It wasn’t the prettiest game… let’s face it, it was downright ugly, but Acalanes emerged from the contest with a win and an unblemished 4-0 record. After the heart-pounding, hard-hitting, high-flying action of the Sheldon road trip, coaches were worried about a letdown, and that’s exactly what happened on Saturday night in Lafayette. Whether it was the excitement of the prior week or the oddity of the Saturday kick-off, the Dons were just a bit off all night, and Giants of Redwood nearly made them pay for their less than stellar performance. But, the defense stood strong when it mattered, and the offense was just productive enough to get a few scores, resulting in a 28-7 Dons victory.

The odd Saturday night kick-off started off well for the Dons on offense with an 11-yard completion to WR Trevor Rogers, followed by a 15-yard counter run by RB Ellis Burger, netting two first downs. On the next play, however, Acalanes incurred a procedure penalty that backed them up five yards and was a harbinger of more penalties to come. Three downs later the Dons were forced to punt.

Starting with the ball deep in their own territory, the Redwood Giants showed some shakiness of their own. A cadre of Dons stuffed a first-down run, and the next play resulted in a Redwood procedure penalty sending them back five yards. On 2nd down the Redwood QB dropped back to pass only to be rudely greeted by DT Marcus Julian and DE Justin Zegarowski for a crushing sack. After a short completion on a swing pass, the Giants were forced to punt the ball back to Acalanes.

With the ball back in good field position, the Dons started to mix in run and pass to move the ball down the field. An 11-yard completion to WR Ethan Torres from QB Sully Bailey netted a first down. Another completion from Bailey to Torres got the Dons into Redwood territory for a fourth and two, when a uniform infraction (pants not covering his knees) forced Bailey out of the game. QB Jake Boselli came in not missing a beat and handed off to Burger who blasted through a hole on the right side behind pulling LG Tyler Murphy, RG Victor Nicolacakis, and RT Trevor Carrillo for 11 yards and a first down. Completions to WR Jake Takeuchi and Rogers moved the Dons within the red zone and a Burger counter run behind pulling RG Nicolacakis, LG Murphy, and LT Marcus Julian got the Dons inside the 10. One more run, this time an option read pulled by Boselli and taken to the one, was quickly followed by a QB sneak and the Dons were on the scoreboard first, Dons 7, Giants 0.

After the score, the defense held Redwood to a three and out, but the Acalanes offense was now starting to sputter and gave the ball right back to the Giants. On the other side, the Redwood running game was starting to get going and they quickly moved the ball into Don’s territory. Once the Giants got close, however, the defense stiffened and a 4th down pass attempt was broken up by FS Kyle Bielawski to turn the ball back over to the Dons. Penalties and an offense that was still sputtering resulted in another punt attempt for the Dons. Another breakdown, this time on special teams, resulted in a punt block that was recovered by Redwood all the way down on the Acalanes 1-yard line! After bending but not breaking through nearly two quarters, the defense could not hold the Giants out from so close, and a Giant QB sneak tied up the game at Dons 7, Giants 7.

Even when struggling, however, the Don’s offense is explosive and two plays after Redwood scored their touchdown, a 75-yard bomb from Bailey to Rogers put Acalanes back ahead right before the 1st half ended. Dons 14, Giants 7.

Plenty of things to talk about in the halftime speech, and you can be pretty certain that the Acalanes coaches had quite a few items to discuss with the players on how they would come out to play the second half. Redwood had the ball first, and the defense showed its metal right away forcing a three and out with strong play across the board stifling the run and the pass.

Given the ball back from the defense, the offense started to exert its will on the Redwood defense. The O-line, LT Julian, LG Murphy, C Miller Smith, RG Nicolacakis, and RT Carrillo, pounded the Giant D-line opening holes for RB Burger and WR Rogers on six consecutive plays, which then set up a long 23-yard bomb from QB Boselli to WR Andrew Habas, who was pushed out just short of the goal line at the one. From there it was just as simple as Boselli getting behind the O-line once more and following them into the end zone. The QB sneak made it Dons 21, Giants 7.

Even though the sloppiness continued into the second half, with continued penalties and spotty play, the Dons defense did not let the Giants up for air, as in their immediate possession after the Acalanes TD, they forced a three and out, culminated by another sack from speedy DE Justin Zegarowski.

In an up-and-down, ugly game, things seem to turn on a dime, and after looking so good on the previous drive, the offense returned to struggling, suffering a quick three and out. It’s also in games like these where special teams become critically important. A missed PAT, a fumble on a return, a bad snap on a FG, all those things can mean the difference between winning and losing. An earlier blocked punt resulted directly in a Redwood touchdown and now Punter Kyle Bielawski was being asked to kick from nearly the same spot. Unphased by the pressure, he unleashed a towering blast that went all the way into the Redwood end zone, flipping the field in the Don’s favor. But wait… another Acalanes penalty would mean he’d have to do it all again, this time 15 yards closer to his own end zone. Backed up near his own goal line now, having to punt again, and remembering that he had a punt blocked earlier in the game, Bielawski was not phased. He calmly unleashed another shot that went 55 yards all the way down to the Redwood 25-yard line, basically wiping out the gain they had received from the penalty.

In a typical game, the Dons D would continue its dominance and the contest would be over, but again this was a sloppy, ugly, unusual game and now Redwood would start to show some life. Aided by a few more flags on the Dons, and a resurgent passing game, the Giants moved the ball down the field inside the Acalanes ten-yard line. A big hit by SS Gannon upended the Redwood RB and forced him off of the field. A corner fade was broken up by Gannon, Bielawski, and CB Gavin Bender. Then the Giants went to the well once too often and CB Torres was waiting… seeing the Redwood TE run the same flare pattern that they had run all night, Torres, broke away from his man, stepped in front of the Redwood receiver and that was all she wrote. No one was going to catch the speedy first leg of Acalanes’ famed 4×100 relay team and he was out of the blocks and headed 95 yards to pay dirt… Dons 28, Giants 7.

Acalanes vs Redwood Highlights

The Dons and Giants traded a couple of tipped interceptions after that but the game was pretty much over. Again not pretty, but a “W” is a “W” and the Dons are now 4-0 heading into their BYE week. Homecoming follows with a contest against the Wildcats of Oakland High, then DAL Foothill starts in earnest with the Las Lomas Knights coming to Lafayette and the Dons looking to get revenge for their close loss last year. No more Saturdays for this regular season so let’s get back to rockin’ the BLUE on Friday nights for Homecoming and keep the winning train rolling… Go Dons, Feel the Blue!