10,000 FANS SEE TIGERS DEFEAT GARY GLASS AND SNAVELY SPARKLE IN OPENER
Co-captains Lead Offensive and Defensive Efforts; Gary’s 13 Points Highest Made Against Massillon Team Since 1934
By LUTHER EMERY
Massillon’s football supremacy extended into Indiana today as citizens, students and even friendly enemies from Canton tried to find words of praise to bestow upon the Washington high Tigers for their 33-13 triumph last night over a stubborn Horace Mann high school team from Gary, Ind.
An overflow crowd of more than 10,000 fans jammed Massillon Field to see the Massillon champions of Ohio battle the champions of Indiana and the performance of the Tigers, particularly their first half performance when the entire eleven was intact, had the citizenry talking today.
Glass Leads Offense
Led by shatter-proof Bob Glass, who smashed the ends like he hit off tackle and through Hogan’s alley last year, the Massillon boys pushed over three touchdowns in the first half and two in the third period and coasted in the last quarter with a team filled with substitutes.
But with all the hammering it received, Gary established a record for itself and one its boys are proud of in scoring two touchdowns against the Massillonians. No other team has done that the last two years.
Save on these two occasions when fullback, Marty Comer, tossed a long pass to Jerry Lewis and Hartwell Robinson outran the Tiger secondary for 50 yards to score touchdowns, the visitors showed little offensively. They made but four first downs to the Tigers’ 17 and seldom moved forward in their ball carrying attempts.
Defense Unorthodox
On the other hand they presented a puzzling defense, unorthodox in many respects that fooled the local eleven time and again. The secondary charged the line.
That left a lot of territory unguarded and opened the way for passing. Two of Bob Glass’ passes hit their mark the first period when the Tigers showed their best offense. The aerial works was grounded after that, however, as Gary resorted to rushing the passer as a means of halting the attack. Nine times Glass and Slusser tossed the ball without success but not another pass was completed until the closing minute of the game.
As Coach Paul Brown had indicated, the Tigers relied principally on power. They ran the ends and smashed the tackles for long gains but found the center hard to penetrate. Comer and Charlie Block had things fairly bottled up there as they plugged on into the secondary. Both played fine defensive games.
The Tiger offense was centered principally in Glass, the only member of the backfield who could gain consistently. He will continue to bear the brunt of the offensive until another capable ball carrier is developed.
Warren Wyatt and Fred Toles occasionally got away for good gains but both showed their inexperience in open field running. George Slusser, running behind a second string line, gained considerable yardage in the last period.
Good Blocking
The Tiger ball carriers were not alone in their efforts. They were supported with fine blocking by Red Snyder and Alvin Greenfield, who time and again cut down would be tacklers from the path of the ball carrier.
On defense, Don Snavely was outstanding. Using a 7-1-2-1 defense, he alone backed up the line and made tackles on either side.
The largest opening night crowd in the history of Washington high athletics witnessed the game. Long before the kickoff the stands were filled and general admission patrons lined the railing of the playing field.
They saw a colorful spectacle produced in a colorful setting.
Massillon Field was its prettiest. The heavy carpet of turf, a credit to caretaker Morley Griffith; the colors of schools floating from the stands; the march of the Legion drum corps and the music of the Washington high band and Beach City bands took the game out of the ordinary scholastic competition and placed it on a par with the ceremonies that preceded many intersectional college games.
Douglas Kerr, likeable coach of the visiting team was authority for the statement that the sight of the large crowd and the accompanying fanfare made his boys jittery at the start of the ball game. He praised the Massillon team as a “fine ball club” and was pleased with the treatment accorded his squad here.
Kerr believes his team did not show Massillon its best football. “My boys are having a hard time getting coordinated,” he said, “but we will get going in the next couple of weeks.”
Coach Brown expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of his second team.
Gary erred at the start when it won the toss and elected to kickoff. Comer booted the ball out of bounds and it went to Massillon on the 20-yard line.
Glass First to Score
There the Tigers went to work and immediately demonstrated which team was the superior. Glass got 12 yards and a great shout went up from the stands. It was the first Tiger play of the season and forecast success. A moment later Glass reeled off 21 more, tossed a 16-yard pass to Toles and then cut for another 14. Wyatt got his hands on the ball for eight and planted the ball on the four-yard line. Glass plunged it over and kicked goal for the first points of the season.
The pigskin flashed over again in the same period when Toles pulled down Robinson’s pass, not in dangerous territory but back on his own 13-yard line. The spark flamed when a long run by Glass and a pass to Toles, put the ball on the 25-yard line. There Wyatt got up full steam and nearly shook himself loose for a touchdown, but Gary stopped his shuffle on the four-yard line where Glass gave him a second chance and over he went. Again Glass kicked the extra point.
It was not until late in the second period that the Tigers could again score. A 58-yard drive climaxed by Bob Howard’s end around sweep of nine yards produced the points. A Gary linesman blocked Glass’ placekick for the extra point.
A new Massillon team went on the field to finish the period. In fact, the Tigers had 12 men at one time and Gary ran two plays before the players themselves noticed it. A five-yard penalty on Massillon was the result.
The ball moved forward again in the third period with the first team back in the game but it was not until midway in the quarter that the Tigers could again get it over the Gary goal They launched their drive on their own 75 yard line and marched back 75 yards; Toles circling his left end for the points. Snavely caught Glass’ pass for the extra point but the officials ruled it out.
Snavely Blocks Punt
The Tigers kicked off following the touchdown and when the visitors failed to make their yardage in three downs, Comer dropped back to punt. He never got it away. Snavely broke through, blocked the ball, then dribbled it down the field until he could gather it in his arms and race across the goal. Glass kicked the extra point.
Brown began altering his lineup with substitutes and the Tigers had little to show in an offensive way thereafter, save a bit of nice running by Slusser, substitute halfback.
It was left to Gary to produce the fireworks and the Hoosiers accommodated with two sparkling plays. The fourth quarter wasn’t old when Snyder got off a weak kick that went out of bounds on the Massillon 36-yard line. On the first play, Comer dropped back and fired a pass over the heads of the Tiger secondary to Lewis who raced 15 yards for a touchdown. Comer kicked goal.
The game was waning when Hartwell Robinson electrified the spectators with a 50-yard dash around his end. Accompanied by good blocking, he got by the line of scrimmage and out sped the Tiger secondary as he reversed his field to go over the goal line with nobody near him.
It was the longest official run of the game. Glass, early in the game had gotten away to a 61-yard dash but it was not permitted as the Tigers were guilty of failing to stop on their shift and were penalized 15 yards.
Five times the local team was penalized for the same offense. It received two other penalties, 15 yards for holding and five yards for having too many men on the field. Gary only lost 10 yards in penalties.
Massillon completed three of 11 passes for a gain of 63 yards. Gary completed three of 10 for 48 yards.
The lineup and summary:
Gary Pos. Massillon
Morrison LE Howard
Oppman LT Peters
Finley LG Houston
Block C Martin
Brozak RG Greenfelder
Mathews RT Anderson
Mihalick RE Snavely
Robinson QB Snyder
Holck LH Glass
Lewis RH Toles
Comer FB Wyatt
Score by quarters:
Massillon 14 6 13 0 33
Gary 0 0 0 13 13
Substitutions:
Massillon – Dorosolov, qb; Lucius, lg; Zimmerman, rh; Fabian, fb; Lechieter, re; Slusser, lh; Norm Brown, le; MacMichael, lt; Harsh, rt; Pedrotty, rg; Mauger,, c; France, re; Hout, c; Pribich, re; Croop, rt; Sandy, lh; Foster, lh.
Gary – Peters, c; Hammond, lt; Crawford, le; Sizemore, lg; Hennessey, fb; Kenward, rh.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Glass; Wyatt; Howard; Toles; Snavely.
Gary – Lewis; Robinson.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Glass 3 (placekicks).
Gary – Comer (placekick).
Referee – Lobach.
Umpire – Gross.
Head Linesman – Jenkins.
