The boys hosted their second home game in a row at home against the Parishville-Hopkinton Panthers. They took care of the Panthers soundly to record their second win of the season.
Canton came out firing creating a rush in the first minute which missed just wide. The game became a back-and-forth bout with chances for both teams. Canton’s defense stifled the Panthers’ attack as senior Will Mcdonough shut down Parishville offensive threats multiple times and stopper Aaron Rosales continued to be a centerpiece in ball movement for the Bears.
The Canton offense struck in the 31st minute when Wyatt Francey sent in a corner kick. Simone Leonardelli gathered the ball and launched a bar-down shot to notch one for the Bears. This 1-0 lead carried into halftime.
Parishville turned it up a level coming out of halftime. Three minutes after a breakaway save from goalkeeper Sean McCluskey in the 41st minute, Parishville fought their way through Canton’s defense, knocking down sweeper Matt Holbrook in the process, and put the ball in the back of the net to tie the game.
Canton’s play only got better after this goal. After multiple attempts from seniors Griffin Coakley and Colden Francey were turned away, Will Andes headed the ball in from a Wyatt Francey corner kick in the 53rd to take back the lead.
Ten minutes later, Will Andes would score his second goal of the day when he stole the ball in the offensive end, dribbled it calmly into the box, and placed it in the lower-left corner to make it a 3-1 lead.
Griffin Coakley got in on the scoring a few minutes later by ripping off a beautiful top-right corner blast from the edge of the 18-yard box to put the score at 4-1 and seal the game.
Parishville got one more after nice moves from their forward when he chipped it over Mcdonough and beat McCluskey one-on-one to the right side to cut the lead to two. But it wouldn’t be enough to make a comeback.
The game ended with Canton dominating in their offensive end. Juniors Jackson Zebedee and Max Decoteau made good passing plays off of the bench for the Bears.
Canton takes it on the road Friday, September 25 to Salmon RIver to play their third league game of the year.