High school football: No. 25 De La Salle wins instant classic over No. 20 Centennial in battle of California blue bloods

BERKELEY, Calif. — In the long and storied high school football histories of De La Salle (Concord) and Centennial (Corona), great games have been a staple.

Few if any could have surpassed De La Salle's 35-32 humdinger of a non-league victory Saturday at California Memorial Stadium. 

Duece Jones-Drew, whose father Maurice led the Spartans to monumental win over Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) on the same field nearly a quarter century ago, rushed 30 times for 209 yards and three touchdowns while the defense made huge stops and plays in the final 18 minutes to lift De La Salle to a vital statement win. 

This was the fifth win for No. 25 De La Salle in six tries over the No. 20 Huskies (2-3), who have lost three games to Top 25 nationally-ranked teams this season by a total of five points.

Four of the six games between the blue bloods of California have been decided by a touchdown or less. This one featured 916 yards of offense, 43 first downs, five touchdowns apiece, five which went for 25 yards or greater and three more than 58 yards. 

Basically, this game came down to a missed Centennial extra point on the game’s first touchdown, two missed two-point conversions and two interceptions by the Spartans (Chase Young and Henry Savion) to just one turnover by De La Salle, albeit it came late when it was about to salt the game away. The Spartans (5-0) prevailed despite being outgained 497-419 and overcoming the massive talents of Hawaii-bound quarterback Jaden Jefferson (376 total yards, four total touchdowns). A tremendous solo tackle on fourth down by senior linebacker Zion Cadet near the Centennial 40 and less than two minutes remaining finally secured the win for De La Salle, which had lost eight straight games to Southern Section opponents by an average of 22.4 points per game. 

Centennial coach Matt Logan, with 309 wins (second highest current mark in the state) since taking over the program in 1997, was more than satisfied with his team’s effort and general play. But another defeat to the Spartans — and third nailbiter this season — still stung. 

The Huskies, who lost to defending state Open Division champion Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita (21-20) and Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) (10-9), was just hoping to get back home unscathed after the team bus was stranded Friday on the Grapevine heading to Berkeley. Their trip was delayed four hours while retrieving another bus. He offered no excuse or bad omen from Friday’s travel woes to spill on the field Saturday.

“It was truly a great high school football game,” Logan said. “I’m sure people around here enjoyed watching it. Both teams played super hard but we just made a few more errors than they did. It came down to that. … What people don’t realize is that we’re still a young, inexperienced  football team. But we’re right there. It’s still a work in process., Everything we want to experience is right in front of us.” 

Same goes for the Spartans, who said they wouldn’t be surprised if Centennial fixes the small details and ends up representing Southern California in the state Open Division game.

“That’s just an exceptional program with exceptional players and coaches,” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said. “We have the utmost respect for coach Logan and their team. That’s what makes this performance and win so fantastic. We saw this and played this like a state championship game. We didn’t hide away from that in the least. And to fight like we did and make plays like that was very rewarding. It was a fantastic game and we hope we get to see them again. That would mean everything falls into place for both of us.” 

Centennial looked like it might pull this one out after safety Andre Pommells punched the ball out and Chris Anderson recovered a De La Salle fumble deep in Huskies territory with 2:58 to play. The Spartans were about to put the dagger in but a big hit and Anderson fumble recovery gave Jefferson one last chance.

Jefferson drove Centennial to the 40 but on fourth down, Cadet made a huge stick at the line to turn the ball over. De La Salle ran out the clock from there to help renew this rivalry that last played in 2015, a 28-21 win for the NorCal program in the state Open Division game. 

Since that win, De La Salle has lost seven straight-state title games and many in lopsided fashion to Southern California schools. Alumbaugh said before the game this was like a state championship and the Spartans needed to have a good showing to prove they are still among the nation's top programs. 

Both teams proved it with Saturday's game. The first half could only be described as an old-fashioned shootout. 

Each team scored four touchdowns and piled up more than 400 combined yards. But a missed extra point and two failed conversions were the difference, giving De La Salle a 28-25 halftime lead. 

It took Centennial just two plays to start the fireworks as Jefferson completed a 70-yard touchdown bomb to Jaden Bynum to give the Huskies a 6-0 lead. The all-important extra point was missed and with 11:32 left in the first, this free-for-all was on. 

Less than three minutes later, De La Salle and the UCLA-bound Jones-Drew took back the lead, ripping through a big hole over the right side and sprinting down the right sideline for a 59-yard touchdown. The extra point by Johnny Borba, one of four in the half, was good and De La Salle led 7-6. 

“That was a huge to answer that big haymaker,” Alumbaugh said. “Duece was on fire today. He’s been mad at me because we’re not letting him to play defense. He’s been wanting a bigger role than we’ve been giving. He got it today.” 

Indeed he did. His 30 carries were just five less than he’s all in four previous games. His previous career high was 23 carries in a 2025 opener and as a sophomore his career most was 10 carries. 

 “Duece was just spectacular today,” Alumbaugh said. 

A brilliant leaping interception by state hurdles placer Young set up Jones-Drew’s second touchdown, a 3-yarder making it 14-6 with 5:07 left in the first. 

Back came the ever-explosive Jefferson, who ripped off a 37-yard touchdown run making it 14-12 with 8:43 left in the half. 

“(Jefferson) is a lot to handle,” Alumbaugh said. “They all were.”

The Spartans added some trickery on the next possession, inserting four-star linebacker Landon Miller at quarterback. He took the snap, rolled right as if to run, then fired a perfect 65-yard touchdown bomb to Damari Dean, making it 21-12. 

“We’ve had that play ready for weeks,” Alumbaugh said. “It was just a matter when it opened up. The boys really executed.”  

Back came the Huskies — Jefferson fired a 29-yard touchdown to Mason Fowler to close to 21-18 — and then rugged 6-foot, 220-pound running back Braylin Drake gave Centennial a 25-21 lead with 1:51 left in the half on a tough 4-yard run. 

That lasted less than a minute. 

A long kick return and personal foul penalty set up Jones-Drew’s third touchdown of the half, a 25-yarder, giving De La Salle a 28-25 lead with 1:12 in the half. 

Centennial moved right down field but a 43-yard field on the final play of the half was just right and the Spartans held a 28-25 halftime lead. 

More trickery led the Spartans on a 65-yard scoring drive to start the second half. It looked like a three-and-out but kicker/punter Borba sent a push chest pass to Dean and the speediest player on the field (he ran a 10.32 100-meter dash in the spring) sprinted 49 yards to the Centennial 13. Four plays later, Judah Pape powered in from the 7-yard line to make it 35-25 with 8:32 left in the third. 

The Spartans and special teams coach Terry Eidson, the program’s former longtime defensive coordinator, had run the play at practice for weeks. 

“We never got it done consistently,” Alumbaugh said. “Terry told me at halftime that it was open. I said if we get near midfield we’d try it. It all worked pretty perfect. (Borba) worked it perfect and (Dean) was just off to the races.” 

The junior varsity player last season, has been a game-breaker all season for the Spartans. He finished with four catches, 130 yards and a touchdown.  

Centennial responded immediately.

The lethal combination of Jefferson to Quentin Hale connected on a 44-yard touchdown to make it 35-32 with 6:12 left in the third. Hale, a USC commit, finished with six catches for 85 yards.  

Both defenses bent a lot the rest of the way, but never broke. The interception by Savion and Cadet’s stick were the biggest plays for the Spartans, who travel next week to San Diego to face Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) (3-2), the state 1-A runner-up in 2025. They feature one of the state’s top recruits in running back/safety Honor Faalave, a USC commit.  

“No rest for the weary,” Alumbaugh said. 

Centennial has to turn around immediately and play at Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) on Thursday, just four off days away. 

“We have a big referee shortage in our area so we play a lot of Thursday games,” Logan said. “It’s not ideal turning around that quickly, but what can you do? It gives us less time to think about this game or how we could have won it.”