High School Championship Football at the Coliseum

Saturday night High School Football at the Oakland Coliseum. The autumn wind was Raiding the stadium as I sat watching High School Powerhouse DeLasalle, or as one San Leandro fan heckled, "DSL" battle San Leandro High for the EastBay 4A Championship. DeLasalle, as usual, was expected to win but not without San Leandro giving them a fight. The offensive action wasnt much as the defenses put on a show. Hard hitting and a few turnovers made for a dramatic game. DeLasalle committed a number of penalties which is uncharacteristic of them.

In warmups you could see the discipline and preparedness of DeLasalle as they mechanically performed all sorts of drills. On the other end San Leandero came out looking relaxed and nonchalant, almost to a fault. But once the game got going it appeared the teams were evenly matched on defense. DeLasalle's discipline is what I believe won them the game. They were poised and patient while waiting for their offense to put some points on the board, any points. Somewhere in the first half they managed seven points. Their offense moved the ball but couldn't get it in the endzone whereas San Leandro's offense moved the ball in spurts.

San leandro punted frequently and did a decent job on punt return coverage. Delasalle's special teams missed a field goal attempt in the third quarter. With time winding down in the third quarter San Leandro intercepted a pass and returned it down to around the ten yard line. This was the highlight play of the game for them. They switched endzones and I was able to get a close up of the DeLasalle defense attempting a goal line stand. Four downs later DeLasalle had the ball on the three yard line and San Leandro still had zero points, a successful defensive stand for DeLasalle. The San leandro coach may have blown that one by not having a creative play to run in that situation. But then again, execution is the key and the San Leandro team just couldn't execute against the DeLasalle defense.

The scrambling San Leandro quarterback started taking chances and looking rattled. He'd thrown two interceptions and appeared out of synch with his wide receivers. Granted they dropped quite a few balls during the game which may have made the difference. One dropped ball by a San Leandro receiver was a sure touchdown as the pass hit in right in the hands as he ran a perfect route between the DB and Safety. Had he caught the ball there was clear sailing to the endzone. On that play it looked as if Delasalle's defense had conceded the touchdown without trying to stop what was obviously to be a touchdown. But the San Leandro offense just couldn't make a play.

Hats off to DeLasalle for winning their umpteenth Championship. They tacked on another touchdown with less than a minute left in the game after their interception of a San Leandro pass killed any chance of overtime. I was impressed with the San Leandro team for not giving up, especially on defense. With an offense that looked like it had speed but couldn't overcome a good defense, San Leandro played a great game. The damage could have and should have been a lot worse but for their defense stopping the powerful DeLasalle offense that had scored sixty points in their last game. From what I saw in the stats, San Leandro's offense had scored sixty in it's last game but gave up forty eight in winning.

So hats off to both teams for giving me memories of High School sports and a reason to visit the Oakland Coliseum in my Raiders gear.

Final Score
DeLasalle 14
San Leandro 0