DiaMante Burton does it all in win over Las Vegas

Canyon Springs senior DiaMante Burton did a little bit of everything Friday against visiting Las Vegas.

Burton played quarterback, running back and even caught a pass for the Pioneers. But most importantly, Burton put points on the board.

Burton rushed for a pair of scores and threw for another to lead Canyon Springs to a 44-14 victory over the Wildcats.

While the Pioneers showed a variety of personnel looks in the game — three quarterbacks played and each threw for at least 49 yards — Burton gave all the credit to the steady play of the Canyon Springs offensive line.

“Basically, the plan is just to execute and win,” Burton said. “It doesn’t matter really where we put our players, we are just going to maneuver, because our offensive line carried us today. Shout out to them.”

Burton had TD runs of 4 and 15 yards for Canyon Springs (3-4, 2-0 Class 4A Northwest League), and finished with 55 rushing yards to lead the team.

He also led the team in passing yards with 132 yards on 5-for-7 passing, with the big play coming on a swing pass to Kazonte Thomas, who snared the ball near the line and zig-zagged 67 yards to the end zone to bump the Pioneer lead to 21-7 with 2:38 left in the second quarter.

“It was a good pass by the quarterback and good blocking,” said Thomas, who had four receptions for 113 yards. “I just felt the juice tonight, and coach gave me the opportunity to show what I could do. And it’s a big win for us because Vegas is our rival.”

Canyon Springs all but ended the suspense for the game’s outcome at the start of the third quarter, as Shaun Brown returned the opening kickoff of the second half 79 yards to the Las Vegas 15, and Burton dashed up the middle to pay dirt on the next play to give the Pioneers a 28-7 cushion.

Special teams then provided another spark one minute later when Johnathan Bailey tackled the Wildcats’ punter in the end zone on a botched snap on a punt for a safety.

Zach Matlock passed for 179 yards and a score, and also rushed for a score to lead Las Vegas (0-6, 0-1) before leaving the game with an injury in the fourth quarter.

In the end, the Pioneers outgained Las Vegas 439-231.

Jayvion Pugh, Kayjon Edwards and Jah’quire Powell-Hunt each had a scoring run for Canyon Springs.

“It went really smooth, because again, once you have a solid line, you have a team,” Burton said. “Without a solid line you can’t do anything.”