For the second consecutive season, the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 final was decided by a field goal in the final seconds. This time, Escalon fell victim to the late kick, as Kurtis Bettencourt booted a 41-yard field goal Friday to lift Hilmar to a 20-17 upset of the defending state champ.
The highlights included:
• Escalon calling three timeouts in a row before Bettencourt's kick, but it didn't faze him. He missed two kicks in a 10-0 loss to Escalon in league play, but had field goals of 40 and 41 yards in the title game.
"Each time Escalon called a timeout, the coaches brought me over to tell me jokes," said Bettencourt, who had played football and soccer in the fall until this year. "Some of the jokes had me laughing pretty hard. Some weren't so good, but they kept me distracted."
After his 41-yarder gave Hilmar a 20-17 lead with 21 seconds left, he sent the kickoff into the end zone and Escalon started from its 20 yard-line.
• Hilmar tried one reverse in its first meeting with Escalon and it led to a fumble. The 'Jackets used it twice Friday: Zack Giuliano took a handoff from Bettencourt for 23 yards — setting up a second-half TD — and Bettencourt later took it from Giuliano for 15 yards.
The Yellowjackets also exploited the counter for runs up the middle. After getting 60 yards on 20 carries in the first game, Hilmar had 147 yards on 39 runs Friday.
• A stunning special teams flaw cost Escalon, after Alan Gonzalez partially blocked a punt in the third quarter. The ball was rolling inside the Escalon 30, defenders surrounding it, as Josh Miguel jumped on it. It squirted away and Hilmar recovered. Joey Ratto intercepted a pass to get the ball back for Escalon, but the next drive started at the Escalon 2.
Escalon spent the rest of the half trying to get out from the shadow of its goal post. It did not start a drive from outside its 20 during the second half.
• Escalon's Mark Loureiro gambled on fourth-and-inches from his own 11-yard line, moments after the punt-return flub. The Cougars got the first on a quarterback sneak, but had to punt three plays later from the 13. It was down 14-10 at the time.
• Bettencourt fulfilled a lifetime of expectations with his game-winning kick. When he was 12, Bettencourt gained local fame for booting a 42-yard field goal in a youth game. He sent 34 of 80 kickoffs into the end zone — four of five on Friday — and had 11 field goals.
• Hilmar's final drive started on its 25 with 2:10 to play, similar to Escalon's section-winning drive a year ago that resulted in Gino Franceschetti's decisive field goal and a win over Calaveras. Quarterback Andrew Olson (6 of 14, 110 yards, one pick) tossed a 14-yarder to Giuliano to get it started, but took a helmet to his arm and had to leave.
With Olson's arm in a sling, Jonathan O'Brien completed three passes in a row to move it to the Escalon 30. His final toss, a 15-yard slant to Tyler Silva, was in the air before Silva made his cut to the inside.
Two runs took it to the 24, setting up Bettencourt's kick.
• Escalon made key adjustments to top Central Catholic in the semifinal, but Hilmar had the key moves Friday. Escalon had 114 yards on 20 carries in the first half, but only 19 on 12 carries in the second.
• Hilmar drove on Escalon, a feat few could claim in 2011. It converted three first downs on a 78-yard TD drive that led to Olson's 2-yard sneak to tie it at 7 in the second quarter, and went 70 yards to open the second half and went up 14-7 on Ryan White's 8-yard run.
On its game-winning drive, Hilmar moved 51 yards on six plays, and Bettencourt's winning kick was on third down.
• Hilmar is now 1-2 against Escalon in section finals, losing in 2002 (21-20) and 2005 (23-0). In 2002, Loureiro used his three timeouts to freeze the Hilmar kicker. It was successful, but only because the goal posts at University of the Pacific weren't as wide as high school goal posts — the kick was just outside the upright.
In 2005, Escalon was 8-2 and lost to Trans-Valley League rivals before its run. It avenged losses to Patterson in the semifinal and Hilmar in the final.
The Yellowackets have six titles — only Central Catholic (15), Escalon (eight) and Del Oro (seven) have more — in their 10 finals. Four of those titles were 1986-89, when Jerry Van Lengen and the 'Jackets won 46 games in a row, one short of the state mark at the time.
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