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Knockout punch

Crawford, Canfield run wild on rival Boardman

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Nick Crawford of Canfield finds a hole before taking off for a 69-yard touchdown in the first quarter Friday night at Boardman.

BOARDMAN — Friday night’s football game between the Spartans and Canfield Cardinals looked like it was going to be like boxing match between two heavyweight fighters.

Both teams scored on their first two drives, as Boardman (3-7) and Canfield exchanged early blows. The Cardinals eventually walked away with a 30-14 decision at Spartan Stadium, thanks to some outstanding play by senior tailback Nick Crawford who rushed for 344 yards on 34 carries with three touchdowns.

“It’s tremendous, I’m so proud of our guys and we knew it would be a physical ballgame and obviously our offense and defensive line did their job tonight,” said Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky said. “We wanted to establish the run, we wanted to take away their run and force them to throw the football, and those guys did a tremendous job carrying out that plan.”

The fireworks started early at Boardman, when the Spartans scored through the air on a 33-yard connection from Zach Ryan to Cam Thompson to make it an early 7-0 game within the first two minutes of the game.

Only moments later, Crawford took the ball 69 yards downfield to find paydirt for the first time of the evening to make it a 7-7 game early in the first quarter.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Cam Thompson of Boardman hauls in a 28-yard touchdown over Luke Morell of Canfield in the first quarter at Boardman.

Thompson found the end zone again on the next drive on a 28-yard touchdown reception to give Boardman a 14-7 lead. Canfield followed that on its next drive with a 28-yard touchdown by Ethan Fletcher to knot the game at 14-14 with 3:22 left in the first quarter.

Following the explosive first quarter, both team’s defenses would buckle down. Crawford scored for the second time late in the second quarter to give the Cardinals their first lead of the game at 21-14.

Canfield didn’t look back from there as its defense kept the Spartans off the scoreboard for the rest of the evening

“It changed up front,” Pavlansky said. “We started to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”

They added a 24-yard field goal off the leg of Jonathan Schmidt at the 4:38 mark of the third quarter to make it a 24-14 game, but the biggest play of the game came midway through the fourth quarter when Crawford took off for an 81-yard touchdown to give the Cardinals a 30-14 edge following a missed PAT.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Canfield’s Andrew Morchak, right, tackles Boardman’s Rashie Gardner in the first quarter. Canfield won, 30-14.

Crawford understood the importance of playing in Week 10 with a potential playoff berth in sight.

“Great rivalry having Boardman, so everybody was pretty excited, we knew we had to win to have a chance at the playoffs, so we wanted to end the season on a win no matter what,” he said.

“It was just a great game, we gave it everything we had.”

He said keeping Boardman out of the end zone after the first quarter made his job easier.

“It just takes so much more pressure off of me, I don’t feel like I’m down a touchdown, I gotta pick it up. I can just take my time, make my reads, and do what I have to do.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Zach Johnson, Luke Huzicka, and Justin Wagner of Boardman tackle Nick Crawford of Canfield in the first quarter Friday night.

Crawford also credits his teammates for his big game.

“That’s all on the offensive line and the fullbacks, they opened up holes, they did their job way more than they had to, it made my job real easy,” he said.

He was also proud of his team’s effort.

“It’s awesome, it’s very exciting, I didn’t know how this game was going to end out, but we gave it all we had and liked the way it fell out.”

Pavlansky said he enjoys having Crawford on his team.

“He’s special, he’s as good of a back that we’ve had in a long time in Canfield, he’s up there with Angelo Babbaro and Sean Baker, and those guys,” the coach said.

“He’s a special back, and we’re going to miss him dearly next year.”

The Cardinals move on with a record of 7-3 though they fell short of a playoff berth, according to joeeitel.com. Pavlansky said he thinks his team had a great season regardless of the playoff chase.

“It’s Week Ten, it’s the 224 Rivalry game, it’s Boardman. You don’t look past that,” he said. “Our guys knew if it didn’t go well tonight, there was no chance at the playoffs, so now we’re going to go back and figure out what’s happening. But if we don’t get in, what a great way to end with three (straight) wins.”

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