Canfield vs Columbus DeSalles

Gallery

The Cardinals led Columbus
DeSales, 10-6, at the half
but the Stallions rallied for 21 points.

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

CANTON — Canfield High coach Mike Pavlansky knew the Cardinals had to play a perfect game to have a chance against Columbus DeSales, the state’s top-ranked Division II team.

The Cardinals did just that in the first half and led DeSales 10-6 at halftime of the Region 7 semifinal at Fawcett Stadium.

DeSales (12-0) stormed back in the second half with 21 unanswered points to turn back the upset bid by the Cardinals (10-2) and went on to defeat Canfield 27-10.

“We knew coming in it had to be a great 48 minutes for us to win this game,” Pavlansky said. “It was a great 24 minutes but certainly not in the second half.

“A great deal of credit goes to [DeSales].”

Canfield held the explosive DeSales offense to 121 yards of offense and four first downs in the first half with a strong defensive effort and by controlling the football.

The second half was a whole different ball game.

“I don’t think they made any adjustments,” Pavlansky said. “They just imposed their will on us.

“That’s a very, very good football team. They took the game over.”

The Stallions got three second half touchdowns and four overall from tailback Ryan Clark who rushed for 114 yards on the ground.

But it was quarterback Thomas Gentile that was the difference in the game.

Canfield held the talented signal caller to 17 yards rushing in the first half but the junior exploded for 192 yards rushing in the last two quarters to set the plate for Clark.

“We have some explosive runners,” said DeSales coach Ryan Wiggins. “Canfield was able to do what they do best in the first half and they were able to keep the ball away from our offense.

“In the second half we did what we do best and that was the difference.”

The Cardinals played flawlessly in the first half to open up a 10-6 lead at the break.

“We couldn’t have played any better,” Pavlansky said. “We controlled the football and had two really nice drives for scores.”

Canfield opened the game with an impressive drive that covered 33 yards to the DeSales 36 before they were forced to punt on fourth and 12.

On DeSales’ first play Ryan Clark raced 59 yards to the Canfield 21. Five plays later Clark slanted in from 1 yard out to give DeSales a 6-0 lead after the extra point play was botched.

Canfield then went to work with its vaunted running game.

Mark Carrocce led the Cardinals down the field on a 13-play, 80-yard march. Carrocce, Dan Banna and Pat Fening all contributed on the scoring drive that ended with a 5-yard run on a pitch to Fening from Carrocce.

The Cardinals defense then forced a DeSales punt and the offense went to work again.

This time the Cardinals traveled 65 yards on 14 plays down to the Stallions’ 3-yard line.

On fourth down, Pat Stankovic kicked a 20-yard field goal with 56 seconds remaining in the half to push the Canfield lead to 10-6.

Banna led all Canfield rushers with 80 yards in 12 carries while Carrocce added 79 on 18 hauls. Fening had 33 yards and one touchdown.

The Stallions scored twice in the third quarter on runs by Clark of 6 and 8 yards and once in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“I’m very proud of the effort,” Pavlansky said. “It was a great season. You start back in August and you finish in the top 16 in the state of Ohio.

“I’m proud of the senior class who is the winningest class in the history of Canfield football.”