‘It’s exactly what you’d expect.’ Escalon wins physical TVL battle against Hilmar
It took less than 90 seconds for the Escalon High football team to seize momentum against Hilmar in a key Trans-Valley League matchup on Friday night.
The Cougars got a surge up the middle and blocked a Yellowjackets’ punt and Ryan Lewis scooped it up inside the Hilmar 10-yard line and scored to give Escalon a 7-0 lead 87 seconds into the game.
The extra touchdown loomed large as the Cougars improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the TVL with a 24-14 win over Hilmar at Engel Field.
“That was a huge momentum shift a minute and a half into the game,” said Escalon coach Andrew Beam. “That play energized our crowd, our student section, our players. It put (Hilmar) in chase mode from the get-go.”
The two defenses controlled the game for the most part, limiting the big plays by either offense. They are two teams who know each other well. Hilmar and Escalon had played each other six times in three seasons from 2017-2019.
The two teams renewed the rivalry on Friday night after not playing each other during the shortened five-game spring season.
“It’s exactly what you’d expect,” Beam said. “A physical battle on both sides of the ball. Both teams know each other inside and out. There’s no tricks when we play each other.”
Escalon sophomore quarterback Donovan Rozevink was able to engineer two other first-half scoring drives for the Cougars.
With Hilmar shutting down the Esclaon running game, Rozevink made some key plays with his arm and ran for a couple first downs to keep drives alive.
Rozevink connected with EJ Lewis on a 1-yard touchdown pass to extend the Cougars’ lead to 14-0 with 8 minutes left in the first half.
Rosevink connected on a 25-yard pass to Ayden Wilson and a 19-yard pass to Logan Anderson on back-to-back plays in the final minutes of the second quarter to set up a 22-yard field goal by Alfonzo Gonzalez to give the Cougars a 17-0 lead at the half.
“I thought Donovan played a composed, smart first half,” Beam said. “He made some great decisions throwing the ball. He ran for a couple huge first downs. The sophomore is growing up with each game.”
Without three starting offensive linemen, the Yellowjackets offense had a tough time moving the ball in the first half. The Escalon defense limited Hilmar to just 66 yards of offense in the first quarter.
Hilmar losing starting running back Luis Vargas to an arm injury in the first half didn’t help, either.
Cannon Irelan moved to running back in the third quarter and the junior gave the Yellowjackets a spark on their opening drive of the second half.
Irelan broke free for a 30-yard run on Hilmar’s first play in the third quarter. Irelan carried the ball four times on the Yellowjackets’ opening drive of the second half for 44 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown run that cut the Cougars’ lead to 17-7 with 7:49 left in the third quarter.
The Yellowjackets just couldn’t sustain anything offensively the rest of the way.
“It’s hard not to move the pile without those linemen in there,” said Hilmar coach Frank Marques. “The kids in there are playing their heart out. I wish we could point the finger at the linemen, but we’re making a lot of other mistakes right now.”
The Yellowjackets turned the ball over twice in the second half on interceptions.
Escalon put the game away midway through the fourth quarter when Rozenvink found EJ Lewis wide open in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 24-7.
Rozenvink had his choice of three wide-open receivers in the end zone after faking a hand-off.
“We’re playing really bad football right now,” Marques said. “We’re making too many mistakes and that can’t happen. We have two weeks to prepare for Hughson and we have to clean some things up.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 12:09 AM with the headline "‘It’s exactly what you’d expect.’ Escalon wins physical TVL battle against Hilmar."
