Ygnacio Valley, De La Salle victories highlight early season football

CONCORD, CA (Sept. 20, 2024) – The football season is three weeks old and neighboring De La Salle and Ygnacio Valley high schools have scored the most significant victories among local teams during early non-league play.

The Concord schools share a border slightly longer than a football field and two end zones. In fact, a long homerun over the right centerfield fence at De La Salle would land on the Ygnacio Valley campus.

De la Salle’s results in the past decade or two couldn’t be much more dissimilar from Ygnacio’s but on Friday, Sept. 6, it’s likely even the impressive and rankings-significant win by the Spartans over rival Serra-San Mateo didn’t generate the joy being felt next door with YV’s 26-20 defeat of Redwood Christian-San Lorenzo that evening.

Ygnacio Valley had not won a football game since late October 2019, before the word Covid was a part of our vocabulary. In fact, the YVHS Wolves had never won a game.

Wolves notch win No. 1

The school changed its mascot’s name from Warriors to Wolves two years ago and in their 22nd game as the Wolves Ygnacio Valley broke a 35-game losing skid, which was the longest ongoing streak in the state.

This winless streak from a program that has sent countless players to college and a handful to the NFL. Ygnacio won North Coast Section championships in 1999 and 2005. The last game victory came late in the 2019 season which culminated with a NCS appearance and 7-4 record, the only winning season the school has posted in over a decade.

In fact, there have been media reports that discussions took place in the past year about having the school switch from 11-man to 8-man football.

Rae Jackson Sr. took over the Ygnacio Valley football program as the transition to the Wolves took place. The coach constantly talks to his players about the life values sports can instill in a young person beyond the X’s and O’s.

After losing their season opener 73-0 at Alameda, Jackson needed all his motivational powers to get his small roster ready for the home opener. They were to face a motivated Redwood Christian team playing its first-ever varsity football game in the 55th year of the San Lorenzo school.

For that home opener the Wolves switched senior all-league quarterback Fred Fine to wide receiver and put freshman Jalen Fayad at QB. Fine was a major threat receiving and running the ball to help his first-year QB account for 200 yards of total offense.

After racing out to an unaccustomed big lead, the Wolves had to hold on for the win with sophomore Matin Andish’s late interception all but sealing the historic victory for a jubilant group of players and coaches.

De La Salle breaks streak too

For all its success unmatched almost anywhere in American high school football, De La Salle broke a negative streak of its own. On Friday the 13th the Spartans posted their third straight impressive result, handily beating St. Francis of Mountain View with the Lancers only score coming on a Pick 6.

De La Salle always schedules a brutal non-league schedule, which partially accounts for the fact the Concord powerhouse had not won its first three games since 2018 (putting aside the truncated 2020 Covid season).

Coach Justin Alumbaugh’s team has used speed, the traditional run-oriented offense and an especially impressive defense to defeat Northern California powers Grant (42-14), Serra (39-20) and Saint Francis (42-7) on consecutive weeks.

This Friday the team travels to Stockton to meet a fourth straight undefeated opponent in Saint Mary’s who beat DLS 45-35 the last time the Spartans visited Saint Mary’s in 2022. This is the first of three consecutive road games. Next Friday they go to El Cerrito and then they really travel for their Oct. 8 game.

That will take place in London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the Spartans visit England for an international game against NFL Academy.

Wins hard to come by

As mentioned, unbeaten De La Salle has three wins. The other six local schools have combined for five wins during the opening three weeks and one of those was Clayton Valley Charter defeating College Park.

New Falcons coach Jack Schram is still looking for his first win at the Pleasant Hill school after spending the last 18 years at Miramonte. His team faces a familiar foe for the coach this week when defending 3-AA State champion Acalanes hosts College Park in Diablo Athletic League interleague affair which doesn’t count in league standings for either team.

Clayton Valley Charter hosts Northgate in another DAL interleague game as both teams seek win No. 2 and each coming off a loss in week three action.

A similar slate of DAL interleague games between Foothill and Valley division teams takes place Oct. 4.

Concord notched its first win last Friday with a convincing 37-7 victory at San Lorenzo.

Nomadic season for Mt. Diablo

Mt. Diablo scored less than 27 points only twice last year but in its past two games the Red Devils have managed only a touchdown each time in losses at Acalanes and Vallejo.

The Red Devils only have three home games on the schedule this year and none of those will be on the Concord campus.

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District has scheduled the removal of the turf field and running track in the coming weeks to install a new turf field in Hart Fairclough Stadium. This field replaces the original all-weather turf installed in 2016. A district spokesperson says the new field has a 12-year guarantee.

The schedule calls for Mt. Diablo to host Castlemont-Oakland Oct. 4, Concord Oct. 18 and Berean Christian Oct. 25. Instead, the Castlemont game will be held at 4 p.m. in Bay Point at Riverview Middle School, which is on the site of former Pacifica High School.

The Friday night game Oct. 18 will be played at Concord High and Oct. 25 vs. Berean will be under the lights at College Park.

High school football schedule & results

Clayton Valley Charter (Open Div./Div. 1) – 8/30 Spanish Springs-Sparks, NV L 0-17, 9/6 at College Park W 55-7, 9/13 at San Ramon Valley L 15-31, 9/20 Northgate, 9/27 at Liberty-Brentwood, 10/11 at Las Lomas, 10/18 Acalanes, 10/25 Campolindo, 11/1 at Miramonte, 11/8 De La Salle.

College Park (Div. 2) – 8/30 San Marin-Novato L 20-52, 9/6 Clayton Valley Charter L 7-55, 9/13 Salesian College Preparatory Pride-Richmond L 21-26, 9/20 at Acalanes, 9/27 at Las Lomas, 10/4 at Miramonte, 10/18 Alhambra, 10/25 at Northgate, 11/1 Benicia, 11/8 Mountain opponent TBA.

Concord (Div. 5) – 8/30 Newark Memorial-Newark L 15-28, 9/6 Alameda L 14-48, 9/13 at San Lorenzo W 37-7, 9/21 at Archie Williams-San Anselmo, 9/27 at Mt. Eden-Hayward, 10/4 Encinal-Alameda, 10/18 at Mt. Diablo, 10/25 Ygnacio Valley, 11/1 Berean Christian, 11/8 @ Valley opponent TBA.

De La Salle (Div. 2) – 8/30 Grant-Sacramento W 42-14, 9/6 Serra-San Mateo W 39-10, 9/13 Saint Francis-Mountain View W 42-7, 9/20 at St. Mary’s-Stockton, 9/27 at El Cerrito, 10/8 at NFL Academy, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 10/18 San Ramon Valley, 10/25 Monte-Vista-Danville, 11/1 at California-San Ramon, 11/8 at Clayton Valley Charter.

Mt. Diablo (Div. 3) – 8/30 at Deer Valley-Antioch W 42-35, 9/6 at Acalanes L 7-48, 9/13 at Vallejo L 6-7, 9/20 at Alameda, 9/27 at Mission-San Francisco, 10/4 Castlemont-Oakland (@ Riverview MS), 10/18 @ Concord, 10/25 Berean Christian (@ College Park), 11/1 @ Ygnacio Valley, 11/8 @ Valley opponent TBA.

Northgate (Div. 3) – 8/30 Dougherty Valley-San Ramon W 15-7, 9/6 at Campolindo L 23-31, 9/14 @ Bishop Diego-Santa Barbara L 16-35, 9/20 at Clayton Valley Charter, 9/27 Lincoln-San Francisco, 10/4 Las Lomas, 10/18 Benicia, 10/25 College Park, 11/1 at Alhambra, 11/8 Mountain opponent TBA.

Ygnacio Valley (Div. 5) – 8/30 at Alameda L 0-73, 9/6 Redwood Christian-San Lorenzo W 26-20, 9/13 at Kennedy-Richmond L 16-28, 9/20 Pinole Valley-Pinole, 9/27 at Richmond, 10/4 San Lorenzo, 10/19 at Berean Christian, 10/25 at Concord, 11/1 Mt. Diablo, 11/8 @ Valley opponent TBA.