CANYON — The Canadian football team won the Region I-3A Division II bi-district championship with ease Friday night, taking down Muleshoe 53-6 inside Happy State Bank Stadium.
The Wildcats (8-3, 4-0) and Mules (6-5, 2-2) met on Thursday for the second time during the 2024 season. In Week 4, Canadian defeated Muleshoe 74-67.
Senior Julian Dominguez led the way for Canadian, scoring five touchdowns and notching an interception on defense. Dominguez caught two touchdowns, ran for two scores and returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
The Mules played without their starting signal caller, senior Nathan Martens, and were quarterbacked by junior Brayton Butler.
Game-changing plays
After forcing a turnover on the Wildcats’ opening drive, the Mules scored first on a 1-yard run by sophomore running back Joaquin Arias. Canadian responded as Dominguez returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and ran in a score from six yards out later to give the Wildcats a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Dominguez notched a hat trick with more than seven minutes left in the second quarter, hauling in a 34-yard pass from Clay Kendall on third down to extend Canadian’s advantage to 21-6. The Wildcats added two more touchdowns before halftime, including another scoring run from Dominguez, to go into the break ahead 33-6.
Canadian scored twice in the third quarter and held a 46-6 lead heading into the fourth. The Wildcats put another touchdown on the board in the final quarter to cap off a 53-6 win.
Up next
With the win, Canadian advances to the area round of the playoffs where they will take on the winner of Coahoma and Compass Academy.
Class 3A Division II Bi-District Championship Game
Canadian 53, Muleshoe 6
Canadian 14 19 13 7 — 53
Muleshoe 6 0 0 0 — 6
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
M — Joaquin Arias 1-yard run (kick failed); 8:02
C — Julian Dominguez 89-yard kick return (Julius Gonzalez kick GOOD); 7:46
C — Julian Dominguez 6-yard run (Julius Gonzalez kick GOOD); 2:41
Second quarter
C — Clay Kendall 34-yard pass to Julian Dominguez (Julius Gonzalez kick GOOD); 7:49
C — Julian Dominguez 3-yard run (kick failed); 3:06
C — Clay Kendall 25-yard pass to Riggs Pennington (kick failed); 2:09
Third quarter
C — Julian Dominguez 21-yard run (kick failed); 10:23
C — Chris Flores 8-yard run (Fabian Diaz kick GOOD); 4:25
Fourth quarter
C — Weston Mitchell 23-yard pass to Zach Bryant (Fabian Diaz kick GOOD); 8:35
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