If you only looked at the final score, you would think Escalon had a pretty easy time of it in a 30-13 victory on the road Friday night.
But it was a tale of two halves, as the host Patterson Tigers drew first blood and scored on their opening possession of the game, taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The teams went on to trade scores in the opening two quarters and Escalon went into the locker room up 14-13 at halftime, coming back with a fired up defense that kept the Tigers out of the end zone the entire second half.
Escalon went on to post two more touchdowns and a field goal, winning by the 30-13 final.
"We didn't punt all night, they couldn't stop us," coach Mark Loureiro agreed. "We talked at halftime about getting stops on the defensive side, we had to create some turnovers, force something, we talked about finishing a series of downs."
The defense came up huge in the second half and for the game, as the defensive effort included an interception and 20-yard return by Spencer Franceschetti, 11 tackles and a fumble recovery by Nick Largent, a huge third down sack by Travis Cardoza to stop a drive and seven tackles by David Gonzales.
On the offensive side, there were solid efforts from Escalon as well, as the Cougars got on the board in each quarter.
After Patterson took the lead, the Cougars answered back on a 31-yard pass play from Spencer Franceschetti to Jason Diniz for the touchdown. Diniz added the point after and it was 7-7 with 1:13 to play in the first quarter.
Patterson regained the lead with a quarterback keeper with 6:53 to go in the second but the point after attempt was no good, making it 13-7. The Cougars responded on their next series, with Josh Miguel going in on a 3-yard run with the kick after good for the 14-13 lead.
Second half scores for Escalon came on a 3-yard run and a 1-yard plunge from Steve Silva, both in the third quarter, with Diniz converting the point after on one of the two, putting the Cougars up 27-13 after three. They added a 30-yard field goal, off the foot of Diniz, to seal the win in the fourth quarter.
"All three backs ran well," Loureiro said of Silva, Miguel and Diniz, who each had some tough yards and shared in the scoring.
Silva had 20 carries for 145 yards and two touchdowns, Miguel had 10 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown and Diniz had 71 yards on 16 carries to go along with his 31-yard catch for the score. The Cougars were successful in not only plowing up the middle but also utilizing the sidelines, with their speed just a bit better than Patterson.
"Spencer did a good job, spread the ball around, ran the offense well and when we needed the big pass, he did it," Loureiro noted of his senior signal caller. "The big thing was our offensive line took over and we rushed for 303 yards, we had big games out of Travis Cardoza, Nijoel Meyer, Dylan Cathcart, Nick Largent, Derrick DeFreitas, also J.D. Visser and Jason Johnstad."
Escalon had 404 total yards of offense on the night to Patterson's 239 and literally shut the Tigers down in the second half, keeping them to a total of 58 yards in the third and fourth quarters.
Any time Patterson tried to get the offense going in the second half, the Cougars had the answer, whether it was a huge stop on a third down play, a pickoff to stop a drive or a fumble recovery that swung the momentum.
"That's a good football team that we beat," Loureiro said. "You feel good about a win, especially a win like that on the road."
Escalon improved to 2-0 in preseason action with the win, the same mark enjoyed by Ripon and Modesto Christian. Currently, Hughson and Ripon Christian stand at 1-1 in preseason play, Riverbank is at 0-2.
GAME STATISTICS
ESC PAT
FIRST DOWNS 14 12
TOTAL YARDS 404 239
RUSHING YARDS 48-303 22-70
ATT-COMP-INT 6-4-1 30-16-1
PASSING YARDS 101 169
FUMBLES-LOST 1-0 1-1
PENALTIES 4-30 6-45
But it was a tale of two halves, as the host Patterson Tigers drew first blood and scored on their opening possession of the game, taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The teams went on to trade scores in the opening two quarters and Escalon went into the locker room up 14-13 at halftime, coming back with a fired up defense that kept the Tigers out of the end zone the entire second half.
Escalon went on to post two more touchdowns and a field goal, winning by the 30-13 final.
"We didn't punt all night, they couldn't stop us," coach Mark Loureiro agreed. "We talked at halftime about getting stops on the defensive side, we had to create some turnovers, force something, we talked about finishing a series of downs."
The defense came up huge in the second half and for the game, as the defensive effort included an interception and 20-yard return by Spencer Franceschetti, 11 tackles and a fumble recovery by Nick Largent, a huge third down sack by Travis Cardoza to stop a drive and seven tackles by David Gonzales.
On the offensive side, there were solid efforts from Escalon as well, as the Cougars got on the board in each quarter.
After Patterson took the lead, the Cougars answered back on a 31-yard pass play from Spencer Franceschetti to Jason Diniz for the touchdown. Diniz added the point after and it was 7-7 with 1:13 to play in the first quarter.
Patterson regained the lead with a quarterback keeper with 6:53 to go in the second but the point after attempt was no good, making it 13-7. The Cougars responded on their next series, with Josh Miguel going in on a 3-yard run with the kick after good for the 14-13 lead.
Second half scores for Escalon came on a 3-yard run and a 1-yard plunge from Steve Silva, both in the third quarter, with Diniz converting the point after on one of the two, putting the Cougars up 27-13 after three. They added a 30-yard field goal, off the foot of Diniz, to seal the win in the fourth quarter.
"All three backs ran well," Loureiro said of Silva, Miguel and Diniz, who each had some tough yards and shared in the scoring.
Silva had 20 carries for 145 yards and two touchdowns, Miguel had 10 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown and Diniz had 71 yards on 16 carries to go along with his 31-yard catch for the score. The Cougars were successful in not only plowing up the middle but also utilizing the sidelines, with their speed just a bit better than Patterson.
"Spencer did a good job, spread the ball around, ran the offense well and when we needed the big pass, he did it," Loureiro noted of his senior signal caller. "The big thing was our offensive line took over and we rushed for 303 yards, we had big games out of Travis Cardoza, Nijoel Meyer, Dylan Cathcart, Nick Largent, Derrick DeFreitas, also J.D. Visser and Jason Johnstad."
Escalon had 404 total yards of offense on the night to Patterson's 239 and literally shut the Tigers down in the second half, keeping them to a total of 58 yards in the third and fourth quarters.
Any time Patterson tried to get the offense going in the second half, the Cougars had the answer, whether it was a huge stop on a third down play, a pickoff to stop a drive or a fumble recovery that swung the momentum.
"That's a good football team that we beat," Loureiro said. "You feel good about a win, especially a win like that on the road."
Escalon improved to 2-0 in preseason action with the win, the same mark enjoyed by Ripon and Modesto Christian. Currently, Hughson and Ripon Christian stand at 1-1 in preseason play, Riverbank is at 0-2.
GAME STATISTICS
ESC PAT
FIRST DOWNS 14 12
TOTAL YARDS 404 239
RUSHING YARDS 48-303 22-70
ATT-COMP-INT 6-4-1 30-16-1
PASSING YARDS 101 169
FUMBLES-LOST 1-0 1-1
PENALTIES 4-30 6-45
