ORANGE – When a football team is still winless this late in the season, they’re willing to try just about anything.
El Dorado was in that situation heading into its game Thursday night against Canyon. The Golden Hawks used a well-executed trick play to score a first-half touchdown, but that was their lone highlight as they were eventually overrun, 49-14, in the North Hills League game at El Modena High.
Canyon quarterback Jason Harman passed for 319 yards and five touchdowns, Charlie Treanor added two rushing touchdowns and Josh Semaan intercepted two passes to lead the Comanches (5-4, 1-1).
Canyon built a 14-0 lead during the first quarter and appeared headed toward an early rout. The Comanches muffed a punt, however, and the Golden Hawks took over at their 44-yard line just past the midway point of the second quarter.
On the next play, El Dorado sophomore quarterback Jack Strouse threw a curl pattern to Chase Duffin near the first-down marker. Duffin then pitched the ball laterally to fullback Robert Arroyo as he was sprinting by, and Arroyo took it the rest of the way for a 56-yard touchdown on the hook-and-ladder play.
After the Comanches extended the lead back to 14 points, El Dorado (0-9, 0-2) gambled again, this time going for it on fourth-and-2 from its own 28.
Strouse threw incomplete on a deep pass with 2:26 left in the first half and Canyon quickly capitalized, stretching the lead to 28-7 on a 7-yard touchdown reception by Garrett McDowell with 1:43 on the clock.
