East County Sports

Cougars eating after seventh straight

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

No. 5 STEELE CANYON 35, EL CAPITAN 13

 

By Thomas Ringer

Special to EastCountySports.com

 

RANCHO SAN DIEGO – On Homecoming, Steele Canyon hosted the El Capitan Vaqueros and Cougars past-and-present came to see their No. 5-ranked team win, 35-13, on Friday night.

This marked the Cougars’ seventh win, making them undefeated and 2-0 in the Grossmont Hills League.

As for El Capitan, it was the team’s seventh loss and is now 0-2 in league play.

The Cougars came out strong after a touchback, forcing a three-and-out on the Vaqueros’ first drive of the game, although the Vaqueros came out strong with the same energy.

With Steele Canyon driving down, its drive got cut short by the Vaquero defense inside the El Capitan 10, forcing a turnover on downs.

The Cougars drew first blood after getting their second three-and-out of the night, and their first of five touchdowns with the help of senior slot receiver Christopher Carter with an end-around from 11 yards out, making it 7-0.

The Cougars did not let the Vaqueros breathe getting another three-and-out, forcing to punt.

But senior Chance Johnson takes the punt to the house for another seven on a 51-yard return.

In the second quarter with nine minutes left, the Cougars showed one more similar sign of another punt return, making it 21-0, as Johnson brought back a boot 57 yards for his second special teams’ touchdown in the first half.

Johnson also had an interception in the contest.

The Vaqueros made a strong drive toward midfield about halfway through the third until they were eventually stopped by the Cougar defense.

This let the Cougars score another touchdown with the help of running back Wesley Neely III, who scrambled for a 71-yard touchdown.

The Cougars scored their final touchdown on a pick-six tipped by El Cap into Cougar corner Antoine Walker’s hands, where he took a circuitous route on the way to an 11-yard score.

David Martinez went 5-for-5 on his point-after tries.

El Cap showed some late-game efforts with an interception, that resulted in a strong drive capitalizing with a Vaquero touchdown from senior quarterback Wick Hauser to sophomore Antwone Yokley, making the score 35-6.

The last-ditch effort came within under two minutes in the fourth quarter with a 70-yard touchdown reception by junior Kalen Lavallais.

The Vaqueros outscored the Cougars, 13-0, in the second half.

Cougar T-Max Nyumah was named Homecoming King, while Braelyn Willis was named Homecoming Queen.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *