Canyon Completes Title Run

The return to glory for Coach Harry Welch and the Canyon Country Canyon football team is complete.

But not without a few heart palpitations Friday night.

The once-retired coach, who took a five-year hiatus before returning to the program he coached to three championships and a 46-game winning streak, led the Cowboys to their first title since 1985, but had to withstand a fourth-quarter drive by Newhall Hart that went the length of the field and ended inches short of the goal.

The Cowboys defeated their Foothill League rival, 21-13, in front of 7,208 at the Home Depot Center in Carson with solid efforts on both sides of the ball.

But John DiLuigi, who finished the season with a Southland-best 43 touchdowns and was held to a season-low 68 yards in 17 carries Friday, came up huge on defense.

“That was the biggest play I’ve ever made in my life,” said DiLuigi, whose fourth-down tackle of Troy Yudin ended a Hart drive that covered 97 yards in less than two minutes.

Canyon (13-1) tied the score with 13 seconds left in the first half when DiLuigi scored from one yard. After Hart (11-3) retook the lead on an 11-yard pass from Tyler Lyon to Yudin, Canyon’s Tyler Hawkins blocked the point-after attempt. Austin Civita scored on a one-yard run with 50 seconds left in the third quarter, and Chris Chapman’s kick made it 14-13.

Canyon’s final score was set up by Nick Jurado’s interception. The Cowboys drove 71 yards, with Civita passing four yards to Christopher Kingsbury with 3:30 left in the game.

Hart’s final chance came with 2:20 left and the ball at its own two-yard line. Lyon, who completed 20 of 38 passes for 294 yards, drove the Indians to the Canyon 11. On fourth and 11, Lyon completed his pass to a leaping Yudin, but DiLuigi was there to stop him .