By Mitch Stephens
De La Salle’s storied football program has seen just about everything since
Bob Ladouceur took over the program in 1979. Everything but Texas. That changes Saturday.
The Spartans will be in sold-out Vernon Newsom Stadium (capacity: 11,134) near Dallas to play Trinity-Euless before an ESPN2 audience. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. PDT.
The Spartans — arguably the nation’s most recognized prep team — are looking forward to making their debut in a state where high school football “is religion,” De La Salle senior quarterback
Anthony Sweeney said. “I'm so excited to go down there and try to prove ourselves.”
Though De La Salle has claimed multiple mythical national titles and four state titles in five years, once won a national-record 151 straight games and last year was portrayed in a major motion picture — “When the Game Stands Tall” — it hasn’t fared so well in early out-of-state games.
In 2004, it had its win streak stopped against Bellevue (Washington) 39-20 in Seattle. In 2009, the Spartans lost at Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) 30-6, the same score by which they were defeated two years later at St.
Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The Spartans enter Saturday’s game ranked No. 1 nationally by MaxPreps.com and
USA Today, in large part because of a bevy of returning skill players, led by running backs
Antoine Custer and
Andrew Hernandez — who combined for 3,753 yards and 54 touchdowns last year — and two of the state’s most highly rated linemen, 6-foot-2, 300-pound defensive tackle Boss Tagaloa and 6-5, 270-pound tight end Devin Asiasi.
Tagaloa and Asiasi are two of De La Salle’s three players who check in at 270 or more. Trinity boasts nine at least that big, including 6-4, 290-pound defensive lineman
Chris Daniels, a four-star recruit.
Trinity, which won large-school Texas titles in 2005, 2007 and 2009, reflects the notion that everything is bigger in its state. The Trojans use that size to overpower opponents with an old-school, ball-control running attack.
“Their linemen are just humongous,” said
Randy Jennings, a writer for
the Dallas Morning News who has covered Texas high school football for 40 seasons. “They just maul people. They’re like road graders. The play like teams did here 20 years ago and opposite of how about everyone plays today.”
Converted senior fullback Tyler Natee (6-0, 217), who rushed for more than 1,400 yards a year ago, is the team’s quarterback. Speedy running back
Ja’Ron Wilson (5-10, 185) returns after gaining 1,791 for last year’s 12-2 team.
Trinity’s line, though massive, is all new, which is why it’s ranked only ninth in Texas by MaxPreps.
“They’re just really big and really physical,” De La Salle head coach
Justin Alumbaugh said. “We’ll need to keep the ball from them and match or better their physicality.”
Though the novelty of De La Salle playing in the land “Friday
Night Lights” is great, the game figures to be fast and simple. Both coaches — Trinity is led by first-year head coach
Chris Jensen — exchanged video of all of last year’s games and their respective scrimmages from last week.
“There won’t be any secrets,” said Jensen, Trinity’s offensive coordinator for the previous 14 seasons. “Whichever team does best what they do best will win the game.”
Jensen, an assistant coach for 25 years, replaced
Steve Lineweaver, who retired in December after going 258-43-2 in 22 seasons. Jensen’s first assignment is the nation’s No. 1 team.
“It was like, ‘Thanks a lot,’” Jensen said. “Actually, they gave me the option to cancel the game. But you know what? We could have opened against someone around here and been fine because there is plenty of good competition here. But this is an experience the kids and coaches won’t ever forget. It’s a special opportunity.
“That said, it was much easier saying, ‘Yes’ in February to the game than it is now after seeing them on video. Now it’s like, ‘What was I thinking?’”
