The Hancock College offense couldn't move very far against the College of the Canyons defense early. Bulldogs punter Michael Trujillo couldn't PUNT very far early against a stiff wind.

Thus, an unfavorable coin toss - the Cougars won the toss, deferred, and had the wind with them the first quarter - helped them to three scores.

Canyons' defense took care of the rest. The Cougars, whom the JC Gridwire ranked first in the nation in its Dirty 30 pre-season poll, easily overcame five turnovers - two of which were Lamar Allen interceptions - and beat the Bulldogs 42-21 in a National Conference Northern Division game at Righetti High School's Warrior Stadium. Cougars quarterback Joey Frias came off the bench and threw three touchdown passes.

The game was both teams' division opener. The Cougars are 5-0 overall. The Bulldogs are 3-2. Hancock plays at Bakersfield at 7 p.m. next Saturday in another conference game.

Afterward, Hancock coach Kris Dutra said, “I would have liked to have seen them, with the offense they run, try to throw down there going (against the wind).”

The Cougars would have had to if they had been defending the east goal. Instead, they were defending the west, where the stiff wind was coming out of.

Hancock went three plays-and-out all five of its first quarter series. Trujillo had punts of 32 and 16 yards, Canyons linebacker Steve Gourley blocked another Trujillo punt, and the Cougars converted all three golden chances into first quarter scores.

Advertisement

The first came on the Cougars' first drive. Canyons marched smartly downfield on the strength of Brad McClellan's short passes that Canyons receivers turned into big gainers. McClellan threw a strike to Joey Leacock for a 20-yard scoring play.

With or against the wind, Canyons moved the ball very well and kept Hancock from moving it consistently. The Cougars had 518 yards of total offense to the Bulldogs' 202. Canyons would have had a bunch more yards, but star receiver Hayo Carpenter dropped six passes.

There was one pass in particular he DIDN'T drop. Carpenter leaped high deep in the end zone to grab a 35-yard pass from Frias. Ricky Drake's conversion kick made it 35-0 - and there was still 10:30 left before halftime.

Hancock finally got on the board when quarterback Erik Anderwkavich, with help from a good downfield block by George Henry III, scored from 31 yards out on an option play.

Hancock's sideline looked fired up after Carpenter's catch, and the Bulldogs' game had more pop afterward.

Dutra said, “I think whenever you play against a team of that caliber and they jump on you like that, there's always a period of time where there's a storm going on where the kids aren't sure what's going to happen.

“These guys made up their minds that they were going to settle down, that they were going to get after it, they made that commitment at halftime and they did that.

“You take away that first quarter, those 21 points, and that's a pretty tough ball game. But I don't want to take anything away from Canyons. That's a very talented football team.

“They're definitely deserving of their ranking. They're the best team we've played this year.”

With Hancock down 42-7, Diondrea Bryant's 1-yard run finished a 64-yard drive in the fourth quarter. Hancock linebacker Mark Wolf recovered McClellan's fumbled snap at the Canyons 45 soon afterward, and Anderwkavich drilled an 8-yard pass that Dorson Boyce snatched with two Cougars in front of him for the last touchdown with 8:54 left.

The Bulldogs couldn't move the Cougare' front wall of Marquis Jackson, Kateni Finau, Jonathan Hollis and Will Kanongata'a much, though. Those four, plus fast-closing linebackers Eric Wells and Evan Harrington, helped the Cougars stuff the Bulldogs' powerful running game.

Hancock had 99 yards, on 53 rushes. The Cougars' defensive front “has two guys who've signed with Division I schools,” Dutra said.

The Dirty 30 number one had balanced offense. The Cougars passed for 288 yards and ran for 230. With star running back Fred Winborn out with an injury, B.J. Iverson ran for 103 yards, on 13 carries.

McClellan threw for 149 yards. Frias threw for 139. Neither one tried to count Canyons' loyal following in the visiting stands, but they could have. Neither was sacked.

“That's one of the best offensive lines they've had in the time I've played against them,” Dutra said. He is in his eighth season as Bulldogs head coach.

The Bulldogs still had life after linebacker Eric Jones recovered Frias' fumble at the Cougars 45. Kanongata'a and Mark Sweet snuffed out Hancock's last chance when they sacked Anderwkavich for a 14-yard loss on fourth down.

Anderwkavich had moved fairly well on an injured ankle since the third quarter. Anderwkavich was on his knees for a short time after that last hit. He eventually got off the field under his own power.

Dutra said he didn't know the extent of Anderwkavich's ankle injury but, “He's a tough kid. He finished the game strong, he was moving around on it pretty good. I think he'll be fire.”

Cal Poly 49, South Dakota 22

SAN LUIS OBISPO - Ramses Barden caught three touchdown passes and James Noble ran for two more scores as No. 8 Cal Poly defeated South Dakota in a Great West Conference game at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Barden caught five passes for 158 yards while Noble rushed for 109 yards on just 10 carries for Cal Poly (3-1). South Dakota, which lost despite accumulating 447 yards in total offense, fell to 2-4. The Coyotes are in their first year of transition to Division I.

Cal Poly jumped to a 21-0 lead in the first 11 minutes of the game and never looked back. Barden caught scoring passes of 34 and 10 yards from senior quarterback Jonathan Dally, sandwiched around a 34-yard touchdown run by Noble for the quick 21-0 lead with 4:24 left in the opening period.

Barden caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Dally with a minute to go before halftime as Cal Poly went into the locker room with a 28-7 advantage.

In the third period, Noble and Dally each ran one yard for a Mustang touchdown and a 42-7 cushion.

Junior fullback Jon Hall notched the final Cal Poly score, a 47-yard run down the right sideline with 9:33 to play.

Cal Poly has its third bye of the season next week, returning to action Oct. 18 at South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D.

Oct. 5, 2008