Rentfro, Hilmar no sympathy for shorthanded Escalon

Mark Loureiro searched his sideline for running back depth, even offering a few carries to statistician and longtime friend Kelly Byrd.

A tough non-conference schedule took its toll on the Escalon football team.

The Cougars lost three starters to serious injury in a loss to Patterson on Sept. 23, including leading rusher C.J. Gumbs (ankle), who watched Friday’s 24-10 loss to Hilmar in jeans and a sweater.

The Yellowjackets, ranked No. 2 in the Bee’s small-school poll, showed no sympathy in their Trans-Valley League opener.

Cody Rentfro rushed for a season-high 198 yards and a touchdown and Marcus Mouro stroked a 22-yard field goal as Hilmar (5-1, 1-0) slowly pulled away for its fifth win in six games.

“Anytime you come in here you know it’s going to be a battle,” Hilmar coach Frank Marques said. “Our kids played a really good game, but it was a hard-fought battle.

“Anytime you play a Mark Loureiro team, you know they’re going to be well-coached and physical. They gave us a tough fight. He was short-handed. Missing (Gumbs) was huge for them. He does everything. The fact that they didn’t have him was good for us, but bad for them.”

Justin Rentfro and Carter Azevedo added third-quarter scoring runs, helping the Yellowjackets separate from the Cougars (2-4, 0-1) in the second half.

Even without three starters, Escalon put up a fight against the defending league champions and trailed 10-7 at the intermission.

Tim Costa bounced off multiple defenders for a 3-yard touchdown late in the first quarter and Cuyler Crawford stripped Cody Rentfro to give Escalon early momentum.

Save for one play, the Cougar defense had stifled the Yellowjackets’ explosive Spread attack. Chase Kindberg complete just four of his first 10 passes for 49 yards.

“That’s a good half,” Loureiro told his team as they headed toward the locker room, flying high following a pass breakup on fourth down.

The short-handed Cougars just didn’t have enough left in the tank. Two linemen had to be helped off field in the first half and a linebacker was ejected in the second half.

Hilmar leaned on the hard-charging Rentfro, who had 115 yards on 11 carries in the first half. Rentfro picked up a bulk of those yards on a 55-yard sprint midway through the first quarter to make it 7-0.

Rentfro has seen his role increase without backfield mate Joshua Lee Jennings, a 1,000-yard running back in 2015. Jennings tore his ACL in a season-opening victory over Beyer.

Rentfro, who gashed Escalon for a career-high 238 yards on just 12 carries last fall, has topped 100 yards three times this season and has three rushing TDs in the last two weeks.

“He’s our go-to guy,” Marques said. “Right now, he’s carrying the load for us and doing a great job.”

Escalon countered Rentfro’s score with a short run by Costa with a minute left in the quarter. Costa capped a nine-play, 65-yard drive with a 3-yard burst. The Cougars were carried down the field by Max Nicholas’ 20-yard reception.

Nicholas has four catches for 47 yards.

Escalon wouldn’t threaten again.

Sophomore Guillermo Alvarez split the uprights from 29 yards on the Cougars’ final drive, but the previous five resulted in three punts, a turnover on downs at the Hilmar 33, and a fumble to start the fourth.

“This sets a standard for the whole season,” Cody Rentfro said. “We knew, all records aside, they were going to be Escalon.”

In his last two games, the soft-spoken senior has rushed for 391 yards. He had 194 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Livingston. Rentfro one-upped himself on Friday, bursting through the line of scrimmage for long gains. He had seven runs of 10 or more yards.

Rentfro’s arms are beat up, bandaged and bloodied from time spent between the tackles and beneath the pile, but he insists his offensive line is doing all the work.

Wise words.

“I don’t really carry the load. My line carries the load,” Rentfro said. “They do a great job, because they keep those holes wide open. It makes my job a lot easier.”

His carries have increased in each of the last three weeks, and Marques says that trend could continue.

Hilmar hosts Hughson (3-3, 0-1) next week. The Huskies lost to Modesto Christian in their opener Friday, 14-6.

“If it’s working, we’ll keep doing it,” Marques said. “If that slows down, we still have our pasisn game. I like our weapons.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2016 at 1:27 AM with the headline "Rentfro, Hilmar no sympathy for shorthanded Escalon."