Red-hot Chaney subdues Canfield, 55-13

After an opening loss to Fitch, the Cowboys have won nine straight.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CANFIELD -- Veteran coach Ron Berdis told his team that he was never more proud of a Chaney football team after Friday's 55-13 win over host Canfield.
That's saying something considering all the good Cowboy teams Berdis has coached over the years.
"The resolve of this team is just absolutely amazing to me," Berdis said of his 9-1 Cowboys. "They ran the table, nine wins in a row after the loss to Fitch.
"We're banged up and playing with a patched-up lineup and I just thought we played an outstanding football game."
Senior tailback Mike Hall set the tone for the game that Berdis said was the start of Chaney's playoff season on the Cowboys' first play from scrimmage.
Hall raced 67 yards to paydirt after breaking several tackles, and the Cowboys never looked back.
Chaney's outstanding senior quarterback Justin Hood took over after that and had a hand in the Cowboys' next three scores.
Hood ran for touchdowns on runs of 8 and 5 yards and threw a touchdown pass of 10 yards to Joe Loto to give Chaney a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Hood finished with 84 yards rushing on nine carries.
"Justin's been doing it all year," Berdis said. "But tonight I thought it was just a total team effort."
At halftime
The Cardinals broke through the Cowboys' swarming defense late in the second quarter to post a score and trail 28-7 at halftime.
Quarterback Jamie McNally threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end Alec Roman with 1:47 left in the second period.
McNally, hounded by a swarming Chaney defense that sacked him eight times, managed to complete eight of 18 passes for 140 yards.
The junior also completed a late 31-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Ferns. Ferns caught four passes for 62 yards, and Roman grabbed four for 61 yards.
"We were concerned about Canfield's ability to air it out," Berdis said. "We had a lot of guys really step it up on the defensive side of the ball."
Junior Mike Rosa led the defensive attack along with Andrew Bowell, Loto and D'Andre Rogers.
Pulling away
The Cowboys have nine players who play on both sides of the football.
Chaney scored four more times in the second half.
Hall scored two additional times on runs of 11 and 51 yards and finished the night with 183 yards on only 12 carries. For the season, Hall has amassed 880 rushing yards.
Junior Lamar Spikes added a 20-yard touchdown, and Andron Pippon closed out the scoring with 15-yard return of a fumble recovery.
"Chaney's a great football team," said Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky. "You saw why they are 9 and 1 and going to the playoffs.
"They are going to be a force in Division II. They have a program that we are trying to strive for here."