The Escalon Youth Cougars, formerly Escalon Outlaws, played a new member of the Mountain Valley Football league. The Central Valley Outlaws of Riverbank hosted the Young Cougars on Saturday, Aug. 26 with the teams splitting the contests in half with Central Valley winning two and Cougars winning two.

So far, the Escalon Junior Novice, Novice and Junior Varsity are 1-1 on the season, the Varsity is now 2-0.

Junior Novice

Central Valley struck early scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter. Although Escalon’s defense played tough all day, the offense struggled to put points on the score board. Central Valley would end up scoring one more time to end the game with a final score of EYC 0 and Outlaws 18. Outstanding effort by Zackariah Doty who led the team with seven tackles and a fumble recovery. Brayden Bettencourt followed with four tackles, and Gunner Engstrand Hunter Walker with three, Wesley Ramirez with two, and Nathaniel Cruz and Jack Noack with one.

Novice

This game was a battle of defenses. Both teams had great drives on offense but could not finish any in the endzone. It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter Central Valley was able to find pay dirt and pull off the win. Final score EYC 0, Outlaws 6. Great effort by Liam Lombardi who had three tackles and an interception. Antonio Brunetti, Noah Castellanos, Brodi Moorman, Landon Machado, and Lucas Kackley added three tackles of their own. Additional contributors on the defense were Cruz Pacheco two, Jase Govia two, and Dominic Vitale with one.

Junior Varsity

Central Valley struck first scoring the first touchdown of the game in the second quarter. The Young Cougars were able to put a drive together with Lucas Machado rushing in for a touchdown as time expired at the half. Escalon was able to score one more time in the third quarter with Ryker Lial scoring a rushing touchdown of his own that would ultimately be the winning score. Final score EYC 13, Outlaws 6. Leading the defense with six tackles was Becket Trimble. Following was Mason Rodriguez five, Lucas Machado four, Logan Gonzalez three, Brayden Merrill two. Ryker Lial also contributed with an interception on defense.

Varsity

The Young Cougars’ superb defense continues to frustrate opponents. Central Valley’s first drive ended up with a fumble recovery by Ty Caton. The Cougars then struck first on the ground with a strong stiff arm to the opponent by Carter Yates that found him in the endzone. Quarterback Jake Ferreira connected on a 66-yard pass to Ian Trejo who shrugged off a defensive back and got into the endzone. Another Ferreira pass to Kolten Kjellberg as he fell on the endzone line was questionable as the referees marked it short of the touchdown. Vince Reis was able to cap off the drive by rushing it in for the touchdown. EYC 20, Outlaws 0. Carter Cummings, fullback and linebacker played Hulkish as he continuously broke through offensive and defensive lines wreaking havoc for Central Valley. Leading in tackles was Ian Trejo six, Carter Cummings five, Trey Herrera four, Kolten Kjellberg four, Daniel Bass three, Carter Yates three, Jake Ferreira, Dylan Machado, Erin Vanderwerff, Ryan Huebner, and Noah Gonsalves with two.

This article was contributed by Alonzo Trejo on behalf of the EYC program.