Canyon Gets Past El Dorado

All it took was a change to turn around Canyon High’s football fortunes. A change of head coaches, uniforms and more importantly, a change of attitude.

“I’m loving this right now,” Canyon fullback Tyler Culver said after the Comanches’ 17-13 nonleague victory over El Dorado Thursday night at El Modena High. “This is the greatest feeling in the world.”

Culver, who missed last year’s season-ending victory over El Modena, had not played in a Canyon victory since his sophomore year. He rushed for 127 yards in 19 carries, but he gave all the credit to the new coach, Tom Bailey.

“He’s got us all inspired,” Culver said. “It’s not an individual effort anymore. It’s all team. The new uniforms, everything was his idea. We did exactly what he told us to and that’s how we won.”

It was Bailey’s idea to scrap the old uniforms and outfit the Comanches in Florida State Seminole colors and helmets.

“When a new coach takes over, he wants to make it his program,” said Bailey, who previously coached at Homewood Flossmoor High near Chicago. “But it’s not about new uniforms. It’s about attitude and the will to win.”

Bailey said he picked Florida State colors because they fit in the with the Comanche theme and because the Seminoles are his favorite program.

“We even got the chop going for a while,” he said. “How about that.”

Of course, the Canyon offense didn’t even slightly resemble Bobby Bowden’s. But nobody seemed to care about how ugly the game looked--the teams combined for nearly 300 yards in penalties and there were plenty of dropped passes.

“We’re not quite in the penthouse yet, but we’re out of the outhouse,” Bailey said.

Wide receiver Aaron Dalzell scored both of Canyon’s touchdowns. With 5:29 left in the first quarter, he took a lateral pass from quarterback Josh Chelini, picked up a nice block on the defensive back, and sprinted 65 yards for the score. Dalzell gave Canyon a 17-7 lead with 1:25 left in the third quarter when he caught an 11-yard fade pass from Chelini.

El Dorado closed to 17-13 with 11 minutes left in the game on a 23-yard pass from Mitch Noro to Bryce Nebeker. The Golden Hawks had four more possessions in the fourth quarter, but dropped passes and penalties hurt them.

“This was not a real polished look tonight,” El Dorado Coach Rick Jones said. “We didn’t execute when we had to. It’s frustrating when you know you can do it, but you don’t.”