Hosting the Patterson Tigers in Thursday night action, Sept. 21, the youngest Cougars, the freshmen, were 28-14 winners in front of the home crowd.
Patterson, however, received the opening kick, drove down and scored first, taking a 7-0 lead. Escalon quickly responded with a 35 yard touchdown pass from Justis Dutt to Shane Campbell. The extra point attempt was no good, leaving Patterson with a 7-6 edge.
Escalon stopped the Patterson offense and scored again in the second quarter with a three-yard touchdown run by Jaden Fontes. The attempted two-point conversion failed, but the host Cougars were up 12-7 at half time.
Escalon received the ball to start the second half.
“After a couple long runs by Fabian Torres and Cristian Serrano, the drive finished with a six-yard touchdown run by Fontes for his second score of the night,” said head coach Mark Walden.
The young Cougars successfully converted a two-point conversion with an outside run by Torres, giving Escalon a 20-7 lead.
“Patterson responded with a long scoring drive bringing the score to 20-14,” Walden added.
After receiving the ensuing kickoff, fullback Jaden Fontes broke free up the middle for a 75 yard touchdown run for his third score of the night. Another two-point conversion was successful when Dutt completed a 3-yard pass to Serrano, making the score 28-14 Escalon.
“We’ve gotten a really good one, two punch out of our running game with a combination or Fabian Torres and Jaden Fontes. Torres and Fontes have become absolute work horses and our offensive line consisting of Daniel Gonzalez, Evan Foley, Chase Pacheco, Demetrius Teixeira, and Nathan Miranda have really come together really well,” Walden said. “Defensively Aidan Krieger, Nicholas Freeseha and Shane Campbell continue to stand out.”
The frosh did not allow Patterson any more points on the night, walking off with 28-14 victory on Thursday night.
“It is impressive how far this team has come. Having a victory over a respected and larger program such as Patterson is impressive,” Walden noted. “This team just keeps getting better each week and gaining confidence.”
Escalon will host Chavez of Stockton in a 6 p.m. contest Thursday, Sept. 28.
