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Browse by City/ StateCanton's defense fuels romp over Grand Blanc
The Canton defense spent a lot more time on the field Thursday night than anyone at Canton wanted or expected.
Canton's Garrett Bryden had an interception in the first minute of the game setting up the Chiefs' first score of the night.
But it wasn't exactly for the reason you would expect.
Grand Blanc came rolling into Canton with sensational running back Justice Hayes, who has committed to Notre Dame, and a quality runner and passer in Ryan Morley. Those two, along with fullback Detrick Goff, are enough to keep an opposing defense on the field all night as the Bobcats play keep-away and gobble up yards in huge chunks.
"That's what we condition for," said Canton linebacker Braden Price. "We run a lot in practice just for this kind of scenario. We've got a lot of two-way starters and not many rotators. We condition hard so the practice week is harder than the game.
"They want practice to suck more than the game does."
There was nothing about this game that anyone at Canton could describe quite that colorfully.
The Canton defense was on the field so much because the Canton offense kept scoring ... and scoring ... and scoring.
And so did the Canton defense.
Canton turned four Grand Blanc first-half turnovers into touchdowns and the Chiefs rolled to a ridiculously easy 62-20 victory.
This one was a shocker to everyone involved, especially Canton coach Tim Baechler, who would have preferred to have his offense on the field for long stretches at a time to keep Hayes on the Grand Blanc bench.
"We actually wanted to play defense with our offense," Baechler said. "But they were gambling so much on defense we had to go for some big plays and we scored fast."
The Canton defense set the tone in the first minute when linebacker Garrett Bryden picked off a pass at the Bobcats' 23. After a first-down run netted Canton nothing against a Grand Blanc defense keyed to stop the run, Ben Merbler faked a handoff -- the guy leads the world in handoffs -- and threw a pass to a wide open Davion Stackhouse for a touchdown.
Following a Grand Blanc score, Zac Merillat scored for the Chiefs (2-0, No. 4 in Division 1) on a 38-yard run and then Bryden picked off a tipped pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown and 20-6 lead, just better than five minutes into the game.
"The ball went up in the air and I got it," Bryden said. "I never had anything like that. It was especially good at the start of the game. It got our offense and got everyone pumped and we never looked back from there."
On the play following a Ryan James 6-yard run for a Canton TD, Braden Price got into the act when he picked up an errant pitch and scooted 4 yards for a 33-6 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.
"Matt Gunnis forced the fumble loose and when (Hayes) went to get the ball, Matt tackled him," Price said. "I was just there to make the play. Scoop and score."
Things continued to roll that way for the Chiefs while Grand Blanc (1-1) struggled for offensive consistency. Hayes had just 18 yards on eight carries in the first half as Canton took a 55-13 lead at intermission.
"That's what we expected," Price said. "As long as we shut down (Hayes) and keep eyes on him we should have a pretty good handle on the game. I was actually surprised they only put up 13 against our starters because they're a solid team."
All evidence to the contrary, Grand Blanc will be a state playoff team, which means Canton might be even better than people thought, especially when the defense hands the ball to the offense so much.
"It's been our goal for the whole year for our defense," Bryden said. "Get the ball back for the offense and let them control the game and stay off the field as much as possible."
The Canton defense can work on staying off the field next week.
Contact MICK McCABE: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com.
