After scoring just one touchdown in the first quarter – and missing the extra point – Escalon then found itself trailing the host Orestimba Warriors 7-6 early in the second quarter on Friday night, Nov. 6. But after finding their footing, the varsity Cougars ultimately rolled to a 48-10 victory.
“We need to get both sides of the ball clicking,” head coach Andrew Beam said, noting that the first few weeks of the season featured outstanding defense while the last several have focused more on the offense.
With Trans-Valley League play now complete – Escalon finishing second to Hilmar with a 5-1 record – Beam said both facets of the game are needed for the playoffs.
“We had the highest scoring offense in the TVL,” the coach pointed out. “But the defense is giving up too many yards and too many points.”
Escalon took the opening kickoff on Friday night and on the second play from scrimmage, Dylan Ball made it 6-0 on a 55-yard touchdown run. The point after attempt by Brody Abbott was no good, just his second missed PAT of the year.
Orestimba came back and scored a touchdown and added the extra point to lead it 7-6 early in the second quarter.
“Then we got a 46-yard run by Jake Ferreira to make it 12-7,” Beam said, with the 2-point attempt no good.
Ferreira’s run saw him weave from sideline to sideline to escape would-be tacklers before turning on the gas and outdistancing everyone down the sideline.
“What we need to do is just put together an entire football game,” Ferreira said of maintaining focus. “As a defensive unit we just need to step up as a team because our offense has been hitting on all cylinders lately.”
Orestimba was able to kick a field goal to trim the lead to 12-10 after the score by Ferreira.
From there, however, it was all Escalon, as Ball scored on a 37-yard run, extra point by Abbott good; and Ferreira scored on a 60-yard run, extra point good, to take a 26-10 lead at the half.
“Matthew Geddes got a fumble recovery on the first play of the second half,” Beam said, which eventually paved the way for an 11-yard run by Ferreira, with Ball taking in the 2-point conversion to put the Cougars up 34-10. Ball scored again on a 36-yard run in the third quarter, kick good by Abbott, as Escalon pulled away to a 41-10 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Dylan Machado made good on an earlier missed catch, as he was headed for the end zone and took his eye off the ball, dropping it as he crossed the line. But this time, he pulled in the 34-yard pass from quarterback Archer Sanders and got the TD, Abbott adding the kick for the 48-10 final.
“First varsity touchdown so that feels amazing and I’m glad we got the win tonight, it was a good win,” said Machado.
Senior Cole McDowell had the opportunity to step in on defense and got a lot of playing time, making the most of his minutes on the field.
“It felt great to get in,” said McDowell, who said the defense does need to focus more as they prepare for the postseason. “We’ve just got to go harder, and during practice we’ve got to try harder.”
Defensively at Orestimba on Friday, Conner McDowell had nine tackles, Ian Trejo pulled down an interception and Kolton Kjellberg had three tackles, with the fumble recovery by Geddes.
“I was really happy with how our second string defense played, including Ethan Morrill, Devin Teicheira and Cole McDowell,” said Beam.
Offensively, Ball had 11 carries for 216 yards and three touchdowns; Ferreira had six carries for 133 yards and three touchdowns, with the one receiving touchdown in the game pulled in by Machado. Sanders was 4-for-7 for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Escalon opens up the Division 4 playoffs as the number three seed, hosting Foothill of Sacramento in a 6 p.m. game on Friday, Nov. 13.
The varsity Cougars finished the regular season with a 7-3 record and were 5-1 in TVL play.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Getting back in the win column for the season finale, Escalon’s JV boys took a 27-15 win off the field at Orestimba on Friday night, Nov. 6.
They fell behind 9-0 before getting on the board on a 75-yard interception by Lucas Machado returned for the touchdown. Moises Cortes added the kick and they trimmed the lead to 9-7.
Vinny Reis put Escalon ahead on a 42-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, kick good by Cortes, going up 14-9. Two more Escalon touchdowns in the fourth quarter came from Kash Kuhlman on a seven-yard rush, kick good by Cortes, going up 21-9 and Reis closed it out with a 32-yard rushing touchdown, the point after attempt was no good but the JV team had a 27-9 lead. Orestimba scored on a long pass but missed the 2-point attempt with time winding down, making the final 27-15 in favor of Escalon.
“It was a nice win to end the season,” said head coach Brant Rose. “We finish the season with a 4-6 overall record; we were a much better team than our record indicates.”
The team went just 1-5 in TVL but beat a couple of high-quality teams early in the preseason including Liberty Ranch and Oakdale.
“Five of our losses were decided by seven points or less. We were in very competitive games all season,” said Rose. “Additionally, our program had as many as five sophomores playing up at the varsity level at different points in the season, and we were still able to maintain competitiveness all season. That’s a sign that this 10th grade class is going to be able to provide a lot of quality players to the future varsity team.”
FRESHMEN
In their final game at home, the Escalon freshmen tied with Sonora on Oct. 29, then had a chance to play on the road, taking on the Bret Harte JV team on Nov. 5.
They tied Sonora, 20-20, and were shut out by the JV Bullfrogs.
Head coach Nate Caton was glad to see his team play tough against Sonora.
“Both teams fought hard, but I feel like our guys handled Sonora well physically,” said Caton. “Danny Arevalo was a beast on offense, scoring two touchdowns for us until he got hurt in the fourth quarter.”
Also scoring was Aiden-Yates Perreira and quarterback Frank Borba doubled at linebacker and played well defensively, as did Tillman Vick, Arevalo, Gunner McCurley and Angel Tinoco.
“At the freshman level there is no OT, and settling with a tie is not how we wanted our last home game of the season to be, but our guys played great all night,” said Caton.
Since Orestimba dropped their freshman team, the frosh Cougars looked for a replacement game and got to take on the JV team from Bret Harte.
“The score was 42-0. It was a challenge for our guys to play a team of soph-frosh, but to me, I look at it as an initiation to the JV level,” Caton said. “Despite the score our guys had fun playing against the JV team.”
Yates-Perreira and Nixon Walker caught some passes from Borba, with McCurley leading the running game at fullback.
Tinoco, Hunter Morrill and Maddix Leal did well on defense.
“I saw a lot of growth from this group from summer up until now,” Caton noted. “It was great coaching this group of kids and I see a lot of potential in them for their upcoming years.”
