RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
De La Salle's Maurice Drew, who rushed for a score and 125 yards on 19 carries last night, got past St. Louis' Kaleo Perriera at Aloha Stadium. The Spartans extended their win streak to 127 games.
De La Salle delivers The Streak lives.
The team with ‘The Streak’
Kahuku gets 'beached'
lives up to the hype with a
31-21 win over St. Louis
Kahuku may have seen Poly's next pro
Spartans didn't stay grounded
Notebook
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comDe La Salle (Concord, Calif) extended its national-record winning streak to 127 games with a 31-21 victory over St. Louis last night at Aloha Stadium.
An announced crowd of 27,811 watched the Spartans, who haven't lost since 1991, complete a California sweep of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Football Classic. Long Beach Poly defeated Kahuku 42-16 in the evening's first game.
"I always thought St. Louis was a good team, a good program, and they still are," De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur said. "They gave us everything we could handle."
The Spartans' veer offense proved too quick for the St. Louis defense as they generated 189 yards on the ground. Running back Maurice Drew displayed few ill effects of an ankle injury he suffered last week, carrying the ball 19 times for 125 yards and a touchdown.
"It was tough in the beginning, they're a good team," Drew said. "They came out aggressive and hitting, so we had to come out and be aggressive back."
It was a complete victory for the Spartans as they controlled all three phases of the game.
As a team, De La Salle outgained St. Louis 337 yards to 299 and held the ball more than 10 minutes longer than the Crusaders. The Spartans' special teams units also proved vital as the kickoff unit pinned the Crusaders deep in their end and Damon Jenkins set up two scores.
"I thought our speed showed up mostly early in the game and we wore down in the second half," Ladouceur said. "Our special teams getting us the ball in good field position was key in this game. Jenkins had some key returns and shortened the field for us. That was critical."
St. Louis quarterback Bobby George completed 18 of 27 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns, and receiver Shane Butcher racked up 135 yards on five catches and scored a touchdown.
But it wasn't enough to overcome De La Salle's 21-7 halftime lead.
The Spartans were at their efficient best in the first half as senior quarterback Britt Cecil completed 6 of 8 passes for 116 yards and Drew averaged 11 yards on his eight carries.
De La Salle's first drive ended in a missed field goal, but the Spartans took control by scoring on their next three possessions.
The Spartans' first two scores were set up by long connections from Cecil to Cameron Colvin. A 46-yard completion gave the Spartans the ball at the St. Louis 7. Cecil scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak two plays later.
On De La Salle's next series, Colvin leapt over Crusader cornerback Jonah Lakatani to haul in a 35-yard strike to the St. Louis 1. After a delay of game penalty, Jackie Bates scored on a 5-yard run on the final play of the first quarter.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
St Louis' Justin Cabansag ran into De La Salle's Parker Hanks, top, and Chris Wilhelmy during a first-quarter rush last night.
De La Salle generated 181 yards in total offense in the first period while limiting St. Louis to 2 yards on six offensive plays.
"We couldn't slow them down offensively," St. Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "We had them in third-down situations, which they converted. We should have done a better job on those first two scores."
"We all knew how good they were; they played like how we saw them on film."
The Spartans extended their lead in the second quarter with an eight-play, 82-yard drive that ate up 4 minutes and 45 seconds. Drew, who finished the half with 88 rushing yards, completed the drive with a 16-yard touchdown run to give De La Salle a 21-0 lead.
The St. Louis offense got the spark it needed when Butcher beat double coverage to snag a 47-yard pass from George. Three plays later, George rolled to his right and hit Jason Rivers in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown to close the gap to 14 at halftime.
A 48-yard punt return by Jenkins set up De La Salle's first score of the second half, a 42-yard field goal by Tony Biswanger.
St. Louis responded with a 15-play drive covering 80 yards. B.J. Batts' 1-yard dive cut the Spartans' lead to 24-14 with 1:23 left in the third quarter.
De La Salle quelled the Crusader rally with Gino Ottoboni's 1-yard touchdown plunge midway through the fourth quarter.
St. Louis struck back with George lofting a 65-yard touchdown strike to Butcher on fourth-and-11, cutting the Spartan lead to 10.
But De La Salle recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
De La Salle 31, St. Louis 21
At Aloha StadiumDe La Salle (1-0)14737--31
St. Louis (2-0)0777--21DLS -- Britt Cecil 1 run (Tony Binswanger kick)
DLS -- Jackie Bates 5 run (Binswanger kick)
DLS -- Maurice Drew 16 run (Binswanger kick)
Stl -- Jason Rivers 12 pass from Bobby George (Kaeo Adams kick)
DLS -- FG Biswanger 42
Stl -- B.J. Batts 1 run (Adams kick)
DLS -- Gino Ottoboni 1 run (Biswanger kick)
Stl -- Shane Butcher 65 pass from George (Adams kick)RUSHING -- De La Salle: Drew 19-125, Ottoboni 7-26, Bates 8-24, Cecil 8-14. St. Louis: Cabansag 9-18, George 5-16, Batts 5-7.
PASSING -- De La Salle: Cecil 6-10-0-116, Bates 1-1-0-32. St. Louis: George 18-27-1-258.
RECEIVING -- De La Salle: De-Montae Fitzgerald 3-54, Cameron Colvin 2-81, Bates 1-7, Chris Wilhelmy 1-6. St. Louis: Butcher 5-135, Jason Rivers 5-64, Batts 5-25, Cabansag 2-20, Jon Amano 1-14.
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