Have Faith in Your Abilities, Play Fearlessly

The Varsity Dons Football Team put on quite a show Saturday Night against cross town conference rival, Las Lomas! The back and forth contest kept everyone on the edge of their seats. The Dons came out hot and the Knight struggled early – then the script was flipped, and the Dons struggled while the Knights had success. In the end, the Dons dug deep, and pulled off the W!

Just Go and Conquer the Field

The Knights got things started with an impressive 3 play drive for their first score, which was caped off by a 72 yard touchdown right up the middle of the field by #2 Jermaine Land, who shouldered most of the visiting teams offense. However, the Dons responded, with a beautifully designed play for their first touch of the game! Senior Quarterback Brady Hutchingson pitched the ball to Junior Wide Out Will Berrien, on what looked like a run play until Berrien pulled up and threw a pass to Senior Wide Out Sam Heyman, who was WIDE open for a… T O U C H D O W N! Making the scoreboard read, 7 to 7.   Acalanes held Las Lomas on their next possession and the Dons offense immediately drove down the field and scored on a 4 yard TD pass from Hutchingson to Heyman, for his second touchdown of the night! Heyman was not over, he finished the night with 8 catches for 109 yards. The Dons Defense was fired up, and stopped the Knight’s again on their next possession – Senior Defensive End Joey Carrillo lead the way with 8 solo tackles, 5 Assists, and 1.5 sacks! – When the Dons offense took the field they immediately scored on a 48 Yard pass from Hutchingson to Berrien to make the score 21-7. Berrien finished the night with 4 receptions for 71 yards. Things in the first half were really clicking for the Do’s offense and at halftime the score was 21-14 with an Acalanes lead.

 The Do’s defense played really well all night – Outside Linebacker #35 Ryan Tresser was a nuisance to the Knights all night, racking up 8 Solo Tackles, 2 of them for a loss, and he also forced and recovered a fumble. In all, 17 different players made tackles for the Don’s – they forced 4 fumbles and recovered all of them, Senior Linebacker Graham Oh came up with a big interception, and Dane Jenssen recorded 2 sacks for the Don’s.

The Knights must of had a big pepe talk at halftime, as they came out as a new team at the start of the third quarter. Their defense stifled the Dons offense for most of the second half, sacking Dons quarterback Hutchingson, too many times. The Knights offense also caught fire and scored 21 unanswered points. With a little over 6 minutes left in the game the Don’s were trailing 28 – 21… The Don’s offensive coordinators made some adjustments on the sidelines, and moved some players around, which seemed to be the spark they needed. With four minutes left in the game Brady Hutchingson connected with Senior Tailback Joe Evans, for a 14 yards touchdown, that tied the game at 28 – 28 with the Dons fans going absolutely crazy.

It is Now How You Start, It is How You Finish

The Dons defense came out fired up, pumped up and energy up and stopped the Knights in their tracks. With around 1:30 left in the game the Don’s offense started their final drive of the night. Coach Blue mixed up the passing and run game, keeping Las Lomas defense guessing like a game of hide-n-seek. With six seconds (repeat six seconds) left Senior Tailback Nic Rossi made a punishing 17 yard run for a touchdown, giving the 35-28 victory to the D O N S !

Acalanes is now 2-0 for the season. One aspect of the game that sometimes get overlooked is the kicking game – The Dons Kicker, Hunter Ridley was a perfect 5- 5 on extra points, and had three kickoffs go into the end zone for touchbacks, which is very rare at the high school level. Many names were often highlighted by the game announcer on the PA system. We hope to hear that echo again in the hills of Moraga on Friday night, names like Marshall Lockwood,  Brady Brinkman, Anthony Ortale, Evan Malmquist, Patrick Nicosia and Logan Ketcham. Every Don’s cleats that hit the turf made a difference in the game to get the Dons Win.

The victory pushed the Dons up in the MaxPrep local rankings to number #7 and pushed them way down to the  #87 ranking for the State.

All focus now goes to Campo. The Dons will travel to Moraga to face our biggest conference rival on Friday night – kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm – Be sure to keep an eye out for the registration list and sign up family members (household) to attend the game – which is sure to be the highlight of the season. Game will be covered on www.sportsscopelive.com (Acalanes Football)

Written by Jim Malmquist and Jane Smith