Escalon will be on the road Friday night, as the varsity football Cougars start play in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 playoffs.
The Cougars, after going 3-3 in Trans-Valley League play and 5-5 overall, got on a roll with wins in their last two league games and hope to keep that momentum going. They will travel to Roseville, about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento, to face off with the Tigers, with a 7 p.m. kickoff to the postseason on Friday, Nov. 14.
Roseville comes in as the number two seed in Division 4, hosting the seven seed Cougars. Other match ups in the division on Nov. 14 include number one Twelve Bridges hosting number eight Fairfield; number four East Union hosting number five Placer; and number three Hughson hosting number six Pioneer.
“I love it,” Escalon varsity head coach Andrew Beam said of getting the trip to Roseville for the opening round. “I think it’s the best-case scenario for us.”
Teams making the playoffs all had Friday, Nov. 7 off – as that was when the newly instituted Section bowl games were played by select teams that didn’t get into the Section playoffs. For the Cougars, said Beam, that meant an extra week to get healthy, an extra week to study film, and an extra week to hone in on their opponent. The coach noted that they had films of all 10 games the Tigers played this season to study.
Roseville was 4-1 in league, 8-2 overall and come into the game with a state ranking of 151; Escalon was ranked at 346.
The Section playoff game is something the Cougar players are looking forward to, having gotten two key league wins at the end of the regular season to get into the postseason.
Junior Ethan Butler said the team is going in with a positive mindset.
“We’re feeling good, hyped up, ready to keep going, make a good playoff push,” Butler said.
Junior Mikie Lourenco said the extra week between games is good, allowing the squad more time to get ready for the postseason.
“I’m personally focused on getting faster, running better routes,” Lourenco said.
Sophomore Ian Trejo, one of several underclassmen who moved up to varsity due to multiple injuries at the varsity level, has had several key catches and pulled in some touchdowns this season. He hopes to contribute at the next level as well.
“It feels great,” Trejo said of being headed to playoffs. “Being able to climb back through adversity the last few weeks when we were down, it only matters how we finish so I’m glad that we were able to finish out the (regular) season with a ‘W’ and hopefully go through the postseason and win more.”
Beam said the team will need to be focused and disciplined in the playoff opener if they want to get past the host Tigers.
“It will be a really tough task but I think it’s a really good position,” Beam added of where the Cougars landed in the D4 bracket. They are on the side with Hughson and Pioneer; if both Escalon and Hughson win their opening round games, that would make for a semifinal clash of the TVL foes.
