A late first half field goal ultimately ended up being the difference, as Escalon traveled to face the undefeated Huskies in Hughson on Friday night and fell by a 24-21 final.

“We were chasing those points all night,” head coach Andrew Beam said.

The high-flying Huskies found themselves in a battle with the resilient Cougars, though, who refused to go away quietly.

“I can’t reiterate enough how proud I am of this team,” Beam said. “When you have three two-way starters out, you’re losing the equivalent of six players and we have had guys step up.”

Senior captain Sam Jimenez was lost for the season, injured over the summer. Starting quarterback, junior Logan Huebner, suffered a knee injury in the Trans-Valley League opener against Sonora. And the latest loss was junior Ben Ferreira, a key two-way player, who was injured late in Wednesday’s practice.

Beam noted that Luca Cerasi came in and played well in Ferreira’s absence, giving up just one pass completion as he worked to cover the Hughson receivers. Donovan Martinez, also a junior, has filled in admirably for Huebner after being pressed into service early in the Sonora game.

“I am happy for the resiliency,” Beam stressed. “But it has been a tough year.”

Escalon has played the second most challenging schedule of teams in Divisions 4 through 6, the coach explained, just a tenth of a point below Patterson in terms of strength of schedule.

“All of the challenges should start to pay off over the next few weeks,” Beam said.

Hughson had a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter on Friday night. Escalon tied it up in the second but the Huskies notched the late field goal to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“Hughson got an opening drive touchdown,” Beam said of the home team getting on the board early.

Escalon didn’t convert on their first possession but the defense then showed up huge, stopping a Hughson drive on the 2-yard line.

“Chase Cummings broke up two passes in the end zone and Daniel Marrufo tackled the ball carrier,” Beam said of stopping the Huskies. However, that put Escalon 98 yards away from the end zone.

“Our offense went 98 yards. We methodically marched down the field and, on a fourth and seven, from 30 yards out, it was a pass from Donovan Martinez to Dylan Ball for the touchdown run,” said Beam.

That tied the game at 7-7 and, after some more outstanding defensive work by the Cougars, they got the ball back late in the half. Unfortunately, a fumble on the offensive possession gave the Huskies good field position and they converted a 26-yard field goal to go up 10-7.

In the second half, Escalon went up by a 14-10 score with a 28-yard touchdown run from Ben Gonzalez, on a fourth and three.

“He basically goes untouched into the end zone,” Beam said.

Hughson was up to the challenge and answered, getting a passing touchdown and the point after to regain the lead 17-14.

“On the ensuing kickoff, Dylan Ball goes 88 yards, he planted his foot, turned and went almost untouched down the Hughson sideline,” explained Beam.

The point after put Escalon up by a 21-17 edge and they held that advantage going into the fourth quarter.

With the goal of keeping the Hughson offense off the field, the Cougars did manage to hang on to the ball for several minutes but the Huskies made the crucial stop on a fourth and three when they needed it, getting control of the ball.

They used that momentum to go down the field and tack on the final score of the night, going up 24-21, as some defensive confusion on the part of the Cougars left a Hughson receiver wide open.

Beam said coaches – not the players – were responsible for the miscues, not getting the right alignments and, in Beam’s case, the coach admitted to being “too conservative” in his offensive play calling late.

Escalon had a chance in the final couple of minutes of the contest, getting the ball back on the kickoff, but the Huskies picked off a Martinez pass to end the threat and put the game in the win column.

“Our running backs did a good job,” Beam said, even though the efforts came in a loss.

Gonzalez had 10 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown; Ball had 13 carries for 83 yards and a 30-yard reception for a touchdown, along with the 88-yard kickoff return for the score.

“He had a total of 176 kick return yards,” Beam said. “He had almost 300 total yards.”

Martinez completed 6-of-10 passes on the night for 54 yards and a touchdown, with one interception.

Defensively, David Ingles had six tackles, Ryan Lewis had four and Cummings chipped in with the pass break ups.

“Our kids played their butts off,” Beam said. “We had a couple of chances when we had that team on the ropes; we just came up one play short.”

Jeremy Grivette had some carries for tough yards on the night as well, and pointed to the faith that Beam has in the team as being a key motivation for the players to prove him right.

“We’ve just got to keep our effort going and get on a roll,” Grivette said. “Once we’re on a roll, we can do good.”

He also feels that pushing the Huskies hard all night sent a message.

“We’ll be back next year,” Grivette said. “We’ll be back.”

For Preston Berhorst, the close loss was tough, but in no way a defining moment for the team.

“We’ve just got to get better, move on from our mistakes. Obviously, we’re short staffed but we can’t blame anything on that,” Berhorst said. “No excuses, we’ve just got to come out, be ready to go in practice on Monday.”