STAFF WRITER

School has been in session less than a week, but Canton's football team faced a final exam-caliber test from Walled Lake Central Thursday afternoon.

Playing without starting quarterback Shawn Little for the first time since the 2002 season, the Chiefs passed the test, 24-20, to extend their home regular-season winning streak to 26 games. Canton's last non-playoff game home setback was Sept. 14, 2001, against a Drew Stanton-led Farmington Hills Harrison contingent.

Little was sidelined by a medical condition that will keep him out for at least the next two weeks, Baechler said.

"It hurt not having Shawn in there," said Baechler, whose team improved to 2-0. "I called in our back-up quarterback (senior Corey Nicoloff) this morning and told him he'd be starting. I thought the offense played okay, but our defense came out a little flat early in the game."

Baechler said Little's absence forced a re-structuring of the game plan.

"We had to knock out about 10 plays and three formations," he said.

One of the plays that survived the re-structuring was a Nicoloff screen pass to junior running back Deshon McClendon that picked up 21 yards on a key third-and-23 situation with 4:10 left in the game. Junior running back Derek Perino picked up the first down on the next play to set up a Colin O'Shaunessy field goal, putting the Chiefs up 24-20 with 2:39 to play.

"That screen was one of the safe plays we left in," Baechler said. "We got lucky and it came up big for us."

The Vikings drove into Canton territory with 1:10 to go, but their fate was sealed when Canton's Marwan Faraj pounced on a fumble on a fourth-and-two run. It was Faraj's first defensive play of the afternoon.

"This week we focused on the fact that to beat the best, you have to play your best, and I think the kids did that today," said first-year Central coach Bob Meyer. "When we fell behind (14-0) early, a lot of teams would have folded, but to the kids' credit, they kept playing hard and got back into the game.

"Anyone who saw our first game (a 28-14 loss to Milford) would tell you that we got a lot better from week one to week two."

Six minutes into the game, it appeared as if Canton was on the way to another home rout. McClendon scored on a 53-yard sprint at the 10:44 mark and again with a one-yard plunge four minutes later to put the Chiefs ahead, 14-0. O'Shaunessy's right leg accounted for both extra points.

The Vikings got back into the game on their second drive of the first quarter when junior quarterback Torrey Stimson connected with Kameron Bonner from 13 yards out. Craig Dropiewski's extra point made it 14-7.

Central knotted the game at 14-14 with 6:19 left in the second quarter when Stimson hooked up with Aziz Atiyeh on a 49-yard scoring strike.

After stopping Canton on downs at the Central 37, the Vikings marched to the Chiefs' 48 before McClendon struck from the defensive side of the ball, picking off a Stimson pass and returning it 21 yards to the Viking 45. Five plays later, McClendon finished what he started by scoring from the one to make it 21-14.

Unfazed, Central manufactured a drive in the final seconds of the first half that resulted in a 35-yard field goal from Dropiewski to bring the visitors to within 21-17.

What message did Baechler deliver to his team at the halftime?

"We did a lot of teaching at halftime; there was no message," Baechler said. "We worked on X's and O's with both the offense and defense right up until the kick-off. Then our defense went out and set the tone right away by stopping them."

Central cut its deficit to 21-20 when Dropiewski drilled a 38-yard field goal with 8:55 left in the game. Canton responded with its biggest drive of the afternoon - a 13-play clock-eater that was capped by a 28-yard field by O'Shaunessy with 2:39 to play to make it 24-20.

The total yards battle was as close as the final score with Canton amassing 278 yards to Central's 276. McClendon enjoyed his second consecutive 100-yard afternoon, ripping off 116 in 17 attempts. Andy Rossow picked up 57 yards on 13 carries and Perino gained 61 on 10.

Mike Denison led Central with 40 yards on 10 carries. Stimson finished 10-of-20 for 161 yards. Atiyeh caught three passes for 89 yards.

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