There was no early knockout for De La Salle on Friday night.
But the Bay Area News Group’s top-ranked team eventually took command by halftime on the road against No. 10 San Ramon Valley and went on to win 56-7.
The victory improved De La Salle’s record to 8-0. SRV fell to 5-4.
In its last trip to Danville, two years ago, De La Salle needed overtime to defeat the Wolves 33-27.
But the gap between the teams was wider this time around.
Not that it looked that way in the first quarter when all De La Salle managed was a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Knight to Dylan Scott for a 7-0 lead after 12 minutes.
The Spartans stretched the margin to 14-0 midway through the second quarter on Knight’s 33-yard scramble to the end zone.
After De La Salle made it 21-0 later in the period, San Ramon Valley answered with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Cole Dawes to Colton Fitzgibbon to cut the deficit to 21-7 with less than a minute to go before halftime.
Unfortunately for SRV, there was enough time for De La Salle to score again before the break.
A pitch to track star Jaden Jefferson gained 36 yards. Knight followed with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Landon Cook on the final play of the half to make it 27-7. The PAT was unsuccessful.
If the outcome wasn’t decided at that point, it certainly was when Brady Smith ran 57 yards for a touchdown and Jefferson scored on a two-point conversion to extend the advantage to 35-7 early in the third quarter.
The Spartans improved to 279-0-1 within their own section since their last loss, to Pittsburg in a 1991 North Coast Section title game.
De La Salle plays host to California on Thursday and Clayton Valley Charter on Nov. 7 before moving on to the playoffs.
SRV has next week off, then finishes its regular season on Nov. 7 at home against rival Monte Vista.