Canyon Football is here to fight this season! Going into league undefeated is outstanding! Currently, Cowboys are the only team in the Foothill league that are 4-0. The team has taken on a variety of schools: Ridgeview High School (0-4), Hueneme High School (0-4), Harvard Westlake High School (2-2), and Royal High School (0-4).
Let’s break down all these pre-season wins and get insight on the players’ and coaches’ points of views on and off the field.
Starting off with the first game of the season against Ridgeview High School, the team played at Canyon High School on Aug. 18, 2023. First games always put tons of pressure on the team since they are finally able to showcase all the new talent and skills they gained over their long and tough summer practices.
The Cowboys started out with a bang in the first quarter. They scored two touchdowns, and junior kicker, Sebastian Cherre, kicked two fair kicks to get the extra point for both touchdowns, putting 14 points on the board. However, the Ridgeview Wolves also scored two touchdowns, putting 14 points on the board and tying up the first quarter.
No points were scored in the second quarter, but the score finally changed in the third. The Cowboys scored another touchdown, putting the score at 21-14. Finally, starting the fourth quarter, the Cowboys gained one more final touchdown, securing the win against Ridgeview High School with a score of 28-14.
Wow! What a way to start the season! But that’s not all; Cowboys continue to keep the ambition going into the next game against Hueneme High School.
Fueling their victory from the previous week, the Cowboys fiercely took on Hueneme High School on their own turf in Bakersfield on Aug. 26, 2023.
Touchdown after touchdown was scored at this game, and the team barely let the Vikings get through. Varsity players, Tyler Watts (sr.) Keston Banos (jr.), and Keyshawn Wooten (soph.), all scored touchdowns, scoring 43 points by the end of the game.
Defense played extremely tough, only letting one touchdown get through to the endzone, and blocked the Vikings kick for their extra point.
The final score ended up being 43-6, making it the second victory for the Cowboys!
Maybe this was a stroke of luck, or maybe the Cowboys skill level has skyrocketed from the last few years. Moving into the hardest pre-season game, against Harvard Westlake, Canyon was going to take all the new talent and throw it out onto the field.
Canyon held their annual Homecoming game on Sept. 1, 2023, where they faced the Harvard WestLake Wolverines. The Cowboys haven’t won a Homecoming game in years, so this put even more pressure on the team. Would they let the pressure get to them, or will they continue to put out a mighty fight on the field?
Luckily, the team went out there ready to make their school proud!
The game started off seeming like it would be a head to head game, with both teams scoring in the first quarter, including Banos rushing two touchdowns, moving the score to 14-7.
Moving into the thrilling second quarter, Wooten scored a 60-yard touchdown, moving the score up to 21-7. Wooten also led his team in touchdowns. By the end of the game, he scored three touchdowns!
Wooten says that his key to success was “the little details; we are finally more confident in ourselves after all the hard work, but the job isn’t over yet, so we will continue to push to our best abilities.”
Now, we can’t forget one of the main stars for this game, #18, Watts, who had a phenomenal game. He got two sacks, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Wow, that’s impressive!
After halftime, the Cowboys scored a few more touchdowns, not letting a single Wolverine get into the endzone. This closed the game with a score of 43-7, making this another win for the books.
Not only was this a redemption game from last year’s loss against Harvard Westlake, but the team had a very amazing article written by Tyler Wainfled for them in The Signal SCV,
Amazing job to the Cowboys for taking the first Homecoming victory in a while!
Then, it was finally time for the final preseason game against Royal High School on Sept. 8, 2023. Coming back from last season, it was intense due to last year’s loss, but the Cowboys really brought their A game.
Just in the first few minutes of the game, Canyon scored their first touchdown of the night. Then boom, another one. This set the pace for how the game went all night.
Junior player, Andre Sharlakian, says that “this was a really successful game for myself and the rest of my team. Royal didn’t get a chance to score on the starting defense once, and we were able to hold them a lot of the time.”
Head Coach, Ken Holsenbeck, has a lot to say about his team this season. I asked him how he plans to keep motivating his team, and he says, “As a team, regardless of the previous game’s score, we continue to focus on doing the little things right. Each week we expect to be better than the week before. Focusing on the process instead of the result keeps us moving forward in the right direction.” Holsenbeck keeps his team humble and makes sure to push them to the best of their abilities.
Don’t be fooled though– Holsenbeck is overjoyed with how preseason went. He expressed, “I could not be more proud of the effort the players have shown through our pre-league schedule. We have been able to put together some consistent performances where we have been able to execute well in all three phases of the game.”
As we jump into league games, we hope for the best for our Varsity Football Team. Good luck players, and for students, make sure to come and support your team for Friday Night Lights.
Amazing job to our Cowboys for being undefeated during pre-season!
