'Ultimate respect for him': Poochie Snyder plays, punches Canton South's ticket to 8-0
CANTON TWP. — Poochie Snyder's injured pinky finger, his throwing arm, his legs ... all were in working order Friday.
For Canton South's sake, that was real important on senior night against Fairless.
Snyder showed no ill-effect from the finger injury he suffered last week in a 41-35 win over the Falcons. If anything, he reiterated how valuable he was against an upset-minded Fairless team that played its best game of the season.
Snyder ran for three touchdowns and threw a huge 30-yard touchdown pass to Tre Wilson in the final seconds of the first half to help the Wildcats reach 8-0.
"Poochie is really, really good, and I respect that," Fairless head coach AJ Sarbaugh said. "He's what high school sports are all about. He plays three sports. He plays them all well and competes. He was hurt. He could have sat out tonight and he didn't.
"I have the ultimate respect for that kid."
Snyder playing did not come as a big surprise. Earlier this week, the Wildcats found out the finger injury he suffered against Triway was not as bad as first thought. It knocked him out of the second half of a game that saw him break the Stark County career passing yards record.
Snyder returned to practice Tuesday.
"There was some uncertainty coming in as far as play calling and what we could do, but it has progressed and healed since then," Snyder said. "We really opened the playbook, and guys made plays when we had to."
The touchdown pass to Wilson with three seconds left in the first half gave South the lead for good at 28-21. The Wildcats drove 89 yards in just 41 seconds. Snyder was 4 for 4 on the drive.
"It was a big momentum shift," Snyder said. "... With our high-powered offense, that's the type of thing we can do, score with teams like that.
"We had three timeouts, and I don't think we used all three. The playmakers made plays."
Injured fingers can't slow Snyder when he takes off with the football. His touchdown runs came from 35, 38 and 28 yards. The 28-yarder with 2:26 left gave the Wildcats a 41-28 lead.
"He's not throwing the ball 100%. He's about 80%, but his legs really help us," South head coach Matt Dennison said. "And just his leadership ... Poochie is such a great leader."
Rome Cox ran for two touchdowns for the Wildcats, who remain the only unbeaten PAC-7 team after Northwest's loss at CVCA. South plays at Northwest in Week 10.
Fairless quarterback Carson Colucci threw TD passes to Peter Killy, Cam Carl and Gio Moore. Killy also ran for a score.
Colucci's 8-yard TD run with 1:00 left cut South's lead to six and left Fairless an onside kick recovery away from having a shot to win. The Wildcats recovered.
Just as they did against Northwest a few weeks ago, the Falcons (2-6, 1-4) pushed another PAC-7 title contender to the limit.
"I just feel bad for our kids," Sarbaugh said. "The really laid it on the line. No one gave them a chance, and we just came up a little bit short again."
Reach Mike at mike.popovich@cantonrep.com
On X: @mpopovichREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Poochie Snyder, Canton South football beat Fairless, improve to 8-0
