18,000 See Tigers Beat Stubborn Lincoln Lions 25-0
Touchdowns Come Hard For Washington High In Hard Fought Game
By LUTHER EMERY
The Washington high school football team whipped Canton Lincoln 25-0 before 18,000 in Fawcett stadium Friday evening, but Massillon’s sizeable delegation scratched heads and wondered if the Tigers were really as strong as they thought they were while Coach “Chuck” Mather, the gleam gone from his eye, shook his head and said, “We were not sharp.”
The fact is the local eleven, with two of last week’s regulars sidelined, were not sharp and caught Lincoln on a night when the Lions were giving all they had in an effort to score their first victory over a Massillon eleven.
Most fans expected a river of touchdowns from the Massillon team and it started that way when Al Brown romped 21 yards to score on the first play from scrimmage, but thereafter they were hard to get.
You can compile a lot of reasons why the score was not larger, penalties, injuries, and frequent substitutions, but likewise do not overlook the determination of the Lincoln team, which greatly out-weighed the Tigers from guard to guard and forced the Massillonians to rely on sweeps for their gains.
True the Tigers missed several touchdowns because of penalties and probably could have rolled up more points had Coach Mather elected to play his first stringers more, but with it all, the locals were not “high” so to speak, for the game.
“We tried to get them up there,” Mather said after the contest, “but we had a hard time getting coordinated for this one.”
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WHAT’S MORE, the Tigers couldn’t get Lincoln lined up very often for a good punch. The Lion ends rambled around, and tacklers, according to the boys, frequently turned their backs on the Massillon interference just as the latter were throwing their blocks. This resulted in numerous clipping penalties which upset the locals’ offense and nullified a couple of fine runs for touchdowns.
The boys, however, were not blocking with the same vicious precision that enabled them to walk away with Cathedral Latin 44-13 last week in their opening game of the season, and judging from Mather’s remark after the contest, “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” there will be some long sessions on the practice field next week.
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DEFENSIVELY, the local team played a better game than it did last week against Latin. Whereas Latin gained 322 yards, Lincoln was held to 163. The Tigers actually gained more yards than they did against Latin, 352 to be exact compared with 332, but there wasn’t as much oats in the nose bag.
No doubt Mather made little effort to run up a large score, or else he would not have substituted so freely or experimented with some forward passes when his backs could have swept Lincoln off the field.
He used the contest to test a number of things as well as give a lot of boys a chance to get game experience and 31 of them profited because of it.
Statistically the game was as much in his favor as the number of points scored. The passing attack left much to be desired but the locals did manage to complete four of 14 for 90 yards and held Lincoln to one completion out of 12 attempts for 33 yards. Two Lion passes were intercepted. First downs were 16 to 6 /in the locals’ favor despite 90 yards lost through penalties. Lincoln wasn’t penalized a yard. In fact the officials only called two penalties on the Lions, both for being in motion, and the Tigers refused both. Twelve penalties were called on Massillon, Lincoln refusing four, including a 15-yarder.
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THE WAY the game started off it looked as through the Tigers would make a runaway of it. They stopped Lincoln after the kickoff and Ray Lane broke through to block John Mallcheck’s punt which Roderick covered on the 21. On the first play Al Brown swept right end for a touchdown as Tiger blockers lowered the boom on would be tacklers.
The locals had to score their second one twice before they could keep it. Brown went 14 yards for it the first time but the ball was called back on a clipping penalty. Four plays later, Edie Bush swept his right end for the six points and Clarence Johnson booted the extra point from placement.
That ended the scoring for the half with neither team threatening seriously. The Tigers once were down to the 15 but were set back on penalties while Lincoln in its only offensive outburst of the two periods, lost the ball on a fumble on the Tiger 27.
The third period was almost over before the Tigers could score again and then it took a blocked kick to do it. The locals marched the second half kickoff back to the Lincoln
10-yard line where the Lions took the ball away from them on downs. The Tigers held, however and when Mall check attempted to punt, Roderick broke through and blocked the ball. It rolled to the one yard line where Lincoln covered but it was fourth down and Massillon’s ball. Brown knifed through the left side of the Lincoln line for the touchdown to bring the score to 19.
On the first play of the fourth period, Brown went 63 yards for another touchdown which was not allowed because of a clipping penalty, and the Tigers were forced to punt, Don Studer getting off a beauty to the Lion 35. From this point Lincoln staged its best offense of the evening and moved the ball through a Massillon team filled with second and third string men to the 14-yard line where the drive petered out and the Tigers took over. A couple of passes thrown by Brown and Jack Hill helped take the ball to the 13-yard line where Johnson lugged it over on a reverse for the last points of the game.
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THE VICTORY was the Tigers’ fifth over Lincoln in the last six years; one game that of 1945, ended in a tie score. The 25 points were four short of the 29-0 victory tabulated by the locals in 1946.
While the Tigers were not brilliant in victory, there were bright spots in their lineup. Coach Mather was pleased with the running of Capt. Brown and the defensive work of Johnson, “I felt they were outstanding in these departments,” he said after the game. “We can tell more once we have had a chance to look at the pictures.”
He was noticeably disappointed at the failure of some of his players to “tee off” when blocking Lion tacklers, for there were numerous instances when a good block would have turned a ball carrier loose for many more yards than he otherwise gathered because of a teammate’s mediocre effort.
The Tigers played the game without the services of two regulars, Mike Takacs, who suffered an attack of appendicitis and Irvin Crable, the sophomore flash, who failed to report for practice Thursday without notifying anyone, in violation of a strict coaching rule. He was in uniform, but his position was filled by Eddie Bush who was groomed for the spot during the former’s absence. Art James filled Takacs’ shoes.
After the game there wasn’t the hilarity in the Tiger dressing room such as greeted the conquest of Cathedral Latin last week. The boys knew they hadn’t played the brand of football they put out a week ago and were thinking it over among themselves.
However, they had their customary dinner after the game and returned to Massillon at midnight, ready for a weekend of rest before starting preparations for their third contest of the season next week with Youngstown South high.
VICTORY NO. 2
MASSILLON
ENDS – RODERICK, HOUSTON, Streeter, Gleason, Studer, Slicker.
TACKLES – A. JAMES, JONES, Stanford, Pizzino, Schumacher.
GUARDS – REICHENBACH, MORROW, Paul, DeWalt, W. Houston, Laps.
CENTERS – MCVEY, Krisher, Patt.
QUARTERBACKS – HILL, James.
HALFBACKS – BUSH, JOHNSON, Grier, Shine, Crone.
FULLBACKS – BROWN, Lane Ebbert, Howe.
LINCOLN
ENDS – LOVE, MOORE, Halter, Bush.
TACKLES – MALLCHECK, WINTERS, Ferrall.
GUARDS – STEWART, BACHTEL, Drunkenbrod.
CENTERS – MALLOY, Cairns.
QUARTERBACKS – NEEL, LeBeau.
HALFBACKS – DUELL, BREMKAMP, Toy, Schoeppner, Poffeh.
FULLBACKS – DIUK.
Score by periods:
Massillon 13 0 6 6 25
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Brown 2; Bush; Johnson.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Johnson (placekick).
Referee – Russ.
Umpire – Gross.
Head Linesman – Hodnick.
Field Judge – Schlemmer.
Statistics Of The Game
Massillon Lincoln
First downs 16 6
Forward passes 14 12
Passes completed 4 1
Had passes intercepted 0 2
Yards gained passing 90 33
Yards gained rushing 262 130
Total yards gained 352 163
Net yards lost 19 14
Net yards gained 333 149
Punts 2 5
Punts blocked 0 2
Average punt (yards) 41 22
Yards punts returned by 10 12
Kickoffs 5 1
Average kickoff (yards) 50 50
Kickoffs returned (yards) 25 77
Penalties called on 12 2
Times penalized 8 0
Penalties refused by 2 4
Yards penalized 90 0
Fumbles 1 4
Lost ball on fumble 0 1
