Canton reclaims league title with 20-14 triumph Moores than enough

BY ED WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER

Canton's Nick Moores invented a new form of anti-freeze during the opening seconds of Thursday night's WLAA conference championship football game.

On a brutally cold, windy night that was better suited for ice-fishing, Moores sent a heat wave through the Chiefs' sidelines and the home crowd when he returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown against Walled Lake Central.

The quick-strike play, combined with a stellar performance from the Chiefs' defense, led Canton to a 20-14 victory over the Vikings.

The Chiefs will take an 8-0 record into Friday's regular-season finale at home against 0-8 Salem.

It was the fourth WLAA title Canton has earned in Tim Baechler's nine-year head-coaching tenure. Central, which had outscored its opponents 300-86 heading into Thursday's title clash, dropped to 6-2.

"They kicked the ball right to me and I went right up the middle," Moores said, recalling his tone-setting 80-yard return. "I got one key block then it was wide open. I was so excited that I started yelling as I got close to the end zone. I wasn't saying anything in particular, just screaming."

"It was a great way to start a big game like that," said Baechler, speaking of Moores' game-opening sprint. "Putting seven points on the board in the first few seconds gave us a lot of momentum."

Moores, a first-year senior transfer student from Novi Catholic Central, also paced the Chiefs' ground game with 55 yards on 17 carries.

"We run basically the same offense we ran at CC, so I knew what I was doing right away when I came over here," said Moores. "But I had to improve on a lot of things, especially blocking, which is something coach Baechler has really helped me with. Our offense is all about running people over and running hard."

The Chiefs expanded their lead to 20-0 before the Vikings scored two late TD's to make it close.

"Too little, too late," said Central coach Bob Meyer, referring to his team's fourth-quarter rally. "You can't put yourself in a hole like we did against a good football team like Canton. We had a nice drive going late in the first half, but it fizzled out. It would have been huge to go into the half trailing by just six.

"Canton is a very good football team. They're Division 1 and we're Division 2, so we won't see them in the playoffs, but I told my team before the game that they represent the best team we'll see in the playoffs. They're big and they play with precision, both offensively and defensively."

Baechler said winning the league crown was especially satisfying considering the Chiefs' long list of injuries to key players and because of the disappointment of not winning the first-place trophy last season.

"It feels really good," said Baechler. "We had won three in a row heading into last season and we felt we were the best team last year, but we didn't get it done with the guys we had. Livonia Franklin got it last year and they deserved it.

"We thought it was ours last year, but there was nothing we could do about it except try to get it back this year. It's very satisfying because we've had a lot of injured kids this year, but others have stepped up and done a great job filling in."

Led by their defense -- whose points-allowed-per-game average matched Thursday night's wind chill -- the Chiefs dominated the first half, running 33 offensive plays to Central's 21. The Vikings didn't record a first down until the 1:30 mark of the second quarter.

Canton's mobile, wide-bodied defensive line of Jay Bailey, Donnie Laramie and Wardell Fuqua -- who tip the scales at a combined 840 pounds -- combined with linebackers Colin O'Shaunessy, Dan Wanshon, Bill Turner and Chris Hasse to put the clamps on Central's vaunted Wing-T running game.

And when Viking starting quarterbacks Torrey Stimson (first half) and Cody Rzeznick (second half) tried to pass, they were often thwarted by the Chiefs' defensive backfield of Chris Bogdanski, Chris Woudstra, Deshon McClendon and Derek Perino.

The Chiefs extended their lead to 13-0 with 5:52 left in the second quarter when Moores' 4-yard scoring run capped a clock-eating 12-play, 53-yard drive. The key play in the possession was junior quarterback Adam Powers 10-yard hook-up with tight end Brandon Fender on a third-and-9 from the Viking 28.

Behind Rzeznick, who replaced an ineffective Stimson at the half, the Vikings drove to the Canton 33 before they were stymied on a fourth-and-9 pass play.

Canton then countered with the most significant possession of the game -- a 16-play, 67-yard clock-eater that ended with Powers' third-down, 7-yard TD pass to Fender. O'Shaunessy's extra point made it 20-0.

The Vikings scored a pair of fourth-quarter TDs, the first coming on Kevin Long's 40-yard sprint down the sidelines with 10:07 left in the game. Their last hurrah came on Rzeznick's 1-yard QB sneak with 27 seconds left.

Canton barely outgained Central, 172-167, in total yards, although it dominated the first-down battle, 14-6. Junior fullback Jordan Raiford picked up 29 yards rushing for the winners while Antwaun Hawkins and Powers both churned out 28.

Powers completed 3-of-6 passes for 32 yards.

Long paced the Vikings' sluggish offensive effort with 48 yards rushing -- all but eight coming on his fourth-quarter TD run. Stimson went 2-of-9 passing for 18 yards. Rzeznick was 1-of-3 for 25 yards.

Originally published October 15, 2006