Avalanche of points dooms RMHS football squad
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

Last Friday night Canyon High officials forgot to have the national anthem played before the Northern Division CIFSouthern Section football playoff game between Rio Mesa and Canyon. Unfortunately for Rio Mesa, it was the only thing Canyon forgot that night.

By the time the anthem was played at the end of the first quarter, Canyon had run all over the Spartans for a 21-0 lead, leading to a 76-14 win that ended Rio Mesa's eight-game winning streak and its season.

"It was just a matter of we couldn't score, and on defense we couldn't stop them," Rio Mesa head coach Bob Gregorchuk said. "I think they are the best team I have seen while I've been coaching and they're my pick to go all the way."

Rio Mesa had a hard time stopping Canyon running back J.J. Diluigi, who had 19 rushes for 158 yards and five touchdowns. Diluigi even got to show off his arm in the game when he threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Shanahan in the second quarter on a fake punt. Diluigi has accepted an offer to play at Brigham Young University next fall.

While the Spartans couldn't stop the run, they couldn't start a running game of their own.

Malachi Lewis, who came in to the game fresh off a 245yard rushing performance against Ventura, was held to only 20 yards on 13 carries in the first half. Lewis finished with 18 rushes for 35 yards.

While the running game struggled, the air attack for RMHS couldn't get going either.

Shane Austin was 13-for-31 passing for 194 yards with one

touchdown while being intercepted twice. Passing lanes seemed hard to find for Austin, and once he found them, Canyon defensive backs were making Spartan receivers pay the price.

"We had a bunch of dropped balls to start the game," Gregorchuk said. "When we got around to catching the passes, their defense was delivering some very solid hits. I thought we could have done a little better at the running game as well."

Rio Mesa, who had played well all year long and won the Pacific View League title, found themselves in a real jam when they went into halftime trailing 49-0. The second half didn't get much better for the Spartans, as Diluigi started the third quarter by scoring on a one-yard run to give the Cowboys a 56-0 lead.

The Spartans answered with a 19-yard-run for a touchdown by

Jerell Thomas, but Canyon came right back three minutes later with another touchdown run by Diluigi, this one from three yards out to put CHS up 63-7.

Although Rio Mesa had trouble with Canyon's offense, they were hardly the first team to do so. On the year, the Cowboys are averaging 48 points a game and 66 points a game over their last five games.

Gregorchuk said he was very pleased with the season his team had in 2006.

"They're a great bunch of kids," Gregorchuk said. "There were a lot of surprises this season. The offensive line was very young and they did a great job. I'm not trying to sound pessimistic but at the start of the season there were about three games I wasn't sure if we would win, and the team won all of those. I'm grateful that we had such a big season."

While the game marked the end of the season for the Spartans, it also ended the careers of both Lewis and Austin at Rio Mesa.

"We had some great leaders on this team," Gregorchuk said. "Malachi was a great player for us and the type that only comes around so often. I don't know if I'll ever have another player as good as he was again."

For Austin, the loss still hadn't settled in when the final seconds had ticked off the clock.

"I don't think it's hit me yet that the season and my playing days here are over," Austin said. "I think it will hit me on Monday when I come to school and realize we don't have another game to play later in the week.

"I'm going to miss it. I'm going to miss the lights, for sure. I'm going to miss connecting for passes with Josh (Harrison). It's been a great ride."