Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Canyon Springs punches ticket to playoffs with win over Valley

high school football media day 2015

Christopher DeVargas

Canyon Springs football players Tyson Odum, Tre’von Dean, and Marcell Selmon before the 2015 Season.

Diamante Burton scored three touchdowns to lead Canyon Springs to a 50-6 blowout win over Valley and clinch a playoff spot for the seventh straight year.

Burton carried the ball only eight times but made the most out of them with 75 yards and the trio of scores — which included a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Pioneers.

“It feels great,” said Canyon Springs coach Keith Jones. “The kids really needed this win, especially with one game before a playoff run. This was a good game to get on track. It happened at the right time.”

Many joined in on the scoring for Canyon Springs, who racked up its highest point total of the season.

Senior running back Jerrod Blackwell led the Pioneers on the ground with 10 carries for 105 yards. Devin Allen-Tucker and Marcell Selmon also scored a rushing touchdown apiece, and Tre’von Dean found the end zone twice.

“It was a good collective group effort with the offensive line deserving credit,” Jones said.

The Pioneers often didn’t have to go far to find the end zone, starting with great field position all night thanks to their defense that has carried them through much of the season.

“The defense played solid tonight,” Jones said. “They helped make it easy for the offense to click with all the great field position.”

While Canyon Springs still has a losing record, it has punched its ticket to the playoffs, and sometimes that’s all you need.

“Once the playoffs get here everybody’s record is 0-0 all over again and it’s win or go home,” Jones said. “Earlier in the year we suffered a lot of injuries in a lot of key spots. I have pretty much everybody back at this point. My boys are confident.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.

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