Canfield D soars against the best

By BRIAN DZENIS

bdzenis@vindy.com

CANFIELD

The Canfield High School football team has a knack for bringing its best for the best opponents.

The Cardinals (11-0) have posted four shutouts this season and they weren’t against nobodies. Three of those four victories came against playoff teams, including last week’s 23-0 win against Aurora in the Division III, Region 9 playoffs.

“I think we just hold ourselves to a higher standard against those teams. We know they’re good,” linebacker Angelo Petracci said. “Like in our first four games, we played undefeated teams and gave them their first loss. We’re going into games against tough opponents and we have to set our standards higher.”

Canfield has to raise its standards again for a trip to Mollenkopf Stadium in Warren to face Notre Dame Cathedral-Latin (9-2).

Coach Mike Pavlansky said his team has done well to keep the hype of an unbeaten season at arm’s length.

“We certainly have a senior class that’s very special. They’ve bought in and now they share that with the underclassmen,” Pavlansky said. “We’re concentrating on us and going out on Friday’s to see where we stack up.”

It’s a group that’s seen its share of postseason success. Some examples include Petracci, who was the starting catcher when the baseball team went to the Division II regional title game last spring. Fellow linebacker David Crawford is a reigning state champion in wrestling.

“You see how the competition gets harder the farther you go and how you have to be even more prepared,” Crawford said. “[Football] is a different from wrestling in that you get a whole week to prepare for you opponent instead of competing two or three times a day.”

When it comes to football, they’ve played together for a long time and at a high level.

“I kind of expected this. When we were Little Cardinals, we were two-time Super Bowl Champs and through middle school, we had a lot of success,” Petracci said. “When we came together, we kind of believed that everything would happen for a reason if we followed the process.”

Part of the process involves bleaching their hair blonde. Look at players like running back Paul Breinz, quarterback Vinny Fiorenza and defensive back Will Dawson and you’ll find their hair color doesn’t match their eyebrows. The bleach job has faded a bit in 11 weeks of football, but its served its purpose.

“It’s just something we’ve always done before our football camp. The underclassmen usually get the same haircut, like a mohawk and then the seniors bleach their hair,” Dawson said. “It’s tradition and team-bonding.”

Pavlansky was non-commital when asked about the players’ hairstyling practices.

“That’s up to them,” he said.

NDCL moved up to Division III from Div. IV this season. The Lions made it to Week 12 after beating Alliance — who Canfield shut out in Week 2 — 38-14.

The Geauga County Catholic School brings an offense that features two quarterbacks and three running backs to Mollenkopf. The Cardinals have to prepare for the option.

“The option is something every team has, but in the summer we spent a lot of time on the option and option responsibilities. That’s the one play in football that will get you beat faster than anything else,” Pavlansky said. “You have to know who you have on the option or they can make you look silly.

“Our guys have done some recall for the summer and we’ll tweak it a little bit.”

Statistically, no player dominates the snaps. Nick Gattozzi and Charles Forbes split the quarterback duties. Forbes has 383 passing yards and 10 touchdowns on the season while Gattozzi has 793 passing yards and eight scores.

No NDCL backs have 100 carries or 600 yards rushing. Manni Malone (547 yards, five TDS) and Josh Peroni (561 yards, four TDs) are the leading rushers. Gattozzi, Forbes and Kyle Medves complement them in the running game.

Malone is also the Lions’ stud on defense. He has 43 tackles for a loss and nine sacks on the season and teammate Chase Brown has 23 tackles for a loss and seven sacks. Matt Tuohey has four picks in the secondary.