On a day when Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell’s comments in Jackson Hole sent the stock market tumbling, costly turnovers sent the Acalanes Dons JV football team tumbling in their 2022 season home opener against San Marin, falling by a final score of 21-7 after digging an early 21-point hole with a few minutes left in the first quarter.
Most football articles start with offense, but in this case, the Dons defense deserves top billing as the unit was nothing short of spectacular. The only points they allowed were two touchdowns scored off very short fields in the first quarter following turnovers (the third touchdown was an interception returned for a touchdown). The entire unit deserves credit for the performance. After being out with an injury last year, Brady Wall made tackles all over the field. Jake Yoshinaka, Luca Premo, and Jonah Rivera registered sacks. Other defensive standouts included David Roux, Jake Hawkins, Avyn Morales, and Andrew Tresser.
Although this may be premature since we are only one week into the season, it was such a dominant performance that I am taking Dons defense nickname nominations, hopefully drawing inspiration from legendary NFL defenses such as the Chicago Bears “Monsters of the Midway” in the 1940s, Minnesota Vikings “Purple People Eaters” in the 1960s, Pittsburg Steelers “Steel Curtain” and Dallas Cowboys “Doomsday Defense” in the 1970s, the New York Giants “Big Blue Wrecking Crew” in the 1980s, and the nickname-less Baltimore Ravens in 2000. If anyone has suggestions, please send them my way.
On offense, David Gonzales got the start at QB. He was followed by Jake Colaco, who connected with Niko White on a 67-yard pass play before halftime for the Dons only touchdown of the game. On the play, Niko was able to pull off a disappearing act against the San Marin secondary that would have made Harry Houdini and Richard Simmons envious. In fact, he was so wide open that it made Jake’s decision to throw to him reminiscent of the Capital One easiest decision in the history of decisions commercial where Charles Barkley is drafted for the pickup basketball game over the other kids on the playground.
The Dons appeared to have momentum with three minutes to go in the third quarter, but ended up turning the ball over on downs after a pass interference call near the end zone was overturned. Other highlights on offense including Eitan Romick making several tough runs, JB Frolich catching everything within reach, and David Roux running the wildcat formation for a first down.
Ultimately turnovers on offense and special teams doomed the Dons. There were two interceptions on offense and two giveaways on special teams, one on San Marin punt that was touched by an Acalanes player, and another following a fumble on a strong punt return. The Dons hope to clean up these mistakes as they head into their next game against Bishop O’ Dowd, which will be on Friday, September 2nd at 4:30pm.
