OAKLAND >> Danny Jones spent three quarters waiting for the other cleat to drop.

The Amador Valley coach understands the identity of his team, one that prides itself on wearing down its opponents. The Dons exhibited that strength in last week’s win over Bishop O’Dowd to win its first North Coast Section title in school history. So, for three quarters — frustrating quarters — Jones waited to see if the Dons would, as they’ve done all season, outlast their opponent.

Amador Valley, indeed, made it happen, outscoring McClymonds by 16 points in the fourth quarter en route to a 44-33 victory to capture the Division 3-AA NorCal title.

“We were waiting for some of those things to kind of go our way,” Jones said. “But when you play a really good football team like that, it takes a lot longer to wear them out, especially when you’re in this kind of game where the winner goes to the state championship. You’re going to get everybody’s best. So, it was an incredible fourth quarter.”

“We got tired at the end, and we just didn’t have enough to finish,” McClymonds coach Michael Peters said. “I mean, the guys played great, great enough to win, but we just didn’t have enough left to finish.”

Amador Valley will travel south to Long Beach City College and play Frontier-Bakersfield (10-4) for the Division 3-AA state championship next Friday night.

The Dons spent most of the regional game trailing. Amador Valley opened up the scoring on its first drive as QB Tristan Tia madly scrambled for nearly 10 seconds before dumping the ball off to junior running back Vince Maiorana, who took it 43 yards for a touchdown.

McClymonds responded with 19 unanswered points. Berell Staples connected with Sharky Tamale for an 11-yard touchdown in the first quarter, then found the end zone himself on the next possession on a quarterback keeper in the second quarter. To open up the third, Tamale reeled off a 67-yard run.

Amador Valley heated up in the final quarter.

Down 11 points with one guaranteed quarter left in their season, the Dons put together a complete 12 minutes of football.

On Amador Valley’s second play of the fourth quarter, Tia threw a perfect deep ball to junior Aidan Foley for a 60-yard touchdown, slimming the deficit to three points, 33-30, in less than a minute of game time.

Amador Valley started its next possession on McClymonds’ 32-yard line, a possession that ended with Duenas cruising into the end zone untouched for an 8-yard score. Amador Valley led, 38-33, with a little more than 5 minutes remaining.

And after Amador Valley forcing a turnover on downs well into McClymonds’ territory, Duenas iced the ballgame with a 12-yard touchdown run.