Clash between St. John Bosco, De La Salle expected to be close
Going on comparative scores, Saturday’s CIF state championship Open Division bowl game between Bellflower St. John Bosco (12-2) and Concord De La Salle (11-1) at Sacramento State should be a mismatch.
On Sept. 9, De La Salle barely beat Anaheim Servite, 28-27. On Oct. 7, St. John Bosco beat Servite, 70-6.
But hold off on giving De La Salle no chance to defeat the Braves.
“We had 16 underclassmen starting,” De La Salle Coach Justin Alumbaugh said. “We were really young. We were having a hard time gelling. Our practices weren’t physical enough. We made a lot of stupid mistakes. Since midway through the regular season, our practices got a lot better. We’ve gotten a lot better.”
In particular, De La Salle’s defense has come on strong and should offer fierce competition to St. John Bosco, which has knocked off Santa Ana Mater Dei and Corona Centennial in back-to-back games while relying on a powerful running game that features running backs Terrance Beasley and Demetrious Flowers and quarterback Re-Al Mitchell.
Servite Coach Scott Meyer faced both teams, and his analysis is this: “I think it will be a good game. De La Salle sounds like they’ve come a long way since the beginning of the year, but Bosco is too athletic at every position. Bosco’s offensive line is very physical. De La Salle’s offensive line is physical and gets off the ball well.”
De La Salle wants to grind out yards on the ground and use up clock to keep the Braves off the field. The challenge will be for St. John Bosco’s defensive line, led by Jacob Collier, to handle the precision blocks designed for running back Kairee Robinson, a junior who has rushed for 1,833 yards, including games of 265, 192 and 163 in his last three games.
“I know we’re a different team,” Alumbaugh said. “There’s no doubt they’re a great team. They still beat Servite with 70 points. We always know if we play the way we’re capable of, we can beat anybody.”
De La Salle is 7-3 in state bowl games since the inception in 2006 and 6-1 in Open Division games.
What De La Salle may not have an answer for is St. John Bosco offensive lineman Wyatt Davis.
“He was mauling people,” Alumbaugh said of the video he saw of Davis in the Southern Section Division 1 final.
St. John Bosco has limited its mistakes in the last two games, and if the Braves can continue to take care of the football, their speed and athleticism can be decisive.
Twitter: @latsondheimer
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