By Jason Hickman
MaxPreps.com
Team of the Week - Canyon, Calif.
Canyon's hopes of making a trip to the first-ever CIF State Championship Games looked bleak just three weeks into the 2006 season.
With losses to Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks in week two, and St. Bonaventure in week three, the Cowboys' record stood at 1-2. But head coach Harry Welch's squad responded with 11-straight wins to close the season, including Saturday's improbable, 27-13, victory over De La Salle to capture the state's Division I title.
Canyon got 138 yards and a pair of scores from Brigham Young-bound running back J.J. DiLuigi, and 164 yards through the air from quarterback Ben Longshore.
The win helped propel the Cowboys to No. 9 in this week's MaxPreps' National Rankings, and No. 2 in California behind Division II champion Orange Lutheran - a 42-28 winner over Palo Alto Saturday.
For De La Salle, the loss snapped a 21-game winning streak dating back to early October of the 2005 season.
Max Performer of the Week - Dane Conwell, Upper St. Clair, Pa.
Conwell helped Upper St. Clair capture Pennsylvania's AAAA title with a 47-13 win over Bethlehem Liberty Saturday, racking up 169 yards and five touchdowns on 30 carries.
The future Indiana Hoosier spurred on a surprisingly easy victory for the Panthers with all five scores coming in the first three quarters of play. Upper St. Clair led 47-0 at one point in the game before Liberty responded with 13 late points.
The win gave Panther head coach Jim Render his second PIAA Class AAAA title, with the other coming in 1989.