Trailblazers get their 6th ring


Trailblazers get their 6th ring

The Sierra Canyon football team took care of business Saturday night and won the Southern Section Division 2 championship with an impressive 23-7 victory against Inglewood.

Not only did the Trailblazers win their eighth consecutive game and give Inglewood its first loss this year, they won their sixth championship and fifth in the last seven playoff years.

“A lot of hard work and great leadership,” SIerra Canyon coach Jon Ellinghouse said. “We stuck together and made it all the way through.”

Once again, Dane Dunn was front and center. Dunn rushed for 201 yards on 32 carries and all three touchdowns.

“He’s been our go-to-guy and he delivered for us,” Ellinghouse said. “He’s had an incredible playoff run.”

Dunn, only a sophomore, has totaled nearly 800 yards in the playoff with nine touchdowns in four games.

Dunn set the tone for the evening taking the first handoff 50 yards down to the two-yard line and then easily went into the end zone for a touchdown. It was a two play, 52-yard drive in 17 seconds.

Dunn scored again with 5:27 remaining in the second quarter and one more time in the fourth quarter.

“We had a lot of third and fourth down plays that got us a new set of downs,” Ellinghouse said. “Dane was a big part of that.”

The defense wasn’t bad, either.

Sierra Canyon (10-4) held Inglewood (13-1) to its lowest total in its last 43 games and Jae’on Young had two interceptions.

Inglewood shot itself in the foot multiple times.

Husan Longstreet thought he had two touchdown passes. However, a 36-yarder to New Jersey-import Jamari Johnson was wiped out on a penalty and a 67-yard toss was wiped out when Longstreet was pass the line of scrimmage.

Inglewood also muffed a punt that led to an Ashton Zamani field goal and failed to take advantage of a Sierra Canyon muffed punt in the second half.

Longstreet finished 16 of 29 for 134 yards. He connected with Terrell Bradshaw for a 16-yard touchdown in the second quarter to bring the Sentinels to within 14-7. That was their only look at the game.

Sierra Canyon started the year 1-3 and fell to 2-4 after its third consecutive home loss (Bishop Amat in double overtime). The Trailblazers then won the Mission League and eight games in a row.”

“A lot of other teams would have folded and cashed in the season,” Ellinghouse said. “Not this group and not these coaches. We found solutions to our problems.”

Sierra Canyon is expected to be chosen for the Div. 1-AA regional bowl game next week and would have to win to reach its fifth state final in school history.