HUGHSON — Late in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Trans-Valley League showdown between Escalon and Hughson, Huskies offensive coordinator Phil Tubera called for a play that the team hadn’t run all season.

It worked to perfection.

The play resulted in a 42-yard touchdown from Arizona-bound quarterback Robert McDaniel to receiver Malakai Sumter, and propelled Hughson to a 24-21 victory at Husky Memorial Stadium.

“Phil had that play in his back pocket all night,” said Hughson head coach Shaun King. “And he picked the perfect time to use it.”

Trailing by four points with about three minutes to play, the Huskies faced fourth-and-8 from Escalon’s 42. Sumter lined up on the right side of the formation and motioned to the left. A linebacker was supposed to run with the speedy receiver — Sumter holds the school record in the 100- and 200-meter dashes — but none did, leaving the 6-foot-3, 170-pounder uncovered along the visitor’s sideline. McDaniel, who’d been harassed much of the night by a stout Escalon pass rush, stepped up to avoid a collapsing pocket and found his target at the 25. Sumter turned and raced untouched the rest of the way to give Hughson a 23-21 lead with 2:42 to play.

Noe Pacheco’s PAT made it a three-point cushion.

“We were in man (coverage) originally, and when he went in motion we were supposed to switch to a zone on one side and man on the back side, and we messed up the coverage,” said Escalon coach Andrew Beam. “But that’s not why we lost. I’m going to eat that fourth-and-3 play for a long time. That’s on me.”

Beam was referring to a play about three minutes earlier when the Cougars, facing fourth-and-3 on Hughson’s 30, turned the ball over on downs when running back Ben Gonzalez was stopped for no-gain.

Would Escalon have gone on to score had it had picked up the first down? Who can say? But at the very least, the Cougars could’ve run another couple of minutes off the clock, or forced Hughson to start burning timeouts.

Two-way star Max Mankins, a four-year varsity star who will play at the U.S. Air Force Academy next season, beat his blocker and wrapped up Gonzalez for the tackle near the home sideline.

Mankins wasn’t finished, however.

Five plays into the ensuing drive, Hughson faced fourth-and-10 from its own 41 and McDaniel again eluded pressure and found Mankins over the middle for a gain of 15, setting the stage for Sumter’s TD.

Still, Mankins wasn’t through.

Escalon had the ball at midfield with about two minutes remaining, when the 6-3, 225-pound senior broke through the line and sacked quarterback Donovan Martinez for an 11-yard loss on first down. 

“I’ve been on both ends of winning and losing to Escalon the last two years and what was going through my head was ‘I can’t let it happen again,’” said Mankins. “It’s a bitter rivalry for sure; they’re good all the time and this is one you don’t want to lose.”

After a short gain on second down, Escalon had to go for broke and outside linebacker Valente Soria delivered the game-clinching interception on Hughson’s 41 with 1:12 to play.

“I showed like I was going and then I dropped back and just made a play on the ball,” said Soria.

Hughson scored on the game’s opening possession, capping a six-play, 75-yard drive with McDaniel’s 30-yard touchdown pass to his brother, Bryce McDaniel.

The Huskies were poised to take a two-touchdown lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half, but were stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 2. Escalon then proceeded to march 98 yards on 14 plays, tying the game when freshman Dylan Ball hauled in a 30-yard TD pass from Martinez.

Hughson drove to Escalon’s 34 on its next possession, but again Turned the ball over on downs.

The Huskies’ last possession of the first half stalled out inside the 10, but this time they opted for a 32-yard field goal from Pacheco to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room.

The Cougars took their first lead of the game on their opening possession of the second half when Gonzalez scampered in from 29. Hughson came right back and regained a 17-14 advantage when the McDaniels hooked up again, this time from 25 yards out.

That lead lasted all of 12 seconds.

Ball, a 5-9, 175-pounder who has filled in nicely for the injured Sam Jimenez, returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards to give Escalon a 21-17 lead.

Hughson, the two-time defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division 6 champion, improves to 6-0 on the year and 3-0 in the TVL, while Escalon, which claimed the D-4 crown last year after winning back-to-back D-5 titles in 2021 and 2022, drops to 2-4 and 1-2.

The Huskies will play host to Sonora next week in a battle of undefeated teams. The Wildcats (6-0, 3-0) defeated Hilmar 45-28 on Friday.

McDaniel completed 11 of 21 passes for 189 yards and three TDs, while running back Eli Willbanks carried the ball 18 times for 108 yards.

Ball rushed for 83 yards on 13 carries, caught three passes for 39 yards, and amassed nearly 300 all-purpose yards.