Correspondent photo / Michael G. Taylor Austintown’s Tyler Evans (11) stiff arms an Ursuline defender to try and avoid a tackle during their matchup earlier this season.

CANFIELD — 35 has been the magic number, at least if you’re Canfield.

Riding a four-game winning streak, the Cardinals (5-1) have scored 35 points in each of their last four games to defeat Cleveland JFK, New Philadelphia, Chaney, and Pleasant.

Canfield’s biggest challenge walks into Bob Dove Field tonight though in the form of Ausintown Fitch (3-2), a team coming off a 31-21 loss to Massillon where special team miscues played a major factor.

When Cardinals coach Mike Pavlansky looks at the Falcons on film he says their speed immediately jumps out.

Preparation is key though, especially for a matchup that doesn’t come around too often.

“Everything is uptempo, they’re going to challenge you with the speed of the game not only to line up properly, but to execute your assignments when they’re going as fast as they want to go,” Pavlansky said. “When I say it’s uptempo and high octane, they certainly can do that at any point in time.

“You do the best job in practice that you can, you run two huddles at the defense, so they’ve got to be forced to line up and make calls on the run, and you try to create as much chaos and confusion as you can.”

6-foot-3, 193-pound junior quarterback Broc Lowry has had himself a season for the Cardinals, completing 69 of his 100 pass attempts for 983 yards, 11 touchdowns and an interception.

He’s dangerous with his legs, leading his team with 231 yards, and five scores on 57 carries, for an average of 4.1 yards a carry. Lowry also recently received an offer from the Big 12’s Iowa State, along with holding an offer from Youngstown State.

Success under center can be attributed to a young offensive line that only features one returning starter from last fall in the form of Nick Bowen, a 6-foot-1, 285 pound left tackle.

“We got to take a big leap on the offensive line (tonight), to keep our defense off the field,” Pavlansky said. “Our defense, we got to get a lot better from a fundamental technique standpoint to try and slow down probably the most explosive offense we’ve seen so far.”

Correspondent photo / Michael G. Taylor Canfield’s (4) Paolo Papalia breaks free from a Chaney defender during their matchup on Sept. 17.

5-foot-11, 175-pound senior wide receiver Oliver Kovass has been a big target this season for Lowry, hauling in 16 catches for 271 yards and a pair of scores. 6-foot, 200 pound senior Drew Carrocce has tallied 14 receptions for 203 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior Michael Crawford, 5-foot-10, 196 pounds, adds 189 yards on 37 carries, with four touchdowns.

The Cardinal defense has only allowed 6.75 points per contest over their last four games, but they’ll run into a Austintown Fitch offense averaging 35.8 points per contest.

For Falcons coach TJ Parker and company, it’s about moving on from last Friday and cleaning up the little things.

“We put a lot of focus into special teams this week, being physical, finishing our drives when we get inside the red zone, those are a lot of things that we emphasized this week, preparing our defense to face a very good offense,” Parker explained. “With us, we unfourtany have been hit with the injury bug, and it’s caused a lot of different people to step up in different roles for us, and with our schedule and the teams we’re playing, to put some youngsters in those positions in really big games versus really good competition. I think you learn a lot about yourself and what you have.”

Senior quarterback Devin Sherwood, 6-foot, 185 pounds, can make defenses heads spin, passing for 1235 yards, five touchdowns and only one interception. He’s also the Falcons leading rusher with 388 yards, and six trips to the end zone.

5-foot-11, 185 pound senior wide receiver Tyler Evans has tallied a team-high 23 receptions for 494 yards and two scores. Injuries at the running back position has caused junior cornerback Cam Smith, who has 19 tackles and a sack on defense, to receive touches out of the backfield.

Parker highlights senior C.J. Schisler, who has a team-high 38 tackles with four for a loss, and two forced fumbles as someone who’s stepped up, with sophomore Dan Evans III (two touchdowns) and Jayden Eley (one touchdown) adding to the Falcon offense.

Fitch owns the all-time record over Canfield with a mark of 22-9-1, winning their last contest versus the Cardinals at home back in 2003 with a 48-40 final. Prior to that, you’d have to go back to when Revolver was the newest Beatles album, when the Falcons and Cardinals met in 1966, Fitch winning 62-0.

Austintown owns a three game winning streak over Canfield.

Parker looks forward to seeing neighboring Canfield on the gridiron.

“They’re a state ranked Division III team, which is one division behind us, when you can travel 5-10 minutes down the road, play kids that are frequenting the same places, that your kids are frequenting, you’re going back and forth in restaurants, you guys are both going to places,” Parker said. “That’s pretty cool for the kids, for the community, and something that we were glad when they accepted us on the schedule, and hopefully they do that in the future.”