Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Canfield quarterback Broc Lowry slips away from two Boardman defenders after losing his shoe Friday night.

BOARDMAN — When it’s a rivalry game, toss out the records, ignore the past, and just focus on the task at hand.

Canfield, a team that has cruised through the last seven weeks, found a bump in the road Friday evening during their season finale at Boardman.

Despite being shutout during the entire second half, with the Spartans claiming the time of possession by a large margin following halftime, the Cardinals defense found ways to stay solid as part of a 13-6 victory over Boardman.

It’s not like the Spartans didn’t have their chances however, with a second half onside kick that led to what would have been a touchdown called back, and later a chance to tie or take the lead with 2:28 left.

The aforementioned drive ended 25 yards short, however.

Party time for Canfield who’ll likey host a first round playoff game, and walk away with their sixth straight win over their neighbor on State Route 224, a winning streak that dates back to 2016.

With the postseason looming, there’s always room to improve, despite a 9-1 record.

“We got to get a lot better, especially offensively, the second half, not very good, I’m going to take the heat on that one because there’s a lot of things that took place, where we didn’t put our guys in a great position,” Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky said. “Credit to Boardman’s defense too, they played lights out tonight, better than we’ve ever seen on tape, and they came to play as they always would in this game.”

The Spartans found the north-end scoreboard first, with a 32-yard boot off the leg of Cole Congson to take an early advantage. But, the Cardinals replied within minutes by way of a 10-yard strike from Broc Lowry to Drew Carrocce, for a 7-3 lead.

“Originally, it was supposed to be a 90 slant, so I was supposed to run nine and the outside receiver was supposed to run a slant,” Carrocce said about his scoring play. “I saw the middle was open, and the defender was playing on me, so I cut in it a little bit and just happened to be open.”

All smiles as the senior wideout found himself being hoisted up by his Canfield teammates, but both teams went for 4th down in good field position on their ensuing drives and failed to convert.

Lowry found paydirt on a 12-yard dash up the middle before halftime, rounding out the Cardinals scoring.

It was all defense from there, especially against a Boardman team that dominated the time of possession during the second half.

The main hurdle was stopping the trio of Terrance Thomas, Sean O’Horo, and Cam Thompson.

“Our past games, we didn’t really have that much adversity, so having a four quarter game like this is going to get us ready for the playoffs, where every game is going to be a four quarter game,” Lowry said. “It’s always great to beat teams on 224, it’s always a big rivalry, them and Poland, just great to get a big win.”

Boardman (4-5) drove down the field to begin the second half, but a costly fumble stalled the drive. The Spartans defense found ways to make huge stops when they needed it the most.

With 8:46 left to play, Congson nailed a 31-yard field goal, before things really started to look up for the host team.

A successful onside kick recovery set Boardman up, and Thomas had senior wideout Anthony Hightower open after beating a pair of defenders, but a back breaking holding penalty called back what would have been a 52-yard score.

Opportunities were had, but not cashing in cost Boardman the most, with Thomas eventually being a single yard short of the first down on the game-ending drive with 23 seconds left.

“You go into a game with your gameplan, but you adjust it accordingly to the defense,” Boardman coach Seth Antram said. “(Canfield) was trying to take some stuff outside away, and we attacked what they were giving us, as far as what we thought.”

Lowry tallied 118 yards rushing on 15 carries, as well as 7-9 passing for 82 yards. Carrocce led the receiving attack with three catches for 48 yards and a score. Thomas led Boardman with 168 yards rushing on 19 attempts, O’Horo following behind with 78 yards on 19 carries.

Boardman outgained Canfield 286 yards to 260.

While many will find it hard to believe, the regular season has reached its conclusion for most teams after Friday evening.

Canfield is one of those teams looking to make some noise in the coming weeks, but Pavlansky views the facts as they are.

“We’re 9-1, that’s where we stand,” he said. “We got to get a lot better if we want to make a run at this thing, and this weekend we’ll figure out who we’re playing and come up with the best gameplan that we can, practice real well, and see what happens.”