REPLAY: De La Salle dominates early, rolls to 45-19 victory over Teurlings

NEW ORLEANS – From start to finish, literally, it was a great night for the De La Salle Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers recovered a perfectly placed pooch kick on the opening kickoff, scored on each of their first five possessions and even got their expected starting quarterback in for the final three snaps of a 45-19 victory over Teurlings Catholic in a Division II quarterfinal Friday night at Pan American Stadium.

De La Salle (8-2), the No. 2 seed in Division II, advances to a semifinal matchup at home against two-time defending champion and No. 3 seed University Lab next week.

Jalen Ned recovered the loose ball on the opening kickoff at the Teurlings 14, but the Cavaliers had to settle for a 29-yard Ian Helmcke field goal.

The Cavaliers scored three touchdowns in the final 3:48 of the first quarter, starting with Gary Thomas’ 80-yard catch and run on a pass from Cole Milford to make it 10-0.

Teurlings went for it on fourth-and-1 from its 25 and came up empty on a pass, and De La Salle answered three plays later on a 14-yard run by Montrell Johnson, who finished with 176 yards and three touchdowns.

Two plays after the kickoff, Jacolby Hankton stepped in front of a Sammy LeBlanc pass and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown to extend the DLS lead to 24-0 with 28.1 seconds left in the quarter.

A pair of 16-yard touchdown runs by Milford and Johnson in the second quarter stretched De La Salle’s lead to 38-0 at halftime.

The domination extended to the stat sheet, where the Cavaliers outgained the Rebels 258-26 and held Teurlings to minus-7 rushing yards on 13 attempts.

“Our best ball was played at the best time to play it,” said De La Salle coach Ryan Manale. “We worked hard in practice and it showed tonight.”

The Cavaliers kept it going after halftime when Johnson, lined up at Wildcat, went 63 yards down the near sideline on the second play of the third quarter to make it 45-0.

“It’s been a while since (Johnson) carried the ball as much as he did tonight,” Manale said. “The West Florida game (in Week 7) is the last time he’s carried the ball more than three times.”

Teurlings (7-5), the No. 7 seed, got on the board on the final play of the third quarter and added two more touchdowns in the final minutes, but the final highlight of the night was reserved for the winners.

Senior quarterback Fisher Rojas, who started all of last season but has missed the entire 2019 season after an offseason injury, came in to run the Cavaliers’ victory formation for the final three plays.

Now it will be more of the same for Ryan Manale’s team – a fourth straight trip to the semifinals, and a third playoff meeting in as many seasons with U-High.

“We’re going to enjoy this (win),” Manale said. “De La Salle football is back in the semis. Then … we’ll try to do our best against an always-sound U-High football team.”