On the first play of the game, Kenston quarterback Parker Gdula was sacked. Unfortunately for the Bombers, that was a preview of what was to come as Canfield shut down Kenston in a 25-7 victory Friday night at Kenston High School’s Bomber Stadium.
The Bombers ran 12 plays in the first quarter and had negative-8 yards of total offense.
Kenston didn’t get anything going until the second half and didn’t score until early in the fourth quarter when a banged-up James Thigpen scored on a 2-yard touchdown run. That pulled the Bombers within 19-7 with 11:46 left in the game, giving the home faithful some hope.
Thigpen didn’t start, but came into the game and led the Bombers in rushing with 12 attempts for 52 yards despite fighting through the effects of a nagging injury.
On the next possession, Charlie Randall intercepted Jake Cummings and it looked like the Bombers had some momentum along with the ball with 8:20 left in the game. However, between the tough Cardinals defense and the weather, the Bombers never got going and Canfield put the game away with a short touchdown run with just 3:08 left in the game.
Kenston coach Jeff Grubich said the Bombers have had to deal with significant injury issues in the early season.
“That’s been the story of our season,” Grubich said. “We have a young football team. We had a negative first play and that put us behind.
“We knew, going into the game, that was a good football team, a physical football team. We just didn’t play well. That’s not on the weather, that’s on us.”
The loss dropped Kenston to 2-1 while Canfield improved to 2-1.
“We have to start fast,” Grubich said. “We can’t start out with those negative plays. Seventy-five percent of the game we played good defense. But there are no excuses.”
A big, physical Cardinal defense spent much of the night in the Bomber backfield as Canfield sacked Gdula four times. Gdula finished just 8-of-22 passing for 48 yards. He added eight rushes for 38 yards.
Grubich was asked about the pass protection that broke down several times.
“We had some glitches there,” Grubich said.
Reserve quarterback Jimmy Burg briefly took over for Gdula after he left the game following a vicious hit that opened up a large cut under his chin. Burg was 1-for-3 passing for 9 yards.
The Bombers went backward on their first possession and set up a short field for the Cardinals, who took advantage with a 36-yard field goal by Ryan Teminsky. That was the beginning of a great night for Teminsky, who was 4-for-4 on field goal attempts.
“My hat’s off to him,” Grubich said. “He’s going to play in college.”
The Bombers went three-and-out on their next possession, and again Canfield had a short field. The Cardinals’ second drive ended with a 43-yard field goal by Teminsky.
After another punt, Canfield got the ball back and, this time, didn’t settle for a field goal as Cummings scored on a 12-yard touchdown run for a 13-0 lead with 9:10 left in the first half.
Cummings led a balanced Canfield ground game as he rushed 15 times for 99 yards. Jared Clark was next with 17 rushes for 73 yards as the Cardinals rushed for 233 yards.
Teminsky added a 28-yard field goal with 40 seconds left in the half as the Cardinals led, 16-0, at halftime.
At halftime, Kenston mustered just three first downs to 11 for Canfield. The Bombers had 55 yards of total offense, to 166 for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals got the ball to start the second half and were forced to punt, but a running-into-the-kicker penalty gave Canfield new life. The Cardinals made due and collected three more points on Teminsky’s 42-yard field goal for a 19-0 lead with 6:47 left in the third quarter.
The game was also marred by 21 penalties, 12 of which were called against the Cardinals.
Next, Kenston will take on Riverside (1-2) Friday at 7 p.m. at Kenston High School, marking Kenston’s first game in the new Western Reserve Conference. The Beavers have played three straight old Chagrin Valley Conference opponents as they lost Perry and West Geauga to open the season before beating rival Harvey, 38-7, last week.