Catholic Central tops the Chiefs, 38-7, in regional title game

Saturday, November 15, 2003

CANTON TWP. - There will be no storybook ending for the Canton High School football team.

The stage was set: The first undefeated team in school history met Detroit Catholic Central - the New York Yankees of Michigan high school football - in front of a record crowd of 7,000 Friday night.

Catholic Central, a two-time defending state champion, wasn't willing to play along. The Shamrocks dominated the regional final, winning 38-7, to advance to next weekend's Division 1 semifinal with Mount Clemens Chippewa Valley.

"We may have played our best game of the year," Catholic Central coach Tom Mach said. "The last couple of games we were sporadic in the first half. We emphasized this week that we had to play a full 48 minutes."

After being tied with Brighton at halftime and falling behind South Lyon by 14 points in its first two playoff games, Catholic Central was in control throughout Friday's game.

"We started this game like we've been finishing them," Mach said.

After falling behind 17-0, Canton got a big play late that seemed to get them back into the game late in the first half.

A 78-yard screen pass from sophomore quarterback Shawn Little to halfback Travis McKinney gave the Chiefs a first down at Catholic Central's 3-yard-line. On 4th-and-goal, Julian Smith put Canton on the board with a 3-yard run. Dutch Morrell's extra point cut the Shamrocks' lead to 17-7 with 1:10 left in the half.

Any potential momentum shift was short-lived, however.

"We wanted to come out in the second half and get a drive going that would stop any momentum they had," Mach said.

It turned out the Shamrocks wouldn't need a long drive. Senior running back Derek Brooks returned the second half kickoff 98 yards for a score.

"That was a back-breaker," Canton coach Tim Baechler said. "We came out after halftime feeling confident, feeling good about ourselves."

Catholic Central put together two more scoring drives for a 38-7 third-quarter lead before Canton had gained a first down.

Brooks also rushed for a touchdown and 97 yards for Catholic Central, which did not attempt a pass all night.

Ryan McKee (62 yards), Eric Votjkofsky (45 yards, TD). Darnell Tyson (36 yards, TD) and Nick Barrett (33 yards, TD) contributed to a Shamrock attack that gained 337 yards on 45 carries.

Canton finished with 129 yards on the ground, 70 of which came on the Chiefs' final drive of the game.

Rich Rezler can be reached at rrezler@annarbornews.com.