Escalon’s junior varsity football team closed out its campaign on a high note, defeating Orestimba at Engel Field on Friday night, Nov. 1.
The win was a solid 21-0 victory.
Leo Marrufo got the scoring started, with a one-yard rushing touchdown and the point after kick was good by Carson Criteser to make it 7-0.
Quarterback Ethan Butler then hit Ian Trejo with a 52-yard touchdown pass and Criteser added the kick for a 14-0 lead.
There was no scoring in the second and third quarters but Escalon capped off the night with a six-yard rushing touchdown from Marrufo; the extra point by Criteser, to make it a 21-0 final.
“We took control of this game early, marching the opening drive down methodically for the first score,” said head coach Brant Rose. “Our offense went stagnant in the middle quarters due to self-inflicted wounds; we turned the ball over on a fumbled snap; and had two other drives stall due to multiple penalties.”
Defensively, though, the JV Cougars dominated the entire game.
“Orestimba only entered our red zone one time and came up without any points,” Rose said. “Houston Sizuela came up with an interception, our one forced turnover.”
Escalon’s JV boys finished the season with an overall record of 4-6 and went 2-4 in the Trans-Valley League.
“Although the record is disappointing, there is a lot to keep in perspective,” Rose said. “Our six opponents we lost to finished their seasons with combined records of 52-8; Vacaville and Ripon each finished 10-0 and our largest margin of defeat was by 14 to Vacaville.”
The coach said his team was in a position to win each game late in the fourth quarter, always staying within striking distance.
“This Escalon group showed they have the ability to take on and beat each team we play,” Rose said. “The expectation now is that these boys will take the lessons from this season and now start winning those close games at the varsity level.”
Freshmen
Finishing up their season with a shutout loss at home to visiting Tokay, it was not much of a treat for the youngest Cougar football players on Halloween night.
The Tokay team came in and – with the game starting late due to an issue with officials for the varsity girls flag football game preceding it – basically steamrolled the Escalon freshmen on Oct. 31.
“The last two weeks have been very tough on us with a couple of key kids getting moved up, but even bigger than that was the amount of others that were injured and missed either some or all of the last two games,” noted head coach Joey Costa. “This week I was really proud of the kids as they played hard and fought the entire game even though we were severely undermanned and were also starting our third string, emergency quarterback.”
The freshmen finished the season with an overall record of 4-5-1, which Costa said he is “very proud of” given the circumstances the team dealt with throughout the campaign.
“At the end of the season we had two freshmen on varsity and seven other freshmen starting on JV,” the coach said. “I really believe the future is bright for this freshman class, but due to the talent level and kids moving up to varsity between this year and next it might take a couple of years until they are all together playing on the same level.”
Costa said while many schools don’t do much, if any, moving up of players, Cougar coaches are looking to push their players to do their best.
“We strongly believe in developing our younger talent where they will be challenged and for the betterment of their future, and the program,” Costa explained. “With every kid that gets moved up, it just gives another kid an opportunity to shine, which just makes us better.”
And though it was not a winning record overall, Costa said the team had its chances.
“I think overall we left a couple of wins on the table, but that’s football. We had our biggest roster but with that came a lot of kids who never played before,” Costa added. “I see the season as a success given all the injuries we dealt with as a program. I am very excited to see what this group accomplishes in their future.”
