Aiden Richardson, Hayden Towle and John Wilcox scored touchdowns, and the Canton defense produced an interception and a safety to lead the Golden Bears varsity football team to a 26-8 win over St. Lawrence Central on Friday night in Brasher Falls.
The win was the first for first-year Golden Bear head coach Rico Dobbs and moved Canton to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in Northern Athletic Conference play.
“I think our guys played hard and we took some steps in the right direction,” said Dobbs. “We are going to have to build off that momentum and really focus at practice this week with Gouverneur coming to town Saturday.”
Richardson got Canton on the scoreboard with his first varsity touchdown, scoring on a pass from Charlie Todd on 4th-and-goal from the St. Lawrence Central 14-yard line. Wilcox punched the ball in on the ground on the 2-point conversion attempt to give the Golden Bears an 8-0 lead halfway through the second quarter.
The Bears doubled the lead late in the third quarter on a drive that featured two big plays — a 21-yard reception by Josh Ayrassian that the senior back acrobatically juggled as he ran for 5-10 yards downfield before tucking it away, and a 30-yard run by Wilcox. Towle capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run, with Ayrassian running in for the 2-point conversion.
St. Lawrence Central cut the lead in half when Ayden Beach broke several tackles to score on a 50-yard pass play from Damien Ashley on the following drive in the final minute of the third quarter.
The two teams traded interceptions on the next two drives, but the Bears ended up with the better end of the trade, as John Gidney picked off Ashley at the 50-yard line and returned the ball 48 yards to give Canton a 1st-and goal at the 2-yard line. Wilcox scored his first touchdown of the season on a 5-yard run two plays later, and Todd converted the 2-point conversion on a quarterback keeper to give the Bears a 24-8 lead.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Canton defense put the game away when Ashley threw the ball away in the end zone and was assessed an intentional grounding penalty for a safety.
Wilcox totaled 72 rushing yards on seven carries, while Towle had 40 yards on 12 carries. Ayrassian made three catches for 48 years to lead Canton’s receivers. Landon Perry got his first varsity action at quarterback in Canton’s final series of the game, completing one pass for 20 yards and successfully running out the clock for the victory.
Ryan Faunce and Towle both had five tackles to lead Canton’s defense, which held the Larries to just 93 yards of offense.
Canton will host Gouverneur, a 28-16 winner over Massena last weekend, on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on John Oliver Field.
