Duece Jones-Drew carries shorthanded De La Salle past Florida powerhouse Lakeland ...Middle East

CONCORD — De La Salle running back Duece Jones-Drew knew his team needed everything he could give. 

The shorthanded Spartans leaned on their junior star heavily during Friday’s game and Jones-Drew did not disappoint. 

The Spartans triumphed over Florida powerhouse Lakeland at home, beating the Dreadnaughts 10-6 behind 99 yards of total offense from Jones-Drew. 

The three-star running back played every snap, going both ways as a running back and defensive back. He scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to lift De La Salle after a sluggish three and a half quarters. Jones-Drew finished rushing for 78 yards while catching two passes for 21 yards. 

“I know going into the game that it was going to be hard because a lot of people were injured. I did get a heads up that I was gonna play a lot,” Jones-Drew, son of former NFL All-Pro running back Maurice Jones-Drew, said. “I hydrated weeks in advance and I actually had an IV this morning so I wouldn’t cramp. 

“Coming in here, you have to give the Spartan effort every time. I’m not going to take a play off. I’m going to come in here and give it my hardest no matter who it is. It’s a mentality I feel like we all adapted to tonight.”

The speedy De La Salle offense struggled matching up with an uber athletic Lakeland team as it totaled just 202 yards. But the defense stepped up in a big way by not allowing Lakeland’s offense to score.

“It was gratifying to see our guys continue to play and continue to play with guts,” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said. “They could have turned in a couple times. And, you know, we were able to walk out the field with a win.”

De La Salle’s offense struggled to find any rhythm, and the momentum looked to be shifting in Lakeland’s favor after linebacker Ziggy Riley picked up a bobbled De La Salle pitch and returned it 70 yards to give the Florida school a 6-3 advantage with just over five minutes in the third quarter. 

Lakeland had a chance to put the nail in the coffin when the Dreadnaughts drove down 72 yards in 17 plays to get into the red zone. But the Spartans forced a turnover on downs to get the ball back with 5:45 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

De La Salle needed just five plays to get into the end zone and take the lead. A 39-yard pass from quarterback Brayden Knight to tight end Landon Cook marked the longest play of the night for De La Salle and set up Jones-Drew to punch in the go-ahead score from four yards out. 

On the next possession, De La Salle stopped Lakeland in four plays, capped off by a thumping tackle from sophomore linebacker Landon Miller on Lakeland running back Kelin Hendrix to seal the win for De La Salle. 

Jones-Drew said the team harkened back to lessons they learned in the summer to prepare for this moment. 

“Our summers are brutal here,” Jones-Drew said. “There’s a time and a place for moments from those practices to kick in and we needed it for moments like this. … We knew we could outphysical them and outcondition them. We just had to put those two things together.”

Alumbaugh added, “Those guys clutched up when we needed it. I’d rather not have to clutch up in the fourth quarter, but I’m happy that we did in the time that we did.” 

The first half had little excitement with both teams struggling to get anything going on offense.

Related Articles

De La Salle scored the only three points of the half when it completed a 25-play, 92-yard drive with a 25-yard field goal from Justin Uribarri. 

Lakeland was mostly undisciplined in the first half, racking up 35 yards of offside penalties alone.

The first half had just 176 yards of combined offense between the two teams. 

De La Salle will travel to Serra next Saturday for its next game. The Spartans are 11-2 against the San Mateo school since 2004. 

“There’s definitely a lot of things we can improve on going into next week vs. Serra,” Jones-Drew said. “We know Serra is a really good team and a prideful program.”

Hence then, the article about duece jones drew carries shorthanded de la salle past florida powerhouse lakeland was published today ( Saturday 30/08/2025 - 10:35 AM ) and is available on mercury news ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Duece Jones-Drew carries shorthanded De La Salle past Florida powerhouse Lakeland )

Also on site :

• My Wife Doesn’t Know I Watched Her Cheat On Me. My Reaction Might Shock Us Both.
• The Good Ship Murder Christmas special cast: Meet the characters
• Eight fire crews tackling blaze at West Midlands Wetherspoon pub