BELOIT — West Branch’s senior running back Boston Mulinix said it was a night to remember, for a lot of reasons.

Mulinix scored the game-clinching touchdown late in the fourth quarter to seal the Warriors’ 27-7 victory over Canfield at Clinton Heacock Stadium on Friday night.

The TD was Mulinix’s 42nd rushing score of his career and 45th overall. Both marks are new school records.

“Obviously, it means a lot. There have been a lot of high-caliber players that have gone through this program before us,” Mulinix said. “It’s nice to be able to follow in their footsteps but anything that can just help my team win as many games as possible.”

West Branch’s first win over Canfield since 2003 (the teams have played 34 times since 1960 but took a 19-year hiatus before resuming in 2022) was marked by several highlights:

It marked the debut as starting quarterbacks for West Branch’s Jeremiah Thomas and Canfield’s Enzo Cocca.

Thomas, the fastest player on the field, completed 12 of 20 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball 12 times — some were designed, others due to a fierce Canfield pass rush — for 50 yards. He scored once on the ground and passed for one. He escaped several defenders to score on a 3-yard scamper midway through the first quarter for the game’s first points.

Cocca was a factor on both sides of the ball. He intercepted a pass on the Warriors’ first possession, ran the ball 11 times for 58 yards and was 6-of-14 through the air for 52 yards. Much like Thomas, he did a solid job of escaping pressure and the highlight came when he rolled out of harm’s way and found a wide-open Matthew Campbell from 19 yards out to make it 20-7 with 11:08 left in the game.

Lukas Black and Garin Harlan dominated defensively for West Branch. Black made eight tackles and recovered one of three Canfield fumbles. Harlan added five tackles and a fumble recovery. Dom Slimon also recovered a fumble and Carson Graham intercepted a pass.

Canfield forced three turnovers; Landon Shina and Nick Weber recovered fumbles.

On the other hand, the teams combined for 27 penalties – 20 in the first half – and one bank of lights went out shortly before halftime, leaving the southeast corner of the field rather dim.

“There were some things going that I couldn’t explain,” said West Branch coach Tim Cooper. “It just felt like we never could get going [offensively] but our defense played amazing. It was awesome to see.”

West Branch led 13-0 at halftime thanks to Thomas’ score and two field goals by Anthony Perry of 32 and 48 yards. The latter set another school record by 3 yards. The Warriors expanded their lead to 20-0 midway through the third quarter on a 26-yard pass from Thomas to Cooper Anderson.

“Our points of emphasis this week was details and fundamentals. We might have to revisit that one because of all the mistakes,” Cooper said.

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