De La Salle Spartans defeat Folsom Bulldogs in Friday night showdown
CONCORD, Calif. — The De La Salle Spartans traveled to Folsom to take on the Bulldogs on Friday night. There was excitement in the air, and the Bulldogs believed they had a chance to finally knock off the Spartans. Instead, De La Salle won with a final score of 31-10. The Spartans started the game by scoring 24 straight points.
Folsom kicked off to start the game, and De La Salle’s Zeke Berry returned the opening kick 88 yards for a touchdown, giving the Spartan a 7-0 lead. Berry knew that once he touched the ball, he would take it to the crib.
“As soon as I got that ball, I knew I had to take it to the crib,” Berry, an Arizona commit, told Chace Bryson of SportsStars magazine. “As soon as I got it, I told my backers to go. And as soon as I saw the gap, I was like ‘nobody can catch me.’”
After the kick return, Folsom had a nice drive going, but they turned it over on downs on the De La Salle’s 16-yard line.
On the Spartans’ next possession, quarterback Luke Dermon found a hole and went for a 56-yard touchdown run, giving the Spartans a 14-0 with 5:10 to play in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Chase Tofaeno blocked a punt for De La Salle, setting up another Berry touchdown, pushing the lead up to 21-0. Later in the quarter, the Spartans added a 43-yard field goal by Joran Kennedy to group 24-0 just before the half.
Folsom scored ten unanswered points and trailed by just two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter before Spartans’ quarterback Dermon completed a 75-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Flanagan to seal the win for the Spartans.
De La Salle did an outstanding job slowing down Folsom’s passing game. Bulldog’s quarterback Tyler Tremain came into the game having passed for 1,661 yards and 31 touchdowns. On Friday night, Tremain passed for 271 yards on 23-of-48 passing with one touchdown and one interception.
The Spartans did a great job all night, getting constant pressure on Tremain and sacking the quarterback five times. Folsom came into the game averaging 50 points and 450 yards per game. De La Salle held them to just 10 points and about 150 yards under their yard average. When you play against Folsom, you must pressure the quarterback to be successful, and the Spartans did that well. Spartans head coach Justin Alumbaugh was happy with the defensive effort.
“A kickoff return, a stop and another touchdown is a pretty great way to start a game,” Coach Alumbaugh said. “That’s a really good team we just beat. I was really happy with our defensive effort. I thought Coach (Nate) Kenion did a great job.”
It was a bounce-back game for the Spartans defense last week against the No. 19 team in the nation: St. Francis Academy out of Baltimore, Maryland. The Spartans defense did not play well in their 28-42 loss.
Spartans running back Charles Greer had 86 yards rushing against Folsom. It was a good win against a quality team for De La Salle. Hopefully, the Spartans can go on a winning streak before the playoffs start.
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