It was something that Escalon football fans – not to mention the players – aren’t used to. The varsity Escalon Cougars were shut out at Engel Field on Thursday night, Oct. 10, falling to visiting Woodland Christian by a 28-0 final.
And while the visiting Cardinals came in with lots of accolades and are following up last year’s perfect 15-0 campaign with another strong season, Escalon head coach Andrew Beam said they weren’t necessarily the reason the Cougars lost.
“I think it was us,” the coach said simply, noting that his team was “out of sync from the get go” on Thursday.
“We had six turnovers … when you have six turnovers, you’re going to lose,” Beam said. “Every self-inflicted thing we could do to ourselves, we did.”
That includes the turnovers, lining up in the wrong formations, having no rhythm on offense … Escalon fell behind 21-0 at halftime and could just not recover.
“We got a stop coming out of halftime,” Beam said of having a strong start to the second half. “But then we turned the ball over and they scored.”
Every touchdown for the visiting Woodland Christian team came on a pass play.
“Ryan Lewis still had a sack and made some tackles,” Beam said of the senior captain having a good game in spite of the team’s overall lackluster performance.
Escalon had just 5-of-17 pass completions for 42 yards but also had four passes intercepted. The team averaged just four yards per carry, with a total of 117 yards rushing.
The game featured a performance by dozens of Tiny Cougar cheerleaders at halftime, doing a routine with the Escalon High School cheer squad and also cheering with their older counterparts on the sidelines during the game.
Beam said several factors may have helped figure in to the shutout loss, including it being a short week with the game on Thursday night, the team coming off an emotional loss to Hughson the week before, along with a second quarter injury to standout freshman Dylan Ball, losing him for the rest of the game.
“When it rains it pours,” Beam said of the mounting injuries to the Cougars.
There’s also a fine line between the wins and losses.
“How can we be one stop and one first down from beating Hughson, a two-point conversion away from beating Oakdale … and now we’re 2-5 and got blanked at home,” Beam said. “I feel like we can beat anybody and we can lose to anybody. I still think we’re a dangerous team when we find our groove.”
Escalon looks to get back in the win column on Friday night, Oct. 18 as they will host Ripon Christian for Homecoming with kickoff about 7 p.m.
JV
A road trip to Wheatland was successful for Escalon’s JV Cougars, as they came home from the Thursday night contest with a 35-6 victory.
In the first quarter, Ethan Butler completed a 28-yard pass to Mike Lourenco for the touchdown; the point after attempt by Carson Criteser was blocked but Escalon had the early 6-0 lead. Carter Yates went in from three yards out for the second touchdown and Butler found Conner McDowell on a two-point pass play to put Escalon up 14-0.
They made it 21-0 in the second quarter on a K’Oz Castro 39-yard rush, kick good by Criteser and Curtis Thomas rushed for 24 yards for a score with the kick by Criteser good for a 28-0 lead at the half.
“We controlled this game from the start, taking the opening kickoff and marching down for the score,” said coach Brant Rose. “We played a very efficient game on offense all four quarters; no turnovers and scoring on each possession.”
In the fourth quarter, the JV Cougars made it 35-0 on a 24-yard rush by Thomas and the kick by Criteser.
Wheatland scored a late touchdown on a 26-yard pass play but the two-point conversion attempt failed, with the final score 35-6 in Escalon’s favor.
“Defensively we forced two turnovers on interceptions by Conner McDowell and K’Oz Castro. Our defensive line completely overwhelmed them the entire game with constant pressure by Elizjha Casteel and Izzy Rodriguez,” Rose said. “We are hoping this win will continue the recent momentum as we return to league play on Homecoming night against RC.”
Freshmen
Hosting Stagg to open the evening of football at Engel Field on Thursday, Oct. 10, the freshmen took a 12-0 win in the non-league contest.
“We scored early in the second quarter on a touchdown run by Dylan Machado,” said coach Joey Costa. “The extra point was blocked. We went to the half leading 6-0.”
Escalon’s second touchdown was scored on a blocked punt, recovered in the end zone by Val Garcia. The two-point conversion attempt was no good, but the frosh squad opened up a 12-0 lead.
“We really never got our flow going on offense all day with very limited opportunities,” Costa said. “We played really well on the defensive side of the ball. I was very proud of how we played throughout the game, very physical.”
The team got middle linebacker Cade Riesenbeck back from injury after missing the previous game and a half.
“All of our linebackers played really well, DJ Bass, Cade Riesenbeck, Erin Vanderwerff and Carter Cummings.” Costa added. “Our D-line played good as well, led by Val Garcia and George Healy, and Jack Arata also played well getting his first start at defensive line.”
The team has a bye this week, then will face a tough test against Ripon before playing their final game of the season on the road at Tokay in Lodi.
“I’m very proud of the team fighting through our injury adversity that we have had this year,” said Costa. “We are hoping to finish the year strong.”
