Granada Hills Wins a Roll in the Mud With Canoga Park

The conditions at Canoga Park High on Thursday night were every high school football player’s dream--plenty of mud and no rain.

The evening continued to unfold in dreamlike fashion for Granada Hills as it whipped Canoga Park, 35-3.

It started as a nightmare, however, for Les Estrada of Canoga Park. He apparently did not like the way he was tackled after returning the opening kickoff to the 16-yard line, and threw the ball at the tail of a Highlander defender. But it was Granada Hills who kicked tail the rest of the game, sloshing for 278 yards to Canoga Park’s 166.

The Highlanders scored midway through the first quarter after Canoga Park fumbled on its first possession, then added two second-quarter scores to take a 21-3 halftime lead.

Teams aren’t expected to pass on a mud-filled field, but Jeremy Leach of Granada Hills completed 11 of 15 for 98 yards, including first-half touchdowns tosses to Khalid Ali and Sean Brown. Canoga Park quarterback Jeff Myers hit 14 of 27 passes for 94 yards.

Ali, a halfback, broke the game open late in the second quarter when he went off-tackle for 78 yards and a score. The 5-11, 185-pound senior gained 179 yards on 15 carries and made cuts as if the field were dry. It turns out he’s been a mudder for a long time.

“I used to do this when I was a kid,” Ali said. “This was my best game of the year and a lot of fun.”

Other Highlanders, caked from head to toe in muck, also enjoyed themselves.

“This is so much fun,” defensive back Dean Yoshitani said. “These are ideal conditions.”

Added cornerback Kevin Carmichael: “This is great. Mud is supposed to make the teams more even.”

When reminded of the final score, Carmichael shrugged and said: “I guess we were just way better than them.”

Mike Conover, perhaps Canoga Park’s best player, strongly disagreed with that assessment.

“I’ll just say that Granada Hills could have been beaten,” he said. “I did not like this one bit.”

If every Hunter played as well as Conover, maybe Canoga Park would have had a chance. The halfback gained 68 yards on 10 carries and accounted for the Hunters’ only points by kicking a 31-yard field goal.

It was the third straight one-sided nonleague win for Granada Hills, a 4-A team that continued to exhibit a multifaceted offense.

But it was not all mud and roses. Starting halfback Mike Davis, who when teamed with Ali gives Granada Hills a solid one-two punch, hurt his left ankle in the second quarter and was carried off on a stretcher. Even as Ali celebrated the victory, he said: “I hope Mike is all right.”

Canoga Park (1-2) plays in the 3-A Sunset League and is showing the effects of opening with nonleague contests against three 4-A schools.