Pair seek league title

Ford and Escobedo hope for HDNC championship

The Del Norte High No.1 doubles pair of Daniel Escobedo, left, and Brandon Ford, right, during a recent match at the high school. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

They will have that chance on Saturday as the No.1 doubles pair for the Warriors. They will take part in the Humboldt-Del Norte Conference doubles championships in Arcata.

 Friends for many years, both said this friendship has proven valuable on the court, where communication and trust are vital.

“We play really well together,” Escobedo said. “In doubles, you have to work well together and be able to support each other out there.”

Ford agreed, saying that with things moving at a fast pace, if they are not on the same page mistakes can be made and points can be lost.

“You have to have a lot of communication and talk to one another,” Ford said. “You both have to know what’s going on.”

A highlight for the pair was recently defeating Arcata, considered the top team in the HDNC, in doubles.

To head coach Sara Miller, that win  showed  Escobedo and Ford that they have the ability to beat top competition. If they play to their potential, they have a good chance of earning a title and going on to play in the Northcoast Section Championships, Miller said.

“They are both very motivated,” she said. “They are now both seniors. It’s do or die for them on Saturday.”

Unlike singles, you are relying on another person and have to know each other’s strengths and weaknesss and blend together to form a winning pair, Escobedo said.

 “We respect what each other can do,” he said.

To Miller, Ford and Escobedo have that key ingredient –– chemistry on the court.

“Playing doubles is about having good chemistry,”  she said. “In doubles you really have to know what your partner is doing and support them.”

Ford has been playing since he was 7. Escobedo did not take up the sport until he was a freshman, when Ford encouraged him to try out for the team. 

Escobedo has been hooked ever since and has worked his way up to become a key veteran leader four years later.

Consistency will be vital in how they fare, Miller said.

Escobedo and Ford have played up to top competition but have not had that same energy against lesser competition at times and have lost matches they should have won, she said.

On Saturday, they must not look past anyone and play their game, their coach said.

 Escobedo said that they will take things “point by point.”

“We know what’s at stake,” he said. ”Each game could be our last time playing” (for Del Norte).

“I’m pretty excited,” Ford said. “We want to end things on top.”

It will help not playing singles on Saturday, giving them more time to focus on their doubles play, Miller said. It can be hard at times, she said, to be focused on doubles after suffering a difficult loss in singles.

It would mean a lot to end the day Saturday with a title, Escobedo said.

“That would be huge,” he said.

Ford agreed.

“If we won that would be really exciting,”  he said.

Both said they plan to continue playing once high school ends.

After all, Ford said, tennis is a sport that one can play well into old age

“You always see a lot of older folks out playing,” he said. “You can be playing if you want to for a long time.”

Besides doubles on Saturday, makeup matches will be played in singles. Due to rain, the singles championship last Saturday was moved indoors from Arcata to Eureka and not all the games could be played.

In No. 3 singles, Thomas Thao won his first match last Saturday and will continue second-round play this Saturday.

The No. 5 and No 6 seeded brackets were not played and will be held on Saturday.

Last weekend, Ford, the No.1 seed for Del Norte, lost in the first round while Escobedo, the No. 2 seed, won in the first round but lost in the second round.