Crawford sets championship tone for Canfield

August 20, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

CANFIELD

Football coaches welcome the chance to coach elite athletes even if their major accomplishment comes in another sport.

Take Canfield senior linebacker David Crawford, who five months ago won the Division II state crown in wrestling.

“There’s no doubt Dave is a leader of our team,” Canfield head coach Mike Pavlansky said of his returning middle linebacker. “He’s a tremendous student athlete. He’s a great example for our young players to follow.

“He’s beyond intelligent on the football field,” Pavlansky said. “His football IQ is off the charts. We rely on him to make all of our calls and checks.”

Pavlansky said Crawford proves athletes in bigger schools can succeed in more than one sport.

“It’s awesome to see [athletes] successful outside of football,” linebacker Angelo Petracci said. “Hopefully David’s success in wrestling translates into football season.

“He’s a great player, he’s an even better kid.”

Crawford is one of eight starters returning for the Cardinals on defense. Their offense has six starters back from their 7-3 team in 2016.

OFFENSE

The Cardinals run a pro-I. They have plenty of skill players back among the six returning starters.

“The cause of concern for us is the offense and defensive lines,” Pavlansky said. “Last year we were line heavy with starters back, [this season] it’s the skill positions.”

Three of them of three-year starters: running back Paul Breinz, fullback Angelo Petracci and wide receiver Paul French.

“Their experience from the past couple of years is certainly going to pay off early on, keeping those linemen’s heads up, talking to them in the huddle, in practice and showing them how to watch tape — little things you need to do to try and be successful,” Pavlansky said.

French said that what previous captains taught him is “if someone does something wrong, you’ve always go to pick them up and make sure they are ready for the next play.”

DEFENSE

Eight starters are back, including Breinz and French at defensive back.

“Defense, we for sure have more experience,” Breinz said. “All of our DBs are coming back. Plus, we have linebackers and linemen who played last year.”

Junior nose tackle Vince Giordino will anchor the line.

“Our back seven is back,” Petracci said. “It should be a good year. We’re very confident.”

Breinz is torn about which side of the ball he prefers.

“Nothing beats scoring a touchdown but making a big hit, making a play for a loss is always fun because it’s exciting stopping the other team,” he said.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Sam Accordino again will be the placekicker and Ian Kristan returns as punter.

OUTLOOK

The Cardinals say that aren’t looking past the season opener against Louisville.

“That game is very important, we’ve never beaten them,” French said.

Breinz added: “We have a chip on our shoulder with Louisville. We had them last year [until] a little breakdown in the fourth quarter.”