By Luke Holthouse

After surrendering two touchdowns in the first quarter, the varsity football team shut out the El Camino Real Conquistadors for the next three and scored 49 unanswered points to win its fourth straight game on Friday, Sept. 21 by a final score of 56-14.

Quarterback Chad Kanoff ’13 threw for four touchdowns and rushed for one to lead the Wolverines, who improved to 4-1 overall.

“It’s good to get a win,” Head Coach Scot Ruggles said. ” [El Camino] came out and they’re a big football team. We went shoe to shoe and just took some time to get adjusted.”

The Conquistadors, who use the double-wing formation on offense, scored rushing touchdowns with 9:56 and 3:34 left in the first quarter. The Wolverines defense stifled the double-wing formation, which caters to running the ball frequently in a tightly compacted formation, for the rest of the game.

“We underestimated their ability to run the double-wing,”
defensive lineman Matt Edelstein ’13 said. “But the D-line started getting through, the linebackers filled and the safeties and corners were shutting down all air game for the Conquistador offense.”

Offensively, the Wolverines scored multiple touchdowns in all four quarters. Seven Wolverines reached the end zone including receiver Chris Sebastian ’13, receiver Clinton Hooks ’13, receiver Julian Shabahang ’14, running back Correy King ’13, running back Alex Cadiff ’13, defensive back Jeremy Tepper ’15 and Kanoff. Tepper scored after returning an interception for a touchdown.

“They started to go man, and then they went zone and we were able to run the football while they were in zone,” Ruggles said. “It’s good to be balanced, good to have some nice runs, some nice passes. And it’s good to get everybody into the football game and come out with a ‘W’.”

The Wolverines will have a bye week next Friday, coincidentally the same weekend that freeway closures for construction will inhibit transportation around the city of Los Angeles in what the Los Angeles Times is calling “Carmegeddon 2”.

When the Wolverines return to action on Oct. 5, they will travel to St. Paul to begin Mission League play. Ruggles said that the in-league opponents the Wolverines will face are much tougher than the average non-league opponent the Wolverines have played. The Wolverines finish non-league play 4-1 this season. They also finished 4-1 last year in non-league games, but lost four of five Mission League matchups, including a home game against St. Paul last year that the Wolverines dropped by a score of 41-28.

“The bottom line is that we’ve got a bye week to prepare and then we get a very good football team on the road in St. Paul,” Ruggles said. “I told the kids ‘fantasy land is over.’ We’ll see how good of a football team we are if we can win on the road in a hostile environment against a great football team.”