Canfield’s ground attack cruises to a 40-14 victory against Niles

By Pete Mollica

The Cardinals rolled up 346 rushing yards behind senior quarterback Adam Muth.

NILES — The Canfield High football team warmed up its offense Thursday night for next week’s All-American Conference showdown battle against Poland.

The Cardinals (7-2, 3-0 AAC) rolled up nearly 350 yards on the ground and breezed past Niles, 40-14, at Bo Rein Stadium.

Next Friday, the Cardinals and Bulldogs will battle for the Red Tier championship, or in Poland’s case, a share of the championship at Canfield.

“Yeah, we can talk about that one now,” Canfield head coach Mike Pavlansky said. “There is definitely going to be a lot riding on the outcome of that game.

“A conference title and more than likely a playoff berth, and that’s just on top of the huge rivalry between the two schools,” Pavlansky said/

Pavlansky’s Cardinals unleashed a tremendous ground attack behind the leadership of senior quarterback Adam Muth. The Cards jumped out to a 27-7 halftime lead, but still needed a couple of fourth-quarter touchdowns to put away the Red Dragons (2-7, 1-3).

Muth rushed for 151 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns. He also completed four of eight passes for another 34 yards as Canfield amassed 380 total yards while holding Niles to just 143 yards rushing.

Most of them — 124 — came from sophomore tailback Reggie Wells, who scored both Niles’ touchdowns.

“We pretty much controlled things in the first half and we got some outstanding play from our offensive line,” Pavlansky said. “I though our defense, other than the two long runs, did an outstanding job also.”

Muth echoed his coaches comments on the blocking.

“Our line did a great job out there tonight,” Muth said. “I ran it right up the middle for a good gain the first time I carried it and we just kept doing it and making good yardage.”

Muth said he was looking forward to next week’s clash.

“We’ve been waiting all year for this game,” Muth said. “It’s going to be exciting, especially with everything that will be riding on it.”

The Cardinals scored on their second offensive series as Kyle Vaclav got things going with a 30-yard run and sophomore Jon Rogers scored his first of two touchdowns on a 33-yard scamper right up the middle.

Canfield scored on its next three possessions as Muth tallied two of them.

He scored on a 14 yard run to open the second quarter. After Mike Yager picked off a Morgan Brogdan pass at the Niles 36, Muth scored again, this time on a 35-yard keeper again right up the middle.

The Cardinals made it 27-0 on their next drive as Muth combined the running game with a 17-yard pass to Gary DiTullio. Luke Franken capped off the drive with a 1-yard run.

Niles got on the board just before halftime as Wells broke loose and outraced everyone for a 78-yard touchdown run.

Niles’ standout kicker Nick Liste executed a perfect onside kick to open the third quarter, but the Dragons drive was stopped by Brogdon’s second interception, this time by Vince Gelonese.

Niles closed the gap to 27-14 when Wells raced 35 yards for his second score, but Canfield came right back and scored two more TDs on a two yard run by Franken and a 23-yard scamper by Rogers to put the game away.

mollica@vindy.com