CENTURY LEAGUE FOOTBALL : Canyon Defense Dominates First Half in Victory

Canyon’s smothering defense dominated the first half for the second consecutive week as the Comanches defeated Santa Ana Valley, 35-9, in a Century League game Thursday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

Canyon, which last week limited Orange to 57 yards in the first half, held the Falcons to 84 first-half yards--60 on the final drive--and took a 21-3 lead.

Quarterback Adam Hoover completed 12 of 19 passes for 177 yards in the first half for Canyon (6-0-1, 2-0 in league). Hoover finished with 216 yards passing.

Canyon took a 7-0 lead when Joel Reese scored from the 16 and Casey Wilson connected on his first of five conversions with 4 minutes 38 seconds left in the first quarter.

Hoover completed a 60-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jacobs with 8:49 left in the first half. Jacobs covered most of the distance after the reception, running down the right sideline and then cutting left at the 25 to score just inside the left flag, avoiding two Falcon tacklers.

Jerrick Harper scored from the three with 2:44 left in the half for the Comanches. Francisco Islas kicked a 26-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining to put Santa Ana Valley (3-4, 0-2) on the scoreboard.

Reese increased the Canyon lead to 28-3 in the third quarter on a 12-yard run.

Tristan Lynch countered with a 90-yard kickoff return for the Falcons, but a holding penalty nullified the effort.

Chris Lee recovered a Falcon fumble in the end zone in the fourth quarter for the fifth Canyon score. The Falcons scored their touchdown with 1:57 left in the game on a four-yard run by Lynch.