Escalon wins state high school football championship

CARSON, Calif. -- At the start of the fourth quarter, the skies opened up.

Sure, it had been raining at Home Depot Center for nearly a full day, but this was serious. The warning track around the stadium, already a moat, suddenly became impassable, and the besieged professional soccer pitch gave up trying to absorb any more moisture.

And the Escalon High fans cheered.

It was Cougar weather.

Escalon High proved certainly the better mudder on Saturday, forcing five turnovers and controlling the clock with a steady ground game to defeat Madison High of San Diego 30-14 for the CIF Division 3 State Football Championship.

The Cougars capped a 14-1 season with a decisive victory only six days after finding out they’d been selected to be the first public school ever selected to play in the Division 3 game.

And, yes, they relish that last detail.

“This is for all the small public schools in Northern California who dream about getting to this game,” said Escalon coach Mark Loureiro. “There is a chance. There is a hope. Keep banging in there.”

Making it to Carson, however, was one thing. Getting the major weather break that would help to negate Madison’s obviously edge in speed was quite another.

Warhawks’ quarterback Chase Knox, who had not fumbled the entire season, dropped the ball four times, with Escalon recovering three.

“We haven’t played in these conditions and we just didn’t adjust very well,” said Knox, whose team was playing on real grass for only the third time all year. “Escalon was obviously playing on the same field and in the same conditions, and it didn’t seem like it affected them. They are definitely a good team, but I’d love to start next season and play them again.”

No game is in the offing, and that’s OK with the Cougars.

“Of course the rain was a factor,” Loureiro said. “I’d be lying to you if I said it wasn’t. But that’s football. It comes down to blocking and tackling and hanging onto the ball and it doesn’t matter if it’s 100 degrees, 80 degrees or in a cloud full of rain.”

The game turned on two turnovers, most likely aided by the rain, that allowed Escalon to score 14 points in 33 seconds just before halftime.

The Cougars led 9-0 thanks to a safety when Madison running back Jamarie Sanders slipped and fell in his own end zone, and tacked on a touchdown following the free kick when Josh Miguel scored from six yards out on a sweep of the right side.

Actually, replays showed that Miguel fumbled the ball at the 1, and it rolled inside the pylon and out the side of the end zone for what should have been a touchback.

“I think I fumbled the ball out of the end zone, but we got the touchdown and that’s all that matters,” Miguel said.

Madison answered three plays later when it caught Escalon in a blitz and clicked on a bubble screen from Knox to Kevon Mitchell that broke for a 40-yard score — the Warhawks’ longest play of the game.

“We were kicking ourselves in the butt on that one,” Loureiro said. “We did shoot the backers inside, and it was a great call by Madison. It happens.”

But the ball continued to bounce Escalon’s way following the score, as the Cougars recovered a fumble at the Madison 32 with 1:05 left in the half when Knox dropped the ball while trying to pass.

The Warhawks, thinking Escalon would keep the ball on the ground, placed nine men near the line of scrimmage, and the Cougars took advantage when Gino Franceschetti hit Matt Roberson with a pass in the right flat that went for 22 yards and a first down at the 10.