Canton South declawed in second straight loss
By Keno Sultan
Stark County Prep Press writer
www.starkcountypreppress.com
DOVER--It may not seem like the Canton South Wildcats are at a crossroads. But after two horrifying setbacks and no touchdowns through the first two weeks save for a field goal, it is enough to raise concern for them.
Using a 21-0 second half, the Dover Tornadoes took control of a tenuous contest buoyed by two third quarter touchdowns and systematically evaporated the clock and buried the visiting Wildcats in a larger crater sized ditch translated in the form of a wire-to-wire 31-3 ravaging of Canton South Friday night in front of a healthy crowd at Crater Stadium.
Last season, both offenses owned the spotlight sans defense in a game where a combined 90 points were scored between the two teams. Only this time, it was Dover's defense that was every bit as destructive as a Category 5 twister as they made life very miserable for a Canton South team still attempting to locate it's footing two games into the season.
South had momentum coming into the second half on the strength of a Landon White 30-yard field goal to conclude the first half trailing 10-3 and the Wildcats recovered an onside kick to start the second half. But their possession stalled at the Dover 47 where they punted and the Tornadoes needed just two plays to strike like lightning as quarterback Jack Judkins took advantage of a breakdown in the South secondary and located teammate Caden Schie for a 65-yard touchdown pass on a wheel route that commenced the beginning of Dover's assault that set the tone for their clock truncating second half.
30th year Dover commander Dan Ifft pointed to his team's durability in keeping South's offense off the field most of the second half.
"Canton South had a great plan coming in. South coach Matt Dennison is a good coach and he's been doing this a long time and they had a size advantage on us with two tight ends and caused a lot of holes in the defense. So in the second half, we made an adjustment in walking up some guys and filling some of those voids and caused a lot of issues with their blocking schemes and things of that nature," Ifft said.
A portent of what was to come arrived on Dover's opening possession. Paced by a 31-yard run by running back Daylen Clark that ventured the Tornadoes into the red zone, Tornadoes quarterback Jack Judkins scored untouched on a 13-yard quarterback keeper to issue Dover a lead they maintained for the duration of the evening.
The Wildcats were led by the hard running of junior running back Xion Culver, who broke the 100 yard rushing plateau on the evening. However the Dover defense made sure to keep South sophomore quarterback Brodee Beegle in front of them and never allowed their offense to get into any kind of form save for several drives that ended in Dover territory courtesy of turning the ball over on downs.
Holding a high powered offense from last season out of the end zone was enough to elicit praise from Ifft.
"I am proud of the defense and how South came back despite holding them without a touchdown to their credit. We only had two possessions in the first half. I have never been a part of that so that was to their (South's) credit. We did a great job of milking the clock in the second half," he said.
Dover was paced by three touchdowns by Judkins with another passing score going to junior running back Justice Hughes in the fourth quarter to complete his scoring for the evening and Schie added a second score on a two-yard run to complete the 21-0 second half.
Canton South moves on to their home opener against Columbus Eastmoor, who at press time is 2-0. The Wildcats are in need of a victory to avoid a potentially brutal 0-3 beginning to a season and have now lost three in a row dating back to a grueling 42-21 state semifinal loss to eventual two-time Division IV champion Cleveland Glenville.
Dover forges ahead on the road for a contest against Millersburg West Holmes and after winning their first two home games while scoring 59 points, Ifft likes where his team is headed but has cautioned them about looking ahead.
"We just have to go one week at a time and get ready for West Holmes and it's our first road game. We just have to keep getting better," he said. "We have to keep getting better one week at a time, one day at a time, one minute at a time. We're not good enough to look ahead. We still have to keep developing."
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