Escalon football’s season ends in loss to Acalanes in NorCal Division 3-AA Bowl Game

After four years, a pair of Trans Valley League titles, three section titles, three NorCal Bowl Games and one state championship, the careers of Escalon’s talented senior class ended Friday night in Lafayette with a loss to Acalanes in the CIF Northern California Division 3-AA Bowl Game.

Four seniors have been three-year varsity starters: quarterback Donovan Rozevink, running back/linebacker Jamin Miller and linemen Anthony Jones and Gio Chavez. They have each started more than 40 high school football games, playing more than four full seasons in essentially three years after losing their freshman season in 2020 to COVID.

In addition to those three-year starters, Josh Graham, Talan Reider, Nate Krieger, Nico Franzia and other members of the 22-man senior class have grown into key roles for the Cougars (12-2) along their high school journeys.

“That résumé is going to rival just about anybody in our program’s history, and it’s going to rival just about anybody in this area,” Escalon coach Andrew Beam said of the accomplishments of the 2024 class. “These kids, I mean, they just worked hard, they bought in. They played a lot of football and they’ve had to dedicate a lot of time to football.”

The Dons (10-4), who won the North Coast Section Division IV title last week, proved to be too much for the Cougars, who narrowly escaped Patterson High last week in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship. Acalanes was almost perfect Friday night, beating Escalon to advance to the Division 3-AA state title, 49-14.

All night the Dons scored on quick and efficient drives, using their speed and athleticism on the outside to open up the Escalon defense. When the Cougars shifted their focus too much on the pass, Acalanes switched up the call with a perfectly timed run play up the middle.

Seniors were responsible for all 14 of the Cougars’ points in Friday night’s road contest.

Graham played through a slight AC joint separation, getting the bulk of the carries for Escalon before he had to leave the game with a leg injury. He scored his only touchdown of the game on a two-yard run in the first quarter to bring Escalon within one score, 14-7. Rozevink connected with running back Krieger for a five-yard touchdown in the third quarter for the Cougars’ final points of the season.

The reigning 4-AA state champion Cougars moved the ball well in the first quarter but its first two drives stalled after red-zone penalties. After finding ways to convert on third and fourth downs all postseason, Escalon could not find open running lanes and receivers to move the chains Friday night.

Escalon ran 42 first-half plays to Acalanes’ 12 and won the time of possession battle, keeping the ball just over 21 minutes while the Dons had the ball for less than three. Despite that, Escalon still trailed by 14 points at halftime.

The Cougars went into halftime trailing 21-7 and a Dons touchdown on their first drive of the second half allowed them to pick up right where they left off after the first 24 minutes of play. Acalanes scored four additional touchdowns while Escalon managed just one in the second half.

“The hardest thing for us all week was we could not tell just how big or physical this team was or how fast this team was. It was really hard to gauge because they played really good teams,” Beam said. “When you see them play Amador Valley and San Marin and Campolindo and San Ramon Valley, it was really good teams that were playing each other.”

While the Cougars thought they saw top talent earlier this season, nothing could prepare them for what they were up against in Dons receivers Trevor Rogers and Paul Kuhner. Rogers entered the matchup with 1,045 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. He is a four-star receiver committed to Cal Berkeley. Kuhner is not bad in his own right with 470 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in Acalanes’ first 12 games. He will play football and run track at Princeton. Both were also on the Acalanes 4x100 track and field team that in the spring finished second at the state meet.

While Escalon played Bay Area teams California High and Windsor during non-league games and were impressed with the combination of speed and power of Patterson in the Division IV Sac-Joaquin Section championship last Friday night, the Rogers-Kuhner one-two punch was something completely different.

“We knew we were going to have to play just about perfect to be able to compete with that talent,” Beam said. “We did everything we wanted in the first half, except score touchdowns. … They had speed like we have not seen. Their speed at the wide receiver position was elite.”

Rogers, who also doubles as a defensive back, took advantage of a Cougars offensive miscue, intercepting a pass and returning it down the sideline for an 84-yard pick-six to give the Dons a 7-0 lead.

Quarterback Sully Bailey rushed for three touchdowns and completed a pass to Kuhner for a 32-yard fourth-quarter score that capped the Dons’ scoring. After Escalon cut it to 28-14, Acalanes scored 21 unanswered second-half points.

Those plays, along with a rushing touchdown from Jack Miller and a third-quarter pick-six by Deonte Littlejohn helped the Dons keep their foot on the gas and secure their first appearance in a state championship game in school history.

The Cougars have finished with at least 12 wins in the past four full seasons and this year, won a number of games many thought they would lose. They beat Buchanan of Clovis on a game-winning field goal from Reider and scored in the last minute of the game to beat Windsor. They were dominant against Oakdale and last week, Rozevink completed a pass for a late touchdown then ran the ball up the middle for a game-winning two point conversion to win the section title.

Leading receiver Sam Jimenez, top tight end and defensive end Ryan Lewis and a number of key linemen are all juniors and will return next season as they look to defend TVL and section titles.

“We’re going to all reflect and enjoy this year for another month here before we get going for next year,” Beam said.