AMARILLO — Olton head football coach Joel Baker figured the best chance his Mustangs had of beating defending Class 1A Division I state champion Canadian was to outscore them.

Throughout the season, the Mustangs had displayed the ability to score against almost anybody. But the Wildcats weren’t just anybody.

Canadian’s defense smothered Bobby Workman and the Olton passing game, and the Wildcats offense scored early and often en route to a 55-7 rout of the Mustangs Saturday afternoon at Dick Bivins Stadium.

“They’re a very good team,” Olton head coach Joel Baker said. “They’re not 7-foot tall, but they play like it. Their defensive line was just dominant and that’s where we’ve struggled. When we didn’t win games it was because we struggled on the defensive line and offensive line.

That makes it difficult when you have problems protecting the quarterback and moving the ball.”

With the win, Canadian (11-1) moves on to the state semifinals, two wins from its third straight state championship. The Wildcats will face Region II champion Haskell (9-4) at a time, date and site to be determined. Olton (10-3) watches one of the best seasons in school history come to an end.

The Wildcats scored three plays into their first possession of the game and never looked back. Canadian snapped the ball 35 times in the first half, averaging more than a point per play and getting the job done both through the air and on the ground.

Highlighted by touchdown runs of 38 yards by Braden Hudson and 67 yards by Parris Robinson, the Wildcats rushed for 240 yards, 181 in the first half, and quarterback Brandon Robinson completed 15 of 23 for 227 yards and two touchdowns, and he also rushed for three touchdowns before leaving after the first drive of the second half. He was 10 of 17 for 189 yards in the first half as Canadian outgained Olton 370-129 in the first two quarters.

Olton, which averaged 362 yards per game and 248.3 through the air, could not move the ball on a consistent basis against a Wildcats defense which had given up 21.5 points per game going into the day. Workman was just 11 for 27 in the first half for 127 yards and an interception. He had one stretch of seven straight incompletions, and after completing 5 of his first 7 was 2 of his next 14.

“I was tickled with the way our defense came out and took away their favorite stuff,” Canadian coach Kyle Lynch said. “When you can do that and get them a little out of sync, I think that makes a difference for you. It was a great job by our defense, and our offense was efficient as usual.”

The Mustangs had seven first-half possessions resulting in four punts, two turnovers on downs and the half-ending interception by Canadian’s Colton Cates.

“They’re big, they’re fast and we just didn’t get the job done,” said Workman, who finished the game 18 for 37 for 194 yards. “We didn’t execute very well and we didn’t tackle very well. If we’d converted on some (opportunities) I thought we might have a chance to be closer in the game. We might not have won it, but maybe we would have been a lot closer.”

After forcing an Olton punt to start the game, the Wildcats went right to work. A 42-yard screen pass to Hudson put the ball on the Olton 6, and Robinson carried it in from there for a 7-0 lead less than 2 minutes into the game.

A 35-yard catch and run by Eli Perez got the Mustangs to the Canadian 17 on their next possession, but four plays went nowhere as Olton turned it over on downs. Canadian turned that into more points, capped by a 38-yard run by Hudson for a 14-0 lead.

A three-and-out by Olton turned into another Canadian touchdown as the Wildcats drove 61 yards in 11 plays. Robinson scored from 5 yards out, and with 10:40 left in the second quarter it was already 21-0.

Olton’s next two drives also went three-and-out, and Canadian took advantage. Robinson escaped around right end and down the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown run, and on the next possession, Robinson scored his third touchdown on a 6-yard run, pushing the lead to 34-0 with 6:52 left in the first half.

Canadian recovered an onside kick, but the Olton defense forced a punt. The Mustangs got the ball to the Canadian 34 before Workman was sacked on fourth down, turning it back to the Wildcats. On the very next play, Robinson hit Saul Reyes for a 60-yard touchdown and a 41-0 lead with 1:13 left in the half, essentially icing the game.

Canadian added two touchdowns in the third quarter on a 7-yard catch
by Jacob Ramirez and a 1-yard run by Barrett McCormick.

Olton avoided the shutout when Workman hit Ryan Nieto for a 16-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. Nieto struggled early but finished with nine catches for 93 yards.

“There’s a reason why they’ve won two (state championships) and probably are going to win another one,” Baker said. “We didn’t help ourselves. We dropped some balls that probably wouldn’t have made a difference in the long run, but early on if we make some plays, maybe it gets into a scoring fest. But that’s the way it goes.

“We accomplished a lot this year, a lot more than people thought we would accomplish. We lost to New Deal, who’s still playing. We lost to River Road who was in the 2A quarterfinals, and these guys, who are probably going to win the whole deal. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

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CLASS 1A DIVISION I REGION I FINAL
at Dick Bivins Stadium, Amarillo
CANADIAN 55, OLTON 7
Canadian 14 27 14 0 — 55
Olton 0 0 0 7 — 7
First Quarter
CAN—Brandon Robinson 6 run (Saul Reyes kick); 10:09
CAN—Braden Hudson 38 run (Reyes kick); 4:10
Second Quarter
CAN—B. Robinson 5 run (Reyes kick); 10:40
CAN—Parris Robinson 67 run (Reyes kick); 9:21
CAN—B. Robinson 6 run (kick failed); 6:52
CAN—Reyes 60 pass from B. Robinson (Reyes kick); 1:13
Third Quarter
CAN—Jacob Ramirez 7 pass from B. Robinson (Reyes kick); 9:03
CAN—Barrett McCormick, 1 run (Reyes kick); 4:51
Fourth Quarter
OLT—Ryan Nieto 16 pass from Bobby Wayne Workman (Javier Villanueva kick); 11:55
TEAM STATISTICS
CAN OLT
First downs 24 14
Rushes-yards 31-240 16-64
Passing yards 269 194
Comp.-att.-int. 20-28-0 18-37-1
Punts-avg. 1-45.0 5-25.8
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-25 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Canadian, Braden Hudson 4-78, Parris Robinson 1-67, Brandon Robinson 7-32, Taylor Shafer 7-29, Barrett McCormick 8-20, Bo Albin 1-8, Isaac Lewis 1-6, Saul Reyes 1-6, Chris Marquez 1-(-6); Olton, Eli Perez 3-23, Bobby Workman 11-20, Tanner Neinast 1-20, Billy Ross 1-1.

PASSING: Canadian, Robinson 15-23-0—227, Hudson 5-5-0–42; Olton, Workman 18-37-1—194.

RECEIVING: Canadian, Reyes 3-79, Hudson 2-74, Jacob Ramirez 5-40, Lewis 2-23, McCormick 2-19, Chris Diaz 1-13, Mathers Hale 1-6, Austen Covin 1-4, Shafer 1-4, Albin 1-4, P. Robinson 1-3; Olton, Ryan Nieto 9-93, Perez 4-72, Torey Jimenez 3-21, Pecos Martin 2-8.