The Dons stayed hot on a rainy Friday night in Lafayette to capture the CIF NorCal 3AA Regional Football Championship. They defeated defending State Champions, Escalon High School, 49-14 for the first CIF Football Championship in school history!
The game was a contrast of styles with the quick strike Acalanes offense versus the grind it out, smash mouth football played by Escalon. In the end, the smash mouth defense of the Acalanes Dons controlled the game.
The Cougars started with the ball and immediately went into their ground and pound running game. The boys in blue employed a bend but don’t break approach that stopped Escalon on the Dons 5 yard line on a 4th down that gave the ball to Sully Bailey and the offense.
The Dons went to work. The coaches had a little surprise in mind when Jake Boselli got a reverse and threw to a wide open Sully Bailey for a 37 yard gain. Unfortunately a Dons turnover gave the ball back to Escalon and stopped the drive.
The Cougars then decided to throw deep on Trevor Rogers, which turned out to be a mistake for Escalon. Trevor returned the interception 84 yards for a rousing “Pick 6”! It sent a lightning bolt of energy through the Acalanes sideline! The Dons took an early 7-0 lead in the 1st quarter.
The boys continued to pressure the Cougars QB throughout the first half.
The Dons went right back to work with key runs from Jack Miller and Sully Bailey. Jack got it down to the one yard line, before Sully powered the rock into the end zone to give the boys a 14-0 lead. Miller ran for 84 tough yards on 9 carries for the day.
Escalon was able to put together a solid, time consuming drive as time ran down in the 2nd quarter. They scored with just over a minute left in the half to cut the deficit to 14-7. Fortunately, there was still plenty of time to crank up the Dons “Maserati” offense and march down the field for another score. Sully ran another one in from the two yard line and the boys were up 21-7 heading into the half. Henry Hagel, JD Orear, Brady Morrow, Drew McKenzie and Andrew Tresser were opening up big holes for their ball carriers.
The Dons got the opening kickoff to start the 2nd half. They immediately went to work with quick runs and precise passes. Jack Miller continued to run well. He punched in another Acalanes rushing touchdown to give the boys a 28-7 third quarter lead.
The defense continued to get key 4th down stops. This game featured the loudest hits of the year on the field. The larger Escalon team could clearly play, but the Dons just seemed to want it more.
There are too many defensive heroes to mention everyone. Here are a few…Paul Kuhner led all tacklers with a whopping 18 tackles, followed by Everett Glass with 17, Colin Malmquist with 16, Jake Bosselli with 12 and Jack Giorgianni with 11. These boys were laying the wood all night!
Escalon managed to put together another long, well earned drive to scratch out a final score of the evening and cut the deficit to 28-14 in the 3rd quarter. That’s as close as they would get. Escalon possessed the ball for over 41 minutes versus 6 minutes and 47 seconds for the Dons. Slow and steady did not win the race. The run and gun boys from Acalanes did.
The Dons offense would not be denied. Sully found Niko White on a 37 yard deep ball to put the boys in business again. This time Bailey ran it in from 11 yards out for his third rushing touchdown of the contest. That score put Acalanes up 31-14.
The Cougars were in a bad place. They needed instant offense, but Deonte Littlejohn was having none of it. He had 8 tackles including 2 sacks and an athletic 38 yard “Pick 6” that put the game away. After a two point conversion the Dons led 42-14 with time ticking away in the 4th quarter.
Sully Bailey added a 34 yard touchdown pass to Paul Kuhner late in the final period. Paul finished with 4 catches for 87 yards to go with his 18 tackles. Wow! What a game for Kuhner! Place Kicker Santi Vignoles added another extra point to bump the score to 49-14. He went 5-5 for the day. The rain could not dampen the spirit of the victorious Dons!!!
The Dons scored on 5 of their 6 possessions. They defended against a tier 1 State Champion and earned their way to a State Championship game. The boys in blue now head to Southern California for the Division 3AA State Championship Saturday, 12/9 at 11:30am at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. They take on the Birmingham Community Charter High School Patriots. that is 10 wins in the last 11 games. Let’s get another. ROAD TRIP DONS NATION! One to go!! Go Dons!!!