The Acalanes Dons Varsity Football Team traveled to Benicia to take on the Panthers last Friday night – If you have never been to Benicia it is worth the drive – quaint little town right on the narrow Carquinez Strait that connects into the San Francisco Bay -The Football stadium, with it’s brand new field, sits up on a hill with spectacular views from the Visitor sidelines. We enjoyed the road trip and the Dons victory.
The Panthers started on offense, but could not move the ball and ended up having to punt on their first possession. The Dons offense took over around their 30 yard line, and they came out like an explosion! Senior Quarterback, Brady Huchingson, connected with Junior Wide Receiver, Dante Montgomery for an 83 yard touchdown reception to get things started! The next time the Dons got the ball, Brady connected with Dante again for a 34 yard touchdown reception – at the end of the 1st quarter it was 13-0 Dons! Dante finished the game with 6 catches for 192 yards! Brady finished the night connecting on 20 of his 39 pass attempts for 306 yards and 3 touchdowns passing and one rushing! Just another day at the office for him… Brady has proved he can make things happen and happen quickly, time and again this season! The Dons offense was not finished, with around 5 minutes left in the half, Brady dropped back to pass and had to scrambled around to buy time, eventually he took off running and weaved his way around the field for 28 exciting yards for a touchdown! Several Panthers defenders lay strewn out on the field, and could only watch helplessly as their teammates tried to stop him but to no avail: 20-0 Dons!
The Benicia offense did manage to use the remained of the time in the half to drive down and score a touchdown right as time was expiring to make the half time score 20 – 7. When the Dons took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field for another touchdown it looked like it was going to be a long night for the home team – this time Hutchingson connected with Junior Slot Receiver, Evan Malmquist, for a 27 yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone, 27 – 7 Dons.
Then things started to get interesting: The tide changing on the Carquinez Strait and in the Game
The Dons had things firmly in control, but a few questionable calls by the referees, and a few good plays by the Panthers, and all of a sudden the score was 27 – 21. Dons and the Panthers got the ball back with just over 4:00 minutes to play in the game, just like how quickly the tide in the Carquinez Straight changes, the tide was changing for the home team as well – That is when the defense, who had played good all night, really stepped it up and shut down the last Panther possession – Senior Defensive LInemen, Joey Carrillo and Ryan Giorgianni sacked the Panther quarterback and caused a fumble that the Dons recovered on the 2 yard line, just like that, the tide had swung back to the Dons – Our coaching staff showed great sportsmanship by deciding to run the victory formation, and had Brady take a knee on the first play to run out the clock: Final Score Dons 27 and Panthers 21.
The defensive standouts for the Dons – Senior Linebacker Graham Oh had 5 solo tackles and 7 assists – including 2 tackles for a loss of yards – Defensive Back James Gunn had 4 solo tackles and 8 assists – Joe Evans had a big night with 7 tackles and 2 interceptions! Niko Cortessis also was in on 8 tackles and had a pick and Outside Linebacker Ryan Tresser was a menace all night to the Panthers offense with 8 tackles.
The Dons are back at home this week to take on cross town rivals, Miramonte, on Saturday April 10th – Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 – or catch the live stream from the comfort of your couch. GO DONS!