The Acalanes Dons will head out to square off against the Amador Valley Dons at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Acalanes will be strutting in after a win while Amador Valley will be coming in after a defeat.
Acalanes took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They breezed by College Park at home to the tune of 63-28. Given the Dons' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 183rd, while the Falcons are ranked 451st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Austin Wampler, who rushed for 204 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 66 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Another player making a difference was Tyler Winkles, who threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 14.3 yards per attempt.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Acalanes was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 348 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted was before the start of last season.
Meanwhile, Amador Valley entered their game against Liberty on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Amador Valley took a 34-28 hit to the loss column at the hands of Liberty. The loss continues a trend for the Dons in their matchups with the Lions: they've now lost three in a row.
Despite the defeat, Amador Valley got top-tier performance from Tristan Tia, who rushed for 90 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 carries, and also threw for 271 yards and a touchdown while completing 74.1% of his passes. Tia is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last three games he's played. 105 of those passing yards were hauled in by Ben Stout.
Acalanes' victory was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-1. As for Amador Valley, their loss dropped their record down to 1-3.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Acalanes has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 176.8 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Amador Valley has preferred to attack from the air: they average 269.2 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Acalanes couldn't quite finish off Amador Valley in their previous matchup back in September of 2023 and fell 14-12. Can Acalanes avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
