Throw out the records, forget the big victories and the tough losses.
Every team is 0-0 and now it’s win or go home, as the Sac-Joaquin Section football playoffs get underway on Friday, Nov. 13.
Escalon, which was 5-1 in the Trans-Valley League, losing only to undefeated TVL champion Hilmar, got the third seed in the Division 5 bracket. They are scheduled to host number six seed Foothill of Sacramento in the opening round, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. at Engel Field on Friday.
“They went 9-1 and were league champions of the Greater Sacramento League,” said Escalon head coach Andrew Beam. “They are very athletic, very skillful.”
The D5 bracket first round contests on Friday will feature number one Hilmar hosting number eight Casa Roble, and number four Sonora hosting number five Oakmont on one side; the Escalon-Foothill game along with the number two Sutter vs. number 7 Rosemont game on the other side of the eight-team bracket.
Beam said he was a little disappointed – but not necessarily surprised – that the Cougars ended up as number three instead of number two.
“We were 18 points better in strength of schedule than Sutter and we were projected as the number two seed,” Beam shared. “But Sutter was 10-0 (overall) and they were league champs.”
Due to those factors, he feels Sutter was given the number two seed nod ahead of Escalon.
The Cougars enter the postseason with a 7-3 overall record and their three losses have come to two teams that each went 10-0 and another that was 8-2.
Regardless of the seed, Beam said the team has to focus on the task at hand, and that is getting past their first-round opponent, Foothill. They will need both the offense and the defense playing at a high level to accomplish that goal.
“Being good on one side of the ball is not going to win you a playoff game,” he said.
Senior Caleb Boatman, one of this year’s team captains, said the Cougars need to realize how important this week is.
“We need to take it more seriously with defense I feel like,” Boatman said. “We just need to bring it all together. We’re having too many plays where we’re shooting ourselves in the foot … we just need to get it done.”
With a home game at Engel Field, Beam is calling for the community to turn out and support the Cougars.
Tickets for the 6 p.m. game will be through GoFan only and the game will not be livestreamed.
“We are offering all Escalon High School students, presenting their student ID, free admission,” Beam said. “We want to pack Engel Field one more time in 2026.”
While everyone starts back at 0-0 for the playoffs, Beam said there’s definitely a different intensity required.
“Everything is amplified,” the coach noted. “It’s a bigger stage and we have a lot of young guys that haven’t played on this stage. We’re happy to have a home game.”
With a win, Escalon would move on to round two to face the winner of the number two Sutter-number seven Rosemont contest.
“If we win and have to go on the road, we’ll embrace the challenge,” Beam said.
