Nick Cardiero / Alec Buchenic

Nick Cardiero

Girard

Player fact: The senior quarterback had a near-perfect game, completing 21 of 23 passes for 301 yards and a touchdown. He also added 60 rushing yards and two more scores in Girard’s 55-13 win over Jefferson. Jordan Graziano was on the receiving end of eight of Cardiero’s completions for 204 yards.

Quotable: “I didn’t think I’d ever get that close to almost perfect — I mean that’s pretty good but we gotta just keep working hard. [Graziano’s] one of the go-to guys on the team and he’s just a good target to throw to — always gets one, catches the ball, gets yards after the catch and finds a way to get in that end zone. It’s a really good balanced offense. ... We have a multiple-threat offense where we can spread the field out.”

Alec Buchenic

Canfield

Player fact: With a strong defensive performance, the Cardinals were victorious, 28-7, over Howland. Clogging up the middle of the field was inside linebacker Buchenic, who collected nine tackles and led a defense that limited the Tigers to just 87 rushing and 72 passing yards. The Cardinals also added an interception in the win.

Quotable: “It helps in practice that we see run all the time and then it transfers to the game and we know what to expect and how to read our keys. Physicality and enthusiasm ... when we get a big play everbody’s always getting fired up and that motivates us to get more big hits and more big plays. We didn’t expect to have this record, but it is what it is and we gotta finish [strong].SDRq