Canyon overcomes weather, Longhorns to move to 4-0

Forecasts had thunderstorms threatening Thursday night's game at Dick Bivins Stadium between Canyon and Caprock, so the game becacme a matter of beating the weather before it could beat you.

And with a head start on everything, by the end of the evening Canyon was high and dry while everyone at Bivins was wet.

A quick start sparked the Eagles to a big early lead, and when the rains came after an abbreviated halftime, Caprock could never quite catch up. While the Longhorns literally stayed grounded in putting up a valiant, they still fell to Canyon 36-26, as the Eagles stayed undefeated through four games.

The tone was established 52 seconds into the game when things were still dry but windy. On a third-and-four, Canyon quarterback Lawton Rikel kept the ball and sprinted around the left side, finding a crease up the sideline and going 69 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

"We try to preach starting fast on offense every game and our kids believe in it," said Canyon coach Blake Bryant, whose team has already doubled its win total fro all of last season. "The wind was blowing against us but we still wanted to ball to start the game on offense, even though we knew the elements."

Rikel continued to establish himself as one of the area's top dual threat quarterbacks even on a night when conditions were less than ideal. He also scored on a 7-yard run in the second quarter that gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game 29-7.

Through the air, Rikel was also accurate, completing 11-of-16 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown. It was his early scoring run which set the tone, though.

"The receivers took off down the middle and took everyone with them and I just got good block from our back," Rikel said. "Our coaches just preach to us we can play no matter what the condition is. The offensive line established themselves early on and that was the key."

The margin after Rikel's second scoring run, though, was somewhat misleading. Canyon did play well early offensively, but the Eagles got some help from a pair of Caprock fumbles in the first half which the Eagles turned into two touchdowns.

The Eagles, meanwhile, didn't commit any turnovers while being opportunistic. And that's a good thing, since the Longhorns (2-2) gouged them for 445 yards rushing, but lost three fumbles as well.

"Our defensive staff does preach getting around the ball and wrapping up, and that might have caused some turnovers," Bryant said. "We didn't always wrap up, though."

Running something of a makeshift offense without quarterback Tarik Williams for the third straight game, Caprock compensated with a run-heavy attack. Kalib Rodriguez, who started his career mainly as a defensive back, had the game of his life running the ball with 249 yards on 23 carries, and scored Caprock's first touchdown on a 23-yard run.

Quarterback Jonathan Guerrero, taking over after Richard Deleon started the previous two games, ran for 100 yards on 19 carries, and ran for Caprock's last three touchdowns. But for the second straight week, turnovers doomed the Longhorns.

"We've got some young running backs and two-way guys who aren't so used to running in traffic," Caprock coach Dan Sherwood said. "That's no excuse. I was super proud of them for how we ran the football. I'm really looking forward to seeing how much we've built off this game heading into (District 2-5A Division I, starting next week)."

Canyon led 29-14 at halftime, which was cut in half because the bands wouldn't play in the rain, and by the time the teams took the field, it was in monsoon conditions.

That made passing the ball a second option at best, and the Longhorns adapted the best, as Guerrero scored on a 1-yard run with 28 seconds left in the third quarter to cut it to 29-20.

But that's as close as it got. The Eagles scored on a 26-yard run by Aidan Hildinger early int he fourth quarter to make it 36-20, essentially putting away the game.

Seth Nickell had a big night for Canyon with five catches for 121 yards.

Canyon 36, Caprock26

Canyon;15;14;0;7;—;36

Caprock;7;7;6;6;—;26

First Quarter

Can—Lawton Irkel 69 run (Brayden Welch kick), 11:08

Can—Bo Christie 7 pass from Rikel (Clay Artho pass from Lawton), 2:35

Cap—Kalib Rodriguez 23 run (Cason Polivoda kick) 2:05

Second Quarter

Can—Brandel Barrett 24 pass from Brandon Driskell (Welch kick), 7:57

Can—Rikel 7 run (Welch kick), 4:51

Cap—Jonathan Guerrero 6 run (Polivoda kick), 0:21

Third Quarter

Cap—Guerrero 1 run (kick failed), 0:28

Fourth Quarter

Can—Aidan Hildinger 26 run (Welch kick), 8:57

Cap—Guerrero 7 run (run failed), 6:35

;Canyon;Caprock

First downs;15;23

Rushing;153;445

Passing;194;55

Total yards;347;500

C-A-I;12-17-0;4-9-0

Punts;2-34.0;1-27.0

Fumbles-lost;0-0;3-3

Penalties-yards;3-25;6-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Canyon: Jake Gilley 17-59, Rikel 17-66, Brady Cook 1-2, Hildinger 1-26. Caprock: Rodriguez 23-249, Guerrero 19-100, Demajia Murphy 6-13, Corbin Putman 9-83.

PASSING—Canyon: Rikel 11-16-0-170, Driskell 1-1-0-24. Caprock: Guerrero 4-9-0-55.

RECEIVING—Canyon: Brett Cobb 2-8, Seth Nickell 5-121, Christie 1-7, Cook 1-13, Barrett 2-32, Gilley 1-13. Caprock: T.J. Deleon 3-39, Fabian Morales 1-16.