Though they got on the board first, Escalon found themselves trailing at halftime and were staring at a 10-3 deficit with host Ripon getting the second half kickoff.
Not the scenario they expected … but one the varsity football Cougars had to deal with as they battled the Indians in a Trans-Valley League road game on Friday, Oct. 16.
With a massive second half effort, putting 42 points on the scoreboard, Escalon secured a 45-24 victory to improve to 3-1 in TVL play.
“We knew going in, Ripon had two weeks off, they were going to be healthy, they were on a three-game losing streak, they were at home,” Escalon head coach Andrew Beam said of facing a determined Ripon team.
And with a history of fluke plays and unexpected turns over the years derailing the Cougars at Ripon’s Wes Stouffer Field – sometimes referred to as ‘The Reservation’ – Beam said that played with his team’s mindset.
“We were paranoid beyond belief,” the coach admitted. “The last 15 to 20 years, this has just not been a friendly place to play and it seemed like we had everything going against us.”
The Cougars did take the opening kickoff and ended the drive with a 30-yard field goal from Brody Abbott to go up 3-0. They then got a stop against Ripon and Escalon’s next drive resulted in a touchdown but it was called back; one of three Cougar scores on the night negated by penalty.
“It could have been 10-0,” Beam said of having the first quarter touchdown erased. “Ripon seized that momentum to lead 10-3 at half.”
The Indians got a touchdown and a field goal in the second quarter and looked to keep the momentum going as they took the second half kickoff.
“It was now or never,” Beam said as the Cougars worked to stop Ripon on the opening drive of the second half.
The defensive effort in turn fueled the offense.
“Our 14 points in the third quarter happened quick,” Beam said, with a 16-yard pass from Archer Sanders to Ian Trejo good for a touchdown, the extra point by Abbott good to tie the game at 10-10.
Escalon went up 17-10 on a 17-yard run by Dylan Ball, kick good by Abbott.
In the fourth quarter, Ball found the end zone on a 48-yard run but the point after attempt hit the upright and bounced away so the extra point was no good. Escalon still went up, 23-10.
Ripon answered quickly with a 91-yard kickoff return to trim the lead to 23-17; Trejo then pulled in a pass from Sanders that was good for a 72-yard catch and run score. Ball tossed the 2-point conversion to Ethan Butler and the Cougars were up 31-17.
But the Indians weren’t done, getting a 77-yard catch and run of their own to make it 31-24.
“Those 28 points were scored in a matter of about 80 seconds,” Beam said of the offensive explosion for each team early in the fourth.
Escalon, however, then turned it up a notch defensively and, with two more touchdowns on the night, took the 45-24 win.
Ball added an 8-yard touchdown run, Sanders connected on a 24-yard touchdown pass grabbed by Jake Ferreira, and with Abbott putting the extra point through each time, the Cougars got the victory.
“We’re a really good football team and I feel like people are starting to learn that,” sophomore quarterback Archer Sanders said following the game. “We just wanted it more … we don’t back down from a fight.”
He connected with wide receiver Ian Trejo on nine passes, two of them for touchdowns.
“When I was 10, 11 years old, I watched Donovan Rozevink throw the ball to Owen Nash and I dreamed of doing this,” Sanders said of making the connection with teammate Trejo. “When me and Trejo are in rhythm, we’re hard to stop.”
The thought was echoed by Trejo, a junior, who had 211 yards receiving on the night.
“Me and Archer have been working on our chemistry for seven weeks and it clicked today,” Trejo said.
He added that getting the road win at Ripon – especially putting 42 points on them in the second half – was satisfying for the whole team.
“It feels great. They want to talk all the time; it’s the 12-mile war, you know,” Trejo shared. “The one field I want to win the most on besides Engel is ‘The Reservation’ here.”
Kicker Brody Abbott, a senior, started high school in Ripon but transferred to Escalon.
“This means everything to me,” Abbott admitted. “I came here, started as a freshman and now I’m going to finish as an Escalon Cougar and just coming out with a win, especially against my old school is just the best feeling ever.”
For the Cougars, Trejo had nine catches for 211 yards and two touchdowns.
“He also had two called back; he made a lot of catches and really nice plays, one of the best receiving nights for a wide receiver in Escalon history,” Beam said.
Dylan Ball had 23 carries for 157 yards – going over the 1,000-yard mark rushing for the season – and scored three touchdowns, along with tossing the pass for the two-point conversion.
“Archer Sanders was 11-for-18 for 243 yards and three touchdowns,” Beam said of his quarterback. “The change over the last seven, eight weeks … we’ve seen as he has grown, our success has as well.”
Defensively, Ethan Butler had five tackles and an interception while also catching the 2-point conversion on offense. Conner McDowell had nine tackles and a sack on the night; Ryan Huebner had five tackles, two sacks and a pass deflection; DJ Bass recorded a sack.
“We had 428 yards of offense and held Ripon to 267 yards of offense,” Beam said. “This season has been insane … we’ve won five of our last six games and our three losses have been by five points or less.”
The Cougars now get their much-deserved bye week, with no game on Oct. 24, but they will be home to host Sonora on Oct. 30 before going on the road to close out the regular season at Orestimba on Nov. 6.
“Sonora is the perfect team to have two weeks to prepare for,” Beam said. “The winner of this game will get the better seed in the Division 5 playoffs.”
JV/Freshmen
Both the JV Cougars and the freshmen fell in their contests to Ripon.
The JV boys trailed early but came back strong in the second half, ultimately losing 22-20. Vinny Reis scored on a 5-yard rushing play, Adam Cordeiro hit Jaxon DeGruy with a 5-yard touchdown pass and then Cordeiro took in the 2-point conversion; with Escalon’s final touchdown coming on a 4-yard TD pass to Kash Kuhlman from Cordeiro.
The freshmen were roughed up by the host Ripon team, shut out by a 48-0 final.
