For the first quarter of Friday nights game at Memorial Stadium, it looked as if the Commerce High School Tigers would devour the Canton Eagles.
Well, looks can be deceiving, as the Tigers so painfully found out in a 37 -17 loss to the Eagles.
Commerce struck first three minutes into the game, as Landon Allen, the Tigers star quarterback, ran 41 yards to pay dirt to put Commerce up 7-0.
After a Canton three-and-out, Commerce struck quickly on it’s second position of the game.
Derek Johnson, the Tigers leading rusher on the night, gained one yard, followed by a Landon Allen completion to Derek Hines to give the Tigers a first down.
Johnson then ran for a 28-yard touchdown to put Commerce up 13-0. Jake McCarthy’s extra point put the Tigers up 14 -0 and it seemed that the rout was on and the Commerce Tigers would be off to a 2-0 start.
But then things began to unravel for Commerce, in the second quarter Canton began to get it’s highly powered offense on track, as Casey Bell, the Eagle quarterback completed passes to Trent Termin for a 25-yard gain, followed by a completion to Keavon Milton for four yards.
Then the Eagle ground attack, led by Zack Cummings, started picking apart the Tiger defense with a 6-yard gain, followed by a 5-yard gain to set the Eagles up in Tiger territory with a first and ten.
Bell followed with a run of 15 yards to set up a first and goal for the Eagles at the Tiger one.
Bell called his own number again and ran it in for the touchdown, making it 14-6 Commerce.
Canton then surprised everyone by going for a two-point conversion run, which Bell ran in making it 14-8 Commerce.
From there it was pretty much all Eagles, as Commerce marched down to the Canton four-yard line only to be pushed back by a penalty.
Then Jake McCarthy, the Tigers usually reliable kicker, missed a short field goal.
The Eagles were driving for the go ahead score right before halftime only to be stopped as Commerce’s Chris Anderson intercepted the pass in the end zone to snuff out the Canton drive. With the 14-8 Commerce advantage at the half, it appeared this game would go down to the wire. But on the second half kickoff, Canton’s Eric Stewart had a 28-yard kickoff return.
Cummings, the Eagles running back had a 23-yard gain to get the Eagles into Tiger territory with a first and ten.
Casey Bell, the Canton quarterback found Grant Franklin with an 8-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14. Bell kicked the extra point putting Canton up 15-14.
Commerce would kick a field goal to open the fourth quarter, Jake McCarthy’s 24-yard kick gave the Tigers a 17 to 15 lead.
That would be the last highlight for Commerce.
Canton mixed the run and pass to perfection in the fourth quarter when CaseyBell ran 49 yards for the score to give Canton a 22-15 lead.
After a Commerce three-and- out, Canton struck again, as Bell threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Cummings. Cummings, the Eaglesleading rusher with over 100 yards in the game scored on a two-point conversion run that gave Canton a 30-17 lead.
The Eagles added another touchdown on a 4-yard run by Judd Brown with Renegar’s PAT giving Canton it’s final margin of victory 37-17. With the win Canton goes to 2-0, while Commerce falls to 1-1.