INSTANT SUCCESS

The fifth and final free admission theme night at College of the Canyons falls on Halloween.

The trick is simple: anyone in costume tonight can waltz through the turnstile.

The treat is the final home game of the season for the Santa Clarita Valley’s first junior college football team in 17 years.

Judging by the size of previous crowds, and the excitement of the Cougars’ surprising 6-1 start, it should make for quite a visual feast.

Just don’t expect a freak show on the field.

Canyons, 3-0 in Western State Conference Northern Division play, meets Glendale (2-5, 1-2) at 7. The Cougars are ranked 10th in the state and 24th in the nation while exceeding most everyone’s expectations.

In less than a season, Canyons has jump-started its program and raced pell-mell toward becoming formidable.

“Who would have known?” asked Chuck Lyon, Canyons’ coach. “Really, my whole plan was just to lay the foundation for what needs to happen here. But it has accelerated, probably, two or three years. That’s going to be the outgrowth of this season.”

Lyon, who played quarterback for Canyons in 1974, knows the significance of renewing a once-competitive rivalry with Glendale.

“We used to have wars with Glendale,” Lyon said.

That ended in 1981 when Canyons cut its program because of budgetary problems. But the battle has renewed and stakes are high.

Lyon and Glendale Coach John Cicuto share a pool of high school talent from which to recruit. The scales already tip in Canyons’ direction.

“Already I’m getting kids calling me from the San Fernando and Antelope valleys,” Lyon said. “We’ve piqued their interest, if nothing else.”

Its a certainty Canyons will land the lion’s share of players from the Santa Clarita Valley. But Lyon already has attracted others.

Defensive tackle Mike Kowalczyk, a Canyon High graduate, transferred from Glendale.

“Mostly, I came here because it was closer to home and I could take the bus [to school],” Kowalczyk said. “But I knew a lot of the players who were coming out here and I knew we were going to have talent.”

Quarterback Kevin Carrasco, a sophomore from Saugus High, returned to football after taking last season off. Now he’s piloting the WSC’s top-ranked offense.

“I don’t think I would have played again,” Carrasco said. “But I wanted to play again and I didn’t want to drive to some other school.”

Scott Blade, a former Canyon linebacker, joined Lyon’s staff after three years as an assistant at Glendale.

“I would have loved to have played here if I was going to a junior college,” Blade said. “I wouldn’t have looked anywhere else.”

Blade, 25, planned to leave coaching after last season and take a job as a financial planner. Lyon had little trouble coaxing him to coach one more year.

“I really wanted to help get this thing started,” Blade said. “Because we’re doing better than some of the other schools, we’ll start getting more kids, some of the in-betweeners.

“What you’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. This program will be in the hunt for a national title every year, maybe as soon as next year.”

Lyon, who ran for the first touchdown in Canyons’ stadium, is a career offensive coordinator who has honed a prolific and efficient offense that ranks first in the WSC.

Carrasco leads the conference with 1,587 yards passing, a 61.1% completion rate and 12 touchdown passes.

Jason Parks is fourth in the WSC with 723 rushing yards and leads the conference with 12 rushing touchdowns.

“I think anyone who didn’t know better would think this isn’t a first-year program,” Carrasco said. “But we have a lot of good players around here and a lot of good coaches.”

Cicuto can attest to that. The Glendale coach hurried from his team’s afternoon game Oct. 17 to watch Canyons against Hancock.

Cicuto, among the few who predicted a strong Canyons team this season, saw Carrasco throw two touchdown passes in the final 51 seconds for a 42-41 Canyons victory.

“They just have so many talented players,” Cicuto said.

Cicuto and his players could be in for quite a fright.