Here's something that hasn't happened since . . . well, it's never happened.

The football championship in the Western Lakes Activities Association has been owned by schools like Farmington Harrison, Westland John Glenn and Walled Lake Western. Now Canton has added its name to that rather illustrious list.

On Friday, the Chiefs had to battle back to get a victory over Northville. Well, okay, they were down 3-0 in the first quarter, then scored 42-straight points for a 42-3 triumph at Canton.

The win gave the Chiefs a 7-1 record overall, 6-1 in the WLAA. Their only loss this season was to John Glenn, which entered Friday's game against Livonia Stevenson unbeaten.

Ooops. After four quarters and two overtimes, Stevenson emerged with a 38-35 victory.

That means John Glenn and Canton both finish the WLAA season at 6-1. As such, they share the league championship.

"I cannot believe this," said Canton coach Tim Baechler. "It's just amazing. It's a real bonus . . . the first one in school history. It's just so cool."

All parts of the Chiefs' game were clicking against Northville, but the defense was particularly impressive. They limited the Mustangs to 50 total yards and a negative-16 rushing.

After surrendering a long punt return in the first quarter that set up a 43-yard field goal by Bill Brown, the Canton special teams were outstanding. And after a scoreless first quarter, the offense -- led by Reggie Joyner -- came around.

Big time.

Joyner scored on a 1-yard run with 10:19 left in the second quarter to put the Chiefs up 7-3. A Joyner 3-yard run with 7:54 to play made it 14-3, followed by quarterback Dave Nicoloff running 9 yards for a third TD with 2:34 left, making it 21-3. Then with just four seconds remaining in the half, Joyner hit paydirt again on a 3-yard run.

"In the second quarter we really ripped off some yardage," said Baechler. "Reggie Joyner did great."

In the third quarter, the special teams -- Brandon Wilcox in particular -- took command. With 3:17 left in the quarter, Wilcox fielded a punt and raced 45 yards to a touchdown, making it 35-3.

With 1:10 remaining in the quarter, Wilcox grabbed another punt and rambled 40 yards for another TD for the final score.

Joyner finished with 122 yards rushing on 19 carries, scoring three TDs. Nicoloff only threw four passes, completing two for 8 yards.

Northville fell to 2-6 overall, 2-5 in the WLAA.

On Friday, Canton must face cross-campus rival Salem, but the playoffs are looming just ahead. First-round matchups are difficult to predict, but Baechler wouldn't mind another shot at John Glenn.

He knows his team is better now than it was in that first meeting, when the Chiefs turned the ball over five times. Which, to Baechler, is the difference in his team: "Not turning the ball over and putting our defense in a bad position.

"A competitor wants to play that game over again, especially if you didn't play well. They might be better than us, but I don't think they're 25 points better than us."

In about a week, just who plays whom will be known.

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