Canyon Keeps History on Its Side With 44th Straight, 40-7

Everytime the Canyon High football team plays a game, there’s a chance for history to be made.

The Cowboys entered Friday night’s Golden League opener against Saugus with a chance to extend the nation’s longest win streak to 44 games or have that streak ended by the winless Centurions.

Saugus Coach Dave Gross doesn’t claim to be a history buff, but he had incorporated a little bit of Americana into his team’s preparation for a possible date with destiny.

“I told them we were like the guys at the Alamo,” Gross said. “We’re the guys on the inside with a chance to change history.”

Unfortunately for Saugus, history repeated itself as Canyon overcame an early struggle with the Centurions and came away with a 40-7 win at College of the Canyons.

“I knew they would be tough, and they hit me hard,” said Canyon quarterback Ken Sollom, who passed for 256 yards and three touchdowns. “We didn’t move the ball too well in the first half, but I knew we’d get things going eventually.”

Even though the score was 21-7 at halftime, Saugus (0-6, 0-1 in league) had actually outplayed Canyon, limiting the Cowboys to just seven yards rushing. But Canyon used the big play capability of wide receiver Trevor Doyle, tight end Ken Holsenbeck and Sollom to secure what turned out to be a rather routine victory for the Cowboys (6-0, 1-0 in league).

The first time a Canyon player touched the ball was when Doyle fielded a Saugus punt after the Centurions could do nothing with the game-opening possession. Doyle, a 5-11, 168-pound senior, fielded the ball on the 48-yard line and streaked down the left sideline for a touchdown. Doyle and Sollom also teamed up on an 89-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left in the first half.

Holsenbeck’s first reception of the game was a 67-yard touchdown pass to put the Cowboys up 14-0. Holsenbeck, a 5-10, 165-pound junior who was playing despite a case of mononucleosis, had one other reception in the game--a 25-yard touchdown pass from Sollom in the third quarter that put Canyon ahead 27-7.

Saugus scored its only touchdown when quarterback Jared Snyder hit Gary Virgini with a 19-yard touchdown pass with just over five minutes left in the first half. Snyder finished the game 13 of 31 for 132 yards and a touchdown. He also threw threw interceptions.