Knotted up 14-14 at the half, host Escalon punched in one more touchdown on the night, taking the lead in the third quarter against Oakdale and leaving Engel Field with a 21-14 victory.
The varsity squads met in non-league football action Friday night, Sept. 11 and played the annual Battle of 120. Escalon won the Mayor’s Trophy the first year the series was held, in 2023, but the last two years the game has been won by Oakdale. Coming in to the contest, Escalon was looking for its first win of the season and they held off the Mustangs, getting a late game defensive stop and a crucial first down on offense to close out the victory.
There was some miscommunication regarding the trophy presentation and arrangements will be made for the handing over of the trophy from Oakdale’s mayor to Escalon’s once this year’s final score is engraved on it.
“You worry about all the distractions,” head coach Andrew Beam admitted of a night that had lots of activity – from a 9/11 remembrance to celebrating the state champion 13-0 varsity football 1996 Cougars – in addition to the game on the field.
But Escalon’s defense came up with a stop on Oakdale’s first possession and then got their offense going.
“It started with a 28-yard run by Archer Sanders,” Beam said of his quarterback. “That calmed some nerves and we went on to have one of our best opening drives.”
Dylan Ball scored on a 7-yard run and Brody Abbott added the point after for a 7-0 Cougar lead.
Oakdale pulled even on a blocked punt that they recovered in the end zone in the first quarter but Escalon took the lead in the second quarter, Sanders finding Ian Trejo on a fourth down play, a 4-yard touchdown pass with the kick by Abbott to make it 14-7.
The Mustangs would tie the score on a short rushing play and add the kick to make it 14-14, and Escalon got in position for a late field goal attempt with just five seconds left in the half but it was blocked, leaving the teams at 14-14.
Escalon got the ball to start the second half and the teams traded possessions, with the Cougars getting back on the board with a 66-yard touchdown run from Dylan Ball, who evaded would-be tacklers and rolled off the backs of others on his way to the end zone.
“He’s physical enough to take the contact and fast enough to break away,” Beam said.
The kick by Abbott made it 21-14 with 2:26 left in the third.
Key was the Escalon defense standing up to a fast-paced Oakdale offense in the fourth quarter, as the Mustangs were driving for the tying score or perhaps thinking touchdown and 2-point conversion for the win.
“Conner McDowell caught the runner to keep him a yard short and on a fourth and 1, their quarterback and offensive line ran into a wall,” Beam said. “Trey Herrera stood up their center, our linebackers were there.”
It came down to the measurement, with the Mustangs stopped a few inches shy of the first down. Escalon took over on downs and got two carries from Ball to give them the first down and the opportunity to kneel out the win.
“We needed it,” Beam said. “I’m really happy for the kids; they fought, scrapped and clawed … we got the gorilla off our back.”
Defensively, McDowell had 11 tackles, Leo Marrufo had seven tackles, Kolten Kjellberg had five, while K’Oz Castro and Ethan Butler each had four tackles.
Offensively, Ball had 19 carries for 162 yards and two touchdowns, Jake Ferreira had four carries for 22 yards and four catches for 44 yards. He also had one pass attempt for a five-yard completion. Trejo had three catches for 21 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Sanders had eight carries for 80 yards and completed eight of 12 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown.
“For the first time, we saw what can happen when you find a rhythm,” Beam said.
Now the team heads out on the long road trip to Reno for their preseason finale, Sept. 18, taking on Damante Ranch, which is the number two ranked Division 5A team in northern Nevada.
“They are undefeated,” said Beam. “This is definitely one of the tougher preseason schedules we’ve ever had.”
JV/FRESHMEN
The younger levels of Cougar football had mixed results this past week. The JV boys held off Oakdale in a hard-hitting contest at Engel Field by a slim 16-13 margin while the freshmen were on the road at Oakdale and fell by a 35-6 final.
For the JV boys, head coach Brant Rose said the game lived up to expectations.
“Another annual war with the Mustangs that goes down to the final moments,” he explained. “Our offense set us up nicely in the first half with a two-score cushion. Defense came up with big stops throughout the game against an Oakdale offense that is always difficult to stop.”
Vinny Reis scored on a 1-yard rush in the first quarter with an Adam Cordeiro pass to Lucas Machado for the 2-point conversion and an early 8-0 lead. Oakdale countered in the second quarter with a short rushing touchdown but missed the 2-point attempt, trailing 8-6.
A Cordeiro pass from four yards out to Machado and a Reis 2-point conversion run made it 16-6 Escalon at the half.
Oakdale scored in the third quarter on a 21-yard rushing play with the kick good, making it 16-13, but with no scoring in the final frame, that’s the way the game ended and Escalon took the win.
“Lucas Trejo came up with a game clinching interception late in the fourth quarter,” Rose said. “Adam Cordeiro converted a critical rushing first down that allowed us to kneel out the victory. Anytime you can get a win against Oakdale, that’s a huge achievement. It also sends a big message to our TVL opponents.”
At the freshman level, head coach Nate Caton classified the Thursday game at Oakdale as “character development,” as the team they faced was bigger, used to playing on the turf and better able to adjust to the added heat that turf brought on a day the temperature peaked in the triple digits.
“Our guys seemed to be fired up after coming off a win last week but, after the first quarter, the heat got to our guys and there were constant mistakes happening on both sides of the ball in the second quarter which resulted in Oakdale scoring 28 points,” Caton said.
His team did adjust and had a good drive, with several carries by Danny Arevalo getting the team within field goal range. They did not convert on that chance, though, and Oakdale scored one more time to take a 35-0 lead in the third.
“Our second group got to play in the fourth quarter and we had a successful drive,” noted Caton. “Nash Northcutt had a nice run with a big gain and fullback Caleb Cooper had a monster gain for 30-plus yards and punched one in for us to put points on the board.”
The extra point attempt was no good, resulting in the 35-6 final.
“Overall, Thursday showed us our kids need to be mentally tougher than the things we can’t control, including the weather,” Caton said.
