Practices have officially begun for all fall sports teams on the Escalon High School campus, with most squads already putting in a few sessions of work.
The fall sports schedule for the Cougars includes football, girls volleyball, cross country, girls flag football and girls golf.
Escalon Athletic Director Andrew Beam – who also serves as varsity football head coach – said teams are working as they prepare for the first scrimmages and preseason match ups of the 2025 fall campaign.
For the football Cougars, Beam said the teams at all levels, freshmen, JV and varsity, will travel to take on Gregori in a scrimmage on Friday, Aug. 15. Freshmen and JV take the field at 5 p.m.; varsity at 7 p.m.
Beam returns to lead the varsity program this season with assistant coaches Brandon Hoover, Joe Cowan, Jake Caton, Derek Scott, Phillip Kimble and Kyle ‘Frost’ Van Houten. Junior varsity head coach Brant Rose returns as well, with assistant coaches Josh Hiatt and, returning to EHS, Mark Walden. Taking over as head coach for the freshman team will be Nate Caton, with returning assistant Roman Gonzalez and new assistant coach, EHS alum Nash Satnat.
“We are also very lucky and grateful to have our medical professionals, Travis Bartelink and Bob McCune, on the sidelines,” Beam said.
Volleyball, meanwhile, will be in action Saturday, Aug. 16 as all three levels travel to Beyer High School in nearby Modesto for the annual GEBO scrimmage. The varsity program will be headed up by Shaylynn Beam, with Alyssa Cogburn serving as JV head coach and Nicole Bianchi leading the freshmen.
Arend Jones will serve as head coach for the cross country program and Chris Casazza returns to lead the girls golf team. For the girls flag football program, Steve Largent will be back to coach the varsity squad, with assistant Steve Riesenbeck and the JV girls will have a new head coach in Lisa Luis, with Dirk Northcutt returning as assistant.
Also back this year to coach the EHS cheerleading squads, which will be performing at home and away JV and varsity football games, are Emme Altamirano and Jacqueline Davis.
