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Canfield keeps focus on tonight’s regional final

CANFIELD — Canfield High School football coach Mike Pavlansky already has emphasized to his players to leave any thoughts of a state semifinal game in the furthest depths of their minds.

It cannot enter the thought process during tonight’s Division III, Region 9 final against Kenston. Like most coaches, Pavlansky doesn’t want his Cardinals to look past the week ahead of them, just focus on tonight’s game at Mollenkopf Stadium, starting at 7.

Canfield (11-1) is the top seed in the region for the second straight year, advancing to another regional final. Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary beat the Cardinals in last year’s final, 13-10.

Canfield seeks its first state semifinal appearance since 2005 when Toledo Central Catholic edged out the Cardinals in the Division II title game that season.

Kenston (11-1) has been to the state semifinals twice in Division III by beating Campbell in a 1986 game at Mollenkopf Stadium and in 1995 when the Bombers downed Avon Lake in another regional final.

“You focus on Friday night,” Pavlansky said. “If they’re thinking about a state semifinal game, you’re going to get beat.”

This second-seeded Bombers team is a versatile bunch, spearheaded by the junior trio of running back Jack Porter, receiver Jay Middleton and quarterback Jon Tomcufcik. Porter had 25 carries for 132 yards and two catches for 30, while Middleton caught four passes for 135 yards in last week’s 40-21 win over Medina Buckeye.

“It poses a lot of problems, obviously, to have a team as balanced as Kenston and as up-tempo as they are,” Pavlansky said. “First thing we have to do is make sure we’re lined up properly by the time they snap the ball. They’ll go as fast as the officials will allow them to go.

“If they can run the football effectively, they’re probably going to name the score because their pass game is that good.”

Canfield allows fewer than nine points a game, but extending offensive drives to 7, 8 or 9 minutes is going to help the Cardinals. In last week’s 30-7 win over Akron East, Canfield had 31 plays to Akron East’s 16 in the second half and the Cardinals finished with 48 running plays for 260 yards. Mehlyn Clinkscale had 24 carries for 172 yards. Power runner Nick Crawford gives Canfield its 1-2 punch in the offensive backfield.

“It’s going to be imperative for our offense to stay on the field throughout the game so that high-powered offense Kenston has won’t have the football,” Pavlansky said.

It’ll start up front for this Canfield team, a starting force for any Cardinals team — control the line of scrimmage on both sides, win the turnover margin and play great special teams.

“Our guys truly believe that,” Pavlansky said. “They buy into what our coaches are asking them to do. We’ve got great senior leadership.”

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