De La Salle blows out St. Mary's (Stockton): Score, results from California high school football game

After a handful of nail-biters in recent years, De La Salle versus St. Mary's (Stockton) was less juicy than usual on Friday as De La Salle cruised to a 36-7 victory.

Despite the absence of star two-way lineman Nemyah Telona, De La Salle was strong on offense and fantastic on defense. Its defense pitched a shutout while the Rams missed starting QB Jaden Galvan and scored only on a defensive touchdown.

Although St. Mary's was able to both move the ball and challenge De La Salle's offense throughout the course of most drives, the Spartans cruised to a 21-0 halftime lead. Dylan Scott opened the scoring after taking a short pass from Brayden Knight 69 yards for a score, and Deuce Jones-Drew ran home his first touchdown before the first quarter was over. With 1:21 remaining in the second quarter, Jones-Drew rushed for a touchdown from 32 yards out.

The Rams' only score came just 15 seconds into the second quarter. A QB-hurry from Landon McClendon forced a tough pass from Knight which was tipped by Ryan Lozano, and Mehtaab Bhangu caught it and took it 28 yards to the house to cut St. Mary's deficit to 21-7.

But it wasn't the start of a comeback, or even any sustained momentum. Jaden Jefferson ran home a 14-yard touchdown with 7:12 left in the third quarter and Brady Smith scored a rushing touchdown from 27 yards with 10:41 left in the game. De La Salle inadvertently scored a two-point conversion by making the best of a botched snap, and its 36-7 lead would eventually be the final score.

Scroll down for a pregame overview followed by scoring and results.

Pregame

Everyone knows that St. Mary's has had No. 7 De La Salle's number (by De La Salle's untouchable standards) since the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign. That includes a 45-35 win over the Spartans in 2022 and multiple very close losses that would've been major upsets in the last five years as well. After falling 56-35 to Oak Ridge last time out, St. Mary's might not have enough defensive firepower to hang with a better Spartans team than some of the others it's pushed in recent seasons, but recent history says the Rams have a good chance of stepping up and at least making this interesting. And stopping the Rams' explosive offense is also a tall order. St. Mary's doesn't have a ton to lose here, but a loss for De La Salle would end the Spartans' chances at an undefeated regular season and run through regionals, which would probably be the difference between De La Salle again finishing inside the national top 25 instead of outside the top 100.

Final score, results

De La Salle wins 36-7.

4TH QUARTER:

10:41 – De La Salle 36, St. Mary's 7: Brady Smith adds to the Spartans lead with a 27-yard rushing score, and then De La Salle ends up with a two-point conversion after improvising on a botched PAT snap.

3RD QUARTER:

7:12 – De La Salle 28, St. Mary's 7: Jefferson extends De La Salle's lead with a 14-yard rushing score.

11:45 – De La Salle 21, St. Mary's 7: That's the start the Rams needed to get back into the game in the second half. Mehtaab Bhangu intercepts a pass tipped by Ryan Lozano after a Landon McClendon QB-hurry and takes it 28 yards to the house.

De La Salle leads 21-0 at halftime.

2ND QUARTER:

1:21 – De La Salle 21, St. Mary's 0: It's Deuce Jones-Drew again, this time a run from 32 yards out. It was set up in part by a Jaden Jefferson rush of similar length.

4:59: De La Salle fails to flip the field and runs out of room to even get a good punt off. The Rams take over deep inside De La Salle territory.

6:29: De La Salle turns St. Mary's over on downs deep inside Spartans territory.

1ST QUARTER:

1:29 – De La Salle 14, St. Mary's 0: Deuce Jones-Drew caps off a six-play, 67-yard drive with a short run.

6:39 – De La Salle 7, St. Mary's 0: Dylan Scott takes a short pass from Brayden Knight 69 yards to the house for the game's opening score.

9:22: De La Salle fumbles on its first drive, and St. Mary's takes over in its own territory.

De La Salle vs. St. Mary's start time

• Date: Friday, Sep. 26
• Time: 7:30 p.m. PT

The opening kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. PT on Friday, Sep. 26. The game will be played at De La Salle High School in Concord.