Escalon’s historic flag football season ends with semifinal loss to St. Mary’s
A late touchdown was not enough to lift the Escalon High flag football team past St. Mary’s on Wednesday night in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinals at Engel Field.
Though they marched down the field with 10 minutes remaining in the second half, scoring on a one-yard touchdown pass to cut it to a 12-6 game, the Cougars did not have enough time to put together another scoring drive. In their inaugural season, they finished just a few minutes shy of a section championship appearance Saturday afternoon at Cosumnes River College, falling to the Rams, 12-6.
The Cougars, who earned the No. 1 seed in their division, finish the season 21-5.
Wednesday night was the second matchup between the Cougars and Rams this season. Escalon won the first contest 7-0 in a tournament.
“We felt good coming in,” said coach Steve Largent. “We knew we’re going to have some athletes, but we just fell down two scores. “We’re not down two very often and I think we panicked a little bit, but overall… it was just a fantastic effort and we didn’t go down without a fight.”
The Escalon offense could not find its footing in the first half, and while the defense stopped St. Mary’s on a handful of occasions, the Rams were able to find the end zone in the opening half.
On the Rams’ second possession, Victory Bragg found Presley DaCruz for a 15-yard touchdown to open up a 6-0 lead. An unsuccessful fourth-down conversion gave the ball back to the Rams, but the defense came away with a big stop on an interception by senior Violette Kent at midfield. After marching down the field, a red zone interception ended the Cougars’ best first-half scoring opportunity.
The Rams’ second score came on a controversial call at the end of the first half. Bragg attempted a short pass to Selia Martinez, who dove for the ball. As she attempted the touchdown catch, her knee made contact with the ground short of the goal line and the Escalon sideline argued the ball hit the ground. The officials scored it a completed pass for a touchdown, giving St. Mary’s a 12-0 lead.
“We wanted to stay patient and get them into one of our types of games, credit to them for putting the pressure on by getting up two scores,” Largent said. “Our game plan was to keep the ball on the ground and move the ball, but they did what they needed to do to flip that script. So credit to the Rams, they just put us behind the eight ball.”
With 10:28 remaining in the game, senior Hannah Wampler secured Escalon’s second interception in the end zone. The Cougars went the length of the field in just under seven minutes to score their first touchdown on a one-yard touchdown pass from senior Sammy Lang to Kent.
“(Coach said) keep our heads up, we have time let’s go get a touchdown, and that’s how we responded,” Lang said.
The Cougars forced a three-and-out late in the second half, but received the ball with 1 minute, 23 seconds left in the game. Their final drive of the season ended with an incomplete deep pass.
“One of my favorite quotes is, ‘We didn’t lose the game. We just ran out of time.’ It was one of those deals,” Largent said.
During its first season, Escalon worked its way up to one of the top teams in California and the nation. The Cougars started the season winning 14 of their first 16 games and made the first ever section postseason.
“I think we did phenomenal,” Lang said, reflecting on the season. “Coach Largent is a good coach who knows a lot about football and he said from the start that we were going to build a sisterhood. We had a really strong bond together and it’s sad that it has to end, but we fought and that’s all we can do. St. Mary’s is good and I hope they win (Saturday in the championship), but it’s tough.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2023 at 8:42 AM.
