Campolindo ends tough week with victory

When 40year coaching veteran Kevin Macy broke into a postgame dance step in front of his CampolindoMoraga players, there was no mistaking Friday night’s win over visiting AcalanesLafayette was different.

Then while addressing the team and surrounding parents, Macy made that point abundantly clear.

“There’s just a lot that this team went through this week that not many outside of this team really knows about,” he said to the group. “We don’t have any state championships this year, but tonight was our state championship.”

The Cougars (30, 20 Diablo Athletic League-Foothill Division) did not trail while dealing their district rival its first loss of the season 2813. It was a win that came six days after junior lineman Elijah Klock’s father died of a heart attack.

“It was just a hard week to get all of this pulled together,” Macy said following his postgame address. “We had to strip the whole rivalry aspect away from it, and sort of concentrate on just us. This week had to be about us and nothing else.”

Klock and the offensive front sprung senior tailback Dillan Thoms for 13 and 20 yards on Campolindo’s first two plays, jumpstarting a 12play drive punctuated by Thoms’ 3yard scoring run.

Three plays into the ensuing possession, Will Monkarsh made a diving interception of a tipped pass. It was the first of three forced turnovers against quarterback Brady Huchingson and a Dons offense that was dynamic over in the team’s two wins.

Receiver Joey Schmidt twice tipped the ball to himself and went 77 yards for a 217 lead on the opening drive of the second half.

Acalanes (21, 11) cut its deficit to 2113 in the third quarter on the second of two Nic Rossi scoring runs. The Dons were driving to tie it when Campolindo linebacker Jake Leuteneker picked up his first of two fumble recoveries.

“Today was just really crazy for me,” Klock said. “I’ve never beaten Acalanes before. Me and my dad, we were so tight. So this game, not just me, but this whole team really dedicated it to him. That just put a whole new fire under us, and pushed us to this win.”

Thoms finished with 110 yards on 30 carries. Schmidt had four catches for 129 yards. Huchingson finished 18for29 for 168 yards.

#3 Pittsburg 35, #22 Heritage-Brentwood 16: Eli Brickhandler completed 12 of 15 passes for 150 yards and two scores and Daytuawn Pearson rushed for 141 yards and another score as the visiting Pirates (2-0) won at Heritage (2-1), which got a 22-yard TD run in the second half from Devon Rivers.

Saturday

#2 Serra 49, Sacred Heart Cathedral 10: Hassan Mahasin ran for touchdowns of 10, 51 and 3 yards as the host Padres (2-0) rushed for seven scores overall, including one each by freshman Jabari Mann (9 yards), Jamil Leblanc (4) and Trace Lemar (10).

#6 St. Ignatius 42, #21 Riordan 0: Jahsai Shannon returned the opening kickoff 95 yards and added a 1-yard TD run and an interception for the host Wildcats (1-0). Aidan Smith completed touchdown passes of 65 yards to Ryan Ivers and 30 yards to Oliver Stuart as St. Ignatius took a 42-0 lead midway through the third. Liam McGannon caught a 12-yard TD pass from Charlie Pyfer and Cheddar Tunney finished the scoring with an 11-yard run.