Streak Puts Canyon in Exclusive 40-and-Over Club

The similarities are intriguing and, for Canyon High followers, maybe a little scary.

Four of the more than 14,000 high school football teams nationwide have had winning streaks of more than 40 games at some point this season.

Canyon, with 42 straight wins, has the longest current streak.

Baker, Fla., is next with 41. East St. Louis, Ill., and John Curtis Christian of River Ridge, La., began the season with the longest streaks but have been beaten.

Canyon has less depth and experience this season than any since the streak began Oct. 7, 1983. The Cowboys rely on a high-powered offense led by quarterback Ken Sollom, a major college prospect who has come up with big plays against teams whipped to a froth at the thought of breaking the streak.

This is where similarities begin to frighten Canyon fans.

East St. Louis, which had the nation’s longest streak until last Saturday, also relied on a top-flight senior quarterback to overcome inexperience and gangs of streak-fighting men.

When the quarterback, Kerwin Price, completed only 6 of 19 passes for 49 yards against Granite City, Ill., the school’s 44-game winning streak was no more.

From community pressure to overcoming injuries and complacency, the four schools have more than winning in common.

A look at each follows:

EAST ST. LOUIS

Ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today until this week, East St. Louis is a large school on the rough-and-tumble side of town.

The team plays in the 6-A Division, Illinois’ largest, and had not lost since the last game of 1982 before falling to Granite City, 17-14.

“This is a hotbed for athletic talent,” Athletic Director Cornelius Perry said. “We get great athletes and subject them to a disciplined and rigorous system.”

An all-state quarterback last season and a preseason All-American this year, Price was counted on to overcome the graduation of several defensive starters.

“We were dependent on a couple of guys to pull it out,” Coach Robert Shannon said. “Some guys thought they could play poorly and we would still win. Those guys are on the offensive and defensive lines.

“We can’t get on Kerwin because he’s been carrying us. We lost our starting tailback two weeks ago with a shoulder injury.”

That’s another similarity to Canyon. Lance Cross, the Cowboys’ starting tailback, has been out since the first game of the season with injuries.

Because East St. Louis did not have a strong running attack, Granite City was able to blitz often. East St. Louis had the ball on the Granite City 38-yard line with less than three minutes left in the game, but a sack, a penalty and three incompletions later, the game was over. East St. Louis had defeated Granite City the past two seasons by scores of 53-0 and 60-0.

“Monday, our hitting in practice was so intense that we had to cut it short,” Shannon said. “The kids know now they are not unbeatable. You’ve got to have that fear of losing. That’s what propels champions. Once you lose the fear and think you can’t be beaten, well, we found out what happens.”

Shannon said that, although this team has less talent overall than those of recent seasons, he hopes to win a fourth straight state title.

“The curse of champions is complacency,” he said. “I think we had a little bit of that. We tried to guard against it by pushing these guys harder than any of the great teams.”

JOHN CURTIS CHRISTIAN

Any streak talk has to include this 3-A private school of 525 students on the outskirts of New Orleans.

After having a streak of 46 wins snapped in the 1982 state championship game, John Curtis Christian reeled off 43 more wins. John Ehret High, a 4-A school of 3,200, ended the latest streak, 30-13, in the second game this season.

For 17 years the school has been coached by John Curtis Jr., son of its founder. He preaches a philosophy similar to that of Canyon Coach Harry Welch.

“We never try to live up to what is done in the past,” Curtis said. “We don’t make streaks a big issue, just move along on a week-to-week basis.”

Curtis is able to attract many of the area’s best athletes because of the school’s athletic reputation. Graduates last season earned full scholarships to Notre Dame, Louisiana State, Houston and Texas A&M.;

“Success begets success,” Curtis said. “We get athletes, to be sure, but every couple of years we get moved up in classification and winning is tougher.”

Not much tougher. John Curtis Christian has won 89 of its last 90 games and is 106-3 since BAKER

Coach John Ensor believes his team’s current string of 41 wins will end one week from Friday when Baker plays Befuniak, the defending 2-A state champion.

“We’re just a country school,” he said. “They’ve got some big ol’ boys. We may be in trouble.”

Baker, located about 50 miles west of Jacksonville, has 200 students and is three-time defending 1-A champion. But its schedule is filled with larger schools. With only two returning starters, Ensor is just thankful the team is 4-0 this season.

“I’ve been very proud of the kids for keeping it alive as long as they have,” he said.

The team’s fortunes are as dependent on senior quarterback Demetrius Gray as Canyon’s are on Sollom and East St. Louis’ are on Price. Gray is primarily a runner who directs Baker’s veer offense with precision.

Canyon players will also relate to the expectations of Baker fans.

“The community is probably more on the streak than the kids,” Ensor said. “Yes, there is pressure. That’s for sure. It’s pretty tough.”

Despite the demands of living up to the expectations of others, Ensor insists that he is savoring the experience of being part of a long winning streak.

“We broke the state record of 37 wins in the state championship game last season,” he said. “It was like a fairy tale. Realistically, though, 42 is it. The kids are playing as well as they can play and we’re squeaking out wins.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Welch has decided to savor every win his Cowboys bring home. Canyon will try to extend the nation’s longest streak--still 34 games shy of the national record set by Douglass of Oklahoma City from 1949 to 1956--Friday night against Alemany.

“This is not going to occur again in my lifetime,” he said. “Rather than only look back and appreciate this when I am old, I’ve decided to enjoy what Ken Sollom and the rest of these young men are accomplishing week by week.”