Canyon Grounds Burroughs, 27-7

Canyon High’s Ed Williams supplied the breakaway running in the first half, but when he went out with a twisted ankle, Fred Polito provided the knockout punch in the Cowboys’ 27-7 Foothill League win over host Burroughs on Friday night.

During his first carry on Canyon’s opening drive of the second half, Williams twisted his ankle. Polito stepped in and carried eight times for 43 yards to help complete a 19-play, 10-minute scoring march. He covered the final two yards himself for the touchdown.

The score put Canyon (5-2, 2-0 in league play) up, 21-7. Burroughs was stopped in three plays and the Cowboys made another long drive, this one of eight plays and five minutes in duration, before scoring again.

Polito finished with 127 yards in 22 carries, only one of which was longer than 15 yards.

“I didn’t think I was the star of the game,” Polito said. “I finally got into the game mentally in the second half. That was the most fun I’ve had playing football all year.”

Williams broke three tackles on a 46-yard touchdown run just before the end of the first half to give the Cowboys a 14-7 lead. Earlier, he caught an eight-yard scoring pass from Sean Connelly.

Williams finished with 97 yards in seven carries before being injured. His ankle injury is not serious and he is expected to play next week.

Burroughs (3-4, 0-1) opened the game by driving 73 yards in five plays to score their only touchdown of the game.

After a 53-yard run by Ed Melgar, Carlos Moreno scored from two yards out two minutes into the game to give the Indians a quick 7-0 lead.

“We were able to execute that first drive but we kept on making mistakes the rest of the game,” Burroughs Coach Gary Bernardi said. “The effort was there, but that doesn’t mean we will get results.”