High School

Look: San Ramon Valley starts early again, beats Acalanes 44-21

Luke Baker, John Pau Mendoza leads Wolves to second straight impressive win over ranked squad

Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports

Luke Baker threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns, John Pau Mendoza ran for 76 yards and two scores, Marco Jones managed 14 tackles and Austin Shelton booted three field goals, leading San Ramon Valley to a 44-21 victory at Acalanes Friday night. 

Baker threw touchdown passes of 2 yards to Hudson Brinton and 16 yards to Dylan Deitsch as the Wolves (2-0) opened up a 31-14 halftime lead. 

Mendoza scored on two runs of 3 yards and Makai Vierra added a short TD run as the Wolves beat a ranked team convincingly on the road to start the season. 

Jones, a 3-star 2025 prospect, had seven assisted and seven unassisted tackles. Will Catterton added 11 tackles and an interception. 

San Ramon Valley is No. 4 in the Northern California Coast rankings, which combines the North Coast, Central Coast, San Francisco and Oakland sections. Acalanes (0-2) came in No. 15. 

Acalanes, which dropped a 27-20 opener at No. 10 San Marin, got a touchdown run from Jack Giorgianni and TD pass from Sully Bailey to Henry Souza. 

San Ramon Valley opened the season with a 42-14 win at St. Ignatius. The Wolves travels next week to Elk Grove (1-2), while Acalanes hosts Amador Valley (1-1).

Photos below from Dennis Lee

Acalanes running back-linebacker Jack Giorgianni (8)
Acalanes running back-linebacker Jack Giorgianni (8)
Acalanes' Cal-bound wide receiver Trevor Rogers (5)
Acalanes' Cal-bound wide receiver Trevor Rogers (5)
San Ramon Valley's Will Catterton (42) with a big hit. 
San Ramon Valley's Luke Baker (2) with play action fake to John Pau Mendoza (3)
San Ramon Valley's Luke Baker (2) with play action fake to John Pau Mendoza (3) / Photo: Dennis Lee
Hudson Brinton (8) with touchdown grab
Hudson Brinton (8) with touchdown grab
Luke Baker (2) talking things over with head coach Aaron Becker 
Acalanes' Brady Morrow (65) goes up high to try to block a kick by San Ramon VAlley's Austin Shelton.
Acalanes' Brady Morrow (65) goes up high to try to block a kick by San Ramon VAlley's Austin Shelton
Ethan Pancoast (43) and Hudson Brinton (8) with collision. 
Owen Scott (5) breaks free
Owen Scott (5) breaks free
Niko White (18) comes down with a catch for Acalanes
Niko White (18) comes down with a catch for Acalanes
Henry Souza (22) takes a short pass
Henry Souza (22) takes a short pass
Matthew Garibaldi (24) goes after loose ball for San Ramon Valley
Matthew Garibaldi (24) goes after loose ball for San Ramon Valley
Published
Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports
MITCH STEPHENS, SBLIVE SPORTS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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