Wednesday night the Freshman Dons suited up for their first game of the season against the San Marin Mustangs. The Dons got off to a good start on their first possession with Branson Smith throwing the ball for the Dons. In the Dons’ fourth drive, Gavin Dodge turned a midfield grab into a long touchdown run to put the Dons up 6-0. 

The defense immediately followed up by forcing a punt on the next possession. The Mustangs seized the initiative and added an offensive touchdown and a pick 6 in short order to go up 14-6.  The defense rallied to deliver some big hits. Tommy Terhar, Deonte Littlejohn and Christopher Copeland all lassoed Mustangs at key moments to slow their assault. But the Mustangs got into the endzone again.  Special teams delivered a spark with a great kickoff return by Illias Kaplanes-Jones.  The Dons would find their way into the endzone one more time when Littlejohn took a pitch to the pylon and the Dons added a two-point conversion with Dodge.

While it wasn’t the outcome the Dons wanted for their first game, the team showed flashes of good things to come, ending with the score 40-14. The defense came up big to halt a Mustang redzone drive to end the first half.  Special teams won most battles, delivering field position advantages and even gave the Dons a shot to add some points at the end.

Dons coaches identifying some big game contributors on the Dons offensive line: Adam Caicedo, Joey Martin, Ben Pass, Shep Bellias, Santiago Trejo, Nery Lopez and Josh Elerts. Flipping to defensive line kudos to: Caicedo, Lopez, Trejo, Christian Smario, Liam Crinnion and Amin Noroozi.

The Dons are preparing for their next opponent, Amador Valley on Thursday, September 1st at 5:30 PM (at Amador Valley). The Dons will take that time to learn from the film and make the adjustments needed to build upon the many sparks that will get this season moving in the right direction. Go Dons!