Olympus football: Calvin Escobedo profile

In early May, I interviewed Olympus wide receiver Calvin Escobedo. This is the article that will appear in the 2011 Olympus football yearbook.

Calvin

Escobedo

He was a team player with a big heart

that helped push Oly to its potential

By Bruce Smith

Matchup

             The final game of the regular season – at Skyline – has been permanently entrenched in Calvin Escobedo’s mind.

            The 5-foot-9, 160-pounder was near the end of a fantastic senior season. He was the Titans’ leading receiver and Olympus was involved in Region 7’s deciding game that would decide the champion. It was also against its rival and there wasn’t an empty seat at Skyline’s field.
            “I probably played my best game that night,” he said. “It was surreal. I remember catching my first pass and looking up in the stands and seeing a crowd of white. It (the catch) got the crowd going with excitement. You see it on TV but you don’t know what it feels like to see all those people yelling.”
            That night, those fans saw Escobedo catch a career-high 10 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown. He snagged a 10-yard scoring pass from quarterback Scott Porter that broke a 14-14 tie. Later, when the game went to overtime, he was on the field when the Titans made the deciding play.
            On fourth down at Skyline’s 5-yard line, Porter went back to pass. He eventually found Ryan Rasmussen for the touchdown. When the Eagles fumbled on their possession, it ended up being the game’s biggest play.
            “The Skyline game was a masterful performance by Scott, Brandon (McBride) and Calvin,” said coach Aaron Whitehead. “We were calm under pressure and, as Scott went, the team went.”
            Escobedo said he didn’t always feel calm, especially on the game-winning play.
            “I was pretty close to Ryan,” he said. “Ryan was the guy who was supposed to get it. I saw Ryan’s face the whole time. I saw the ball go into the air and I thought it would be a hard catch, so I adjusted my route to get closer. Ryan jumped really high and laid out. He landed on his back pretty hard, but it was a great catch.”
            The Olympus fans were thrilled, and the players on the Titans’ sideline were jumping with excitement. Escobedo congratulated his teammate and they were immediately mobbed.
            Even though he didn’t make the play, Escobedo said it was the high point of his career that had many great memories.
            As a senior, Escobedo came into the season as one of several fine Titan receivers that included Rasmussen, Nate Sorensen, Chandler Thornton, Cole Benson and others. In fact, 15 different players caught passes during the year.
            Escobedo, however, was quarterback Scott Porter’s favorite target. He said having Porter as one of his best friends likely helped.
            “We had good chemistry,” he said. “At times, it seemed like we were thinking the exact same thoughts. He was reading my mind.”
            An ankle injury cut short his junior season, but Escobedo returned to catch 44 passes for 780 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior. He was named first team all-region and was Oly’s co-offensive MVP (with McBride).
            Additionally, Escobedo was on the receiving end of Oly’s longest pass play, a 71-yarder against Murray. That night, he caught five passes and four were for touchdowns in the Titans’ 41-10 win.
            “Murray was technically my best game,” Escobedo said. “It was the easiest game we played. The spread offense is really hard when you have so many weapons. We had Nate (Sorensen) on the other side and defenses couldn’t guard us.
            “We practiced it so much. We did so many 7-on-7s in the summer that it got easy for us to break down defenses.”
            The Titans had great success at summer camps, especially 7-on-7 contests. Escobedo said that when the season started (at Snow Canyon), he had a lot of butterflies in his stomach. He had caught just three passes the year before, and this felt like his first year really playing varsity.
            The next week – vs. Northridge – he made himself known. He had six catches for 124 yards as the Titans surprised the Knights, who had beaten them in a 7-on-7 game in California.
            In restrospect, the Titans surprised people all year. They were, after all, picked to finish fourth in region. They also advanced to the second round of the 4A state playoffs for the first time in years.
            After the football season ended, Escobedo later joined with Rasmussen as doubles partners on the Titans’ boys tennis team and had a great season. After graduation, he said he planned to go on an LDS Church mission and then go to college.