Canadian Returns the Favor over Grapevine Faith

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: September 29, 2019

Canadian vs Grapevine Faith Christian 2019 Michael Kerrigan

Photos courtesy Michael Kerrigan Photography

Canadian Passes Big Test in Rematch
with 49-35 Win Over Grapevine Faith

VERNON – In one of the most entertaining neutral site non-district series in years, the (#1 3A DII) Canadian Wildcats were able to redeem themselves from last season’s 41-20 loss to Grapevine Faith Christian. By striking early and often with their famous fast snapping offense and getting crucial stops with a quick fly-to-the-ball defense the Wildcats kept one of the top ranked TAPPS teams in Texas on their heels all afternoon.

The sunny 85* to 90* temperatures on this Vernon, Texas afternoon was a bit more surreal than usual, as Canadian players and fans became a part of the Netflix documentary “QB1 Beyond the Lights”. Grapevine Faith QB Deuce Hogan committed to play college football at Iowa last year as a Junior. The Netflix series documents the final high school season of quarterbacks committed to D1 universities.

STARTING OUT WITH A BANG

After receiving the opening kickoff, Canadian’s first play from scrimmage yielded the first score of the game. RB Hayze Hufstedler received a toss finding the sideline cleared for the sprinter by key blocks from WR Bill Koetting, WR Tate Mitchell, and pulling linemen Saul Escamilla and Rhet Pennington. GFC Lions DB Luke Blevins could not get the angle to force Hufstedler out-of-bounds and 68 yards later the Wildcats were up 6 points with only 14 seconds off the clock. Kicker, Edgar Salazar made the PAT as he did six more times for a perfect 7-for-7 PATs on the day.

The GFC Lions began their first offensive series on their own 29 yard line, but would stall out 14 plays later on a missed 4th down conversion at the Canadian 33. The Lions demonstrated they were playing-for-keeps early and had confidence in their defense despite giving up a score on the first play of the game. Canadian’s Hufstedler would strike one more time before the end of the first period from 12 yards out.

The second period became a shoot-out even though it started with another Canadian score by QB Grant McCook. Not confident to pass into well covered receivers, McCook scrambled 21 yards to give the Wildcats a 3-touchdown lead. However, GFC’s RB Mark Saunders made the 2nd quarter every bit of a rally the Lions needed while making it the “Mark Saunders Show” in doing so. Saunders started by ending a 6-play scoring drive with a 5 yard TD run, then on the next drive, the speedster went 62 yards for a TD on a screen pass, all of those (62) yards-after-catch. But the show wasn’t over.

After Canadian’s Grant McCook scrambled 59 yards for yet another TD, making the score 28-14, Saunders ran back the ensuing kickoff 93 yards, as if to give some payback for Canadian’s first score of the game. The Lions had cut the score to a single touchdown deficit, but that wouldn’t last very long as Wildcat WR Reagan Cochran would cap off a 9-play scoring drive catching a McCook pass for an incredible foot-in-the-end-zone TD from 4 yards out with 55 seconds left in the half.

DRAMA CONTINUES IN THE SECOND HALF

GFC finally cut Canadian’s lead to a single score again with Saunders pushing through the middle from the 3 yard line to finish a 7-play scoring drive engineered by Hogan with 4:21 left in the third period. But once again, the one touchdown lead for the Wildcats would be extended to two touchdowns going into the fourth quarter after a quick 5-play drive that ended with a 14 yard TD run by RB Jake Krehbiel.

The fourth quarter proved to be a struggle for GFC to get back in the game that the Wildcats repeatedly denied. With only 1:21 left in the game, Canadian stretched the lead to three touchdowns again when WR Bill Koetting caught a pass in the end zone from McCook from 19 yards out. Although Koetting’s TD reception seemed to “seal the deal” for a Wildcat victory, the GFC Lions continued to fight on for pride’s sake on their last possession of the game. With only 9 seconds left on the clock, Lions QB Hogan hit WR Brooks Lowenstein on a 50 yard TD pass. Although Canadian DB Tate Mitchell had good position on Lowenstein, he was tripped up just as the ball arrived, giving Lowenstein an easy stroll into the end zone, denying the Wildcat victory of three TDs to only two.

There hasn’t been an announcement on whether this neutral site series will continue after this season, however, both programs have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from the competition and exceptional sportsmanship by both teams. Canadian will finally return for a home stand (after three straight road games) on October 11th against Tulia to start district play after an open week. Grapevine Faith also takes a week off before beginning TAPPS conference play on a road game to Frisco Legacy Christian Academy on October 11th .

by Jerry Brunson

@CHSWildcatNews – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Stats courtesy of Ron Shrader, Canadian ISD

CANADIAN 14 21 7 7 - 49
GRAPEVINE FAITH 0 21 7 7 - 35

C – Hayze Hufstedler 68 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 11:46
C – Hayze Hufstedler 12 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 2:53

C – Grant McCook 21 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 11:11
G – Mark Saunders 5 yd run, (Davis Anderson kick) 8:33
G – Mark Saunders 60 yd pass from Deuce Hogan, (Davis Anderson kick) 5:11
C – Grant McCook 56 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 3:43
G – Mark Saunders 93 yd kickoff return, (Davis Anderson kick) 3:28
C – Reagan Cochran 4 yd pass from Grant McCook, (Edgar Salazar kick) 0:55

G – Mark Saunders 3 yd run, (Davis Anderson kick) 4:21
C – Jake Krehbiel 9 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 2:53

C – Bill Koetting 17 yd pass from McCook, (Edgar Salazar kick) 1:21
C – Brooks Lowenstein 50 yd pass from Hogan, (Davis Anderson kick) 0:09

FIRST DOWNS: GFC – 16, C – 25
YDS RUSHING: GFC – 178, C – 356
YDS PASSING: GFC – 214, C – 151
TOTAL YDS: GFC – 392, C – 507
COMP-ATT-INT: GFC – 9-27-0, C – 10-17-1
PUNTS-AVG: GFC – 3-32, C – 2-43
FUMBLES-LOST: GFC – 2-0, C – 2-1
PENALTIES: GFC – 4-35, C- 8-50

Friday Night Legends Historic Teams
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Want to see how the Canadian teams stack up against some of the best all time?

We have the 2015 Championship and 2017 teams already created and football fans and game board players around the world are coaching the Canadian Wildcats against some of the greatest teams in history.

2015 Canadian - The Wildcats won the Class 2A Division I State Championship with a convincing 41 point win over Gulf Coast power Refugio. This was Canadian's 4th Championship win in 5 Championship games since 2007.

2017 Canadian - The Wildcats extended their winning streak to 16 years. All 16 years they have had 8+ wins. This team made it to the Semifinals with a high scoring offense and great defense.