Timely defense. A balanced, efficient offense. And a broken school record.
Castaic football head coach Sirr Guy Shakir saw all three of those on Friday night as his Coyotes snapped a three-game losing streak in a 42-7 all-around victory over the hosting Canyon Cowboys at Canyon High School.
Coming off a bye week, Shakir said his team had its best week of practice in his four years as the Castaic (3-3, 1-1) head coach leading up to Friday’s contest. That certainly showed as the Coyotes seemed to be able to do no wrong from the opening kick to the final whistle.
“We told the kids that,” Shakir said. “But we wanted to make it matter, right? So, we got on them about, ‘Hey, make it translate.’ And it did.”
The Coyotes put up 353 total yards of offense. Nearly 100 of those came on one play when senior running back Julian Priestly busted out a 97-yard touchdown run to set the school record. He had an 80-yard run for a score earlier in the season, but he said this one felt different
“It felt like I ran forever,” Priestly said. “I saw the opening, played the block, the block went that way, I went and cut the other way. Just ran, gave it my all, ran all the way down the field.”
Senior Tristan Arriaga was playing in his first game in a Castaic uniform after a mandatory sit-out period following his transfer from Bishop Alemany, and he made the most of it with two interceptions on his debut. He had one in each half.
Arriaga said the Coyotes worked on a whole new defense in the two weeks that they had to prepare for this game, and they ended it with only 223 yards allowed.
There were a couple of drives in the first half where the Cowboys (1-6, 0-3) were able to get within 5 yards of the end zone, including one where they made it all the way to the 1-yard line, but the Coyotes defense stopped them both times.
“We just had to tell our team just keep on working, keep on driving,” Arriaga said. “I mean, we know it’s on the 1-yard line, it doesn’t seem like we’re gonna have enough confidence out there, but we ended up doing that and stopping them twice. I mean, that’s all we can ask for on the defense, man.”
The defense also had a touchdown on the night when junior Dylan Whisler scooped up a fumble in the end zone.
Shakir said the way his defense played on Friday showed him something after taking some lumps in the first half of the campaign.
“Flying around,” Shakir said of his defense. “Those guys had kind of taken a lot of lumps this year, and we really kind of had to get some things right over the bye. That was the biggest thing that the bye had us do, was shore up our defense, and so the guys really, really came out. We had a plan, obviously it worked pretty well, but they made sure that they knew exactly where they were supposed to be and kind of eliminate the big plays. Canyon’s got some guys that have some speed, you know, but we wanted to make sure that, ‘Hey, they’re probably going to score, but we want to make sure that we do our best to eliminate the big plays.’”
Castaic sophomore quarterback Cody King exited the game early after taking a hit to the left shoulder while fighting to reach the end zone. Shakir said it’s too early to tell what his status will be for the rest of the season, but King was efficient when he was healthy on Friday, throwing for 96 yards and a touchdown on six-of-11 passing. That touchdown pass went to junior Tristan Gray. King also had 45 yards and a touchdown on three runs.
“That was tough,” Shakir said. “Any time your quarterback goes down, it’s always hard. But we do have guys that understand that everybody has a role, and theirs just changed. And so now they got to get out and we got to make some adjustments.”
Senior Aidan Standard-Mojica took over at quarterback for the Coyotes and ran for 90 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Ryan Ortega also had a touchdown run.
Canyon’s lone score on the night came midway through the third quarter when senior quarterback Julian Carlin ran the ball in from 6 yards out.
The Cowboys are set to take on the Saugus Centurions on Friday next week.
The Coyotes have a test against the Golden Valley Grizzlies on Friday as both teams look to finish the season playoff eligible at .500.
“Keep practicing hard,” Priestly said. “Practicing hard, giving it all. Practice good. Show it on the field, playing four quarters of football, and we’ll be good.
