DUBLIN — Amador Valley High got the only touchdown it needed Friday night to beat host Dublin, a game in which both schools separated by the 580 freeway had reason to feel good about themselves.
Jackson Ogoilin was the only player to pierce the end zone as Amador won 7-0, scoring on a 4-yard run with 11:25 left in the second quarter in a non-league game.
Amador, which improved to 3-0, and Dublin, which fell to 2-1, were intent on showing they were worthy competitors in the East Bay Athletic League, the Dons in the Mountain Division and the Gaels in the Valley Division.
If the win for the Dons was any indication, neither will be a soft touch when it comes to defense. Amador needed two goal-line stands to win plus another possession in which came after a Dublin interception at the Amador 44-yard line.
For Amador, which opened with one-sided wins over Milpitas (37-7) and Bear Creek of ‘Stockton (55-0), coach Danny Jones was elated to have slugged it out successfully against an opponent he respected.
Dublin came in ranked No. 22 in the Bay Area News Group poll after convincing wins over Heritage and Castro Valley. Amador was No. 23.
“We knew they were a good team. We faced adversity for the first time this season and you’ve got to be proud of the way we played on defense,” Jones said. “They’ve got a lot of guys that can beat you from different spots on the field. To get a shutout and those stops, that’s outstanding.”
Dublin had scoring opportunities stall at the 9- and 6-yard line. They also failed to score in the first half when T.J. Costello caught a 44-yard pass from Anthony Armanderiz early in the third quarter.
“We just didn’t finish,” Dublin coach Brandon Black said. “I’m proud of our effort. The defense has stepped up tremendously. Typically we’ve been been powered by our offense and we couldn’t get it done.”
The lone scoring drive of the game came on a 13-play, 55-yard drive with culminated on Ogolin’s touchdown run just as the second quarter began. A 5-yard run on fourth-and-3 from the 21 by Dublin quarterback E.J. Thomsen kept the drive alive.
Dublin, which had no rushing first downs in the first half, managed to make some headway in the second half with six rushing first downs. Jaydon Petrus, who had just 11 yards in the first half, finished with 72 (on 20 carries) as the Gaels managed to make some forward progress against the Amador defense.
“We made some adjustments at halftime, came back and schemed a little bit and the line got off the ball,” Black said. “They wanted to pound the ball. So we went to it.”.
Amador’s line scoring drive included a 4-yard run from Ogolin on third-and-2 to the 4 as well as the lone touchdown of the game.
Otherwise, Amador played keep-away from the Dublin offense as best as it could and relied on its defense.
“Those guys are nails. Really good,” Thomsen said. “Our defense did a really good job today. Eleven hats around the ball at all times.”
