HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: CANYON 42, WESTLAKE 7 CANYON CLOSE TO PEAK COWBOYS WIN, WILL PLAY FOR NORTHERN DIVISION TITLE.

Byline: ERIK BOAL Special to the Daily News

WESTLAKE VILLAGE -- Chris Kingsbury says it's a team playing its best football at the right time.

J.J. DiLuigi says it's a team that has come a long way since losing two of its first three games.

And Canyon of Canyon Country coach Harry Welch says it's a team he wouldn't want to have to play against in next week's Southern Section Northern Division championship game.

For the third consecutive week in the playoffs, the Cowboys -- ranked seventh in the state by Cal-Hi Sports -- overwhelmed one of the area's top football teams, bringing an unceremonious end to No. 8 Westlake's undefeated season with a 42-7 semifinal victory Friday night in front of a capacity crowd at Westlake High.

``Canyon arguably played a perfect game,'' said Westlake coach Jim Benkert, whose team avoided the shutout with five seconds remaining on a 9-yard touchdown reception by Curtis Peterson.

``We knew we had to score with them. We weren't going to stop them with the injuries we had. Early on we were game for that, but then we fell behind and it started to get away from us.''

Westlake quarterback Ryan Campbell, who suffered a slight separation in his right shoulder in the Warriors' 31-10 quarterfinal victory over San Luis Obispo and didn't practice all week, delivered a gutsy performance, completing 18 of 22 passes for 158 yards.

But Westlake's best scoring opportunity came up empty when Byron Sells fumbled the ball out of the end zone on his way to scoring the tying touchdown in the first quarter and Canyon responded by scoring on four of its next five possessions to build a 35-0 lead early in the fourth.

``That took some of the wind out of their sails, the same way if they had scored it certainly would have mine,'' said Welch, who will lead Canyon (10-2) into its sixth championship game, having won four titles, including last year's Div. II crown with a 21-13 victory over Hart of Newhall.

``I don't know if you want to call it a turning point, but whatever it was, that seemed to be it.''

Welch admitted his team had no knowledge of Long Beach Poly's 23-22 loss earlier Friday to Orange Lutheran in the Pac-5 Division semifinals, which is likely to move Canyon into the top spot in the Div. I South rankings. But his team did nothing to hurt its case for being selected to play in the inaugural state bowl game Dec. 16 at Home Depot Center in Carson with its performance against the Warriors (12-1), the Marmonte League champions.

``The bigger the game, the better we play,'' said DiLuigi, who finished with 202 rushing yards and four touchdowns, including a 71-yard score on Canyon's first offensive play.

``It's just Cowboy football.''

The Cowboys, whose average margin of victory in playoff wins over Royal of Simi Valley, Rio Mesa of Oxnard and Westlake is 52.3 points, will face a familiar opponent in the Dec. 9 final at 4 p.m. at Home Depot Center, having already defeated Moorpark and Hart earlier in the season.

``We've put in a lot of hard work and it feels pretty good to get back,'' said Kingsbury, who caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Ben Longshore. ``We're playing some really good football and everyone's just flying around.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Canyon High's J.J. DiLuigi runs for a first down against Westlake on Friday. DiLuigi finished with 202 yards rushing and four touchdowns.

(2) Canyon High quarterback Ben Longshore pushes for more yards on a sneak in the first half against Westlake. The Cowboys won 42-7.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer