| ||||||
The team has begun the season undefeated with a 6-0 overall record and a 2-0 Diablo Foothill Athletic League (DFAL) record, and last Thursday, October 7th added an exclamation point with a commanding 42-7 road victory over Lamorinda rival, Acalanes.
"Early in the year, everyone had us picked at the bottom of the league," said Campolindo head coach Kevin Macy. "They surprised me. I didn't think that we could do something like this, but so many things came together tonight. Every kid was involved from top to bottom. I'm impressed with the way the kids played."
After a scoreless first quarter, the Dons started the onslaught with a short run to the end zone with 9:35 left in the second quarter to go up 7-0. The Cougars then went on to score two more second quarter touchdowns courtesy of junior quarterback Brett Stephens and senior wide receiver Karl Thornton, making it 21-0 at the half.
Campolindo would continue to punish the Dons in the second half with touchdowns from senior running backs Connor Rosenbaum and Reiner Ebarle before Acalanes was able to score behind senior running back Joseph Dreyer just before time ran out. The win was the Cougars' fifth blowout of the season, which includes a 37-7 win over Moreau Catholic, a 49-7 win over Ygnacio Valley, and a 55-20 win over St. Patrick/St. Vincent.
Macy attributes health as one of the main reasons his team, who faces Dublin (4-1, 1-0) for their homecoming game on Friday, October 14th, is performing well.
"We're sort of thin everywhere, we're a small team, but we're keeping people healthy, and we didn't know where we'd be this far into the year," he said. "Kids are finding their roles and things are starting to work for everybody."
However, the opposite is the case for Mike Ivanovich's injury-hit Acalanes team. The Dons have had at least two starters out since the first game of the season and lost two players to injury against Campolindo.
"We have catastrophic injuries, and our team never got to play," he said. "That's what's disappointing to me. We never got to see our team. We've got so many injuries and, the teams at the top of the standings have won their games and they've stayed healthy."
While the Dons (2-4, 0-2) won their first two nonconference games 49-0 over Ygnacio Valley and 28-21 over Skyline, they lost the next three by a combined 14 points, including a 24-14 loss to local rivals Miramonte on September 30.
"We've lost three games in a row - two of them with a minute left - but were trying to continue to go but it's been really hard," said Ivanovich. "It's really hard for young guys to come back every week fired up after having such heartbreaking losses."
Despite the four-game losing streak, Ivanovich is hopeful that these losses will motivate his players, who face Alhambra (2-4, 0-2) on Friday, to keep improving.
"You either come out and play as hard as you can and try to keep getting better and deal with adversity in a way that's productive, or you give up," Ivanovich said. "There are going to be a lot harder things in life that our guys are going to have to deal with, and as far as I'm concerned this prepares you with that. How you deal with the situation, how you manage this mentally is how you manage those things later."
Miramonte Remains Undefeated
Campolindo isn't the only local team to boast an undefeated record. Orinda's Miramonte also has a 6-0 overall record as well as a 2-0 DFAL record and have been every bit as impressive as their rivals from Moraga.
After squeezing past Analy 36-35, the Matadors went on to post non-conference wins over Kennedy, Fremont, and Liberty before defeating DFAL teams Acalanes and Dougherty Valley 24-14 and 29-14, respectively.
"The key to our success is offensively keeping teams off balance," said Miramonte head coach Jack Schram. "The defense has been doing a great job bending but not breaking and not giving up big plays, and offensively we're making big plays."
The team will look to continue making big plays and keeping its streak alive Friday against Las Lomas (5-0, 1-0).
"They're a very well coached team," said Schram. "They're huge, they're very physical, they have a distinct size advantage, and it's going to be a very tough game for us. If we have to turn it into a shootout, then hopefully we'll come out on top, but our game plan is just to outscore them."
Miramonte travels to Campolindo to take on the Cougars on October 21 at 7:00 p.m. in the final Lamorinda rivalry match of the regular season.Reach the reporter at:
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA