MMHSAA Championship Review

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>#2 Canisius @ #1 St. Francis</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6 of the last 7 championship games in the MMHSAA have been between the Crusaders and the Red Raiders with one of these teams emerging as Champs for the past 14 seasons (Canisius winning 8 while St. Francis has won 6).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This Championship game was a barn burner with several lead changes. It featured three Connolly Cup finalists; Canisius RB [player_tooltip player_id='778700' first='Elijah' last='Kimble'], St. Francis QB [player_tooltip player_id='501394' first='Trent' last='Buttles'] and his RB [player_tooltip player_id='1202404' first='Tyrone' last='Clark Jr']. Canisius started the scoring on a 1-yard over the pile dive by Kimble. The Crusaders showed some defensive prowess on the following drive with a nice sack by freshman, Terrance Shuford. But that did not deter the Red Raiders as [player_tooltip player_id='501394' first='Trent' last='Buttles'] hit [player_tooltip player_id='1467402' first='Mason' last='Anderson'] on a 73 yard bomb to tie the game. The Crusaders then followed up with Kimble's 2nd TD, set up by a nice throw from [player_tooltip player_id='1364052' first='Matteo' last='Brusco'] to Jack Culinan. On St. Francis ensuing drive, Buttles would hit WR [player_tooltip player_id='1649124' first='Aiden' last='Hopwood'] twice; first on a 40 yard rocket of a pass then later on a 10-yard TD. Elijah's 3rd TD of the game would keep the Crusaders ahead 20-13 but a [player_tooltip player_id='501394' first='Trent' last='Buttles'] 1-yard plunge and a [player_tooltip player_id='1814247' first='Jacob' last='Janis'] Xpt would tie the game up once again. But before the half would end, Canisius would go on a drive that would convert two 4th down conversions; an [player_tooltip player_id='1345135' first='Amir' last='Hernandez'] run at midfield followed by another TD run by [player_tooltip player_id='778700' first='Elijah' last='Kimble']. The Red Raiders entered the 3rd quarter down 27-20 but came into the second half firing. Buttles made a huge throw to [player_tooltip player_id='747257' first='Matt' last='Zielinski'] that set up Hopwood's 2nd TD. Janis' Xpt tied it again at 27. Canisius responded with Kimble's 5th TD but the Red Raiders would tie the game yet again on a 3-yard TD by [player_tooltip player_id='1202404' first='Tyrone' last='Clark Jr']. St. Francis would respond by making the first defensive stop of the game as [player_tooltip player_id='1953118' first='Andre' last='Amos III'] broke up a pass on 4th and long. Early in the 4th, Hopwood would make an acrobatic catch that put them in the Redzone. That catch set up Clark's 2nd TD and the Red Raiders first lead of the game, 41-34. Late in the 4th, Canisius WR Culinan made an astonishing catch that put the Crusaders in scoring position. [player_tooltip player_id='1339477' first='Jason' last='Love'], another Crusader WR, made a solid 3rd and long play that made it 4th and manageable. But on 4th down, [player_tooltip player_id='1639440' first='Kaiden' last='Wright'] made a defensive stop that will send the Red Raiders to the State Championship next weekend.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->