PREP FOOTBALL : Canyon’s Peaks Are Enough to Down Santa Ana Valley

Canyon High School linebacker Tim Delasantos saw the loose ball, fell on it, then got to his feet and raised it over his head with 1:05 to play in Thursday night’s Century League game against Santa Ana Valley.

It was only then that Comanche Coach Rod Hust and his players could start celebrating a victory. Until that point, the Comanches had other things to worry about--things such as a Santa Ana Valley team bent on making its 1985 homecoming game a memorable one by ending a 15-game losing streak.

Delasantos’ fumble recovery brought an abrupt halt to Santa Ana Valley’s attempt to score the tying touchdown and preserved a 15-9 Canyon victory in front of 700 spectators in Santa Ana Stadium.

The win improves Canyon’s record to 2-1 in league, 4-2 overall. Santa Ana Valley is 0-3, 0-5.

On a night when Myron White, the most famous of Falcons, was being passed by Valencia’s Ray Pallares as the all-time rushing leader in Orange County, Santa Ana Valley’s largely anonymous 1985 team was coming painfully close to providing some memories of its own.

The Falcons got the opportunity to tie with three minutes remaining when Canyon running back Mike Gayer fumbled and Francis Talavou recovered for Santa Ana Valley on the Falcon 43-yard line. The Falcons moved the ball to the Canyon 30 with 1:13 to play before committing the game’s most crucial turnover.

Quarterback James Shipps, who rushed for 54 yards on 18 carries, lost his grip on the ball while running a bootleg around left end. End of comeback.

Afterward, Hust was asked if he felt the game slipping away as Santa Ana Valley moved the ball toward the Comanche end zone before fumbling.

“I never thought we had a handle on it the whole damn night,” Hust said. “I’m just happy to get out of here at 15-9.”

The Comanches needed a little comeback of their own to get that far. Robert Espinosa’s 28-yard field goal with 5:48 left in the third quarter gave Santa Ana Valley a 9-7 lead, albeit brief.

On the ensuing possession, Canyon drove 81 yards in 10 plays for what proved to be the winning touchdown. Quarterback Todd French completed 6 of 6 passes on the drive, the last of which went for a 14-yard touchdown to Brett Hatz with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. French then passed to Matt Waddell for a two-point conversion that gave Canyon a 15-9 lead.

French, playing on a sore left ankle, completed 17 of 27 passes for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns, the first of which set a school record for touchdown passes in a season. French’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Ray Shull was his 12th of the season and broke the school mark set by David Hannemann in 1983.

For French, that was the good news. The bad news was interceptions. French threw four, giving him 11 on the season. Those, combined with two Canyon fumbles, were enough to keep Santa Ana Valley in the game.

It was a Canyon fumble that led to Santa Ana Valley’s first score. French passed to Steve Lichtenwalter over the middle, but Lichtenwalter fumbled and Falcon linebacker Mark Dome recovered on the Canyon 33. Six plays later, Shipp ran it in from five yards out to give Santa Ana Valley a 6-0 lead at the 6:32 mark of the first quarter.