Canyon’s Gamble Pays Off

Harry Welch gave the dice a vigorous shake, his running backs rolled and Canyon High, recovering from three weeks of lethargy, evened its nonleague record Friday night with a 35-14 win over Notre Dame.

Trailing, 7-6, early in the second half and facing a fourth and 2 on his team’s 23-yard line, Welch disdained the punt for a pitch to tailback Chris Peery.

“It’s always a gamble,” Welch said.

And it paid off. Peery darted 22 yards for a first down.

More importantly, the play sustained a 10-play, 85-yard touchdown drive and triggered a 29-point, second-half explosion in the nonleague game at Notre Dame.

Canyon (2-2), largely outplayed in the first half, finished with 325 total yards to Notre Dame’s 260.

Said Peery, who gained only 34 yards in the first half but finished with 141 yards and 3 touchdowns in 25 carries: “It’s not me, it’s the line. But we’re back.”

Quarterback Rod Baltau (5 of 9 for 68 yards, 1 touchdown), followed Peery’s 22-yard run with an 18-yard, fake-pump scramble for another first down. Two plays later, fullback Robert Leary, who rushed for a career-high 115 yards in 18 carries, rambled another 20 yards to the Knights’ 12.

“Right on!” Leary said of his performance. “That was my best.”

Peery then slammed 12 yards for the score and Baltau, after the Cowboys’ first 2-point conversion attempt was nullified by a penalty, followed with a 25-yard pass to Brian Schroeder to give Canyon a 14-7 lead.

“That’s what I thought got us rolling,” Welch said of the Cowboys’ ability to convert the touchdown. “I wish I could say I’m a great coach and ‘You should have seen me on that chalkboard,’ but that wasn’t it.”

Canyon added a touchdown two minutes later on a 1-yard sneak by Baltau.

Peery ran 1 yard for his second touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to give Canyon a 28-7 lead and dashed 7 yards for his third touchdown with 14 seconds to play.

“This was absolutely our best performance of the season,” Welch said. “Peery and Leary both over 100 yards? Wonderful!”

Notre Dame (2-2) outmuscled the Cowboys in the first half, rolling up 9 first downs to Canyon’s 4.

The Knights took a 7-0 lead when tailback Errol Small, who finished with 55 yards in 14 carries, dove 1 yard for a touchdown to cap a 14-play, 66-yard drive midway through the second quarter.

Canyon answered with a 10-play, 73-yard drive that culminated with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Baltau to Chad Nell. Steve Mann’s conversion kick failed.

Quarterback Bobby Hughes, who repeatedly flipped the ball to fullback Jeremy Harrison on shovel passes, pitched 11 yards to Harrison for the Knights’ final score with 2:01 to play. Hughes finished with 12 completions in 22 attempts for 152 yards.

Late in the first half, Canyon linebacker Sean McCune, attempting to block a punt, collided with a teammate and apparently suffered a neck injury.

McCune was strapped to a stretcher and taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Phillip Eddy, Canyon’s team doctor, declined to speculate on the injury.