Northwestern Conference : Canyon Struggles but Wins Its 38th Straight and Third Title

Harry Welch stood in the middle of the Canyon High School football field, trying to explain what transpired Friday night.

“We picked a strange time to play our poorest game of the year,” said Welch, the coach of the Cowboys. “We did things tonight that we haven’t done in three years.”

Canyon did such uncharacteristic things as fumble the ball five times, miss a conversion attempt and generally play miserably on offense.

The Cowboys also did something that is not strange to them--they won the Southern Section’s Northwestern Conference title for the third straight year.

Canyon’s 9-7 win over Antelope Valley before a crowd of 4,000 gave the Cowboys their 38th straight win over three seasons.

The victory capped off a 14-0 season for the Cowboys, who had to struggle against a team they defeated, 30-6, four weeks ago in the regular season.

Despite its offensive struggles, Canyon still had control of the game, 9-0, with just under three minutes left in fourth quarter.

But on a fourth-down play from the Antelope Valley 48, disaster struck Canyon.

A snap over the head of Cowboy punter Randy Austin turned into the Antelopes’ only touchdown.

Austin ran the ball down, but his attempted pass landed in the hands of James Richards, who raced 20 yards for a touchdown with 2:41 left. It was Canyon’s fifth fumble, but the only one the Cowboys lost.

“That was our best offensive play of the game,” Antelope Valley Coach Brent Newcomb said.

Antelope Valley (9-5) was as inept on offense as Canyon was. The Antelopes had just 145 yards in total offense.

But after Peter Jensen’s extra point, the Antelopes trailed by just two points.

“I saw a green jersey and I just tried to flick it,” said Austin, the Cowboys’ All-Southern Section linebacker. “It was stupid.”

But Austin was saved from being the goat when Canyon’s Jeff Carter recovered an onsides kickoff attempt, and Canyon ran the clock down to :46 before relinquishing possession.

Antelope Valley took over at its 33, but could only advance to its 47 as time expired.

Canyon, which had been averaging 32 points a game, managed just 244 yards in total offense.

The Cowboys scored on their first possession, going 48 yards in 8 plays.

Lance Cross, who rushed for 105 yards on 20 carries, went in from one yard out to make it 6-0 Canyon with 5:36 left in the first quarter.

It stayed at 6-0 when a bad snap foiled the conversion attempt.

Canyon increased its lead to 9-0 the first time it had the ball in the second half.

From their 33, the Cowboys drove to the Antelope 11 before settling for a 28-yard field goal by Ron Lindberg.

“The team is 38-0,” Welch said. “They’ve won in the rain, they’ve won in the heat, they’ve won in Central California and they’ve won here. They’re 38-0. Who else can say that?”