Canadian Surprises Doubters; Holds Heads High

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: December 23, 2018

Canadian vs Newton 2018 State Championship

photos Alan Hale

Newton Defends Championship Against Feisty, Physical Canadian

AT&T STADIUM ARLINGTON – The Newton Eagles came to AT&T Stadium with an opportunity to win back-to-back State Championships for the first time in school history. Canadian and Newton have both claimed four State Championships already, but it appeared that the heavily favored Eagles would most likely lead the Wildcats by three or four scores at the half, then cruise to a victory in the second half and win with at least 50 points on the scoreboard. That was the talk on the street anyway.

The game had been dubbed “The Country Boys versus The Recruits” in some circles. At least eight of the Eagles teammates have been considered Division 1 college prospects due to their size, speed, and talent. Eagle QB Josh Foster and running back phenom Darwin Barlow will be signing with TCU along with another unidentified teammate. The Wildcats on the other hand, have had very few offers to play at the next level or have not made public any possibilities to date.

As Head Coach Chris Koetting put it, “We don’t scare anybody getting off the bus,” referencing that, of the 47 players on his roster, only eleven are over 6’ and only five are over 200 lbs.

The first offensive series by Newton after the kickoff was probing and tested the Canadian defense which had given up only 7 points per game in the last three playoff matches. The Eagles started with a quick pitch to Barlow, who bounced outside of the tackle when he couldn’t find the expected lane and was met by S Jack Koetting after only a 1 yard gain. Koetting went on to become Canadian’s Chief Headhunter during the game, making a hit on Eagles RB Zach Gulley that earned a tweeted video from Fox Sports Southwest, the broadcast partner with the UIL. His twin brother, Bill Koetting, at another DB position and LB Cutter Kelton also made crucial stops during the battle.

Newton’s run game utilized RB Kevin Watson and Barlow, but the first 3rd down conversion was made by a Foster to Barlow pass from their own 23 yard line to mid-field. Barlow ran for the next 3rd down conversion of three. A Foster to TE Zach Gulley pass put them on the Canadian 4 yard line and a quick line up and snap got Barlow in for the first score in 12 plays with just under 4 minutes off the clock.

THE BOUNCE OF THE BALL

Sometimes a play will prove that football is a game of strange ball bounces and inches. With the score 7-0 Newton, and 8:14 left in the first half, Foster rolled right on a play action pass and was immediately pressured by LB Cutter Kelton and LB Hayze Hufstedler. Hufstedler wrapped up Foster causing a fumble. The tumbling loose ball stayed inbound down the Newton side line and Kelton couldn’t get the handle on it for a guaranteed scoop and score from the Newton 35 yard line. Inches... bounces... it’s all in the game of football.

Newton’s defense welcomed the Wildcats to a proverbial brick wall, but the Wildcat defense also held off the potent Eagles offense for the rest of the half until the 4:20 mark in the second quarter when the bottom fell out. With 4:20 left in the half Canadian QB Casen Cavalier with 1st down at his own 11 yard line, called an inside screen. The pass was thrown slightly behind RB Hayze Hufstedler. Hufstedler barely got a hand on the ball before it was picked by Kevin Watson and returned for and easy TD.

Later with 3:40 left in the half, Canadian was forced to punt. Newton would start to work on their own 34 but the Canadian defense held. With the ball and 2:15 left before the break, Cavalier scrambled up the middle near a first down when the ball came out and the Eagles had the ball on the Canadian 36 yard line. Six plays later Foster hit Barlow in the right flat and he managed to use great body control to stay inbound and put the ball over the pylon while beating the angles defensive backs Josh Culwell, Hayze Hufstedler, and S Jack Koetting attempting to knock him out of bounds.

The new rule to use replay review reversed the call that Barlow had stepped out and the TD was good with 0:45 left on the clock. The 21-0 halftime score was making the experts look good that predicted Newton might hang 50 on the Wildcats. Two successful scoring drives and a pick-
six by their defense was a great half in the books for the Eagles. But Canadian had experience overcoming turnovers given; it was just a matter of what they could do in the second half against a team that is arguably one of the greatest teams in 3A history.

The Eagles would never implement a strategy to sit on 21 points and attempt to run out the clock for an entire half. No championship team would. That is why it is so evident that the Canadian defense played lights out in the second half to shut out the powerful Newton offense for two consecutive quarters and actually score Canadian’s first 2 points with a safety. Eagles QB Foster was caught in his own end zone by defensive linemen Saul Escamilla and Brenden Wyatt forcing Foster to throw the ball away. The throw-away resulted in an intentional grounding call and being thrown from the end zone, ruled a safety.

As Newton would complete a perfect 15-0 season, they had not been shut out for an entire half by any team except Canadian. And that’s saying a lot. Newton’s Barlow had inflicted a great deal of pain on Canadian in the first half and holding such an outstanding running back to 106 yards on 24 carries was quite a feat. But perhaps one of the most impressive stats for the Canadian defense was limiting the Eagles offense to 253 total yards, practically half of the average total yards in the previous 15 games.

With a seemingly paltry 2-points to begin a comeback, Casen Cavalier was given a chance to redeem himself. But he would have to do it against a strong and well coached Newton defense that had not let up an ounce to stop the perpetual hurry-up offense of the Wildcats.

The story for Newton was that their defense had stats as good or better than Canadian’s and had only given up 8 points per game. Cavalier and crew were required to bust through an almost impenetrable Eagles defense if they wanted back in the game. The momentum Canadian needed was captured by allowing Cavalier to use his hard-nosed running skills to keep drives alive.

After being denied on a 4th down conversion deep in Eagles territory, the momentum would pick up again with an unexpected turn of events for Canadian’s offense. As Cavalier had to exit the field by rule, due to his helmet coming off, Koetting sent in the backup QB Josh Culwell. Culwell and C Rhet Pennington executed a perfect hard count against the Eagles defense, drawing them offside for the free play to pass the ball downfield. Culwell found WR Bill Koetting closely defended by SS Dominique Seastrunk. Koetting adjusted to the ball and completed the pass on the Newton 5 yard line. Defensive pass interference and offside penalties were declined and the next play yielded the first TD of the game for the Wildcats with Cavalier taking the ball in with an athletic move using his hand to keep from downing the ball and extend it across the goal line. The PAT kicking team lined up for K Edgar Salazar, but then shifted for the 2-point conversion.

Once again Cavalier got to the edge with blocks from WR Trent Evans, OL Brenden Wyatt, and OL Noah Carter and jetted to the pylon for the 2-points. Canadian had cut the deficit to 11 points with 4:38 left in the 3rd period.

The Wildcats continued to struggle against the stingy Eagles defense until a fumble by Eagles RB Kevin Watson was recovered by LB Caleb Martinez on the Newton 42 yard line with 4:30 left in the game. Cavalier hit WR Grant McCook to take the ball down to the 26 yard line. The drive stalled and Salazar was called on to try a 42 yard FG. A questionable call against Newton for leaping on the FG try that was missed by Salazar gave Canadian another set of downs. Cavalier tried to get the ball to WR Garrison McCook in the end zone for the second time, but his brother Grant McCook took the honor of receiving for a TD with 3:12 left in the game. The 2-point conversion failed due to heavy pressure on Cavalier, who couldn’t get enough arm into the pass to a wide open WR Trent Evans in the end zone.

THE GALENA PARK NORTH SHORE HAIL MARY MIRACLE

Two days prior to what is considered to be one of the most incredible State
Championship game finishes in history when Galena Park North Shore QB Dematrius Davis connected with WR A.J. Carter in the end zone for the walk-off TD versus Duncanville, Canadian also had their Hail Mary opportunity. With 2:11 left in the game, Canadian forced a Newton punt, allowing them to run a 2-minute drill to score and win the championship. But they were 73 yards away from the end zone and a field goal couldn’t tie... they needed a TD for the win.

Cavalier ran for 7 yards to convert on 4th and 2 at the Canadian 42 yard line with 1:27 on the clock. The very next play, a 27 yard strike to a well-covered Garrison McCook to the Canadian 28 yard line had the fans on their feet knowing anything might happen with the momentum the Wildcats had gained on this last drive. Another pass from Cavalier to the other McCook brother, Grant, took the ball to the 20 yard line. The Newton pressure defense had forced Canadian to 4th and 8 with 0:51 left on the clock. It was now or never for the Wildcats. Cavalier was forced out of the pocket and rolled right under great pursuit pressure but was able to get the ball to the corner of the end zone where Garrison McCook, Trent Evans, and Bill Koetting were waiting to make a play on the ball. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, SS Dominique Seastrunk came up with the interception to secure Newton’s back-to-back State Championship bid.

Unlike the North Shore miracle, Canadian would have to end their season without beating the odds and join the typical percentage of unsuccessful Hail Mary pass plays.

The post-game press conference of the runners-up featured Sr. WR Garrison McCook, Sr. QB Casen Cavalier, and Head Coach Chris Koetting got emotional explaining that “… we don’t have really big kids and, and uh, but we’ve got some kids with tremendous heart. And I’m just… it’s been an honor to coach ‘em, I’ll tell you that.”

He continued when ask about Canadian’s second half performance, he referenced Newton’s season. “Some of the things that Newton did this year, you know, made them probably one of the most dominant 3A teams in the history of 3A football.” Koetting added, “I know Newton put up some yards, but that team is hard to stop and we did at times. One constant was the tenacity of our kids - how hard they played. And, we didn’t lose this game because of effort.”

Newton goes back-to-back as 3ADII State Champions and will continue to hold the title of defending State Champs with a season ahead to attempt a three-peat. Canadian will continue to work toward returning to AT&T Stadium with another year of reloading positions and fielding veteran players for the 2019 campaign.

Jerry Brunson for Lone Star Gridiron

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Stats courtesy of Ron Shrader, Canadian ISD