The fact Tim Baechler had to take his Canton Chiefs back to Tom Holzer Field to face Northville for the second time in two weeks wasn't something he was crazy about in the first place.
He really disliked the idea after his offense coughed up the football on the opening series of Friday's Division 1 first-round playoff game against the Mustangs — leading to an early 7-0 deficit.
But the veteran coach reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out senior running backs Julian Thornton here, Markus Sanders there and Reid McDonnell everywhere.
Canton racked up over 500 yards on the ground and defeated Northville 55-29, led by McDonnell's career game of 255 rushing yards, four touchdowns and a crucial interception that helped stem a second-half comeback bid by the Mustangs. The Chiefs (8-2) now advance to face Saline on Nov. 4.
"You play them a second week in a row, he (Northville head coach Matt Ladach) brings out new stuff, new plays," Baechler said. "Literally it's impossible to stop everything. I'm glad we're out of here.
"To play a team back-to-back and win in the playoffs is very hard to do. We dominated them, we put more on them, we won by more than we did the last time (42-27 on Oct. 21). So that's good.
Baechler was referring to a play where senior quarterback Jake O'Donnell could not get the handle of a snap, dropped back and hurried a short throw that landed in the hands of Northville's Ryan Doroudian — who returned the fumble 54 yards down to Canton's 1-yard line.
The Mustangs took the early 7-0 lead on senior Jack Burke's quarterback keeper with 6:56 to go in the first.
The Chiefs were able to score the equalizer on the subsequent series, with Thornton (182 yards rushing) shooting through the left side of the line and scampering 48 yards for the score.
McDonnell capped off Canton's 61-yard drive in 13 running plays with a 5-yard TD, about 4:30 into the second half. The Chiefs set up that drive by stopping the Mustangs on a fourth-down run.
Northville (7-3), by deferring the opening kickoff of the night, got the boot to open the second half with a chance to get some momentum. Burke, however, injured his foot in the series and limped off never to return.
"Any time you lose a kid like Jack Burke who is a phenomenal athlete, a great person, a great leader, it hurts," Ladach said. "And I think it hurt us more emotionally than anything else because our kids love Jack Burke.
On Canton's next series, it was McDonnell again, racing up the gut for a 56-yard touchdown to make it 21-7 with 8:42 left in the third.
He topped himself just two minutes later, ripping through the line and rolling 69 yards for another TD. That launched Canton's six-touchdown half, which followed Baechler's move to a double-wing formation that the Mustangs did not have an answer for.
Canton padded its lead to 35-7 with 3:11 remaining in the frame, on a short plunge (two yards) by McDonnell.
Northville didn't fold its tent, however, as Michalak (10-27 passing) scored on a 1-yard run.
The teams traded touchdowns just 13 seconds apart to make it a 42-21 Canton lead going into the fourth.
Sanders (148 yards and three TDs) busted one for 38 yards for the Chiefs, but Michalak responded with a 80-yard scoring toss over the middle to Anthony Abbott II.
With the Chiefs hanging on to the 42-29 advantage, McDonnell fumbled to give the Mustangs hope.
He atoned for that miscue on defense on the very next play, picking off a Michalak pass. Canton went on toscore again, with Sanders taking it in from the 7-yard line to all but seal Northville's fate.
McDonnell and Thornton both praised their linemen for making their big personal games possible.
Meanwhile, Baechler said defeating the Mustangs in back-to-back weeks was a major hurdle that his team survived.
"It's no fun coming back here," Baechler stressed. "You got to get mentally psyched to go prove yourself again. It's very difficult. The advantage definitely goes back to the team that got beat in the first game.
Ladach credited the Chiefs and how they switched things up from the previous week.
"Last week they hardly broke the T," Ladach said. "This week they went into the double-wing and we were prepared for it. We practiced it this week. But they caught us in it.
He also said he was "so proud" of the way the Mustangs battled all season.