Canadian Wins Big Over Childress
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Updated: November 9, 2020
#1 Canadian Hammers #10 Childress 63-13 for 8th Consecutive District Title
Quick Update and highlights:
Canadian kicker Edgar Salazar closes in on the Texas state career PAT record with 302, now in the No.2 spot. The record is held by Chance Nevarez of Aledo with 304.
This game:
Canadian’s man of the hour was RB Hayze Hufstedler, who rushed for 211 yds on 16 carries, 4 rushing TDs plus 1 defensive TD. Hufstedler went over 1000 yds rushing for the season.
This Championship:
Canadian won their 8th consecutive District Championship with 44 consecutive District wins.
Canadian Head Coach Chris Koetting has been the soft spoken, humble leader of a program that relishes over-achievement. It takes a lot of hard work, staff coordination, a solid teaching philosophy, more hard work, and administration to accomplish such a feat as winning 8 consecutive District Titles and putting 44 consecutive district games in the win column.
As AD/HC, Koetting has overseen and engineered most of those accomplishments in his 11th season as HC with a 137-18 record. But he also made contributions before being named head coach to the amazing 19
consecutive seasons Canadian has qualified for the playoffs.
When a district of any class contains three state-ranked teams, the expectation of fireworks is almost a guarantee. Just like when these two teams met in Canadian in 2018, with the Wildcats pulling out the win and the District Championship 31-30 on the last drive of the game. With an extra week to prepare for the #1 Wildcats, the Bobcats came out fired up and ready to defend their house, legendary Fair Park Stadium.
The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and started the first drive with good field position from their own 46 yd line. After making a first down with a quick toss from QB Josh Culwell to RB Jake Krehbiel the fired-up Bobcats forced the Wildcats to punt and started on their own 11 yd line. Quarterback Collin Bishop proceeded to connect on two passes to WR Avery Jalomo moving the Bobcats up to their 40 yd line.
Freshman RB Dareon Mathis rushed for 21 yds, along with a scramble by Bishop for 13 yds that put the Bobcats inside Canadian’s 30 yd line. Bishop is also credited with possibly a drive saving play by throwing the ball out-of-bounds as Wildcat LB Ethan Jackson was taking him down at the 44 yd line. Bishop was chasing down a high shotgun snap (another later would lead to a Canadian score) and just barely got the pass away escaping a huge loss of yardage. 5-plays later on a 4th & 11 to go, Bishop found WR Devron Sims in the back of the end zone for a 29 yd TD and the first score of the game.
Kicker Caesar Rojas was good on the PAT and Childress had become the first team to score first against the Wildcats all season. And not only this season, but Childress snapped another streak a lot of folks were not aware of. According to Canadian Sports Network owner/statistician Steve Forrest, twenty-four (24) previous opponents the Wildcats have faced did not score first. Unfortunately, this was one of the greater achievements for Childress on this night.
The Bobcat fire was stoked even hotter once they had scored first in this big rivalry game. However, that fire was controlled by a very costly turnover and one of the best running backs in this class having an exceptional night on both sides of the ball. The Wildcats would go on to score 56 unanswered points in this contest, which no one would have predicted given the higher level of competition Childress had expected to be. The man of the hour for Canadian was RB Hayze Hufstedler, who began his amazing performance by ripping off a 27 yd TD with 5:00 left in Q1.
Canadian held the Bobcats to a 3-and-out and drove 57 yds to the Childress 11 yd line, but failed to convert on 4th down, where the Bobcats took over. The next snap from C Juan Gonzales proved to be a disaster as it went over Bishop’s head and into the end zone. Bishop attempted to recover, but a swarming Canadian defense had already made that impossible. With the ball still inbounds in the back of the end zone it was covered for the Canadian defensive TD by… wait for it, Hayze Hufstedler from his linebacker position.
The second quarter continued to be unproductive offensively for the Bobcats even though Bishop connected several times for good gainers to WR Lamont Nickleberry. That particular combination caused the Wildcats some grief. But just as Q2 started, Culwell hit WR Twister Kelton for a 41 yd TD strike and with 3:30 left in the half, Hufstedler’s number was called again for a 15 yd TD run. The Wildcats went in at the break with a 28-7 lead, but weren’t about to believe this war was over.
For the second half, with 9:04 left in Q3, Canadian Freshman RB Luke Flowers took in an 11 yd TD run which in the music concert world would be considered the opening act to more of the Hufstedler Show. Hufstedler would jet in for the next two scores, the first one with 5:42 left in the 3rd quarter for 89 yds that gave everyone in attendance a preview of track season. The clock was down to 3:24 whenever DB Gary Anderson picked off a Bishop pass intended for WR Devron Sims that set up a 4-play, 66 yd drive that Hufstedler, once again, ended abruptly with a 40 yd sprint with still 2:40 left in Q3. And just when you might have thought the 3rd quarter was over, Childress’ Bishop threw a completion to WR Lane Foster which was fumbled and recovered by LB Reagan Cochran. That turnover set up a Culwell-to-Kelton 52 yd bomb and a follow-up Culwell-to-Kelton 8 yd TD completion with 1:26 left in Q3. That totaled 56 unanswered points for Canadian.
As Q3 ended starting at their 25 yd line, Bobcat QB Bishop was able to complete a 38 yd pass to Devron Sims and another 22 yd gainer to Mathis giving the Bobcats a 1st and 10 at the 11 yd line as the quarter ended.
Even with a mutually agreed on running clock for the fourth period, there were still a few sparklers to light. Childress was at the 11 yd line and Bishop completed a pass to the 1 yd line to Nickleberry. The next play had the Bobcats score with Sims taking it up the middle from the 1 yd line. PAT kick holder Lane Foster couldn’t control a low snap and the extra point try failed, but the TD finally ended the Bobcat scoring drought for the night.
After the Childress kickoff, Canadian’s offense proved once again on the first play of the next drive that they could almost score-at-will when Culwell completed a jail-break screen to Twister Kelton for a 55 yd TD. Culwell finished the night with 16-for-28 and 270 yds, 3 TDs, while Kelton had 187 yds with 6 catches and 3 TDs. That would end all of the scoring action of the night with a running clock winding down the end of the
District 3-3ADII conference season.
Fox Sports Southwest was on-hand to report this action knowing it could have likely been a close game given the history of these two rivals. When FSS reporter Paige Schnorbach interviewed Head Coach Chris Koetting after the game he seemed to bring it all back to the first priority goal of each season and the excitement the playoff season brings. “That’s our first goal of the year is to win District and we did that tonight. So, we’re really excited about that, looking forward to what we can do in the playoffs.”
The Wildcats move on to face Coahoma in the Bi-District Championship on Thursday, November 12, at Tulia’s Younger Field. The other ranked team in District 3-3ADII this season, Spearman, suffered a Covid forfeit to Canadian in week 6, but are headed to the playoffs in hopes to get that game with Canadian back for even higher stakes.
by Jerry Brunson
@CHSWildcatNews – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Stats and scoring courtesy of Ron Shader, Canadian ISD
SCORING
CANADIAN 14 14 28 7 - 63
CHILDRESS 7 0 0 6 - 13
Q1
CHI – Devron Sims 29 yd TD pass from Collin Bishop (Caesar Rojas kick good) 7:42
CAN – Hayze Hufstedler 22 yd run (Salazar kick good) 5:00
CAN – Hayze Hufstedler defensive TD fumble recovery in end zone (Salazar kick good) 1:51
Q2
CAN – Twister Kelton 35 yd pass from Josh Culwell (Salazar kick good) 11:41
CAN – Hayze Hufstedler 15 yd run (Salazar kick good) 3:30
Q3
CAN – Luke Flowers 11 yd run (Salazar kick good) 9:04
CAN – Hayze Hufstedler 89 yd run (Salazar kick good) 5:42
CAN – Hayze Hufstedler 40 yd run (Salazar kick good) 2:40
CAN – Twister Kelton 11 yd pass from Josh Culwell (Salazar kick good) 1:26
Q4
CHI – Devron Sims 29 yd TD pass from Collin Bishop (Caesar Rojas kick good) 11:06
CAN – Twister Kelton 55 yd pass from Josh Culwell (Salazar kick good) 10:09
STATISTICS
CHI CAN
First Downs 16 20
Yards rushing 33 267
Yards passing 257 270
Total yards 290 537
Comp-Att-Int 21-41-2 16-28-1
Punts 7-29 3-49
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 2-2
Penalties 7-70 4-65
Photos by Alan Hale Photography
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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.
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