Two Little Cards squads advance to Super Bowl

Photo

Neighbors | Submitted.A running back for the 120-pound Canfield Little Cards looks to outrun the Boardman defense during last week's semifinal playoff game.

Two Canfield Little Cardinals teams will play for the Youth Athletic Conference football championship tomorrow at Youngstown State’s Stambaugh Stadium.

The 120-pounders are back in the YAC Super Bowl for the second straight season after beating the Boardman Little Spartans 24-0 last weekend. Canfield (7-0) will face Poland (7-1)

The 140-pound squad topped Boardman 14-0 last week in the playoff semifinals. The win propels the Cards (8-0) to a Super Bowl berth against Howland (8-1).

In the semis, the 120-pound team used a strong defense and a ball control offense to the shutout victory. The Cardinals defense has yet to yield a touchdown this season and the offense piled up 230 yards on the ground on 31 attempts.

Canfield took the lead on its second possession. Tyler Stein’s sack on a Boardman fourth down play gave Canfield the ball. Glenn Griswold took over from there with runs of 42 and 17 yards to put Canfield at the Spartans four. A Nick Crawford run brought the Cards to the 1 yard-line, where Griswold blasted over right tackle for the touchdown.

Andre Crump rolled right and found Jake Whittenberger in the end zone for the conversion and an 8-0 advantage.

A bad snap on a punt attempt on Boardman’s next possession was recovered by Santino Marucci at the Boardman 37. Whitenberger appeared to add to the Cardinal lead with a 35-yard TD run. But the play was nullified by a penalty. Determined, the Cardinals drove to Spartans 3 where Griswald added his second TD of the game. Whittenberger hit Bailey Flanagan with the conversion attempt and Canfield led 16-0 at the half.

In the third quarter, Boardman attempted a fake punt, but Whittenberger brought down the runner for no gain giving Canfield possession at its own 45.

Following a key reception by PJ Haloff on a third-and-10, Crump concluded the scoring when he raced 21 yards around left end to paydirt. Griswold found Cole Morell, who made a juggling catch in the back of the end zone for the conversion and final margin.

Crump was a standout on defense with four pass breakups, as well as Andy Murphy, Richie Hofus, Haloff, and Ethan Fletcher. Offensively, Griswold led all rushers with 103 yards on seven attempts, while Crump added 81 on nine tries.

Coach Donadee lauded the offensive line play of Jake Donadee, Colin Leonard, Zach Smith, Caden White, Stein and Murphy.

140-pounders

Canfield took possession first and drove the length with big runs from Vinnie Fiorenza and Paul Bienz. Angelo Petracci put the Cards on the board from two yards out and Brienz added the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

The Canfield defense spent a lot of time in Boardman’s back field with multiple tackles for loss from key players, including Paul French, Dom Velasquez and Dom Gelonese.

Canfield’s second possession started from the Boardman 30. The Cards drive down to the two, but fumbled into the end zone and Boardman got the touchback. The Spartans were then able to drive to the Canfield 25, before turning the ball over on downs.

Defenses controlled the third quarter action. But in the fourth, Petracci intercepted a Boardman pass and returned it to the 17 yard line. Six plays later, he scored on a 2-yard TD run to pad the lead to 14-0.

A Vinnie Giordano sack on first down and a Paul Brienz interception on the next play sealed Canfield’s victory.