Serra football to play De La Salle in nationally televised ESPN game this season

Neither of those games gained anywhere near the audience this year’s Week 2 showdown with De La Salle will undoubtedly deliver, as the Padres will take on head coach Patrick Walsh’s alma mater Spartans in a game nationally televised by ESPNU Friday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m.

“Yeah, this one for sure,” Walsh said. “I know there are some feeds that pick up (CIF) championship games across the country, but nothing like ESPN.”

It’s strange to think De La Salle has something to prove heading into 2022. Ranked the No. 1 team in Northern California (No. 13 in California) by CalPreps.com, the Spartans have a storied history of annual nationally televised non-league games going back many years. This will be the first for Serra, ranked No. 4 in Nor Cal (No. 24 in state).

De La Salle had played in 11 straight CIF Open Division Championship Bowls until last year, when Serra earned the nod by virtue of some complex scheduling calculus. Serra and De La Salle did not play one another last season — the teams haven’t met since 2016 — but the Spartans did play St. Francis in non-league action. A stunning Week 2 upset saw the Lancers defeat De La Salle 31-28.

So, when Serra defeated St. Francis in the Central Coast Section Division I championship game, the Padres earned the CIF Open Division nod over De La Salle.

“It’s very exciting for the community, it’s exciting for the school, it’s exciting for the kids,” Walsh said. “But it’s just another what I’d call an obstacle versus an environment that’s going to be very, very difficult for us to deal with. While I’m enthusiastic about it … this it certainly another challenge we’re going to have to face emotionally against a highly charged and a highly motivated De La Salle team.”

The two teams used to meet regularly, playing every season from 2005-10 and again from 2013-16. The Spartans boast an 11-0 all-time record against the Padres. Since then, Serra has grown into a Northern California power, winning Nor Cal championship games in 2016, ’17 and ’19 and a CIF Division 2-AA State Championship in 2017.

So, Walsh said he jumped at the chance to sign a two-year deal to play De La Salle in non-league action and would be open to continuing the matchup beyond 2023 — even if it does change his perspective from enjoying life as a fan of his alma mater De La Salle to taking on the task of game-planning to beat them.

“This is part of the reason why I agreed to play De La Salle,” Walsh said. “We’re two of the best teams in Northern California; there’s really no arguing that anymore. I have to put personal things aside to schedule the De La Salle game mostly because I absolutely love the De La Salle program. … I love what the program did for me. I love rooting for the school.

“It was healthy psychologically for me to not have them on the schedule because I could just root for my alma mater,” he said.

Questions at quarterback

Unlike the 2019 Levi’s Stadium Series game against M-A or the 2021 State Championship Bowl, Serra enters this year’s primetime stage without an established quarterback. In 2019, senior quarterback Daylin McLemore helmed the offense. And last year, third-year varsity quarterback Dom Lampkin played his final varsity game in the State Bowl game, a 44-7 loss to Mater Dei.

With Lampkin graduated, the Padres now have a quarterback competition brewing between four candidates, including a fresh new face in freshman Brandon Mann. Also in the mix are senior Alex Atkins, and juniors Maealiuaki Smith and Brooks Trimmer.

“We’re very blessed this year,” Walsh said. “We have four really good options at quarterback this year, and there’s been years where we’ve had 0.5.”

Mann figures to be the sixth freshman in Serra history to break camp with the varsity team, and he would be the first quarterback to do so. The first freshman was kicker Damon Lewis in 2016. The other four were all in the shortened 2020 COVID season during the spring of 2021: defensive back Joseph Bey, linebacker Danny Niu, defensive end Collin Tahitua and running back Jabari Mann.

Brandon Mann has the benefit of having joined Serra for summer workouts. This was made possible by a recent rules change in the West Catholic Athletic League. Prior to 2020, incoming freshmen weren’t allowed to work out with a WCAL sports team, in any sport, until Aug. 10, according to Walsh. The rule was changed for the spring athletics season of 2021 due to the pandemic, but the WCAL elected to keep the revised guidelines going forward.

Still, Serra’s freshman quarterback had to apply for a special waiver to play varsity football as a freshman under the CIF umbrella.

“He’s 14 years old and, for his age, his physical and mental maturity are higher than any 14-year-old quarterback we’ve had at this point,” Walsh said.