WALNUT CREEK — If attempting to stop Las Lomas star Isaiah Newell wasn’t difficult enough, the Acalanes defense also had to worry about another large, fast-moving force in Elijah Lash on Friday night.

The Newell-Lash combination proved too much as the No. 12-ranked Knights stayed unbeaten with a physical 42-21 win over the visiting Dons. Las Lomas improved to 7-0 and 2-0 in the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division, while Acalanes fell to 5-2, 0-1.

Newell, an Oregon State commit, ran for 224 yards and four touchdowns, while Lash, also a force at linebacker, was commanding on call, running for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Both players are listed at 6-foot-3, but Lash is 15 pounds heavier at 230.

“Just a team effort. It was an all-around team effort,” Lash said with family and friends nearby after the game. “It wasn’t just me, it wasn’t just No. 5 (Newell). Everybody thinks it’s just us on the field. It’s the whole team. We play together.”

Lash praised the offensive line as delivering “perfect blocking. Me and Isaiah just gave what we have. We see the hole and we just bust.”

Resilient Acalanes fought to the end against the robust Knights. Dons junior quarterback Brady Huchingson passed for 233 yards and a TD, diminutive wideout Jack Muren had 184 yards receiving, and Jack Delaney broke a 71-yard touchdown run right before halftime to keep the Knights honest. But Las Lomas’ offensive line and the two bruisers in the backfield made all the difference.

“The o-line played really well and we made some movements on the ball and it was a good win,” Las Lomas coach Doug Longero said. “We wanted to be physical tonight, that was our whole thing all week and that’s what we did.”

Acalanes coach Floyd Burnsed knew it was going to take his team’s absolute best effort to upset the home team. It wasn’t to be. Two bad snaps out of the shotgun and a blocked punt limited the Dons’ effectiveness in the first half.

“We made a lot of mistakes, especially on offense,” Burnsed said. “We had a couple bad snaps that killed drives for us and we needed to score a lot to stay in the ballgame.”

The Knights led 7-0 on a 15-yard TD run by Lash as he fought through tacklers near the line of scrimmage and kept going. Hayden Grant followed with the extra point with 5:19 left in the first quarter.

A bad snap cost the Dons 17 yards on their next possession and a blocked punt gave the Knights great field position on the Acalanes 41-yard line. Seven running plays later, the Knights were ahead 14-0 on a 2-yard scoring run by Newell.

The Dons had a field goal wiped out by a penalty and then the Knights upped the lead to 21-0 on a 10-yard Newell run.

The Dons had a field goal wiped out by a penalty and then the Knights upped the lead to 21-0 on a 10-yard Newell run.