Reese, Musolino help Wildcats pay back Cards

By Charles Grove

cgrove@vindy.com

Struthers

Struthers over Canfield

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Struthers moves to 4-1 with a win over Canfield. Vindy Sports reporter, Charles Grove, talks with the Blitz Live crew. Canfield 21, Struthers 38

Struthers vs Canfield

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Blitz Live | September 23, 2016

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While Struthers quarterback and Kent State commit A.J. Musolino wouldn’t go so far as to call it revenge, rest assured this year’s 38-21 win over Canfield felt a whole lot better than last year’s 45-6 defeat.

“[It feels better] definitely because of how bad the score was last year,” Musolino said. “We got embarassed. I don’t think we had more than three first downs the whole game.”

It was a much different story this go around as the Wildcats (4-1) racked up 402 yards, 306 of them on the ground in front of the hometown fans on homecoming night.

Regal Reese gained 168 yards rushing on 17 rushes while Musolino picked up 76 on the ground and 96 through the air for three touchdowns. It was a strong performance from the Struthers offensive line that was able to create holes for the running game whether it was up the middle or to the outside.

“[The offensive line] is what makes this win so important,” Struthers head coach Curt Kuntz said. “I’ve coached line for 20 years and I’ve never had a group like this.”

The game started with both teams driving right down the field for long touchdown drives capped off by short quarterback touchdown runs. The Wildcats then went with a little razzle-dazzle on their second drive when Musolino hit Jacob Shaffer on a flea flicker that gave the Wildcats a 14-7 lead.

The Wildcats tacked on another score before halftime to make it 20-7 and while Canfield came right back with a quick drive to threaten before the break, a costly holding penalty and a missed field goal left points on the board.

“We made too many mistakes, “Canfield head coach Mike Pavlansky said. You can’t do that against a good team like Struthers, especially when they’re so big up front.”

Canfield found their momentum early in the third quarter when they drove back down the field again and scored on a Vinnie Fiorenza five yard touchdown run to make it 20-14 Struthers but no matter what the Cardinals threw at them, the Wildcats had an answer.

Musolino drove his team back down the field on the ground and put the Wildcats back up five minutes later to extend their lead to 28-14. At times it appeared the Canfield defense was at the mercy of the Struthers offensive line, which there was none.

“Everything worked with the guys up front,” Musolino said. “They’re amazing. They’re huge and they give me so much time back there and the give us massive holes for the running game.”

Canfield got it back to 28-21, but just like the rest of the night, Struthers could not be stopped on the ground, even going for it on fourth and one in a drive that eventually ended in a field goal.

“We called the play [on fourth and one] and Coach Kuntz told the offensive line this is where we win the game right here and we got the first down.”

Down 10 points with 2:30 to play, Canfield mounted one last comeback attempt but that ended when Robbie Best picked off Canfield’s Jake Cummings for a pick six and that was all she wrote.

Pavlansky knew the game was ultimately won in the trenches.

“They controlled the line of scrimmage the majority of the night,” Pavlansky said. “We had chances to get back into the game but you can’t make the mistakes we did. Struthers is the better football team right now.”