CANTON -- Canton's Julian Smith wasn't sure he could play heading into Friday's Western Lakes championship game against Westland John Glenn, after pulling a hamstring muscle in practice this week.

It only took one play to find out that his hamstring was just fine.

Smith took the game's opening play 66 yards for a touchdown and the Chiefs never looked back, downing Glenn, 39-0.

"I wasn't expecting that play at all because I was coming in here with an injury and wasn't 100 percent," Smith said. "Things just went on like they did, everyone blocked, and I was able to bust a long run."

Canton Coach Tim Baechler wasn't expecting a score that quickly either.

It didn't look like Glenn was ready to play. They didn't line up correctly or something," Baechler said. "We just ran a basic play that I was hoping to get four yards from and pow, we took it all the way."

Smith scored the very next time he touched the ball for Canton, which reassured Baechler that he was just fine.

Everyone knows Canton can score -- the Chiefs entered the game averaging 45 points -- but the reason the second-ranked Chiefs are 8-0 is that their defense is holding opponents under six points a game,

including three shutouts.

"We have only given up 46 points all year, knock on wood, and our defense leads us," Baechler said. "We are certainly proud of our offense and we want to score points, but our defense is our real strength. Our defense gives us great field position and we usually have a short field to travel on to score points."

That defense showed its might Friday, holding a very good Glenn offense to only 48 first-half yards and made standout quarterback Vinnie DeLuca a non-factor. Glenn (6-2) entered the game averaging more than 32 points.

DeLuca finished the game only 8-of-25 passing for 55 yards, with an interception.

"It was rainy and wet but the rain didn't really prevent us from doing what we normally do, Canton did that," Glenn Coach Todd DeLuca said.

Already leading, 14-0, Canton's Deshon McClendon added a seven-yard touchdown with 8:04 remaining in the first half to give Canton a 20-0 advantage.

A Glenn fumble with just 14 seconds left before the half guaranteed the Chiefs a 20-0 halftime advantage.

hings got even worse for Glenn in the second half. Rainy and windy conditions only hindered attempts to get back into the game with its passing game.

"We didn't have time to do much of anything back there and the weather sure didn't help things either," DeLuca said.

Chuck Shumaker put the game away for good at the 3:10 mark in the third quarter with a 30-yard touchdown run that made it 26-0.

Canton added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter on runs of 15 and seven yards by quarterback Shawn Little and running back Billie Jones, respectively.

Shumaker led all rushers with 78 yards on only 11 carries. Smith finished with 70 yards on four rushes.

Tim Twentyman is a free-lance writer.