The first challenge facing the Acalanes JV football team Friday afternoon was apparently figuring out when the football game actually started.

With the schedule listing a 4:30 kickoff but the action commencing at 4:00, this correspondent arrived to discover Menlo-Atherton already leading 7-0. We will therefore assume, in the absence of eyewitness testimony to the contrary, that the opening minutes featured flawless execution by the Dons in every respect other than the scoreboard.

What followed was a hard-fought defensive battle in which Acalanes grabbed a halftime lead, produced memorable plays in all three phases, and ultimately came up just short, 14-8, against a strong and well-balanced Menlo-Atherton squad.

The Dons entered the afternoon still looking for their first first-half touchdown of the young season. In the second quarter, they went out and earned it.

Facing third down, Will Feinstein found Luke Kelly for more than 20 yards and a first down. Later, Jayden Lifson converted a third-and-two with a tough run, and Feinstein went back to Kelly for another 12-yard third-down conversion.

From two yards out, Lifson finished the job with 6:29 remaining in the half, then immediately did it again on the two-point conversion. Dons 8, Bears 7.

And just like that, Acalanes had both its first first-half touchdown and first halftime lead of the season.

None of it happens without the guys up front. The Acalanes offensive line spent the afternoon staring across at an imposing Menlo-Atherton defensive front, including one lineman listed at 5-foot-10 and 323 pounds. The Dons stood firm, creating running lanes and giving Feinstein time to operate. Offensive linemen rarely get the headlines, but their work in the trenches was a major reason Acalanes moved the football.

Lifson was seemingly everywhere, contributing tough runs and solid tackles while battling through recurring injury aggravations. Andre Lewis also picked up right where he left off against Archbishop Mitty. For the second consecutive week, Lewis was a physical presence on both sides of the ball.

His biggest moment came with Menlo-Atherton facing fourth-and-one. The Bears needed a yard. Lewis had other ideas. He met the play head-on and slammed the door, forcing a turnover on downs.

Lewis had plenty of company in the trenches. Beau Tandler, AJ Bishop, DJ McClellan, Samson Salvador, Harrison Clark, Kanishka Giridhar, Reese Caicedo and Arian Majlessi all contributed strong work against Menlo-Atherton’s considerable size. On another fourth-down attempt, the Bears went to the increasingly ubiquitous tush push. The Dons countered exactly as their coaches had taught them, getting underneath the offensive line and taking away the surge. Sometimes football strategy is chess. Sometimes the answer is simply to get lower than 300-pound teenagers.

The defense delivered elsewhere, too. William Griffin grabbed a key interception to end a Menlo-Atherton possession. Luke Fratarcangeli sniffed out a quarterback draw, meeting the quarterback at the line and dropping him with a solo tackle. Alden Sturm was active in the secondary, contributing a number of tackles as the Dons kept the Bears bottled up for much of the afternoon.

Coach Beeman’s “next man up” theme was perhaps best personified by Jackson Cooper, who stepped into a new role at safety while also lining up at slot receiver. Cooper contributed on both sides of the ball and hauled in multiple passes, precisely the versatility a short-handed roster needed.

Acalanes also found success through the air. Feinstein and Mateo Valenzuela repeatedly connected on quick screens, while Valenzuela nearly hauled in a deep post that landed tantalizingly beyond his reach.

Perhaps the prettiest offensive play belonged to Stone Jaquet. Facing fourth down, Jaquet spun away from coverage before looking back to find a beautifully feathered Feinstein pass dropping toward his back shoulder. Jaquet made the catch for a long gain and a crucial conversion, the sort of play that makes fourth down considerably more enjoyable for everyone except the opposing sideline.

Special teams also turned in one of the Dons’ strongest performances. Acalanes broke a big return on the opening kick out of halftime, while two Menlo-Atherton punts actually produced negative yardage after hitting the turf, including one decidedly Dons-friendly boomerang. A Feinstein punt later nearly pinned the Bears deep before bounding into the end zone.

The 8-7 lead held through most of the second half as the defenses traded stops. Eventually, deep in the fourth quarter, Menlo-Atherton found traction on the ground, eating clock and stringing together chunk gains before breaking through for a touchdown and extra point, which made it 14-8 and proved to be the difference.

Afterward, Head JV Coach Nat Beeman said he was proud of how hard the Dons fought and the resilience they showed, particularly with multiple players sidelined by injuries. Those absences required players to step into unfamiliar roles, putting the team’s “next man up” mentality to a very real test.

The Dons answered it.

One week after a strong second-half showing against Mitty, Acalanes put together a sustained scoring drive, carried a lead into halftime and kept it deep into the second half. The lines stood tall, special teams provided a spark, the defense created turnovers and fourth-down stops, and a short-handed roster kept battling.

Next up is St. Ignatius, which visits Lafayette next Friday. Many of these Dons will remember beating the Wildcats 19-6 when the same classes met as freshmen last season. Both teams are older, bigger and different now, but the Dons head into Week Three with mounting evidence that the pieces are coming together.

Two weeks down, two steps forward. Now comes another opportunity to put all four quarters together.

And after this week’s scheduling adventure, at least one member of the Acalanes traveling party is also committed to improvement. Regardless of what time the schedule says kickoff is next Friday, Alden’s parents will be there 30 minutes earlier.

Reporting for the Dons, with questionable punctuality but unwavering objectivity, Alden’s dad.