Canyon Still Kicking After 16-14 Squeaker

Canyon High had been given up for dead by many and had been kicked around on its home field, but the host Cowboys proved Friday night that they still are a formidable football team. Or at least a lucky one.

After watching Saugus methodically drive the length of the field in the waning moments of the key Golden League game, Canyon wound up celebrating when Saugus kicker Robin Chilton barely missed a 40-yard field goal on the game’s final play.

The miss preserved a 16-14 win that kept the Cowboys (5-3-1, 2-2 in league play) alive in the playoff race. Saugus, which brought nearly 2,000 fans into standing-room-only quarters to witness what many thought would be its first win over Canyon since 1980, fell to 5-4, 2-2.

What made the finish so difficult to bear for Saugus was that Chilton’s missed field-goal attempt was the Centurions’ second in the final 15 seconds. After sophomore fullback Chris Johnson carried the ball 11 times on Saugus’ final drive and bulled his way to the 13-yard-line to set up third down, Coach Jack Bowman sent in Chilton, perhaps the league’s finest kicker, for a 30-yard attempt.

“During that timeout, I congratulated Saugus on the win,” a disbelieving Canyon Coach Harry Welch said. “I anticipated losing.”

But the snap on Chilton’s attempt was high, and, after a mad scramble, Saugus recovered the ball at the 23. With bodies rushing around on both sides of the ball, Saugus set up for a 40-yard attempt. The snap was good, but Chilton’s kick sailed right.

“I swear I thought it was good,” Bowman said. “But that was just one hell of a football game. And anybody who doesn’t think so is nuts.”

Welch, who two weeks ago after a loss to Antelope Valley at home said he had lost “his magic dust,” conceded that there was a sprinkling of the same in this win.

“I reached into the very, very depths and found there’s just a little left,” Welch said. “This win is like the old-time stuff.”

Canyon had taken its lead when Saugus botched a punt deep in Cowboy territory midway through the fourth quarter. Punter Scott Minkler mishandled the snap and was tackled at the Canyon 12. Two plays later, Andy Cleland rumbled in from 10 yards, but a high snap on the point-after attempt prevented Canyon from tacking on the conversion and the Cowboys led, 16-14, with 6 minutes 38 seconds left. Saugus then embarked on its game-ending drive.

“We played hard, they played hard,” Bowman said. “We got some breaks and they got some breaks.”

Leading, 7-3, at halftime, Saugus helped Canyon start its second half when quarterback Bobby Cowan fumbled a snap early in the third quarter and Canyon’s Jim Zopelis recovered on the Centurion 23. Sophomore Ed Williams, who rushed for 183 yards in 18 carries, slashed his way in from 18 yards to give Canyon a 10-7 lead.

But Saugus’ David Doyle returned the favor when he intercepted a Chad Engbrecht pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and ran 25 yards for a touchdown.