Fall sports practices can begin Monday, Aug. 11 for teams in the Escalon Unified School District and the coaching staffs are ready to go, said Athletic Director Mark Loureiro.

Along with serving as the Athletic Director, Loureiro is the head varsity football coach and his staff also includes Max Goldstein, Matt Loretelli, Brandon Hoover and Ray Scott. At the JV level, Randy Northcutt and Cody Caton have left, with Andrew Beam taking over as the Junior Varsity head coach for Northcutt. Loureiro said Northcutt may assist at the varsity level during the season. New JV assistants to help Beam are Nick Largent and Joe Cowan.

At the freshman level, Roger Beeman will return to lead the team, though Loureiro said whether they will actually have a frosh program will depend on the numbers that come out once practices start. Assisting Beeman will be Dan King, Mike Wright and Derek Scott.

The first scrimmage for the varsity and JV football teams will be on the road against Argonaut on Saturday, Aug. 23 and the first home game of the preseason campaign will see the Cougars hosting Patterson on Friday, Aug. 29.

Volleyball will see the return of Kayla Kootstra to the coaching staff after an absence of two years, and she takes over the varsity head coaching position from longtime coach (now retired) Teresa Williamson. New JV coach will be Tanya Fry and Krystal Rodriguez returns to lead the freshman girls.

“I’m looking forward to it, it’s nice to get back into volleyball,” Kootstra said. “I took for granted how much Teresa did with scheduling, practices and all, but I am excited.”

Rusty Fachner will lead the girls golf team this fall, while Rick Heflin and Malinda Walker return to coach the cross country squads.

Paul Silva is back to lead the varsity soccer boys, while newcomer Mike Firstbrook – making the move from neighboring Oakdale – will be the new coach for the JV boys.