Peoria shutout in semifinal loss

Not since the Wicked Witch of the West has a group reacted so poorly to water.

While a thrown bucket of H2O did in the villain in the Wizard of Oz the Peoria Panthers saw their championship dreams wash away during a rain soaked evening Friday at Tucson High School.

Dropped passes, miss-handled snaps and at times porous tackling were the culprits that did in the Panthers on a rainy night.

Looking to make their first state title game appearance since 1994 Peoria (10-3) saw its season come to a close in the semifinals, for the second consecutive year as the No. 6 seeded Canyon del Oro Doradoes (12-1) defeated the No. 7 seeded Panthers 20-0.

After a solid opening possession to start the game in which they moved from their own 20 to the Doradoes 37 the Panthers saw their drive come to a halt when a Vinnie Spano pass on 3rd and 10 was dropped by a Panthers receiver for what would have been a drive-sustaining first down.

Spano would get little help from his receivers on the night as his receiving corps dropped numerous passes during the evening.

“We beat ourselves,” Peoria coach Doug Clapp said. “They had to play in the same conditions we did. They handled it much better than us obviously.”

With the passing game negated by the Panthers drops Canyon del Oro teed off on the Panthers running game. With a host of Canyon defenders near the line of scrimmage the Panthers running back tandem of senior Ezra Sanchez and junior Jamaal Miles found running room hard to come by as the Panthers had nearly as many negative running plays as positive ones.

“They blitzed a lot,” Miles said. “We didn’t block very well, run very well or catch very well.”

Miles would finish with only 7 yards on 14 carries.

Meanwhile a Doradoes team, which advanced to the semifinals by throwing the ball handled the elements without issues as senior Daniel Nicholas completed 7-of-9 passes for 121 yards and three touchdowns.

“We played our game,” Nicholas said. “We were very focused, I got great blocking and we did the little things well.”

Nicholas hit senior Doug Steele on a 27-yard touchdown pass on the Doradoes first possession of the game then hit Derek Matlock on a 19-yard score later in the half as Canyon del Oro jumped to a 13-0 halftime lead.

The Panthers rallied on their first drive of the second half. After forcing a Canyon del Oro punt Peoria got a 27 yard run by senior Ezra Sanchez followed by a 15 yard pass from Vinnie Spano to senior tight end Jeff Dwyer. With the ball on the Doradoes 25 Peoria got a 1-yard rush from Sanchez then lost five and then six yards on consecutive plays. On fourth down Spano hit senior Antwaun Jackson for what would have been a first down, but the Panthers receiver was unable to hold onto the ball after being drilled by senior Ray Netting.

“They have a good defense, but I think if we would have scored on that possession it could have been a different game,” Clapp said.

The Panthers never threatened again while Canyon del Oro tacked on an insurance score on Steele's third touchdown pass of the evening early in the fourth quarter.

With the win Canyon del Oro advanced to the Dec. 8 championship game where they'll face top seed and defending state champion Saguaro (13-0) at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

Peoria was shutout for the first time since 2005 when North Canyon blanked the Panthers 12-0.