Bulldogs dominate Randolph in season’s 1st win

For the first time this season, the CHS football team dominated from start to finish, amassing over 300 yards on the ground en route to a convincing 42-6 win over Randolph Friday night at CHS.

Junior Sterlin Garvin (Mike Barucci photo)

With the new MIAA scheduling in place as part of the revised playoff system, Canton, classified as a Division 4 school, was put on a par with other teams with similar records, starting with neighboring Randolph at 0-7.

This week, Canton (1-7) travels to Taunton to face an 0-8 Coyle Cassidy team and then travels to face Dedham (2-6) on Saturday, November 15, at 1 p.m. Dedham beat Coyle Cassidy 21-14 last week.

Friday night was all Canton as the Bulldogs were able to dominate at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Linemen Trevor Ruane, Frank Powers, Waleed Chakir, Selwyn Rogers, Tommy Glynn, and James Bourikas opened huge holes for the running backs as several of them had big games. Junior Sterlin Garvin opened the game with a 57-yard run and finished with 124 yards on the ground. He was one of nine Bulldog rushers who touched the ball Friday night, with Kevin Wing amassing 76 yards and Matt Bagley adding 39 yards. Quarterback Brian Hagan ran for 29 yards, and junior Tim Gutowski chipped in with 18, including a three-yard touchdown run.

Canton used several long drives to control the clock and passed sparingly, but when they went to the air, Hagan took advantage of one-on-one coverage on talented receiver Derrick Harris, who caught two over-the-shoulder touchdown passes of 37 and 30 yards. Harris also set up another touchdown drive with a long punt return.

Canton’s other touchdowns were scored on a 12-yard run by Wing and a three-yard pass from Hagan to Tommy Galvin. Canton led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, 28-0 at the half, and 35-0 at the end of the third. The Bulldogs’ second unit on both offense and defense played the entire fourth quarter. Randolph scored its lone score late in the game, set up by a long pass.

Canton had no turnovers and few penalties. On defense, the team had two interceptions — one by Hagan and the other by sophomore linebacker Joe Bires. Both Bires and another sophomore, Jake Ragusa, each had a strong game with five tackles. Junior Paul Lindor had an impressive defensive showing in the fourth quarter with a sack and a tackle in the backfield on successive plays, and sophomore Kyle Kodzis recovered a fumble late in the game.

After the game, CHS head coach Dave Bohane, who returned to the sideline after having surgery on his Achilles, said the win showed the team’s continued improvement and hard work in the weight room.

“We faced a school our size and our hard work by our players showed,” he said. “On both sides of the ball, it starts in the weight room as our execution was critical for us. We continue to improve and that’s a very good sign, especially for our younger players.”

Bohane added that he likes the new schedule because under the former schedule, Canton would have been on the road against a Hockomock League large school opponent with a great record. “Now, we are facing schools with similar teams and records,” he said. “We can build on this, especially with a young team.”

There are three Hockomock Davenport Division teams in the playoffs. Based on school population, Stoughton plays in Division 3 Southwest and recently beat Hingham 14-7. Oliver Ames, winner of the Davenport Division and undefeated at 8-0, beat Medfield 49-14, and Sharon, classified as a Division 3 Southeast team, entered the playoffs with a 2-5 record and lost 35-7 to Plymouth South.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Nov 7 2013. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.