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2005 CIF Champions (11-3)
LA CANADA - Last season the La Cañada High football team enjoyed a first round playoff upset of Cabrillo as the highlight of its surprising 2004 run. In a reversal of fortune Friday night, it was the Conquistadores showing La Cañada an early exit as they ended the Spartans' season with a 28-12 victory in the second round of CIF-Southern Section Division X play. La Cañada rebounded from a 21-0 halftime deficit to cut the lead to 21-12 at the onset of the fourth quarter. The Spartans' failure to convert PAT's however, combined with a game-breaking 71-yard run by Cabrillo quarterback C.J. Simmons with 7 minutes left to play kept it a two-possession game to the end. “Our timing was off just a hair, just enough to make it tough,” said Spartans head coach Rich Wheeler, “and their offense really stuck it to us.” La Cañada (9-3) tried to key in on the Conquistadores' potent running game, which averaged 252 yards a game this season, but it still allowed two first-half rushing touchdowns and was burned on several big passing plays. La Cañada surrendered 86 yards rushing in the first half but also allowed the Conquistadores 111 passing yards on just 3 completions over the same span. Cabrillo took a 7-0 lead when running back Vai Taua broke several tackles at midfield to turn a short yardage pass in to a 69-yard touchdown. The Conquistadores padded their lead with two more scoring drives in the first half while the Spartans struggled amid missed opportunities. The Spartans were unable to convert on a 37-yard field goal attempt that would have been good for a 3-0 lead, and wasted a 68-yard kickoff return by Lavell Peterson on a drive that ended when quarterback T.J. Trumbo was sacked at the Conquistadores' 35 yard line as the half expired. La Cañada relied on its defense for its first touchdown, a 1-yard run by Peterson (42 yards, 1 TD) set up by David Hopkins' 26-yard interception return to the Cabrillo 4. The 2-point pass attempt, an inadvertent result of a bad snap, failed. Over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter the Spartans put together their only substantial drive of the night, a 12-play, 95-yard drive capped by a 1-yard shovel pass from Trumbo to Hopkins. Trumbo passed for 94 yards and one touchdown on 6 of 14 passing. Hopkins rushed for 37 yards and also caught four passes for 45 yards. The subsequent 2-point conversion play was again no good and the Conquistadores led 21-12, minutes before Simmons' run put the game completely out of reach. “What can I say, we thought we could do it but it just didn't happen,” Wheeler said. |