Highland Park is No Match for Canadian

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: October 14, 2021

Canadian vs Amarillo Highland Park Alan Hale 2021

Canadian Takes Down Amarillo Highland Park, 62-8

It would be the Amarillo Highland Park Hornet’s turn to take on the defending State Champion Canadian Wildcats, however, they were unable to bring the same level of challenge that the Spearman Lynx had last week in a tight one that Canadian pulled out in the last few seconds. Even though the Wildcats are particularly young this season and fighting the “injury bug”, the Hornets are also struggling with injuries and the lack of experienced lettermen, not to mention the recent loss of much-loved Highland Park Assistant Coach Ralph Shemwell. It would be a bittersweet coming home for Hornets Head Coach Wade Wilson, a 1988 Canadian graduate, the son of the late Coach Jett Wilson, and his uncle, the late Coach Paul Wilson, both coaching legends at Canadian ISD. Coach Paul, affectionately known as “The Pope”, is credited with turning the Canadian program around and establishing a foundation that has led to five State Championships at Canadian ISD, the most of any Panhandle area school.

As is always the case when dealing with key players that are sitting out to heal injuries, Head Coach Chris Koetting calls for the “next man up” and plans game strategies accordingly. Any of the Wildcats that were called up to cover for injured starters during this game, seemed to have prepared themselves well and were ready to see some action. The Wildcat defense was certainly dialed into the game plan. A struggling HP offense was not able to reach a first down marker until the second half; going three-and-out on six possessions in the first half and the seventh Hornet possession ended with HP sophomore QB Brady Thompson throwing a pick-six to LB Matt McClanahan, taking the INT 42 yards for the final Wildcat score of the first half.

While Canadian’s defense completely stifled any possibility of the Hornets advancing down the field, sophomore QB Camren Cavalier led the Wildcat offense to 48 unanswered points. Cavalier, in his first half performance, went 7-for-8 passes to total 103 yards and three passing TDs to RB Isay Ramirez (42 yards), WR Angel Garcia (15 yards), and WR Jaxtyn Valenzuela (5 yards). Other scores included a 10 yard run by Garcia, a 2 yard run by Ramirez, a 55 yard punt return by Garcia, and the aforementioned pick-six by McLanahan.

The second half continued to be a dominate effort by the Wildcats with QB Ben Bryant taking over the offense. Bryant led a 4-play drive from the Canadian 42 yard line down to the Hornet 13 yard line where RB Aiden Dickenson finished with a 13 yard TD run. Later, Bryant hit WR Cade Dunbar from 13 yards out for a passing TD. With 3:17 left in the game, Hornet QB Brady Thompson found Johnson Phan open to complete a 35 yard TD pass. Hornets Coach Wade Wilson called on the offense to go for the 2-point conversion, a well-executed bootleg by Thompson to the week side, getting a block from WR Binh Nguyn to help him get inside the pylon for the score.

Next week the Wildcats will travel to Dimmitt to continue District 3-3A play.

Jerry Brunson for Lone Star Gridiron
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Photos courtesy Alan Hale Photography
Stats courtesy of Ron Shrader, CISD

SCORING

  
          1ST 2ND 3rd 4th - Total
CANADIAN   28  20   7   7  - 62
HIGLAND P   0   0   0   8  -  8

CAN – Isay Ramirez 42 yd pass from Camren Cavalier (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 9:11
CAN – Angel Garcia 15 yd pass from Cavalier (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 6:41
CAN – Angel Garcia 55 yd punt return (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 4:40
CAN – Angel Garcia 10-yd run (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 3:27

CAN – Isay Ramirez 2 run (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 10:09
CAN – Jaxtyn Valenzuela 5 yd pass from Cavalier (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 8:29
CAN – Matt McClanahan 42 yd INT return (Hernandez kick failed) 4:35

CAN – Aiden Dickinson 13 yd run (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 5:02

CAN – Cade Dunbar 13 yd pass from Ben Bryant (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 9:16
HP – Johnson Phan 35 yd pass from Brady Thompson (2-pt conv. good)

HP - CAN
FIRST DOWNS 4 - 15
YARDS RUSHING 28 - 139
YARDS PASSING 35 - 135
TOTAL YARDS 63 - 274
COMP-ATT-INT 1- 7-2 - 10-12-0
PUNTS-AVG 6-30 - 1-20
FUMBLES-LOST 3-1 - 0-0
PENALTIES 6-65 - 5-45

Passing – Camren Cavalier: 7-8-0, 103 yards, 2 TDs
Rushing – Isay Ramirez, 5-54 yds, 1 TD
Rushing – Aiden Dickenson, 4-46 yds, 1 TD

Photos by Alan Hale Photography

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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.