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Road Trip To Riverbank Pays Off In 63-0 Varsity Victory
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Coming home with a 63-0 win from Friday night's football game in Riverbank, the varsity Escalon Cougars know the real push is about to begin.

Facing an undermanned and overwhelmed host Bruins team, the Cougars were able to score almost at will and never let the Bruins get anything going offensively.

The home team, in fact, did not manage one first down all night and had several punts returned for touchdowns.

"I feel for them," Escalon coach Mark Loureiro said of Riverbank. "Their coach, Aaron Thurman is working hard, trying to get it going but he just can't get the numbers he needs."

Though Riverbank's population is roughly three times that of Escalon, the city is divided into several school districts, with many potential Bruins going to schools in Modesto instead of Riverbank High.

"The Riverbank kids, they played hard to the end, they played their hearts out," Loureiro added.

But they were no match for the Cougars, who scored 28 first quarter points, added 14 more in the second, seven in the third and 14 in the fourth.

Josh Miguel scored the first touchdown on a 55-yard punt return. Gino Franceschetti sent the first of his nine extra pints through the uprights for the early 7-0 lead. Franceschetti connected with Brandon Shaw on a 24-yard pass play for the second touchdown, followed by a 43-yard punt return from Miguel and a 2-yard run by James Hill to take the 28-0 first quarter lead.

Shaw pulled in a 63-yard pass from Franceschetti in the second to make it 35-0 and a 53-yard run by Miguel made it 42-0 at halftime.

Second half scoring saw Joey Ratto go on a 50-yard scamper for the score, Eddie Perez go in from 5 yards out, and Joey Camara capping the scoring on a 15-yard run. With his younger brother Justin scoring in the JV game, it could be the first time that brothers each found the end zone on the same night.

"It was pretty great," a smiling Joey Camara said following the contest. "We're like brothers out there, and everybody helped, all my second 'O' line guys blocked perfectly."

It was the first varsity touchdown for the senior Camara, while sophomore Justin also broke through.

"It felt good," the younger Camara said of his JV touchdown. "I like just being together and playing as a team."

Loureiro praised the varsity squad following the game for staying focused, with everyone on the roster getting the chance to contribute.

Escalon had six first downs on the night and 321 total yards, with 19 rushes for 234 yards, 87 passing yards on 2-for-2 passing by Franceschetti. The Cougars fumbled twice and lost it once and were penalized two times for 15 yards. Riverbank had no first downs, 18 total yards and had three penalties for 25 yards.

Camara, with four carries, had 53 yards and Ratto had one carry for 50 yards. Miguel had one carry for 53 yards and with the punt returns, accounted for 187 total yards.

Defensively, Shane Silveira had six tackles to lead the team, followed by Tony Vincent, Matt Roberson and Travis James each with four tackles. Silveira and Nate Caton each recorded a sack.

"Everybody's happy, we got everyone involved and there were a lot of smiling faces, a lot of kids got in on the scoring and it was good for team morale," Loureiro said. "Now it's time to get to work."

PREVIEW

Escalon comes home to host Ripon in a key Trans-Valley League match this week. The Indians are coming off their bye week, while Escalon roughed up Riverbank on Friday.

"Ripon is 2-3 coming in but they are way better than their record," Loureiro pointed out.

The Indians lost their league opener to Hilmar 21-14.

Head coach is Chris Johnson and the red and white Indians will run a spread Wing T offense looking for the right match ups on the field.

"Their quarterback is their leading rusher, he hurt us last year so we'll be looking to stop him," Loureiro said of containing the 5-7, 155-pound Alex Gustin.

Other key players for the Indians are running back/linebacker Ryan Durrer, 6-0, 185; tight end/linebacker Jake McCreath, 6-4, 210; linemen Andy Bunting, 6-2, 240 and Jordan Sullivan, 6-2, 225; linebacker Anthony Baciocco, 5-7, 160 and wide receiver/defensive back Cole Herrin, 6-1, 185.

"They're good at the skill positions," Loureiro said. "We're looking forward to coming home and we expect a good game here."