Canadian Edges Abernathy for Another Gold Ball

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: December 8, 2019

Photos courtesy Alan Hale Photography

Canadian Survives Huge Challenge in QuarterFinal by Abernathy, 35-31

It is always gratifying when playoff games that are hyped up to be matchups with statewide implications actually live up to the anticipation. The 2019 Class 3AD2 Region 1 Championship game advancing the winner to the State Semifinal absolutely did not disappoint. Canadian survived giving up four turnovers in a slugfest for the ages against Abernathy in order to advance to the UIL Semifinal for the 6th consecutive season, the 4th Semifinal to face the same team, the Gunter Tigers. That series stands at 2-1 in Gunter’s favor.

Although Canadian’s defense put State-class Abernathy QB/LB Bryson Daily (23-for-67yds, 2 TDs rushing, 9-23-111 yds, 1 TD passing, 1 INT for a TD) on notice in the first half, he rallied his team in the second half like the veteran, hard-nosed football player he is. Daily, the son of Head Coach Darrell Daily, is headed to play for the Black Knights at West Point, which includes a much larger commitment to our nation than for the game of football. As appreciated as Daily is as a football player, he will be even more appreciated for his service to our country.

Adding to stories such as this, was the experience for these two teams to participate in the first ever UIL Texas High School playoff game played in the new West Texas A&M University Buffalo Stadium. Although the university had officially stated it would not make the stadium available until the administration had studied and approved, negotiations the previous Friday night went in favor of doing so in light of another stadium becoming unavailable and another with questionable availability.

The game opened with Canadian’s defense forcing the Antelope offense to punt on their first two series, with the Wildcats also being stopped on their first offensive series. But with 5:15 left in the 1st period, Canadian struck first with a 53 yard reception by WR Tate Mitchell from QB Grant McCook (23-for-61 yds, 3 TDs rushing, 8-16, 141 yds, 1 TD, 2 INTs passing) on a flea-flicker type trick play. But after Wildcat QB Josh Culwell was intercepted by Abernathy LB Matthew DeAnda on another trick play, the Antelopes were set up on the Canadian 17 yard line for Abernathy’s first score three plays later with a pass from Jess Hoel from the QB position to QB Daily split out as a WR from 12 yards out in the corner of the end zone over DB Twister Kelton. DB Bill Koetting denied the 'Lopes with a rare block of the PAT to put the score at 7-6 Canadian with 1:55 left in the 1st quarter.

The 1st quarter ended (literally) with Canadian driving 63 yards on 10-plays with the 1:55 left, scoring on a Grant McCook 3 yard run as the clock ran out. Wildcat kicker Edgar Salazar was good on the PAT as he was on the rest of Canadian’s PATs on the night, going 5-for-5. And speaking of PATs, it was truly a disappointing night for Abernathy, as they gave up 6 points on four different PAT tries. One kick blocked, one kick missed, and two 2-point conversion tries failed due to an overthrown pass by Bryson Daily and a second denied by Canadian LB Israel Guerrero with a big hit keeping Daily from crossing the goal line in the open field after he received the ball from a swinging gate formation.

The Canadian defense continued to frustrate Daily’s offensive unit through the second quarter and allowed McCook to finish a 10-play scoring drive with a 1 yard run after taking the fast-paced NASCAR offense 67 yards with 5:04 left in the half. Undeterred, Daily mounted up and drove his team on an 8-play, 66 yard scoring drive by the ended with a 6 yard TD pass to WR Jess Hoel. However, as with any offense capable of reeling off offensive plays like Canadian, two minutes left on the clock can be too much time to allow them to work. 7-plays and 60 yards later, McCook scored on a 1 yard keeper with 17 seconds left in the half, set up by a well defended, fantastic 27 yard catch by WR Bill Koetting on the 3 yard line.

Just when it looked like Canadian could extend or at least maintain a decent separation on the scoreboard with a 28-12 halftime lead, Abernathy came out in the second half focused and motivated to turn things around. The Antelopes kept the fast-paced Wildcat offense at bay and taking advantage of some Canadian mistakes scored 13 unanswered points coming in rapid succession. The 'Lopes LB Aaron Trevino intercepted McCook and got the ball to the Canadian 13 yard line when WR Tate Mitchell went down to the turf slipping on his pass route. Daily scored on a 2 yard run 4-plays later. Then on the next Wildcat drive, Daily, playing from his LB position grabbed a McCook tipped pass intended for WR Angel Garcia and took the interception 65 yards for a pick-six. As they say: “and just like that” the score was cut to a very slim 3-point Canadian lead, 28-25 with 8:12 left in the 3rd period.

The Abernathy rally was poised to shift into another gear and take the lead, however, the Canadian defense continued to hold off a tsunami of momentum the Lopes had established. By the same token, the Abernathy defense continued to hound Wildcat QB McCook, suffering from a hip injury incurred during the game that had limited his mobility. The physicality of this game resulted in injuries that took out key players like Wildcat WR Twister Kelton and players on both teams were getting banged up, some playing on injured, some not. Kelton was later deemed to be good-to-go for Monday practice, QB McCook will be healing and resting up as will All-State DB Jack Koetting, suffering from a nagging shoulder injury.

Koetting, in a postgame interview with Canadian Sports Network’s Russell Gadbois said, “I hopefully only got two more games left, so I’m just going to ride it out, there’s nothing you can do, I’m here for the long run. I’ll just tape it up every game and just go.”

QB Grant McCook told Gadbois: “This the worst I’ve felt [physically] after a game. But it’s a good feeling because we got a win, so it trumps it all. But, yeah, I’m pretty banged up right now.”

Jack Koetting and his twin brother Bill the sons of head coach Chris Koetting, have been a part of the Canadian program since age 8 or 9 starting as ball boys on the sidelines. They are now Seniors hoping to return to fulfill the team motto of “Unfinished Business” by returning to a State Championship game in AT&T Stadium again this season with their teammates for a shot at their own State Title and Championship rings earned by their own effort on the field.

With 11:09 left on the 4th quarter, Canadian had finally sustained a 9-play drive that took them down to the Antelope 31 yard line, but had run out of downs. Although K Edgar Salazar has a field goal range over 40 yards, a 48 yarder on fourth-down-and-1-to-go was not a good strategy the way this game was playing out. The decision went to use the workhorse for Wildcat ground yards, RB Hayze Hufstedler (20 carries for 156 yds, 1 TD).

Hufstedler’s number was called on a power play where he followed some hard-fought blocking off tackle by Saul Escamilla, Colton Cooper, Rhet Pennington, Osvaldo Sanchez, and RB Jake Krehbiel. Fighting through the scrappy Antelopes, Hufstedler shook off DB Sean Rodriguez and was in full stride before Jess Hoel engaged him at the 9 yard line with a stiff arm going into the end zone. The Canadian lead was back to 10-points with most of the last quarter left to play.

In the same fashion that Hufstedler used his skills to put much-needed points on the board for Canadian, with 8:32 left in the game, Abernathy QB Daily worked some of the magic he’s done all season against opponents by finding available blocks and open spaces to take a scramble 32 yards, 30 of those yards right down the Canadian sideline for a TD, the PAT failed, but most importantly for the Lopes, the deficit was cut to 4-points, 35-31.

The atmosphere in the new Buffalo Stadium with 4,000 plus fans in attendance was electric with the possibility of witnessing an upset of the #1 ranked Class 3AD2 team in the State on the line. Who in attendance at this point would know the rally that the 'Lopes started early in the second half was over? Unfortunately for Abernathy the rally was over, but it took two more 'Lopes offensive series for it to become apparent. Even after the Wildcat defense forced two more three-and-outs, hope was revived one last time when QB Daily’s punt took an inadvertent bounce and hit RB Jake Krehbiel, trying to stay clear of the ball. Being a live ball after contact with Krehbiel, it was recovered by Sean Rodriguez for Abernathy on the Canadian 31 yard line. But it was not to be for the rugged bunch from Abernathy.

The miracle winning scoring drive never materialized as Daily was tackled for a loss on a QB option keeper on 1st down, threw an incomplete pass on 2nd down, then was sacked by Rhet Pennington on 3rd down. With his last, best offensive effort, Daily completed a pass to WR Sean Rodriguez on the 4th down conversion attempt downfield but came up short a couple of yards, turning over the ball to Canadian.

With the clock ticking down to 2:00 minutes, Canadian’s McCook made one last final 1st down to secure the ability to run out the clock and cash in on the sixth consecutive Region 1 Championship and tenth Semifinal appearance in the last thirteen seasons. Almost unbelievably, the Wildcats will face the same opponent for the fourth consecutive season in the Class 3AD2 UIL State Semifinal, the Gunter Tigers. That most unlikely series now stands at 2-1, Gunter, with Canadian breaking the hold and winning last year’s Semifinal to face Newton for the 2018 title game. It is obviously a tribute to both the Canadian and Gunter programs to achieve this kind of post-season success. The game is scheduled for Friday, December 13, 2019, with a 7:00 P.M. kickoff. The venue will be Leo Brittain Field at Lions Stadium, Vernon, Texas.

by Jerry Brunson
@CHSWildcatNews – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Stats courtesy of Ron Shrader, CISD

1ST 2ND 3rd 4th Total
CANADIAN 14 14 0 7 - 35
ABERNATHY 6 6 13 6 - 31

SCORING

Q1

C – Tate Mitchell 53 yd pass from McCook, (Edgar Salazar kick) 5:15
A – Bryson Daily 12 yd pass from Jess Hoel, (Sagen Gonzalez kick blocked)1:55
C – Grant McCook 3 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 0:01

Q2

C – Grant McCook 1 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 5:04
A – Jess Hoel 6 yd pass from Daily, (2-point conv pass failed) 2:01
C – Grant McCook 1 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 0:17

Q3

A – Bryson Daily 1 yd run, (2-point run failed) 9:27
A – Bryson Daily 75 yd INT return, (Sagen Gonzalez kick) 8:12

Q4

C – Hayze Hufstedler 31 yd run, (Edgar Salazar kick) 11:09
A – Bryson Daily 30 yd run, (Sagen Gonzalez kick failed) 8:32

GAME STATISTICS

FIRST DOWNS: A – 13, C – 18
YDS RUSHING: A –89, C – 230
YDS PASSING: A – 126, C – 141
TOTAL YDS: B – 215, C – 371
COMP-ATT-INT: A – 11-25-0, C – 8-17-3
PUNTS-AVG: A – 5-36, C – 3-42
FUMBLES-LOST: A– 0-0 C – 2-1
PENALTIES: A – 8-86, C- 8-80

(click photos to see slideshow)

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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.