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Canfield drops first

Canfield quarterback Vinny Fiorenza grabs a loose ball as Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary deenders Jack Knox (43) and David Hooks (38) close in during Fridy’s Division III regional final at Reilly Stadium. (Special to the Journal/Gary Leininger)

SALEM — It was indeed a tale of two halves when Canfield and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary collided in a defensive gem Friday night in a Division III regional football championship game at Salem’s Reilly Stadium.

Scoring opportunities were few and far between, but SVSM managed to couple a 95-yard second-half kickoff return for a touchdown and cracked Canfield’s air-tight defense once in the fourth quarter for the other score to edge the Cardinals, 13-10.

“They (the Irish) probably made one more play than we did,” said Canfield head coach Mike Pavlansky. “It was a battle of two halves, we thought we controlled the game in the first half and they certainly hit a couple big plays in the second half and turned it around.”

SVSM (10-3) advances to next Friday’s Division III state semifinals against an opponent and site to be announced this weekend by the OHSAA.

“We were down but we responded,” said SVSM head coach Marcus Wattley. “We were down (trailing 10-0 at half) but we fought back.”

Canfield, which had a tremendous season which included four shutouts, ended its campaign with a 13-1 record.

Trailing 13-10 with just seconds left, Canfield marched to the Irish 37, and on fourth down, Canfield quarterback Vinny Fiorenza was hit as he threw and the Cardinals’ last passing attempt fell incomplete.

“We needed about seven more yards (to try to attempt a field goal),” said Pavlansky.

“But our kids fight to the end, that’s what we love about them, tonight we came up just a little bit short.”

It was all Canfield in the first half as the Cardinals’ lightning-fast defense held SVSM to just 94 yards total offense while going out to a 10-0 lead.

Special teams set up the Cards’ first score when a host of Canfield defenders, including Vince Giordano tackled SVSM punter Garrett Bishof who had bobbled the snap at the Irish 24.

The Cardinals capitalized moments later when wide receiver Paul French took a handoff on an end around and crossed the stripe from one yard out at the 10:41 mark of the second quarter. Kicker Sam Accordino added the PAT kick and the Cardinals led 7-0.

Canfield struck again just before half. After a short punt to the Canfield 49, the Cardinals marched to the Irish 22 and settled for a 32-yard field goal by Accordino with 2:34 showing before half to make it 10-0.

Canfield had 109 yards total offense at the break, with 108 of its coming on the ground, including 76 on 12 carries by the elusive 5-11, 178-pound senior quarterback Fiorenza. The senior ended the night with 101 yards rushing.

But the tide turned quickly for SVSM in the second half.

“We told them at halftime we have to do this together — offense, defense and special teams,” said Wattley. “And the special teams made some plays, the offense made some plays and the defense made some plays and we came out with the ‘W,” he added.

The Irish got right back in the game on the opening kickoff of the second half when speedser Russell Cooper III cradled in the boot and raced 95 yards around the left side to score. Kicker Luke Dobson’s PAT kick hit the upright, but SVSM pulled within 10-6 at the 11:45 mark of the third.

That (kickoff return) was huge,” said Wattley. “The kids responded and Russell Cooper made a great play for us and got us going in the second half.”

“The kickoff got them (the Irish) started and you just can’t give up special team returns and expect to win,” said Pavlansky.

At the outset of the fourth quarter, Canfield’s Accordino just missed a 40-yard field goal attempt as the ball hit the crossbar and fell straight down.

SVSM then scored the winning touchdown on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Luke Lindsay to sophomore wideout Jalen Ross in the left corner of the end zone at the 8:06 mark of the fourth. Dobson added the PAT and SVSM led 13-10. The drive was aided by a crucial personal foul call against Canfield.

“No doubt, we love our defense, they played well all year long and they hung in there and fought tonight,” said Pavlansky. “It’s difficult right now because we had a great senior class and it’s tough to say goodbye to them.”

The Canfield coach said his team had a tremendous season.

“We’re proud of our guys, we gave everything every day at practice and got better every Friday night,” he said. “It certainly did end up how we wanted it to, but this is the second team in Canfield history to get to three rounds in the playoffs and we’re very proud of that.”

Game notes

• Canfield head coach Mike Pavlansky is the former head coach at Lisbon, while the Cardinals’ defensive line coach Matt Altomare is the former head coach at Leetonia.

• Canfield was making its third appearance in the postseason playoffs in the past 10 years.

CANFIELD: 0-10-0-0–10

SVSM: 0-0-6-7– 13

SCORING

CANFIELD — Paul French, 1 run, 10:41 2nd (Sam Accordino kick)

CANFIELD – Sam Accordino, 32 field goal, 2:34 2nd

SVSM — Russell Cooper III, 95 kickoff return, 11:45 3rd (Kick failed)

SVSM — Jalen Ross, 12 pass from Luke Lindsay, 8:06 4th (Luke Dobson kick)

——

CAN SVSM

First downs 15 12

Total Yards 246 283

Rushes-yards 40-170 26-86

Passing 76 197

Comp-Att-Int 7-11-2 15-21-1

Punts 4-136 3-105

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 3-1

Penalties-Yards 4-30 7-70

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — Canfield, Vinny Fiorenza 21-101, Paul Breinz 10-58, Nick Crawford 3-9, Paul French 1-1; SVSM, Terrance Keyes 14-78

PASSING — Canfield, Vinny Diorenza 7-11-170-0-1, Paul Breinz 0-1-0-0-0; SVSM, Luke Lindsay 15-21-187-1-1

RECEIVING — Canfield, Paul Breinz 4-18, Nick Crawford 1-21, Matt Zeremski 2-19; SVSM, Russell Cooper III 3-22, Jalen Ross 3-66, Garrett Bishof 4-35, Scott Walter 4-36

INTERCEPTIONS — Canfield, Nick Leraci, SVSM, Scott Walter (2).

FUMBLE RECOVERIES–Canfield, Paul French

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