The Escalon High School sports teams began their preseason competitions with events in football, volleyball, and flag football during the weekend of Aug. 15-16. The freshman, junior varsity, and varsity football teams held a scrimmage at Gregori High School in Modesto on Friday. At the same time, all levels of girls volleyball participated in the GEBO scrimmage at Beyer High School, while the varsity flag football girls competed in a round-robin event in Turlock.
Varsity head coach Andrew Beam commented on his team’s efforts at Gregori High School, stating, “We were focused on just trying to work on our stuff (…) We ran a wide variety of our offensive plays and there were a lot of positives.” He also emphasized the benefits of having a local scrimmage location by saying, “I like that it’s local (…) Gregori is always a great host … and it’s close for the fans.”
Beam pointed to several returning players who made significant contributions: Rylan Koops, Logan Huebner, Ben Gonzalez, Jeremy Grivette, Chase Cummings and Co Northcutt. “They looked like varsity guys,” Beam said. “And Lorenzo Teixeira was the best offensive and defensive linemen out there on the field.” Additionally, sophomore Dylan Ball caught a touchdown pass during the game.
Looking ahead to official preseason play starting Friday, Aug. 22 against Rodriguez High School from Fairfield, Beam highlighted younger players’ performances: “We have some young offensive line and defensive line guys (…) I was pleased overall with how they played in the scrimmage.”
On Saturday at Beyer High School’s annual GEBO event for volleyball, Escalon’s girls teams faced Golden Valley, Beyer and Oakdale. Varsity head coach Shay Beam remarked: “We played timed matches against Golden Valley, Beyer, and Oakdale. All three levels looked good (…) I think all three levels need to get more comfortable on the court together. Varsity has a girl from each grade so they haven’t played together yet. We’re going to focus more on that this week during practice, just talking and trusting the player next to us.” She added her optimism for smaller JV and freshman squads: “JV and freshman are smaller teams this season but man, are they scrappy and great from the service line (…) I’m super excited for this season with this group of girls.”
Future games include participation in Central Catholic’s Foundation Game (Aug. 20), an away match against Sierra (Aug. 25), and hosting Merced (Aug. 26).
Flag football saw Escalon’s varsity squad competing early Saturday morning against Orestimba at Turlock’s round robin tournament under head coach Steve Largent. Largent explained rule changes impacted team strategy: “We played really well and did some really nice things (…) There have been some rule changes. Pass rushers can now come from just one yard off the ball rather than the seven yards requirement the past two years. So that was something that was a main area of focus for us Saturday.”
Largent noted his team’s willingness to experiment offensively while lauding their defense after facing Oakdale: “We tried some new things out offensively (…) Our defense flew around and made life very difficult for them.” Against Turlock Bulldogs he stated: “Our last rotation was against a very solid, well coached Turlock Bulldogs team and despite the fact they had the size and speed advantage I thought we really held our own and gave them some problems offensively.”
Additional new rules allowed practicing punting during competition day as well.
Leadership continues with returning captains Jasmine Barron and Reagan Baker entering their senior year; Lisa Luis takes over JV coaching responsibilities this season.
Largent concluded by expressing enthusiasm about his team moving forward: “Year three and things are continuing to trend upward and we are excited to embrace the new rules, the opportunity to face some huge schools with excellent track records and continue this journey together.”
Upcoming matches include games scheduled at Gustine (Aug. 20) followed by participation in Merced Tournament (Aug. 23), where Escalon will face Merced, McClatchy and McNair.
