CREVE COEUR – Damarion ‘DJ’ White and Jayden McCaster share the carries out of the De Smet backfield.
They also share the traits of great speed, exceptional vision and a knack for getting stronger as the game progresses.
“I think we have the same style, but we have certain factors that make us different, and that lets us impact the game in unique ways,” McCaster said.
White and McCaster combined for 302 rushing yards and four touchdowns as De Smet used its potent ground attack to break open a tight game and defeat SLUH 42-13 Friday at De Smet High.
De Smet (6-0; 4-0) clinched the Metro Catholic Conference title for the first time since 2019 – a year in which the Spartans completed an undefeated 14-0 campaign and won the Class 6 state title.
Leading 14-7 at halftime, De Smet emerged from the locker room with the goal of leaning heavily on the running game, and the third quarter belonged to White.
The 5-foot-10 senior carried the ball six times for 49 yards on the Spartans’ first drive after halftime. He broke off a 10-yard run around right end, scampered 15 yards around left end and then took a draw up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown on third-and-goal.
On the ensuing drive, White ripped off runs of 19 and 17 yards before barreling into the end from four yards away on another third-and-goal play.
White ran the ball 10 times for 96 yards in the third quarter alone, and De Smet opened a 28-7 lead.
“I was a little more patient and saw a lot of cutback lanes,” White said of his third quarter explosion. He finished the game with 158 yards on 20 carries.
SLUH (4-2; 1-2) sliced into the deficit on the final play of the third quarter when senior quarterback Marco Sansone found senior Nathan Gunn on a 44-yard touchdown connection. Sansone avoided the ferocious De Smet pass rush to throw for 300 yards and two scores while adding 43 yards on the ground.
“I thought Marco Sansone played a heck of a game,” SLUH coach Adam Cruz said. “De Smet has an awesome defensive line and he stood in there all night and took a lot of hits.”
But the fourth quarter belonged to McCaster and the De Smet offensive line. The 5-foot-10 sophomore carried the ball six times for 59 yards on the next Spartans’ drive, including a tough 24-yard touchdown run.
McCaster completed his 22-carry, 144-yard performance with a two-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach.
“As the game goes on, my vision clears up, and I’m able to trust the hole, trust my vision, and I trust my (offensive) line,” said McCaster, who gained 131 of his yards in the second half.
For De Smet coach John Merritt, the McCaster-White duo is the perfect one-two punch.
“I think Jayden is a little faster and DJ is a little bigger and a little older, but they’re both explosive, they’re both dynamic, they’re both hard-nosed and they both can get into the end zone,” Merritt said.
Quarterback Dillon Duff became the third Spartan to join the century club after fourth quarter runs of 59 and 33 yards put him at exactly 100 yards. In all, the De Smet offensive line paved the way for 427 rushing yards, 328 of them coming in the second half.
“Coach (Richard) Price, our offensive line coach, pulled us aside and coached us up on how to get our assignments right and get out to their linebackers,” junior lineman Mike Cunningham said. “The whole line executed. It was a lot of fun.”
It appeared the entire game would be fun for the Spartans after another torrid start.
After De Smet forced a punt on the opening SLUH possession, Duff found junior Nathan Hatcher near the sideline. Hatcher wriggled free from a tackle and coasted into the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown on the Spartans’ first play from scrimmage.
Eight seconds later, it appeared De Smet had scored again when a short flip from Sansone to senior Joseph Harris hit the turf and Spartans’ junior Quincy Byas scooped it up and fell into the end zone.
But with the extra point team on the field, the ruling was changed to an incomplete pass.
Six minutes later, Byas found the end zone again, this time scooping up a blocked punt by senior Ashton Phillips and racing 13 yards for a touchdown.
“Determination,” Byas said. “I got the first one, it didn’t count and I didn’t hang my head. Just go back and score.”
Byas shows no favoritism as to whether his contributions come from defense or special teams.
“I try to have as much of an effect as I can, so I like staying in for special teams and trying to make a play,” said Byas, who added a sack and a wealth of quarterback pressures to his stat line.
But SLUH did not allow De Smet to run away with the game. Trailing 14-0 with the Spartans driving, SLUH junior Matthew Moore made a diving interception inside the five-yard line that thwarted a 14-play drive.
The Jr. Bills mounted their own eight-play, 96-yard drive that included a pair of 11-yard Sansone quarterback draws, a 36-yard bomb to Harris and a quick strike to junior Landon Pace, who bowled over one tackler and discarded another on his way to a 25-yard touchdown.
SLUH sophomore Will Schulte snagged the second interception of the quarter in the final seconds, and the Jr. Bills entered halftime trailing only 14-7.
“It would have been really easy to fold, but our guys made a decision to fight,” Cruz said. “We have a lot of things to clean up – tackling, alignment – but we can’t fault our effort.”
And it was the effort of White, McCaster and the De Smet offensive line that ultimately pushed the Spartans to victory.
“We came in wanting to get our passing game going, but we know we can rely on our run game,” Merritt said. “With the MCC championship (at stake), we weren’t going to take any chances. We decided at halftime, no more playing around. Let’s go put this one away.”