De La Salle Overpowers Livermore High

The game between De La Salle and Livermore High School featured a lot of points, but all of the scoring was done by the Spartans, who shutout the Cowboys 62-0.

After coming off a loss against St. Thomas Aquinas [Florida] last week, De La Salle looked like a team with something to prove. The Spartans dominated Livermore High School from beginning to end, compiling 521 yards of total offense.

De La Salle quarterback Bart Houston got his team into rhythm completing six of 12 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of the game. Houston’s first completion of the game was a 76-yard touchdown pass to receiver Anthony Williams.

Houston also contributed two rushing touchdowns and 36 yards in six attempts. He did not play in the second half.

“I had an attitude adjustment this week,” said Houston. “First three games I was going out there trying to do too much, being the senior leader and captain. Now I’m out here having fun.”

The Spartan quarterback said the game plan against the Cowboys was to pass the ball more efficiently, but the team did both, by running the ball for 291 of the 521 total yards.

De La Salle head coach Bob Ladouceur was pleased with the way his quarterback threw the ball:

“We were able to get stuff through the air, which was nice - [Houston] threw some nice passes today,” Ladouceur said. “Best he’s thrown all year.”

Ladouceur said the Spartans needed to stop shooting themselves in the foot to improve.

“We gotta eliminate our own mistakes because we are our own worst enemy right now."

The Cowboys were going into the match with a perfect 3-0 record, but just could not get the offense going. Not sustaining drives led to Livermore’s defense being on the field for most of the game.

“We set our sights on stopping the run, their aggressive run game,” said Cowboys head coach, Greg Haubner. “I think early on we had a little success in that, but when it comes down to it, they’re clearly not a one-trick pony.”

Demariay Drew, running back for the Cowboys, went into the game with 479 rushing yards in 55 attempts, but the 5-foot-11-inch senior could not get into rhythm against De La Salle.

“They just came off a loss, we felt like we could at least play a good game, but they were mad out here. They were ready to play.”

After starting the game with an exciting 28-yard carry, Drew struggled against the Spartan defense. He finished the night with 10 rushing attempts for 36 yards.

“Their linebackers were just flowing all over the place. We needed to block their linebackers; that was the main problem,” he said.

“Our push upfront was really good, but their linebackers were open too much,” Drew added.

Going forward, Haubner said his team has to be able to establish the run in order to enjoy success.

“We need to be able to consistently run the football; can’t be sporadic. We’re playing a very good Amador Valley football team and we gotta find a way to get our running game going.”