Football: Mustangs see silver lining in loss to Eagles

ANDREWS You may play to win the game, but when you’re a Class 3A team coming off a 2-8 season, hanging with a Class 4A team playoff team from 2008 ain’t so bad.

The Canyon Eagles rallied from a halftime deficit to pull away from Andrews 38-24 in the season opener for both teams Friday night at the Mustang Bowl.

Andrews (0-1) showed coach Jeff Cordell’s second season could go differently from the first from the very first possession. The Mustangs twice forced Canyon (1-0) quarterback Connor Moore into negative yardage, first on Jose Correa’s sack and then forcing him out of bounds. T.J. Rampone blocked Moore’s kick out of the shotgun formation on fourth and 28. Jordan Estrada then picked up the deflection for Andrews and returned it for the score, giving the Mustangs a 7-0 lead.

The game was barely two minutes old, but already Andrews had scored more points than it did against the Eagles in a 41-0 rout in the 2008 season opener in Canyon.

“We knew based on studying film they’d line up that way,” Cordell said. “We tried to attack their weaknesses.”

Though the Mustangs forced a punt on Canyon’s next possession, the Eagles quickly recovered. Will Tolliver intercepted Andrews quarterback Hunter Hicks on the Mustangs’ first offensive play of the night.

That led to a Canyon field goal and the Eagles weren’t done. First Moore completed a 32-yard scoring pass to Derek Odell, then the quarterback ran for a score of his own, to Canyon up 17-7 with 8:22 remaining in the first half.

That’s when Andrews turned to Jorge Gutierrez, who ran four times for 68 yards in the second quarter, setting up a one-yard touchdown run by Hicks. Andrews later scored on seven yard touchdown catch by Spencer Lopez.

Hopes were high going into the locker room with Andrews up 21-17.

But after relying on the pass in the first half, Canyon turned to running back Blake Boyer in the third quarter. The running back had 87 of his 138 yards in the final two quarters, including a four-yard touchdown run to put Canyon up for good in the only score of the third quarter.

Andrews only managed a field goal the rest of the way, as two fourth quarter touchdowns put it away for Canyon.

After the game, Andrews players were optimistic not only about District 3-3A play.

“If we keep playing the way we’re playing, we’ll get in the playoffs,” said Estrada, who caught six passes for 102 yards to go along with his touchdown. “We’ll probably have a shot at a district title, at least that’s how everyone feels after today.”

Canyon coach Blake Bryant had high praise for the way Cordell prepared his players.

“They came out and got in our chili,” Bryant said. “They stayed with us for four quarters.”

>> Canyon 38, Andrews 24

Canyon           10  7    7   14   38

Andrews         7  14   0   3     24

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Andrews: Jordan Estrada 37 punt block return (Jake Higgs kick), 9:54. 

Canyon: Aaron Rowe 27 field goal, 2:18.

Canyon: Derek Odell 32 pass from Connor Moore (Rowe kick), 1:03.

Second Quarter

Canyon: Moore 1 run (Rowe kick), 8:22.

Andrews: Hunter Hicks 11 run (Higgs kick), 6:39.

Andrews: Spencer Lopez 7 pass from Hicks (Higgs kick), 4:10.

Third  Quarter

Canyon: Blake Boyer 4 run (Rowe kick), 4:22.

Fourth Quarter

Canyon: Moore 5 run (Rowe kick), 11:57.

Andrews: Higgs 33 kick, 8:41.

Canyon: Taylor Medrano 2 run (Rowe kick), 5:26.

TEAM STATISTICS                                      

                                        CANYON                                                  ANDREWS

First Downs                      28                                                              17

Total Yards                           353                                                     303

Rushes-Yards                51/177                                                    24/151

Passing Yards                    176                                                         152

Passing                        14-24-1                                                        12-27-1

Fumbles-Lost                      3-1                                                         2-1

Punts-Avg.                        2-37                                                            5-25.4

Penalties-Yards                7-47                                                        4-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Canyon: Blake Boyer 21-138, Thomas Cunningham 6-20, Connor Moore 21-7, Chris Rhoten 1-7, Reid Ragsdale  1-3, Taylor Medrano 1-2.

Andrews: Jorge Gutierrez 12-110, Hunter Hicks 9-29, Nick Cruz 1-12, Ozzie Bueno 2-0.

Passing

Canyon: Connor Moore 14-24-1-176.

Andrews: Hunter Hicks 12-27-1-152.

Receiving

Canyon: Derek Odell 5-81, Braden Kimsey 3-37, Bill Bryant 2-23, Chris Rhoten 2-14, Juan Garcia 1-14, Will Toliver 1-11.

Andrews: Jordan Estrada 6-102, Spencer Lopez 2-31, Raul Valenzuela 2-18, Ozzie Bueno 2-6.