Canyon Reminds Crespi Who Is No. 1, 35-0

The Crespi High football team had hoped to erase some bad memories Friday night.

Instead, Canyon dredged up a nightmare for the Celts, rolling to a 35-0 victory before a crowd of about 5,000 at Birmingham High.

“They stuffed us real good,” said Crespi Coach Bill Redell.

Canyon stuffed the Celts even better last year, handing Crespi a 46-0 loss that was the school’s worst setback in 20 years.

But Crespi was 0-9-1 last year, while Canyon was winning its second straight Northwestern Conference championship.

This time, the Celts came in unbeaten in four games and unscored upon in 12 quarters.

But Canyon, in stretching the state’s second-longest winning streak to 29 games, beat them in every way imaginable.

The Valley’s top-ranked team amassed 322 total yards, including 210 on the ground, while limiting fourth-ranked Crespi to just 48 total yards and two first downs.

The best thing that happened to Crespi was when a generator blew out in the first half, forcing Valley Cable to stop filming the game. It was scheduled to be shown Monday night.

It was 21-0 before Crespi got its initial first down 3 minutes 47 seconds into the second half. It was 28-0 when Crespi got its second first down early in the fourth quarter.

“They shut everything down,” Redell said. “I didn’t expect to have them shut us down so completely.”

Canyon Coach Harry Welch called his team’s overwhelming performance its best of the season.

“For whatever reason, Crespi never got into its offense,” said Welch, a Crespi alumnus and former assistant coach at the school. “I think that we played better defense than any team they’ve played against.”

Offensively, too, the Cowboys were better than anything Crespi had seen since, well, its game against Canyon last season.

Lance Cross and Paul Chadwell led the running attack, Cross carrying 24 times for 103 yards and Chadwell rushing for 63 yards on 13 carries and scoring 3 touchdowns.

“Our offensive line executed as well as it has all year,” Welch said.

Quarterback John Watkins completed 7 of 12 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown, and ran for the Cowboys’ other two touchdowns.

Crespi had not given up a touchdown since the fourth quarter of its opener against Burroughs, but Canyon established dominance early, moving right through the Celts’ defense on its first possession.

With Chadwell carrying three times for 29 yards, and catching a 10-yard pass from Watkins, the Cowboys drove 53 yards in nine plays.

Chadwell scored on a two-yard run. Ron Lindberg’s conversion made it 7-0 less than six minutes into the game.

With its defense shutting down everything Crespi tried, Canyon kept getting the ball in advantageous field position.

The Cowboys drove 46 yards to their second touchdown, Chadwell scoring on another two-yard run with 11:18 left in the half.

A 48-yard drive later in the quarter ended with Chadwell scoring on a nine-yard pass from Watkins with 1:28 left.

It was more of the same in the second half.

Watkins scored two plays into the fourth quarter on a one-yard run that ended a 67-yard drive. An interception by linebacker Randy Austin led to the final touchdown, which was scored by Watkins on a nine-yard run.