Canoga Park Holds Off Taft, 13-6

Behind the passing of Jeff Myers and a strong defense, Canoga Park defeated Taft, 13-6, Friday night at home.

The Sunset League victory was accomplished without Canoga Park’s Mr. Accomplishment, tailback-safety Mike Conover, who suffered a bruised right thigh in the game. He is expected to be able to play next week.

“This proved that we have depth,” Myers said. “We knew we were a good team with Mike, but we’re also a good one without him. He’s the heart of the team and it was important to win without him.”

With the win, the Hunters improved their record to 3-2, 1-0 in league. Taft, which has lost three straight, dropped to 2-3, 0-1 in league.

But with only two minutes left, it appeared that Taft was going to rally for a come-from-behind victory.

After a controversial play on a punt return, Taft drove the ball 73 yards and cut Canoga Park’s lead to 7-6 when tailback Donald Dozier, who was the game’s leading rusher with 85 yards on 17 carries, scored on a four-yard run.

Taft Coach Tom Stevenson elected to attempt a two-point conversion, but the Toreadors came up short when Dozier, who tried to run over right tackle, was stopped at the two-yard line by Gerry Schumacher and Aaron Marks.

It was questionable, however, whether Taft should have even been able to begin the drive. After Conover punted, the ball appeared to have hit Taft return man Daryle Smith in the leg and Canoga Park fell on the ball. But the officials ruled that the ball had not touched Smith and awarded the Toreadors possession.

After Taft kicked off, Canoga Park put the game out of reach on a 55-yard run by Les Estrada.

Canoga Park had taken a 7-0 early in the third quarter. The Hunters got the ball when Taft running back Kevin Wolfe, who gained 33 yards on 12 carries, fumbled on the Toreadors second play. Bernard Jackson recovered and Canoga Park took over on Taft’s 26-yard line.

Conover, who rushed for 51 yards on 13 carries, gained 16 yards on the first play and scored on a three-yard run three plays later.

The Hunters’ only other threat to that point came in the closing minutes of the first half. Canoga Park started at their 29-yard line with three minutes left, and drove deep into Taft territory behind the passing of Myers, who completed 10 of 17 for 66 yards.

Canoga Park failed to score, however, when Conover’s 21-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Wolfe with two seconds left.

Although out of timeouts, Canoga Park had elected to run on third-and-goal from the four with 25 seconds left. Conover was stopped for no gain and the field-goal unit had only a few seconds to get the snap off.

Minutes earlier, Taft also blew a potential scoring opportunity. The Toreadors lined up for a 42-yard field goal attempt, but were pushed out of range when Mike Kimmel was called for five-yard illegal procedure penalty.

Taft went for the first down instead, but came up short, giving the ball to Canoga Park.