Team

Canfield

Record	Div.	Conf.
12/1	Div. III	All-American Conference Red Tier

Team

Niles

Record	Div.	Conf.
2/8	Div. III	All-American Conference Red Tier

By Steve ruman

sports@vindy.com

NILES

One week after being shut out by Boardman, the Canfield Cardinals on Friday didn’t make any drastic changes in their All-American Conference game against Niles.

“We just wanted to get back to the basics, and we wanted to eliminate the silly mistakes we made last week,” said Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky. “We just wanted to play fundamentally sound football.

Canfield’s play in fact proved to be as basic and as fundamentally sound as a football team can get, resulting in a resounding 50-6 home win over the Red Dragons.

The Cardinals improve to 5-2, including 1-0 in league play. Niles falls to 3-4.

The tone of the night was set early when Canfield senior C.J. Frost intercepted a pass on the third play from scrimmage. Following the turnover, Frost touched the ball four more straight plays – this time on offense. He had rushes of 5, 53, 6 and 2 yards – the final run giving the Cardianls a quick 8-0 advantage.

Frost finished the night with 251 yards and four touchdowns on just 14 carries. Junior quarterback Jake Cummings rushed for a pair of touchdowns and 131 yards on 12 carries.

Canfield finished with 551 total yards of offense — 539 of those yards coming on the ground.

Niles junior quarterback Tyler Srbinovich threw for 131 yards – including four passes to Marlon Pearson for 119 yards. However, the Dragons’ running game finished the night with minus-1 yard.

“Our guys understood the mistakes they made last week, and I’m very pleased with the way we played in all three phases of the game,” Pavlansky said. “We were able to move their front and handle their stunts. Our guys just went out and did what we asked them to do. They played a great game.”

As for Frost’s breakout performance, Pavlansky wasn’t surprised.

“C.J. is a great runner with deceptive speed, he can really break loose and make big plays,” Pavlansky said. “But he’ll be the first to tell you that those guys up front made it all happen.”

Canfield racked up 378 rushing yards in the first half and led 36-6 at intermission. The Cardinals took the opening possession of the second half at their own 22, and on the first play of the third quarter Frost rumbled 78 yards to paydirt in what would be his final carry of the night.

Kato Kim, who relieved Cummings at quarterback in the second half, completed the scoring when he raced 48 yards in what was his only carry of the game.

Afterward, Frost echoed the comments of his coach regarding the play of the offensive line.

“Most of the night, I wasn’t even touched, they didn’t even get their hands on me,” Frost said. “When that happens, that means the offensive line is opening up some major holes. The line did all the work tonight.”

Meanwhile, Niles coach Brian Shaner acknowledged that his team “was simply manhandled” by a better Canfield team.

“We went into the game confident that we could execute and play our style of play,” Shaner said. “Canfield didn’t let that happen. They were very aggressive in their running attack, and they were well-prepared. That’s a good team.”

Shaner also acknowledged that his club is fighting the injury bug. The Dragons were without seven starters. The injury list is so extensive that today’s Niles-Canfield junior varsity game is canceled.

“I’m definitely not making excuses, but man, when a team is this beat up it takes its toll,” Shaner said. “It hurts our continuity and our confidence, and that’s especially true against a powerful team like Canfield.”