Football: Acalanes Stymies San Marin 21- 0 in Battle of Unbeatens

Acalanes 21, San Marin 0

The Star: Acalanes quarterback Michael Leamy completed 5-of-6 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns. He displayed laser-like accuracy on his deep throws and his receivers were able to make tough catches in tight coverage. The defense pitched a shutout led by the defensive line who collected two quarterback sacks.

The Turning Point: The Dons ran the ball for 18 straight plays to start the game and found themselves up 6-0 late in the second quarter. Suddenly, out of their running formation, Leamy dropped back for a surprise pass. The defense was caught completely off-guard and multiple receivers were left wide open. Leamy chose to throw the ball to his tight end Scott Clendening who coasted in for a 66 yard touchdown.

The Quote: "We banged it, banged it and banged it and then went deep and there were three guys wide open." — Acalanes coach Mark Ivankovic.

What's Next? Acalanes plays at Healdsburg (Recreation Park) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Bottom Line: The Dons stayed committed to their power running game but long completions of 66, 36 and 33 yards proved to be the difference. San Marin showed toughness and grit in stopping the run but were never able to maintain an offensive drive.

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Acalanes and San Marin both charged out of their opening huddles with chants of "three and '0'," but only Acalanes was able to maintain its perfect mark on the season.

The Dons took the air out of the football, running on their first 18 offensive plays from scrimmage.

"We want to be physical," said coach Mark Ivankovic. "You are not going to beat a team like this trying to finesse it. I can tell you this, we have run 24 power (their base running play) 2,000 times in the last ten years."

Their perseverance paid off in the second quarter with an eight-minute, 12-play drive, all runs, finished off by back Joe Dreyer pounding it in from five yards out.

But just when you heard fans in the stands openly wondering if the team would ever pass again, quarterback Michael Leamy unleashed a 66 yard pitch and catch with his tight end Scott Clendening.

"They kept coming up, because we had run it … I don't know how many times in a row," Leamy said. "So they had no safety over the tight end and Scott was wide open."

Leamy and Ivankovic obviously gained a significant amount of confidence from their first and only passing play of the first half to come out slinging the ball deep in the second.

"We worked on (the deep ball) a lot in practice," Leamy said. "But we hadn't used it much in the games until now."

Leamy hit wide receiver Lucas Levine with two beautiful over the shoulder catches in tight coverage.  Levine's second grab came on a sideline go-route where he made an acrobatic diving catch, while staying in bounds while being blanketed by corner Kevin Dowd.

"My receivers made some catches," Leamy said. "Especially Lucas on the sideline."

The catch set-up a 17-yard touchdown pass the very next play from Leamy to Trent Baker. Lucas' unlikely catch seemed to take the wind out of San Marin's sails.

Coming out of the locker room at halftime, San Marin seemed poised for a comeback. Quarterback Ryan Zirkle hit on his first four passing plays of the third quarter. But the offense quickly sputtered after several dropped passes and a penalty, all of which resulted in a measly nine-yard punt.

San Marin never got inside of the Dons' 38-yard line and its quarterback was often flushed out of the pocked by a strong pass rush. Acalanes lineman Justin Woo recorded a sack on San Marin's first offensive series. While mammoth, 6-foot-4, 270-pound, Michael Brady successfully hunted Zirkle for a loss of three yards in the second quarter.

Even with the solid victory and shutout, Ivankovich came away very impressed with San Marin and especially their lineman Nick Kristofors.

"Number 75 (Kristofers) is a D-I player," said Ivankovich. "We had a heck of a time containing and game planning against him."

Kristofers along with tough nosed running back Travis Grossi delivered some vicious hits on both sides of the ball. Ivankovich even conceded that he felt the Mustangs were more physical than the Dons in the first quarter.

However, Acalanes had a second gear and a new — and possibly blossoming —explosive offense. It proved that while it may be known league-wide for its five-yards in a cloud of dust approach, teams should be wary of the bomb.

The Dons will bus out to Healdsburg next Friday for a showdown under the lights at Recreation Park.

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Acalanes 21, San Marin 0

Acalanes 0 14 0 7 — 21
San Marin 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring summary
6:36, 2nd: A — Dreyer 5 run (kick no good)
4:36, 2nd: A — Clendening 66 pass from Leamy (Clendening from Leamy)
9:17, 4th: A — Baker 17 pass from Leamy (Nork kick)

Individual Statistics
Rushing (car-yards): A — Dreyer 20-88, Doherty 7-22, Sierra 5-16, Gardener 5-10, Leamy 2-9, Edwards 2-5, Woo 1-0. SM — Grossi 18-74, Alexander 2-8.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): A — 5-6-156. SM — Zirkle 11-25-91-1.
Receiving (rec-yards): A — Levine 2-69, Clendening 1-66, Baker 2-21. SM — Coyne 6-57, Grossi 3-18, Driscoll 1-11, Fairbanks 1-5.

Team offense (rush-pass-total)
Acalanes 151-156-307
San Marin 82-91-173
Fumbles/lost: A — 1/0; SM — 0/0.
Records: Acalanes 3-0; San Marin 2-1.

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