to survive an incredible last touchdown by St. Mary’s of Stockton with an unsuccessful onside kick by the Rams to post a 38-35 victory. It was the first road game for the Spartans and it was a lack of defensive intensity plus some St. Mary’s players showing what they can do that turned the contest into a barn-burner. We also have details from perhaps the upset of the year so far in the state and from a Thursday night matchup of State Top 25 squads.
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Okay, we have to be honest. The plan going into Friday night for this web site was to head 10 minutes from the Stockton home office over to St. Mary’s High in Stockton, get some photos, talk to some De La Salle of Concord people ahead of the game about the upcoming trip to London in two weeks (we had already scheduled a trip to be there at the same time), and then head home early to start working on a roundup of scores of teams from around the state. It could be said the visiting Spartans, coming in at No. 1 in Northern California and No. 7 in the state, were three touchdown favorites or more.
