Battling in the Trenches

It was a tough hard-fought battle along both lines of scrimmage throughout the night.The Campolindo blocking scheme was on point, and the Dons had trouble breaking through to make plays. Once they did break-through they were faced with a runaway truck wearing #24 for the Cougars, who scored five touchdowns on the day. By pounding the Dons D with a bruising running game, Campolindo was able to wear down Acalanes and keep the normally high scoring Dons offense off of the field. Even as the defense started to find its stride later in the game, the toll of all that time on the field resulted in a few late scores that made the margin even bigger than it might have been otherwise. Standouts on a tough night included OLBs Miller Smith and Tobias Schwing, and DTs Tyler Murphy and Tyler Worthington, with numerous tackles in the Cougar backfield.

Takeaways Doom the Dons

While the last several weeks have allowed the Dons to run up scores with their fast paced, quick hitting offense, the Cougars were well prepared to take away many of the Don’s favorite plays. Early on in the game, two drives ended with turnovers, just when the Dons were starting to get hot. It seemed like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong and that can’t happen against a really good team like Campolindo. Even with an aggressive and well-prepared Cougar team, the offense did move the ball when it had a chance. Toby, with a heavily taped up thumb, averaged nearly 3.5 yards a carry, and Kyle, given time to throw by a great O-line effort, just missed a few long completions that were dropped or a bit out of reach. When the offense was on the field, they were able to hit on a few explosive plays, including a 36 yard flea flicker from Jake Takeuchi to Ethan Torres, a 7 yard TD from Kyle to Theo Stoll, and an electrifying 90 yard KO return courtesy of the “Theopedo” right in front of the Campo bench.

Remember… Use it… Get Better

When you play sports, games like this are inevitable, unfortunately it had to happen against our cross-town neighbors and friends. While it’s best to put some of this in the rear-view mirror, it’s also important to remember how it feels and use it as motivation to get better, get stronger, get faster. Get into the weight room, eat more, run more, we’ll get a chance at that same team next year, and the Dons will be bigger, stronger and faster. Personal appeal here, if your son isn’t playing baseball in the Spring, think about joining the track team. Great coaches, and you get faster and stronger. They are in the weight room two to three times a week and running every day. Even for the bigger lineman, Chris Clark (also the football trainer) is a fantastic throws coach. Plus, it’s a really fun team to be on. Go Dons! Only 365 days (roughly)until we get a crack at those darn Cougars again!

Jeff Julian, Proud Dad of a Don and Frosh Team PR