![]() Canyon del Oro defender Josh Robbins makes a solid hit on Prescott's Chris Shipp in the first half of a Class 4A-I quarterfinal playoff game at CDO on Friday night.
Chris Coduto for the ARIZONA daily star
Mechanical Systems, Inc Plumbing/Piping Superintendent Production and Manufacturing QUALITY MANAGER Health Care Sonora Behavorial Health Executive Assistant Technical Unitek USA Satellite Installers Trades/Construction SCHMUESER & ASSOCIATES PRECSION MILLWRIGHTS Construction Green Valley Heating & Cooling HVAC Service Tech Driver/Transportation DRIVERS high school sports4A-I quarterfinal: Canyon del Oro 34, Prescott 0
CDO cruises into semisDorados use tough defense to rout Prescott
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.17.2007
The only minutes of unease for Canyon del Oro on Friday night turned out to be a harmless cramp in the lower right leg of standout quarterback Daniel Nicholas.
The No. 6 seed Dorados rolled over No. 14 Prescott 34-0 at home in a 4A-I quarterfinal game. CDO will play No. 7 Peoria on Nov. 30 at a neutral site, likely in Tucson.
The Canyon del Oro defense, often overshadowed, forced four turnovers and allowed just 198 yards of total offense.
"With all the weapons we've got on offense, people like to forget about the defense," said defensive lineman-tight end Joe Boitano, a major factor in the Dorados' shutout. "We shut teams down. This team plays both sides of the ball."
Freshman running back KaD'eem Carey, a name that will be heard in Southern Arizona a lot more over the next three years, had four carries for 56 yards, including second-half touchdown runs of 31 and 15 yards, to secure the triumph.
"With (Carey), once he finds daylight, he is gone," said Dorados coach Pat Nugent.
Nicholas suffered his cramp with 6:38 left in the fourth quarter. By that time, the Dorados were up 24-0 lead.
After diving to the turf to recover a fumble in the Dorados' backfield, Nicholas laid on the ground for several minutes as the trainer attended to his leg, sending a panic into the home crowd.
But Nicholas walked off limping on his own power as Nugent razzed his signal-caller near the sideline.
"He just stayed on the ground long enough to get everyone worried, and it was just a cramp," said Nugent. "I told him, 'You're kidding me, right? You spent all that time on the ground for a leg cramp?'"
Nicholas re-entered the game on the next series.
Canyon del Oro jumped on top 7-0 in the first quarter when Nicholas found receiver Ray Nettling on a quick slant play deep in Dorados territory.
Nettling grabbed the throw and looked up at 88 yards of free grass on his way to the end zone.
Nick Marshall's 28-yard field goal provided the only other points of the half as the Dorados' offense was consistently stalled by penalties — nine for 65 yards in the first two quarters.
The final 24 minutes were not close.
A minute and 23 seconds into the third quarter, Nicholas hit receiver Derek Matlock for a 37-yard touchdown strike.
With just under 11 minutes left, Carey got his third carry of the game, a sweep right, and blazed 31 yards into the end zone.
Carey capped the scoring with a 15-yard scamper through the heart of the Prescott defense and into the end zone.
"That was too easy," said Carey. "I wanted to do a flip or something as I was going in. A front flip, back flip, something to get the crowd going."
That short jaunt came one play after the stiff Dorados defense forced a fumble, which linebacker Brent Lush covered.
"We upset a big-time team here last week, and then we had to come right back down here for this one," said Prescott coach Lou Beneitone, referring to the Badgers' opening-round upset of Sabino. "We used a lot of juice last week."
|
|