The Acalanes Dons Varsity Football Team took on the Alhambra Bulldogs on Friday night on our home as the community celebrated Senior Night! This event can be very emotional for both players and parents, and there was lots of tears flowing on Friday, not in pain in pure Dons love. Love for football, friends and Acalanes. The Senior Class has bonded over the course of the past 4 years, and some of these boys have been playing organized sports together since they were 8 years old at MOL. It was a bitter sweet moment for sure to think that this train is pulling into the station. Well, not so fast… this Dons train is not at the depot yet…as together the Dons will head to El Cerrito next week for play offs. But first, let’s look at our Friday night victory…
The Dons won the coin flip and elected to defer to the second half kickoff, so we kicked off to the Bulldogs to get things started. Things looked bad for Alhambra right from the start with a bad snap on the first play from scrimmage for a 7 yard loss, then a penalty on the next play backed them up even further – an incomplete pass and it was time to punt from deep in their own territory. Once the Dons got the ball they struck hard and fast. Senior Luke Souza came out hot, connecting on his first two passes to put the Dons in the RedZone. The offense then ran a little wrinkle formation that completely fooled the Bulldog defense and Ellis Burger scored the first touchdown of the night with an 18 yard misdirection run! Souza had a fantastic SENIOR night, completing 20 of 29 passing attempts for 307 yards with 7 touchdowns passes!
When Alhambra got the ball it was more of the same: fumbled snap, penalty, run a few plays and punt. When the Dons got the ball back, it was also more of the same: Quick pass completion, hard run up the middle, then Souza hit Senior Slot Receiver Dante Montgomery for a 24 yard touchdown, 14- 0 Dons. When the Bulldogs got the ball back, more of the same, fumble, penalty, punt. Dons defense stop their plays. A nice bounce on the Bulldogs punt pinned the Dons on their 19 yard line.
Souza took the shotgun snap from center and launched a shot down the sideline to Junior Wide Receiver Trevor Rogers, for an 81 yard touchdown pass! 21-0 Dons at the end of the 1st quarter. The Acalanes offense picked apart the Alhambra Defense the rest of the game. Junior Tailback Ellis Burger had a fantastic evening, scoring 4 touchdowns on the ground and through the air. Junior Receiver Ethan Torres got a 50 yard touchdown notched on his belt with a great catch and run in the 3rd quarter.
It was a great Senior night offensively! Especially for the Junior class! Montgomery, Malmquist, Berrien each had a touchdown as well. Defensively for the Dons had an even better night! Our opponent hurt themselves with costly penalties and fumbles all night, but our boys played great. Senior outside Linebacker RC Means was on fire, wracking up 3.5 tackles, one of them for a big loss of yards! RC has been solid for the Dons all season, it was great to see him shine on Senior Night! Speaking of Seniors having a good night! Kyle White, Brady Brinkman, Donovan Aris-Dumas, Ethan Rowland and Logan Ketchum all showed up for this game – flying all over the field and swarming to the ball like they have been taught! From a Special Teams perspective- Rhett Skvarna was solid kicking extra points, going 6 for 8 with the 2 misses being blocked kicks.
Now that the regular season has concluded: here are a few stats on the Season – Passing – Luke Souza had 182 completions on 269 attempts for 2,937 yards and 36 Touchdowns! Rushing – Evan Malmquist carried the ball 109 times for 871 yards and 15 touchdowns, Receiving – Dante Montgomery caught 55 passes for 1055 yards and 13 touchdowns – and Will Berrien hauled in 58 passes for 806 yards and 10 touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball Tackles – Logan Ketcham led the team with 52 total tackles Followed closely by Sam Hafner with 46 Sacks – Tyler Worthington lead the team with 4 sacks on the season, followed by Senior Kyle White with 3! Interceptions – Ethan Rowland and Miles Bergman each had 2 on the season. Tackle for loss – Sam Hafner lead the team with 8, followed by Kyle Bielawski with 6.
The Dons Varsity kicks off the NCS tournament by traveling to face the Gauchos of El Cerrito High next Friday at 7:00 – We all need to show up and support our team as they start their journey towards the NCS Championship! The team who wins moves on, loose and the season is over… Lets show them that we are not ready to get off this train and blow right through the station and keep things rolling! All abroad the Acalanes Train!