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Crawford blending 2 sports

CANFIELD — David Crawford was waving to the crowd, but seeing his wrestling teammates surrounding him excited him during this year’s Canfield Fourth of July parade.

The float carrying the Cardinal grapplers had a wrestling mat on the floor and on the sides.

There were some moves done, some they see during the season and others done by the scripted athletes in the World Wrestling Entertainment.

“Everything was all staged and it was pretty sweet,” said Crawford, the defending Division II 170-pound state champion.

His stage changes to the football field in the fall, but one thing never changes.

Competition is what fuels the 5-foot-10, 186-pound Canfield senior, especially when the fullback and linebacker is on Bob Dove Field.

“He wants to see how good he’s going to be on every rep,” Canfield football coach Mike Pavlansky said. “It’s not every Friday night. He understands the quality of practice and the quality you have to have in practice to be successful on the wrestling mat or on the football field.

“When we’re out here in the middle of August, he’s getting after it.”

Pavlansky added that Crawford doesn’t speak that much, but when he does, his teammates listen.

“David is a natural leader,” Pavlansky said. “People will follow him. When he speaks, and he doesn’t speak much, but when he speaks people are listening.”

Crawford hopes his leadership helps the Cardinal football team achieve its goals this season.

“We all have each others backs,” he said. “We all want to win for each other. No one cares who scores a touchdown, or who makes a sweet play. If we all meld together and play as one unit, or no one cares who gets all the tackles, that will make us the most successful.”

Wrestling has made Crawford successful in football. The crouched stance in wrestling does transfer to the gridiron, especially in the fullback and inside linebacker positions Crawford plays.

“In wrestling you’re moving in that stance, you’re always low,” he said. “It helps with football when you’re firing out of your stance. You’re moving out of your linebacker position or low to block.”

It all starts with the time on the wrestling mat, something he and his teammates shared with those on the Fourth of July in Canfield — riding that float.

“It was really fun,” Crawford said.

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