Sharon Out Of Way, Tigers Prepare For Youngstown South Invasion
MASSILLON RENEWS ATHLETIC RIVALRY WITH ANCIENT FOE
By LUTHER EMERY
Badly beaten in body, but strengthened in spirit by their 27-0 defeat of Sharon Saturday afternoon the Washington high Tigers point this week to stem the invasion of Youngstown South Friday evening.
Not since Dave Stewart and his Tigers walked off the field at Youngstown 10 years ago have Massillon and South high met in an athletic engagement. Until this year Massillon refused to schedule its old rival, but now that the bitter rivalry and ill feeling of the episode of 1924 has subsided, the peace pipe has been smoked and Friday evening South high comes for an after dark battle on Massillon field.
South Having Off Season
Memories of the rivalry and bitter feeling that existed between the two schools in 1924 will do more to make the turnstiles click next Friday than will the prospects of seeing a nip and tuck gridiron battle.
Its performance this season indicates that South is below par this fall and not the powerhouse that goose stepped for Dusty Ashbaugh in years gone by.
Never-the-less the Washington high coaching staff is forgetting the past and pointing for this week’s game and this week’s alone, hoping that the customary letdown that invariably hits a team sometime during a season, will not make its ghastly appearance in the shadows Friday evening.
Second only in importance to its battle for the Youngstown city championship is the Massillon game to South high. Tales of 1924 have been handed down by older brothers to the South high gridders who 10 years ago were just beginning to learn what the three R’s were all about.
Say Massillon Should Win
Warren scouts who witnessed the Tigers conquest of Sharon, Saturday, including Coach Pierre Hill and Tommy Thompson, Warren sports writer, were unanimous in the opinion that Massillon, playing the type of ball it did Saturday would crush South with ease. Both have seen Ashbaugh’s team perform several times this season and although they spoke highly of the rhythm of its performance the power isn’t there, they said.
The problem of keeping the Tigers keyed to the pitch that struck the death knell of Sharon, Saturday is one for the Massillon coaching staff to cope with. Any letdown in inspiration might prove disastrous to the crest of popularity the Massillon gridders enjoy.
The Tigers were pointed for Sharon and never did a group of boys want to win a ball game any more. None slept over four hours that night before, but tossed and rolled in restless nervousness, eager to exchange pajamas for grid togs and bed for the green sward of the Massillon field.
They pranced around like colts at the barrier in the dressing room and paced up and down in the hallway as minutes seemed like hours while they waited to trot on the field.
They were keyed up and what followed when they thrust themselves at the visiting Sharon huskies, is now a matter of history, but history that is worth recounting for the sake of remembering the deeds of those who write it for Washington high school Saturday in its first athletic contest with Sharon high school.
Dutton Guides Fine Offense
Dynamic Howard Dutton, generalissimo of the Massillon eleven and the finest little quarterback the school has had in many a year, directed the most versatile and powerful offense that has been Massillon’s since 1922. A single wing, a spread formation, spinners, reverses and passes from both offensive formations, fake punts and power plays, so bewildering the iron men of Sharon, that 14 first downs were rolled up against a defense that here-to-fore had proved impregnable to the running attacks of three other high schools.
While the guiding hand of Dutton directed the Massillon offense to say there was an individual star would be doing an injustice to the other 10 players. They were all in there fighting for each other. Without one, the other 10 would not have commanded the attention it received.
Take the first touchdown for instance. Dutton heaved a 20-yard pass to Lohr who caught the ball shoulder high and raced for six points. Lohr, however, only carried the ball across. Bob Shertzer made a touchdown, or more properly, made it possible when he cut across fast to hurl his body in front of Steve Klaric and cut him down for the rest of the game.
Klaric, Sharon’s triple threat quarterback, who played defensive right halfback, would have tackled Lohr or slowed him down until a teammate could nail him from behind.
The hard legitimate block of Shertzer’s fractured Klaric’s shoulder and took from Sharon the main cog of its offensive setup.
Again it was Shertzer who removed a tackler from Dutton’s path in the fourth period when the Massillon quarterback intercepted a pass from Charles Weiser, Sharon quarterback and galloped 35 yards for a touchdown.
Linemen Deserve Praise
Too frequently the blocker is forgotten in the praise accorded the open field runner and what Shertzer did for Lohr and Dutton was being done in every play on the line of scrimmage where you cannot see it. It is because of these clocks, hidden behind a wall of humanity, that a ball carrier is able to penetrate into the territory of his opponent and it is the lineman who takes the body beating while giving all for his fellow teammate and gets little credit for it.
Such a beating did the Tigers take Saturday. Though victorious 27-0, at half time they were battered more than they had been at the end of any previous game. Hardly a man there is who saw service Saturday but what today is nursing cuts and bruises.
Sharon suffered an even heavier toll of casualties and Coach Stewart and his assistant, Ted Rosenberg, a former Washington high gridder, who learned his football under Dave, lamented the loss of Klaric, a costly blow to a team that will be forced to pit itself against four strong opponents in consecutive weeks. Mike Lyshoir, a hard hitting center, likewise succumbed to the drive of the Tigers as he was crushed beneath the feet of D.C. McCants when the Massillon fullback smashed through the Sharon line in the third period. Knocked senseless by the blow, it took Stewart and the entire Sharon team, subs included, to get Mike off the field to the bench. The same thing has happened to Mike before and affected him in the same way and perhaps that is the reason why Stewart and his squad did not take it too seriously. Mike in the locker room after the game was shouting his glee and patting fellowmen on the back for defeating Massillon. He thought Sharon had won.
Tigers Score On Pass
The Tigers scored their first touchdown in the middle of the first quarter. Getting the ball on their own 23-yard line, where Lohr was dropped after a short return of Klaric’s punt, Dutton reeled off 12 yards for a first down on t he Massillon 34-yard line. McCants waded through this right tackle for six yards and Krier missed a first down by inches. Krier then raced 16 yards for a first down on the Sharon 41-yard line. Having drawn in the visitors’ secondary, Dutton saw his chance to pass, dropped back and heaved a 20-yard peg to Lohr who raced the remaining 21 yards along the sidelines for a touchdown. Shertzer removing the last would be tackler, Klaric, from his path. Krier carried the ball across for the extra point.
In Sharon territory nearly all the time, the Tigers didn’t punch the ball over again until near the end of the second period when they launched an offensive from their own 46-yard line. Again forward passes advanced the ball into position. One to Shertzer gained eight yards. Byelene lost a yard but Dutton pegged another pass to Lohr for a gain of 26 yards that brought a first down on the Sharon 20-yard round. Shertzer made three on the mouse trap and a five-yard penalty on top of Dutton’s dash made it first down on the nine-yard line. Byelene hit right tackle for four yards. Sharon threw up a blockade for McCants as he thundered down Hogan’s alley, but Dutton swept his left end for three yards. Fourth down and two to go and McCants dropped back for more alley slumming, but he bobbled the pass from center and as Sharon tacklers closed in on him suddenly cut to his right and out raced two would be tacklers as he crossed the goal line at the corner of the field. An attempted pass for the extra point failed.
Massillon made a bid for a touchdown in the third quarter as it marched to the four-yard line, where a mix-up lost six yards on the second down and two incomplete passes gave Sharon the ball. Sharon too passed into Massillon territory for the first time during the game and carried the ball to the 25-yard line where the drive stopped with a fourth down pass over the goal.
Lohr’s 25-yard return of Niec’s punt to the Sharon 40-yard line started the Tigers on the way to their third touchdown. Krier made five but Massillon was penalized five on the next play. Dutton passed 22 yards to Krier for a first down on the 22-yard line. A penalty set the Tigers back five yards and a pass failed to gain. A fake punt gained five yards and Dutton crossed up his opponents with a pass over the line of scrimmage to Lohr for 17 yards and a first down on the four-yard line. McCants lugged it over in two attempts and Krier placekicked the extra point.
Dutton scored the local’s last touchdown shortly afterward when he intercepted Wieser’s pass and behind fine blocking raced 35 yards for the touchdown. Krier kicked the extra point.
Sharon passes again penetrated deeply into Massillon territory but failed with a touchdown in sight and the ball on the 15-yard line.
Stewart Compliments Tigers
Before leaving the clubhouse Saturday, Coach Stewart paid tribute to the Tigers as being a fine ball club capable of beating everything in their path up to the Canton game.
The drum and bugle corps of Massillon Post No. 221 acted as Sharon’s representative musical organization. Mayor J. Fred Thomas, of Sharon was the guest of Mayor Williams “Pat” Limbach of this city.
The crowd numbered somewhat in the vicinity of 4,500 fans. Instead of a guarantee, the schools shared receipts on a 50-50 basis.
The game will be discussed tonight at the meeting of the booster club at 7:30 in the high school. Tickets for the Youngstown South – Massillon game will be placed on sale at this meeting
The lineup and summary:
MASSILLON Pos. SHARON
Shertzer LE Nichols
Wolfe LT Popovich
Molinski LG Phillips
Morningstar C Msysohir
Snavely RG Mitch
Buggs RT Bartholomew
Lohr RE Bayer
Dutton QB Klaric
Krier LH Seaman
Lange RH Niec
McCants FB Donato
Score by periods:
Massillon 7 6 0 14 27
Substitutions: Massillon – Byelene, lh; McDew; Price, lt; Gillom, fb. Sharon – Weiser, qb; Lombardo, c; J. Jones, rt; Bowie, lh; Thomas, rh; Ben Jones, le; Keryan, re; Ogg, le.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Lohr; McCants 2; Dutton.
Point after touchdown:
Massillon – Krier 2 (placekick); Krier 1 (carried).
Referee – Howells (Sebring).
Umpire – Shafer (Akron).
Head Linesman – Boone (Canton)
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