The Herald-Zeitung

All it took was a matter of minutes for Canyon to lose its lead and the ballgame.

Canyon gave up a 14-point, third-quarter lead in a hurry in Friday’s 31-28 loss to Alamo Heights at Cougar Stadium.

The Mules scored three touchdowns in a period of roughly four minutes to take control late in the game. Canyon tied the game with a late scoring drive, but Alamo Heights’ Christian Stern kicked the winning field goal with 46 seconds to go.

“They made some plays, and we made some plays too,” Canyon coach Les Davis said. “It was a good ballgame, and unfortunately we lost.”

Canyon quarterback Lane Fife found Brandon Grudle on a 67-yard touchdown pass on the Cougars’ (3-5, 2-3) first drive of the third quarter. The score gave Canyon a 21-7 lead and the momentum to begin the second half.

But things turned in a hurry. Alamo Heights (6-2, 5-0) took advantage of a series of short drives on its way to taking the lead.

The Mules marched 56 yards in 11 plays on their ensuing drive, where Stephen Elder hit David Garza on a seven-yard slant for a touchdown.

Canyon fumbled away its next possession at its own 38-yard line.

Alamo Heights scored in three plays. Elder connected with John Cabell for his second touchdown of the night and the Mules tied the score at 21-21.

Canyon again gave up the ball deep in its own territory as Fife was intercepted at the Canyon 27.

It took five plays for Alamo Heights to score this time. Justin Rosenthall punched in a four-yard touchdown to give the Mules the lead.

Canyon rallied and tied the game on a 51-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Fife to Alex Lawrence, but Alamo Heights took the lead for good on its next drive.

The Mules drove deep into Canyon territory, where Stern nailed the 26-yard, go-ahead field goal with less than a minute to go.

Canyon looked like it may have had an answer, driving to Alamo Heights’ 31, but Fife was intercepted by Heights’ Lucas Maloy to end the game.

“We gave them too many short fields,” Davis said. “That’s the problem. You can’t give a good offense a short field. Alamo Heights is a championship-level football team, and we fought until the end.

“Unfortunately we tried to make a play at the end and it didn’t work out. Hindsight is always 20/20 and maybe we should’ve thrown that one away and had another opportunity (instead of the interception). But I love our kids and they played hard.”

Fife passed for 316 yards and three touchdowns, accounting for 97 percent of Canyon’s total offensive production (326 yards). Lawrence had 153 yards and a pair of touchdowns on eight receptions.

Canyon’s defense struggled at times to corral Rosenthall, who finished with 249 yards at two touchdowns rushing.

“Like all good running backs, he’s going to get better as the game goes on,” Davis said of Rosenthall. “He’s tough. In the third quarter, that was the difference. Their offensive line was able to control the line of scrimmage a little bit — but the short fields also made a huge difference.”

Canyon moves on to visit Clemens (5-2, 3-2) next week in what will most likely make or break their playoff hopes.

The Cougars can secure a berth into the post-season by winning their final two games or with a win against Clemens next week and a Clemens loss to Kerrville Tivy the following week.

It’s going to come down to crunch time, Davis said.

“Every game is coming down to the wire, and you never know what will happen,” he said. “I know this much: Our kids are ready to get back and go to work. We’re going to make it a great effort again — another great week of workouts — and we’ll go down there and be ready for them.”