Defining moments? Perhaps it came before the game was two minutes old, on Canton's third play from scrimmage.

Reggie Joyner took a pitchout from quarterback Dave Nicoloff and raced around left end, outracing all the Westland John Glenn defenders on a 66-yard run to the end zone to give the Chiefs a 7-0 lead.

Joyner would rush for another 146 yards, scoring two more touchdowns, to lead a Canton ground game that would slice through the Rockets for 431 yards and a 49-27 romp in a first-round Division I state playoff game at Glenn Friday.

The Chiefs, now 9-1, advance to play the winner of the Redford Catholic Central-Livonia Stevenson game. Glenn finishes at 8-2.

"He just wants the ball," Canton coach Tim Baechler said of Joyner. "He's a leader."

Joyner certainly set the tempo for the Chiefs, and his teammates joined right in. Except for a short interval in the second period in which they gave up the ball on a punt (their only one of the game) and an interception, the Chiefs could not be stopped. Once, late in the second period, Glenn forced Canton to give up the ball on downs at the Rockets' 14. The rest of its drives ended in the end zone.

"We never did get them stopped," said Glenn coach Chuck Gordon. "They give you a lot of problems. They have so many different looks. The way they come at you, if it was just shutting one thing down it would be different."

Joyner finished with 206 rushing yards on 19 carries. Devin Thomas added 103 rushing yards on just seven tries, scoring a pair of TDs, and fullback Corey Rutledge added 98 yards on 14 attempts with two more touchdowns.

"This is a little nicer than it was eight weeks ago," said Baechler. Asked what the difference between then (a 46-21 Glenn win) and now and he answered, "Obviously the turnovers (six in the first game). We're executing and not turning the ball over."

Still, this was hardly a runaway win for Canton. The Chiefs did score the first two times they had the ball, on Joyner's 66-yard run and an 8-yard burst up the middle by Rutledge, to build a 13-0 lead.

Glenn was without starting quarterback Brian Ceckiewicz (out with a bruised kidney), and running back Tony Davis, also injured, carried the ball just once (for 3 yards). With the ground game struggling and the Rockets unable to stop Canton, Gordon was forced to rely on sophomore quarterback Vinnie DeLuca.

On their first play of the second quarter, DeLuca pitched the ball to Jerret Smith, and he tossed a 71-yard option touchdown pass to a wide open De'Anthony Granberry, trimming Canton's lead to 13-7.

The Rockets would go ahead a few moments later, when Smith picked off a Nicoloff pass and returned it 30 yards to the Canton 14. A personal foul penalty against the Chiefs put the ball at the 7, and on fourth down from the 3 DeLuca hit Granberry with the TD pass. The placekick gave Glenn a 14-13 lead with 8:01 left in the half.

The Rockets kept the lead for 1:06. "We knew they wanted to shut down our running game," said Joyner. "We said from the start, 'Don't get down. Keep your heads up.'"

On the third play of Canton's next possession, Thomas busted through off right tackle and raced 74 yards for a touchdown. Joyner's two-point conversion gave the Chiefs a 21-14 lead, which they took into halftime.

Finding openings in Canton's pass defense, DeLuca continued to exploit them in the second half. Scrambling away from the pass rush, he found Smith with a 56-yard TD pass on Glenn's first possession of the second half, knotting the game at 21-all.

But two key fourth-down plays, one in each of Canton's next two possessions, busted the Rockets. On a fourth-and-4 from the Glenn 27, Nicoloff threw a fade pattern to Thomas along the left sideline. Thomas managed to outleap the Rocket defender and make the catch at the 1. Two plays later, Joyner scored to put Canton back on top, 28-21.

On their next possession, Baechler opted to go for it on fourth-down-and-22 from the Glenn 36. This time the Rockets were called for pass interference, giving Canton a first down at the 21. Joyner scored his third TD on a 2-yard run, increasing the Chiefs' lead to 35-21.

Glenn gave it one more shot, putting together a seven-play, 79-yard drive that included a 53-yard catch by Granberry in which he leapt over the Canton defender, bobbled the ball, then grabbed it at the Canton 23. Smith hauled in a 28-yard scoring strike on a fly pattern down the right sideline and Glenn was within 35-27.

But the Chiefs would not be stopped, traveling 76 yards in 11 plays, the key a 12-yard pass completion to Thomas on third-down-and-12 from the Glenn 17. Thomas carried the ball up the middle for the final 5 yards and Canton led 42-27 with 4:23 left in the game.

The final Canton TD came after Glenn surrendered the ball on downs at its own 31. Rutledge's 15-yard burst made it 49-27.

The Rockets never did get a ground game established, partly -- as Gordon pointed out -- because they were playing catch-up most of the game. They finished with 25 yards on 20 attempts.

However, DeLuca did complete12-of-26 passes for 220 yards and three TDs, suffering one interception late in the game. Granberry had five catches for 165 yards and two TDs, while Smith caught eight passes for 124 yards and two more touchdowns. He also threw the TD pass to Granberry.

But with a defense incapable of halting the Chiefs, Glenn just couldn't keep pace.

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