ESCALON – Hughson High ran into a riled up Escalon team, coming off a late-game collapse against Hilmar, and fell 31-14 in a key Trans-Valley League matchup Friday night at Lloyd Engel Field.

With the victory, the Cougars improve to 4-3 for the season and 2-1 in conference, while the Huskies fall to 4-2 and 1-1. Hilmar, meanwhile, improved to 7-0 and 3-0 with a 35-29 win over two-time defending state champ Sonora.

Escalon pressured sophomore quarterback Hudson Baldwin from the start with a series of blitz packages that flushed the young signal-caller out of the pocket and forced to throw on the run or before his receivers had time to develop their routes.

“We were not going to let him sit back in the pocket and play zone,” said Escalon defensive coordinator Brandon Hoover. “He’s too good. We’ve seen him pick apart other teams.”

Additionally, the Cougars had safety Dylan Ball roll into double-coverage of star receiver Titus Beers, who caught just two passes for 24 yards and ran the ball four times for 8 yards – one of the carries was a 1-yard TD plunge for the Huskies’ first score of the night to cut Escalon’s lead to 10-7.

Blake Hobbs was the big weapon for Hughson, carrying the ball 18 times for 146 yards and a 3-yard TD burst that again cut the Cougars' lead to three points, 17-14 with 4:04 to play in the third quarter.

From there, it was all Escalon.

The Cougars extended the lead to 24-14 on their ensuing possession when Valdemar Garcia scored on a 21-yard run up the gut with 1:14 remaining in the third. The Huskies went three-and-out on its next possession and their punt was fielded by Ball on the Escalon 34. The 5-foot-9, 185-pound junior broke toward his right, got the corner, and then raced up the home sideline untouched to make it 31-14.

In addition to his punt return, Ball ran the ball 12 times from scrimmage for 156 yards.

“Last week was a rough one,” said Ball, whose Cougars scored 18 consecutive points in the second half to take a nine-point fourth quarter lead, only to watch the Yellowjackets close the contest on a 13-0 run for a 36-32 victory. “You have to give credit to Hilmar, but we felt we should have won that game. We just have to get our confidence up. When our confidence is up, I think we’re one of the best teams in the section.”

Hughson will see action again next week when it hosts Sonora; Escalon will travel to take on Ripon, and Hilmar will entertain Orestimba.