By Matthew Robinson
NORTH HOLLYWOOD –The Verdugo Hills Dons (VHS) are one of those teams in the Los Angeles City Section that one doesn’t hear much about. And that’s because no one on the team cares about self-promotion on social media, worrying about their individual statistics, or putting themselves above the team. The Dons are a 37-member unit that has won a lot of games this season because each member of the team, from the starters to the backups, has this belief that they truly need each other to succeed. Yes, talented Dons senior quarterback Jered Smith was the headliner of last night’s game, but he received help from his fellow offensive mates and the defense, with those units combining to aggravate and suffocate the Grant Lancers (GHS) 39-3 at US Grant Field in North Hollywood.
With this win, the Dons move their regular season record to 7-3 and 5-2 (second place) in the East Valley League while the Lancers ended their season last night at 1-10 overall and 0-7 in the East Valley League. Verdugo Hills’ 7-3 regular season record gives the school its third (2023, 2025, and 2026) five-wins-or-better regular season ledger since 2020. And this 2026 team is the school’s sixth straight team since 2021 to qualify for the Los Angeles City Section playoffs. Dons Head Coach Sean Jackson knew that last night’s game was more than a regular season finale for his team; he saw the game as a tune-up and preparation for the playoffs.
“We’re just getting ourselves primed up for the playoffs,” Jackson said. “It [the win over Grant) was a good showing tonight. We just wanted to fight through some things and be ready to go next week when it’s [the playoffs], which is all that counts.”
Smith in the passing game went 12 of 26 for 203 yards, three touchdown passes, and one interception against the Lancers. Smith also is a heck of a runner, as evidenced by his five carries for 68 yards rushing. Smith was never sacked or tackled for a loss against the Lancers. Time after time, when Lancers’ defenders were near him and he had to drop back to pass, he used his feet and his field vision to juke or evade those defenders so they couldn’t catch him. In elementary school and junior high, he must have been something else at recess and in his physical education classes.
Smith appreciates the Dons coaches positioning him and his teammates to go 7-3 and be a playoff qualifier. And one of the keys to last night’s blowout victory was that the Dons took the Lancers seriously, despite the latter’s depressing season, which included winning their only game of the season via a forfeit (the Los Angeles Romans).
“We had a great season, 7-3; coaches overall this season, [have] put us in great spots to succeed,” Smith said. “Today we had a good game plan; [we] didn’t take them [Grant] lightly at all.”
Smith’s main target last night was senior wide receiver Raymond Gonzalez, who is also one of the leading receivers in the Los Angeles City Section in yards, catches, and scoring receptions. The hard-working possession receiver led the Dons in receiving last night with four catches for 89 yards and three scores. He and Smith hooked up for three scores in the first quarter. Gonzalez should have well over 1,000 yards receiving by the end of the 2026 season.
Smith distributed his 16 completions among four of his offensive mates, which included Gonzalez, running back Aiden Mejia (four catches for 64 yards), underrated and underused junior Max Bionsin (three catches for 33 yards), and senior D’Angelo Duran (one catch for 22 yards), who completed a deft lateral pass to Bionsin for a five-yard score just before halftime.
Smith’s night was done when the clock reached triple zeroes at halftime. Dons sophomore quarterback Jeremy Brink played the entire second half. He went zero for one in the passing game, but had a three-yard gain in the third quarter that set up a touchdown.
Against Grant, the Dons put up 389 yards of total offense with six scores. The game plan for the Dons on offense last night was to balance the run and pass, and that plan succeeded. The Dons attempted 27 passes, and they ran the ball 19 times. In the air, the Dons had 208 yards, and the running game added 181 yards and two scores.
The Dons defense was also on point as it rationed the Lancers to just seven yards of total offense. Included in that total offense yardage was a running game that “mustered” minus seven yards on 15 carries. As for the Lancers’ passing game, 6 completions out of 22 pass attempts for 14 yards and 4 interceptions. Moreover, the Dons sacked Lancer quarterbacks twice for minus 14 yards.
On defense, the Dons were led by freshman inside linebacker Jaxon Martin, who was in on seven tackles (three solos, four assists), two interceptions (for 56 return yards), three tackles for loss, two passes broken up, three quarterback pressures, and one quarterback hurry. By the time Martin leaves Verdugo Hills (after the 2029 season), he could be one of the better defensive players to ever play at the school. On offense, he carried the ball seven times for 63 yards and one score. Martin knows he is a budding star for the Dons, but that is secondary. The athletic and instinctual two-way player is wise beyond his years. One of Martin’s goals this past offseason was to bypass the Dons junior varsity team and make a run at the varsity team, and so far, that decision has worked out for him. He’s one of the Dons’ leading rushers and in the top two in season tackle totals.
“It feels really good [to be on the varsity level]; I tried my best during the summer to get on [the] varsity [team],” Martin said. “I just like to try my best and help the team as much as I can.”
Joining Martin on the defensive statistics chart was Gonzalez, who was in on four tackles, two tackles for loss, one interception (six yards), and four quarterback hurries. Junior defensive back Caleb Munroy chipped in with two tackles (one solo, one assist), one interception (three yards), one pass broken up, and two quarterback pressures. Junior defensive back Greg Rivera had three tackles (two solos, one assist) and one sack (minus 10 yards). Duran had two tackles, three quarterback hurries, and two quarterback pressures. Senior defensive end Diego Perez had two tackles (one solo, one assist), one tackle for loss, one pass broken up, three quarterback hurries, and two quarterback pressures. Senior defensive back Jesse Haro had two tackles, which included a tackle for loss. Senior defensive end Fabian Zazueta was in on three tackles (two solos, one assist), one tackle for loss and one quarterback pressure. He also carried the ball one time for 14 yards in the second quarter on offense. Sophomore inside linebacker Mason Huertas had four quarterback hurries and four quarterback pressures and he carried the ball twice for one yard and one score on offense. Bionsin had one tackle (solo) and one pass defended.
The Dons finished their first offensive drive of the game, which was a five-play, 71-yard drive, when Smith took the snap from senior center David Santiago. Smith dropped back to the Grant 47-yard line, where he threw the ball off his back right leg, sailing the pass downfield and into the waiting hands of Gonzalez near the Lancers’ three-yard line. And from there Gonzalez beat two Grant defenders into the end zone to complete the 34-yard scoring play. Freshman kicker Anthony Funes connected on the extra point kick, which gave the visitors a 7-0 lead with 10:26 left in the first quarter. As quickly as the Dons scored on that drive, it became obvious that the Lancers were in deep trouble.
The Dons improved their lead when Smith took the snap and drifted back to near the GHS 27-yard line, where he threw a pass over the head of a Lancer defender, with the ball landing in the hands of Gonzalez, who was all alone on the left side of the field. From near the GHS 16-yard line, Gonzalez secured Smith’s pass and turned around and ran unscathed into the end zone to complete a 19-yard scoring play. Funes’s extra point kick was successful, and the score moved to 14-0 with 8:36 left in the first quarter.
For the second time in the first quarter, the Dons took advantage of an interception by a member of their defense. After Martin returned an interception 35 yards to the GHS 25-yard line, on the very next play Smith took the snap and rolled to his right; then the quarterback threw the ball to Gonzalez, who caught the pass at the GHS five-yard line; then the receiver turned around and didn’t stop running until he reached the end zone. The two-point conversion pass to Mejia was stopped near the GHS one-yard line, so the score moved to 20-0 with 4:20 left in the first quarter.
The Lancers scored their only points of the game, a 34-yard field goal with 2:13 left in the second quarter, which moved the score to 20-3.
Late in the second quarter, the Dons possibly turned in the best play of the game. After taking the snap, Smith dropped all the way back to near the GHS 38-yard line, and from there he let go of a pass that ended up in the hands of Duran near the GHS 5-yard line. After securing the catch, Duran fought off an attempted tackle by a Grant defender. Knowing that he was on his way to the ground because two Lancer defenders were attached to him like barnacles to a whale, Duran lateraled the ball to Bionsin, who was trailing the play. Bionsin then caught the pass and darted the remaining 5 yards to the end zone. The 22-yard Duran reception and the 5-yard Bionsin scoring reception, plus the true Funes extra point kick, gave the Dons an insurmountable 27-3 lead with 2:25 left in the second quarter.
After that Smith-Duran-Bionsin connection/scoring play, it was obvious that the Lancers were done; they just didn’t know it at the time. The fact that the Dons could toy with the Lancers emotions and their defense with plays like that and the way Smith was running around the pocket and down the field during the first half, it was evident that the Dons had this game in the bag even before the second half commenced.
Martin added to the Lancers’ misery when, on his fifth carry of the night, he used a Zazueta block and some serious open space to his right to score on a 10-yard run. Funes missed his first PAT kick of the night, but it didn’t matter because the Dons were ahead 33-3 with 4:34 left in the third quarter.
The Dons closed out the game when Huertas took the handoff from Brink and followed a block from backup junior center Wilmer Puluc into the end zone. Dons sophomore wide receiver Kenneth Cruz was hit in the backfield and dropped for a loss on the two-point conversion attempt, so the score was at its final tally of 39-3 with just under ten minutes left.
Next week the Dons will begin their playoff journey against a team to be named on Sunday, November 1st. The Dons are trying to become the second team in the Jackson era (2015-present) to challenge for a section championship. The last Dons team to make it to a section championship game was the 2017 team, which lost 61-26 to the Marshall Barristers in the Division III final.
