BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT — In rare early morning football action Canton used an opportunistic offense and gutty defense to pull out a 17-8 win over South Williamsport in NTL action Saturday.
“It’s feels amazing,” Warrior quarterback Ben Fitch remarked. “This game was circled on our schedule before the season. We know we wanted them, they’re a great team. Coming here at 10 a.m. we didn’t play our best, they didn’t play their best, it was sloppy football, but it’s good to get the win.”
Sloppy may have been an understatement, especially for the first half. Canton was flagged 14 times for 95 yards worth of penalties, eight times for 55 yards in the first half, while South was hit with six penalties for 45 yards. The Warriors also just had two first downs in the first half, though they led 7-0 thanks to a defense that bent but didn’t break.
The Warriors did win the turnover battle 4-2 and kept a lid on South’s playmakers, forcing them to drive, which they had some success doing, garnering 13 first downs on the day, but got off schedule too many times.
“These guys ended our season last year, so we had a little extra motivation,” noted coach Tyler Sechrist. “The kids were able to step up mentally and physically enough to play that kind of football, and we take pride in that.”
Fitch had two touchdown passes that, ironically, happened because of South’s respect for his ability to run. Both were scrambles where he created extra time and found receivers - hitting a wide open Zach Colton for an 11-yard strike in the first half, and then finding Bailey Gardner, who rumbled 35-yards to pay dirt to secure the win in the fourth quarter.
“I was hoping they’d think I was running the ball,” Fitch said about his first touchdown pass. “I tucked the ball a little, hoping they’d come up, and they did. And (Gardner), he was my first read. They had him taken, so it was the same thing again, I tucked, I was ready to run, and the guy came up on me, and I just cleared it over his head.”
Alexis McRoberts returned from a morning soccer game to hit a field goal late in the third quarter for their other score.
South got into the endzone mid-way through the fourth on a 6-yard Jayden Hamm run to make it a 2-point game, but couldn’t get the stop on the ensuing drive.
Fitch was 6-for-12 for 89 yards with two touchdowns and a pick, while running 16 times for 50 yards. Gardner ran the ball nine times for 50 yards, with Colton getting three catches for 20-yards, including the score. Holden Ward had a 32-yard reception, as well.
Three different Warriors had interceptions - Fitch, Dawson Burgess, and Rylan Wesneski.
Tadd Lusk was 8-for-21 for 97 yards for the Mounties while Hamm had 15 carries for 53 yards, including the touchdown. Cade Lusk added 33 yards on 10 touches.
Dylan Scheller hauled in six catches for 59-yards.
“South’s got a big line, they got a couple big backs,” Sechrist said. “They’re young, and they’ll probably be really good someday, but we had a good defensive game plan, and we gave up that one touchdown. Other than that, I thought, defensively, we executed our game plan very well.”
South took the opening kick-off at their own-30 yards and used a Tadd Lask to Scheller hook-up to get inside the Canton 40. However, the Warriors defense held, forcing a turnover on downs when Fitch broke up a Tadd Lask pass on fourth down.
It was futility for both offenses after that as they traded punts, or turnover on downs, for the next five possessions. Canton got a break when South fumbled at their own 20-yard run and it was recovered by Holden Ward.
Setting up at the Mountie 19-yard line Canton was stuffed on their first three plays, and a false start made it 4th-and-10.
However, that’s when Fitch rolled left out of the pocket, bringing the entire South defensive backfield up, leaving Colton alone in the end zone for an easy touchdown pass. Jake Pepper added the point after for a 7-0 lead with 8:52 left in the half.
South’s ensuing drive ended with a pick from Burgess, who looked to take it to the house, but a block in back erased the pick six.
Canton then turned it back over on a lost fumble, only to watch South give the ball back on Wesneski’s interception.
Getting the ball late in the half Canton got a big run from Gardner - 29-yards down the left side of the field - which South added two on a 15-yard personal foul. That set Canton up at the Mountie 13-yard line, but three plays later South ended the drive with a pick.
Canton took the second half kick-off but didn’t get past midfield as they were forced to punt. They pinned South back into their own territory, ultimately forcing them to punt from the 15-yard line.
The Warriors got good field position at the Mountie 43-yard line, then got a big play out of Ward, who took a pass in the flat from Fitch, split two South defenders, and sprinted 23-yards down to the South 9-yard line.
That set up first-and-goal as Canton inched their way to the one. However, on fourth-and-goal a false start penalty backed the Warriors up to the six, forcing a McRoberts 22-yard field goal attempt, that left the stadium as Canton took a 10-0 lead with 2:04 let in the third.
With the momentum against them South needed a good job that ended in points, and they got one. Starting at their own 27-yard line they marched 73-yards on 14 plays to hit pay dirt, ending in a Hamm 6-yard run on first-and-goal.
The key plays were a Tadd Lusk to Scheller 12-yard hook up on the first play of the drive, a Tadd Lusk 2-yard run on fourth and short to keep the drive alive, and a Tadd Lusk to Eli White 14-yard hook up that got them the first and goal.
Canton responded on their ensuing drive, though, taking over at their own 43-yard line. They would need eight plays to go 57-yards to the end zone, ending with Fitch finding Gardner on third-and-16 for the 35-yard score. Gardner picked up a couple down field blocks, while breaking a couple tackles of his own to get into the end zone.
South had good reason to fear Fitch’s legs on that drive has he had four carries for 24 yards on that drive.
McRoberts added the point after and the Warriors led 17-8 with 4:25 remaining.
South’s ensuing drive ended three plays in when Fitch picked off Tadd Lusk, with Canton eventually running out the clock.
Canton (2-0) will finally get to play at home next week as they host Athens (1-1) with a 1 p.m. Saturday start. Sechrist hopes the defense carries while the offense does not.
“We had a lot of these little penalties, not lining up right, or a couple times Ben ran the wrong play, and just some stuff we weren’t happy about,” remarked Sechrist. “I told the coaches, they said ‘what’s wrong with these guys’ and I said some of them aren’t used to getting up on the weekend before 10 a.m., they have a little brain fog.”
Still, Sechrist is proud of his team’s accomplishments so far this season as wins like this are an affirmation of what their program is doing.
“It’s a good win this early in the season because every year it seems like, after we’ve had that run everybody says ‘Canton’s going to be down, Canton’s going to be down,’ but we’re working hard to stay as good as we can.”
CANTON 17, S. WILLIAMSPORT 8
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
C: Ben Fitch 19-yard pass to Zach Colton (Jake Pepper kick), 8:52
Third Quarter
C: Alexis McRoberts 22-yard field goal, 2:04
Fourth Quarter
S: Jayden Hamm 6-yard run (2-point good), 8:07
C: Ben Fitch 35-yard pass to Bailey Gardner (McRoberts kick), 4:25
Individual Stats
Canton
Rushing
Ben Fitch 16-50, Bailey Gardner 9-50, Holden Ward 4-3, Aydin Holcomb 3-20
Passing
Ben Fitch 6-12-89-2-1
Receiving
Zach Colton 3-20-1, Bailey Gardner 1-35-1, Holden Ward 1-32, Aydin Holcomb 1-2
S. Williamsport
Rushing
Jayden Hamm 15-53-1, Cade Lusk 10-33, Eli White 4-(-2), Tadd Lusk 7-20, Dylan Scheller 1-6
Passing
Tadd Lusk 8-21-97-0-3
Receiving
Dylan Scheller 6-59, Eli White 1-14, Caleb Johnson 1-14
Team Stats Canton S. Williamsport
Rushes/Yards 32/123 37/110
Passing Yards 89 97
First Downs 8 13
Penalties/Yards 14/95 6/45
Fumbles/Lost 1/1 2/1
Interceptions: Canton 3 (Dawson Burgess, Rylan Wesneski, Ben Fitch), South Williamsport (Caleb Johnson)
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PHOTO CAPTIONs: Canton's Bailey Gardner gets a tackle...Canton’s Zach Colton hauls in a touchdown catch…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
