By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Joey Duckworth passed for 284 yards and two touchdowns and the Louisville defense withstood a late Canfield rally as the Leopards defeated the Cardinals, 21-13, on Friday night at Bob Dove Field.

The two teams had met just twice previously — both in the playoffs — with the Cardinals winning each time.

It was just the second loss in 12 season openers for Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky.

“We’re a young team looking for an identity, yet the one positive that we can take away from tonight is the fact that we didn’t quit after falling behind by 21 points,” Pavlansky said. “To come back the way that we did and have a shot at the end, especially on a good football program that featured plenty of offensive weapons, was encouraging. We played a really good defensive game, minus two big plays.

“We cannot accept the outcome and must continue to build on tonight’s fourth quarter.”

Both teams struggled on their first two possessions, but Duckworth engineered the first score of the game and season for the Leopards.

He directed a seven-play, 65-yard drive in just 1:54 and when Joseph Hayford scored from 13 yards out at 4:10 of the opening quarter, Louisville led 7-0.

The junior quarterback then hit Trent Ohman with a 17-yard scoring strike at 1:17 of the second period for a 14-0 halftime lead.

“We did a lot of things well tonight and at the same time, still have a lot that we have to clean up,” Louisville coach John Demarco said. “Mistakes are typical in the opening week of the season. This really was Joey’s first varsity start and he did some good things tonight. Like everyone else, however, he still has some stuff that he must work on in order to get better.”

After Duckworth hooked up with Alex Schooley from 32 yards away just 1:45 into the third quarter, Louisville led by a 21-0 margin heading to the final 12 minutes of play.

Duckworth, who was 19 of 33 through the air with an interception, knew Canfield wouldn’t quit despite the Leopards’ three touchdown lead.

“Both teams have too much pride to quit, no matter what the score. Our two teams are quite similar, always fighting to the end,” Duckworth said.

The Cardinals made it 21-6 with 5:57 remaining on Conner Kesner’s 3-yard run, which capped a 15-play, 81-yard drive that consumed more than seven minutes.

Canfield’s Nick Annichenni picked off Duckworth with 2:52 remaining and Kesner scored on a 2-yard run just 19 seconds later to make it 21-13.

Canfield then successfully executed the onside kick but on fourth down and one from the Louisville 29 yard line, a bad snap put an end to the Canfield rally and allowed the Leopards to run out the clock.

Kimu Kim was 10 of 15 for 99 yards for the Cardinals, while Jake Dawson caught four passes for 60 yards.

Schooley and Ohman each caught four passes for Louisville, including one for a touchdown.