WELCH PUT CANYON IN PERFECT POSITION.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE 

CARSON - He talks like an English teacher, careful that his grammar is perfect. He will pause in the middle of a sentence to think of just the right word to make the quote sing, both aloud and in print.

He calls plays like a riverboat gambler. No situation is too dangerous to call for a fake punt, no conventional wisdom is too strong to override his gut. And more often than not, the right card seems to fall for him on the river.

Canyon football's Harry Welch is the kind of character who was made for the national spotlight. He's got the personality, the charm and the coaching cred. But until Saturday night, he'd never had a chance to shine on the biggest stage.

A few times in the 1980s, when the Cowboys were rattling off their 46 straight wins, Welch took a few turns on the big stage. But that was a different era. There were no message boards or national recruiting analysts.

And there certainly weren't any games that attracted as much attention as Saturday's CIF State Div.I Championship Bowl game against Concord De La Salle, the No.1-rated team in the nation in USA Today's Top 25 poll.

This was the shot the old coach has always wanted. The game he's waited 18 seasons for. The game in which he could show the world what all his players mean when they talk about playing ``Cowboy football.''

The game he deserved.

``It's been a long road for me. I'm not a young guy,'' Welch said after Canyon's 27-13 shocker over De La Salle at Home Depot Center. ``To have something like this toward the end of my career is just a beautiful moment.''

His players seemed to want the victory as much for Welch as for themselves.

``He gets everything out of his players,'' Canyon linebacker Kenny Shanahan said. ``You just want to work so hard for him. You don't want to let him down.''

After the game, when they could have been celebrating with their families, they broke into an impromptu drill in front of Welch. Senior quarterback Ben Longshore turned to towards his coach and nodded as if to say, ``This is for you!''

In the first few months of this season, a night like this was hard to imagine. Canyon lost two of its first three games. Then slowly but surely, the team improved. It would be remarkable, but the longer you've been around Canyon, the more times you'll see Welch turn a season around.

Still, there were those who questioned whether Canyon belonged in Saturday's game. Some preferred undefeated J.W.North of Riverside. Others, Clovis East.

Welch campaigned for his team, knowing somewhere down in that gut of his that his team could pull it off.

Once Canyon got the nod last Sunday, Welch went into a full public relations offensive. During the week, he sandbagged his team's chances and uttered so many glowing endorsements of his opponent, even Lou Holtz would blush.

He positioned the Cowboys perfectly, embracing the underdog role so his team could relax in the biggest game of its life ... while hoping his opponent might do the same.

He even had his players saying the right things.

``They had a 151-game winning streak,'' Canyon linebacker Blake McMartin said of De La Salle. ``They're a great team. It's an honor to play on the same field with them.''

For the first half Saturday, the plan seemed to be working perfectly. The Cowboys were loose and lights out. They flew all over the field without a hint of fear.

``Our plan was to come out and play physical. But we really stepped up today and played like men,'' senior running back J.J. DiLuigi said. ``This is a team that looks out for each other. We're brothers.''

De La Salle looked out of sync. By halftime, the jig was up. Canyon led 20-7 and everyone in the stadium had figured out Canyon's gamesmanship was just that.

In the second half, De La Salle came out ready to play and turned the game into a dogfight. At that point, a lesser team might have crumbled.

Not Canyon.

``There's no fear,'' Shanahan said, ``when you play Cowboy football.''

And so, as the teams' headed toward the fourth quarter, with the outcome still in question, Welch looked serene on the sideline. At times, it even seemed like there was a little smirk across his face, like he knew that winning card was going to come out on the river.

``We shocked the world,'' Canyon's Nick Jurado said. ``We shocked the world.''

But Welch didn't seem all that surprised. He spent most of the initial moments after the historic victory soaking it all in.

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