Serra 24, DLS 21 Final

[PopsNW]

11 hours ago, CaliNorth said:

He just isn't the right coach for this program . Way over his head . Doesn't now have the luxury of Lad or Eidsen .  

[PopsNW]

4 minutes ago, golfaddict1 said:

Lot of 2 way players in yesterday’s game.  Was interesting to see how the 4th quarter would play out.  

Hope all is well in WA.  Following local state ball?  

DLS keeps the TE streak going.  Nice looking recruit heading to ND.  I liked his inside move on the sack as well.  Quick feet.  
 

 

WA is great.  Don't follow the local ball that much -- I'm fairly remote myself (is a 1 hour ferry to mainland) so don't get to any games.  Wasn't even aware DLS was playing last night until a buddy texted me during the game.

Yeah, seems DLS has become TE HS.  I think they were a better team when they were LB HS 😅

If you ever get to the exact opposite corner of the country, give me a call -- we've got a couple of airbnbs on the farm.  Good crabbing (Dungeness) right off our property and great shrimping (spot prawns) about 15 minutes away -- I do have a shrimp boat named Jenny (told my wife it was named after her, but really was a tribute to Forest Gump).  

[Extremely Humble]

7 hours ago, ThunderRam said:

Hale is on scholarship at a D1 program. FCS, but still D1. 
So not quite accurate.

I think you meant, not an FBS or P5 guy.

Technically yes but he’s buried on Sac States depth chart and he was def not a stud. DLS hasn’t had a QB like teams like Serra and Folsom have right now for over a decade. 

[THEOC89]

12 hours ago, HurricaneNick said:

@THEOC89While I completely agree that not getting the players they normally would have gotten under Lad is a huge problem, I think there at least needs to be discussion that JA is not the guy (for the football job), he may, and I’m sure he does align faithfully and morally with everything DLS represents, but at the end of the day you guys are De La Salle. A brand. JA is by no means a bad coach, but the drop off from Lad has been substantial. 12 on the field to make the chip shot to win even easier? NEVER under Lad. I did see Terron ward is on the staff, hopefully he can get some studs to come in. Kids still want to go to De La Salle, if they had the head man to match the brand…. Could get scary.

I Totally hear what you are saying but I disagree that JA is not right for DLS… 

What Coach could possibly live up to Lad?…. JA has had to operate in a totally different ERA then Lad did and DLS is unwilling to play the transfer game…. 

The whole coaching staff has turned over and I agree with everyone the play the last couple years has been sloppy…. I mean 12 penalties last night was Rediculous… Penalties are a definite reflection of coaching and this seems to be glaring since Lad and TE left the staff….

But players also have to make plays… If Greer doesn’t drop that wide open pass the game is over…. 

JA added MJD and Teron Ward to the coaching staff so hopefully that will help DLS to start attracting players…

Walsh has done a great job at Serra they looked really good and should have won that game by 2 TD’s and his team looks loaded with big, athletic players….

Other then Walsh, I am not sure what other Coach could be brought in to match “The Brand” better then JA who was hand picked by Lad to be his successor…. 

[PopsNW]

3 minutes ago, THEOC89 said:

Other then Walsh, I am not sure what other Coach could be brought in to match “The Brand” better then JA who was hand picked by Lad to be his successor…. 

I don't know exact details, but I believe there was some level of commitment made a long time ago, when JA was graduating from UCLA.  He is plenty smart enough to have had lots of career options at that point that would have paid him a lot more money over his career than coaching a hsfb team.  I know that Lad told JA's dad back then that he would have to help JA if he chose that path to be able to live in a decent house in a decent neighborhood on his pay.  He literally has been selected and being groomed for job since he graduated in '97.

DLS has several alumni coaching hsfb, but I concur Pat Walsh is the one that most clearly begs the question "why not him" to DLS fans or non-fans alike.  Fair question, but JA is the right guy for this program and will turn it around.  Don't know if there'll ever be another state title in DLS's future, much less MNC, but he will fix the issues that looked so ugly last night and has a great track record of doing so.

[golfaddict1]

16 minutes ago, PopsNW said:

WA is great.  Don't follow the local ball that much -- I'm fairly remote myself (is a 1 hour ferry to mainland) so don't get to any games.  Wasn't even aware DLS was playing last night until a buddy texted me during the game.

Yeah, seems DLS has become TE HS.  I think they were a better team when they were LB HS 😅

If you ever get to the exact opposite corner of the country, give me a call -- we've got a couple of airbnbs on the farm.  Good crabbing (Dungeness) right off our property and great shrimping (spot prawns) about 15 minutes away -- I do have a shrimp boat named Jenny (told my wife it was named after her, but really was a tribute to Forest Gump).  

Yea the LB’s still lay the wood.  Just not the elites of the past.  42 had a good stache growing it looked like.  😊

Thx for the update.  I’ll PM you as we may be able to assist with bookings from across the pond (crazy high USD currently but they still come).   I work in the tourism business and while painful of late, provides for cable TV and internet auto pay.  😉 

We had many bookings for a supplier Mt Baker Rentals for several years.  They were awesome and had a few staff members basically load their vacation rentals product inventory into our booking system and monitor availability.   Had great wholesale rates.  
 

They opted for direct bookings after Covid, like other suppliers unfortunately… but it’s strictly business as they say.   Nothing personal.  I’d do the same thing.  Perhaps in a few years time they’ll come back to us.   Was one of our best partner contracts.   I’m sure you favor direct vs wholesale intermediaries , but who knows… maybe we can work something out. 

[Extremely Humble]

1 hour ago, CaliNorth said:

Serra was clearly better prepared and further along with their schemes . Once Dls can iron out a lot of things, like who is the qb, db's and lb learning their prevent zone etc., getting in game conditioning , I wouldn't go so far as saying serra better . Maybe last night, 2nd game of season . Even then, DLS should've won the game, or at least been tied . A debacle all the way around for spartans . 2nd play of game they gifted Serra a td. Greer dropping that wide open misdirection pass in 4th was the game right there. Greer had a 35-40 yd gain min right in front of him, with a 7 pt lead with 6 min left . Those kind of plays are just killers

I think that DLS isn’t too far behind but Serra is just plain better than them this season. DLS was  fortunate the game was even that close. Serra fumbled twice near DLS goal line and didn’t even punt until half way through the 3rd quarter. Serra moved the ball pretty easily against DLS and they didn’t even have two starting tackles (injured in Folsom game). 
 

The big 3 of Serra, DLS and Folsom is close but Serra gets the nod for the open. They are going to steamroll the rest of their schedule. 

 

[THEOC89]

8 minutes ago, Extremely Humble said:

I think that DLS isn’t too far behind but Serra is just plain better than them this season. DLS was  fortunate the game was even that close. Serra fumbled twice near DLS goal line and didn’t even punt until half way through the 3rd quarter. Serra moved the ball pretty easily against DLS and they didn’t even have two starting tackles (injured in Folsom game). 
 

The big 3 of Serra, DLS and Folsom is close but Serra gets the nod for the open. They are going to steamroll the rest of their schedule. 

 

I just watched the game this morning so it is fresh in my head and I thought Serra was clearly the better team… I would even put Folsom Ahead of DLS right now….

DLS does not have a good defense, they are too reliant on Turnovers to stop other teams…. MT moved the ball on them easily and so did Serra, it was the turnovers that stopped the scoring….

If Folsom doesn’t turn the ball over against DLS they will win by 2 Td’s…. If I were DLS I would focus on playing the QB #13 and running the veer, holding the ball and controlling the clock…

[Belly Bob]

3 hours ago, 15yds4gibberish said:

I like Thompson and I suspect he's going to Harvard because it's Harvard, but overall last night this line didn't show the get-off we are used to seeing.  Without that, the veer don't go.

I believe I heard the announcers say that he had quit football for a few years to focus on swimming. 

I think it would be fun to see him launch from the starting block and then gracefully transition into an efficient stroke. 

[Extremely Humble]

6 minutes ago, THEOC89 said:

I just watched the game this morning so it is fresh in my head and I thought Serra was clearly the better team… I would even put Folsom Ahead of DLS right now….

DLS does not have a good defense, they are too reliant on Turnovers to stop other teams…. MT moved the ball on them easily and so did Serra, it was the turnovers that stopped the scoring….

If Folsom doesn’t turn the ball over against DLS they will win by 2 Td’s…. If I were DLS I would focus on playing the QB #13 and running the veer, holding the ball and controlling the clock…

It’ll be a good game! Total opposite styles. As a Folsom fan I’m concerned about that game. Both teams seem about even and DLS HAS to win that game. The rest of DLS’ schedule looks pretty weak all of a sudden. Cathedral Catholic is way down and St Francis just got smoked by Monterey Trail!

Speaking of something something trail, they would beat the brakes off Servite this season 😂 @Sammyswordsman

[Cossacks]

36 minutes ago, Extremely Humble said:

I think that DLS isn’t too far behind but Serra is just plain better than them this season. DLS was  fortunate the game was even that close. Serra fumbled twice near DLS goal line and didn’t even punt until half way through the 3rd quarter. Serra moved the ball pretty easily against DLS and they didn’t even have two starting tackles (injured in Folsom game). 
 

The big 3 of Serra, DLS and Folsom is close but Serra gets the nod for the open. They are going to steamroll the rest of their schedule. 

 

They’ll slip up a game in league.

[Belly Bob]

1 hour ago, PopsNW said:

[...]

Fair question, but JA is the right guy for this program and will turn it around.  Don't know if there'll ever be another state title in DLS's future, much less MNC, but he will fix the issues that looked so ugly last night and has a great track record of doing so.

I'm not calling for JA's job, but usually you bring in a new guy to turn around a declining program. 

I know there are a lot of factors involved, but who's responsible for...

    having 12 penalties for over a hundred yards

    having 12 players on the field after a timeout

    moving backwards at key moments in the game because of illegal shifts and false starts

    being indecisive as the clock winds down at the end of the game and then calling a timeout after 15 seconds have gone by

     not getting much out of your QB who has at least three Power 5 offers and who sat out for most of the second half

     not getting much out of your 4-start TE. Etc.?

      

[THEOC89]

5 minutes ago, Belly Bob said:

I'm not calling for JA's job, but usually you bring in a new guy to turn around a declining program. 

I know there are a lot of factors involved, but who's responsible for...

    having 12 penalties for over a hundred yards

    having 12 players on the field after a timeout

    moving backwards at key moments in the game because of illegal shifts and false starts

     being indecisive as the clock winds down at the end of the game and then calling timeout after 15 seconds have gone by

     not getting much out of your QB who has at least three Power 5 offers and who sat out for most of the                            second half

     not getting much out of your 4-start TE?

      

And even with all that Mess DLS was still a wide open Dropped pass by Their Best player Greer from winning that game….

Those are all right on observation’s, the coaching has to get better as far as their discipline goes….

It’s time to scrap this Hybrid Veer passing nonsense because it doesn’t work, you need big linemen to pass block, it doesn’t work with undersized linemen….

The defense is what concerns me the most, they just cannot stop anyone, The DB’s are small and they don’t get much pressure on the QB’s…. More then anything, DLS needs players on Defense….

[THEOC89]

23 minutes ago, Cossacks said:

They’ll slip up a game in league.

Not this year I don’t think… The WCAL is down, SF just lost to MT 28-7…. I think Serra Rolls to the open this year and they have the potential to even have a good showing for Nor Cal in that game….

They have good size and speed on defense and a big O-Line…. They are a good looking team….

[PopsNW]

24 minutes ago, Belly Bob said:

I'm not calling for JA's job, but usually you bring in a new guy to turn around a declining program. 

I know there are a lot of factors involved, but who's responsible for...

    having 12 penalties for over a hundred yards

    having 12 players on the field after a timeout

    moving backwards at key moments in the game because of illegal shifts and false starts

    being indecisive as the clock winds down at the end of the game and then calling a timeout after 15 seconds have gone by

     not getting much out of your QB who has at least three Power 5 offers and who sat out for most of the second half

     not getting much out of your 4-start TE. Etc.?

      

After 30 years as #1 and undefeated team in NorCal, is it fair to say a program is in decline after dropping to #2 or 3 for a year or two?

there are 400+ schools in NorCal.

your criticism bullet points can be laid at the feet of practically any loss — I thought Serra was a better team and dls probably still should have won with out some slips that have nothing to do with coaching (like dropped passes)

I guarantee you that Leo Lopoz (dls AD) has not ever contemplated replacing JA.  
 

is there a NorCal Open game this year?  Whether there is or not, evaluate dls and JA at year end — I predict the perspective will be different 

Dls level execution takes time and rarely showed up early even for their good teams that wound winning state or MNCs (and this team isn’t as good as those or at least didn’t look that way last night)

[Cossacks]

9 minutes ago, THEOC89 said:

Not this year I don’t think… The WCAL is down, SF just lost to MT 28-7…. I think Serra Rolls to the open this year and they have the potential to even have a good showing for Nor Cal in that game….

They have good size and speed on defense and a big O-Line…. They are a good looking team….

It’s week 2? Pump the breaks  Nostradamus, it’s a long season, no one knows yet now it plays out.
 

There were a ton of posts last year after Saint Francis beat De La Salle early in the season how everyone was talking about them going to the SBG. It didn’t work out St. Francis didn’t make it😂. 
 

 

[Cossacks]

4 minutes ago, PopsNW said:

After 30 years as #1 and undefeated team in NorCal, is it fair to say a program is in decline after dropping to #2 or 3 for a year or two?

there are 400+ schools in NorCal.

your criticism bullet points can be laid at the feet of practically any loss — I thought Serra was a better team and dls probably still should have won with out some slips that have nothing to do with coaching (like dropped passes)

I guarantee you that Leo Lopoz (dls AD) has not ever contemplated replacing JA.  
 

is there a NorCal Open game this year?  Whether there is or not, evaluate dls and JA at year end — I predict the perspective will be different 

Dls level execution takes time and rarely showed up early even for their good teams that wound winning state or MNCs (and this team isn’t as good as those or at least didn’t look that way last night)

That’s not correct. Have seen De La Salle play since ‘83. Their execution under Lad even early in the season was much much better, that’s not even debatable at this point.

They’ve had enough sample size of the JA era. Does he need to be fired? No, but it’s a big decline in the product there is no way to spin it otherwise.

 

[THEOC89]

23 minutes ago, Cossacks said:

It’s week 2? Pump the breaks  Nostradamus, it’s a long season, no one knows yet now it plays out.
 

There were a ton of posts last year after Saint Francis beat De La Salle early in the season how everyone was talking about them going to the SBG. It didn’t work out St. Francis didn’t make it😂. 
 

 

Fair enough…. Then I expect to see a WCAL League game involving Serra in the Pick’ems…. 🤣🤣🍻

[Extremely Humble]

18 minutes ago, Cossacks said:

It’s week 2? Pump the breaks  Nostradamus, it’s a long season, no one knows yet now it plays out.
 

There were a ton of posts last year after Saint Francis beat De La Salle early in the season how everyone was talking about them going to the SBG. It didn’t work out St. Francis didn’t make it😂. 
 

 

The WCAL lost a lot of games last night. The supposedly 2nd best team in SF just got whooped by Monterey Trail. Serra is going to run away with that league this season. 

[CaliNorth]

2 hours ago, Extremely Humble said:

I think that DLS isn’t too far behind but Serra is just plain better than them this season. DLS was  fortunate the game was even that close. Serra fumbled twice near DLS goal line and didn’t even punt until half way through the 3rd quarter. Serra moved the ball pretty easily against DLS and they didn’t even have two starting tackles (injured in Folsom game). 
 

The big 3 of Serra, DLS and Folsom is close but Serra gets the nod for the open. They are going to steamroll the rest of their schedule. 

 

I agree that DLS is behind Serra right now and that Serra got the OPen bid last night because of it . When DLS qb's are struggling to just hold onto the snap from center, much less than making good exchanges to Rb's , than yeah , Serra much better . I think DLS gaffs made Serra look better than what they are . Coach had very little confidence in the passing game as of now, and not throwing more allowed Serra to key in on one dimension . Honestly , if they can get some consistency from qb and allow for more pass plays to develop , they will put more pressure on Serra's D . Like I stated above post, if Greer made that simple catch which should be caught at least 90% of time, than game over . Defense started to look a little better as game wore on . They are in one of those ugly start years , but if the qb situation can improve significantly , than I'm not sure at all that Serra better . Last night they were, but boy did DLS help them along the way, especially down the stretch . Who ever goes to Open will be annihilated by South Rep in Open . 

[PopsNW]

4 hours ago, Cossacks said:

That’s not correct. Have seen De La Salle play since ‘83. Their execution under Lad even early in the season was much much better, that’s not even debatable at this point.

They’ve had enough sample size of the JA era. Does he need to be fired? No, but it’s a big decline in the product there is no way to spin it otherwise.

 

I know your background a bit but agree to disagree — let’s just start post streak (‘04) since it’s hard to discuss the mistakes during a 151 win streak but I could go most years since and point out 1 or 2 or 3 preseason games where they executed like crap in years where they were super clean and dominating thru their final games whether NCS or SBGs 

just name a few of Lad’s

ties with Clayton valley and Palma in ‘04 

Almost losing to Serra when, unlike last night, dls clearly had better horses in 2008, 2009, 2013

Surviving a missed PaT for win vs bellarmine in ‘11 when they won SBG 35-0

losing to a Lakeland team early that wasn’t as good or fast as the Crenshaw team they beat later 

Close calls vs Mullen and St Mary’s with an MNc/ SBG in ‘12 (Lads last year)

 

 

[Belly Bob]

18 hours ago, PopsNW said:

After 30 years as #1 and undefeated team in NorCal, is it fair to say a program is in decline after dropping to #2 or 3 for a year or two?

It's not just the recent losses to NorCal teams. 

Last year, they lost to St Francis, a team they were better than. St Francis ran several draw plays that game, all successful. At one point, they ran back-to-back draw plays. I've never seen that before. But why not, if the defense won't respond. 

And it's not just that.

Last week, Monterey Trail blocked a punt and returned it for a TD. They also blocked a PAT. 

And it's not just that.

Last year, they beat Folsom handily 31-10 in October and then lost to Folsom at home in December, a game in which they turned the ball over 4 times in the first half and were, like Friday night, plagued by penalties. 

How does that square with DLS's history of slow starts followed by hyper improvement?  

[PopsNW]

1 hour ago, Belly Bob said:

It's not just the recent losses to NorCal teams. 

Last year, they lost to St Francis, a team they were better than. St Francis ran several draw plays that game, all successful. At one point, they ran back-to-back draw plays. I've never seen that before. But why not, if the defense won't respond. 

And it's not just that.

Last week, Monterey Trail blocked a punt and returned it for a TD. They also blocked a PAT. 

And it's not just that.

Last year, they beat Folsom handily 31-10 in October and then lost to Folsom at home in December, a game in which they turned the ball over 4 times in the first half and were, like Friday night, plagued by penalties. 

How does that square with DLS's history of slow starts followed by hyper improvement?  

First, I’m not saying there’s not scuffling — my only point is that I personally think it’s ridiculous to come after JA at this stage.  
 

second, the only point you’re really making that doesn’t square with my prior post is the loss to Folsom last year in rematch.  That regression appears to be isolated to me — the rest of your evidence is more early season scuffling 

third, as much as we might feel otherwise as fans, DLS isn’t going to participate in the modern arms race.  We knew that beforehand.  Their bigger problem bs their better teams from my perspective is they really don’t have ANY of those guys.  Their best teams usually got 2-3 nuggets per class that probably came to dls only because of football.  With dls playing studs early and both ways, those guys can represent about half the guys on the field at any one time at that rate.  They conditioned to be able to do that and didn’t normally run into guys whose reserves had power5 offers until playing in SBGs from 2013 forward it against an STA etc preseason.  I really don’t see any of those guys on the team.  Flanagan is a stud but he’s a local parochial kid that was tracking to dls from grade school.  I don’t have insight but it seems to me that they’ve tightened up their admissions in that area to be more like the talent from ‘04 thru ‘08, where Lad went 56-10-2, including ties vs Clayton valley and Palma and 2 losses to Clovis west (now a NorCal team).  JA’s last team that was as talented as DLS’s best 10 or even 20 teams was 2015 and he did just fine in ‘13-‘15 with those studs (1 SBG win vs #2 in country and 2 respectable losses vs vastly superior rosters 

Lastly, who are you going to get to “win” better than they do?  I doubt I’d like most of your ideas. 

Yes, they’re scuffling and It’s JA’s responsibility — he also still has a team that is likely among top 1% in country and, by all accounts, is leading them the right way.  

[Atticus Finch]

On 9/3/2022 at 2:13 PM, PopsNW said:

DLS often barely survived early non-league NorCal games and then improved more than most between pre-season and post-season. 

No, they barely survived early NorCal games when they weren't that good (2008-09) or isolated games against the other best team in NorCal (2011, 2013).

Otherwise, it was pretty much steamrollings.

But we need more hyper-improvement theory talk.

[Atticus Finch]

21 hours ago, PopsNW said:

After 30 years as #1 and undefeated team in NorCal, is it fair to say a program is in decline after dropping to #2 or 3 for a year or two?

Yes.