ESCALON — Anthony Naverrette did all he could with a bad snap, squeezing it with his fingertips as the Purple Punter Eaters came bursting through the line of scrimmage.
Naverrette survived, hitting a tumbling grounder, but there was no victory in giving the ball away.
Not to Josh Miguel and the attack-from-all-angles Escalon Cougars.
The state champions returned to Trans-Valley League play on Friday night, clearing the way for a glitzy homecoming celebration by putting the game away by halftime.
When the clock mercifully flashed zeroes, the Cougars had roared to a 73-0 victory over Riverbank.
Escalon is now 5-0, and has followed its toughest test of the fall — a 14-7 victory over Patterson on Sept. 16 — with consecutive no-doubters.
The Cougars scored 10 touchdowns in beating Dixon 67-0 last week. They needed only three quarters to match that number, with all 10 coming on the ground.
The 73 points are believed to be the most in the program's last 40 years.
Riverbank was overmatched in warm-ups, its 25-man roster dwarfed by the Cougars' 46 strong — all of whom put at least one snap into the ledger.
"We've had a couple of these games now," Escalon coach Mark Loureiro said. "Now it's time to step it up a notch. We've got Ripon and they've had two weeks to work on us."
Studying didn't help Riverbank (3-3), now 0-2 in conference play and buried beneath the aggregate scoring 134-6.
The Bruins had just 34 yards of offense in the first half and didn't pick up a first down on their own until the 8:56 mark in the second quarter.
Quarterback Alex Reynaga was 6 of 18 for 39 yards during that stretch, harassed throughout by Nate Caton (sack), Alex Stober (sack), Ian Fitzgerald (four tackles, sack) and Johnathon Costa (six tackles).
His punter, Naverrette stayed busy — and frazzled. He punted on every Bruins' possession but one, with two resulting in safeties.
Escalon had no problems finding the end zone, nearly matching its point total from last week by halftime.
Miguel (four carries, 65 yards) scored twice on his first three touches, showcasing the get-it-and-gone ability that made him The Bee's Player of the Year in 2010. He burst around the left edge on Escalon's first possession, trotting in from 10 yards out. Minutes later, he returned a free kick 57 yards for a touchdown following a safety.
Not to be outdone, Joey Ratto (four carries, 33 yards) and Matt Roberson (seven carries, 110 yards), Escalon's other featured backs, had two touchdowns in limited action.
Ratto scored on runs of 4 and 20 yards, while Roberson provided the evening's signature moment. The 6-foot, 205-pound fullback hurdled Reynaga — the Bruins' last man — on his way to a 19-yard score.
Jason Robbins, Nathan Chunn and Fitzgerald capped the scoring with third-quarter runs.
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