BELOIT — West Branch started fast with its high-flying offense, but eventually Canfield settled in and held on Friday night to defeat the Warriors 35-31 to open the season.

The Cardinals’ patented power-run game eventually wore down the Warriors’ young defense behind the running of quarterback Broc Lowry, who finished with 212 rushing yards and all five Canfield touchdowns on 29 carries.

“Our guys battled — we have a lot of two-way players,” said West Branch head coach Tim Cooper. “Broc Lowry is a heck of a football player and they’re a physical team. I can’t complain about the way our kids performed and the way they rose up. They just never stopped believing.”

A huge shift in momentum came at the end of the first half.

The Warriors had forced Canfield to settle for a short field goal just seconds before halftime, but a roughing the kicker penalty on the made attempt gave the Cardinals another shot.

They elected to run a play on the untimed down instead of taking the points. Lowry then ran it into the end zone from two yards out to put the Cardinals up by two at the break, 21-19.

Then, to open the second half, Canfield scored another touchdown on a long, methodical drive, which gave the Cardinals a two-score lead.

“Getting the two-score lead was huge because Dru (DeShields) and his clan, they can score on any play,” Canfield head coach Tom Pavlansky said. “Once we got it to two scores, you knew West Branch had to do something.

Even after Canfield extended its lead to 16 in the second half, West Branch remained resilient. DeShields marshalled two touchdown drives that allowed the Warriors to cut the lead to four.

However, Canfield recovered the onside kick and was able to finish out the game.

“They got it close and thank goodness our defense rose up and got a stop,” Pavlansky said. “Then we were able to run the clock out.”

Special teams hurt the Warriors from the get-go. West Branch may not have been in as big of a hole had it not been for special teams leaving some points up on the board.

The Warriors had a missed PAT, three failed two-point conversions and the penalty that erased the field goal and led to a Canfield touchdown at the end of the first half.

“Those were huge — we left like eight or nine points on the board,” Cooper said. “When you have young guys out there, they’re going to make some mistakes like that, but I’m not going to blame those guys. We need to have some better two-point plays called and that’s on me. But the way they battled and continued to be resilient and I’m really proud of them for that.

“I’m looking forward to the growth of our team and the growth of our offense, defense and special teams.”