Unstoppable
Canton scores on all seven drives, cruises into semifinals

BY ED WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER

Punting enthusiasts who attended Friday night's Division 1 Regional final between Canton and Saline should have been entitled to a partial refund.

On the other hand, fans who get a kick out of high-flying, end zone-or-bust offense -- particularly Canton's point-a-minute variety -- were in their element during the Chiefs' 56-36 triumph that, at times, had the scoreboard flashing faster than a strobe light in a disco.

The number of punts in the game -- zero -- equaled the Hornets' chances of winning -- zip -- after the Chiefs' fullhouse-T attack and turnover-forcing defense led them to a 35-10 halftime advantage.

The only thing standing between 12-0 Canton and a return trip to Ford Field is the winner of yesterday's Milford-Rockford game. The semifinal contest will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. at a neutral site that has yet to be determined.

The likely site is Lansing Everett, which has hosted several semifinal games in the past, including last year's Brighton-Rockford clash. (Complete details regarding Saturday's game will appear in Thursday's Observer.)

While Canton's fate was never in doubt after it raced to the huge halftime lead, Saline's spread offense proved to be almost as unstoppable as the Chiefs' ground-based attack in the second half when it scored on all four of its possessions.

"It feels good to be going back to the final four," said Canton coach Tim Baechler. "We're excited. It was kind of ugly tonight. The offense played well all night and the defense played OK in the first half. As far as the defense in the second half, well..."

Canton senior running backs Nick Moores and Antwaun Hawkins battered the Hornets' defense like a heavyweight boxer who lands repeated jabs and hooks against an overmatched opponent.

Both players had career-best nights: Moores netted 185 yards and three TD's on 21 carries while Hawkins picked up 143 on 20 runs and a pair of scores.

Also earning a few more tomahawk stickers for the back of their helmets were senior quarterback Steve Paye, who completed all of his passes (three) for the second consecutive week as well as picking up 46 yards and one TD on six carries; and senior Deshon McClendon, who ground out 53 tough yards on 13 attempts.

Canton, which chewed up 485 total yards to Saline's 382, scored on all seven of its offensive possessions and -- based on the way it dominated the Hornets in the trenches -- would have scored on seven more if the game was 96 minutes long instead of 48.

Canton's backs ran through doorwall-sized gaps created by the all-senior offensive line of Brandon Fender, Billy Turner, Nick Dunleavy, Keil Price, William Khoury, Jeff Phillips and Kyle Brodzik.

"Offensively, I thought Canton played a heck of a game," said Saline coach Mike Glennie, whose team finished 9-3. "I really was impressed. I thought we had people in the right places early in the game, but we weren't tackling well.

"I was particularly impressed with No. 5 (Moores). He strung us out, made us pursue, then cut back underneath."

Baechler was equally impressed with Saline quarterback Kyle Brown, who completed 21-of-34 aerials for 334 yards and three touchdowns.

His favorite target was 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior Mike Adler, who hauled in eight passes for 137 yards and a score.

The Chiefs' defense focused on stopping senior fullback Vince Helmuth, who is headed to the University of Michigan with a football scholarship, and they did, limiting the 6-2, 240-pound bruiser to 22 yards on six carries.

"Going into this game, I knew that he was the man," Baechler said, giving a nod to Brown. "Everybody kept talking about Vince. But I'm like, forget this. We're going to stop Vince. It's the quarterback and the 6-1 receiver we're going to have to stop. That quarterback is a stud.

"We expected them to throw like this. We knew we could shut their running game down and we knew it was going to be a throw-fest. I just thought we would stop them more than we did."

Glennie said the early deficit and the attention the Chiefs were giving to Helmuth made the Hornets' No. 1 option the air route.

"They were all over our fullback, which they should be, so Kyle was forced to throw a lot tonight. He did a great job except for the one interception (by Dan Wanshon), but, hey, he's only 5-7. We told him to ask for some height for Christmas this year."

Canton led 28-0 with 7:15 left in the second quarter thanks to touchdown runs from Hawkins (3 yards) and Moores (2 and 12 yards), and a 32-yard fumble return to paydirt by Chris Hasse, who also ran one back in the Chiefs' Week 2 win over Westland John Glenn. Turner set up Hasse's return by separating Brown from the ball on a crunching blind-side hit.

The teams traded TD's -- Brown scored on a 1-yard keeper and Moores added a 34-yard sprint -- before Brown closed the first-half scoring with a 39-yard field goal.

McClendon, Hawkins and Paye all scored second-half TD's for the Chiefs while Brown threw for three -- one each to Casey Dishman, Adler and Austin Trott -- before Helmuth capped the scoring with a 3-yard TD with 4:30 to play.

Saline could have made things interesting had they not coughed the ball away to the Chiefs on three occasions in the first half. McClendon and Hasse recovered fumbles while Wanshon added a pick followed by a 38-yard return.

Canton, which had an uncharacteristically high eight penalties (70 yards), dominated time of possession, 32:37 to 15:23.

ewright@hometownlife.com (734) 953-2108

Originally published November 12, 2006