Two road games are in the books for Escalon’s freshman football team.
They traveled this past Thursday, Sept. 7, to nearby Riverbank to take on that school’s junior varsity. Riverbank’s Friday night opponent didn’t field a JV team and Escalon’s freshmen had an opening on the schedule, so they agreed to face the JV Bruins on the road.
The frosh Cougars won the game, 14-0.
“Offensively Escalon demonstrated a physical and efficient run game led by tough blocking up front by Even Foley and Chase Pacheco. In the first half Cristian Serrano and Fabian Torres shared the bulk of the carries with Torres scoring from five yards out on the first Escalon possession,” said head coach Mark Walden.
The remainder of the first half, Escalon stopped themselves by losing four fumbles.
“The second half was a heavy dose of very physical running by fullback Jaden Fontes,” Walden noted.
Fontes would eventually run through and over several defenders on a 20-yard run off the left side for the first touchdown of his football career.
The Cougar defense played exceptionally well shutting out the Riverbank offense. The Escalon defensive line shut down the Riverbank run game all night. Aidan Krieger, Shane Campbell and Chase Pacheco, who also recorded a sack, played particularly tough against the run. Justis Dutt, Cristian Serrano, and Demetrius Teixeira all had key interceptions that played a big part in securing the victory, said Walden.
“This team is filled with first year players who are having to learn on the fly,” first-year head coach Walden said. “This team has a lot of potential and a lot of guys seeing their first football action ever which will make it fun to watch as they gain experience and improve every week.”
In their first game of the season, Aug. 30, the frosh boys traveled to Hilmar and lost by a 28-7 decision.
A couple of potentially successful drives in the first half sputtered out and resulted in punts. Hilmar led 14-0 at half. Hilmar received the ball at the beginning of the third quarter, Escalon forced a punt and muffed the punt, giving Hilmar the ball inside the Cougar five-yard line, setting up another Hilmar score making it 21-0.
“Upon receiving the kick we put together a nice drive with tough running from Fabian Torres who ended up scoring on a 5-yard run,” said Walden.
Another late miscue by the young Cougars set up Hilmar for their final score, making it a 28-7 final.
“We got some tough defensive play from Nicholas Freeseha, Aidan Krieger who seemed to get better as the game progressed, and Justis Dutt who had several touchdown saving pass break-ups from the safety position,” Walden noted.
Up next, a home game for the freshmen, as they welcome Hughson in for a Thursday, Sept. 14 contest starting at 6 p.m.
