De La Salle handed Mother Lode a 28-3 defeat Saturday in Northern California action, showcasing a really impressive defensive display.

The Spartans actually spent most of the first half on defense, and showed themselves up to the task. Ball handling issues and penalties allowed Mother Lode to have 75% of the possession in the first period, but all Mother Lode could get out of it. De La Salle tackled well and held the line. And when the Spartans did get the ball they ran hard, finding and creating enough space to score twice and lead 14-3 going into the back.

"Each time we had ball in hand we moved forward effectively," said DLS Head Coach Derek Holmberg. "We just tried to offload too much at the wrong moment."

No. 8 Tommy Rainsford, scrumhalf Dominic Ellis, hooker Vaughn Fouts, and flyhalf Michael Freeman all touched down. Lock Matthew Abbes was a force in the pack with outside center JJ Tofaeono joining Freeman in mountain an effective backline attack and nailing down the outer defenses. 

Mother Lode had their chances, said Head Coach Robert Ericksen, but the De La Salle tackling was too good.

"The game was not near as lopsided as the score indicates," said Ericksen. "Their strong tackling kept Mother Lode out of the try zone all day. Very solid performance by DLS."

Mother Lode is a strong outfit and with No. 8 Nick Bauman putting in a big shift in the forwards and impressive performances from scrumhalf Cormac Saint and center Spencer Enochian they have enormous potential to do well this year.

Holmberg said the win was nice but there are lessons to be learned.

"Pleased with the boys effort," he said, "and each of them understand that this amount of penalties and knock-ons must improve moving forward."

Mother Lode, which beat Jesuit of Sacramento 33-7 on January 21, looks ahead now to San Francisco Golden Gate on February 19. SFGG just beat Eastside out of Washington state. De La Salle, which beat San Joaquin Memorial a week ago, takes on Bellarmine in a week and has their eyes set on a NorCal School-Team championship and potentially a repeat of the All-California School-Team title.