Escalon, Hughson and Orestimba all went 8-2 during the Trans-Valley League varsity flag football campaign, sharing first place championship honors for the season.
The Lady Cougars hosted Hughson on Monday night, Oct. 21 and built up a big lead, but ultimately lost the contest.
“We played a great first half and had a 20-6 lead with about two minutes left but unfortunately we did not finish and Hughson took it from our grasp and we lost 28-20,” said head coach Steve Largent. “This meant we needed to beat Ripon and get help on Wednesday night in the Orestimba-Hughson game.”
On the road, Escalon’s girls took care of business against Ripon, winning that Oct. 23 game by jumping out to a 34-0 lead.
“It was a great offensive performance with Reagan Baker leading the ground attack, rushing for 50-plus yards and Ari Velasco throwing for four touchdowns to give her 36 passing TDs on the year,” added Largent.
Addressing the team after the big win, Largent said coaches got word that Orestimba beat Hughson in overtime to set up the three-way TVL championship tie.
“We all beat each other once in a fascinating title race,” Largent said of the Lady Cougars, Hughson and Orestimba.
The girls were seeded number five for the Division 4 Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
“The message will be to our team to play our game, play fast, play free and trust yourself and your warrior sisters next to you,” Largent said of heading into the second season.
“We are most excited to have the opportunity to play a home game in the playoffs for the second consecutive season,” Largent said. “It’s the hope for our new young program to match the rich tradition of the other fall sports programs such as football and volleyball and extend our season as far as we can. Hosting games on our campus gives us a chance to show the community (the impact of) all our hard work and dedication through those hot summer months of practice.”
Junior Varsity
Closing out the season with a pair of victories, the Escalon JV flag football girls compiled a 17-2 overall mark and went undefeated with an 8-0 run through the TVL.
“Our only losses were 6-0 to Sierra the first game without our starting quarterback and starting safety (Yesenia Marsellis) due to being called up to varsity for the rest of the season and then a tournament loss to Ceres who used a handful of normally rostered juniors for the tournament,” explained head coach Joseph Dalpogetti. “We were very close to running the table on the season.”
Monday, they hosted Hughson and won 12-6 in the Oct. 21 game and then went to Ripon on Oct. 23, where they closed out the season with a 26-6 victory.
“It’s just the JV level but the girls are proud to have won the first JV title in TVL history and to be able to do it undefeated makes it even more special,” Dalpogetti said. “Incredibly young team, 16 of our 20 players are freshmen. There’s a lot of potential to keep this success rolling in the future.”
Escalon’s JV outscored their opponents 409-113 overall, 203-24 in league.
“We didn’t give up a score in the first round of league,” Dalpogetti said.
Assistant coach Dirk Northcutt “was a great addition,” added Dalpogetti, bringing in a lot of energy.
Moving up to varsity for the playoffs were Georgia Northcutt, Kenley Koops, Brisa Patino, Tyli Holback and Kenadie Baker.