A White Elephant gift exchange is a holiday tradition where participants vie to walk away with the best present by either picking a wrapped gift or taking a previous participant’s unwrapped gift.   The game between the Acalanes and Benicia JV football teams seemed to follow a similar format given the number of gifts exchanged in the form of penalties, fumbles, interceptions, turnovers on downs, and errant snaps.  Notably, there were a whopping 4 facemask penalties, a total that would have made Hannibal Lecter proud.  Fortunately for the Dons, they walked away with the best present, a 14-7 victory. 

The Dons defense limited the Panthers to 125 total yards, including a remarkable 8 rushing yards, the same total Campo managed to gain the week prior.  David Roux, Drew Hansen, and Drew McKenzie led the team in tackles, Drew McKenzie and Nicky Fosina recorded sacks, Jonah Riviera and Brady Wall caused fumbles, and Drew McKenzie and Colby Ebner recovered fumbles. 

The Dons forced three consecutive three-and-out punts to start the game.  On the Panther’s fourth drive, the Dons gave up a couple big plays, but the line got great pressure on the QB, the linebackers and secondary made several good tackles, and the drive ended on a wild sequence where Drew McKenzie scooped up a fumble, lost it, and then Colby Ebner recovered it again.

The Panthers scored their only points of the game, a TD, in the first drive of the third quarter where they started with a short field following a strong kickoff return.  In the next drive, the Panthers managed to fumble twice and recover both fumbles, only to turn the ball over on downs. The Dons forced a punt on the next drive, and then were able to keep the Panthers well short of the end zone on the last drive.

On offense, the team platooned QBs.  David Gonzales got the start in place of injured Jake Colaco.  For the game, he had several good runs and rollout completions.  Brady Wall was brought in to play QB in wildcat formations and managed to punch in the first TD of the game taking advantage of outstanding push from the offensive line and linebacker turned fullback David Roux.

Wyatt Zawadski also got reps at QB after being called up from the Freshman team.  He finished the day completing 5 of 8 passes for 87 yards and 1 TD.

Wyatt and JB Frolich provided the offensive highlight of the game with a 64-yard throw and catch that looked like a MOL play (thanks to Brian Miles for the reference).

Niko White led the team in total yards, recording 56 rushing yards on 6 carries, 53 receiving yards on 5 receptions, and 12 yards on a kickoff return.

RB Eitan Romick and WRs Tyler Kim, Jonah Orlando, and Ethan Levine also registered rushing attempts on the day.  The kickers continued to excel, with Eitan booming kickoffs and Luca DeBiasse nailing another two extra points, extending her perfect extra point streak for the season to 15.

The Dons return home to play Miramonte on Friday, October 28 at 4:30pm