By Matt Lechuga
For The Signa
Call it The Chain Reaction. Leading 26-20 and facing a fourth and 14 with 43 seconds on the clock, the West Ranch defense waited on pins and needles for the results of the referee’s measurement after Canyon quarterback Julian Carlin hit Tristian Garcia at what looked like the line to gain
After an agonizing few minutes, the refs made their call: just short and the Wildcats sideline and stands erupted, securing their first win of the season in their home opener at College of the Canyons.
“Absolute respect to Canyon,” said West Ranch head coach Sean O’Brien. “We play that game 10 times, they win it five. Our attitude on that last play was, we’re stopping them no matter what, whether they get it there or not. So we had confidence in our defense that we were going to put a stop on them.”
In a back-and-forth game, it was the West Ranch rushing attack of Nate Striplin and Mesziah Ramos that proved to be the difference. The pair rushed for a combined 287 yards and four touchdowns.
“Nate and I, during the weekends in the offseason, we’d be working by ourselves on the field,” said Ramos. “We’d be telling ourselves how we were going to make the team better, and we just did it. We just put in the work in the weight room and everything and we got it done.”
Canyon took the lead near the end of the first quarter when running back Benicio Wright scored on a sweep from 4 yards out. The Wildcats tied it when, two series later, Striplin broke a scramble up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown.
“I had a couple of good blocks in front of me so I was able to cut the corner,” said Striplin. “We had a really rough preseason, we played some really good teams, and honestly playing those good teams helped us. We battled those teams and that brought us together. We’re going to go out there and play with our heart, win or lose.”
West Ranch grabbed the lead in its opening drive of the third quarter when Ramos started right, then cut all the way back against the grain for a 15-yard score, only to be matched by another Wright touchdown, this time from 5 yards out. Wright finished the game with 81 yards and two touchdowns on the night.
The next three scores: a 2-yard rush by Striplin, an 18-yard pass from Carlin to Garcia and a 15-yard rush from Ramos made it 26-20 thanks to three straight missed PATs: a bad snap and two blocked kicks.
Canyon had a chance to potentially steal the game but came up just short on its last chance on fourth and 14.
“Those two guys (Striplin and Ramos) are a pleasure to coach,” said O’Brien. “You put the ball in their hands and something good is going to happen. When you end preleague and get to league, it’s kind of a reset. Sowe knew if we go into league 0-1, our momentum is dead. Going in like this, we just bought ourselves a lot of ‘mo.”
West Ranch will look to build on Friday’s win next week against Valencia and Canyon will try to bounce back against Golden Valley.
