COBRA KAI: Ever-improving Canton earns dramatic win over Salem
Canton senior Elliott Patten holds Salem QB Braylen Bowie to a short gain Friday night.
Like the ongoing construction unfolding just east of the P-CEP Varsity Stadium, the Canton football team’s steady rebuild was hard to miss Friday night against 50-years-plus rival Salem.
The head architect of the rebuild — third-year Canton head coach Eric Newton — expressed his joy for all of the Cobras in the moments following their edge-of-your-seat 22-20 triumph over the Rocks.
Newton was especially happy for one group of his players.
“As a coaching staff, this was our first win against another Park school, but I’m more happy for our seniors,” said Newton. “They’ve gone through everything — coaching changes, name changes (from Chiefs to Cobras), a lot of losses — but they battled through it all and are learning how to win.
When going got tough, Cobras got going
“When things got tough tonight, they all stayed together like a family and I’m so proud how they responded to adversity.”
(Check video clip of Canton’s long TD pass from Dylan Parrish to Liam Wilson by clicking here.)
Canton regained one-year ownership of the Sandmann-Cummings trophy, which has gone to the winner of the Canton-Salem football match-up for decades.
After Newton’s post-game address to the Cobras, senior captain Zion Malone held the trophy high above his head, jubilant teammates surrounding him.
Heading into Friday night, Salem had won two straight over the Cobras. It was the first time since 1996-97 that the Rocks had posted consecutive wins over their P-CEP rival.
Like Newton explained during a post-game interview, it would be hard to credit one or two players for the win — although senior Elliott Patten was an absolute warrior on both sides of the ball.
“Dylan Parrish, Alex Ryce, Elliott Patten, our offensive line — heck, everybody pitched in tonight; it was a team effort,” Newton said.
The result left both teams with 2-4 overall records, meaning in all likelihood the Cobras and Rocks need to win all of their final three games to advance to the MHSAA post-season.
Playing in front of a large, fired-up homecoming crowd, the Cobras struck first when Parrish delivered a rainbow TD pass to first-year senior Liam Wilson, who used his 6-foot-7 frame and athleticism to shield the ball from a Salem defensive back just inside the goal line.
Wilson, a star on Canton’s district championship basketball team this past winter, has been a vital addition to the Cobras’ roster after of summer of uncertainty.
“It was a long process getting Liam to play,” Newton shared, smiling. “I talked to him in the spring to gauge his interest. He played some 7-on-7 games with us in the summer and he looked really good, but he was a little hesitant to play football with how well he’s doing in basketball.
“Finally, right before practices started in August, he said he wanted to play and he’s been great. Anytime you can add a 6-7 kid with good hands and his level of athleticism, it’s only going to help.”
Just over three minutes after Canton jumped ahead 7-0 (Trevor Gilbert tacked on the extra point following Wilson’s TD grab), Salem responded with a long drive that was capped with a scoring run by senior quarterback Braylen Bowie to knot the game at 7-7.
Salem nabbed its first lead with 5:42 left in the third quarter when Bowie through a lateral in the right flat to Caleb Chinyadza, who tossed a pass to wide-open Payton Myles to put the Rocks ahead, 14-7.
Just when it appeared the Rocks were headed to their third straight triumph over Canton, the Cobras rebounded with a long scoring drive that finished with Patten’s 2-yard TD run.
Trailing 14-13, Newton gathered with a few of his coaches to discuss going for a two-point conversion.
‘Quite a conversation’
“That was quite a conversation we had,” Newton revealed. “Our offensive coordinator saw something he liked and we decided to go for two.”
Patten did the honors on the go-ahead conversion try, bulling the ball over the goal line to put Canton ahead, 15-14.
The Cobras extended their lead to 22-14 mid-way through the fourth quarter on a keeper by Parrish and Gilbert’s extra point.
Salem wasn’t done, though, as the Rocks scored late to cut their deficit to 22-20.
Running out of the Wildcat formation on the two-point try, Chinyadza was stopped inches short of the goal line by Patten, Jacari Jordan and Nathan Lombardo.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
