Staff photo / Greg Macafee Canfield quarterback Broc Lowry waits for his offensive line to settle on their blocks before taking off for an 80-yard touchdown run against Aurora last week.

Last season, Canfield saw its season end earlier than it planned, falling 27-14 to eventual state champion Chardon in the regional semifinals. Now, the Cardinals are back in the same spot as last season and are a game away from a potential rematch against the Hilltoppers to decide the region.

But the team standing in their way isn’t exactly an easy team to get past. In fact, to get a chance to play last year’s Division III state champion, Canfield has to beat last season’s Division IV state runner-up in Ursuline.

To say this will be a challenge for the teams on each sideline is an understatement.

“They got five seniors up front that are two or three year starters. They absolutely manhandle everybody they’ve played,” Cardinals coach Mike Pavlansky said. “They’re fast and physical kids and you just admire how tenacious they are, both offensively and defensively. That’s where they start to certainly have a lot of great skill kids. Jack Ericson, DC Farrell, Will Burney, Christian Lynch and Marc Manning. They’re the real deal. For us to be successful, we’ve got to be able to keep that high-powered offense on the sideline. That means our offensive line has got to find a way to move those defensive linemen and we’ve been successful so far this year.”

Canfield is just as talented though. It’s hard not to be when the man under center is the top senior quarterback in the state and is Big Ten bound.

Quarterback Broc Lowry, a three-star recruit committed to Indiana University, has had a stellar season in his high school swan song.

The future Hoosier has thrown for 1,140 yards on 87 completions for 12 passing touchdowns and boasts a completion percentage just shy of 69 percent. He’s not a statue in the backfield either, rushing for 783 yards and another dozen touchdowns.

“He’s the type of player who makes everybody around him better,” Pavlansky said. “Broc just has a really good instinct for the game. He understands the nuances of football and offensive football especially, and can, you know, put guys in position pre-snapwise to be successful. He’s done that all year long and we’re expecting to do that again tomorrow night, but Broc’s the first one to tell you that we haven’t been successful offensively just because of him. It’s those guys up front that are doing a great job of blocking, it’s the guys on the outside catching footballs and blocking and certainly our running backs picking the proper holes.”

A team doesn’t make it to 10-1 on the year being a one-dimensional team. Between a great offensive line, solid play from Lowry’s weapons, and a stingy defense, Canfield’s success tracks.

One of those defenders is linebacker Danny Inglis who has registered 41 tackles this year, four of which were for a loss, three sacks, three caused fumbles and a fumble recovery.

He and the rest of the Cardinal defense are going to be essential tonight in shutting down Ursuline’s deep stable of offensive weapons. Containment is the strategy.

“If it’s a track meet, we lose. That’s for sure,” Pavlansky said. “It just comes down to execution. We’ve got to be able to execute that high-pressure situation as far as snapping the football, punting the football, kicking it off, whatever it may be, and then being on our lanes and converging on the ball itself and being great tacklers. They do a great job of slipping tackles and if they slip a tackle or two tomorrow night, that thing’s going to go to the endzone for a touchdown.”

The Division III, Region 9 semifinal matchup is going to be marred by inclement weather as the forecast is calling for two and a half inches of rain. The bright side for Canfield is that the weather doesn’t just affect them.

Canfield has been doing reps the last few days to prepare for the conditions though. That being said, it’s going to be each team’s mentality that makes the bigger difference.

“The last few days, once we realized it’s going to be wet tomorrow, we got wet ball drills going during practice and tried to get used to catching and throwing a wet football, and snapping a wet football. Hopefully that helps tomorrow night. Other than that, it’s gonna be the same weather conditions for both teams. The team that handles it mentally better is going to have a good shot of winning.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Niles McKinley’s Bo Rein Stadium.