Champions! De La Salle rallies past Pittsburg in classic NCS Open final

PLEASANT HILL – Down by four, with a little under eight minutes left on the clock and facing the program’s first loss to a North Coast Section team since 1991, De La Salle’s coaches put the ball in the hands of dependable senior Dominic Kelley.

Kelley rewarded his coaches’ faith by turning the inside handoff into an exhilarating 35-yard touchdown that started with the power ack breaking Pittsburg tackles and ended with him crossing the goal line for the winning touchdown in the North Coast Section Open Division title game.

“I broke through that tackle and it was just green grass,” Kelley said. “I did it for my teammates because we want to go to a state championship.”

Having played in a constant deluge at Diablo Valley College, Kelley’s touchdown with 7:46 remaining gave the Spartans a lead they would not relinquish in the Concord program’s 10-7 victory over Pittsburg.

“That was a great game between two great teams,” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said. “Both teams played their tails off and both teams made mistakes. It could have gone either way.”

De La Salle’s 34th consecutive victory against the last school to beat the Spartans – in the 1991 NCS Division I title game – saw Pittsburg give NorCal’s top team everything it could handle.

Pittsburg had led 7-3 for the majority of the game after Jamar Searcy ran for a 10-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.

But with multiple chances to extend the lead in the third and early fourth, Pittsburg was unable to drive home the dagger.

Pittsburg burned over eight minutes off the clock to start the third quarter, but its long drive ended in the red zone when Anthony Morgan pounced on a fumble.

“Man, that could’ve turned sideways in that third quarter,” Alumbaugh said. “I’m proud of our guys.”

When Pittsburg’s dominant defense forced a fumble of their own and saw future UCLA player JuJu Walls recover it, Pittsburg again came up empty on its drive.

“We were driving all the way down the field, but little mistakes, you know,” Pitt quarterback Marley Alcantara said. “Little mistakes.”

De La Salle then gave Pittsburg another short field on its second lost fumble of the quarter – recovered by linebacker Etene Pritchard – as the Pirates once again had a chance to deliver the finishing blow.

Instead, Pittsburg went backwards as Matthew Baumgartner got a tackle for loss, Matthew Johnson recorded a sack and the Spartan defense forced a turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter.

“The rain was a factor as we got going and the rain stayed consistent as we got in the red zone those three times,” Pittsburg coach Charlie Ramirez said. “We were resilient, and did a good job offensively and defensively. The ball just bounced in their direction at the end.”

Before Kelley’s game-breaking run, it was a 30-yard sweep to NCS 100-meter champion Jaden Jefferson that got DLS out of its offensive funk and across midfield.

“I’m a fast guy, so get me in space,” Jefferson said. “It was a momentum starter, and I knew I needed to make a play for my team.”

After Kelley’s back-to-back long runs gave De La Salle the lead, the Spartan defense got the stop it needed with six minutes on clock.

From there, the three-headed running back attack of Kelley, Blanche and Duece Jones-Drew ran out the rest of the quarter and put another piece of section championship hardware into the East Bay school’s crowded trophy case.

“This program has a lot of great history, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” Kelley said.

Kelley led all rushers with 171 yards and Blanche had 76 yards on the ground as De La Salle – which did not complete a pass – ran for 298 yards.

Searcy ran for 123 yards, and Alcantara threw for 78 yards and had a number of drive-saving scrambles in the second half of De La Salle’s narrowest NCS title victory since the streak began in 1992.

De La Salle will be the NorCal representative in the state Open Division title game. As the loser of the Open championship, Pittsburg will play San Ramon Valley in the NCS Division I title game next week.

“Nobody should be surprised if we’re watching Pittsburg play someone in Southern California in December,” Alumbaugh said.