The last two times Canfield played Chardon was in the 2017 and ’18 football seasons in the regular season. The Cardinals beat the Hilltoppers, 31-14, and then 35-13.

Friday, it’s much different for third-seeded Canfield (9-0) at top-seeded Chardon (9-0) in a Division III, Region 9 final, starting at 7 p.m.

“They’re well-coached, talented,” Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky said. “They’re going to be our toughest matchup of the year, without a doubt. They present so many problems. Obviously we need a great week of prep before we make the trip and hopefully handle the travel well, get off the bus and give a good account of ourselves.”

Offensively, the Hilltoppers are led by James Pettyjohn, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound running back who has 94 carries for 1,189 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is Chardon’s all-time postseason rushing leader with 805 yards on 80 carries.

Drew Fetchik, a 6-1, 185-pound senior quarterback, rushed for 562 yards and passed for 775 yards with 20 combined touchdowns.

Defensively, Chardon is led by senior linebacker Vince Ferrante (5-11, 195), who has 23 tackles for loss and 70 total tackles, along with Iowa State University-commit Myles Mendeszoon, a 6-4, 210 senior defensive end. He has four sacks, 17 TFLs and 45 tackles.

“We’re more of an I formation and spread, and they’re more wing-T,” Pavlansky said. “There’s no doubt both teams would rather run the ball first than throw it. Certainly like any ball game, the team that controls the line of scrimmage has a great chance to win.”

Pavlansky said his linemen are watching film, talking to each other, coming to practice with questions and asking about the looks they’ll see in the next game.

“Certainly you have to go out and practice, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “I think our guys have done a tremendous job this year doing all the other things, the extras that help make your team special.”

Pavlansky said Canfield, which has held teams to 10 or fewer points in six of its nine games, including the last four, is strong because the school’s head coaches promote their athletes to play multiple sports.

“It’s a great place to work where coaches aren’t fighting over kids,” Pavlansky said. “They’re encouraging the kids to play multiple sports. I think that more than anything else, it allows the kid’s competitiveness to come out in different sports and different ways. That has certainly fed into our program. We’ve benefited from that. There’s no doubt we’ve benefited from the relationship with our wrestling program tremendously when you’re talking about the offensive and defensive line.”

Sophomore Broc Lowry led Canfield last week with 114 yards rushing and 146 passing. Ethan Fletcher had three catches for 72 yards and one score.

The Cardinals held a high-scoring Streetsboro team to a fourth-quarter touchdown and held its leading rusher to less than 90 yards.

Pavlansky said the Cardinals need to keep up the intensity if they want to have a chance to advance to a state semifinal. Canfield lost in regional finals in ’17 and ’18, and it hasn’t reached a state semifinal since narrowly losing to Toledo Central Catholic in a Division II state title game in 2005.

“We can’t look past Friday night,” Pavlansky said. “If we’re fortunate enough to get past Friday night, then we’ll look at next week. Saturday morning is the first time we laid eyes on Chardon. In our region, it’s so difficult. You get to this level, the Elite 8, everyone is good. You have to play your best game of the year if you want to advance.

“If you look ahead, you’re going to get knocked off that week.”