The first of many home games of the season was successful for the Varsity Football Team. The theme of the night was Red, White, & Blue night which matched the colors of the Dons & Cardinals. SF Lowell played their hearts out but it wouldn’t be enough with limited bench and multiple key injuries throughout the night.
The first 12 seconds set the tone with Dons’ senior #18 Niko White (WR) taking the opening kickoff back for an 82-yard TD. Lowell was quick to respond, and with more effort the game was tied just two minutes in. That would be the end of the back and forth as Lowell QB was sacked by junior #46 Deonte Littlejohn (DE/RB) who had the only sack of the game, and Lowell’s QB would not return. Shortly after White quickly scored again, and again, scoring 3 TD’s in the first quarter.
While White went for a total of 175 all-purpose yards, sophomore #6 Tyler Winkles (QB) made his debut with 8-13 passing for 199 years, 4 TDs, no INTs, and no sacks. The sophomore showed great potential. Don’s receivers dropped 3 passes, otherwise it would have been 11-13. Junior #42 Santi Vignoles (K) converted every extra point with ease.
Littlejohn, coming out as one of the Dons’ captains, came bursting out with energy, which he correlated to a long off season and eagerness to play again. He played both sides of the ball and finished with 8 tackles, 1 sack, and carried the ball 8 times for 56 yards and 2 rushing TDs. Senior #11 Wyatt Cooper (LB) led the team with 9 tackles chasing down and pushing back Lowell’s offense.
Other heavy hitters for Acalanes included #50 Adam Caceido (DL) , #51 Amin Naroozi (DL), #62 Drew McKenzie (OL/DL), #41 Brady Wall (LB), #23 David Roux (LB), #84 Bryce Birdsong (BD), and #71 Andrew Tresser (OL) who audibly stunted the crowd when he became a brick wall against Lowell’s defender in pursuit of a TD after an interception. I asked Tresser after the game about his pregame rituals and he noted he always makes a smoothie, gets a double steak chipotle burrito, and jams to any Katie Perry song. After that hit I’m pretty sure he won’t forget Last Friday Night, but more importantly we hope to see him do it all again this Friday night.
Overall the Dons came out big, and totally underestimated again by the rankings. Former NFL cornerback and coach and Lowell alma-mater, Gill Byrd, tuned into the game and noted that Lowell looked like elementary schoolers up against the Dons. And while the Dons also came away with some injuries, mainly starter and senior #0 Brody Darin (DB/S) breaking his collarbone requiring at least 6 weeks of recovery, Coach Floyd Burnsed is confident the returning State Champions have players who can come in and rise to the occasion. “We’ll be sore after tonight, but we have the weekend, ” Floyd said. Reflecting on the night he noted, “We had some good and bad plays, but we have the players and we’ll get better every week.”
Dons are back at it Friday with ‘Dons going to the Tropics’. Catch the Blue Wave and Good Vibes. Acalanes faces off against Mt. Diablo in a football clash with tsunami warnings from both offense and defense. Kickoff at 7PM– home. See you there!