Near Flawless (continuation)

  Canton wasted little time establishing its offensive dominance as it drove briskly down the field on its opening drive, which was capped by quarterback Kevin Delapaz's one-yard sneak.

  Following a Canton defensive stop, Pioneer regained possession inside the Chiefs' 10 when it recovered a botched punt return. Two plays later, Drake Johnson, line up as the deep back in a "Wildcat" formation, busted over from four yards out to knot the game at 7-7.

  A slick kick-off return by Ryan Powell gave Canton good field position at its 36 -- not that the Chiefs needed it. Four plays later -- and one play after Payter busted a 45-yard trap -- Stackhouse bulldozed into the end zone from the one to put the Chiefs up for good, 14-7.

  Set up at the Pioneer 37 thanks to an Arron Boudreaux interception, Canton strung together a six-play scoring drive -- the first play a 19-yard Boudreaux reverse -- that culminated with a three-yard score by Delapaz. Dixon's third of five extra points made it 21-7.

  Pioneer's last gasp came on its following possession when Miles Sorise connected with Ricardo Miller on a 36-yard scoring strike to narrow the gap to 21-14 with 11:40 to play in the first half, but the rest of the game was all Chiefs.

  Canton netted points on its next three drives -- a 5-yard Stackhosue TD, a 47-yard Delapaz-to-Dixon strike and a 14-yard Payter-to-paydirt romp -- to send the Chiefs into the locker room with a resounding 41-14 edge.

  The Delapaz-to-Dixon TD connection was the Chiefs' lone pass of the night.

   "I ran a flag route and I was just hoping to get open," said Dixon, who registered five tackles, one TD reception as well as handling the kicking duties. "Kevin hit me with a nice pass and I just ran."

  Stackhouse and Pioneer's Austin Sanders traded TD runs mid-way through the third quarter to make it 47-21 Canton.

  The Chiefs then slammed the door on the Pioneers thanks to Payter's 49-yard sprint to paydirt and an 11-yard run by Sam Scott.

  Pioneer tacked on a 36-yard field goal with 2:18 left to cap the scoring.

  Canton, which won the time-of-possession battle, 28:06-19:54, converted all five of its third-down plays. Pioneer, on the other hand, was just 1-for-11 on third down.

  Pioneer's vaunted ground game was held to just 81 yards on 21 carries, thanks in large part to a monster defensive game by Garrett Bryden, who registered 13 tackles, three of which were for losses. Eleven of Bryden's stops were solo jobs.

  Matt Gunnis, Dixon and Poirer also played well defensively, combining for 16 tackles. Poirer recorded the Chiefs' lone sack.