Top-ranked De La Salle football led by unlikely source

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When the game stands tallest, the nation's top-ranked football team looks to one of its shortest.

In the storied history of De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), diminutive quarterback Anthony Sweeney is considered one of the Spartans' finest leaders.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior may not draw much attention at first sight, but when the band strikes an opening tune, there's a banner to sprint through or a large circle of Spartans jumping in unison, Sweeney is clearly the player flailing a fist most fiercely and barking instructions most vociferously.

Even on a squad with two physically-imposing blue-chip recruits, Devin Asiasi and Boss Tagaloa, and a pair of impressive returning 1,900-yard rushers, Antoine Custer and Andrew Hernandez, Sweeney's spirit and tenacity is what drives De La Salle's innards. Plus he's a maestro at running the program's veer offense.

"He just has so much passion for the game," Asiasi said. "He's such a competitor."

Rah-rah guys are a dime a dozen, but Sweeney has special qualities, said De La Salle head coach Justin Alumbaugh.

"He has the innate ability to be likeable and respected," he said. "That is one of the most intangible characteristics of a leader that can be found. That's a credit to him and his family."

His ability to grab the attention of his peers — especially his offensive line — is something comparable to probably the program's finest leader and another quarterback, 2002 graduate Matt Gutierrez.

The difference between Gutierrez and Sweeney is considerable, starting with their size. Gutierrez was a prototypical pro-style 6-foot-4, 210-pounder, a top Division I recruit who played at Michigan and had several short stints in the NFL.

Sweeney is a prototypical De La Salle veer-sized signal-caller, a great decision-maker with fantastic feet and an accurate arm. But he's not close to being an FBS prospect.

Gutierrez was also a three-year starter, while Sweeney enters 2015 with just six starts, coming off an injury-riddled junior year that started with a knee strain that kept him out of the team's first three games and ended just past midseason with a dislocated right (throwing) elbow.

Sweeney fell awkwardly on a hard tackle and knew it was bad.

"It was just one of those freak things," he said. "I had an avulsion tear, but it didn't tear in half, which would have required Tommy John surgery. That was lucky. It did tear off the bone and they had to re-pin it.

"At first when it happened it was really difficult. I had been working hard, the team had been working hard. … When something like that happens, you just have to come back stronger."

Fortunately for the Spartans they had a more than capable backup in then-junior Chris Vanderklugt, who led De La Salle the remaining five games (eight overall) to a 14-0 record and sixth California State Bowl title. Vanderklugt is back and will be a big contributor at receiver and on defense.

"I knew the way we work we'd be fine," Sweeney said. "We had an incredible team and Chris was always ready."

Sweeney could have taken a backseat down the stretch, but instead showed even more leadership skills.

"He went through a lot of stuff last year, but he still played a big part in us winning a state championship," Asiasi said. "

Said Alumbaugh: "He is a thoughtful, caring young man."

That resonates with the team's backbone, the offensive line, a group hard to please according to Alumbaugh, a former lineman himself in the program.

"It isn't easy to win those guys over at De La Salle," Alumbaugh said. "It's a right of passage. If you earn the respect of the line, you've made it. Anthony had that respect a long time ago. That's impressive."

He earned the respect of Asiasi, now a 6-5, 260-pound tight end and defensive lineman, when the two were battling for the starting quarterback spot on the JV team as freshmen. The two split the job, and now Asiasi is the team's third-string emergency QB.

"That's my brother," Asiasi said of Sweeney. "We've gone through a lot of stuff together. Rather than that (competing for the QB job) making us grow apart, it made us grow closer."

Now Sweeney carries the burden of keeping De La Salle humble and focused as the nation's No. 1 team, according to the MaxPreps Top 25 Early Contenders preseason rankings.

It's nothing new to the program which has won at least six mythical national championships, once won a national record 151 straight games and had a 2014 Hollywood motion picture made about it, "When the Game Stands Tall."

They've gone 427-26-3 since 1979 when Hall of Fame coach Bob Ladouceur took over the program. He resigned as head coach after the 2012 season — he now is an assistant — and Alumbaugh is 28-1 in two seasons.

"Of course there's pressure being No. 1 in the rankings, but ultimately that doesn't matter," Sweeney said. "We're held to a higher standard. It's all about Friday nights when we're 11 on 11.

"I mean, it's great we're No. 1, but now we have to go prove it."