Fourth-down heroics help Salem hold off Canfield
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SALEM -- Salem needed some fourth-down heroics Friday night vs. Canfield, and, fortunately for Ron Johnson, his Quakers got them on offense and defense to hold on for a 21-17 win vs. the Cardinals at Sebo Stadium.
"Right team won," Johnson said with a smile. "Good high school football game. Well played on both sides. I mean, not a lot of turnovers, a lot of ebb and flow and momentum shifts and changes. We just kind of bowed up right there at the end and made a big stop."
Salem's opening drive stalled out six plays into the game, bringing on a Brandon Kana punt. However, when the ball bounced off the turf, it struck a nearby Canfield player. Zhane LaFleme quickly jumped on the live ball to retain possession for the Quakers.
After moving from its own 39-yard line to the Cardinals' 33 due to the special teams mishap, Salem came up against another fourth-down situation. This time, with 7 yards to gain, Johnson kept his offense on the field, and quarterback Adrian Gelonese completed a 9-yard pass to Chase Golech for the first down.
Following a penalty that put them behind the sticks, the Quakers kept it in the air, with Gelonese completing passes to Bairon Exline and Jaxson Douglas to put Salem inside the Canfield 10.
Down near the goal line, the Quakers needed another fourth-down conversion to get into the end zone. Undeterred by the previous three straight stops inside the 5-yard line, Salem tossed the ball on fourth-and-goal to Kana, who dove through a group of teammates and defenders for the 2-yard rushing touchdown.
It did not take Canfield nearly as long to score as it took Salem, which ran 17 plays and ate up more than seven minutes.
On the ensuing kickoff, the ball found A.J. Economous, who quickly found an opening and raced down the Quakers' sideline for what appeared to be an 87-yard touchdown return.
The play, though, never officially happened, as the referees whistled Canfield for holding and Salem for offsides, necessitating another kickoff.
Despite the result of the initial kick, the Quakers again sent it deep to Economous, who again found an opening and cut toward the Salem sidelines and sprinted down the field. A visibly fatigued Economous failed to make it to the end zone, however, and was tackled after nearly 80 yards at the Quakers' 21.
"They take the first kickoff back. They damn near take the next one back," Johnson said. "We had to change what we did until we have a chance to meet and get it fixed. But [Economous] is pretty special player."
With a short field, it took Canfield only four plays to tie the game on a 11-yard touchdown pass by DJ Porter to Luke Berardino.
After the back-to-back scoring drives, Salem went three-and-out twice and Canfield once before the Cardinals, who took over on the Quakers' 40, reached as far as the 20 and threatened with more points. A holding penalty set Canfield back to the 31, however, and while placekicker Luke Goodrich had plenty of leg for the 48-yard field goal, the ball sailed wide left and kept the teams tied at 7 with 4:21 remaining in the half.
Two possessions later, after forcing the Cardinals to punt, Salem put together a quick, 41-yard touchdown drive.
On third down, Exline took a double reverse, broke a tackle in the backfield and gained 24 yards. On the next play, he threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Owen Davidson to help his team take a 14-7 lead with 20 seconds left before halftime.
Canfield nearly tied the game just moments after play resumed, with Gabe Miller taking a screen pass 67 yards and into the end zone. But the play was called back due to holding, igniting the Cardinals' sideline, who had to watch their missed opportunity seized on by Salem.
A few minutes after the negated touchdown, a punt off the side of Goodrich's foot gave Salem favorable field position. The Quakers capitalized on it, albeit on special teams, as they scored from their pooch punt formation when Gelonese found Davidson, who took it 35 yards and into the end zone.
Needing a sufficient response, the Cardinals got it in the form of a 76-yard touchdown drive that took nearly seven minutes.
After multiple completed passes throughout the drive, Porter connected with Patrick Groner, who bobbled the ball, for a 3-yard touchdown to make it 21-14 with 11:57 to go in the game.
The Cardinals pulled within four just a few minutes later, when, faced with fourth down from the Salem 9, Canfield head coach Joe Ignazio opted for a 26-yard field goal. Goodrich split the uprights to make it a 21-17 game with 8:36 remaining.
On the most consequential drive of the night, however, the Cardinals could not muster the game-winning points. After driving from their own 15-yard line, thanks to a 52-yard punt by Kana, Canfield's offense stalled at the Quakers' 7, where Salem stuffed Miller on fourth-and-three with 1:40 to go.
"You got to trust in your play-calling and trust in your guys to execute. And we just didn’t do that tonight," Ignazio said. "Our kids are in there, they’re battling. Had two big touchdowns called back because of penalties. And then we can’t get it done inside the red zone there late in the game. And I thought that was the big difference there."
After the game, Johnson credited his defense and their conditioning for their ability to stop Canfield from scoring late.
"I don’t think our defense was tired at all," Johnson said. "You saw how they played the last [drive]. It was 2nd-and-3, it was 3rd-and-3, it was 4th-and-3. Then we stopped them on fourth down. They were not tired. What we do, preparation for the season, what we did this summer to our guys -- they certainly were not tired. They’ve been through a lot of brutal stuff, and it’s prepared them for these opportunities.
"That's two weeks in a row we make hot-zone stops on the goal line to win big ball games, and it’s because our defense is really, really, really playing well."
By picking up a first down on the following drive, the Quakers officially iced their second straight win of the season.
Salem, which similarly edged out Poland 21-17 in Week 1, lost each of its first two games last season. Now, the Quakers can improve to 3-0 next week at home vs. East Liverpool.
Meanwhile, Canfield will try to avoid starting the season 0-3 next Friday on the road at Stambaugh Stadium vs. Cardinal Mooney.
"We’ve got 15 guys not playing right now, injured. So that puts us scrambling and trying to find the right combination of guys and we just haven’t figured it out yet," Ignazio said. "We’re going to get in and watch film and correct our mistakes and try to get guys healthy. That’s our focus right now."