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Defense and offense make statements as Pioneers hand Sundevils first loss

Eighth-ranked Canyon Springs saw its 21-point lead over No. 10 Eldorado dwindle to just seven points early in the third quarter on Saturday night.

And with the Sundevils on the doorstep of the end zone and on the verge of tying the game, the Pioneers needed to make a statement.

They did, on both defense and offense, seizing the momentum and rolling to a 41-14 home victory.

First the defense came up with a huge stop, stuffing an Eldorado run at the 2-yard line on fourth down. Then the offense took over, driving 98 yards in 11 plays, capping the march on a 4-yard touchdown run by Jerrod Blackwell that pushed the lead to 28-14.

Canyon Springs was in control from there.

Pioneers quarterback Bradley Alexander said once the defense came up with the stop against Eldorado’s red zone threat, the offense knew it had to respond.

“On that drive, there was just one single thing on our mind: score,” Alexander said. “Score, put the game away, and just put them in the coffin.

“We knew we could not make a mistake at all. We all played efficient, and we got six points, and put the nail in the wood.”

While that drive featured 10 running plays and an incomplete pass from Alexander — as well as a pair of personal foul penalties on the Sundevils — Alexander had already done plenty of damage to Eldorado (3-1) through the air.

Alexander threw TD passes of 22, 19 and 27 yards — all in the second quarter — to give the Pioneers a 21-0 lead. He finished the game connecting on 12 of 18 passes for 180 yards for Canyon Springs (3-1).

Alexander said he wasn’t happy with the slow start of the offense early in the game, but was happy with how they got things rolling.

“We came out and we were kind of slow, just getting our rhythm,” said Alexander, who also had a 6-yard TD run in the third quarter. “We started to pick it up and make progress. We just had to get focused to drive the ball and go score.”

Zaviontay Stevenson had 17 carries for 107 yards to lead Canyon Springs on the ground.

Eldorado rallied behind Joshua Brown, who threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Shane Barnes with 1:00 left in the second quarter, then had a 6-yard touchdown run to cap the first drive of the third quarter to trim the Pioneers lead to 21-14.

The Sundevils then had a chance to pull even on their next possession, but Canyon Springs’ defense forced Eldorado to turn the ball over on downs, and shut the Sundevils out from there.

Ezequiel Lopez, who had an interception and 1½ sacks to lead the Canyon Springs defense, said they key to stopping that drive was simply getting back to basics.

“It was just about everybody doing their job,” said Lopez, who also caught a 22-yard toudchdown pass from Alexander for the first points of the game. “It wasn’t about individual plays. We just were just playing hard and disciplined.”

Tui Vergara added a pair of sacks for the Pioneers.

Canyon Springs will begin Northeast League play Friday at No. 3 Liberty, but Alexander said he believes his team is up for the challenge.

“Going into league play I’m honestly excited,” Alexander said. “We may make mistakes at times, but we just have to play through it and get more efficient. I feel like we are ready.”

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