ANAHEIM — The Cypress football team finally ran into a team that wouldn’t budge on defense and couldn’t be stopped on offense.
The Centurions found themselves chasing Downey right from the start of their CIF Southern Section Division 4 final Friday night and they never made up much ground in the 40-7 loss at Western High School.
Cypress (13-1) was playing in the section finals for the third time in program history and was trying for its second championship to go along with the Southern Division title it won in 2007.
Trailing 26-7 at the half, Cypress received the second-half kickoff and marched down the field. The Centurions had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, but a false start backed them up 5 yards and a bad snap over the head of quarterback Aidan Houston cost Cypress another 5 yards.
The Centurions went four it on fourth-and-goal from the 11, but Houston threw incomplete to end the promising drive.
Downey quarterback Aidan Chiles appeared to score on an 89-yard run on the next play, but the play was called back for a holding penalty.
That didn’t seem to faze the Vikings, as Chiles hooked up with Bryant Carey on a 94-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 33-7 with 5:53 left in the third quarter.
“They played really well, they executed and we had chances to make plays and stay in the game and we didn’t,” Cypress coach Rick Feldman said. “Came close to making plays and we didn’t. At the end of the day against a team as good as they are, you have to look for every opportunity and we let them out of jail.”
The Vikings (12-2) marched down the field on the opening drive of the game and took a 7-0 lead on a 9-yard touchdown run by Jaylen Crutchfield, who rushed for 141 yards on seven carries in the first half.
The Centurions were stopped on fourth-and-4 at the Downey 44 line on their first drive of the game.
Downey quickly extended its lead to 13-0 when Carey caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from the Oregon State-bound Chiles with 5:18 left in the first quarter.
Cypress lost a fumble on the first play of its second offensive series, but the Vikings were unable to capitalize. Downey lined up as if it was going for it on fourth-and-6 from the Cypress 44, but Chiles tried a quick punt, which was partially blocked by the Centurions.
The Vikings got the ball back and scored again, this time on a 19-yard pass from Chiles to Keion Andrew. Downey was unable to convert the two-point try and the score remained 19-0 with 8:48 left in the first half.
The Centurions finally produced a big play when Houston found Matthew Morrell in the back of the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown pass, cutting the deficit to 19-7 with 4:24 in the first half.
The Vikings didn’t waste any time extending their lead, making it 26-7 when Crutchfield broke loose on a 76-yard touchdown run on Downey’s first play from scrimmage following the Cypress touchdown.
