Acalanes finds its leaders in coach, QB
Inheriting a coach who has been around the game 39 years can elicit many reactions among teenagers.
On the plus side: knowledge, a level-headed approach, experience.
On the downside: unbending, stubborn, old-school.
The first time AcalanesLafayette quarterback Robby Rowell heard that then-69-yearold Floyd Burnsed was coming out of retirement to coach the Dons, he went somewhere completely different.
“I thought we got a steal of a hire,” he said. “From everything I heard, coach Burnsed was a legend around Lamorinda.”
If you call a 154-62-2 record and five North Coast Section titles in 20 seasons for rival Miramonte-Orinda being a legend, then Burnsed fit the bill.
In his second season, the now-70-year-old Burnsed has Acalanes — which has never won an NCS title — at 6-0. The 23rd-ranked Dons host ninthranked Clayton Valley-Concord (5-2) at 7 p.m. Friday in a key Diablo Athletic League contest.
Utilizing a new age air-raid attack, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Rowell has thrown for 1,399 yards and 25 touchdowns (with one interception), receiver Brian Merken has 12 TDs among his 23 catches (for 629 yards) and the Dons have outscored opponents 280-73.
There’s nothing old school about that. Acalanes looks nothing like the Solano College teams Burnsed coached from 2002 to 2011.
“The films I saw of those teams, they were running two running backs and the quarterback was under center,” Rowell said. “He’s obviously learned how to adapt. He’s not at all set in his ways.”
But Burnsed knows a good quarterback when he sees one.
During his 1982-2002 stay at Miramonte, 13 of Burnsed’s quarterbacks went on to play at Division I colleges, including Ken Dorsey (Miami), Drew Bennett (UCLA) and Marc Guillon (Miami, Alabama).
Thus far, Rowell, a third-year starter with a 3.99 grade-point average and good speed, has yet to receive an offer.
“He’s really good and can play Division I football,” Burnsed said of Rowell. “He’s the whole package. He runs well, makes great reads, he’s very accurate, throws well on the run. On top of that, he’s a great leader. Quiet off the field, but a great vocal leader on it.
“If Division I schools don’t recruit Robby, they simply aren’t doing their jobs.”
The Dons are much more than Rowell.
The offensive line, led by returners Ryan Nall (6-4, 235), Cole Brant (5-11, 240), Max Thrasher (5-10, 215) and Logan Branch (6-0, 265) as well as newcomer Eric Larson (6-1, 185), has improved immensely since last season, when the team went 4-7.
Defensively, linebackers Nick Henderson (team-high 53 tackles) and Nall lead the way for a group coached by former Cal great David Ortega, the Bears’ all-time leading tackler.
“This group just competes,” Burnsed said. “They go out every week and believe they can win. We have a very good senior class, and they’ve shown great leadership.”
Few are expecting the Dons to beat a Clayton Valley squad that last year defeated Acalanes 56-7.
“They’re the best team we’ll see all season,” Rowell said. “They took it to us last season. No one gives us much of a chance. We believe in ourselves.”
Burnsed “definitely has a calming presence. We never get too rattled.”