Strong 2nd half carries Chiefs to win

Richard L. Shook
Special Correspondent

Three touches, three touchdowns. Ball game.

Canton, getting used to its status as a state power, broke away from Livonia Stevenson with three touchdowns on three straight plays early in the second half Friday to turn a close game into a 40-15 Western Lakes Activities Association rout.

"The big plays definitely did it," coach Tim Gabel of the Spartans (2-3) said. "But I was more disappointed in our offense in the first half.

"Our defense gave us good field position and we didn't take advantage of it.

"That was the beginning of the end for us. We had good field position and couldn't do anything with it."

Stevenson clung to a 7-6 lead at halftime but Canton (5-0) tinkered with its blocking assignments and went from 10-squared trickery to 10-cubed.

"We made a couple of adjustments in our blocking," Chiefs' coach Tim Baechler said. "And we ran some different plays. We went to our counter plays a little more."

That could have been one of the keys to the game.

The Spartans sacked the Chiefs' sophomore quarterback Shawn Little for a 7-yard loss after Canton received the second-half kickoff. Devin Thomas gained 10 yards with a pass in the flat, which left it 3rd-and-7.

The Chiefs lined up in a double slotback formation and ran both past Little. The second man by, Travis McKinney, got the ball and zipped 44 yards around the left side to the Spartans' 14. Three plays later junior Julian Smith bulled over from a yard out to give Canton a 12-7 lead.

Stevenson ran three plays and punted, downing the ball on the Canton 42.

McKinney ripped off a 58-yard scoring run up the middle to make it 19-7 and after the Spartans went 3-and-out again, fullback Chuck Schumacher bolted 47 yards up the middle for a touchdown and a 26-7 lead.

Bryon Sieferd intercepted sophomore quarterback Chad Casey's pass on Stevenson's next possession and Canton marched 62 yards in eight plays, getting into the end zone on a 2-yard Thomas run with 1:21 left in the second quarter. That boosted Canton's lead to 33-7.

"They've got an awful lot of weapons," Gabel said. "They've got a lot of ways they can beat you.

"The big plays hurt. I think they had three touchdowns on three touches."

"They really busted loose on those counters," Baechler said. "McKinney did a great job."

Senior Brian Alpert, who alternated at quarterback with Casey, threw touchdown passes of 75 and 74 yards to Keith Hearns, the second coming with 10:43 remaining in the game and drawing Stevenson up to 33-15 after the quarterback ran in the two-point conversion.

But Canton countered with a 16-play, 80-yard drive that ran the clock down to 2:38 after Smith went over from a yard out to score.

Canton stuffed the Stevenson running game, holding the Spartans to just 39 yards rushing in the first half and 52 (on 25 carries) in the game.

Alpert and Casey combined for 198 yards passing, with Hearns collecting the bulk of it on those two scoring tosses. They went 7-for-18 with the one interception.

Little threw five times and completed all of them for 50 yards. He was pretty much on the money, but when he wasn't, the human eraser Thomas would wipe out his mistake with a nice grab and go.

McKinney was the Chiefs' leading rusher with 193 yards gained on 17 carries. Schumacher was 16-for-119 and Smith ran 11 times for 52 yards.

Canton rolled up 396 yards rushing, on 53 carries, after being held to 92 yards rushing in the first half.

"I was pleased with the way our kids prepared to play and came out," Gabel said. "But now we have to bounce back because we're playing another undefeated team (at Walled Lake Central)."

The Chiefs scored on their first possession of the game, with McKinney running off left tackle for a 6-yard score, but they missed the extra point.

The Spartans connected on a 3rd-and-11 play with Hearns hauling it in behind a defender, who fell down after he was beat. Hearns zoomed 75 yards down the left sideline to help Stevenson grab a 7-6 lead.

After that the Chiefs bogged down.

"I don't know what happened after that," Baechler said. "We'd get 10 yards on one play and one yard on the next. We weren't consistent. But give them credit for that."

Now Canton is 5-0 with the toughest part of its schedule behind it.

"We're not perfect yet," Baechler said. "You want to peak at the end of the season.

"If you looked at our schedule before the season you would have said that on paper, the first five would be the best teams we play.

"But we're not going to overlook anybody."

You can't afford it when you aspire to lofty goals.