By Brandon Eiges
[nggallery id=1]
Unfortunately, in the battle of David versus Goliath, Goliath prevailed.
This past Friday, the De La Salle Spartans defeated Cal, 31-17, to claim the EBAL title.
De La Salle opened the game up from the first play of scrimmage, with its running back Lucas Dunne, breaking a 57 yard run all the way down into the red zone. Dunne scored on an easy three yard run to take a 7-0 lead within the first two minutes of the game.
The Grizzlies were forced to punt on their next few possessions of the first quarter. The Spartans then took advantage of Cal’s defense and quarterback Bart Houston hit Lucas Shapiro on a slant route and sprinted down the field for a 42 yard catch-and-run touchdown.
Cal finally got on the scoreboard after driving down the field and letting senior kicker Guillermo Rivas nail a 19 yard field goal in the second quarter, making the score a 14-3 Spartan lead.
The nationally ranked Spartans then scored a field goal and Dunne scored another rushing touchdown at the end of the first half to give De La Salle a 23-3 halftime lead.
The near 6000 people in Ernie Berger Memorial Stadium started to become skeptical of the Grizzlies. Did their record truly show how good they were?
The second half started with Cal receiving the opening kick-off and going 70 yards in 11 plays. Senior quarterback Drew ‘The Real Deal’ Reil ran towards the end-zone, fumbling on the goal line. Fortunately for Drew, his favorite target, senior John Sarmenta, was nearby to recover the ball in the end-zone for Cal’s first TD of the game in the third quarter.
De La Salle and Cal then went back and forth, as both teams threw interceptions and were forced to punt on their next drives.
As the final quarter of play started, both teams were neck and neck with each other.
It wasn’t until Cal’s final drive of the game, when Drew marched Cal’s offense inside the 10 yard line with just over three minutes left in the ball game.
“He’s a stud, you know?” said head coach Eric Billeci of his quarterback. “He’s a guy that’s 10% ability, 90% heart.”
As the game clock ticked down, it seemed as if the end of an undefeated season was on the horizon for the Grizzlies, but they weren’t finished just yet.
While on the seven yard line, Drew heaved the ball towards the back of the end zone. While the crowd thought it was going to be another incompletion, Cal’s offense pulled a surprise out of their bag of tricks.
Drew’s favorite target, John, extended his body to grab the ball out of the air and somehow got his toes in-bounds for an unbelievable circus-catch TD. After the PAT, Cal cut the deficit to 23-17, Spartan lead with a mere 3:20 left in the EBAL regular season.
Both teams knew that an onside kick was going to happen. What they didn’t know was what the result was going to be. A Grizzly recovery or a Spartan one. Neither happened.
As Cal’s special team’s had the ball all ready to be kicked, Guillermo nailed the ball and the Grizzlies recovered the ball! First down Cal!
Unfortunately, the referees signaled the ball to De La Salle. Shock and stunned, the sidelines and fans throughout the stadium went crazy, booing and shouting. But, the refs got the call right.
Sadly, the rules in high school football differ from those in college and in the NFL. A ball on an onside kick, even if it has travelled 10 or more yards after being kicked, needs to either make contact with an opposing player or the ground before the kicking team can touch it. Cal caught it out of mid-air.
After the controversial call, De La Salle did what they had been doing for the entire first half: pound the ball up the middle with Lucas Dunne. De La Salle eventually scored on a five yard run with under a minute left.
“We were in the right positions to tackle [Dunne], but we couldn’t bring him down,” said Billeci.
The Spartans were up 31-17 at that point and the game finished that way.
As the clocks in the stadium hit zero, the nationally ranked Spartans were once again the EBAL champions and earned the No. 1 seed in the NCS playoffs.
Now that the regular season has concluded, Cal is back to work.
This Friday, the No. 2 seeded Grizzlies open up the NCS playoffs against No. 15 Castro Valley at home. Cal will play the winner of James Logan and Berkeley High on either Nov. 26 or 27.
De La Salle earned a bye week and plays the winner of Pittsburgh and Heritage High.
