3 takeaways from Canton's Black and Blue Bowl win over Lennox

A Canton player raised a miniature black and blue helmet above his head as his teammates cheered in jubilation.

Not long before, the C-Hawks had stopped a Lennox game-tying drive to win the 2023 Black and Blue Bowl, 28-20, and now, they were reveling in their accomplishment. The helmet – half blue, half black with gold numbers representing the years each team has won the bowl game on each side – doesn’t look much bigger than the player's fist.

“They relish having it in our trophy case,” Canton football coach Rich Lundstrom joked of the tiny helmet.

“Anytime we play Lennox it’s just a little extra for us, and for me especially being from Canton my whole life. It's just been our biggest rivalry forever,” Lundstrom said.

Canton rode their three backs to a comfortable 28-14 lead through three quarters. In the fourth quarter, Lennox quarterback Boston Katzer and wide receiver Porter Ihnen got on the same page long enough to put a scare into the C-Hawks.

Katzer and Ihnen connected six times in a late-game drive for 76 yards and a touchdown to bring the Orioles within a drive of tying the game.

On the next drive Lennox forced a fumble and had a chance to make a game-tying drive with 1:43 left in the game, but on the first pass of the drive Canton defensive back Teague Granum came up with an interception to halt Lennox’s momentum and essentially end the game.

Here’s what we learned from Canton’s 28-20 win over Lennox.

The McCracken-Wallner backfield is lethal, but they have someone else who can help out too

Lundstrom had long been excited to see the McCracken-Wallner backfield take shape and so far, it's worked to perfection.

"It's fun," Lundstrom said of seeing his backfield duo have success. "You know, as an offensive guy, it's fun to draw up things for guys like Cain and Canaan. So, (I'm) up every night watching film of teams and seeing and trying to figure out how we can best get them the ball and get them opportunities to score."

Against Lennox the duo combined for 198 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, 17 receiving yards and 1 receiving touchdown. The highlight of the game might’ve been when Wallner caught a pass from Canton quarterback Braxton Mulder and bulldozed the player covering him all the way to the endzone.

“I've been told a lot that I run too straight up,” Wallner said after the game. “So this game I worked on, putting my shoulders down and just running over anyone. That's my mindset.”

But there was a third back who played a huge part in helping the C-Hawks move down the field throughout the game: Teague Granum.

McCracken and Wallner will receive a lot of the attention and credit, as they should, but Granum's performance can't be ignored. The junior rushed for 95 yards.

“I knew that he had it in him,” Lundstrom said. “He's just behind those two, but he stepped up today.”

Canton’s defense keeps opposing offenses at bay in key moments

While impressive, the Canton offense wasn't perfect by any stretch.

The Lennox defense forced three Canton turnovers, two fumbles and one interception. While those turnovers may have been self-inflicted errors by the C-Hawks, the team’s defense ensured that the Orioles weren’t able to capitalize on those turnovers.

“Some guys really stepped up,” Lundstrom said. “We had some injuries, guys out there playing hurt and I thought they did a pretty good job of holding a pretty explosive team.”

Each time Lennox forced a fumble or picked off a pass, they had to punt the ball back before earning any points.

“I thought our defense played really well,” McCracken agreed. “I felt like we did pretty good, we held them to 20.”

Porter Ihnen and Boston Katzer are more than capable of powering an explosive offense for Lennox

Holding the Orioles to 20 points was an accomplishment for Canton because of what Lennox is capable of on offense, and we saw a glimpse of that in the fourth quarter.

Lundstrom said the game plan was to keep two defenders near Ihnen all game, but the C-Hawks defense couldn't shut him down forever. Ihnen got loose in the fourth when he and Katzer connected time after time, and there was nothing the defense could do about it.

“You can't do much about it because it was like off the back shoulder a lot of (the) times,” McCracken said of the Ihnen’s late-game receptions. “And other times it was like a one-handed catch. So, it's really great coverage but just good plays.”

Katzer and Ihnen connected six times in a late-game drive for 76 yards and a touchdown to bring the Orioles within a drive of tying the game.

Katzer completed 14 of his 31 passes for 185 passing yards and had two passing touchdowns.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: 3 takeaways from Canton's Black and Blue Bowl win over Lennox