The Season: No. 8 De La Salle prepares for top-ranked Centennial

Video: The Season - De La Salle prepares for No. 1 Centennial

The De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) football team is still lifting weights. Even with a week off. Even two weeks into December.

Taylor Lambert of Cal-Hi Sports, producer of the season-long series entitled "The Season," has been with the Spartans for 16 weeks now. He witnessed the fun but ultimately disappointing opening week, when De La Salle lost to Trinity (Euless, Texas) in the Lone Star State.

He said then it might be the best thing for the mini-documentary, to unveil the Spartans' depths in August to climb toward the ultimate reward, another CIF state bowl open title.

They are one game away, and had a bye week in preparation for a showdown with national No. 1 Centennial (Corona). Lambert shows De La Salle, No. 8 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 Rankings presented by the Army National Guard, lifting just as hard last week as it did in the summer.

Lambert also talks with De La Salle coaches about Centennial's remarkable offense — which has piled up 56 points per game — "gap control," and how last season in the state bowl title game Centennial scored 42 points, the most ever allowed by the Spartans since Bob Ladouceur took over in 1979.



Of course, De La Salle scored 63 a year ago and rushed for a state bowl-record 558 yards. But still, head coach Justin Alumbaugh offered a challenge to the Spartans' defense.

"This is a redemption game for the defense," De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said. "Last year, we weren't prepared."

Finally, the episode reveals the friendship between Devin Asiasi and Boss Tagaloa, the team's top two college recruits. A pair of four-star linemen, the longtime best friends took a recruiting trip to UCLA last weekend, the first such trip they took together this season.

They didn't reveal if they'll end up at the same place. But if they do, one college will be very lucky.