No. 5 St. John Bosco bowls over De La Salle for second time in four years

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It wasn't quite the big deal it was three seasons ago, but the football team at St. John Bosco (Bellflower) will take it just the same.

For the second time in four years, the Braves won California's biggest game over one of the nation's most notable football programs with a 56-33 CIF Open Division Bowl championship victory over De La Salle (Concord) Saturday at Sacramento State.

In 2013, before the largest crowd in state bowl history at the Home Depot Center in Carson, St. John Bosco ended a run of four consecutive Open championships for De La Salle, and a 40-game win streak, with a 20-14 victory.

On Saturday, the No. 5 team in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings presented by the Army National Guard, dominated an unranked De La Salle squad that came in rolling and rested. It didn't matter because the Braves were a bigger, physical and more talented squad.

They scored the most points against a De La Salle team since legendary coach Bob Ladouceur took over in 1979. The previous mark was 42 when De La Salle beat Centennial (Corona) 63-42 for the state bowl championship in 2014.

Bosco piled up 549 total yards, including 150 yards rushing and two scores by Terrance Beasley and 91 yards and three scores from Demetrious Flowers. Quarterback Re-Al Mitchell was brilliant, completed 18 of 20 for 191 yards and two scores. 

It all offset a big performance from De La Salle junior running back Kairee Robinson, who rushed 21 times for 202 yards and two scores. He also caught a touchdown pass. But it wasn't nearly enough.

"The last time we faced them we were undefeated and the route we took this year was much different," Bosco coach Jason Negro said. "We had two losses and had to overcome so much more. ... To finish the season beating Centennial, Mater Dei and De La Salle back-to-back-to-back? That's pretty impressive."

De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh thought the Braves were very impressive. He thought that before the game. Besides their firepower, the Braves didn't turn the ball over either. De La Salle fumbled six times, lost three and also threw an interception.

"The margin for error was really small," Alumbaugh said. "You can't put the ball on the ground six times. We moved the ball well. I was happy with that. But our defense was out of position all night and they took advantage. You have to tip your cap to them. Those guys are really good and they're well coached. That's a tough combo."

See play-by-play

De La Salle showed some spunk at the start.

Robinson burst off tackle on the game’s third play for a 60-yard touchdown run. Good for the Spartans to jump out front, but coach Alumbaugh’s hope was to chew up clock.

He wasn’t complaining.

Bosco came right back, going 65 yards in nine plays, finished off with a 2-yard touchdown run by Flowers to tie the game at 7. It took Bosco just 10 seconds to take a 14-7 lead.

The Spartans tried a trick play on the ensuing kickoff. A cross-the-field lateral was picked off by Eli DeRoon. On the next play, Beasley went untouched over the left side six yards for the touchdown.

"When they scored first I wasn't too concerned," Beasley said. "We knew they were going to get some points. But not as many as us."

Undaunted, De La Salle came right back, going 68 yards on seven plays, capped by Robinson’s second TD, a 1-yarder up the middle. Robinson keyed the drive with a 26-yard run around the right side. On the play, the ball was knocked out of arms, dribbled forward 24 more yards to the Bosco 20 where De La Salle recovered.

Six plays later, Robinson was in the end zone and the game was tied at 14-14.

But that’s when Bosco really began to exert its strength and size up front.

Paved by a line that averages 306 pounds, the Braves scored on their next two possessions, combining on 21 plays for 117 yards. Re-Al Mitchell, a fleet 6-1, 180-pound junior quarterback, got the ball quickly to Terrell Bynum who turned it into a 10-yard touchdown. The second score was Flowers’ second TD run, a six-yarder making it 28-14 with 8:57 left in the second quarter.

"(Flowers) is my boy," Beasley said. "He's so good. When I go out for a breather, there is absolutely no drop-off."

De La Salle’s line showed some life on Bosco’s next possesion. On fourth-and-1 from its own 30, the Braves went for it, but Mitchell was thrown for a three-yard loss.

The Spartans could only turn it into three points. Jackson Walsh made a 31-yard field goal to make it 28-17 with 4:16 left in the half.

Bosco then took complete command, traveling 81 yards in 10 plays, capped by a pretty 16-yard completion from Mitchell to Berkeley Holman with 33 seconds left before half.

At halftime, Mitchell was 14 of 16 for 169 yards and two scores and Beasley already had 100 yards rushing. The Braves had 333 yards to 162 for De La Salle, including 141 rushing by Robinson.

When Bosco scored on its first possession of the second half — a Beasley 3-yard run — writers were looking up largest margins of victory over De La Salle. (It was 32-0 versus Salesian-Richmond in 1979).

But the Spartans showed life, getting a second field goal from Walsh — a 28-yarder — and a 43-yard touchdown pass from Abel Ordaz to sophomore Isaiah Foskey, closing the gap to 42-27 with 1:01 left in the third.

When a bad punt snap led to a two-yard punt on Bosco’s next possession, De La Salle actually had a shot to close to within one score, taking over at Bosco 30.

But the Spartans fumbled the ball away, Bosco drove right down the field and Flowers scored on a 2-yard run – his third of the game – to go up 49-27 with 9:10 to play.

"We just didn't play well enough tonight," Alumbaugh said. "I liked our resilience. I liked our scrap. We just didn't a lot of things too well tonight."

Because of the North Coast Section's new playoff format, De La Salle (11-2) had actually had three weeks off during a six-week span. After an early-season slump, which saw the Spartans win two games 28-27 and lose to nationally-ranked East (Utah) 23-21, the Spartans entered with eight straight wins.

Over the previous six games, De La Salle had only allowed only 24 points with three shutouts. A young team with many promising sophomores and juniors — especially along the line — De La Salle had also got its running game in gear behind junior Robinson, who entered with 1,833 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Bosco (13-2), meanwhile, had its own comeback season after losing to then No. 1 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) and No. 3 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.). In both games, the Braves led at halftime, but faltered down the stretch.

SJB avenged the loss to Mater Dei with a 42-28 victory over the Monarchs in the Southern Section Division I finals. That came a week after defeating nationally ranked Centennial, a team that had eliminated the Braves in both previous seasons.

The Braves came in averaging nearly 45 points per game thanks to a balanced attack that featured 3,900 yards on the ground and 2,938 through the air.

Negro, for one, would have loved another shot at Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), the No. 1 team in the country.

"I would have loved to play them here at the end of the season instead of the start," he said. "I definitely think we're playing as well as anyone in the country right now."

Wyatt Davis, Bosco's five-star guard headed to Ohio State, agrees with his coach.

"I think we'd definitely get them if we played now, but we'll never know," Davis said. "I'm just happy we ended like we did. I couldn't be prouder of my team or more grateful to play with such great teammates and coaches." 

St. John Bosco 56, De La Salle 33
St. John Bosco 21  14   7  14  - 56
De La Salle       14   3  10   6  - 33

First quarter
DLS - Kairee Robinson 60 run (Jackson Walsh kick), 10:56
SJB - Flowers 2 run (Kalani Kukahiko kick), 8:23
SJB - Terrance Beasley 6 run (Kukahiko kick), 8:13
DLS - Robinson 1 run (Walsh kick), 5:34
SJB - Terrell Bynum 10 pass from Re-Al Mitchell (Kukahiko kick), 3:34

Second quarter
SJB - Flowers 6 run (Kukahiko kick), 8:57
DLS - FG, Walsh 31, 4:16
SJB - Berkeley Holman 16 pass from Mitchell (Kukahiko kick), 0:33

Third quarter
SJB - Beasley 3 run (Kukahiko kick), 7:45
DLS - FG, Walsh 28, 1:35
DLS - Isaiah Foskey 43 pass from Abel Ordaz (Walsh kick), 1:01

Fourth quarter
SJB - Flowers 2 run (Kukahiko kick), 9:10
DLS - Robinson 23 pass from Ordaz (kick failed), 5:45
SJB - George Holani 29 run (Kukahiko kick), 2:46

RUSHING
SJB: Beasley 24-150, Flowers 16-91, Holani 7-78, Mitchell 12-39. DLS: Robinson 21-202, Hackett 11-21, Ordaz 5-11, King 2-10.

PASSING
SJB: Mitchell 18-20-0-191. DLS: Ordaz 11-20-1-169.

RECEIVING
SJB: Holman 7-95, Bynum 6-62, K. Gilbert 4-29, Bonds 1-5. DLS: Jackson Drake 5-77, Foskey 3-65, Robinson 2-25, Jack Powers 1-3.

TACKLES
SJB: Stephan Blaylock 11, Cross Poyer 7. DLS: Henry To'oto'o 13, Brenden Riso 12.

TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: SJB 29, De La Salle 15
Rushing attempts/yards: SJB 60-357, DLS 39-244
Passing yards: SJB 191, DLS 169
Total yards: SJB 548, DLS 413
Fumbles/lost: SJB 0/0, DLS 6/3
Turners: SJB 0, DLS 4
Penalites/yards: SJB 7-60, DLS 4-25
Time of possession: SJB 28:41, DLS 19:19
Third down conversion: SJB 7-11, DLS 6-14
Fourth down conversion: SJB 1-3, DLS 2-3
Red zone conversion: SJB 7-8, DLS 3-4