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CANTON--Time after time, Canton appeared down for the count only to rise up and keep fighting. With the odds stacked against them in the final three seconds, they almost pulled off a near miracle, too, but a Hail Mary pass bounced off the receiver’s hands as time expired.
Canton has won 70 of its last 83 games since 2018. Saturday at Miller A. Moyer Stadium was one of those times. But the effort again showed that Canton could not be defeated.
Bailey Gardner ran for 106 yards and three touchdowns, Ben Fitch totaled 170 yards and three scores, and Canton erased a 14-point second quarter deficit to take a fourth quarter lead. Quarterback Connor Davidson, however, produced a video game like performance, generating 395 yards and six touchdowns while helping Athens win a 48-42 thriller.
Davidson scored a game-winning two-yard touchdown with :44.8 seconds remaining before Canton drove to the Wildcat 37-yard line and nearly pulled off an amazing finish.
"They gave themselves a shot," Canton coach Tyler Sechrist said. "We had a legit shot at the end to win the game and it just shows that they don’t quit. I’m proud of them no matter what happens."
Canton (2-1) dropped just its second league game in five years but came thundering back after Athens scored the game’s first 14 points and threatened to land an early knockout blow. Instead, Canton started throwing haymakers, scoring 20 straight second-half points before taking second-half leads of 28-21, 35-28 and 42-35.
Both teams grew tired, but neither stopped competing hard and the result was one of the year’s most exciting District 4 games. Canton and Athens combined for 90 points, 757 yards and four lead changes. Whenever one team seemed on the verge of taking control, the other came storming back.
That included after Davidson’s fourth touchdown run put Athens ahead, 48-42. Canton blocked the extra point and took over at its own 35-yard line with :39.4 seconds remaining and one timeout. Fitch (103 passing yards, 67 rushing) found Aydin Holcomb for 22 yards and Zack Colton for 10 before ripping off a 26-yard run. Suddenly, Canton had a first down at the Athens 33-yard line and 21 seconds left.
Adam Kemp prevented a touchdown pass to Holcomb, batting the ball away in the middle of the end zone following an intentional grounding penalty. Canton took its last timeout with 2.2 seconds remaining and the line gave Fitch time to loft the ball into the end zone’s right corner. The receiver nearly hauled in the pass but was unable to hold on as Athens (2-1) celebrated one of its biggest wins over the past five seasons.
"They’re going to face that adversity, so you might as well get punched in the mouth and see how they react to it. I was happy with the way they reacted," Sechrist said. "They kind of settled in and we got going. It was a really good football game. We’re on the wrong end of it, but I’m sure it was exciting to watch and proud of my guys that they kept fighting."
If not for Davidson’s virtuoso performance, that fight likely would have produced another Canton victory. No doubt, it was a complete Athens performance with all the players contributing in big ways to the win, but Davidson was the engine which powered the machine.
After starting every game as a freshman last year, Davidson has developed into one of the district’s premier dual threat quarterbacks and was unstoppable at times, gaining hard-earned yards even when Canton defenders were in the position to make plays, as he either ran through or around then. Davidson ran for 207 yards and four touchdowns, threw for 188 yards and two scores and found Sean Peters for a game-tying 24-yard touchdown with 7 minutes, 54 seconds remaining.
Big runs by Gardner and Holcomb set up Canton at the Athens 23-yard line on the ensuing series, but Athens dropped Fitch for a 5-yard loss on the next play before going 72 yards for the game-winning score. Davidson found Lucas Persun for 35 yards on a screen play before going 17 yards on the next play and scoring the game-winner two plays later.
"Athens has a good football team and that Davidson kid is a lot of trouble. We tried to set some stuff up for him. He just creates a lot of problems," Sechrist said. "Give Athens credit. That young team is coming around. Coach (Shawn) Bradley is doing a fine job there and they didn’t quit either."
Canton’s special teams helped fuel a big second quarter turnaround after Davidson’s two touchdowns put Athens up 14-0. Gardner’s 70-yard kickoff return created a short field and Gardner scored his first touchdown six plays later on an eight-yard run. Following a long Holden Ward return, Canton needed just one play to make it a one-point game, Gardner following a big block up the middle on a 25-yard touchdown run.
Canton then put together its best drive of the day late in the half, going 86 yards on 14 plays with Fitch’s 3-yard touchdown giving it a 20-14 lead. Following an Athens punt, it appeared Canton would take that advantage into the halftime. But after being pinned at its 5-yard line and Athens having no timeouts, the Warriors ran a play, fumbled and Peters returned it for a go-ahead score that had Athens up, 21-20 at halftime.
Unfazed, Monte Whitehead stormed through the line and blocked a punt which set up Gardner for a six-yard touchdown run on the next play as Canton went back in front, 28-21. The teams started trading scores at that point with Fitch’s 15-yard touchdown run following a Davidson to Keegan Congdon 40-yard scoring connection.
Davidson tied it again, 35-35 late in the third, scoring on a nine-yard run, but Canton quickly answered. This time, Fitch found Holcomb in the flat and Holcomb (6 catches, 78 yards) did the rest, his 23-yard touchdown putting Canton ahead, 42-35 with 10:57 left.
"There were a lot of times they could have given up, but they just have that fight inside them," Sechrist said. "They’re not going to quit."
Canton was playing without leading tackler, linebacker Dawson Burgess but Michael Beers played a strong game up front on both sides of the ball and made six tackles, adding a sack. Fellow lineman Isiah Colton recovered a fumble which set up a touchdown and Ward made 11 tackles. Fitch added 10 tackles and completed 10 of 15 passes for 103 yards.
Canton lost an early season game for the first time since 2017, but a team which has played in five of the last six District 4 Class A championships has the big picture in mind. It’s not about looking back now; just ahead.
"You learn a lot more from a loss than you do a win. I don’t know who said this but when you win you’re never as good as you think you are and when you lose you’re never as bad as you think you are," Sechrist said. "Coming out of that South Williamsport game (the previous week), I think we thought we were a little better than what we were. We got humbled today and we’re going to learn from this and use it going forward."
Athens 48, Canton 42
Athens 14 7 14 13―48
Canton 0 20 15 7―42
First Quarter
A--Connor Davidson 1 run (Adam Kemp kick), 6:54
A--Davidson 31 run (Kemp kick), 1:28
Second Quarter
C--Bailey Gardner 8 run (kick blocked), 10:31
C--Gardner 25 run (Alexis McRoberts kick), 8:06
C--Ben Fitch 3 run (McRoberts kick), 1:12
A--Sean Peters 5-yard fumble return (Kemp kick), :13
Third Quarter
C--Gardner 6 run (Gardner run), 7:32
A--Keegan Congdon 40 pass from Davidson (Zachary Fisher kick), 4:42
C--Fitch 15 run (McRoberts kick), 4:20
A--Davidson 9 run (Fisher kick), 1:32
Fourth Quarter
C--Aydin Holcomb 23 pass from Fitch (McRoberts kick), 10:57
A--Peters 24 pass from Davidson (Fisher kick), 7:54
A--Davidson 2 run (kick blocked), :44.8
TEAM STATISTICS A C
First Downs 20 13
Rushes-yards 53-275 33-191
Passing yards 188 103
Comp-Att-Int 9-17-0 10-17-1
Total yards 463 294
Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-1
Penalties-yards 7-64 5-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Athens, Connor Davidson 34-207, 4 TD; Lucas Persun 14-56; Brendan Cooke 4-15; Team 1-(-3). Canton, Bailey Gardner 18-106, 3 TD; Ben Fitch 8-67, 2 TD; Aydin Holcomb 5-12; Holden Ward 2-6.
PASSING: Athens, Davidson 9-17-0, 188 yards, 2 TD. Canton, Fitch 10-15-0, 103 yards, TD; Ward 0-1-0; Holcomb 0-1-1.
RECEIVING: Athens, Gage Marmor 2-60; Keegan Congdon 2-47, TD; Sean Peters 2-42, TD; Persun 1-35; Adam Kemp 1-2; Connor Garrison 1-2. Canton, Holcomb 6-78, TD; Zack Colton 2-24; Ward 1-5; Gardner 1-(-4).
INTERCEPTIONS: Athens, Kemp.
SACKS: Canton, Michael Beers.
RECORDS: Athens 2-1. Canton 2-1.