It stinks. No other way to look at it. It stinks to high heaven. Losing a game to a rival when there were chances to win never feels good. The Dons fell to their cross-town rivals last Friday night, 24-27 after a last-minute drive ended with their fourth turnover of the game. That’s right, four gifts that the Dons gave to the Cougars who never reciprocated the Dons’ generosity. Campolindo played pretty much mistake-free football while the Dons threw three interceptions and added a fumble on a potential lead-changing scoring drive. It’s very hard to win when you lose the turnover battle by such a large margin, so it shows how hard the boys fought that they were one drive away from tieing or winning the game in the final moments.

The defense was stellar, led by strong play inside by DTs Brady Morrow, and Chase Caicedo, on the outside by DEs Nathan Bennett and Justin Zegarowski, in the middle by LBs George Churchill and Jack Giorgianni, and in the secondary by DBs Kyle Bielawski, Coco Gannon, Mason Michlitsch, Everett Glass, Gavin Bender, and Ethan Torres. Ethan Torres had an especially strong game, holding the Cougar’s top wideout to half of his season average for yards, and finishing with four solo tackles and one TFL. The defense accomplished all this despite spending nearly twice as much time on the field, with Campolindo slowing the game to a crawl, as they usually do, pushing the limit on the amount of time between plays and taking advantage of those four Dons turnovers.

The offense was efficient at moving the ball, as usual, only deterred by those turnovers and running out of time in the end. The Dons mixed run and pass effectively, and the line, LT Marcus Julian, LG Tyler Murphy, C Miller Smith, RG Victor Nicolacakis, and RT Trevor Carrillo, gave QBs Sully Bailey and Jake Boselli all day to throw. The two WRs who took the most advantage of that time were Ethan Torres (stellar on both sides of the ball), 4 receptions for 107 yards and two TDs, and Andrew Habas, 6 catches for 81 yards.

Campolindo came out of the blocks quickly, driving for a touchdown on the first possession of the game, Campo 7, Dons 0. However, any concerns that the Dons would be intimidated by the large home crowd (a record for the Cougar’s stadium) and the quick score would be quickly dismissed. After trading two offsides penalties, the Acalanes offense got moving. It started with a short run by RB Ellis Burger, then a completion over the middle to WR Trevor Rogers, a first down completion to WR Paul Kuhner, a five-yard keeper by QB Sully Bailey, a first down dart over the middle to WR Andrew Habas, and a finally a six-yard run up the middle by Burger. That last run set up a beautifully thrown pass to Habas that he corralled at the one-yard line, setting up a QB sneak on the next play for the Don’s matching TD, Dons 7, Cougars 7.

With the ball back on offense, the Cougars started feeling the pressure from the Acalanes’ defense. After scrambling for a first down when chased by DEs Nathan Bennett and Justin Zegarowski, the Campo QB couldn’t avoid them in their second set of downs and the ball popped loose as he was taken down. What appeared to be a fumble or an intentional grounding was ruled an incomplete pass and the Cougars avoided what would have been a critical turnover. Instead, they got to punt the ball back to the Acalanes offense. After a four-yard QB keeper on first down, Bailey was unable to connect with Torres on passes on the two subsequent downs, and the Dons were forced to kick the ball back to Campolindo to end the first quarter.

The second quarter began with the Dons D stacking up the Cougar run game and pressuring its QB when he tried to throw. After a single first down, Campolindo was forced to punt again to the Dons. With the ball back again, an eight-yard first-down run was called back on a holding penalty negating a great start to the drive. Backed up near their own end zone, another inside run by RB Ellis Burger got Acalanes back to the original line of scrimmage. On the next play, Bailey found WR Trevor Rogers cutting across the middle, and the Dons were in business at midfield. It was then that things started to turn. What looked like a miscommunication between WR and QB resulted in the first turnover of the day, an interception deep down the middle that gave the ball back to Campolindo. After stoning the Cougars on a bubble screen and a swing pass, Campolindo went for a deep pass over the middle that was broken up by the Dons. Unfortunately, there was pass interference called on the play and that put the Cougars into Acalanes territory. That big break was too much for the defense to overcome, and the Cougars were able to punch it in for a score and a 14-7 Campolindo lead.

There was little time left on the clock in the first half, but Acalanes wasn’t through yet. Two completions from Bailey to Rogers, a tunnel screen to Torres, and another sideline pass to Rogers had the Dons at the Campolindo 30-yard line. With time running out, they turned to the big leg of kicker Zach Murdin and he delivered. The 46-yard FG ended the half with the Dons within 4, Acalanes 10, Campolindo 14.

Both Acalanes and Campolindo traded punts to start the second half, but it was on Acalanes’ second possession that the turnover bug hit them again. The second interception thrown by the Dons took away an opportunity to score and, unfortunately, forced the Acalanes’ defense onto the field after short rest. As they showed time and again all night, Dons’ D was up to the task again and forced another Campolindo punt. It was then that the big play ability of the Dons’ offense showed up in a big way. QB Jake Boselli hit WR Ethan Torres on a streak down the right sideline and Acalanes had its first lead of the night, Dons 17, Cougars 14.

Despite giving up the lead, the Cougars are a talented, well-coached, battle-tested team, and they weren’t going away. Going to the air and utilizing their QBs ability to scramble and make plays on the run, Campolindo was able to make its way downfield and score to retake the lead, but missed the extra point, Dons 17, Cougars 20.

It looked like it was going to be a game of whoever had the ball last at that point, with the Dons quickly moving back into Campolindo territory when the turnover bug hit once again. A critical fumble at the Campolindo 30-yard line killed the Dons’ momentum when it looked like they were going to take the lead once again. Now the Cougars had the ball and they went right after a fatigued Dons defense, now without starting DE Justin Zegarowski who had incurred a hip pointer injury. The Dons valiantly held the Cougars to several third downs on the drive, including a third and five at the ten, but ultimately Campolindo was able to get into the end zone to make it a two-score lead, Dons 17, Cougars 27.

Down ten in the fourth quarter, the Dons showed their battle-tested mettle as well and moved down the field to cut the lead to three with the TD scored on a tunnel screen to Ethan Torres for his second of the game. With time running out, the Dons now needed a crucial stop and to use every second of the clock. After Campolindo got an initial first down, the Dons’ D did what it had done all night, stiffened at the most crucial moment and forced the Cougars to punt and give the Dons a chance to win or tie.

So this was it, the Dons had the ball on their own 35 with less than a minute left, needing a FG for the tie and a TD for the win. After an initial incompletion, a pass up the middle to Trevor Rogers got the Dons to midfield. A screen pass was stopped for no gain, and then the final interception of the night ended the comeback attempt and the Cougars escaped with the win.

So yeah, that stunk, as I said at the beginning. Too many turnovers and too many bad breaks. However, as the title of this article alluded, one door closed (the league title), but another remains open (NCS). So it’s back to work this week as we have another road trip to a Benicia team that isn’t as talented as last year but is always tough. After that, it’s home against Miramonte and the last road game at Northgate. The NCS door is still open and it’s up to the whole Acalanes Community to help lift our boys up, dust them off, and set them on that path. Our ultimate goals are still right there to be taken! Go Dons!