First it was the 99% comment, now DLS moe than all 20 schools? Comedy X two.

It has yet to dawn on you that DLS is unique. You claim the advantages and yet DLS is the only example of these advantages. And it is only the football team.

If D1 talent equaled success the OAL would be the best league around-hands down.

Lastly-you wouldn’t be in awe of DLS. You are too jealous and ignorant to appreciate excellence.

By the way, the Miramonte Water Polo dominance proves that within a 20,000 population base they are able to crank out top flight WP athletes, year in and year out, WITHOUT having to have student athletes drive from halfway across the county to go to the school. Truly amazing. If you knew anything about the Lamorinda swim scene you would understand the passion they have for swimming in general and Water Polo in particular. Quite a few olympians have come from Lamorinda as a result. Thank you for helping me prove my point Junior! We would all be in awe of DLS if they could have produced those 20 consecutive titles by having their student athletes come from a community of 20,000 or even 50,000. But of course we know DLS’s area is up to 75 times the size!

There are examples of public teams dominating in the east bay, wonder why you ignore them. As you may recall, Miramonte has dominated water polo. This at a public school with 1,200 students. In your dream land, how can this be? You insist this is not possible, yet it is happening in your backyard.

Unfortunately, you don’t understand excellence when it smacks you in the mouth. It is a very rare thing in HS sports. The wise understand leadership is by far the largest determination of HS sport success. No doubt other factors need to be there, but no great leadership = no great results.

The talent angle is especially untrue in the most team intensive sport around: football. It might help if you closely watched the LOS play as that might open your eyes a bit.

To listen to your specious arguments Junior, you would have us believe that if the DLS coaching staff, as good as it is, could take any public school and its limited enrollment area, lets say Amador Valley, and be able to win 20 consecutive section titles. Of course we know that would never happen; nor has it has it even remotely happened anywhere in California that a public school has won even close to 20 consecutive section championships. The law of averages and common sense (what you seem to be lacking, Junior) dictates a public school’s football program will rise and fall based on the relative number of athletes in their jurisdiction.

The denial is yours, my friend; but keep beating the drum for DLS. Most of us on this blog do appreciate what a treasure Coach Ladouceur is to DLS and what he has created; and most of us support DLS when they play OOS games and the southern California powers in the SBG. The one thing most of us know, of course, is that the catalyst for fueling those 20 consecutive section championships is DLS ability to amass all that talent, both D1 prospects and capable backups (what depth!) that no other public school team in the NCS can match.

Interesting that you start off with D1 athletes being a measuring stick and now it is back ups who prove your point. Good chance that your freind would not be as good of a football player at another school because of……. Coaching.

Here is another example that completely nullifies your theory: Cal hi before Sanchez. For years Cal was a horrible football school. One thing, just one thing changed and it wasnt open enrollment, and they become one of the best programs in Nor Cal. It was because Sanchez is a good leader. He built a program and the wins followed. Same talent. Different coach.

Interesting that you keep ignoring the other private schools in DLS area that look just like the Spartans did in the 70′s. Only one thing changed at DLS……. Coaching.

Don’t give up publics, SJS and Central sections are dominated by publics. You too can rise to the elite tier. It ain’t easy but has been done and can be duplicated here. Even tho many public school backers don’t believe in you, I do.

Most impotantly, 99% of DLS’s advantage is exactly because they can draw from a poulation base of more than 1.5 million people. CC county alone has over 1 million people. When you include Alameda countiy cities Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, Oakland, and SJ County cities Vallejo, Benicia and Fairfield, you surpass 1.5 million people. I’m sure you are well aware Junior that DLS has had student athletes from all these cities and more and continue to do so.

Finally, I have a personal story. DLS has a junior on the varsity team that is not a starter and only gets time when they are ahead late, like many DLS players. This particular player is an incredible athlete and football player who would be a front line starter at his local public school. Therein lies the advantage that DLS has over all local public schools; the incredible depth they have at all positions. Think about it, DLS has been hit particularly hard by the injury bug this season and they haven’t missed a beat. No public school can match their depth, not one.

Don’t kid yourself that the gravy train of student athletes will end when Lad retires. As long as he leaves the football program in capable hands, DLS will cotinue to draw the very best football players from that 1.5 million base. That’s the beauty of what Lad has created and that no other private school the size of DLS can hope to attain.