Welsh, Canon-Mac complete comeback
CANONSBURG – Not every win pleases a head coach.
Cannon-McMillan’s Mike Evans was happy to beat Baldwin, 30-14.
How it happened? That’s a little different.
Canon-Mac was coming off 49-6 loss at Pittsburgh Central Catholic, who is the favorite to win the WPIAL and maybe the state title in Class 6A.
Canon-Mac’s opponent this week, Baldwin, came in with a 1-4 record, and Evans was hoping to see his team focused on the No. 1 goal from the opening kickoff.
He doesn’t believe that took place.
“We were too worried about what we wanted to wear,” Evans said. “All of our guys were just putting all kinds of accessories on. We don’t do that here. I know some of the guys on Baldwin’s staff, I think they almost took advantage of the fact that we weren’t focused and we didn’t take them seriously.
“Baldwin was a team that was struggling a lot. We gave them a hell of a lot of hope tonight.”
They say a quarterback’s best friend is a good running game.
Whether its Tom Brady or Ryan Leaf, every QB can benefit from a good running back, and this is especially true for a freshman backup.
Canon-McMillan starter Mike Evans Jr.– son Mike Evans– couldn’t play in Friday’s game against Baldwin due to injury.
As a result, Ty Jansma got the start.
Zach Welsh put on a show, scoring all four of Canon Mac’s touchdowns — all in the second half.
He finished the game with 280 yards and the four scores on 30 rushes.
“I think we were relying on him heavily,” Evans said after the game. “I think when you have a quarterback who’s making his first start, regardless of his age, I think you lean on your defense and your running game, and on both those accounts, we were a little bit up and down, but (Welsh) ended up proving valuable. That’s what we did. We didn’t make Ty have to win the game. He made a couple of nice throws, got us out of a couple of jams.”
For Evans, Jansma is continuing to progress in navigating Canon-Mac’s no-huddle offense.
“A week ago, he wasn’t telling the O-linemen the play list. So he’s come a long way. We may need him again, and we’re going to trust him.”
Canon-Mac scored first on its first possession, ending with a 34-yard field goal from Zachary Barzd. It stayed 3-0 through the rest of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Baldwin’s Keith Mincin recovered a fumble. Baldwin capitalized two plays later with the game’s first touchdown, a six-yard run by Andrew Sharp.
Sharp’s biggest run — in terms of yards and impact — came in the second half.
On the first play of Baldwin’s second third-quarter drive, Sharp ran for a 92-yard score to put Baldwin ahead by two scores.
That two-score lead wouldn’t last long. The first play of Canon-Mac’s ensuing drive was the last play of Canon-Mac’s ensuing drive. Zach Welsh ran it 65 yards to the end zone, and all of a sudden, it was an offense-friendly game.
Canon-Mac regained the lead with 11:34 left on another run by Welsh, this one from eight yards.
Welsh had another 65-yard run in the fourth quarter, and bringing the ball to the Baldwin 5. Welsh ran it in one play later to put Canon-Mac up to two scores.
Canon-Mac looks to keep it going next week against Upper St. Clair. Baldwin is at South Fayette.
Overall, Evans hopes his team focuses for the full 48 minutes down the road.
“Wins are hard,” Evans said. “It’s hard to win football games. It’s high school football. Anybody can beat anybody. We just have to get our focus back. I think we were a little bit beat up coming out of Central (Catholic), and we did cut things down a little bit to try to heal up, and I think maybe we the leadership on our team didn’t make sure that we understood that that didn’t mean we were taking anybody lightly. So, in the end, whatever our team does on that field is my fault. So, I don’t know if I had them prepared the right way, but in the second half, they did a nice job of listening to what we were telling them to do and they went out and played a little bit better.”