In an unusual twist of scheduling, two Escalon High School football teams will be on the home field Thursday while one is on the road … and the Tiny Cougar cheerleaders will also get their share of the spotlight.
This week’s originally scheduled varsity game was to be Friday night, Oct. 11 hosting Modesto Christian. But since MC never did field a junior varsity team this season, the decision was made earlier to move the varsity game to Thursday, when the freshmen will also be at home, hosting Stagg in non-league play.
But things got murky when Modesto Christian officials announced – midseason – that they were planning to end their Trans-Valley League campaign in favor of opting to play as an independent team. That left Escalon officials scrambling to find another opponent to fill the hole in the schedule.
Head coach and EHS Athletic Director Andrew Beam said MC then said they would play Escalon if they couldn’t find a replacement – but that option also fell through as the Crusaders had to forfeit their last game when they didn’t have enough players to finish out the full four quarters.
Escalon was able to get a game with Woodland Christian, so the Cardinals will be in town on Thursday.
“They are the reigning State Division 6 champions and they went 15-0 last year,” Beam said. “They are ranked about 60 spots higher than us so this will be another really tough challenge.”
The Escalon freshmen will open the evening with a 5 p.m. kickoff against Stagg while the JV Cougars hit the road to face Wheatland in non-league play.
At halftime of the varsity game Thursday at Engel Field, the Tiny Cougar cheerleaders will join the EHS cheer squads for an on-field routine. They will also cheer on the sidelines with the older cheerleaders throughout the evening.
“We could have taken the forfeit win against Modesto Christian,” Beam pointed out. “But these guys only get so many games … you want to play.”
Beam said they are hoping to get a good crowd for the rare Thursday night varsity contest. An incentive for students to attend is free admission with the presentation of an ID card. Varsity kickoff will be about 7 p.m.
“We can’t just look at our record and just think, oh we’re 2-4 and we’ve got nothing to fight for,” senior and team captain Ryan Lewis said following a league loss to undefeated Hughson on Friday night, Oct. 4 on the road. “We have so much to fight for still. I’m going to try and be a better leader, to pick each other up and just let them know that we’re still fighting, we’re not done yet … Escalon is never done.”
It will definitely be a fight at Engel Field on Thursday.
“Woodland Christian comes in at 5-1 and they have a lot of talented guys on offense,” Beam said. “We also will have a quick turnaround for a Thursday night game.”
He added that, coming in at 2-4, he knows the Cougars are eager to get back in the win column. They will have Homecoming against Ripon Christian, a rivalry game with Ripon and Senior Night against Orestimba to close out the Trans-Valley League action after the Thursday non-league game.
“We have a lot of football left to play,” the coach explained.
The Cougars will need to get to four wins to make the postseason and he believes that is an attainable goal.
“We have to take it one game at a time, one week at a time,” Beam said. “We just need to get into the dance … it doesn’t matter who we play then, everyone is 0-0. We get into the dance; I like our chances.”
