Canyon Gets Yet Another Final Say

Dave Reynolds perhaps put it best about the Canyon High football team when he said, “I don’t know of anyone who can beat them.”

Reynolds, the coach at Lompoc is not alone in his thinking.

Friday night, before a crowd of 4,500, the Cowboys crushed the Braves, 30-6, to advance to the Northwestern Conference championship game for the third straight year.

Canyon will play Antelope Valley, a 13-12 winner over Hawthorne Friday night, in the final. Earlier this season, Canyon defeated Antelope Valley, 30-6.

Quarterback Ken Sollom threw for four touchdowns and the Canyon defense again played superb, as the Cowboys, the two-time defending conference champions won their 37th straight game.

“We threw everything we had at them,” Reynolds said. “But we just didn’t have the tools.”

Canyon (13-0) has now outscored its three playoff opponents, 118-13.

Sollom, who became the starting quarterback when John Watkins broke his wrist in the regular-season’s final game, completed 12 of 17 passes for a 194 yards.

The 6-1, 173-pound junior has thrown eight touchdowns in the last three weeks.

“Ken Sollom was magnificent,” Canyon Coach Harry Welch said. “He was just superb.”

The Cowboys were anything but superb early on.

Lompoc (10-3) moved the ball downfield rather easily on its first possession.

Running the ball 10 straight times, the Braves advanced to the Canyon 26. Twice in the drive, the Cowboys uncharacteristically jumped offside.

But the only chance Lompoc had of making it a game failed when Armando Torres was short on a 43-yard field goal attempt.

Lompoc didn’t come close to scoring again until after the Braves trailed, 30-0.

Canyon started slowly on offense, but got in gear late in the first half.

With 4:44 left in the second quarter, Ron Lindberg connected on a 41-yard field goal attempt, the longest of his high school career. His longest previously was 40 yards.

The ball hit the cross-bar and bounced over, giving Canyon a 3-0 lead.

With just over two minute left in the first half, Canyon got the ball at the Lompoc 31, following a fair-catch interference penalty by the Braves on a punt.

Two plays later, Sollom found Randy Austin wide open over the middle for a 31-yard touchdown.

Lindberg’s kick made it 10-0 with 1:37 left in the first half.

If the Braves had any hopes of scoring before intermission, they were quickly squelched by the Canyon defense.

On consecutive plays, Lompoc quarterback Jim Hall was sacked for losses totally 20 yards.

It was a long game for Hall, who was sacked four times for a minus-35 yards. The senior also completed just 5 of 11 passes for 30 yards.

Canyon quickly turned the game into a rout in the third quarter. The Cowboys took the opening kickoff and drove 71 yards on seven plays for a 17-0 lead.

Sollom’s 38-yard scoring toss to Chad Zeigler ended the drive with 8:47 left in the third quarter.

Canyon got the ball back two minutes later when Derek Rusk intercepted Hall at the Lompoc 48 and returned it to the Braves’ 16.

The interception was Rusk’s second of the game and fourth in two weeks.

On the first play after Rusk’s theft, Sollom added his third touchdown.

The 16-yarder to Travis Regnolds increased the Canyon lead to 24-0 witth 5:54 left in the third.

Sollom collected his fourth touchdown with 7:59 left in the game, this time hitting Jeff Taskwietz in the end zone from 12 yards out. The kick was blocked, leaving the score at 30-0.

Lompoc’s only score came on a 1-yard run by Sheldon Canley with 5:32 left in the game.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world being in the CIF finals,” Welch said. “For us to be there three straight years is the highest attribute to the kids, the community and my coaching staff.”