De La Salle football battled No.1 team in America but came up short in California Open Bowl Game
CONCORD, CA (Jan. 20, 2025) — De La Salle looked to have a shot at ending the stranglehold Southern California powers Mater Dei and Saint John Bosco have had on the CIF State Open Division football championship last month when the Spartans rallied in the third quarter within one score of Mater Dei in the final bowl game of the 2024 season.
It was not to be as the Orange County team, which was No. 1 in national rankings almost from the start of the season, scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to post a 37-15 win. It was the eighth time in a row Mater Dei (five titles) or John Bosco (three) were crowned the top team in the state.
The Spartans of Concord have been on the losing side of five of those games while Serra-San Mateo absorbed the other three defeats from 2021-23 by a combined 124-7 score.
The last time a NorCal Open team won was DLS in 2015. Since then, the Spartans— unquestioned top NorCal football program for over three decades who haven’t lost to a North Coast Section team in 33 years—have dropped seven straight State championship games in Open or Division One.
Domination
Prior to this SouCal domination that began in 2016, De La Salle won four straight CIF Open titles from 2009-12 and six of seven overall through 2015. DLS has lost three State finals each to Bosco and MD.
Los Angeles Times veteran prep sportswriter Eric Sondheimer penned a pre-game article asking, “Is the state’s Open Division football title game viable for the future?”
Post game, DLS coach Justin Alumbaugh praised his senior class saying, “I’ll be honest: they brought us back to national prominence. We competed with the No. 1 team in the country.” The Spartans finished at 12-1 and ranked 22 in the USA. Undefeated Mater Dei was first and John Bosco fifth in the nation with three other SouCal teams ranked between 13 and 16 nationally.
De La Salle won its 12th game to qualify for the Open Bowl Game weeks earlier by edging long-time rival Pittsburg 10-7 for its 32nd straight NCS crown. Pitt went on to win the NorCal Division One title over Folsom but lost 28-26 in the State D-1 finals.
During its historic 151-game winning streak from 1992-2003 prior to the State football playoffs starting in 2006, the Spartans defeated strong Mater Dei teams four times. The Spartans have been in a State Bowl Game every year but 2021, a record unmatched by any school in any division of the state playoffs.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.