Acalanes Dons Frosh boys finish in second place at Cal Frosh Tournament, losing by only two little tiny points, 46 to 44
The Dons got off to a fast start against the tough Las Lomas Knights and lead for the majority of the game, but in the end narrowly lost 46-44. The Dons again brought a strong defensive effort with strong rebounding from Bennett Dodge and Jack Bayliss.
The Dons led at the half 25-21 but the Knights pulled away with clutch 3 pointers and never looked back. Jack scored a team high 16 points (57 points over 3 tournament games). Miller Smith and Landon Best-Santos added 10 points each.
This was the Dons first lost of their season. Losing is part of the game. If you never lose, you are never truly tested, and never forced to grow. Frosh Dons grow, thrive and play hard. They look forward to meeting up with the Knights again. Be ready, Knights!
The Frosh team plays again in Cal Mini Tournament Dec 12-14. The Dons will face Alhambra at 6pm, this Thursday.
The Boys Varsity Soccer had sold a “Men at Work” item at the Booster Bash last year and what a success! The Varsity team took a weekend and worked in the lucky purchasers’ yard to build steps, plant trees and do general clean up. “It looks magnitudes better and I truly enjoy seeing the palm tree ever day.” thanked the home owner.
Raising money for team sports is not an easy feat. Watching the Varsity Soccer team to go out and work for their sport shows commitment, leadership and teamwork. “I think your idea of offering yard work to raise funds for sports is spot on! said the home owner The year is starting off great for the Boys Varsity Soccer and they will continue with their success on and off the field. Nice Job Dons!
Acalanes Frosh team galloped quickly past Monte Vista Mustangs 45-28 to advance to Cal Frosh Finals.
Monte Vista Mustangs brought a ton of noise and wild excitement out of the gate but was quieted quickly by Landon Best-Santos. This was not Landon’s first rodeo nor basketball game. Landon hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter, racked up 11 of the 19 first quarter team points and scored a game high 17 points for the Acalanes Dons. The Mustangs were tamed and never recovered from the large lead established by the Dons in the first half.
Both Coco Gannonand Landonled the way with aggressive defense forcing turnovers demoralizing the Mustang’s offense. Bennett Dodgepulled down key rebounds on both ends of the floor. Jack Bayliss added 16 points and Miller Smithhad 7 points. The Dons will square off against the Las Lomas Knights tomorrow in the winner take all championship game.
Championship Game at Cal High School Saturday, December 7 at 3pm
The JV Dons beat Concord High School 80-58 on Thursday night and will play American Canyon at 8pm tonight! This is the second day of the annual 3-day John Rhodes Memorial Tournament so join us to cheer on the Dons! Admission is free for students with an ASB card, $8 for adults or $5 for adults with an AHS Booster card, and $5 for children/seniors.
In their first game of their first tournament of the season, the Acalanes Dons Freshman Boys basketball team slid by the host team – California High 55-50.
Cal High had no answer for Jack Bayless who slashed through the lanes all night and put up 25 points. Miller Smith scored 17 points including 4 shots made beyond the arc and went 3 for 4 at the line. Landon Best-Santos closed out with key free throws to put the game away. Kaleo, Bennett, Coco and Justin all logged significant minutes and kept Cal High from scoring through tough defense and battling on the boards.
The Dons will advance and face Monte Vista tomorrow night in the semi final match with the winner advancing to the championship on Saturday.
Taming of the Monte Vista Mustangs will begin at 8pm tomorrow. Go Dons!
Let’s cheer on the JV Boys Basketball team at 8pm tonight versus Concord. AHS hosts The John Rhodes Memorial Tournament starting today through Saturday. Admission is free for students with an ASB card, $8 for adults or $5 for adults with an AHS Booster card and $5 for child/senior.
Boys Varsity Soccer defeat Foothill 4-0 with a great start to the season. The Dons started off strong with Will Easley saving two shots on goal. Will had a strong defensive game with a blocked penalty kick to hold the game a shut out. The offenses time came in the first 5 minutes of the game with Nick Geannacopulos assist to Wesley Alpert. 1-0. GOAL! With 3:20 left in the half Daniel Adri assisted to Owen Hansen with a header in the goal! 2-0
Second half as strong as the first half with Will Easleys’ two more saves right from the start! Nick Geannacopulos’ chance with a penalty kick … Goal. 3-0 Acalanes. Owen Myall checked into the game with three saves keeping Will Easley clean sheet. 25:23 left in the game Charlie Peacock spotted Aiden Mosley through the box and with Aidens Speed he made a beautiful goal. 4-0 The Dons win.
Eliza and her teammate Jasmine Toni qualified to compete in the NCS championships for singles. The 2 day tournament was played at Mill Valley Tennis Club. Jasmine won her opening round 6-2 7-6 , but fell to the# 3 seed in her second round. Eliza competed at a very high level to win her semi-final match 6-3 7-5 against senior Sophie de Groot from College Park. She faced senior Solia Valentine from Berkeley in the finals. The first set started poorly with a quick few games against her, but Eliza fought back to even things up and then played very solid in the tiebreaker to take the first set 7-6. Eliza then took her game up a notch and didn’t drop another game to finish 6-0 for the championship. Congratulations girls for representing Acalanes well. One for the record books! The tournament has been played with a girls’ division since 1977 and this is the first time a champion has come from our school! The boys’ division started in 1915 and only 3 boys from Acalanes have won in the years 1995, 1966 and 1960.
First Girls NCS Champion from Acalanes EVER! 40+ years of tournamentEliza and Jasmine Class of 2021
Show up and cheer for the Dons today as Girls Tennis faces off against Mission San Jose at home, NCS match at 5pm. 4 lines of singles and 3 lines of doubles will play, first team to score 4 wins moves on to Round 2 of TEAM NCS play. LET”S GO DONS!
The JV Don’s wrapped up their season on Friday by beating Alhambra at home by a score of 36-0. This was the 7th game this season that was a shutout. The Junior Varsity team ended their season with a 9-0 record – Scoring a total of 343 points and only allowed 18 against them the entire season!! Truly a remarkable accomplishment! Not sure if I mentioned this last week, or the week prior… but we beat Campolindo…!!!
The JV Don’s got things going early when #33 Jack Wood took the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown! The team never looked back… The offense only had the ball for 16:35 minutes and that was all it took to score 4 more times! #4 Evan Malmquist scored on the Don’s next possession with an 8 yard run up the middle. Quarterback Luke Souza #7, who was 8 -10 passing on the night, connected with #8 Will Berrien for a 6 yard pass for the third touchdown of the night – Then, on the Don’s next possession Souza connected with #11 Miles Bergman for another touchdown! The JV Don’s finished the scoring at the close of the 1st half when #18 Conner McPhail connected with #33 Jack Wood for a 30 yard touchdown pass – Wood made a spectacular one handed catch and manage to stay inbounds for the score ! Kicker Rhett Skvarna, #44 , was a PERFECT 4 for 4 on the Point after Touchdown attempts.
#33 Jack Wood running hard up the middle#33 Jack Wood making a one handed catch
The Defense got it done again! Another Shut Out! The defensive unit held Alhambra to 104 total yards of offense, with 11 different players making a tackle, 7 of those for a loss of yards! #15 Devin Miniello had 5 solo tackles on the night, with 1 assist, and 1 tackle for a loss – he also had a big interception to stop an Alhambra drive – #17 Logan Ketcham #27 Ethan Roland #63 Sm Hafner all had stand out nights – multiple tackles, sacks and fumble recoveries, and were all just wreaking havoc in the Alhambra backfield all night!
#4 Evan Malmquist laid out to Sack Alhambra’s Quarterback
This is a very fun bunch of football players to watch – they are very intense but have a lot of fun! Looking forward to seeing them next year up on Varsity – For more pictures from the Alhambra game cut and past this URL into your browser – https://photos.app.goo.gl/JxXVP5hCZaQJ4Czh8
