PLEASANTON -- The De La Salle High football team's defense spent a lot of time on the field and gave up a lot of yards in its 52-24 win over Amador Valley on Friday night.

But five Amador Valley turnovers made all the difference.

Though Spartans allowed 291 passing yards and were outgained by the Dons in total yardage, the take-aways helped make for a running clock by the fourth quarter.

Michael Hutchings, Andrew Buckley and Das Tautalatasi all had interceptions for De La Salle (7-0) deep in Amador Valley territory that the Spartans quickly turned into points.

And every time Amador Valley (3-4) scored, the Spartans had an answer.

"We still have a lot of things that we don't do well, but we did do some good things tonight," De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur said. "Our defense put us on the porch all the time."

Tiapepe Vitale rushed for 142 yards to lead a Spartan offense that didn't spend a whole lot of time on the field, particularly in the first half. De La Salle finished with 320 yards of offense.

Dons quarterback Kyle Moreno completed 28 of 45 passes for 278 yards and a touchdown. Most of those came in the first half as Amador Valley went into the break trailing 27-10.

Hutchings forced Amador Valley's first turnover, returning an interception 10 yards for a 14-3 De La Salle advantage.


With the Spartans leading 20-10 in the second quarter, Moreno completed a 59-yard pass to Grant Miller. The ball was fumbled just before Miller reached the end zone.

The Dons led 3-0 in the first quarter on a 37-yard field goal by Kevan Knaggs, but the lead was brief. Allan Marion returned the ensuing kickoff for a score.