MINCan
First Downs911
Rushes-Yards29-6036-186
Comp-Att-Int11-18-211-21-1
Passing Yards115103
Fumbles-Lost3-30-0
Penalty Yards5144

Game Recap

CANTON TWP. At a wet, torn-up Brechbuhler Stadium, the Canton South Wildcats used a balanced rushing attack to wash away the Minerva Lions in high school football action Friday night.
Running back Justin Keith turned the drizzle-laced field to his advantage with three touchdowns in the first half as South rolled to a 42-6 win.
“It was the offensive lineman,” said Keith, who finished with 25 carries for 147 yards and four touchdowns. “They worked hard.”
South head coach Moe Daniska concurred.
“He ran behind a darned good line tonight, and he was very patient doing it,” Daniska said.
Minerva entered the game at 3-0 for the first time since 1998. But to get to 4-0 in a Northeastern Buckeye Conference opener, Minerva had to go through a South (3-1) team that had won eight of the last nine meetings and scored at least 32 points in the last four.
The slick field affected both teams early in the first quarter. South receiver Jerald Robinson fell while trying to catch a short Matt Trissel pass on South’s opening series. On Minerva’s first series, running back Drew Pendergast slipped and fumbled at the South 26-yard line.
Wildcats senior Rob Dale recovered the fumble, and dashed 49 yards to the Minerva 16. Keith then ran three straight times up the middle and scored on a 7-yard run.
It was 7-0 with 7:59 left in the first quarter. Coming in, Minerva had allowed 7 points in its first three games combined.
Minerva answered as South bit on a well executed play-action by Minerva quarterback Troy Summers.
Lions receiver Josh Fick found himself wide open and hauled in a 59-yard touchdown catch down the left sideline. The extra point was blocked, leaving the score 7-6.
On South’s ensuing possession, Trissel engineered a 76-yard drive. Keith scored from 2 yards out and made it 14-6 with 19 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats poured it on before halftime, scoring on a 21-yard pass to Robinson in the right corner of the end zone, and a 1-yard run by Keith run at the end of a 53-yard march. It was a 28-6 South at halftime on a night when playing catch-up with the pass was unlikely.
Daniska knew what he wanted his defense to do in order for it to stop Minerva’s triple-option running game.
“We wanted to attack them on defense,” Daniska said. “We challenged our guys to go after them. Our goal was to make them pass.”
In the second half, South scored twice on a 26-yard Jordan Ryba touchdown catch and a 2-yard Keith run.
Keith ran with powerful style, generally running up the gut, seldom gaining fewer than 4 yards a carry.
South was coming off an emotional loss at Ravenna.
“We just had to go out there and do what we had to do to bounce back from that loss against Ravenna (last week),” Daniska said.

Individual Scoring

CS—Keith 7 run (Trissel run)
M—Fick 59 pass from Summers (kick blocked)
CS—Keith 3 run (Trissel kick)
CS—Robinson 21 pass from Trissel (Trissel kick)
CS—Keith 1 run (Trissel kick)
CS—Ruba 26 pass from Trissel (Trissel kick)
CS—Keith 2 run (Trissel kick)