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To say Amador Valley quarterback Tristan Ti’a was near-perfect against Foothill in the Dons 48-12 win on Oct. 4 is not far from the truth.
The Amador senior finished the night 20-for-21, for 362 yards and five touchdowns. Ti’a also ran for 41 yards, finishing the night with 403 total yards off offense.
“He’s incredible,” Amador coach Danny Jones said. “He’s a step ahead of everyone — even our receivers at times. He sees the field so well and is so calm in the pocket.”
I watched the game on television and was amazed at the calmness of Ti’a as he went through his progressions. He just repeatedly picked the Foothill defense apart as the Dons took a 36-6 lead at the half.
But it’s not just the Falcons Ti’a has torched this year.
On the season he is 109-for-136 this year (an amazing 80%) for 1,677 yards and 15 touchdowns with only one interception.
He also gets it done on the ground, as Ti’a leads the team 449 yards rushing and has scored nine touchdowns.
Anthony Harrington is the leading receiver with 40 catches for 673 yards and four touchdowns. Kade Robertson has 16 catches this year, five of which have gone for scores.
The big win for Pleasanton bragging rights came at the right time for the Dons. Playing a brutally tough non-league schedule, Amador sat at 1-3 after four games. With at least five wins needed to be eligible for the North Coast Section playoffs, Jones and his team needed to trust the process.
“Things were tough, especially with the teams we have played,” Jones said. “We have played a tough schedule to be ready for this part of the schedule.”
In their three non-league losses, the Dons have faced teams that are a combined 14-3. Now with two straight wins, the Dons are starting to reap the benefits.
“I feel good about where we are,” Jones said of being 3-3. “We are getting guys back healthy. Our schedule is making us feel good on how we are developing.”
The Foothill game was a big step. The Falcons have given the Dons trouble recently, with last year the lone win of the Foothill season came against Amador.
“We needed to show that we are a good team,” Jones said. “I knew that (Foothill coach Greg) Haubner would have a good game plan. I didn’t think they could stop our offense, but I was scared they could control the game — slow it down. We checked all the boxes heading into this one; we couldn’t screw around.”
The game was so complete, that with the exception of the first possession when Foothill drove it down the field for the first score of the night, it was all Amador.
Next up is a date this Friday (Oct. 11) at home against Campolindo, a program that appears to be down on their luck this season as the Cougars stand 2-3.
After that it gets fun.
“We have a bye after Campo and that will be so huge,” Jones said. “After that we are at San Ramon, at Monte Vista, and then home against California.”
Those last three teams have a combined record of 17-1 at this point.
“This is why we schedule as we do,” Jones said.
Foothill girls’ volleyball
The Falcons swept Dougherty Valley and Granada to move to 6-2 in EBAL Valley division play last week.
In the 25-14, 25-11, 25-15 win over Dougherty Valley, highlights came from Kaycie Burdick (13 kills, 10 digs, 2 aces), Kait Vogel (11 kills, 8 digs, 3 aces) and Mara Mogyorodi (10 service points, 2 digs).
The 25-18, 25-17, 25-10 sweep of Granada saw the Falcons get great play from Lulu Hoenninger (6 kills on a .600 clip, 5 blocks), Sophia Burdick (8 kills at .730, 1 block) and Brooke Stedman (27 assists, 2 aces, 2 blocks).
Over the weekend the Falcons took part in a very tough tournament, going 1-3.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
