“Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond filled Engel Field as Escalon was seconds away from punching its ticket to the state finals.

The Cougars hosted familiar foe Pleasant Valley in the CIF Division 4-AA Regional Championship Bowl game. Led by seniors Logan Anderson and Ryker Peters, Escalon dominated the Vikings to win 42-20. Head coach Andrew Beam will take his team to their fifth State championship matchup next week.

“I’m ecstatic, I’m really proud of our guys,” Beam said. “It's been an up and down season but we always had the plan to be playing for a state title. The path to get here was a little bumpy along the way, but I am unbelievably proud of our guys.”

Here are three keys to from Escalon’s win.

Controlling the pace

From start to finish, Escalon maintained control of the game. Having close to 1,000 fans cheering for them and experience on natural grass field, gave the Cougars the edge. Their offense scored in the air and on the ground.

In their opening drive, Escalon played three different running backs Peters, Anderson, and junior Jamin Miller. As the Vikings were adjusting to the rushing attack, junior quarterback Donovan Rozevink threw his first pass of the game, a 15-yard touchdown to senior Owen Nash. Rozevink finished the game with 8 completions on 13 attempts for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

This was just the beginning of an offensive domination that kept Pleasant Valley two steps behind throughout the game.

“We were able to dictate the pace of the game with that first drive and just be able to run the ball effectively,” Beam said. “ We established our control at the line of scrimmage and got a huge stop by our defense on their first drive down here at the goal line and that really shifted things in our favor.”

Fumbles save the day

Pleasant Valley, who lost to Escalon in 2019 in the NorCal bowl game, had revenge in mind and was driving down the field to tie things up in the first quarter.

“We’re hoping to kind of flip the script on them after they came up there and beat us,” Mark Cooley, Pleasant Valley head coach said. “It'd be great to come down here and beat them but we have to have no mistakes on our end and we have to stop the run.”

Unfortunately for the Vikings, mistakes started early as senior running back Matthew Kinoshita fumbled just a few yards shy of the end zone. The Cougars recovered and would go on to hold the Vikings' offense scoreless in the first quarter.

Mistakes would continue for Pleasant Valley, from a handful of false starts and a third-quarter fumble, the Pirates fell behind by as many as 21 points.

Cougars backfield doing numbers

All season long, the Cougars have been known for its rushing attack and Friday was no different. Peters led the ground and pound as he surpassed 2,000 rushing yards for the season . He broke tackles and burst through Pleasant Valley’s big-body defense for two 31-yard rushing touchdowns and 166 yards on 17 carries.

“The first half, I was thinking, all right, anything goes as long as my team plays well and we win and we go to state that’s all that matters,” Peters said. “But to be here at old Engel, I’m happy to break 2,000 yards and carry my team, and just to contribute to that win it feels so amazing.”

Anderson also contributed with 45 yards on eight carries and two rushing touchdowns. He also added on an 11-yard touchdown catch as the Cougars' lead scorer.

Escalon will lean on their backfield once more as it will be back at home for the state finals vs. Division 4-AA South section winner Northwood on Dec.10.

More teams from 209

Ripon Christian took on Hughson on Friday night for the CIF Division 5-AA Regional Championship bowl game. After holding a 28-19 lead over Hughson, the Knights didn’t have enough to hold on. The Huskies drove down the field to score 22 points and beat out Ripon Christian, 32-28 in a fourth-quarter comeback.

Senior Trey Fasani threw for a 55-yard touchdown while senior Derek VanElderen and junior Jace Beidleman finished with one rushing touchdown each.

The Knights end their season with an overall record of 11-3 and as CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII champions.

Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Escalon football dominates Pleasant Valley for NorCal regional championship