Up next for Escalon is a trip to San Andreas to take on Calaveras in a Friday, Sept. 2 contest.

They will face off against the Mighty Reds (formerly Redskins) coached by Jason Weatherby and are coming off a 25-7 win on the road against El Capitan of Merced in their season opener. Weatherby is in his ninth season coaching the team.

Escalon’s varsity team earned a 47-31 win on the road against Enochs High in their opener but will need a much better effort if they want to get in the win column this week.

“They were second in the Mother Lode League last year to Sonora and went deep into the playoffs,” Escalon varsity head coach Mark Loureiro said. “They’ve been waiting for this group a long time; their JV went 10-0 last season and gave our JV team its only loss of the season.”

Escalon has put together a string of wins at the varsity level against Calaveras the last few years, but they have been tough, competitive contests typically decided late in the game.

Leading the Calaveras squad this season are players including running back/free safety Anthony Giangregorio, running back/strong safety Noah Preuss, inside linebacker/guard Nick Quinday, center/defensive lineman John Kelley, outside linebacker/tight end Nathan Threet, quarterback Kyle Byrd and fullback/linebacker Chance Norton.

“They run a fly offense and they have multiple defensive sets,” Loureiro said, adding that their main offensive weapons are the two running backs.

“This is their home opener, they’ll be excited, ready to play,” noted the coach. “We’ll have to do a much better job of tackling against them than we did this week (against Enochs) if we want to get another win, we need to tackle those running backs.”

The JV game starts at 5 p.m.; varsity follows about 7 p.m.