San Juan Hills, O’Brien roll over Canyon

San Juan Hills junior Jacob Huff pushes through Canyon defenders during a game at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
Canyon cheerleaders throw their poms in the air before Canyon's game against San Juan Hills at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
Canyon senior Charlie Treanor falls over San Juan Hills junior Cameron Buchanan during a game at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
San Juan Hills junior Brock Cazel runs through the Canyon defense during a nonleague game Friday at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange. The Stallions improved to 2-0 with a 32-14 victory.
Members of San Juan Hills stand for the national anthem before their game against Canyon at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
Canyon senior Jason Harman gets rid of the ball as San Juan Hills senior Jared Aviles tackles him during a game at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
Canyon fans cheer on their team at the start of their game against San Juan Hills at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
San Juan Hills senior Patrick O'Brien is tackled by Canyon defenders during a game at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
Canyon senior Trace Hobbs runs with the ball during a game against San Juan Hills at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
A San Juan Hills fan cheers them on during their game against Canyon at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.

By Dan Arritt | Orange County Register

September 5, 2015 at 12:27 a.m.

ORANGE – San Juan Hills didn’t let last week’s big upset victory lead to a letdown Friday against Canyon. The Stallions simply picked up where they left off in the 32-14 victory at El Modena High.

San Juan Hills quarterback Patrick O’Brien completed 29 of 38 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown and ran for three more scores. That effort wasn’t quite as remarkable as last week, when the Nebraska-bound senior finished 30 for 36 for 322 yards and three touchdowns against San Clemente, which came into the season ranked No. 1 in the CIF-SS Southwest Division.

“I don’t want to say he had a bad game, but up to his standards and up to our standards, he didn’t play as well as he could have,” San Juan Hills coach Aaron Flowers said. “There’s going to be a lot of things that we’ll see that he can improve on from this game.”

O’Brien completed 17 straight passes following an interception on his second throw of the game and scored both first-half touchdowns on the ground.

Elliot Payne’s interception and return put the ball at the San Juan Hills’ 8-yard line and gave Canyon an excellent shot at scoring first, but after failing to gain a yard, a 25-yard field-goal try by Noah Faryniarz was blocked by Devin Wegis.

The Stallions then moved the ball down the field, taking advantage of a face mask and roughing the passer penalties on Canyon, and scored on O’Brien’s 12-yard touchdown run with 2:58 left in the opening quarter.

The Comanches were back inside San Juan Hills’ 10-yard line after a 36-yard reception by Trace Hobbs, but that scoring opportunity was wiped out by Cameron Buchanan’s interception in the end zone.

San Juan Hills turned the ball over once more in the first half on a fumbled lateral and the Comanches made their third trip into the red zone in the first half, but were stopped on fourth down. O’Brien continued to pick apart the Canyon secondary and stretched the lead to 12-0 with a 3-yard touchdown run with 5:02 left in the first half.

Both sides struggled with their kicking games in the first half as Canyon missed a short field goal and San Juan Hills failed to convert both point-after attempts and a 33-yard field goal just before halftime.

San Juan Hills’ Jacob Huff, who caught 14 passes for 196 yards and two TDs against San Clemente, came back with 12 catches for 145 yards vs. Canyon.

San Juan Hills scored 13 unanswered points in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 25-0.