Angelo Lanava outsprints a Zebra on the way to a 52-yard touchdown reception. (Ed Wright photo)

Chiefs improve to 4-0 with dominating performance against Wayne Memorial

  Facing Wayne Memorial's multi-dimensional offense Friday night, Canton's defense had to play assignment football.

  The Chiefs' final grade for the assignment: A+.

  After yielding 40 yards to the Zebras on the game-opening drive, Canton's defense buckled down in a big way, limiting their overmatched foes to just 90 yards the rest of the night on the way to a 53-0 victory.

  Canton (4-0 overall, 2-0 in the KLAA South) has now outscored its four opponents, 183-27.

  (To view video highlights of the game, click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79I-ycZTzm0

  "Our defense was very good tonight," said Canton coach Tim Baechler. "Playing against a mid-line option team that runs an outside veer and inside veer, we had to play assignment football. I don't know how many total yards they had, but it couldn't have been much."

  Braden Price and Jeff Straub paced the Chiefs' swarming defense with nine and seven tackles, respectively. Ben Poirier recorded the game's lone sack to go along with his three tackles.

  Davion Stackhouse powered the Chiefs' offense with 136 yards rushing and two scores on just six carries. Kevin Buford added 78 yards and two TD's on five attempts.

  Canton struck gold on its first possession when Kevin Buford sprung through a huge hole, cut outside and turned on his jets to outrace the Zebra secondary for a 46-yard TD.

  The Zebras got a good indication on how the rest of their night would unfold seconds later when they blocked the ensuing extra point, but were called for offsides.

  With the ball placed at the 1, the Chiefs opted to go for two, which they accomplished when quarterback Ben Merbler faked a dive to Stackhouse and ran untouched into the end zone to make it 8-0.

  Stackhouse streaked 49 yards for a touchdown on the Chiefs' next possession.

  Canton capped a productive first quarter with 22 seconds left when Merbler lofted a perfect spiral to a wide-open Angelo Lanava, who sprinted in from 52 yards out.

  Ryan Jones and Buford added 4- and 1-yard scores to boost the Chiefs' halftime advantage to 33-0.

  The Chiefs' first-team offense made their final imprint on the rout nine seconds into the third quarter when Stackhouse burst through the Zebras' defense for a 32-yard TD run.

  Jones (2-yard run) and Nick Alaniva (4-yard run) tallied second-half TD's for the winners.

  Baechler praised the play of his team's second unit, which didn't cut the Zebras any slack when they entered the game mid-way through the third quarter.

  "I'm proud of those guys," he said. "They work hard in practice every day like everybody else, so it's good to see them doing well.

  "Nick Alaniva is a pretty good football player. He was in the mix to be the starting fullback before the season started, but he had an issue with his ankle and Zac (Merillat) obviously won the job. It was nice to see Nick get a touchdown tonight."

  Baechler said his team lacked its usual edge heading into Friday's game.

  "We didn't practice great last week," Baechler said. "Everybody's telling the kids how good they are and we're playing a team that's struggling.

  "We're going to do some things differently this week to get them re-focused."

  Canton outgained the Zebras, 400-130, in total yards. The Chiefs churned out 19 first downs (17 via the run) to Wayne's seven.

  The most deceiving stat was time of possession, which Wayne won, 26:35 to 21:25, only because the Chiefs were able to score so quickly each time they possessed the ball.

  Canton's lone Achilles heel Friday night was its point-after-touchdown success rate. The Chiefs missed a pair of PAT's.

  "We're not going to make it a big issue," Baechler said, "because we know our kid can snap the ball, our guy can hold it we can block it and our kid can kick it. I don't know what was going on tonight with that, but we'll get it taken care of."

  Ed Wright can be reached at (734) 453-1980 or info@plymouthcantonsports.com.

Davion Stackhouse had a huge game against the Zebras. (Chris Fcasni photo)

 
Jack Slater brings down a Wayne ball carrier as Mario Rodriguez and Ben Poirier look on. (Ed Wright photo)

Ben Merbler converted a two-point conversion with this quarterback keeper. (Ed Wright photo)

Kevin Buford outruns the Wayne secondary on this 46-yard TD run. (Ed Wright photo)

Canton's offense was a bright spot the entire night. (Ed Wright photo)