November 6, 2004
BY MICK MCABE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Novi defensive tackle Ryan Pritchard was in the middle of explaining his fourth-down tackle on Novi's 2-yard line Friday when he changed the subject to a different goal-line stand.
"Did you see that play No. 9 made on the 1?" he asked. "Now that was a great play."
Pritchard was referring to Kevin Cislo's tackle late in the second quarter that thwarted another Canton drive and helped Novi beat the Chiefs, 20-0, in a Division 1 district final at Canton.
The victory sends Novi into next Friday's regional final home game against South Lyon, which the Wildcats beat, 20-0, earlier this season.
Canton (10-1) entered the game with 445 points, but the Chiefs couldn't score even though they had ample opportunity and 235 yards of offense.
"We moved the ball all right," said Canton coach Tim Baechler. "We had the halfback pass for a touchdown that was called back, and we were stopped at the 2 and the 1. We could have had three touchdowns, but we didn't.
"That's a great team. We had our opportunities. I wouldn't say they stopped us, but they deserved to win."
Nobody deserved to win as much as Cislo, who also serves as Novi's quarterback and punter. He set up his team's first score by recovering a fumble at midfield. On the next play he fired a bomb to Chris Dalton for a 7-0 lead.
"That wasn't too good a pass," Cislo said with an embarrassed grin. "Chris made a great play to stop and come back for it."
Canton followed by marching to the Novi 2, but Canton fumbled the snap and Pritchard made the tackle, giving the Wildcats (9-2) the ball at their 3.
Cislo then engineered a 12-play, 97-yard drive capped with his 13-yard option run for a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
Canton may have lost the game on the ensuing drive, moving to Novi's 1 when Cislo came up and made a fourth-down tackle with 18 seconds left in the first half.
"I had an arm on his jersey and held on for dear life," Cislo said. "Then our linebacker came around and nailed him. He cleaned his clock. He made a great play."
Cislo changed field position in the third quarter with his 64-yard punt, and Josh Wood's interception led to a Cislo one-yard sneak for the final score with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
Novi moved the ball at will, gaining 233 of its 283 yards on the ground.
"Our offensive line, Ryan Pritchard at center and Eric Deighton and Kevin Hong at guards -- those three guys in the middle -- and the tackles, did a great job," said Novi coach Tab Kellepourey.
"Our defensive coaches did a great job preparing for this game.
"What are you going to say? That was pretty suggestive of a pretty good team on our sideline."
Canton had a pretty good team on its sideline, too, but Cislo and his teammates are the ones headed to the regionals.
"They're a great team, but our coaches prepared us for this," Cislo said. "We pulled off what nobody thought we would be able to do."
Contact MICK McCABE at 313-223-4744 or mccabe@freepress.com.