NORTH EASTON, Mass. – Looking to set aside last week’s tough loss to Stoughton in the league opener, Oliver Ames wanted to make sure it set a positive tone from the opening whistle of Friday night’s visit of Canton to Muscato Stadium.
With two touchdowns in its opening two drives, OA was able to get out to an early lead and, behind three scores from senior running back Chad Silva (two receiving and one rushing) and a second-half shutout from the defense, walk away with a 19-7 victory.
“You want to get on top, you want to score early, you want to play from ahead. We got that done tonight,” said OA coach Ed DeWitt. “We had a couple things we liked coming in and executed them pretty well. It takes that kind of execution because they’re super tough, they’re super big, they come after you.”
OA wasted no time in trying to make its mark on the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Wayne Casey (3-of-6, 97 yards) caught the Canton defense with play action and threw a strike to a wide open Jordan Young for 66 yards down to the Canton 14. Three plays later, on fourth and two from the six, Canton jumped offsides to gift the Tigers a first down. Silva took the next snap, went around the left side, and raced to the pylon for a three-yard touchdown.
Penalties would be an issue for the Bulldogs all night, hampering the offense’s attempts to move the ball. After a first down on the first possession, Godson Ofonagoro’s big run was brought back by a holding call. Silva stuffed Canton QB Owen Lane (18 carries, 101 yards) for a loss to bring up third and long and Thomas Whiteside broke up a pass to get the ball back for the Tigers.
“We just made too many mistakes,” said Canton coach Anthony Fallon. “We’re hurting ourselves on offense. We just couldn’t find a way to get too much going tonight. We have some things we need to clean up.”
OA’s offense went right back to work, marching 76 yards in eight plays to add to its lead. Silva (19 carries, 90 yards) was the main man, getting the ball five times and breaking off runs of 17 and 18 yards to help get into the red zone. On third and 11, Casey again caught the Bulldogs, faking a jet sweep to the left and finding Silva, who had leaked out of the backfield on the right, for a 21-yard score.
The extra point was blocked, but the hosts led 13-0.
Canton was also coming off a tough loss in its league opener and looked in need of a spark. A penalty on a punt return backed them up to their own eight with time winding down in the half, but the Bulldogs wouldn’t fold.
Lane broke away for a 47-yard keeper to move the ball out to the OA side of the field. On third down, the Bulldogs got a break when Lane’s pass was broken up by Nick Ferrini, but Silva was called for roughing the passer. Ofonagoro (15 carries, 73 yards) would gain 10 on third and five and then on the next play he cut inside the left tackle, finding a seam for a 13-yard touchdown.
With just 38 seconds left in the second, the visiting sideline came to life and it looked like Canton was going to take momentum into halftime. Ferrini had a different idea. He returned the ensuing kick 76 yards, all the way to the Canton 10. On first down, Casey flipped a pass to Silva, who was able to snatch the low throw and find the end zone. The conversion attempt failed on a sack by Hayden Rose.
In just 19 seconds, Canton went from going into halftime down just six points to being back down by two scores.
“It was a dagger,” Fallon admitted. DeWitt said, “Nick does kind of what he’s been doing for us all year. He makes a huge play. Wayne makes a great throw to Chad, who picks it off his shoe tops, gets in the end zone, and we’re back at it. It’s a huge turning point.”
OA had chances to put the game away in the third quarter, but the Tigers couldn’t put together the plays on offense to take advantage. A 72-yard touchdown run by Jack Morley was wiped out by a holding call and, after back-to-back first down runs, a fumbled hand-off stalled the drive.
A bad snap led to a Canton fumble and Donovan Howard pounced on it at the Bulldogs 26, but Charlie Cox and Ruairi Ritson sacked Casey for an 11-yard loss on first down and OA ended up having to punt.
It was big plays by the OA defense that was keeping the Bulldogs at arm’s length. Silva and Jake Manthous combined to stuff a jet sweep for a loss of four and on fourth and one Harry Leventhal came up with a big sack of Lane to force a turnover on downs.
DeWitt said, “Our guys play both ways. So, if they’re playing poorly on offense, we talk about resiliency all the time, you’ve got to be able to snap into defensive mode and just stop them.”
After a three-and-out, Canton got the ball back with four minutes to play. Lane (4-of-13, 32 yards) hit James McCool for a sliding grab to convert third and five, but three plays later Morley sniffed out a screen pass to force fourth and 10.
Mathous pressured Lane into an incomplete pass and Silva sealed the win with a seven-yard burst on third and short, so the Tigers could take a knee.
“Six (Silva) is a handful,” said Fallon. “He’s a hard guy to bring down. We tried to go low and take out his legs but he just lowered his shoulders and ran through some guys.”
Oliver Ames (3-2) will have a short week before hosting the Tiger Bowl against Taunton on Thursday. Canton (3-2) has a bye week before a trip to Martinelli Field to face Foxboro.