Schools
De La Salle Goes For 20th Title
Fellow-league rep San Ramon Valley in the way of Spartans' quest for another NCS crown.
De La Salle High School looks to win an unprecedented 20th straight North Coast Section football title on Saturday when the Spartans face San Ramon Valley High School in the Division 1 title game at the O.Co Coliseum in Oakland at 3:30 p.m.
Top-seeded and favored De La Salle brings an 11-1 record into the contest and a streak of having not lost to a Bay Area opponent since December of 1991. The Spartans have not lost since Week 3, when they traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and fell to national power St. Thomas Aquinas, 30-6.
Since, DLS has won nine straight, including a 40-3 decision over San Ramon in league play on Oct. 28. The Spartans beat Freedom and Pittsburg by a combined score of 118-7 to reach Saturday's contest. De La Salle went 7-0 in East Bay Athletic League play, outscoring its opponents 291-37.
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Fellow league-member San Ramon Valley, the tourney's seventh seed, is 10-3. The Wolves beat Castro Valley (42-14), James Logan (28-14) and arch-rival Monte Vista (37-21) to earn their title-game bid after going 5-2 in league play.
San Ramon Valley is led by Cal-bound quarterback Zach Kline, who was recently named the 2011 Gatorade California Football Player of the Year. Kline has thrown for 3,321 yards and 36 touchdowns. De La Salle is led by three-year starting QB Bart Houston, who is committed to play in college at Wisconsin. Houston's father, Guy Houston, coincidentally quarterbacked San Ramon Valley for three years (1976-78).
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A victory by De La Salle could propel the Spartans into the Open Division C.I.F. title game next Saturday in Southern California. See here for more information about Saturday's SRV-DLS game.
