Click here to see all the crazy twists and turns of De La Salle's win over Serra.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
SAN MATEO, Calif. - The much-anticipated showdown between the nation's top two teams Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) at De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) in two weeks took a serious hit on Saturday as one team went down and the other needed a late two-point conversion to pull out a victory.
Second-ranked Don Bosco, the two-time defending New Jersey state champion, mustered less than 200 yards in its season opener and had a 24-game win streak snapped with a 17-10 defeat at perennial Ohio power St. Xavier (Cincinnati).
St. Xavier (3-1) managed less than 200 yards also but got one defensive touchdown and took advantage of a punt block to put together a short scoring drive en route to the defensive victory.
See game story in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
In San Mateo, top-ranked and six-time mythical national champion De La Salle squandered a 21-0 lead, but got a two-point conversion run by reserve holder Terron Ward with 5:43 remaining to pull out a 29-28 victory over host Serra, the alma mater of Tom Brady, Barry Bonds and Lynn Swann.
Ward, a 5-foot-7, 165-pound junior, was inserted only because regular holder Derek Perio was injured earlier in the game. He hadn’t held the ball during the other three extra points.
De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur actually called timeout right before the conversion and tried to convince his coaching staff to go for two points. The staff won out, figuring De La Salle would get the ball back one more time, so they sent out kicker Garrett Biel to boot the extra point.
Instead, the snap was slightly low and mishandled, Ward sprinted to the left pylon and went in untouched.
“The snap was low and to the left. I tried to get it down but there wasn’t enough time so I just went left and used my speed to the corner,” Ward said. “At first I didn’t see anything, then I saw the (defensive player) and no way was he going to get me.”
Blake, who completed 13 of 16 passes for 138 yards, and rushed 11 times for 51 yards and three scores, said he wasn’t surprised Ward came through.
“I knew Terron would do something like that,” he said. “He’s a playmaker. I actually think he could have got that snap down but he likes to take it himself (laughing). That’s what he’s all about.”
De La Salle, owners of the nation’s longest win streak of 151, had not lost to a Northern California team since that streak began, following a 35-27 defeat to Pittsburg in the North Coast Section finals on Dec. 7, 1991.
The Spartans looked like another typical rout was on, leading 21-0 after Blake’s second TD run, a 1-yard sneak with 7:48 left until halftime.
But Serra, coached by former De La Salle great Patrick Walsh who played for the Spartans in their last Northern California loss, responded with a beautiful 12-play, 78-yard drive capped by a 1-yard run from Jared Braun (16 rushes, 97 yards).
A new game was on.
The Padres (1-1), ranked 38th in California, scored on their first three possessions of the second half, capped by a 25-yard scoring strike from terrific senior quarterback Cody Jackson (14 of 17, 105 yards, 19 rushes, 76 yards) to Patrick Bowler to give them a 28-21 lead with 11:15 left.
But De La Salle, which squandered a 31-7 lead to Centennial (Corona) in last year’s Division I state championship game, only to win 38-31, responded again.
The Spartans drove 80 yards in 14 plays, capped with Blake’s third touchdown. After the two-point conversion, Serra managed two first downs but on 4th-and-1 from the De La Salle 46, junior tailback Adonis Smith (8 rushes, 72 yards) was cracked for a two-yard loss by Zachary Griffiths and the Spartans took over with just over 2 minutes remaining.
Kylan Butler (26 carries, 160 yards, 1 TD) carried five straight times and registered two first downs and the Spartans had run out the clock and survived.
Both teams moved the ball at will as De La Salle finished with 380 yards and 26 first downs to 363 yards and 21 first downs for Serra.
Don Bosco travels to De La Salle Sept. 27 for a nationally-televised broadcast on ESPNU.
See more on this game later.
