The Cards beat Alliance, 21-6, in their last non-conference tuneup.

By TOM WILLIAMS

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

CANFIELD — With Canfield’s offense finding points hard to come by Friday against Alliance, offensive coordinator Brian Fedyski didn’t waste time reaching into his bag of magic tricks.

After the Cardinals’ first drives ended with two punts and a missed field goal, Fedyski decided to give fullback Dan Banna’s arm a try.

Midway through the second quarter of a scoreless game, Banna, a junior, took a pitch and threw deep to wide receiver Jimmy Hudson who had zipped behind Aviators defensive back Robert Fountain.

Hudson caught the pass, eluded Fountain’s desperation grab and ran to the end zone for a 46-yard touchdown that kick-started Canfield to a 21-6 victory.

Memories

“It brings back memories of when I played quarterback my freshman year,” said Banna who also broke through the Aviators line for a 16-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. “It’s always good when you have a trick play up your sleeve.”

The play call didn’t tweak Banna’s nerves.

“I knew what the play was, I knew what I had to do, I was excited for the play,” Banna said. “It was a big boost for us.”

Neither Hudson nor Banna would admit to just how often the fullback pass gets practiced.

“Every once in a while we put something like that in there,” said Hudson diplomatically. “I had faith in the line that they would give him time to do what he needed to do. He put it right on the money.”

Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky said the Cards (3-0) work on trick plays “every week.

“I heard that one called and said, ‘why not?’ ” Pavlansky said. “Alliance had done a nice job defensively and we had trouble sustaining drives.

“Our defense played outstanding and gave us great field position,” Pavlansky said.

Backbreakers

Alliance (2-1) coach Ron Kuceyeski said Hudson’s second touchdown reception, a 33-yard pass from senior quarterback Mark Carrocce, plus Canfield’s tenacious defense were backbreakers.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that took a lot out of us,” said Kuceyeski of Hudson’s touchdown that came on a fourth-and-12 play with 19 seconds remaining before intermission. “It was tough enough moving the ball when we were down seven let alone 14.”

Hudson said doubling the lead gave the Cardinals a jolt.

“We were looking for some momentum going into halftime because we knew they would get the ball coming out,” Hudson said. “That was definitely a momentum swing.”

The Aviators finished with 94 yards rushing on 27 tries. Jeff White earned 63 of them on his third-quarter touchdown run.

“We were caught out of our lanes,” Pavlansky said. “Overall, our defense played solid.”

The Aviators passed for 42 yards.

For the third time in six seasons, the Cards are unbeaten heading into their Metro Athletic Conference opener next Friday at Howland.

Need to improve

“We need to continue to improve,” Pavlansky said.

Some expected Canfield to struggle this fall after losing so many key players to graduation. Kuceyeski isn’t one of them.

“When you play a program like Canfield, they plug in [new] personnel and do the same thing,” Kuceyeski said. “They are relentless on defense.”

The Cardinals rushed 44 times for 208 yards, with Banna getting 74 on 16 carries.

Carrocce completed 7 of 14 passes for 95 yards.

williams@vindy.com