Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here’s the rundown and how to watch each 2022 GEICO ESPN High School Football Showcase game.
ESPN announced the network’s 11 nationally broadcasted high school games this season, a lineup featuring some of the nation’s finest teams. The 11 matchups combine with the seven Kickoff Games—between Aug. 25-28—to make the entire high school slate in 2022.
And a few of the teams will most likely end up in the USA TODAY Sports Super 25 power rankings, too, so we’re keeping a close eye on each.
Here’s the rundown and how to watch each 2022 GEICO ESPN High School Football Showcase game.
Folsom avenged its regular season loss to De La Salle with a 28-27 North California 1-AA bowl win.
Folsom football head coach Paul Doherty is a fan of De La Salle’s program — as are most in Northern California. Even though the Spartans have handled his team with relative ease over the years, Doherty has an appreciation for the way De La Salle plays the game, going as far as calling it “the greatest sports thing going in the United States.”
On Friday night, it was Doherty’s Folsom squad that was the best thing going.
Folsom became the first Sac-Joaquin Section team to beat De La Salle since 1978, stunning the Spartans by a final score of 28-27 to win the Northern California 1-AA bowl title. It is the first time in 15 years that De La Salle will not play for a state championship.
Senior quarterback Tyler Tremain took matters into his own hands after De La Salle dominated Folsom during the regular season, accounting for all four of Folsom’s touchdowns — including a game-winning three-yard run with 2:12 remaining.
“He’s just a great quarterback and I told him that after the (first game),” De la Salle head coach Justin Alumbaugh said of Tremain. “He has a ton of guts. A bunch of moxie. He just makes play after play with both his arm and legs.”
Tremain’s short rushing touchdown put Folsom up 28-21, but De La Salle drove right down the field on its ensuing drive and got into the endzone on a 42-yard pass from Luke Dermon to Michigan commit Zeke Berry. The Spartans opted to go for two and the win instead of the extra point, but Berry was stopped short of breaking the plane on a jet sweep attempt.
Folsom then ran out the final 1:44 and celebrated one of the biggest wins in program history.
Next up for Folsom is Southern California champion Cathedral Catholic, which defeated Orange Lutheran in wild fashion on Friday night.
No. 10 De La Salle’s 30-year, 318-game winning streak against Northern California opponents is over.
No. 10 De La Salle’s 30-year, 318-game winning streak against Northern California opponents is over.
Mountain View (Calif.) St. Francis snapped De La Salle’s historic win streak with a thrilling 31-28 win on Friday. St. Francis quarterback Matthew Dougherty found wide receiver Nicholas Andrighetto in the end zone with just 16 seconds remaining to shock De La Salle, who had taken the lead on a rushing touchdown with 1:38 remaining.
St. Francis put together an 80-yard drive after De La Salle made it 28-24 in the closing minutes. Viliami Teau, who finished with 181 rushing yards on 21 carries, led St. Francis deep into De La Salle territory before Dougherty fired a 34-yard dot to Andrew Adkinson to bring St. Francis down to the De La Salle 1 with 22 seconds remaining. St. Francis players thought Adkinson had scored and celebrated, though, causing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that sent St. Francis back to the De La Salle 16.
Then, Dougherty hit Andrighetto for the game-winning touchdown.
De La Salle’s winning streak against Northern California opponents began in 1992. Until Friday night, De La Salle posted a 316-0-2 record against teams from the region.
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Clemson commit DJ Uiagalelei led St. John Bosco to a California state football championship over De La Salle.
Five-star quarterback DJ Uiagalelei put a stamp on his high school legacy as he closed his St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) career with a 49-28 win over No. 7 De La Salle (Concord, California).
Uiagalelei completed 23 of 28 passes for 398 yards and four touchdowns and scored a fifth on the ground while rushing for total 64 yards.
He spread out the passing attack as three receivers had more than 100 yards apiece and, after De La Salle made it a one-possession game with just under 10 minutes left, it only took Uiagalelei 1:38 to lead a 73-yard drive that culminated in a nine-yard rushing touchdown for the quarterback.
St. John Bosco took down De La Salle, which had won six Open Division championships from 2009 to 2015 and been the runner-up in the last four.
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Uiagalelei won his first title.
In 2018, Uiagalelei was named the ALL-USA Football Offensive Player of the Year but fell in the CIF-SS Div. 1 championship game to Mater Dei.
This year, he sparked a comeback win over the Monarchs by throwing for 446 yards and five touchdowns two weeks ago. After a week of preparation to go out of high school on top, he put up another game with five touchdowns and more than 400 total yards.
The Clemson commit, who had achieved individual goals and established himself as the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the 2020 class long ago, needed just one thing to cement his place in the history books: a championship.
He did that by taking down two of the best teams in the country.
De La Salle football extended its CIF North Coast Section championship streak to 28 seasons as Dorian Hale, Lu-Magia Hearns and Co. beat Pittsburg.
The main game of intrigue for De La Salle (Concord, California) was the first of the season.
The Spartans faced then-No. 1 St. Thomas Aqiunas (Fort Lauderdale, Florida). They put on a respectable performance, albeit in a loss.
Then, it was back to California, where De La Salle did what they have been doing for a decade longer than its players have been alive: beating NorCal teams. The Spartans won the CIF North Coast Section champion on Friday over Pittsburg (California), their 28th sectional title in a row.
The team’s winning streak against NorCal teams has been alive since 1991.
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Running back Shamar Garrett got on the board early with two touchdowns to push the Spartans to a 14-0 lead. Quarterback Dorian Hale continued his excellent play and scored a pair of touchdowns of his own. Running back James Coby continued to make big plays in timely moments and the defense once again dominated as a forced fumble led to Garrett’s touchdown and Lu-Magia Hearns had a 63-yard pick-six — which had been immediately preceded by a 61-yard touchdown reception by Hearns.
De La Salle beat Pittsburg 49-7. It scored 49 points or more in all three playoff games.
In fact, the last time the Spartans scored less than 49 points was on Sept. 20 against Buchanan (Clovis, California), in a 35-0 shutout.
These California teams can try, but De La Salle has been and still is much better than any opponent it faces in the area. The Spartans are a top-10 team in the country, entering Week 14 at No. 8 in the Super 25.
Hale has been consistent all season. Garrett and Coby have formed a formidable running back duo capable of explosive plays at any moment and any yardage — one a fourth-and-five Friday, for instance, Coby had an eight-yard gain.
The defense is among the best in the country, allowing more than 20 points only to its best two opponents, St. Thomas Aquinas and Folsom (California).
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Once again, we can expect the true test to come in the CIF State Open Division Championship, which will be in two weeks against the winner of the game Saturday between No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, California) and No. 4 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California).
The last time De La Salle won was 2015, which was also the last time neither of those two Los Angeles-area teams were in it.
Now on a three-year losing streak in this upcoming championship game, De La Salle will look to end its only negative streak.
All season, the expectation has been that it will come down to two of these three teams.
The Spartans, outscoring its playoff opponents 167-34, made sure they will be represented in the championship game. After beating up on lesser competition and a lone blemish to a team they weren’t favored to beat in Week 1, they’ll look for one final victory in 2019.
The Warren De La Salle hazing scandal ended the football season after allegations surfaced that teammates held a player face-down on the floor while another sexually taunted and prodded him with a broomstick. The victim won’t talk, but that doesn’t mean charges won’t be filed, a prosecutor said.
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Just because the De La Salle football hazing victim won’t talk, doesn’t mean charges won’t be filed, a prosecutor said Friday.
After agreeing to take the De La Salle hazing case, St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling sought to clear up a public misunderstanding: He can charge the suspects, he said, even if the victim doesn’t want that to happen.
That’s been the case thus far in the Warren De La Salle hazing scandal, which abruptly ended the football season last month after allegations surfaced that teammates held a player face-down on the locker room floor while another sexually taunted and prodded him with a broomstick. There was no penetration.
According to police, the victim has refused to talk, and, doesn’t want charges brought.
Wendling said that doesn’t matter.
“That is not a determining factor for our office going forward,” Wendling told the Free Press on Friday. “If there’s a crime and we can prove it, and we feel that charges are justified, we will go forward.”
Wendling, who plans to announce a charging decision next week, said it’s not uncommon for prosecutors to try cases without a victim’s testimony.
“We do it all the time,” Wendling said. “There are a lot of crimes where victims are apprehensive about testifying … if it’s viable and we can go forward without a victim, we will do that if justice requires that. But we’re also cognizant of the victim’s wishes.”
Wendling’s comments contrast with those of Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, who recused his office from the case due to a conflict of interest and expressed some skepticism about the case.
“If the alleged victim does not wish to go forward — well, that would normally be the end of the case right there,” Smith told the Free Press earlier this month. “If we don’t have a victim on an assault and battery case, you don’t have an assault and battery case.”
