Canton 34 – Massena 12
Canton’s football team came into this home affair on Senior day and Hall of Fame day 2-2 after a 28-6 loss to Potsdam where Potsdam dominated with the run game all day, but the Bears were seeking redemption on a day where many decorated alumni were present in a packed house in the Bears Den against a Massena team that came into the day straight off of a 51-15 win at home against Malone.
This game had all of the makings of a potential shootout, as both offenses had shown potential in certain games, and both defenses had shown weaknesses previously against strong teams. The first drive showed exactly that potential, as a long, sustained 13 play drive that the Bears effectively mixed up between the pass and the run resulted in a 12 yard Hayden Towle touchdown for the Bears. After a failed 2-point conversion, the Bears found themselves up 6-0 after the first drive. Massena started their first drive out well with a first down, but it stalled on the second series, as the run game was not flying with the Bears defense. A failed 4th down by Massena left Canton with phenomenal field position at the 47 yard line of the Raiders. The Bears quickly capitalized on this, where a blown coverage led Daniel Richardson to be left alone in the secondary for a 47 yard Landon Perry to Richardson touchdown on a one play drive, where after a successful race to the left pylon by Hayden Towle on a 2-point attempt left the Bears up 14-0.
Massena’s defense has now dug a big hole for themselves as Canton was able to establish the run to the best level they had all year, and they’d shown weakness in the pass game. This led to a lot of pressure being put on Massena’s offense. Their 2nd possession saw them at 3rd and 9 from the 40 yard line of their own, and they had an opportunity as Senior quarterback Vincent Monacelli dealt a dart to Drake Love, who dropped a pass at the sticks and left Massena to punt with nothing going on offense once again. Canton started their drive off well with a 16 yard first down pickup, but then, they exploded for a 54 yard run untouched to the end zone by Hayden Towle in the waning seconds of the first quarter to push the Bears lead to a befuddling 20-0.
Midway through the second Massena was consistently finding themselves on 2nd and 3rd and long, but two big passes from Monacelli down the left sideline for 20+ led to the first Raider red zone drive which was capped off by the first points of the game for Massena on a 10 yard touchdown run by Senior RB Mason Deshane, his 5th in two weeks. The Bears were doing an effective job slowing down the run game though, much different from the previous week, as Deshane wasn’t finding much on the ground. Later in the first half, chaos descended. After an interception by Kolby Todd for the Bears, Massena receivers attempted to punch the ball out and this led to a massive brawl stemming to the sidelines that ended the first half early and ejected Asias Frison, a starting lineman for the Bears and Massena star receiver Rohg Bentley. Both were huge losses as the Bears offensive line was blocking very well as a unit and the dynamic playmaking of Bentley left Massena with a void they needed to fill in the second half
The third quarter saw a couple sacks on Perry, which following came Trey Klassen, the Freshman backup quarterback came in unorthodoxically with Perry apparently shaken up on the bench, but he came in a few plays later leaving many wondering what happened. Late in the third quarter after a number of punts and failed 4th downs, the Bears were in plus territory up by 14 when Perry fired a shot deep to TE Jamison Zysik, which set up the Bears with a goal to go situation which ended in Towle’s third touchdown run of the day.
On the kickoff ensuing that touchdown, the Bears kicked it deep to the 22 yard line and Massena receiver Drew Stutz fielded it and took it up the sideline to keep Massena in the game on a 78 yard kickoff return touchdown. The fourth quarter was the Bears chewing clock for the most part, but a big Towle run of 30+ yards set up the Bears in the red zone and Towle scampered to the end zone to cap the drive off and effectively end his day with 180 all purpose yards and 4 touchdowns in the game of the year for the Bears.
The Bears then look ahead with potential suspensions looming to OFA in Ogdensburg and then to a guaranteed Section X class A Championship against Saint Lawrence Central, whom they beat handily in their first meeting. This was by far the most encouraging game of the season, as Massena is no slouch, and from the get go the Canton offense was able to put them to sleep.
