It was a different feeling, something they hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Escalon lost a football game on Friday night.

And it ended their season.

After losing one game in the preseason, the varsity Cougars didn’t lose again until this past week, falling to powerful Acalanes High School in the NorCal Division 3-AA contest in Lafayette on Dec. 1.

The Cougars were 4-1 in the preseason; they went 5-0 through the Trans-Valley League to claim the league title; then they won three games in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 playoffs, coming home with the Section title. The team, as part of ‘competitive equity,’ was moved up to Division 4 for the Sections and nonetheless came home with the blue banner, the third one for a group of seniors who have been on the varsity since their sophomore year. Those players are Gio Chavez, Anthony Jones, Jamin Miller and Donovan Rozevink. It also was the third for junior Ryan Lewis, who has played at the varsity level since his freshman year.

Escalon couldn’t overcome the speed and precision with which Acalanes played the game, losing by a 49-14 decision. Acalanes now moves on to play for the state 3-AA title.

“Acalanes is a school that has been in Division 2 for playoffs for most of its history,” explained Escalon head coach Andrew Beam. “But with the CIF’s competitive equity, they got dropped down and we have been moved up, from Division 6 to 5 to 4 to 3.”

Escalon was able to get past Patterson for the Section title in the Division 4 championship game but the jump up to Division 3-AA for the NorCals was a bit too much for the squad. With the loss, they finished the year with a 12-2 record.

“At some point, there’s a ceiling,” said Beam, adding that the competitive equity formula seems to reward average big schools while penalizing good small schools.

Senior Nate Krieger said the squad did all they could against the host Dons.

“We were expecting a tough team; they were good, they played good and it’s a tough pill to swallow,” noted Krieger, who scored one of the two Cougar touchdowns in the game. “We just had an off game … but the season was fun, couldn’t ask for anything else, it was fun.”

Three-year varsity starter Jamin Miller tried to put the defeat in perspective.

“Just a roller coaster I would say, if I were to put it into words, I would say roller coaster for sure,” Miller said of the emotional season. “We fought a lot of teams that were high caliber and we prevailed but at the end of the day it’s got to come to an end at one point. Happy I got to do this with my guys, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Junior Sam Jimenez knows he will be back for another season, and had nothing but good things to say about his senior teammates who led the way.

“I just enjoyed playing with these guys so much, we created lifelong memories all year and I’ll never forget that,” he said. “I’m going to miss this class a lot but we don’t want to feel this feeling again next year so this is going to motivate us, we’re going to come back stronger.”

Acknowledging it was a bittersweet ending, senior Nico Franzia had an outstanding final season.

“I’m thankful for making it this far because everyone doubted us,” he said of getting to the NorCals. “It just really feels good to at least walk away in a championship game, you know, making it this far when a lot of teams don’t. I’m just proud of all the guys and how far we made it.”

Junior Ryan Murphy said it was a battle all night long against the Acalanes Dons, but his team definitely gave their best effort.

“You’ve got to try your hardest, nothing but that, I felt like as a team we tried our hardest, just today it wasn’t enough,” Murphy explained. “You can’t win ‘em all; it really sucks but it’s just the game of football, the game of life.”

He also feels the team will learn from this experience.

“You’ve got to use it almost like a fuel and every time things are getting hard, maybe practice is tough, you’ve got to think back to this moment,” said Murphy. “Right now it’s a bad feeling but I think this will just push us and we’ll be even better next year.”

Three-year varsity quarterback Donovan Rozevink – with three Section titles and a state championship ring – was disappointed in the way the season ended, wanting one more shot at another ring but he also acknowledged the need to move on.

“They just really caught us on an off night, we couldn’t capitalize when we got down to the 10-yard line, I had two pick sixes and that just wasn’t me, they just caught us on an off night and that’s just what happened,” Rozevink said of losing to Acalanes. “I’m just looking forward to college football … I had a great ride with all my brothers here at Escalon.”

For the coach, he said it may take some time for the sting to go away, but when it does, the 2023 Cougars will be able to look with pride at their achievements and know they have a special place in Escalon history.

“Last year we had some very talented individuals,” Beam said.

This year, however, the squad found a way to put all their skills and talents together, working to the best of their ability to get the victories.

“It truly was a collective effort,” Beam said.