Best of the Best California: De La Salle High School 2015 Preview

Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA

When the 2014 season had come to a conclusion De La Salle, from Concord, Calif., had blown through the competition never finishing a game with a final margin closer than 22 points posting a mark of 14-0 with Servite (Anaheim) providing the “scare” at 47-24.

The truly scary aspect about the Spartans is the Northern California teams returns a majority of their top players making this team an easy pick as one of the top high school football squads in the nation in 2015. The national polls rank this De La Salle team: Prep Nation No. 5, MaxPreps writers No. 1, and USA Today No. 1.

The Spartans must replace a couple of key players off the 2014 squad, namely RB Antoine Custer, two-way player Je’Vari Anderson (RB/WR/DB), DB Simba Short (Northwestern) and offensive lineman Drew Sullivan (6’3”, 330), Blake Ogburn, and Matt Medeiros.

The good news is Custer’s 1,949 yards and 24 touchdowns out of the backfield only slightly overshadowed Andrew Hernandez’s 1,804 yards with 30 touchdowns. Safe to say the 5’8” 185 pound, scat-back can continue the Spartans’ ability to pound the opposition in the run game. Splitting carries out of the backfield with Hernandez is Nick Lopez (534/6) and Alex Colon-Aguilar (358/6).

De La Salle also returns their top two dual-threat quarterbacks, seniors Anthony Sweeney and Chris Vanderklugt. The two quarterbacks combined for 1,172 yards passing with nine touchdowns against three picks. The duo also combined for 589 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns with Vanderklugt providing the bulk of the production. The duo split time with Devin Asiasi due to injuries.

If returning your starting quarterbacks and a 1,800-yard rusher was not good enough news for Spartan fans, the line returns three starters led by two-ways stars Boss Tagaloa and Damon Wiley. Tagaloa (6’3”, 300) gets after it on both sides of the ball but is considered a 4-star recruit on the offensive side of the ball with offers from Cal, Ole Miss, UCLA, Utah, Michigan, Arizona State, Tennessee, and Alabama.

Another key blocker up front and option in the passing game is Devin Asiasi. Asiasi showed his athletic versatility taking snaps under center but is considered a 4-star recruit as a tight end. The 6’5”, 250 pound, athlete has over 20 scholarship offers from top schools like Alabama, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Michigan, Arizona State, Cal, Washington, Arizona, and Auburn to name a few. In the run-first offense Asiasi was second on the team with 16 receptions for 264 yards and two scores during his junior campaign.

The defensive secondary is in good hands with Class of 2017 recruits, 4-star Tre White and Isaiah Randle. Keanu Andrade and his 100 tackles are set to return at linebacker as is Joe Vranesh and his 70 stops. Class of 2015 linebacker Cameron Lissarrague and his 87 tackles will be missed but the Spartans deploy so many players onto the field keeping everyone fresh, rest assured the next highly productive linebacker will step forward quickly.

As mentioned previously, Wiley and Tagaloa are a force on both sides of the ball. Wiley was a beast with 14.5 sacks followed by Tagaloa’s 6.5 sacks. Look for this dynamic duo to help lead the Spartans to another CIF divisional state championship game in 2015.

Schedule
The in-state schedule alone with Servite, Orange Lutheran, and Long Beach Poly is just brutal but adding an opening game road trip to Euless, Texas to face traditional powerhouse Trinity is not doing the squad any favors. If the Spartans make another undefeated run through the season expect this group to again finish ranked among the top programs in the nation.

2015 De La Salle Schedule
Aug. 29 De La Salle at Trinity (Newsom Stadium)
Sept. 4 De La Salle at Serra (San Mateo)
Sept. 11 Servite at De La Salle
Sept. 19 Orange Lutheran at De La Salle
Sept. 26 Bye
Oct. 2 De La Salle at Granite Bay
Oct. 9 San Ramon Valley at De La Salle
Oct. 16 Long Beach Poly at De La Salle
Oct. 23 Del Oro at De La Salle
Oct. 30 James Logan at De La Salle
Nov. 6 California (San Ramon) at De La Salle

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