No. 15 Hancock Football Prepares for Defending Conference Champion Canyons

This Week: Sat., 10/25 @ College of the Canyons *, 4 p.m.  in Santa Clarita

The Bulldogs (1-1, 2-4) continue their two-game road trip in Santa Clarita with a Northern League battle at College of the Canyons (1-1, 2-4) on Saturday. Hancock, which slipped four spots to No. 15 in this week's Southern California Regional State Poll, will try to snap a two-game losing streak that includes last Saturday's 19-12 loss at Cerritos, the then-12^th ranked team in the state.

The Bulldogs committed three turnovers in the loss. They trailed early 13-3 before closing the gap to 13-12 at halftime. However, Hancock was Quarterback Curry Parham (St. Joseph HS) completed just 11 of his 24 passes for 115 yards. Tristen Jeffries, a sophomore receiver, had two catches for 57 yards. Lauina Futi, a freshman running back from American Samoa, rushed for a career-high 106 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown.

Overall, Futi leads the team with 388 yards on 70 carries for an average of 5.5 yards per carry. Jeffries remains Parham's top target with 28 catches for 404 yards and five touchdown receptions. Breon Briggs ranks second with 14 catches for 138 yards and one score. Partham for the season has completed 91 of his 176 passes (51.7 %) for 974 yards (162.3 yards per game), eight touchdowns and six interceptions.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Willie Iribarren (Lompoc HS) leads the team with 64 tackles (10.7 tackles per game), safety Deonte Barnes (Atascadero HS) ranks second with 48 tackles. Freshman defensive end Isaiah Hill (Pioneer Valley HS) leads the team with four sacks and nine tackles for lost yardage. Sophomore defensive back Logan Sprouse (Atascadero HS) leads the team with four interceptions and 12 pass breakups.

Canyons is coming off a 44-26 home loss at Saddleback. Hancock and Canyons have two common opponents: Bakersfield (Hancock won 20-17, Canyons won 38-35) and Santa Ana (Hancock fell 28-26 in the season opener and Canyons won 31-10).

Canyons splits quarterback duties between sophomore Tony Dawson and freshman Devon Dunn. Dawson has completed 53 of his 99 passes (53.5 %) for 639 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions. He's also rushed for 256 yards and three scores. Dunn has four touchdown passes for 560 yards on 37 for 79 passing (46.8%). Sophomore running back Earl Johnson averages 4.9 yards per carry and ranks second behind Dawson with 247 rushing yards. Tim White leads the team with 30 receptions for 361 yards and three touchdowns, while Jackson French has 15 catches for 216 yards and one score. Defensively, linebacker Kenneth Jacobs leads the team with 56 tackles. Defensive backs Austin Murillo and Tristan Brown have two interceptions apiece. Westly Johnson, a sophomore defensive end, leads the team with three sacks and five tackles for lost yardage.

The Bulldogs upset Canyons, the conference champion, 34-29 to close out last season. Quarterback Troy Prober threw for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore star Shane Henderson finished with 11 catches for 173 yards and three touchdowns. Joel Enriquez also rushed for 120 yards on 21 carries.

Canyons leads the all-time series 10-16-1.

Hancock provides a live webstream of the game that can be viewed by clicking on the WATCH LIVE link on athletics.hancockcollege.edu .