Adam bomb

Led by bull-dozing offensive line, Payter drops 264 yards on Churchill's defense

  You know you're having a good night when your fullback's average-yards-per-carry is just one yard shy of your opponents' total rushing yards.

  Friday was definitely a good night for Canton, which bull-dozed Livonia Churchill, 42-7, to improve to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association's South Division heading into Friday night's KLAA conference championship game against Livonia Stevenson.

  The host Chargers slipped to 1-6 and 0-5, respectively.

  Chief senior fullback Adam Payter exploded for 264 yards on 11 carries (24.0 average) on a night when Canton's defense held the Chargers to 25 yards rushing on 22 attempts.

  "Our offensive line played very well tonight," said Canton coach Tim Baechler. "Once Payter got into their secondary tonight, he made some great cuts and had some long touchdown runs."

  Payter scored on runs of 53, 56 and 57 yards -- all in the first quarter.

  The Chiefs led 35-7 at the half and 42-7 after three quarters. The game's final 17:02 was played with a running clock.

  Payter's first run -- a 53-yarder -- came 24 seconds into the contest. Davion Stackhouse made it 14-0 three minutes later when he plowed over from 1 yard out.

  Payter capped the Chiefs' first-quarter scoring explosion with TD runs of 56 and 57 yards.

  Canton's final two TD's came on a 16-yard run by Stackhouse and a 28-yard pass from quarterback Kevin Delapaz to Arron Boudreaux.

  Freshman kicker Conner Shennan was good on four of five extra points. The Chiefs also converted a two-point conversion pass from Delapaz to Kevin Buford.

  Several players had big nights for the Chiefs swarming defense, which has yielded just six touchdowns in seven games.

  "Matt Gunnis got the start at linebacker tonight and he played very well, as did Jake Underwood, who had seven tackles," said Baechler. "Garrett Bryden (eight stops) played very well, too."

  Defensive lineman Ben Poirer recorded four tackles as did Tyler Hult and Alex Dixon.

  Bryden, Hult and Dixon all recorded sacks.

  Stackhouse finished with 103 yards on 14 carries while Nick Alaniva excelled in a reserve role, picking up 51 yards on three carries.

  Delapaz completed 1-of-3 passes for 28 yards and ran the ball three times for 21 yards.

  Canton picked up 18 first downs to Churchill's nine and outgained its hosts in total yards, 513-164.

  The Chiefs dominated time of possession, 28:03-19:57.

  Ed Wright can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 453-1980.