It was a great way to start the season, a solid victory at home.
Escalon freshman football head coach Roger Beeman said he was pleasantly surprised with the performance of his young team in their Thursday night contest against the visiting Redskins.
“We looked solid on defense, versatile on offense,” Beeman said. “Everybody got a chance to make a real good contribution to what was going on.”
The final was 28-0 in Escalon’s favor and they were in control the entire game.
“We couldn’t ask for much more out of our first ball game, other than that better not be the best game we play all year,” Beeman said, chuckling. “I was really pleased to see people stepping up and they were all pretty much ready to go.”
The freshmen are working with a short roster this season, so Beeman said all players have to be prepared at a moment’s notice to take the field. He also was pleased they held Calaveras off the scoreboard, since they were coming in off a high-scoring victory over McNair the week prior.
Quarterback Steve Grossi was 8-for-8 and hit four different receivers, with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran one score in by himself.
“He definitely is a quality kid to lead the team,” Beeman said.
Grossi completed a pass to Estephan Salcedo for the first touchdown of the game, but the point after failed.
“The next possession, capping off a nice drive, Grossi scored on a 2-yard run and Mark DeHaven ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 14-0,” Beeman said.
An interception by Elliott Mello on the next Calaveras drive set up Escalon’s third score just before the end of the half, as DeHaven took it in on a 6-yard run for a 20-0 lead at half.
Escalon got the ball to start the second half and capped the scoring with a long opening drive, Nick DeWeerd going in on a 5-yard run, Grossi then threw to Salcedo for the 2-point conversion to go up 28-0.
“The rest of the game, we spent working on details,” Beeman said. “Everyone contributed well to the effort, we also saw lots of room for improvement from everybody.”
The freshmen travel to Bret Harte on Thursday, Sept. 11 for their next game.
