Coming into last week the Dons were already red-hot, riding a two-game winning streak with a combined 65-14 margin. After two shutout wins it’s officially a five alarm blaze and it’s the defense carrying the flamethrower. While the Acalanes offense kept the scoreboard humming, the defense drew a line in the turf and refused to let anyone cross it.
The Spark is Lit
On a balmy evening at Alhambra High, the Acalanes Dons squared off against the Alhambra Bulldogs but it was the Dons who showed they had both bark and bite. From the opening snap when sophomore Ashby Raher hit fellow sophomore Avery Titus for a first down, then Titus bolted to the end zone on the very next play (only for a referee’s inadvertent whistle to bring it back) the tone was set. That drive stalled but it gave the vaunted Dons defense a chance to go to work.
Freshman Lauren Gallagher and sophomore Ashlyn McCoin stuffed the Bulldogs’ first two plays, and after a lone first down run was halted by a tackle by freshman Amber Qin, Titus sacked the QB twice and freshman Ximena Espinosa Angel followed with a run stop that forced a turnover on downs.
The punishment was swift. On the very next play, freshman Margaret Stirling took a reverse hand off from Raher and thanks to good blocking from the receivers including freshman Maddie Garber, bolted 54 yards to the house, giving the Dons a lead they never relinquished.
After that it was the defense and offense trading spectacular plays. The Dons secondary shut the Bulldogs down time and again with freshman Violette Cline and Stirling breaking up passes and Gallagher picking off the Alhambra QB to give the Dons offense the ball back.
The defense kept the clamps on—freshman Emilia Deutsch Stella saved a first down with a critical tackle, McCoin and Gallagher swarmed the second level, Qin sacked the QB on and stuffed a run in the backfield on consecutive downs, Espinosa Angel recorded multiple tackles and freshmen Kamryn Dudley, Rania Adil and Qin locked down the secondary. Adil and Deutsch Stella each snagged fourth-quarter interceptions in a defensive show of force.
The offense closed it out in style, with Gallagher stepping in at QB and hitting freshman Julia Polson Flanigan for a quick strike then Adil for a 38 yard TD to put the Dons in the clear 20 – 0. In the 4th quarter Gallagher hit McCoin on a short TD pass and Cline scored the extra point to notch the win and final score 27-0 Dons.
Dougherty Valley Feels the Heat
When Dougherty Valley came to town, they walked straight into the now blazing inferno. The Dons hung 26 points on the Wildcats before halftime.
The defense picked right up where it left off. On the first two plays of the game Titus and McCoin landed quick tackles, Cline stuffed a fourth-down run, and when Acalanes got the ball on offense runs by and Titus and Stirling brought the Dons to the goal line where Raher quickly cashed in with a QB keeper and the first TD.
The Wildcats had no time to adjust. On the Wildcats very next offensive play McCoin jumped the receiver’s route picking off the pass and rumbling to the goal line, the first of six Dons interceptions on the night.
Titus did the honors on the next play and punched it in for the TD and Adil added the conversion to make it 13-0.
Moments later, back on defense, Gallagher picked off a pass and ran to the six then capped the excitement by hauling in a TD strike from Raher to put Acalanes up 20-0.
After another defensive master class, and a Wildcats turnover, Titus took an option pitch 46 yards to the end zone.
By then the outcome was decided, but the defense wasn’t finished. Gallagher and Adil each added interceptions, Stirling snatched two more, and Polson Flanigan notched multiple tackles while Qin, McCoin, and Titus kept the run game bottled up. Espinosa Angel, Cline, Deutsch Stella, and Dudley erased the passing lanes and shut down the Wildcat receivers holding Dougherty Valley without a completion the rest of the way.
When the smoke cleared, the scoreboard told the story: another shutout, 26-0.