Canfield boys advance with 4-0 win over Harding in Div. I soccer

By Chuck Housteau

CANFIELD — Canfield High senior midfielder Jordan Ricks will be a marked man when the Cardinals face top-seeded Kent Roosevelt on Saturday in a Division I boys soccer sectional final.

Ricks scored two goals and added an assist as the Cardinals (10-4-1) defeated Warren Harding, 4-0, at Canfield’s Bob Dove Stadium to advance to the sectional championship game at 7 p.m at Kent.

“I’m sure [Roosevelt] was watching tonight,” said Ricks, who scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season. “We just want to take it to them.

“I’m sure we are going to try to be aggressive Saturday and I know that we are going to play with all we have.”

Against Harding, Ricks had his way, maneuvering through the Raiders defense as his teammates controlled the ball and the game from the opening kick.

“It’s a whole different game, a fun game, when you can play your game and control things,” Ricks said. “My teammates did a good job of making passes and we worked hard to get to every ball and never quit on any opportunity.”

The sixth-seeded Cards started a little slow against a young Harding team that had struggled in the regular season.

“We were very slow and sloppy tonight,” said Canfield coach Phil Simone. “To our credit we worked hard and stayed with it and we eventually found the back of the net.”

Canfield scored nearly 25 minutes into the first half when the Cards’ other top scorer, P.J Stickle, lofted a shot from about 30 yards that sailed over the Harding goal keeper’s head and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

“This is the first time in all my years coaching here that I’ve had a one-two scoring punch like Stickle and Ricks,” Simone said.

The Cards scored again with only 2:54 left before half when Ricks took a pass on the left side from Tom Yankush and drilled a kick from 15 yards out.

Canfield went after freshman goalkeeper Charles Wargo of Harding for 17 of its 27 shot attempts in the first 40 minute half.

“Canfield is a great team,” said Harding coach Tilden Tatebe. “They moved the ball well and controlled the game.

“Right now they are a better team than us but we tried as hard as we could.

“Our goalkeeper did an excellent job for a freshman. He battled.”

Canfield put the game away 10 minutes into the second half when Tony El Hayek took a centering pass from Ricks in front of the net and scored from 10 yards out for a 3-0 lead.

Ricks scored the final goal on a penalty kick from 12 yards when he was tackled inside the box. His one-on-one shot against Wargo scooted into the right side of the net for a score.

Canfield’s defense, led by a back line of Andrew McClusky, Jared Bettura, Jack Monda, Travis Gorley and Steve Negly, along with sophomore goalkeeper Mike Thomas, held Harding to just five shots on goal and only one in the first half.

“Although we controlled the game, we played very slow tonight,” Simone said. “Saturday’s game will not be that slow. We are going to have to play much better.”

Canfield, who finished second in the All-American Conference Red Tier, has only three seniors and Simone said the team is just starting to jell.

“It’s tough when you don’t have a lot of experience on the field but we are starting to play well now,” he said.

Ricks is a three-year starter and he would like to return home one more time to finish his career.

To do that Canfield will need to knock off Kent Roosevelt.