It was a tale of two halves at Canyon High on Friday night, as Golden Valley shook off a sluggish start and shut out the Cowboys in the second half for a 14-10 win to kick off Foothill League play, with both teams pulling out all the stops, and plenty of penalty flags.
Third-string Golden Valley running back Dereck Guevara, who had never started at the position before, according to head coach Dan Kelley, helped his team take over the game in the second half.
Despite a lack of experience in his role, Guevara earned Friday’s game ball for the Grizzlies (2-3, 1-0) by torching Canyon on the ground for more than 100 yards in the second half, and scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 7-yard run with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter.
Guevara, a junior, said the game was about sending a message to anyone who might be counting them out this year: “We’re going to win. We’re competitors. And we’re in this league for a reason,” he said after the game.
Canyon High (0-5, 0-1) raced out to a 10-0 start in the first half, with senior quarterback Carson Soria making just about every play he needed to in what Canyon head coach Ken Holsenbeck called “the best half of football he’s seen all year” from his squad.
But in the second half, the story was Golden Valley’s running game, which couldn’t be stopped thanks to Guevara and more than 100 yards from senior Joseph Lewis, who ultimately left the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter. He did not return in the fourth.
While Golden Valley quarterback Jayce Johnson had trouble establishing the passing attack, ending with 50 passing yards, his 7-yard rushing touchdown on a keeper with 8:17 left in the third quarter was critical.
It seemed to give Golden Valley the boost they needed to “get out of their own way,” as Kelley put it, describing the team’s first-half struggles.
Both teams suffered self-inflicted damage throughout the game, with more than 10 penalties negating at least 100 yards of offense from the two teams combined in the first half alone. The sheer volume of penalties was something Kelley said he’s never seen in 30 years of coaching.
Despite 24 minutes of football filled with penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, facemask grabbing, holding, ineligible receivers down field and more holding calls, Soria put on a clinic in the first half when his number was called, going 7-for-10 for 130 yards and a touchdown.
The Cowboys ate up 8 minutes of clock on their first drive, with a pair of big catches by Semaj Richardson, but the Grizzlies’ defense ultimately put its foot down and came up with a big fourth-down stop.
Taking over with four minutes left in the first, Golden Valley then ran roughshod with Lewis grinding out 50 yards in the first half on eight carries.
Mistakes and penalties generally kept both teams out of the end zone until Soria found Jeremiah Hereres for a 30-yard pass with five minutes left in the half.
Canyon would score again after Mason Richardson picked off Johnson with 38 seconds left in the first half as Golden Valley was making another one of its own clock-eating drives.
While penalties again played a role in keeping the Cowboys out of the end zone before halftime, a 1-yard run by Soria that left 1 second on the clock for Richardson, allowed him to nail a 43-yard field goal right before halftime for a 10-0 Canyon lead.
But then the Grizzlies’ defense stepped up, and stopped Soria from making a completion in the second half on nine attempts.
In terms of the late hits, the facemasks and the other penalties, Kelley said the Canyon Country rivalry game is always a rough-and-tumble affair, even though a lot of the students know each other, went to junior high together and exchanged laughs and handshakes afterward.
“It’s a fun game,” he said, “you just want to come out on top.”
Canyon High takes on Castaic High next week, and Golden Valley will play Hart High as Foothill League play continues.
