By John Bassetti

sports @vindy.com

CANFIELD

Is Canfield on a roll?

After having had an 11-game losing streak snapped last week, the Cardinals followed it with another win — a shutout.

Friday night’s 35-0 victory over East gave Canfield some relief from teams that were scoring an average of 37 points against the Cardinals (2-5).

“Last week we gave up 62, but it was a win and we’ll take it, and this week, it’s a shutout and we’ll take it, too,” Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky said. “We know we’re headed into a very difficult part of our schedule, starting next week with Struthers, so we’re trying to finish out the last three games on a positive note.”

Again, quarterback Kimu Kim, the area’s second-best rusher prior to Friday’s games, led Canfield with 162 yards on 20 carries after gaining 497 the week before against Niles.

The Cardinals dominated against East with a 404-16 advantage in total yards.

However, Canfield’s first strike came with the state record-setting Kim being just a decoy.

The main role was reserved for Aaron Jenkins, a backup quarterback who threw a touchdown pass to Drew Rogers covering 69 yards on Canfield’s first offensive play.

“I sent them in motion and then handed off to Jenkins and he threw it down there to Rogers who was open,” Kim said of the halfback pass that swept to the right side of Canfield’s formation.

The Cardinals attempted to repeat the play after they received the second-half kickoff.

“It was a fake bubble and then a go,” said Kim, who was lined up as an H-back when Jenkins faked a handoff to him. The ploy made an East defender rush in, but, by then, Jenkins was throwing to Rogers again — this time, however, unsuccessfully.

Kim was complimentary of his team’s first shutout as he singled out Alec Heldreth, Jacob Esarco, Joe Durbin, Charles Sinclair and Cameron Tareshawty.

“That’s terrific that our defense stepped out,” Kim said.

Both Rogers and Kim scored twice while Dylan Kuhn had the Cardinals’ final TD.

East coach P.J. Mays said his team had problems with the basics of the game, even before Canfield’s early touchdown.

“We had the ball before that and we didn’t do anything with it. Offensively, we haven’t done much all year. It’s difficult for us to pick up [block] guys up front and, no matter what level of football you’re at, you’ve got to be able to block and tackle.

“Right now, we’re not doing those things. It’s hard to throw a pass when guys are on you.Every great coach in this area, top to bottom, will take advantage of you when you’re not blocking, tackling or lining up.”

East (1-6) had a golden opportunity to score after Trevon Fite intercepted Kim’s only pass of the night and marched to Canfield’s 1-yard line.

“Once again, when you get down there, there’s no hiding on the goal line. When you’ve got to be able to move somebody off the ball and you can’t, it’s hurtful.You can try to finesse it all you want, but once you get down there on the 1-yard line, there’s no room for finesse.”