After a close-fought win against a highly ranked San Marin team last week, the Dons were on the road traveling through the Caldecott Tunnel to take on traditional powerhouse Bishop O’Dowd and their star-studded coaching staff. In recent years the O’Dowd field hasn’t exactly been the Thunderdome, but their students pack the end zone seats and definitely make their presence felt with a lot of noise and energy.

Two teams entered on Friday, and the Dons quickly made it obvious that they intended to leave Oakland with their second win of the 2022 season. O’Dowd got the ball first and after a couple of first downs from their run-heavy offense, the Dons’ D stiffened, highlighted by a Tyler Worthington sack, and the Dragons were forced to punt.

Giving the ball so quickly to the Acalanes offense is not a road map for success and the Dons immediately went to work. A beautiful read-option run by QB Sully Bailey gained a quick 19 yards, and that was followed by a long jump ball won by WR Trevor Rogers down the left sideline and the Dons were deep in Dragon territory. Looking to put points on the board quickly, Bailey dropped back again on the next play, but an unusual breakdown in protection resulted in him getting hit as he threw and the result was an O’Dowd interception in the end zone.

Back on the field after a short rest, the Dons’ defense was warmed up now, and they only allowed three downs before the ball was again returned to Acalanes’ offense. With the ball once again, the Dons turned to their vaunted screen attack, first to RB Ellis Burger and next to WR Paul Kuhner. Deep in Dragon territory, the Dons O-line (LT Marcus Julian, LG Tyler Murphy, C Miller Smith, RG Victor Nicolacakis, and RT Trevor Carrillo), blasted a hole in the O’Dowd defense and Burger quickly darted through the line, into the secondary, and 22 yards later he was in the End Zone. Dons 7, Dragons 0.

Back on the field for a third time, the Dons D was punishing all day and didn’t allow the O’Dowd Offense any opportunities to gain a foothold. This year’s defense is agile, mobile, and hostile, as well as deep at multiple positions. D-Line Coach Doug Ingham and LB Coach Alex Marchan have two and three deep D-linemen and Linebackers to fortify D-Coordinator David Ortega’s defense, with juniors Brady Morrow, Chase Caicedo, Jack Giorgianni, and Ace Reeder, combining with seniors Zach Robb, Nathan Bennett, Justin Zegarowski, Tyler Worthington, George Churchill, Nathan Kim, and two-way standouts, Marcus Julian and Tyler Murphy. Coaches Tim Silveira and Roman Hawthorne are also blessed with multiple speedy and hostile options in juniors Gavin Bender and Marshall Anderson, seniors Kyle Bielawski and Coco Gannon, along with two-way standouts senior Ethan Torres and junior Trevor Rogers.

With the Dons’ Defense quickly returning the ball back to the offense, the offense started rolling again. A well ran misdirection play fake by Bailey opened up a short pass to Kuhner, who took it deep into the Dragon’s Red Zone. Soon after that, the Acalanes speed option finished the job. Bailey took a couple of steps down the line of scrimmage and quick pitched to Burger, who caught it one-handed and strode into the end zone for another Acalanes TD and a 14-0 lead.

Once again on the field and continuing to dominate, the Dons D allowed the minimum amount of possessions to the Dragons, highlighted by a blatant holding penalty on DE Nathan Bennett and a combined sack from junior DE Aidan Yates and senior DT Zach Robb.

Continuing to mix pass and run, a play-action fake to Burger got the Dragon’s D to bite enough so Bailey could loft another jump ball deep down the left side to Rogers, who soared high above the helpless DB’s head for the completion. Now at the one-foot line, the Dons turned to their power and Bailey took the QB sneak behind C Henry Hagle, LG Tyler Murphy, and LT Marcus Julian into the end zone. Acalanes 20, Bishop O’Dowd 0. There was a penalty on the ensuing PAT that pushed the Dons back quite a bit for what is normally an easy conversion. Senior Kicker Zach Murdin was not phased, however, even though he was kicking right into the very raucous O’Dowd student section, and calmly split the middle of the uprights with his kick, Acalanes 21, Bishop O’Dowd 0.

After the defense stoned O’Dowd yet again, the offense moved down the field but were unable to score due to a dropped pass and another five-yard procedure penalty. The half ended with the score, Acalanes 21, O’Dowd 0.

The second half started out much like the first, with the Dons’ defense continuing to punish the Dragon’s offense. LBs George Churchill and Justin Zegarowski were particularly notable, flying around the field, disrupting and blowing up any attempt that O’Dowd made to gain some momentum. After moving at will in the first half, the Dons’ offense began to sputter a bit in the second. Big plays were called back a few times b/c of procedure penalties, the passing game was a bit off, and the first two possessions resulted in zero points for the Dons. However, the third time the offense got the ball back, they began to move the ball once again. Junior RB Jack Miller hard charged through the Dragon’s D for 12 yards and a face mask penalty tacked on an additional 15, to end the third quarter. It was at that point that LT Marcus Julian let Coach Burnsed know that the Dragon’s right end was over-committing to the inside, most likely b/c of the success that the Dons were having running the ball. Coach Floyd immediately dialed up a reverse to Kuhner and he took it all the way down, deep into Dragon territory.

Soon after entering the Red Zone, a short run by RB Miller was followed by a QB sneak by Jake Boselli and the following extra point made the score Acalanes 28, Bishop O’Dowd 0. A late touchdown by O’Dowd brought the final score to Acalanes 28, Bishop O’Dowd 7.

Acalanes vs Bishop O’Dowd Video Highlights

Great win for the Dons and an especially good showing for the defense. The Road Warriors continue next week with a Fury Road Trip to play the Sacramento D-1 powerhouse Sheldon Huskies. The Dons will need to bring Maximum effort in order to avoid an ambush in the San Joaquin Valley. So ramp up the “Party Rig” and let’s bring a Furiosa of fan support to help them get to the “Blue Place” and a big Road Win!