Texas vs. California: De La Salle prepares for its battle against Euless Trinity

Showdown in Texas: De La Salle vs. Trinity
One of the nation's most famous football programs will travel to Texas for an epic season opener.

MANSFIELD, Texas — It took 25 years for Chris Jensen to earn a head high school football coaching job in the fertile land of Texas, where "on a Friday night, when the lights are on and the heart and soul of the town pours out over that field," as written by H.G. Bissinger in his best-selling book "Friday Night Lights."

Jensen fought and climbed and bucked, eventually landing the top job at one of the Lone Star State's most coveted programs, Trinity (Euless, Texas), a place rich in tradition and bursting with 300-pound linemen and fleet and athletic backs. Jensen replaced legendary coach Steve Lineweaver, who retired after an impeccable 22-year career that featured national rankings, 258 wins and state large-school championships in 2005, 2007 and 2009.

So when Jensen, Trinity's offensive coordinator since 2000, was given the good news that he had unanimously been selected to replace Lineweaver in February, he was subsequently delivered the proverbial bad news.

The Trojans would open their 2015 season against De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), the kings of California football, perhaps the most storied program in high school — winner of multiple mythical national championships, owner of a national-record 151 straight wins from 1992 to 2004 and the subject of the best-selling book and Hollywood movie, "When the Game Stands Tall."

Jensen's initiation to head coaching will be against a team affectionately known as De La Stomp, and its 2015 version - blessed with a bevy of skill players and two four-star linemen - is ranked No. 1 in the land by the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings.

"It was like, ‘Thanks a lot,'" Jensen said Tuesday with a grin.

Football is religion

Trinity officials actually gave Jensen the option to cancel the agreement, but the lifelong Texan had no part of it.

"We could have opened against someone around here and been fine because there is plenty of good competition here," Jensen said. "But this is an experience the kids and coaches won't ever forget. It's a special opportunity."

Don't the Spartans know it.

The program, which has gone a ridiculous 428-26-1 since 1979, has seen, experienced and accomplished about everything a high school sports organization can. But the Spartans have never experienced Texas.

The two titans show down Saturday at Vernon Newsom Stadium before what is likely to be a sellout crowd of some 15,000 fans and a national television audience. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. local time.

"High school football is religion in Texas," De La Salle senior quarterback Anthony Sweeney said. "I'm so excited to go down there and try to prove ourselves."

Said De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh, who two years ago took over for Hall of Fame coach Bob Ladouceur, now the team's running backs and defensive line coach: "When you think of high school football, you naturally think of Texas. It's very exciting."

John Elway vs. Earl Campbell

The Spartans' flight arrived at 5 p.m. Thursday, and the team immediately took its caravan to the stadium to get in a quick practice. By 9 p.m., De La Salle was back to its hotel in Arlington and Friday morning will make a quick visit to the JFK Memorial in downtown Dallas.

Normally De La Salle sees out-of-state ventures as business trips, but the Spartans realize this is particularly special. Alumbaugh said playing in Texas has drummed up more attention from alumni than perhaps any game in school history, including back-to-back games with Long Beach Poly in 2001 and 2002.

The star of those two games, recently retired NFL back Maurice Jones-Drew, helps train the team and plans to be on the De La Salle sideline.

"I'm getting texts, ticket requests 24-7," Alumbaugh said. "The interest in California football versus Texas has been crazy."

Texas lays claim to some of the game's greatest, especially at tailback: Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson and Adrian Peterson. California is famous for producing quarterbacks: John Elway, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.

Jensen said the California-Texas talk is too much noise for teenagers. And the Trojans aren't playing for Texas.

"I don't get into that. If we can pull out a win against De La Salle, we're not going to be happy for Texas. It's going to be that we played well enough to win. … All that other stuff will clog your mind."

History

Texas holds a 15-10 edge over California in head-to-head meetings. But in a showdown of state powers last year, Bishop Amat posted a 42-7 win at Lone Star power Aledo. Aledo went on to win 14 straight games to win its third-straight and seventh overall state title. Amat finished 9-4 last season and is No. 23 in the current Xcellent 25.

In all, California has a 2,899-2,600 record against out-of-state opponents, while Texas holds a 624-472-1 advantage.

Trinity once ran up 80 points in an 80-26 win over then No. 1 Shiloh Christian at current Cowboys Stadium in 2010.

Though De La Salle's record is impeccable, it hasn't fared so well in early out-of-state games. In 2004, it had its famed win streak stopped against Bellevue (Wash.), 39-20 in Seattle. In 2009, the Spartans lost at Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) 30-6, the same score they were defeated by two years later at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

"We have to turn that around," Sweeney said.

In each of those games, the Spartans were dominated, though each season they came back to win their final game to claim championships.

Thousand-yard club members

Each team returns a pair of 1,000-yard rushers.

Utilizing a veer attack and quick-blocking schemes, De La Salle's Antoine Custer and Andrew Hernandez combined for 3,753 yards and 54 touchdowns, leading the Spartans to a 14-0 season and CIF Open Division title.

Tight end Devin Asiasi (6-foot-5, 270 pounds) and two-way tackle Boss Tagaloa (6-2, 300), both four-star recruits, help pave their path. They'll be dealing with, among others, 6-4, 290-pound defensive tackle Chris Daniels, another four-star standout.

Trinity, utilizing a massive offensive line, got 1,400 yards rushing from quarterback Tyler Natee, a bruising 6-foot, 240-pound converted fullback, and 1,791 yards from 5-10, 185-pounder Ja'Ron Wilson. The Trojans, however, have to replace their entire offensive line from last year's 12-2 team.

"Their linemen are just humongous," said Randy Jennings, a writer for the Dallas Morning News who has covered Texas high school football for 40 seasons. "They just maul people. They're like road graders. The play like teams did here 20 years ago and opposite of how about everyone plays today."

No secrets

As is customary between prep coaches, Alumbaugh and Jensen exchanged game film in the spring, though it went uncustomary.

"We tried for five minutes to work out what tapes to exchange, then we traded them all," Jensen said. "We just threw in the towel. I asked how many did you play. He said 14 and I said, 'So did we.' He said, 'Let's do it.'"

The two also exchanged film from scrimmages from last week.

"There won't be any secrets," Jensen said. "Whichever team does best what they do best will win the game."

Adjusting to rules

There are rule differences that De La Salle will need to adjust to, the most vital of which is that chop blocking - like in college - is allowed all over the field. It's only allowed in the tackle box in California.

Kickoffs into the end zone can be returned and there is a 40-second clock between plays instead of 30 in California.

"None of it matters or will make a difference," Alumbaugh said. "We know what the changes are and we've made the adjustment."

Turning up the heat

Getting used to near triple-digit temperatures and humidity might take some getting used to. Especially since De La Salle isn't as deep as Trinity and plays many guys both ways.

"We'll have to be smart about how we rotate," Alumbaugh said. "But TV timeouts should help us. Plus, last week, it was 119 degrees on our field so we know about heat. Clearly, we don't experience the humidity."

On second thought

When Jensen re-thought Tuesday about agreeing to play, he said: "It was much easier saying yes in February to the game than it is now after seeing them on video. Now it's like, ‘What was I thinking?' "