The pads went on the 2022 Freshman Dons for their final tune-up Saturday at Acalanes Stadium. In a 3-team scrimmage format the Don’s showed well against Grenada and Deer Valley. Head coach Bill Hansen had them ready to play with QB Branson Smith connecting with Isaac “Iceman” Copen to get into the endzone on the first offensive set.  That capper was set up by a big catch and run by Gavin Dodge.

The Don’s would get into the endzone 5 times on the day. With Smith leading 3 of the drives and Wyatt Zawadski leading the other two. While the air attack accounted for two of the scores, the ground game out did it by pounding in 3. 

The here, there and everywhere, Roy Kent award, was a toss-up between Deonte Littlejohn (aka BIGJOHN) and Amin Noroozi (aka A-Mean). Each came up big on both offense and defense. Noroozi contributed a touchdown on one of his bursts that had the defenders just opt just to watch as he quickly ran out of reach. While ‘BigJohn’ showed ACA’s neighborly spirit with frequent visits to the opposition’s QB behind the line and free rides down the field on offense where a group of 4 defenders were needed to take him down. 

The Don’s running game brought speed and power with windows opened up by the line. Illias Kaplanes-Jones turned a simple run into a demonstration of speed to find safety past the goal line. The Dons later opted for power over speed, and simply rumbled through the defense down the field multiple times. 

The Don’s defense was the stingiest of the three teams at the scrimmage. Don’s defenders were aggressive at the line and in the secondary. Only when Deer Valley’s very mobile quarterback opted to run did they ever seem challenged. The exclamation mark on the defense’s good showing, and the day, was Bryce Birdsong’ solid swat to knock the ball out of the oppositions QB hand in the backfield.  The battles the Dons’ defensive and offensive lines fought in the trenches were keys to the successes of the day.   

“It was fun and the hits weren’t bad,” said Mason Briones about his first game. Next up for the Dons is a possibly tough opponent. Coach Hansen will have just two practices to make the final adjustments to get them ready to face the San Marin Mustangs on the road Wednesday.   Giddy-up Dons!