In seasons such as this one, when De La Salle plows through upper-echelon non-league competition with sights on the state’s top prize, the East Bay Athletic League portion of the schedule rarely provides much resistance.

So it was Friday night at Amador Valley for the Bay Area News Group’s top-ranked team.

Jayden Nicholas returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. Brayden Knight followed with a 30-yard TD pass to Dylan Scott. Then Knight threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Landon Cook.

The first quarter was only half over.

De La Salle went on to win 56-13 to run its record to 7-0. The Spartans have three regular-season games left before what will likely be a two-game section playoff run and then another shot at capturing the state’s Open Division championship for the first time in a decade.

Knight’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Emery Speight widened the advantage to 27-0. Greg Jones’ 18-yard run and Jamal Johnson-Lucas’ two-point conversion made it 35-0 after one quarter.

Another touchdown by Knight, on a 10-yard run, pushed the cushion to 42-0.

Amador Valley (2-6) scored its first points when Vincent Maiorana ran 68 yards to the end zone to cut the margin to 42-6.

De La Salle visits San Ramon Valley next Friday, then closes the regular season at home against California on Oct. 30 and Clayton Valley Charter on Nov. 7.

Amador Valley has next week off before finishing its schedule against Monte Vista on Oct. 31 and at California on Nov. 7.

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