Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Senior Oliver Kovass (left) celebrates with Mike Crawford following his 30-yard flea flicker with a Fitch defender looking stunned during the second quarter.

CANFIELD — Put your copy of “A Hard Day’s Night” for a spin on the turntable, tune up your Pontiac GTO, prepare your hard hat for a lengthy shift at US Steel, and have a delicious malt at the basement candy counter in Strouss downtown.

Like Canfield, it’s time to party like it’s 1964.

Fast, explosive, and energetic.

One could describe those words in reference to the Wildcat at old Idora Park – or the Cardinals offense in a 41-10 victory over Austintown Fitch Friday night.

It was Canfield’s first victory over the Falcons since an 8-0 shutout in 1964 and it was the first meeting between the two schools since 2003.

The Broc Lowry and Mike Crawford experience was in full force.

“It’s huge, especially coming in and blowing them out,” Crawford exclaimed. “Most people didn’t pick us to win, they didn’t think we could do it, as in we’re the smaller school. But we came out and we proved them all wrong.

“Not only does (beating a Division II) get us hyped up, it gets us looked at in the state, gets us some rankings, tells everyone else that we’re big dogs, and we’re here to play.”

Of all the young men that have donned the red and black of the Canfield Cardinals over the past half century and beyond, it was the 2021 edition that was destined to play, and beat their neighbor on the football field.

To Lowry, Friday evening was something bigger than football.

“It’s phenomenal, for all the alumni to come to this game watching, our record against them was 22-9-1, we were down, so it’s great to get a big win after a long time,” Lowry said. “Coach (Mike Pavlansky) always says that for some reason, we were the team to get picked to play this game. I didn’t know it was that long since we beat them, so that just makes it feel even better.”

Fitch (3-3) quarterback Devin Sherwood fumbled on the opening drive, setting up the first of Lowry’s two scores on the ground early.

Down 14-3, Sherwood busted through the line for a 56-yard score, cutting the lead to four points following a Josiah Berni PAT, but that’s as close as the Falcons would make it, closing the books on their scoring at the 11:48 mark in the second quarter.

A flea-flicker score from Lowry to senior OIiver Kovass from 30-yards deep prior to intermission began a series of 27 unanswered.

The key to success? Running the ball.

A young Cardinals (6-1) offensive line that only fields Nick Bowen as the lone returning starter showed big growth, helping Canfield score a season high 41 points following four-consecutive 35-point outings.

“Broc is Broc, we tell him that you don’t have to be anything special, just be Broc Lowry, that’s good enough for us, good enough for his teammates, and he showed out tonight,” Pavlansky said. “Credit to our offensive line, our offensive line grew up a lot tonight. We haven’t been able to run the football all year long, and tonight we ran the football efficiently, especially into the second half.”

On 25 rushes, Lowry gained 162 yards, including 138 yards passing on nine completions, with a trio of scores. Crawford followed behind with a pair of trips to the paydirt, with 92 yards rushing on 20 carries. Canfield senior Paolo Papalia added a three-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter to round out the Cardinals scoring, along with recording a fumble recovery.

Sherwood tallied 139 yards rushing on 11 attempts, but only 5-9 over the air for 45 yards, 23 of which were recorded by senior Tyler Evans. Sophomore DeShawn Vaughn Jr. picked off Lowry, and Berni added a 29-yard field goal.

A blocked punt and a fumble on the first drive continued the trend of self-inflicted wounds for the Falcons over the past few contests, something that Crawford identified.

“That gave us the momentum,” Crawford said. “We get the blood in the water, we go out, we go for the kill, we put up the points, and that just can’t keep up.”

Running 64 plays to Fitch’s 36, the Cardinals outgained their visitor 414-205.

With just three games left as October’s cool wind sets in, it’s go time for Lowry and his team.

“This is the best we’ve ever been able to run the ball all year long, we were able to control the line of scrimmage and throw, then you have a good chance of winning, and we did that.” Lowry said.