Short of beating a college team, there’s nothing the football team can accomplish that would constitute "surprising."
That includes Saturday’s 35-0 shellacking of Westlake, the supposed best team in Southern California, in the California State Open Division Bowl game. Performances like that have long been the expectation for the Spartans.
Moving forward, nothing figures to change. As long as Bob Ladouceur is coaching De La Salle, the Spartans will play for Open Division championships and be considered for mythical national titles. East Bay Athletic League and North Coast Section titles are essentially etched into stone before each season begins.
As long as the Spartans keep winning – which they will – debates regarding De La Salle and its place locally will rage on.
After the team’s in the NCS finals, several Patch readers expressed their opinions.
Here are some of the more memorable lines:
"It is ridiculous that DLS is even in the league. They recruit from all over, taking what they think is the best players."
"Maybe Private schools should compete against each other since they can take from any area."
"We can only hope that one day DLS will leave this league. It is so unfair and demoralizing to players from the public schools."
"DLS is the winner in Northern California, again, because they worked hard and are flat better, again."
"Unless every player on their roster is from Concord, it is NOT apples to apples."
"De La Salle will keep on winning without recruiting and everything else you accuse them of doing. Please continue to whine and believe that DLS recruits and gets the better players from all over the Bay Area."
A lot of what I read came off as misinformed, so let’s set the record straight.
- The recruiting issue. De La Salle does not actively recruit. The program’s success and reputation is the biggest recruiting tool out there. Are there parents who try to recruit? Absolutely, but that stuff goes on at public schools too. The notion De La Salle coaches are recruiting middle schoolers is beyond absurd and anyone who believes otherwise lives in a fantasy world.
- League placement. A lot of EBAL parents whine about De La Salle being in the league. Bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what league De La Salle is in, it’s going to dominate. Yes, it’s a public school league (other than DLS), but the EBAL is arguably the best league in Northern California. There isn’t a better alternative from a competitive equity standpoint aside from possibly the West Catholic Athletic League, which is made up of privates schools from San Jose up the peninsula to San Francisco. The Spartans have had some close games with WCAL teams in recent years, but they've all come in the first few weeks of the season. There isn't a team in the country that improves like De La Salle over the course of the season. By the time league play rolls around the Spartans are a different team. The last three years they have beaten Southern California’s best teams by 35, 40 and 14 points in the state bowl games. Each year, they’ve had at least one EBAL game that was more competitive.
- Quasi-independent. I've long been a proponent of quasi-independent status for De La Salle in football like it had with the Bay Valley Athletic League before it joined the EBAL in 2008. It can schedule five non-league games at the start of the season, then play five EBAL teams (likely San Ramon Valley, Monte Vista, Cal, Foothill and Amador Valley) to round out the schedule. Let's be honest — the EBAL title means nothing to DLS. It's all about winning state bowl games and, to a lesser extent, NCS titles. Why not keep the league title alive for teams that will see it as the ultimate goal? Everybody benefits from this scenario.
Does being a private school give De La Salle a distinct advantage over other schools? Definitely. There's no denying that. But that's not the end-all, be-all reason for the program's success. If it were, then Moreau Catholic of Hayward, Bishop O'Dowd of Oakland, Berean Christian of Walnut Creek and St. Mary's of Berkeley would compete for NCS titles every year. They don't, even in the lower divisions.
On the flip side, would De La Salle have the same success if its roster mirrored that of neighboring Ygnacio Valley High? Not a chance. Which is why I can understand the frustration of coaches who are charged with trying to scheme against DLS. It really is a stacked deck.
Is it always fair? No, but the last time I checked neither is life. You just have to deal with it. High school sports are supposed to enrich the educational experience. Playing against De La Salle does that.
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Kyle Bonagura has covered high school football in the East Bay since 2000. Follow him on Twitter
Concord High is another great example of great coaching and work ethic! This despite a smaller less athletic squad. Just admire what you're seeing.
Perhaps DLS coaching staff could find a way to train and coach public school players and coaches to help them improve. DLS could position this as community service. Perhaps these exchanges would pave the way for more exchanges that would help the public schools to "think different" and improve their performance academically. Perhaps SRVSD could spin off a high school as a voucher/charter school with the flexibility and dedication to excellence in academics and athletics that DLS embodies. One such school would be an amazing driver of change in the remainder of the schools. We public school parents should demand that our schools raise their game. We should embrace the competition, work hard, and go step by step to better performance. That is what life is all about. Running away from the competition is poor example to set for teenagers.
Same with scholarships. Some students qualify for financial aide, but there are no free rides at DLS for athletes. If you hear otherwise, it's myth.
My guess is that DLS pays teachers based on performance, flushedbad teachers, Innovates as needed to improve results, compares itself against the best Hugh schools nationally and internationally. And I'll bet does it on a lower $/student than the public schools. So....the real issue is "don't discard the grading scale--DLS benchmark; rather fix the broken public school system. What sense doesake to be great against mediocre competition. It's a competitive global world. Compete or die.
The culture is the DLS parents have decided from the time the son is born they will go to DLS. It starts very early. I have seen CYO "A" teams picked a month before tryouts because there are a few power families that run everything at St Izzy. I have seen Dads that know several coaches by name but could not tell you the name of any of the teachers. DLS is a good school and does prepare you well for college. I will not dispute that but so does MV and SRVHS. The reason DLS does so well at football is a combination of reasons. #1 it starts at the head coach. #2 because he has built a program some people in move near so they can attend (see Joe Montana) (note it did not go well there for his son) #3 the DLS parents and kids value football far more than the public school kids. They put it a a much higher priority and as a result there is 100% all in attitude. I am not saying this is good or bad just that this is the way it is. We should NOT be measuring the worth of ANY HS by their football program. I could care less if SRVHS EVER wins another game. It does noyt mattter to me. I only care about the academics, safety and full positive experience on campus. Football has zero bearing on this to me.