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CONNEAUT LAKE – Friday, September 22, 2006 will be remembered in Crawford County primarily as the day that Maplewood’s Streak finally came to an end.

While the Tigers were finding a way to be on the winning side of their recent losses, the Cochranton Cardinals were working on a streak of their own.

The Cardinals (2-2, 1-2 Region 1) had just three first-half possessions Friday against the Indians of Conneaut Lake (1-3, 1-2 Region 1), but they made the most of them, scoring on three lengthy drives en route to a rather impressive 32-20 Region 1 victory.

“We played better,” said Cochranton coach Tom Haynes, whose club lost back-to-back games after defeating Maplewood in the season opener. “We played much more physical football which is what we need to do to be successful.

“It’s just a matter of us staying with it. You have to keep plugging away, there’s no quit.”

There certainly was no quit in the Cardinals last night. They opened the game with a 12-play, 63-yard drive that led to an early 6-0 lead on Craig Garofola’s 4-yard touchdown plunge off the left side of the offensive line.

Lake’s offense, however, was nearly as good as Cochranton’s in the first half. Down by six, the Indians responded with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown run by Jon Smith.

Running off right and left tackle for a majority of the game, Cochranton came right back with an eight-play drive that culminated with Mick Sheehan’s 5-yard touchdown run to regain their six-point lead.

Lake responded once again with a 12-play drive that reached paydirt when quarterback Matt Morian threw a 15-yard touchdown strike to Robby Stanton on a rollout.

Stanton’s TD catch, which gave his team a two-point lead, came with just 90 seconds left in the first half.

Ninety seconds, however, was all Cochranton needed to reclaim the lead.

Facing fourth-and-11 from their own 34-yard line with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half, Haynes had his Cardinals line up to run a regular play. The move threw off Conneaut Lake, whose punt returner came up in run support as the ball was being snapped. Sheehan broke a 64-yard run through the heart of the Indians’ defense on the play all the way to the Conneaut Lake 2-yard line.