It was a Talladega Talla-DON-a Night on Saturday!
“If you’re not first, you’re last”, and the JV Dons certainly came in first on Saturday afternoon, leaving skid marks past the Knights of Las Lomas, 42-0. Technically that’s two weeks of doughnuts served up by the Dons D, since last week’s Monte Vista TD came on a fumble return. The Don’s “El Diablo” defense is a firewall, running hard and trading paint, leaving no room for the opposing offense to pass or even get out of the pit.
George Churchill, Marcus Julian, Tyler Worthington, Miller Smith and Nathan Bennett anchor “El Diablo”
Overall, the defense held Las Lomas to only 54 total yards with 13 players making a tackle, 3 different players with tackles for a loss, 2 sacks for -17 yards and 2 interceptions. Leading tacklers were Ben Foox with 6 solo, 3 assists, 2 tackles for loss (TFL), and 1 sack, Miller Smith with 4 solo, 4 assists, and 2 TFLs, and Tyler Worthington with 4 solo, 2 TFLs and 1 sack. But it wasn’t only the defense that sped past Las Lomas on Saturday, the offense put the pedal to the metal as well, zooming to 42 points at lightning speed, on the ground and through the air, leaving the Knights in the dust well before the checkered flag finally ended the game. In total, QB Kyle Bielawski was 13 of 19 for 224 yards and 4 TDs. Ethan Torres had 3 catches for 3 TDs, and Toby Schwing had 2 rushing TDs.
Like any high-performance vehicle, it did take the Dons a few minutes to warm up. Soon after reaching the Las Lomas 5-yard line on their first possession, they were forced to give the ball back on 4th down. The Knights first set of downs didn’t last long however, as their third down pass attempt was knocked down incomplete by DT Tyler Worthington. Once the Dons got the ball back, a nifty screen to Trevor Rogers converted a 3rd down and brought the Dons into Las Lomas territory. Moments later QB Kyle Bielawski fired a pass down the right sideline to Ethan Torres who reached the apex at the exact same time as the Las Lomas defender. The resulting collision knocked the ball up in the air, but Ethan never lost track of the prize, hauling it in and spinning around in one motion and racing the remaining 20 yards to paydirt! The Huchingson XP made it 7-0 Dons.
The Knights got the ball back on offense and proceeded to fishtail on the first two downs as a result of errant snaps. Now in third and long, and desperate to get back in the race, the Knights tested the Dons defensive backs and Mason Michlitsch made them pay, picking off a long pass and returning it 35 yards into the red zone. Shortly thereafter Toby Schwing cut back through a hole opened by the Dons line and into the end zone to make the lead 13-0, as the extra point was blocked.
After trading a couple of possessions back and forth, highlighted by an incredible long leaping interception by Ellis Burger, the Dons were set to start on their own 30. Kyle set up quickly and threw a dart to Jake “Shake” Takeuchi, and that’s when the fun began. Jake cut left at the 40 shaking three Knights at once, cut back right to shake another, broke a tackle, cut left again to shake one more, and finally was caught after a 33-yard scamper down to the Las Lomas 22.A couple of plays later, Kyle found the hot hand Ethan “Bake” Torres for his second touchdown and, after the heavy unit punched in the two-point conversion, a 21-0 Acalanes lead. SHAKE ‘N BAKE TIME!
It was still the 1st half but the Dons weren’t at the finish line yet. Another 15-yard completion to Jake got the ball deep into Knight’s territory but then the drive stalled. Faced with 4th down and goal, Kyle went to the hot hand, Ethan “Bake” Torres for his third, yes third, TD of the day. “Shake and Bake” again and now it was 28-0 (after the XP).
That ended the first half of play, but the Dons came out in the second still speeding along. After a Las Lomas fumble was recovered by George Churchill, Toby took a pitch for 8 yards to get the Dons in scoring position. Las Lomas tightened up to force a 4th down, but a clutch catch by Trevor Rogers kept the drive alive. On the next play, Mason “Magic Man” Michlitsch, took an inside screen on the left behind a wall of Dons, now you see him and now you don’t, for his first Acalanes TD extending the lead to 35-0 Dons.
Another 3 and out for the Knights and the Dons were at it again. Up against a 4th down and long, they went abracadabra to the inside screen again and “Magic” Mason delivered a key first down to keep the drive alive. After a bootleg left by Kyle got the ball to the 5, Toby scooted around left end for his second TD and an insurmountable 42-0 Don’s lead.
All the was left was to preserve the shut out, and the Dons were determined not to let it go. A muffed snap on a punt gave the Knights the ball deep in Don’s territory on their ten-yard line and their shutout streak was nearly off the road. On first and goal, the Knights ran a fullback dive into the right side of “El Diablo” and were stonewalled by DT Marcus Julian and OLB Nathan Bennett. On second down, DE Justin Zegarowski shut off Las Lomas’ QB running wide and made him cut back into Marcus’ clutches again for no gain. On third down Las Lomas tried wide left, only to have CB Mason Michlitsch slam it shut at the five. Finally, on 4th down, Tyler Worthington sling-shotted through a gap in the Knights front line for a huge sack to preserve the shut out.
Next week a big game against Campo. Driving with a live cougar in the car will be a challenge but we know the Dons are up to it. Beat the Cougars!