Tiger Ball Carriers Race To 59-19 Victory Over Waite
Long Runs Sparked By Good Blocking Blast Visiting Toledo Team
By LUTHER EMERY
Shifting their offense into high gear, the Washington high school Tigers blasted Toledo Waite 59-19 before 12,993 fans in Tiger stadium Friday evening and in so doing.
Scored 19 more points than all of Waite’s previous seven opponents combined could tally and,
Rolled up a record total for the Waite-Massillon six-game series.
The game definitely showed the Tigers were clicking again, for no previous opponent had scored more than 12 points against the Indians’ acclaimed defense, which until last night had yielded but 40 points this season.
Long runs were the rule, rather than the exception, with all of the Tigers’ three
break-away men, Dick Jacobs, Irvin Crable, and Clarence Johnson, going the distance, and substitute Freddie Grier getting in his lick with a 57-yard explosion for the final points of the game.
Having scored nine touchdowns and gained 520 yards from scrimmage the Tigers can crow plenty about their offense. But they can still feel concerned about their defense, which was penetrated by Waite for 19 points, the most the Indians have tallied in five weeks.
The defense was an improvement over last week, but still can stand improvement if it is to stop the hard running of Canton’s Louis Mariano and passing of the Bulldogs’ John Rogers. Waite rolled up 216 yards from scrimmage, 131 by passing and 85 by carrying the ball.
The Massillon ball carriers had a big night and can thank some good work by their line and a lot of fancy downfield blocking for their long touchdown dashes. A pretty block is a fine a piece of football execution to watch as the sidestepping of a hula-hipped ball carrier, and there were plenty of them thrown last night.
In face the downfield blocking was just about the best of the year. The boys were always on the alert for somebody to hit and were able to get position on their opponents most of the time.
Few expected the Tigers to roll up as large a score, particularly in view of the 27-6 walloping handed Alliance by the Indians and the fine showing made by them against Canton McKinley which only defeated the Toledo team 7-0.
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LAST NIGHT, however, the Tigers were definitely ON and were out to convince any skeptics about their ability as a football team.
They did it the hard way, too, spotting Waite a touchdown in the first two minutes of play and coming right back to pour three over the Indians’ goal before the first period expired.
It was just a question of points from there on in and had the Tigers not fooled around with some passes in the second period they probably would have put a couple more TD’s in the cooler.
The 59-19 score, however, avenges the 40-6 whipping handed the local eleven here in 1946, the previous high total of the Tiger-Waite series which now stands 5-1 in Massillon’s favor.
In re-arranging his defense for last night’s contest, Mather moved Dick Shine in from the secondary to back up the line and put Freddie Grier back in the secondary. Dick did a capable piece of work for his first night as a line backer. He’s the type of spirited boy who can do a lot to keep the other boys on their toes.
The Tigers’ strength as in the team’s running attack. Only three of 13 passes were completed and though one of the passes provided one touchdown and paved the way for another, the aerial game as a whole was not effective. Three Massillon passes were intercepted by Waite and the locals showed some improvement in their pass defense by gathering in four of Waite’s throws.
Waite did not use its ace halfback, Bob Owens, who was the team’s sparkplug in early season games. Owens, in fact, is out for the season, according to Coach Pauly who has decided not to chance aggravating an injured leg of Owens.
Last night’s Waite team was new from top to bottom from that which started against the Tigers last year. The Indians have a lot of youngsters in their lineup and will be stronger next season.
Both teams escaped serious injuries. All three of the Tigers ace runners, Johnson, Crable and Jacobs, were touched up, but examination revealed only bruises. Coach Mather used 28 players in the game, most of them coming in during the fourth period.
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EVERYONE in the house was a bit uneasy after the opening kickoff when Waite took the ball on its own 25 and went 75 yards in six plays for a touchdown. A 40-yard toss, Jim Zieroff to Eddie Turner on the first play of the game, took the ball into Tiger territory and a 19-yard peg to Paul Van Camp produced the touchdown. Doug Thompson kicked the extra point and the Indians led 7-0.
Massillon fans breathed easier two minutes later, however when the Tigers required but three plays after the kickoff to move the ball from their 27 to the goal line. A 43-yard run by Dick Jacobs fell 23 yards short of a touchdown but “Ace” Crable took it over on the next play, the first of three touchdowns he scored in the opening period. A 36-yard run produced the second and Crable knifed through for two yards and a third after a 33-yard pass from Don James to Jacobs placed the ball on the two-yard line.
Thus the first quarter ended 21-7 and the second period wasn’t very old until James tossed a 34-yard pass to Jacobs who took the ball out of the arms of a Waite player and scampered for six points.
Waite demonstrated its grit on the next kickoff by marching the ball back from its 16-yard line to the Tiger goal. A Zieroff to Thompson pass good for 34 yards was the longest contribution to the drive and the pair also made up the last seven yards when Thompson took a peg behind the Tiger goal.
It looked as though the half would end 27-13 until Johnson was turned loose around his left end for a 60-yard jaunt in the closing minutes of the second period. That brought the half-time score to 33-13.
The Tigers got off to a bad start in the third period when Van Camp covered Dick Jacobs’ fumble a kickoff on the 28. This time the Indians took the ball over without the use of their missing weapons, Thompson going over standing up from six-yards out.
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THE TIGERS then went to work putting on a 68-yard march of their own that did not end until Johnson went over from the two-yard line for six points. He scored again in the period, going around left end for the last two after a 42-yard march in which a 23-yard run by Crable was the feature play.
Crable came through with the most sensational run of the night on the first play of the fourth quarter when he pulled down Zieroff’s pass on his own 40, headed for the east sideline and then reversed his field to run 60 yards for the points. All told he probably ran at least 100 yards.
The Tigers didn’t score again until the last four minutes of the game when Grier, substitute fullback, exploded through the center of the Waite line and went 57 yards for a touchdown. Rudy Grunder, a substitute was called in to placekick the extra point and got his first mark as a Tiger.
In High Gear
MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, GLEASON, Studer, Grunder, Brenner.
TACKLES – KRISHER, SCHUMACHER, Stanford, Gibson
Tunning, Kalleker.
GUARDS – SHINE, REICHENBACH, Laps, Houston.
CENTERS – PATT, Vliet, Martin.
QUARTERBACKS – JAMES, Close.
HALFBACKS – JACOBS, JOHNSON, Waikem, Lane, Russell, Woolbert.
FULLBACKS – CRABLE, Grier.
TOLEDO WAITE
ENDS – DAVIS, TURNER, Romano, Lasater, Winebrenner.
TACKLES – WALTON, BUMBERA, Pocse, Cummings.
GUARDS – CONTOS, CARNICOM, Ahumada, Carter.
CENTERS – GUNNER, oung, Tschirrett, Raitz.
QUARTERBACKS –STERGER, Lammie.
HALFBACKS – ZIEROFF, VAN CAMP, Hrabovsky, Sutphin.
FULLBACKS – THOMPSON, Knitz.
Score by periods
Massillon 21 12 12 14 59
Waite 7 6 6 0 19
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Crable 4; Johnson 3; Jacobs; Grier.
Waite – Van Camp; Thompson.
Points after touchdowns:
Massillon – Johnson 4; Grunder (placekicks).
Waite – Thompson (placekicks).
Referee – Tehan.
Umpire – Skibbie.
Head Linesman – Russ.
Field Judge – Reinhold.
Statistics
Mass. Waite
First downs 11 11
Passes attempted 13 27
Passes completed 3 12
Had passes intercepted 3 4
Yards gained passing 78 131
Yards gained rushing 442 85
Total yards gained 520 216
Yards lost 15 27
Net yards gained 505 189
Times punted 2 8
Average punt (yards) 36 31
Yards punts returned by 40 15
Times kicked off 10 4
Yards kickoffs returned by 72 144
Fumbles 1 5
Lost ball on fumbles 1 1
Times penalized 13 3
Yards penalized 75 35
