When tournament playoff time rolls around on Ohio gridirons, the hard work that goes into reaching those levels becomes the focus over a whole season of both successes and failures.
When tournament playoff time rolls around on Ohio gridirons, the hard work that goes into reaching those levels becomes the focus over a whole season of both successes and failures.
Teams that avoid the latter usually build traditions of going deep into those playoffs.
The Canfield Cardinals are elite in that department. Currently ranked first in Division 3 Region 9 ratings, they’ve carried a very big stick this season.
The Kenston Bombers also carry a big stick, but theirs is not quite as long.
That said, when the teams met in Canfield Nov. 7 in second-round action, the Bombers did not back down from the task at hand. A trio of big second-period Canfield plays, worthy of many college or pro teams, however, hit the Bombers right in the chops. Those plays were enough to end the Kenston season in a 27-12 Canfield victory that, while tough on the seniors for the Bombers, showcases a possible rise in the Bombers’ level of play in the future.
Just as Kenston had dispatched a decent Madison team by striking early and often last week in playoff action, the Cardinals drove 65 yards in seven plays for the first points of the night. The Bombers were hitting hard on the drive, but senior quarterback Enzo Cocca found junior wideout Elijah Galvin with a pass from the 24, who then broke two tackles and dashed to the end zone.
The Bombers got a huge break with 2:57 left in the opening period after a sideways punt gave them possession on the 45 of Canfield. Five plays later, Jack Bryner found tight end Carson Case in the corner of the end zone , but the conversion attempt was not good, and it was 7-6 after one period.
Early in the second period, Max George picked off a Cocca pass at Kenston’s 32. The teams traded punts, setting the Bombers up at the Cardinal 49.
On the next play, a Bryner pass was snared by Cocca at his own 39, and he weaved and danced his way for a pick-six and a 14-6 lead. But Canfield was ready for the high-powered offense of the Bombers and shut everything down.
After a Grady Kucherson punt danced its way to the Canfield 7 yard line with 1:55 left before halftime, Cocca went to work hitting a trio of passes, the last one to tight end Landon Shina from 28 yards out.
The play before that one, though, was the back-breaker that set Kenston (7-5) on its heels most of the night. From his own 29, Cocca eluded a big pass rush from Tommy Seifried and got outside to his left. He fired a bomb that Max George gauged nicely. Both George and Bryce Roberts got the ball simultaneously along the left sideline, but as George came down, Roberts gained control to complete a superb 43-yard play.
Three plays later, after a first down pass from Bryner to Will Hamm set up Kenston on its own 46, the ball got loose and Canfield had it at the Bomber 43. a razzle-dazzle double reverse play saw Cocca find Joey Pannunzio for a 29-yard gain. Then Luke Goodrich drilled a 31-yard field goal to close the first-half scoring at 24-7.
“We just made too many critical mistakes in that second quarter tonight,” Kenston Head Coach Jeff Grubich said. “That said, there are a lot of football teams who would have folded up their season after losing a game like we did to Willoughby South early in the year. It’s a credit to our senior leadership that our young kids, who had to step up after all our early season injuries, did just that to get us to this point. All the work the kids put in, led by the seniors, to reach this point against a state-ranked team, is a testimony to their work ethic, and I can’t be unhappy about that. It’s about life from here on out for them, and this is one great bunch of kids.”
With 10:32 left in the game, Bryner found George down the left sideline for a 57-yard touchdown to narrow the gap to 24-12. But with both defenses playing some Jack Lambert-style defense the rest of the way, Canfield gained control of the ball with 1:52 left and managed to hang on until Goodrich drilled another field goal from the 33 for the final points of a hotly contested playoff game.
Bryner finished his high school career with 10 completions in 20 tries for a pair of scores and a pair of huge picks, including the amazing pick-six. Hamm powered his way to 60 yards on 12 carries, tacklers going with him every step of the way.
Coach Grubich summed it up well: “We had an amazing season considering all we went through and the kids we lost for the season, and others really showed their grit. We had some very close losses, too, or we could have been 9-2 coming into this game. I’ll take that any day of the season.”
Canfield hosts VA-SJ this week.
