WELLSBORO – Canton has been a bit of a juggernaut in both District 4 and the eastern half of Pennsylvania in Class A for the last two seasons.
Coming off back-to-back appearances in the state semifinals, the Warriors lost several key players from those last two outstanding squads and are playing plenty of players with far less experience in 2023.
But that inexperience might not be for long, as Canton appears to have largely reloaded. On Thursday night, the young but talented Warrior team showed a few signs of inexperience but more than offset that with big plays on offense and a standout defensive performance as Canton continued to not miss a beat as it improved to 3-0 with a 41-6 win at Wellsboro.
“As they say, winning is contagious and these guys have been around it. They haven’t had a chance to play like they might have on some other teams just because of the depth and kind of players we’ve had, so it’s just sort of bled into their system,” said Canton coach Tyler Sechrist. “It wasn’t our cleanest game, we had some turnover and mistakes but we’re going to face adversity.
“I said to them at halftime, if you want to be a championship team, you have to play like one. We played hard but I don’t think we played like a championship team today so we’re going to enjoy the win but we’ve got some work to do.”
While Canton’s younger players made plays all night, it was one of the most experienced players that led the way. Senior running back Micheal Davis racked up 260 all-purpose yards – 100 rushing and 160 receiving – and scored four touchdowns, two on the ground and two in the air. Ben Fitch, a junior quarterback in his first year as the starter, had a very efficient game, completing 8-of-11 passes for 219 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
But while the two veterans led the way, it was a younger player that got Canton going early, as sophomore Dawson Burgess, who didn’t even start, jumped a route and stepped in front of the Wellsboro receiver to make an interception and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown to put Canton on the board, 6-0, at the 7:07 mark of the first quarter.
“We had a backup in there and just told him to stay back and read the quarterback,” said Sechrist. “Dawson has been filling in there and he was in position. I didn’t want him getting beat deep so I told him to stay deep so he could work up on it and not let him behind you, so that’s what he did and he was there to catch it and make the play.”
That play helped jump-start the Warriors, as after a three-and-out on Wellsboro’s subsequent possession, Canton took over at its own 42, and on the first play from scrimmage, Canton’s offensive line opened up a huge hole up the middle, which Davis hit hard and took it all the way for a 58-yard touchdown to make it 13-0.
“Those big plays were huge because Wellsboro plays tough,” said Sechrist. “They play hard and tackle hard so those big plays were huge for us. They really got the spark going for us and got us fired up.”
The Warriors had a special teams miscue later in the first quarter as Wellsboro’s Keagan Spaar, a freshman, darted up the middle of the punt formation and blocked a Canton punt, giving Wellsboro the ball for a first-and-goal at the Canton 9-yard line. The Hornets needed just one play to get a nine-yard touchdown run by quarterback Will Gastrock to cut the lead to 13-6.
But that would be one of just three plays that Wellsboro would run in Canton territory in the first half, as the Hornets struggled to get their offense running with Canton being disruptive in the backfield for most of the game. Canton held Wellsboro to just 82 yards of offense for the game, and -12 on the ground, as the Warriors sacked Gastrock four times and also recorded four interceptions and recovered a fumble. That more than negated the Warriors’ own four lost fumbles on what was a muggy night on a wet field following heavy rain earlier in the afternoon.
“I thought our defense played really well and tough,” said Sechrist. “They got put in a bad position with the blocked punt but that was the only time they scored. We were in bad positions a couple of other times but they were able to get stops.”
The game remained close for a while, but Canton put some space between it and the Hornets with a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter. It was the Warriors’ turn to capitalize off a special teams miscue by the Hornets, as Wellsboro muffed a punt, giving the ball to Canton at the Wellsboro 39. Two plays later, Fitch found David for a 37-yard touchdown reception to put Canton up 21-6.
Later in the quarter, Canton’s defense came up with a big stop on fourth down, stopping Gastrock just inches shy of a first down from the Wellsboro 45. Canton then needed just five plays, all runs, to find the end zone once again, this one on a 23-yard run by Davis to make it 28-6.
Canton got another big stop just before halftime. After the Warriors lost a fumble that was returned 31 yards by Hayden Stevens all the way to the Canton 46 with :40 left in the half, Tommy Preston stopped Wellsboro’s drive by making an interception at the Wellsboro 3-yard line as the clock expired for the half.
In the second half, after Canton coughed up the ball on each of its first two possessions – but got it back both times without Wellsboro scoring as Preston made his second pick of the night and Canton later stopped the Hornets on downs – the Warriors put together their longest drive of the night, a 10-play, 69-yard sequence capped when Fitch found Aydin Holcomb in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown reception late in the third quarter.
On Canton’s next drive, the Warriors pushed it into mercy rule territory as Davis hauled in a screen pass from Fitch around midfield and turned it into a 44-yard touchdown catch for his fourth of the night to make it 41-6.
Canton will have the advantage of playing this week on a Thursday and not playing next week until Saturday, so it will have a couple of extra days of rest, which doesn’t happen too often, but they will be well-needed and utilized.
“That’ll be huge. We’re going to look at the film, look at our mistakes and what we did well and tomorrow we’re going to put ice on and not even go out on the practice field,” said Sechrist. “We’ll need to heal up. We don’t have the depth we’ve had the last few seasons, so hopefully we can get some guys rested up. Wellsboro played us physically so we have some guys that are feeling it so they’ll enjoy the extra long weekend.”
Canton 41, Wellsboro 6
Canton (3-0) 13 15 6 7 – 41
Wellsboro (1-2) 6 0 0 0 – 6
First quarter
7:07 – (C) Dawson Burgess 30-yard interception return (run failed)
5:40 – (C) Micheal Davis 58-yard run (McRoberts kick), 1-58, :10
1:54 – (W) Will Gastrock 9-yard run (kick blocked), 1-9, :06
Second quarter
7:04 – (C ) Micheal Davis 37-yard pass from Ben Fitch (Ward run), 2-39, :37
3:56 – (C) Micheal Davis 23-yard run (McRoberts kick), 5-45, 1:50
Third quarter
:35 – (C) Aydin Holcomb 23-yard pass from Ben Fitch (kick blocked), 10-69, 5:17
Fourth quarter
9:53 – (C) Micheal Davis 44-yard pass from Ben Fitch (McRoberts kick), 2-43, :45
Statistics
C W
First downs 12 5
Rushes-net yards 38-134 23-(-12)
Passing yardage 219 94
Passing 8-11-3-0 10-24-0-4
Fumbles-lost 8-4 4-1
Penalties-yards 6-45 5-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Canton: Micheal Davis (15-100-2), Ben Fitch (8-(-6)), Hudson Ward (6-31), Aydin Holcomb (4-19), Monte Whitehead (2-(-8)), Rylan Wesneski (1-2), TEAM (1-(-1)), Tommy Preston (1-(-3)); Wellsboro: Will Gastrock (13-10-1), Ryder Bowen (5-(-6)), Maxwell Mascho
(2-9), Cole Knapp (1-1), TEAM (1-(-12)), Marek Mascho (1-(-14))
PASSING: Canton: Ben Fitch (8-11-219-3-0); Wellsboro: Will Gastrock (10-23-94-0-3), Marek Mascho (0-1-0-0-1)
RECEIVING: Canton: Micheal Davis (3-160-2), Hudson Ward (3-32), Aydin Holcomb (1-23-1), Zack Colton (1-4); Wellsboro: Marek Mascho (3-34), Hayes Campbell (3-28), Jacob Dean (1-19), Dylan Copp (1-13), Ryder Bowen (1-0), Maxwell Mascho (1-(-2))
