It certainly wasn’t the way the varsity football team wanted to close out a busy and festive Homecoming Week at Escalon High School.
They found themselves down 21-0 at the half to visiting Hughson and though they got on the board with their opening drive of the third quarter, that would be the only time they found the end zone as they fell to the Huskies, 29-6.
Escalon is 1-2 in Trans-Valley League play; Hughson is now 2-1.
Head coach Andrew Beam said it was a game that the visitors controlled from the start, as Hughson got the kickoff and parlayed that into an early lead.
“They shoved it down our throats on that first drive of the game,” Beam said, with the Huskies getting a two-yard touchdown run and point after for the 7-0 lead. They made it 14-0 on a run in the second quarter and then made the most of a late opportunity in the first half.
“It was a back breaker, a game changing play,” Beam said of when Escalon was driving, in the red zone, with about two minutes left in the first half, looking to trim the Hughson lead in half. But a turnover and a 90-yard drive the other way, culminating with an eight-yard pass completion for Hughson, made it 21-0 at halftime.
“In the second half, Logan Huebner scored from nine yards out on the opening drive,” Beam said.
The extra point attempt hit the upright but the Huskies got called for roughing the kicker, so the Cougars tried for the two-point conversion on the second attempt, but were stopped short.
And though it was 21-6, with the Cougars showing a little bit of life, Hughson didn’t let it last long.
“We get them into a third and 13 and they complete a 49-yard touchdown pass,” Beam said.
The Huskies got the two-point conversion for the 29-6 final.
Part of the Hughson attack on Friday night came in the form of junior Titus Beers, a transfer from Big Valley who just became eligible to get on the field.
“I had no clue he was that good; he had five catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns,” Beam said. “He had an interception; he was a force.”
Escalon had no answer for him and the Cougars also found themselves dealing with some more injuries, as Carter Yates was hobbled to start the game and Dylan Ball suffered a high ankle sprain early on.
Sophomore Ball has been the best offensive threat for the Cougars so far this season but was limited to just five yards on four carries.
Quarterback Logan Huebner had 10 carries for 44 yards and scored the lone touchdown for the Cougars. He also completed 10 of 21 passes for 137 yards.
Beam pointed to the efforts of two sophomores brought up from the JV team to fill in gaps due to injuries over the past few weeks, with Jake Ferreira and Ian Trejo getting kudos.
“Jake was 2-for-2 passing (on a couple of trick plays) for 54 yards and he also had four catches for 44 yards,” Beam said. “Ian had five catches for 90 yards. I’m proud of those guys stepping up to play that well.”
On defense, Conner McDowell had nine tackles and Ball did have an interception.
For his part, Ferreira said he is happy to be contributing but knows the team needs to work harder to get the wins in TVL play.
“It feels good knowing that my coaches and my teammates can trust in me to be in these situations, it just feels good to know that everyone believes in me,” Ferreira said. “We just need to bring more energy to every practice; we need to amp up all of our practices and just bring the energy.”
Fellow sophomore Ian Trejo had some catches for solid gains, but often found himself sandwiched between a couple of defenders, battling for as much yardage as possible.
He said he does feel as though – now a few weeks in with the varsity team – that he is adapting to the speed and physicality of the game at this level.
“My teammates have definitely helped me get better every day and I love playing out there with my sophomore friends like how we did in eighth grade when we won the Super Bowl (Escalon Youth Cougars) and I hope I contribute,” Trejo said.
He added that his goal is always to make the most of every opportunity when he has the ball in his hands.
“I’ve never enjoyed just going down, I have to break at least a tackle and carry a couple of guys with me, that’s just how I was raised and I’ve been playing football my whole life,” said Trejo. “I have older brothers that played football and I just haven’t been trained to go down; you have to go with everything you have until you’re done.”
Junior Mikie Lourenco had a couple of catches late in the game, working his way in to the offense.
“We’ve just got to be more nasty up front,” Lourenco said of needing to turn up the intensity in the trenches so the linemen can clear the way for the offensive attack. “There was a lot of distraction coming into this game (from the Homecoming festivities) and even in the locker room, I feel like we weren’t mentally prepared for the game.”
A few tough carries for Jeremy Grivette added to the team’s overall offensive totals, but it was a disappointing finish for the senior fullback.
“We’ve all got to work way better as a team together,” he said of getting prepared for the next game on the schedule. He noted that coaches did a good job of preparing Escalon for the Homecoming game, but the team didn’t do its job.
“We’ve got to just focus on Ripon Christian, we’re going to go into this bye week and work as hard as we can, come to practice and be ready, lock in,” Grivette added.
This Friday, Oct. 10, is the bye week for the Cougars and, head coach Beam said, it is coming at a good time so several players have an extra week to try and heal.
He also said the TVL is a unique animal, as recent games have shown.
“Hilmar beats Ripon Christian, we beat Hilmar; Ripon Christian beats Hughson, Hughson beats us … this league just eats itself,” Beam said. “You’ve got to be on and you’ve got to be healthy (to win in TVL play) and it’s not a fun feeling to have so many (injured) kids on the sidelines.”
The coach is hopeful some players will be back for the Oct. 17 road game at Ripon Christian, a game that is shaping up to be a must win as the Cougars look to get back even; they fell to 1-2 in league and 3-4 overall with the loss to Hughson.
“We’ve got to figure out how to be more physical,” the coach stressed.
They will be focusing on film sessions and going hard in practice as they prepare for the showdown with the Knights.
JUNIOR VARSITY
A 28-21 final score saw Escalon’s JV boys get back in the win column this past week, defeating Hughson at Engel Field. They bounced back from their first loss of the season to Hilmar on Sept. 26 to earn the Oct. 3 win.
In the first quarter, it was a 20-yard rushing touchdown from Erin Vanderwerff and the point after kick by Juan Pablo De Luna for the early 7-0 Escalon lead. Hughson tied it with a second quarter score but Escalon answered back with a 14-yard Dylan Machado run and De Luna kick to regain the lead, 14-7. The back-and-forth contest then saw Hughson score on a 22-yard passing play but the point after was no good, Escalon holding a 14-13 lead.
A 35-yard rushing touchdown by Machado and the kick by De Luna gave Escalon a 21-13 lead at the half.
“This game had a very similar rhythm as the previous week against Hilmar,” head coach Brant Rose said. “We had a slim lead at the half; we were able to extend the lead to begin the fourth but saw Hughson cut the lead in the fourth and then have possession late in the fourth to potentially gain the lead.”
The JV boys got on the board in the third quarter with a one-yard rushing touchdown from Val Garcia and the De Luna kick was good, putting them up 28-13.
Hughson found the end zone in the fourth, on an 18-yard rushing play; the two-point attempt was good, making it 28-21.
But that would end the scoring, Escalon notching the win.
“We were able to get the stop we needed to preserve the victory,” Rose said. “On a fourth and goal with one minute remaining, Erin Vanderwerff got a big hit on the Hughson QB to force the turnover on downs.”
The play of the game, however, came in the first half, said the coach.
“It was the crucial last score in the final seconds of the first half to extend our lead,” Rose explained. “We executed a brilliant hook-n-ladder as Archer Sanders delivered the pass to Trevor Jansen, who smoothly lateraled to Dylan Machado to rush to the end zone. That ended up being the decisive score.”
Escalon now has its bye week and will return to action on the road at Ripon Christian on Oct. 17.
FRESHMEN
Thursday was “a challenge” for the youngest Cougars on the football field, said head coach Nate Caton, as the freshmen went on the road and were handled by Hughson, 22-0.
“Hughson had some size and physicality,” noted Caton. “Offensively we were able to move the ball around until the second half.”
The first running play for the frosh team saw Lucas Trejo cash in for 40 yards.
“Big play,” Caton said. “However, we couldn’t move the ball much more. Hughson had a tough defense, but we need to learn how to adjust ourselves against teams like that.”
Hughson had just an 8-0 lead at the half but a fumble by Escalon on the opening drive of the second half allowed the host team to capitalize.
“Defensively, I thought we had good plays made by Jaxon DeGruy, Christian Camara and Alex Gomez,” explained Caton. “Overall, our team will continue to learn the basic fundamentals as we enter our bye week and prepare for Lodi next Thursday (Oct. 16) at the Grape Bowl.”
It will be a crucial time, the coach added, for the team to get on the same page.
“This will give us an opportunity this week to not only prepare for Lodi, but to go back to the basics so that we can master them for the remaining games of the season.”
