Even though Acalanes has the top-ranked quarterback in the NS. On Friday night at Clayton Valley, the Dons hardly needed him to throw.

Leaning on the one-two punch of juniors Justin Davis and Joaquin Bordi, Acalanes piled up 359 rushing yards and controlled the game from the opening drive, rolling past the Clayton Valley Ugly Eagles 57-20 to improve to 7-1.

The tone was set immediately. The Dons marched down the field with ease on their first possession, mixing short passes to senior Finley Rivera with hard runs from Bordi and Davis. Davis capped the drive with a run up the middle, juking one defender and then powering through traffic to reach the goal line for his second touchdown of the season. Senior QB Tyler Winkles ran in the two-point conversion, and Acalanes led 8-0 barely three minutes into the game.

Davis, back in the lineup and announcing his presence with authority, finished with 102 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries, a staggering 11 yards per attempt. His second score came late in the first half, when the Dons converted a gutsy fourth-and-four from the 8 yard line thanks to another tough run for pay dirt.

Bordi was not to be outdone. The back did some heavy lifting between the tackles, carrying 15 times for a team-high 127 yards. In the third quarter, with Acalanes protecting a lead, the backfield duo ground out a methodical, clock-draining drive, consistently picked up six to eight yards a snap. Bordi finished it off with a five-yard touchdown run to push the margin to 43-20.

Pedro Sakaguti added the exclamation point. The junior back turned in his best game of the season, rushing for 44 yards on four carries, including a 20-yard score in the fourth quarter. He also hauled in a 43-yard reception for 87 all-purpose yards.

Clayton Valley tried to hang around. The Ugly Eagles answered Acalanes’ fast start with a 13-yard quarterback keeper and returned a kickoff for a touchdown just before halftime. But the Dons defense never let the Clayton Valley offense get comfortable, holding it to a single touchdown and two field goals all night. Acalanes also forced a fumble late in the third quarter to snuff out a promising Ugly Eagles drive.

By the fourth quarter, the Acalanes front had taken over. The Dons recorded five sacks, and the Clayton Valley quarterback spent much of the second half on the turf.

Junior Sean Tandler led the charge with 2.5 sacks, including back-to-back takedowns in the fourth quarter, to go with six tackles. Senior Danny Dunne was everywhere, leading the team with seven tackles and adding a sack. Senior Cam Sinha registered a sack and five tackles, while junior Kyle Sanftner split a sack and chipped in four tackles. Senior Luke Dafferner and junior Dax Vail each finished with six stops.

Special teams found themselves in an unexpected spotlight. Clayton Valley’s return unit broke loose repeatedly, taking one kickoff back for a touchdown and threatening to do it twice more. Each time, sophomore kicker Jonny Rubin was the last line of defense, and each time he made the play, chasing down the returner for a touchdown-saving tackle to keep the Ugly Eagles from turning big returns into points. Rubin finished with two tackles and was 5-5 on PATs.

And then there was Tyler Winkles, who did a little bit of everything. The senior signal-caller completed 12 of 16 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns, hitting a wide-open Rivera in the back of the end zone with 23 seconds left in the first half and finding Jackson Boselli on a perfectly placed slant early in the fourth. Rivera finished with seven catches for 81 yards.

Winkles was just as dangerous with his legs, rushing for 58 yards and two touchdowns. On his first, he escaped pressure in the backfield and scampered 15 yards to the end zone on a play that looked far too easy. On his second, he simply ran through and around defenders for a 20-yard score. And then the Dons dialed up some razzle-dazzle, setting up a reverse handoff to Rivera who threw the ball back to Winkles in the flat, turning the quarterback into a receiver with a 25-yard catch.

Next up, the Dons will take the short drive down Moraga Rd to compete against the high school from Moraga on Oct. 30th in what will surely be a spirited affair. Go Dons!