LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Football Enters Rivalry Weeks


Casey Harrington (3) has led his team to a 7-1 overall record, 3-0 in DFAL. Photos Gint Federas

Halfway through the season, Lamorinda teams head into a series of rivalry games between Acalanes (7-1, 3-0 DFAL) and Miramonte (2-5, 1-2) this Friday, Oct. 24 and a Halloween showdown between Campolindo (8-0, 4-0) and Miramonte. Acalanes then takes on Campolindo on Nov. 7.

Acalanes carries a six-game win streak (three straight in DFAL) into the matchup after beating Dougherty Valley 36-22 on the road last Friday, Oct. 17. Head coach Mike Ivankovich credits his defense with the success.

"We've done a lot of good work against the run, at times it's been great, definitely an improvement over last year," he said.

Ivankovich knows his team now faces some of its biggest challenges.

"We've had some games where we've played great and some where there were a lot of mistakes; we have to limit those," he said. "[We'll face] a lot of strong running games, so the back stretch of our schedule is going to require us to continue to toughen up against the run."

Miramonte has faltered a bit this season, but a quarterback change and some strong running in the 43-30 win against Dougherty Valley on Oct. 10 has sparked the offense.

"We ran the ball a lot better than we have, and we didn't turn the ball over as much as we had in the past," said head coach Jack Schram of their efforts against Dougherty Valley.

Junior running back Clayton Stehr carried the ball for 198 yards. After moving out of the quarterback spot, Ryan Anderson hauled in two touchdown catches and returned an interception for a touchdown. Schram noted that Sutter Lindberg "did a great job of managing the offense," after taking over as quarterback.

Looking ahead, Schram said his team will have to be able to slow down the Dons offense.

Campolindo has a bye this week after defeating Las Lomas 38-28. The Cougars took over the No. 1 rank in Northern California Division III football earlier this year and haven't looked back.

The Cougars' offense is rolling behind quarterback Jack Stephens, running back Nick Fadelli, tight end Tyler Petite, wide outs Max Flower and Caleb Whalen, and a makeshift offensive line, all of whom are exceeding expectations.

On Oct. 31, though, Campo will host Miramonte, a game that will test their early season success. "I've been here 19 years, and we've only had one other game on Halloween, but we've never played Miramonte on Halloween," Campolindo head coach Kevin Macy said. "The kids will be amped up for that, a unique twist to that game."

Campolindo will then wrap up its regular season in a showdown with Acalanes, and Macy's team will have their hands full with Dons' quarterback Casey Harrington.

"[Casey] had a solid year last year, but now he's coming back with a lot of experience. That Acalanes game, really all these games coming up are going to be almost too overboard in terms of hype," he said. "We're in pretty deep for the next games."