Prep Football: Roberson has carried Cougars

ESCALON — Unlike many of his teammates, Matt Roberson didn't grow up wanting to play football at Escalon High under coach Mark Loureiro.

Roberson felt he was better at baseball, so he skipped football his freshman year — a decision he regrets to this day.

"A lot of my friends were on the team, and they were after me to play," Roberson said. "I like competition, and it didn't take long for me to realize that football would be fun."

Winning usually is, and it's what buoyed Roberson's spirits during a junior year spent on the line. The roster said he was a tight end, he had three catches in 14 games, but his role was to block.

Not catch.

"Matt's physical, hits hard and he doesn't stop until that whistle," Loureiro said. "You need guys like that on the line ... it can get rough in there."

It's the attitude needed to play fullback in a Wing-T, as well, so Loureiro went to Roberson after last year's state title victory with a proposal.The move has helped Escalon put together a 13-0 season and landed the Cougars in Friday's Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 final at Lincoln High, where it will face Hilmar.

Roberson deserves the credit for securing Escalon's return to the title game. It beat Calaveras 22-20 in last year's final and won a state title with a 30-14 upset over Madison in the D3 Bowl.

There would be no opportunity to duplicate the feat, however, without Roberson's Herculean effort in the semifinal.

With the Cougars trailing Cental Catholic 17-0, Roberson delivered.

He ran through the middle of the defense for TDs of 17, 37 and 21 yards, finishing with a career-high 186 yards on just 17 carries.

Escalon scored 24 consecutive points in what fans are calling "The Great Escape."

"Some weeks the defense is set up to stop Josh, and that's what we see most of the time, so it creates shots for me inside," said Roberson, a 6-foot, 205-pounder who has run for 1,109 yards and 23 TDs.

"A lot of defenses look to Josh first, then everyone else. There are times I'm past the line before the defense looks my way."

And he's difficult to catch.

He had a season-long run of 53 yards last week, and in the second half he had runs of 25, 37, 12 and 21 yards — including the game-winning touchdown on a draw play with 5:32 to play.

While the rest of the offense went right on the snap, Roberson held his ground as quarterback Gino Franceschetti stuck the ball into his chest. As the Raiders chased Miguel and Franceschetti, Roberson sped left and hit the end zone before the defense recovered.

"It's third-and-16 and everyone's thinking Gino is going to pass. We gave the defense a look it was expecting," Roberson said. "We had been passing earlier in the drive and we hadn't run the draw in a few weeks, so the time was right."

The potential for such explosive plays had motivated Loureiro's decision to put Roberson in the backfield. Adrian Cortez ran for 1,123 yards and 12 TDs last fall and his graduation left a large vacancy.

"We were thrilled with the job Adrian did," Loureiro said, "but I think Matt is going to bring an explosiveness to the spot."