The Escalon Youth Cougars traveled to Waterford this past weekend. All squads arrived anxious to play, feeling the high from watching their big brothers defeat the JV and varsity Mustangs the night before, Sept. 15, during a showdown at The Corral in Oakdale.
Junior Novice
The youngest of the squads owned this game from the beginning. Their one-two punch running attack of Nathaniel Cruz and Zackariah Doty was too much for the Sabercats. Cruz scored three touchdowns and Doty added one of his own to make it a final score of EYC 24, Sabercats 0. Wesley Ramirez and Brayden Bettencourt led the team on defense with four tackles, Ramirez also coming up with a fumble recovery. Gunner Engstrand had three tackles. Doty and Cruz helped on defense with two tackles. Jack Noack, Jacob Pinheiro, Hunter Jones and Grady Johnson all had one tackle and Johnson also recovered a fumble.
Novice
The Novice team had a nailbiter of a game. Sabercats would score first in the third quarter but could not convert on the point after. Cougars would score in the fourth quarter but also failed to convert the point after. This would send the game into overtime with a tie score of 6-6. Sabercats would start on offense first and score a touchdown. This time they were able to add the extra points. Cougars would get their chance and also score a touchdown. Unfortunately, the Sabercats defense dug deep and prevented the Cougars from converting the point after. Final score Sabercats 13, EYC 12. Great game by Landon Machado scoring the two touchdowns on offense for the Cougars and also coming up with an interception. Liam Lombardi, Antonio Brunetti, Noah Castellanos led the defense with three tackles each. Eric Cardenas and Landon Machado had two tackles. Cruz Pacheco, Landyn Bettencourt, Jase Govia, Josiah Canela, Noah Canela, and Brodi Moorman had one tackle. Moorman and Andres Jimenez would both come up with fumble recoveries as well.
Junior Varsity
The game would start with the Cougars kicking off deep to the Sabercats and Gavin Decroix racing down the sideline and beating everyone to the ball and recovering it for Escalon. This set the tone of the game as EYC would be victorious EYC 26, Sabercats 7. Decroix would score a touchdown and also be one of the leading tacklers with four tackles. Ryker Lial would be Decroix’s partner on defense adding four tackles of his own and putting up two touchdowns. Lucas Machado would also score a touchdown. On defense, Mason Rodriguez would contribute with three tackles. Becket Trimble, Jaxon Kemp and Colton Faria had two tackles. Jameson Kuykendall, Brayden Merill, Drake Munoz, Parker Forest, Cole Morrill, and Dylan Borges all had one tackle. Kaleb Butler would add to the superb defense with an interception.
Varsity
Similar to the high school game the night before where EHS would have five passing touchdowns, the young Cougars would score three of their four touchdowns via air mail. Traditionally a run first offense, Jake Ferreira would have three passing touchdowns to three different receivers. Daniel Bass, Dylan Ball and Carter Yates would all have touchdowns compliments of Ferreira’s arm. Ball would also add a 48-yard rushing touchdown. As great as the offense played, the defense cannot be overshadowed as another game goes by without an opponent scoring on the Cougars. Keeping track of tackles is difficult with this group as usually two to three players are peeling off of an opponent after every defensive play. Carter Cummings again would lead on defense with nine tackles. Leo Marrufo wasn’t far behind with eight tackles. Kolten Kjellberg had five tackles. Jake Ferreira and Dlyan Ball would add four of their own and Ball would also have an interception in the game. Final score EYC 32, Sabercats 0.
This article was contributed by Alonzo Trejo on behalf of the EYC program.
