All three levels of boys basketball at Escalon High School saw a full day of basketball action on Saturday, Nov. 25 with six different schools in addition to host EHS participating.
No scores were kept but it was a chance for Cougar players to take the court against other squads in running clock 20-minute scrimmages.
Oakdale, East Union, Beyer, Merced, Atwater and Buhach Colony attended, with schools playing multiple times throughout the day against a variety of opponents. Both the new and old gyms on campus were used.
“It was our first live action after only a couple of days of practice with everybody,” said varsity head coach Martin Louro. “We had a lot of people participating, it was a good trial by fire; we got the guys right into the fire.”
That included football players making the transition to the hardwood, who only had time for a couple of practices before seeing the end-to-end live action.
“We were a little out of control,” Louro admitted of the play style for the varsity Cougars in the first outing. “But I’m pretty optimistic; I think we have a chance to do a little better than what people are expecting.”
The Cougars were slated to host Central Catholic in the Foundation Game on Monday, Nov. 27 after sports press time for The Times and were to play at Bret Harte on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
The freshman boys are scheduled to play in the Ceres Tournament Nov. 29 through Dec. 1, then all teams will go to Oakdale on Saturday, Dec. 2 for non-league action, starting with the freshmen at 10 a.m., JV at 11:30 a.m. and the varsity at 1 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Escalon’s Lady Cougars basketball squads were slated to be on the court at Ripon for scrimmage action on Saturday, Nov. 25 and the varsity girls were to host Central Catholic in Monday’s Foundation Game, 6 p.m. on Nov. 27.
This week features the Pete Arellano Memorial Tournament hosted by the Escalon Lions Club, with games starting on Wednesday, Nov. 29 and continuing through Friday, Dec. 1.
At the varsity level, the opening round games on Wednesday are scheduled to include: Ripon Christian vs. Central Catholic at 3:30 p.m.; Bret Harte vs. Millennium at 5 p.m.; Amador vs. Franklin at 6:30 p.m.; Escalon vs. Johansen at 8 p.m.
The JV girls will have the tournament opening game on Wednesday, taking on Waterford at 3:30 p.m.; followed by Amador vs. Johansen, 5 p.m.; Central Catholic vs. Ripon Christian, 6:30 p.m.; and Beyer vs. Riverbank, 8 p.m.
Second day match-ups are determined by the outcome of the first round games.
GIRLS WRESTLING
Lady Cougar wrestlers Mikayla Vega and Julia Casillas saw their first action of the season this past weekend. They traveled to Folsom for a tournament, with coaches Atom Garcia and Bryan Toy.
“Both wrestled up a weight class,” noted head coach Derek Scott.
Vega, a two-time returning state qualifier, went 3-0 at 116 pounds for top honors.
“She pinned all three people,” Scott said.
Casillas wrestled at 126 pounds and went 3-2, good enough for a fourth place finish.
“One of the two girls she lost to, she came back and beat her to get into the match for third and fourth place,” added Scott.
