Fullerton football holds off Canyon’s bid to win the game in final seconds

FULLERTON — The Kappa League football showdown between Canyon and Fullerton on Thursday night came down to a 2-point conversion.

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Canyon quarterback Kayden Phillips hit Noah McClary for a 23-yard touchdown with 15 seconds remaining in the game, leaving the Cobras trailing by a point.

The Cobras went for a 2-point conversion to win the game, but the attempt failed and the Red Hawks hung on for a 28-27 victory.

The Red Hawks (5-2, 2-0) scored on long drives, led by the hard-nosed running of Cyrus Aviles, with some spectacular catches by Isaac Garza mixed in.

Most of the scores for the Cobras (5-2, 1-1) came on big plays.

“We knew we wanted to make them (the Cobras) play a physical style of football because we knew they were fast, and we knew that we would have some trouble covering them,” Fullerton coach Nick Karavedas said. “We wanted to try to make them play our type of game.”

Fullerton’s running game was nearly unstoppable in the first half.

Logan Moore’s 2-yard touchdown run capped a 16-play, 94-yard drive that gave the Red Hawks a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

While Moore got the touchdown, running back Cyrus Aviles had 13 carries for 82 yards on the drive and finished with 144 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries.

“Cyrus Aviles is what Fullerton football is all about,” Karavedas said.

Fullerton scored again on a 96-yard drive, with Aviles scoring on a 7-yard run to make the score 14-0.

The key play on that drive was a 34-yard pass from Sergio Andrade to Isaac Garza, who made an excellent catch falling backward with a defender in his face to put the Cobras at the Canyon 15.

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A 14-point swing late in the first half got the Cobras back in the game when Kasin Leidholdt scooped up a Fullerton fumble at the Canyon 15 and returned it for an 85-yard touchdown to make the score 14-7 at the half.

The Red Hawks took a 21-7 lead on Logan Moore’s 3-yard touchdown run, but the Cobras came right back on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Phillips to Zack Lachman.

Canyon tied the score on Phillips’ 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.

Then the Red Hawks put together another long scoring drive, this one for 80 yards.

In the middle of the drive, Fullerton faced a third-and-8 from the Canyon 47 when Andrade and Garza connected for 32 yards, with Garza having the presence of mind to keep his feet inbounds inches from the left sideline.

That play helped set up an 8-yard touchdown pass from Andrade to Garza to give the Red Hawks a 28-21 lead with just under two minutes remaining.

Canyon took over and drove 75 yards for a touchdown. Canyon coach Vinnie Lopez opted to go for the victory with a 2-point conversion attempt.

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“I think that is the right call,” Lopez said.