Canon City squeezes past Alameda

LAKEWOOD – As the temperature rose at Trailblazer Stadium Saturday morning and into the early afternoon, the Alameda Pirates were busy learning a lot about themselves in their battle with the Canon City Tigers.

Through the course of the afternoon they learned such things as:

• You can’t run up the middle on a defense that returns several starters from a playoff team.
• A young offensive line CAN pass block and you can have a successful passing game.
• If you dig yourself a 9-0 hole, it is awfully hard, but probably not impossible, to dig yourself out.
• Mistakes will kill you.
• And a 23-20 defeat at the hands of a team that beat you 41-8 last year is nothing to hang your head about.

The morning started ominously for the Pirates, who have just two seniors on the offensive line. They moved backward a total nine yards.

Canon City set up at their own 40 and needed just four plays to traverse the 60 yards for a touchdown. Quarterback Mitch Uhland, a senior, took the ball around the right end for a gain of 14 on the drive’s first play. Workhorse running back Cody Sparks, replacing the state’s top rusher from last year, Darrin McCain, carried once for five yards then broke three tackles for a 38-yard gain down to the three. Junior tailback Austin Trahern got the honors to finish the drive. Senior Ty Shannon’s extra point made it 7-0 with less than four minutes elapsed in the period.

“We’re almost there,” coach Mike Joseph said. “We played hard. We need to do better with our coaching. We got knocked around a lot, but this team beat us 41-8 last year and made the playoffs.”

For most of the first half it appeared Alameda was almost begging for the running game to work. The begging went unanswered as four rushers amassed a total of two yards on 17 carries.

Canon City got the ball for the last time in the half with 4:11 to play. The Tigers put together an impressive, 11-play drive that consumed all but 11.6 seconds of the half. Shannon booted a 31-yard field goal to end the half and leave the Pirates with a 9-0 deficit.

The Pirates’ fortunes changed a bit almost from the start in the second half. Canon City’s first play was a handoff up the middle to Sparks, who promptly fumbled. Sophomore Luis Hernandez, a 6-1, 285-pound defensive tackle, fell on the ball. The Pirates were in business at the Tiger 28.

Alameda Senior Steven Gorden pitched to fellow senior Jeremy Atencio, who went around right end for two. Junior Thomas Jaramillo went up the middle for one.

Someone in the stands yelled, “pass, pass.” The coaching staff got the message.

On the next play Gorden found Atencio in the open for a 14-yard gain. Two plays and one sack later, though, the Tigers were facing third-and-17 at the 18 yard line. Gorden threw a strike to senior Sam Knutson around the 12, but didn’t see Atencio all alone in the end zone. Knutson was finally hauled down around the 8.

“We didn’t think we could throw and we found out we can,” Joseph said, acknowledging how pleased he was with his QB’s play. “We found out we have some depth in places we didn’t think we did.”

On fourth-and-8 Joseph told Gorden and company to go for it. The senior found Knutson in the end zone. The PAT cut the Tigers lead to 9-7. That was as close as the Tigers would get.

With 10 minutes to go in the game, and the Pirates still trailing 9-7, Canon City embarked on another 11-play drive that consumed four minutes and 50 seconds. The drive ended with a 6-yard run up the middle by Jaramillo. The Tigers converted the PAT to make it 16-7.

Most on the Canon City side were convinced the game was in hand. On the first play from scrimmage, Gorden through a strike to senior Jose Montes, who had at least a 10-yard lead on his defender. Montes’ 55-yard touchdown put the game back in contention and had the Pirates trailing 16-14.

The offensive excitement spilled over to the defense. On third-and-1 from the 41, junior defensive tackle Edgar Juarez Palma (a “man-child” in the words of coach Joseph) broke through the line and nailed Sparks for a 4-yard loss, forcing a punt.

But the enthusiasm was short lived. On the Pirates’ first play from scrimmage at their own 45, Gorden tried to pass again to Atencio. But Jaramillo stepped in front of the pass and ran it back to the 40. A 24-yard run by Sparks and a 16-yard keeper by Uhland and the Tigers had the game in hand, 23-14.

The Pirates put together an impressive last drive, going 61 yards in 12 plays. Gorden ended the drive with a 26-yard pass to Montes with just 30.2 seconds to play. The Pirates missed the PAT and when the Tigers recovered the onside kick they were done, 23-20.

“What killed us was when we didn’t get the first down when we were driving (in the first half),” Joseph said. “This isn’t a league game, so it won’t hurt us, but its always better to start 1-0 than 0-1.”

OTHER LAKEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL SCORES:

Green Mtn 6, Durango 37

Bear Creek 36, Gilman School 43