Central Catholic falls to powerhouse De La Salle; plays Holy Bowl next week
Central Catholic senior wide receiver Sithri Price said the Raiders competed with some heart on Friday.
With a couple of starters injured, the Raiders fought hard against national power De La Salle at David Patton Field. But the Spartans showed why they are one of the best teams in the nation with a 49-14 victory, including 28 unanswered points in the second quarter.
“We didn’t play well last week (losing to Clovis West), but we played hard tonight,” Raiders coach Roger Canepa said. “We had a second quarter where you play a good team and you can’t catch your breath and they gutted us a little bit.”
De La Salle extended its unbeaten streak against teams north of Fresno to 300, a streak that began in 1991.
At 0-2, there isn’t any panic from Canepa or any of his players as they look for the first win against St. Mary’s in the Holy Bowl next week in Stockton.
“We got the dog in us,” senior running back Minaya Olivo said. “We could fall back but we always move forward.”
Price, who was nursing a hamstring injury, said it felt 100% at the start of the game but it “popped” after his first reception in the first quarter and it was close to 60% the rest of the game.
The injury didn’t stop the speedster from hauling in a 59-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dalton Durossette with under five minutes left in the third quarter.
“We have had that connection from last year,” said Price, who finished with three receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown. “I told (Dalton) that I was going to run a fade (route) and once I saw him throw it, I knew it was a touchdown.”
De La Salle led 7-0 after one quarter as the Spartans, who run a traditional veer offense, were pass-heavy in the first half. Spartans junior quarterback Dorian Hale was 15-for-27 for 231 yards and one touchdown and added six carries for 35 yards and a touchdown.
While the Spartans piled on score-after-score in the second quarter, Central Catholic had trouble getting first downs and had one possession where it got the ball near the red zone only to have penalties move them back to midfield.
“We got fatigued but we were fighting with our hearts,” said Olivo, who finished with 119 rushing yards and a 31-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
The 14 points are the most points scored by a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section team against De La Salle since Folsom scored 17 in a 28-point loss on Dec. 14, 2013.
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 11:34 PM.
