CANYON COUNTRY – The Canyon football team came back from a 14-point second-half deficit Friday night to defeat Castaic 36-35 in the opening week of Foothill League play.
The Canyon offense had 233 total rushing yards in the game and quarterback Sebastian Martinez also had three touchdown passes in the game.
Castaic had a chance to tie the game with a little over two minutes left after scoring a touchdown but the point after kick was blocked by Canyon’s Joshua Cambaliza to secure the victory for the Cowboys.
“It’s always good to get that first league win under our belt,” Canyon coach Ken Holsenbeck said. “It was two good offenses going at it, and we were fortunate enough to be able to execute enough in the second half to get the win.”
Semaj Richardson opened the scoring in the game for Canyon with a 68-yard touchdown run on the team’s first possession for a 7-0 lead. Richardson had a very good night for Canyon running the ball 18 times for 148 yards and the one score.
Castaic jumped out to a 23-15 lead in the first half after the Richardson score with running back Monty Coleman leading the way. Coleman ran the ball 11 times for 138 yards in the first half and also had a touchdown in the first quarter.
Canyon’s final touchdown of the first half came from a 3-yard touchdown run by Keyshawn Wooten who finished the game with 10 carries for 79 yards.
“We did what we had to do. We came out and we finished strong and we played hard,” Wooten said after the game.
Castaic’s other two touchdowns in the half came on short touchdown passes from Khanai Langford to Jesse Canaday and Isaiah Reid. Langford’s touchdown to Reid also came on the last play of the first half. Maddux Anderson also hit a 25-yard field goal for Castaic’s first points of the game.
On Castaic’s first possession of the second half, Coleman extended the lead to 29-15 as he capped off a 75-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown, but Castaic missed their second of three missed point-after attempts following the score.
After Coleman’s second score, Martinez threw three long touchdown passes to help Canyon score 21 unanswered points. Martinez’s first touchdown in the game came on a 30-yard pass to Myles McCrory.
Following the McCrory score, the Canyon defense made a fourth down stop near midfield to give the offense good field position. Following the stop, Martinez threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Cambaliza to tie the game at 29-29 near the end of the third quarter.
Martinez’s final touchdown of the night came on a 42-yard pass to Evan Watts to give Canyon a 36-29 lead early in the fourth quarter. Martinez finished the game 6 of 10 for 150 yards and three touchdown passes.
Coleman scored his third and final touchdown of the night for Castaic with a little bit over two minutes left in the game but the Coyotes were not able to tie the game up as the point after was blocked by Cambaliza to secure the victory for Canyon.
Langford finished the game 15 for 17 with 107 yards and two touchdown passes for Castaic. Castaic quarterback Jayden Broderick who started the game and alternated with Langford, finished 15 for 21 with 59 yards.
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“It was a real competitive game. Both teams played super hard,” Castaic coach Sirr Guy Shakir said. “What it just came down to in the end was a couple plays execution-wise and they just made more of those.”
Canyon will look to improve to 4-2 and 2-0 in Foothill League play against Saugus next week. Castaic will look to bounce back and win their first league game of the season next week against Golden Valley.