it was a tale of two halves, but when the dust settled Canadian was able to start what they finished holding off a furious second half rally by the Dumas Demons to come away with a 40-34 wild win Friday night on Chris Koetting Field at Wildcats Stadium.
Canadian is off to a hot start to the 2025 season staying unbeaten at 3-0 while Dumas suffer its first loss at 2-1.
This game came down to the final minutes leaving fans on the very edge of their seats. Dumas had taken its first lead 35-34 with 3:06 to play in the game on a Colton Mills three-yard pass to Juan Carlos Corona. That gave a Wildcat offense, that sputtered in the second half, one final chance to make something happen and they delivered.
Canadian took advantage of its final drive of the game on the duo of quarterback Weston Mitchell and 6-foot-6 tight end Riggs Pennington marching down the field. Mitchell found Pennington three times on the eventual game-winning drive including the go-ahead 23-yard touchdown catch where Pennington went up over two Demon defenders giving the Wildcats the lead 40-35 with 1:13 to play.
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“Regardless of the outcome we knew playing a great team like Dumas was going to be a great learning experience,” Canadian head coach Andy Cavalier said. “We love being in situations like we were in and we challenged the guys to go be great. That’s what sports is all about, being great in the big moments. They have seen the older guys wearing this jersey do that before and this group did that in this game.”
Dumas had one final chance driving the ball back down the field getting inside the 10-yard line with less than 20 seconds to play, but the Canadian defense held the Demons on the final play when Dumas tried to run a statue of liberty play that was unsuccessful.
From the get go it didn’t look like the kind of game that was going to come down to the wire. Canadian couldn’t have asked for a better start jumping on Dumas on the opening drive scoring on three plays highlighted by a Slayden Dickinson 41-yard scamper putting the Wildcats up 7-0. That was just the start of a career first half for Dickinson. The Dumas defense didn’t have an answer for No. 21 as Dickinson racked up 210 first half yards on only 10 carries scoring on two runs of 41 yards along with a 65-yard sprint and a 59 yard score as Canadian took a dominating 34-14 lead into halftime.
“I have to give credit to offensive line coach Hayden Merket,” Cavalier said. “He does an amazing job and did a great job of preparing the line of how to block a very physical Dumas defensive front. That allowed Slayden to blow through the holes and that’s where Slayden is at his best. He runs downhill, he is so explosive and he was having a tremendous game.”
Unfortunately for Canadian, Dickinson left the game early in the third quarter with a leg injury and never returned. That helped shift the momentum to the Demons who took over in the second half behind quarterback Mills. With the Canadian offense trying to figure it out, Mills went to work leading Dumas to 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Mills started the rally hitting LD Balbuena for a 39-yard score cutting the deficit 34-21, then found Blake Robinson on a 23-yard pitch and catch making it 34-28 Canadian. Mills then put Dumas in the lead for a brief moment before Canadian went on the game-winning drive.
Mills finished his night going 17-of-35 for 274 yards with four touchdowns. Balbuena led the receiving group with 78 yards and two touchdowns with Robinson snagging five balls for 77 yards and a score.
In the end, it was Pennington’s mismatch on the final drive as the senior tight end led the Canadian receivers with four catches for 111 yards, including the three catches for 31 yards in the closing minutes.
“Coming into the season we always talked about two things and that’s getting Slayden the ball and making sure Riggs gets his touches,” Cavalier said. “We know he is a mismatch in most situations. When that drive started we knew we had to go to him and he came through. Give Weston (Mitchell) credit also. That’s a sophomore delivering those throws.”
Mitchell ended his night 12-of-25 for 271 yards with a pair of touchdowns.