WALNUT CREEK — Acalanes’ passing attack has sliced and diced secondaries all season and entered Friday averaging over 300 yards per game.
But in the Dons’ 34-14 victory over previously unbeaten Las Lomas, one that put Acalanes in first place in the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division standings, the Lafayette school didn’t need precision passing.
It needed a sledgehammer to break down its Walnut Creek rival and found one in 190-pound linebacker-turned-running back Jack Giorgianni.
“Our games have been blowouts, so we’ve never needed him that much until tonight,” Acalanes coach Floyd Burnsed said. “He showed how good he was tonight.”
With the score tied at 14-14 entering the fourth quarter and starting RB Jack Miller out with injury, Giorgianni ran the ball five times for 60 yards on the Dons’ drive and punctuated the sequence with an 18-yard run through the heart of the defense.
By the time the senior made it into the end zone, he had broken ankles, tackles and a lead with 10:17 left in the quarter.
“I just had to go in there and fight to get yards after contact,” Giorgianni, who ran for 83 yards, all in the fourth quarter. “They knew it was coming, and they couldn’t freaking stop it.”
The hard-fought victory kept Acalanes a perfect 5-0 in DAL-Foothill play, and the Dons will have a chance to clinch the program’s first league title of the Burnsed era, which goes back to 2016. Standing in their way is longtime rival Campolindo, which has won the past three matchups.
“I hope it’s a little easier than it was last year,” Burnsed remembered, recalling last season’s 27-24 heartbreaker vs. the Moraga school. “We fumbled inside the 20 last year down by three, and made a lot of mistakes.”
Acalanes’ 214 rushing yards, 110 by Miller, continued a trend from the past few weeks. The Dons’ rushing attack had picked up over the previous four games, cracking the 100-yard mark in each game after failing to do so over the first four weeks.
After a defensive stand by both teams, Las Lomas got the ball back on the 36-yard line with a chance to tie. That’s when Acalanes defensive back Trevor Rogers jumped in front of a pass on the first play of the drive and snuffed out any momentum Las Lomas might have started.
Two plays later, lefthanded Acalanes quarterback Sully Bailey tossed out a quick screen to Niko White. The receiver did the rest, accelerating past defenders and blockers alike for a 42-yard screen pass touchdown to make it 28-14 with 6:22 left in the game.
Any remaining hope Las Lomas had was snuffed out on the next drive, as safety and backup quarterback Jake Boselli picked off the Knights’ pass and returned it 52 yards to give Acalanes its final touchdown of the game.
“We’ve got a young team, and I don’t have my head down by any means,” Las Lomas coach Doug Longero said. “We didn’t play as well as we wanted to tonight. We’ll regroup, play next week and get ourselves into the playoffs.”
The final score belied how competitive Las Lomas was through the majority of the game. Sophomore Dylan Thomas deftly guided the Knights downfield with short passes to complement a ground game that got 55 yards from Sava Pouridis and 54 from Kaden Lagaya.
Thomas kept the ball on the option for a four-yard touchdown on the opening drive. Bailey answered with a short touchdown run and a three-yard screen pass to a tackle-breaking Paul Kuhner on the next two Acalanes drives to give the visiting school a 14-7 lead.
The third quarter was dominated by defense, the only scoring a one-yard Lagaya touchdown run after the Knights’ defense forced and recovered a fumble inside the 30-yard line.
“We had a couple of rough drives coming out of halftime with our offense, and our defense just getting some turnovers and getting the ball back for us, it really helped us out,” said Bailey, who threw for 126 yards and two touchdowns.
After winning each of its last five games by at least 40 points, one of Giorgianni’s crushing blockers enjoyed playing a tough opponent.
“This was a really good game for us, we needed one of these,” senior Acalanes lineman Brady Morrow said.
Las Lomas needs to win next Friday’s game at Miramonte to stay in contention for a shared DAL-Foothill title. Meanwhile, Acalanes has an opportunity to take the league title with a victory over Campolindo, the Dons’ first DAL championship since Burnsed took over in 2016.
“It’s a stepping stone,” Burnsed said. “Our goals coming in was to win the league and win the state. I think we can achieve those goals, and we have the talent to do it.”
