Nate Spinuzzi leads Pueblo South football over Pueblo East in Cannon Game

PUEBLO — Adversity only made Nate Spinuzzi stronger Friday night.

After a sluggish start, the senior Pueblo South quarterback regrouped to run for three touchdowns and pass for another vaulting the Colts to a 34-20 victory over Pueblo East in the 39th annual Cannon Game before an estimated crowd of 10,000 at Dutch Clark Stadium.

“We responded well (Friday night),” the 6-foot, 205-pound Spinuzzi said. “I had a couple of turnovers early, but when they scored we scored right after them. It’s big to win, especially being a senior, you don’t want to graduate without the Cannon. Colt Nation showed up in force and we didn’t want to disappoint them.”

South, which was ranked No. 3 in the latest Class 4A CHSAAnow.com poll, improved to 2-0. East, No. 3 in the latest 3A poll, dropped to 2-1.

“We responded when we needed to and we did a better job in the second half of talking care of the football and that helped,” said South coach Ryan Goddard, whose team had three-first half turnovers. “Plus, our defense stepped up and got some big stops. This was our most important game of the year because it was this week. Obviously, we take a lot of pride in having the Cannon. Our kids and our community, it is a big event for them.”

In the first quarter, East took a 7-0 lead when Bryson Torres ran in from two yards. The score was set up by an interception by Eagles’ defensive back Luke Padula.

Rather than wilt, Spinuzzi and the Colts came alive putting together two touchown scoring drives ending with a 1-yard sneak by Spinuzzi and then a 21-yard scamper by him.

Trailing 14-7 at intermission, East quarterback Danny Martin countered with a 17-yard scoring jaunt to get the Eagles within 14-13, but once again Spinuzzi answered, capping the Colts’ next possession with a 2-yard touchdown leap.

Martin did make things very interesting with his 2-yard run at 8:40 of the fourth quarter to cut the Colts lead to 26-20.

The Colts, however, chewed the clock with a solid running game and then Spinuzzi tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Isiah Pannunzio with 6:03 left to seal the victory.

“Nate made plays when we needed him to,” Goddard said. “The kid is a playmaker and he’s going to make plays.”

Spinuzzi finished 13-for-26 passing for 130 yards and he also had 67 yards rushing. Martin paced East with 122 yards rushing and 145 yards passing. East sophomore Torres, who rushed for 260 yards in the first two games, was held to 76 yards.

The game was marred by penalties as East had 13 penalties for 122 yards and South was flagged for 11 times for 108 yards.

“We did some good things throughout the game, but it was frustrating because we would get to a spot where we would could feel the momentum shift and there would be a penalty or we would make a mistake on our end,” East coach David Ramirez said. “It’s something we will learn from and get better at.”