Escalon’s first home game of the 2019 football season is on the schedule for Friday, Aug. 23.
Before that, however, members of the football program will be out in the community on Thursday, Aug. 22 to sell the popular Cougar Cards. Offered at a cost of $15, the cards provide discounts to a number of local restaurants and businesses.
“The boys will be out in the community on Thursday between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.,” said varsity football head coach Andrew Beam. “There are a lot of local sponsorships on this year’s card.”
The team is also a little late in getting them sold, the coach noted, with many people asking about them in the past couple of weeks.
“Last year’s cards just expired and people want the new ones,” Beam said.
The cards are a fundraiser for the football program and the new ones will be good through Aug. 1, 2020. They typically pay for themselves in just a couple of uses, added Beam.
For those that aren’t home Thursday night or do not purchase a card from a Cougar football player, they can be obtained by contacting Beam at abeam@escalonusd.org or by calling the high school at 209-838-7073.
As far as the new season, action at Engel Field will see the Union Mine Diamondbacks coming in for the opener, with JV action starting at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m. on Friday night, Aug. 23.
Those are new start times for this season, moving up from the previous 5:30 p.m. start time for junior varsity. Gates will open a half hour before the game, so spectators can start coming in for the JV contest at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Beam said his varsity team will play a tough preseason schedule and it starts with the Diamondbacks.
“It will be a heck of an opening night with Union Mine,” Beam explained. “They won five of their last six in the regular season last year and won their league. They return 20 of 22 starters, they have an outstanding quarterback who was an All-Sacramento Bee selection last year.”
Union Mine is a Division IV school, playing in the Sierra Valley Conference.
“It’ll be a heck of a dog fight,” Beam said. “It should be a great game and a great opening to the year. It should be a fun night.”
