De La Salle shows powerhouse potential in win at Riverside

De La Salle has arrived.

That was the message from Cavaliers coach Ryan Manale after his team effectively dismantled defending Division III state champion Riverside Academy, 42-21.

“I mean, this is Riverside,” Manale said.

The Cavaliers also left with their unblemished record intact.

“De La Salle is here,” Manale continued. “We’ve been on a path to greatness. We still have ways to go, but our school has arrived. The junior running back is special. The senior quarterback, I say it every week, he’s the most underrated player in the state. De La Salle has arrived.”

De La Salle got there behind the punishing running of quarterback Julien Gums and running back Kendall Collins Jr.

Gums did most of the work, running for 157 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. He threw only two passes – one a 3-yard completion to Collins; the other a 38-yard touchdown to Aaron Marquez.

Collins did the rest of the work, rushing for 112 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries.

In all the Cavaliers amassed 302 yards rushing.

“It was a tough game, but we came out and just ran the ball,” Gums said. “We just kept the game flowing. I give it up to the O-line. They fought the whole game and they just kept fighting hard. We couldn’t do it without them.”

Riverside, on the other hand, finished with 43 yards rushing after factoring in three sacks for Rebels quarterback Jordan Loving. Louis Cheneau and Jeremy Gibson scored on short-yardage runs.

Loving threw only one touchdown, a 19-yard pass to Cash Foley in the fourth quarter. It was that kind of night for the senior, who was 23 of 40 for 238 yards.

“That’s a real good football team,” Riverside coach Chris Lachney said. “They’ve got it all together. We have to understand that we own our circumstances. We just have to learn from this and move on.”

After matching touchdowns in the first quarter, De La Salle took a 21-7 before the half, mainly by keeping the ball out of the Rebels’ hands. The Cavaliers rolled up 17:44 in time of possession in the first half. Riverside had the ball only for 8:16.

It didn’t get any better in the second half. The Rebels had one possession that went longer than three minutes. Two lasted less than a minute.

“We knew possessions would be a premium,” Lachney said. “And we had to make the most of them. We didn’t do that at all.”

De La Salle, meanwhile, showed its quick-strike capabilities as well. After a Rebels’ punt put the the Cavs at the Rebels 40, Collins ran for 2 yards then Gums hit Marquez for a perfectly thrown 38-yard touchdown pass with 9:22 remaining in the third quarter.

Riverside scored with 1:16 remaining in the quarter on a 7-yard run by Gibson and then stopped the Cavs at their own 45-yard line with 7:23 remaining in the game.

But the Rebels’ next drive ended with Nakia Ealy II recovered a fumble and returned it to the Rebels’ 30-yard line. Three plays later, Collins scored from the 12 to give De La Salle a 35-14 lead with 6:12 remaining in the game.

Riverside came back with a 50 yard scoring drive, set up by Garland Robertson’s kickoff return. On the 10^th play of the drive, Loving threw his only touchdown pass of the night to Foley from the 19.

De La Salle answered quickly, though. After recovering the onsides kick attempt at their own 48. Gums ran left for 15 then left again for 37 to cap the scoring with 4:18 remaining in the game.