3A: DeLaSalle 35, Rochester Lourdes 16

The greens at Augusta National, home of the Masters, are said to be so fast it is like trying to putt on the hood of a car.

Thursday, the greens took the form of the artificial turf of Park High School. DeLaSalle's skill players were the Titleists.

Quarterback Michael Van Leer, running back Jeremy Randle and receiver A.J. Barker truly were on a roll as the Islanders advanced to the Class 3A semifinals with a 35-16 victory over Rochester Lourdes.

Randle ran for three touchdowns and Van Leer threw two touchdown passes to Barker as DeLaSalle [10-2] stretched its winning streak to seven games.

"They were a big, physical team, but after watching them on film we felt we could use our speed to get to the edge," Randle said.

The Islanders have averaged 46.4 points per game during their winning streak.

"Teams are being forced to pick their poison," DeLaSalle coach Dick Weinberger said. "At the same time, we didn't move the ball around as much as we would have liked."

Trailing 9-7 late in the second quarter, DeLaSalle struck for two touchdowns in the final minute and took a 21-9 lead to the locker room. Randle broke free for a 39-yard touchdown run to give the Islanders a 14-9 lead.

A Rochester Lourdes fumble gave the ball back to DeLaSalle at the Eagles 26-yard line with 29 seconds to play. Van Leer connected with Barker on a 26-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

The Eagles put together a 70-yard scoring drive that carried over into the fourth quarter as they cut the DeLaSalle lead to 20-16. Tom Gores carried the ball in from 4 yards out.

The Islanders took advantage of an Eagles fumble to take a 28-16 lead. Van Leer threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Barker with a little more than four minutes to play.

"Early in the season we were making a lot of mistakes," Randle said. "We figured out that the only people that could stop us were ourselves."

Dean Spiros • dspiros@startribune.com