Acalanes defends against Las Lomas junior running back #5 Marquis Walters Photo Doug Kohen
The Mike Ivankovich era has officially begun for the Acalanes Dons football team. The first year head coach jumped out to a fast start in league play on Friday, October 2nd, as the Dons hosted the Las Lomas Knights in their first league game of the year. Acalanes continued its winning ways on Friday, October 9th against Dougherty Valley. The Dons defeated Dougherty 21-14 and with the win improve to 3-3 overall and 2-0 in league.
The Knights looked poised to run away with the victory as they led 21-6 at halftime. However, the second half played out like a movie script for the Dons, as they came back to beat Las Lomas by one point, bringing the final score to 36-35.
Acalanes entered the game coming off a tough preseason in which they managed only one win, beating Justin-Siena 35-20, while dropping two.
Friday's regular season opener looked grim in the first half. The Dons managed only one score in the first half of this game, which came on a five yard run by senior runningback Bo McSwine, but the Dons missed their PAT. The team was also given quite a scare when Acalanes senior tight end, Tommy Capello, was taken off the field with an apparent concussion. "Giving the thumbs up to his teammates and inspiring them to continue, letting them know it was okay, showed a lot of courage," said Ivankovich.
The Dons came out of the locker room a different team.
Senior runningback Tyler Malley returned the second half kickoff 36 yards, which set up a 64-yard touchdown run by McSwine. Seconds later, the Dons recovered the football on an onside kick from senior kicker Ben Ewing. The two runningbacks for Acalanes combined for 197 rushing yards on the game.
At the 10:34 mark in the third quarter, Acalanes' junior quarterback Michael Leamy converted their first pass play attempt of the game to junior wide receiver Lucas Levine. The play only garnered five yards, but it was enough for a first down and enough to get Leamy back on track. Leamy finished 5-13 for 61 yards, but it was his pass plays on third and fourth downs kept Acalanes alive.
Las Lomas increased their lead to 28-20 in the fourth quarter but Acalanes was able to tie the score on a fourth down pass play to senior tight end Mat Lewis in the right hand side of the end zone. Leamy went right back to Lewis in the same spot for the two-point conversion, tying the game at 28-28.
After Las Lomas runningback Marquis Waters scored a touchdown to give the Knights a 35-28 lead, the Dons were forced to try and tie the game with just over three minutes to play.
With 24 seconds to play, Leamy connected on a touchdown pass to Lewis. All the Dons needed to do was convert their PAT to take the game into overtime. Instead, coach Ivankovich decided to go for a two-point conversion. McSwine received the handoff and bulled his way straight up the middle for the two point score, and the one point victory.
When asked about the play call of the coach in the last few seconds of the game, Leamy said, "That's what I wanted the whole time. Everyone wanted that, and we knew we'd get it. There was nothing stopping us."
Acalanes' running backs, seniors Bo McSwine and Tyler Malley (pictured),
combined for 197 rushing yards in the game Photo Doug Kohen
The Knights looked poised to run away with the victory as they led 21-6 at halftime. However, the second half played out like a movie script for the Dons, as they came back to beat Las Lomas by one point, bringing the final score to 36-35.
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA