Canadian Runs All Over Sonora 56-13

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: November 22, 2021

Canadian Rolls Sonora 56-13 for Area Championship

Canadian and Sonora aren’t strangers to each other regarding playoff matchups. Both have had been known to end the other team’s season. That kind of history can’t be ignored, and both teams met up for the 2021 Area Championship at Slaton’s Tiger Stadium with a healthy mutual respect. Every team that faced the defending State Champions this season has had an added incentive of taking advantage of the Wildcats working through an extraordinary season of injuries. When the team chose their motto of “The Hard Way”, it was intended to have different implications, but they are unphased by that irony and continue to embrace the motto.

The Canadian Wildcats continue to defy the predictions that this be a season that the Wildcats would not be playing Thanksgiving week playoff football, which has become a tradition for the program over the last decade or more. Tradition itself doesn’t equate success, but hard work and innovative coaching does. It speaks to the importance of the Senior Captains and other Seniors leading the team to integrate younger players directly from Middle School and the JV to quickly become varsity level players.

Although there have been a few Freshmen Wildcat players make huge contributions in the past, such as defensive end Ryan Alexander did on two State Championship teams, it is typically rare in this program to witness multiple Freshmen & Sophomores contributing so much production. Friday night for instance, the Wildcat’s No.1 running back, Sophomore Luke Flowers, a legitimate workhorse just back from an injury, alternates with Freshman Keeton Githens for rest. Githens scored three TDs in the first half Friday night versus the Sonora Broncs. Freshman LB Wyatt Davis made a defensive TD on a pick-six INT. Davis has been on the defense all season and now plays with an entire varsity season of hardship and challenges under his belt.

The Wildcats got off to a good start in this Area matchup by driving down on the initial possession on an 11-play, 58-yard drive that ended in a TD run from 8 yards out by Githens. But the Sonora Broncos would not be intimidated and got right back in the game on their first snap from scrimmage with a 75-yard TD run by one of their speedsters, Hunter O’Banon with 8:21 left in the 1st period. The second quarter would prove to be disastrous for the Broncos as the Wildcat offense picked up the pace and looked more like the no-huddle-run-to-the-line-fast-snapping NASCAR offense which made Canadian famous by OC Chris Koetting before he became the head coach 12 seasons ago. Canadian reeled of four rushing TDs, 2 each by Luke Flowers and Keeton Githens before Sonora found another opportunity to score again with another big play

by Hunter O’Banon showcasing his speed again by taking his second rushing TD 74-yards. But the offense of the Wildcats maintained their tempo and like rolling thunder drove into the red zone again. QB Camren Cavalier then scored from 7-yards out on a scramble after he determined the open field in front of him was a better choice than throwing into the coverage of his receivers. Kicker Emiliano Hernandez kicked the PAT as he did with each TD all night going 8-for-8, and the Wildcats went into the break with a 42-13 lead. In previous years Canadian dominated teams in this fashion, sometimes playing teams with a no-line prediction. However, this season has seen the Wildcats hobbled with injuries (that still keep two key starters out) to the point to where this halftime lead was considered a pleasant surprise.

The second half would unfortunately prove to be even more difficult than the first half for the Bronco offense. The swarming Canadian defense decided to step it up a notch and were able to contain O’Banon and his dangerous speed. That obviously was a key to shutting out the Sonora’s offense in the second half. The Canadian offense, on the other hand, scored two more times in Q3, one a defensive score by Wyatt Davis on a 22-yard pick-six from his linebacker position, the other a 29-yard TD by a scrambling Camren Cavalier. There was no scoring in the 4 th quarter, locking in the 56-13 score as the final.

Sr. Captain Jake Krehbiel was asked by CSN broadcaster Russell Gadbois about having a “different gear” for this game than previous games. “I think it all has to start with our scout team. I mean, they have been bustin’ their butts off working every play, every down, so hard tryin’ to make us better… if they don’t give it their all, then we won’t get a good look at what the other team looks like. I mean they study what they look like running almost exactly the same in practice.”

Sonora ends their season with a 7-5 record while Canadian (9-3) will move on to the Regional Semi-Final round to face Abernathy (11-1). The last time these two teams met was for the Region 1 Championship (State Quarter-final) in 2019 in a literal knockdown, drag-out thriller that ended with the eventual State Champion Wildcats winning 35-31. The Antelopes are bringing a much more mature unit that has proven themselves throughout the 2021 season to meet the Wildcats at Dick Bivins Stadium, Amarillo, on Friday afternoon, November 26, with a 2:00 p.m. kickoff. No cash will be taken at the gate. You may purchase tickets in advance by using the following link. https://www.amaisd.org/hometown

The entire playoff bracket can be found at:

https://www.uiltexas.org/football/playoff-brackets/3AD2

Jerry Brunson for Lone Star Gridiron
@CHSWildcatNews (Facebook & Twitter)
chswildcatnews (Instagram)
Photo courtesy Alan Hale
Stats courtesy of Ron Shrader, CISD

SCORING

          1ST 2ND 3rd 4th - Total
CANADIAN    7  35  14   0 - 56
SONORA      7   6   0   0 - 13

CAN – Keeton Githens 8 yd run (Emiliano Hernandez kick) 8:42
SON – Hunter O’Banon 75 yd run (PAT good) 8:21

CAN – Luke Flowers 6 yd run (Hernandez kick) 11:22
CAN – Keeton Githens 11 yd run (Hernandez kick) 7:38
CAN – Keeton Githens 3 yd run (Hernandez kick) 6:26
CAN – Luke Flowers 37 yd run (Hernandez kick) 4:56
SON – Hunter O’Banon 74 yd run (PAT no-good) 4:08
CAN – Camren Cavalier 7 yd run (Hernandez kick) 1:00

CAN – Wyatt Davis 22 yd interception return (Hernandez kick) 11:06
CAN – Camren Cavalier 29 yd run (Hernandez kick) 7:31

NO SCORES

IDA – Mark Phillips 24 yd FG
CAN – Cavalier 10 yd run

SON - CAN
FIRST DOWNS 4 -28
YARDS RUSHING 192 - 337
YARDS PASSING 1 - 159
TOTAL YARDS 193 - 496
COMP-ATT-INT 1-15-2 - 13-22-0
PUNTS 7-38 - 0-0
FUMBLES-LOST 4-1 - 1-1
PENALTIES 4-30 - 5-25

Passing – Camren Cavalier: 11-16- 97 yds
Receiving – Baldo Garcia 2-45 yds
Receiving – Preston Miller 3- 57 yds
Rushing – Luke Flowers, 21-165 yds, 2 TDs
Keeton Githens – 9-80 yds, 3 TDs
Camren Cavalier – 4-54, 2 TDs

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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.

2020 Canadian - The 2020 Wildcats won the Texas 3A DII Championship 35-34 over the Franklin Lions. It was their 5th state title.