Tigers Defeat Barberton 26-14
Massillon Grid Team Given Good Lesson In Passing By George Izo
By LUTHER EMERY
The Washington high Tigers sputtered and almost drove their coach and 2,000 Massillon fans crazy in the Rubber Bowl Friday evening, but when all was over they were 26-14 winners over a stubborn Barberton high school football team.
Held to a 7-7 tie the first two periods, the orange and black had to chalk up 19 points in the second half to extend their undefeated skein to 15 games.
Today the Massillon gridders know what the pros are up against on Sunday afternoons, for Barberton played that kind of game – a passing game – relying almost entirely on the strong arm of Quarterback George Izo. His individual brilliance last night would probably get him a unanimous vote for the All-Ohio from the disappointing crowd of 8,335 spectators.
It was Izo’s pitching and Massillon’s own errors, that had the folk, on edge much of the evening. With a few ifs and ands you could have had an upset, or on the other hand you could have had Barberton humbled by a pretty sizeable score. It was that kind of a game.
Take the first half for instance.
* * *
THE TIGERS rolled up 191 yards from scrimmage to Barberton’s 72, yet only succeeded in matching Barberton’s seven points. Another T.D. was pushed over on a forward pass, but it was ruled out and a penalty slapped on the local team because one of the backfield boys moved around illegally.
Then penalties on two other occasions brought the ball back to midfield, when touchdowns were in the making with first downs within the 10-yard stripe.
But looking at it from another way, the Tigers scored their last touchdown on a freak pass interception, the ball bounding off a Barberton players hands into the arms of Halfback Earl Radtke, who ran 70 yards to score. Most folks throught the ball had bounced off the ground but according to Radtke and officials it hit the leg of the intended Barberton receiver.
It was the kind of game you have a hard time figuring out and Coach Tom Harp in the dressing room after the contest decided there’s a lot of figuring to do.
“You should score more than seven points when you gain 191 yards from scrimmage,” Tom theorized, and added, “We are going to have to find out what’s wrong.”
* * *
ONE OF THE THINGS wrong was the number of penalties, 96 yards in all, slapped on the Tigers during the game.
Illegal procedure, offside, backfield in motion and forward movement on a lateral cost the Tigers not only penalties but a lot of lost yardage that would have swelled their net 378 for the evening well over the 450 mark. There were more flags on the field last night than you see on an entire Flag Day in Massillon.
The Tigers, who are making an unenviable reputation for themselves as a poor first half team, gave their Massillon followers a headache in the first quarter when Izo pitched his club to the first points of the game after his team had covered a fumble on the Massillon 38. He completed three passes in four attempts for 24, six and eight yards, the latter a toss to Dave Bartee for the touchdown. His perfect point after touchdown from placement made it 7-0.
The Tigers managed to tie it up in the second period after getting the ball on the Barberton 22, Dave Archibald plunging through center for the last eight and the score.
The local team went ahead in the third quarter by scoring two touchdowns, one on a
six-yard plunge by Duke after covering a Barberton fumble on the 24 and the other on a drive from the Tiger two that actually went 108 yards, penalties included.
Radtke’s 70-yard return of an intercepted pass gave the locals a 26-7 lead in the fourth quarter and Barberton scored last as Izo again fired 31 yards to Bartee for a first down on the three and then plunged the ball across himself.
* * *
THE MAGICS were anything but easy.
They were a rugged team, considerably heavier than the Tigers, and the locals bore the marks of a hard contest on their faces and bodies.
Coach Harp had to rush the injured Jim Houston into the contest to help stem the Magics advance and to provide extra punch for his own offense.
The team as a whole came out of the contest in good condition although some concern was felt for an injury to the arm of Center Tom Spicer who appeared to have a sprained wrist. X-ray pictures were to be taken to establish the extent of the injury. He sustained it in the first quarter, but played on.
Izo was always dangerous. The entire Barberton offense was built around him. He threw from the T or punt formation and his passes were accurate whether long or short. He completed 15 out of 27 and would have had an even better percentage had not receivers dropped three of them. His flips were good for 214 yards. The Tigers intercepted four.
Credit must also be given Izo’s teammates for the pocket of protection they formed around him, giving him all the time in the world to pick out his receiver and throw. At one time he even waved to the receiver to go deeper downfield.
* * *
ONLY ONCE were the Tigers able to sift through the wall of protection and then two of them missed their tackle and Izo eluded the pack to get away for a sizeable run.
Save for Izo’s passes, Barberton had little in the way of an offense. The Magics made only 30 yards on the ground and were thrown for 20 yards in losses leaving them with a net 10.
The Tigers completed three of eight passes for 38 yards.
Leading ground gainer for the local team was Don Duke with 119 net yards in 17 carries. Archibald gained 111 yards in 12 carries, and Charlie Brown 75 net in seven carries for the best average of all. Willie Long carried seven times for a net 30.
Hard fought as the game was there were no punches thrown until the very last play of the game when a Barberton player caught a pass and Bob Tracy snatched the ball away from him as he was falling to the ground. The infuriated Barberton player took a swing at Tracy and a game official grabbed Tracy’s arms while the Barberton player swung again. With that it ended.
* * *
SUMMARIZING, the game went like this:
The Tigers won the toss and received, got one first down but lost the ball on downs on the Barberton 30.
Barberton was forced to punt, the Tigers getting the ball on their 32, only to fumble on second down, Barberton covering on its 38. Izo hurled 24 yards to Bartee, six yards to Debevec, and then eight to Bartee for the touchdown.
The Tigers reeled off three first downs in a row after the following kickoff but were stalled by 20 yards in penalties and had to punt to the Barberton 15.
A penalty set the Magics back to their nine and a poor punt only went to the Massillon 22.
It took only two plays to get the touchdown. Brown ripped off 13 yards and Archibald got the last nine, and the score. John Kasunick kicked the tying point.
* * *
JIM CORMANY brought the following kickoff back 36 yards to the 48 but Archibald got the ball back for the Tigers when he intercepted on the 33.
After making one first down on an 11-yard pass to Houston, the Tigers were forced to punt to the 11.
Barberton made a first down on Izo’s 13-yard toss to Debevec but then had to punt to its own 47.
James passed 13 yards to Duke for a first on the 33 but a five-yard penalty for offside moved the ball back to the 38. Brown went 25 yards to the 13 and moved up four more to the nine. James hit Houston with a pass as he stumbled into the end zone but the Massillon backfield was caught in illegal motion and the T.D. was not allowed. The half ended shortly thereafter.
On the second play after the second half kickoff, Barberton fumbled and the Tigers covered on the 24.
Archibald hit for four, Duke for eight, Archibald for six and Duke for the last six and T.D. Kasunick missed his kick and it was 13-7.
* * *
BARBERTON roared back with Izo completing three consecutive passes of six, seven and 40 yards for a first down on the eight.
He missed his next attempt and when he threw again, Archibald intercepted on the two.
It was Duke, Archibald, and Duke, Archibald for three, six, five and 13 yards. Then Duke broke loose for 34, Brown got three and Willie Long 23 for a first down on the 24, the runs also overcoming a 15-yard penalty. Duke cut the distance 14 yards in two carries and Archibald rammed through for the last 10. Kasunick also missed this kick and that left the score 19-7.
Barberton received and Izo tossed consecutive completions to Nevling for four and to Hatula for five. Nevling made it first down on his 44. The quarterback tossed seven yards to Andy Gissinger, then carried for a gain of four. He passed for three more and threw one that bounced off Debevec’s leg into the arms of Radtke who went 70 yards to score.
That made it 26-7, as Kasunick converted.
The Magics took the kickoff and Izo passed 23 yards to Bartee, eight to Smith and seven to Gissinger. Nevling lost five but Izo fired to Bartee for 31 yards and a first down on the three and then carried it over. He kicked the extra point to make it 26-14 and that ended the scoring.
The line-ups and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Nagle, Houston, Kasunick, Welcher, Chengery.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Kreiger, Schumacher, Hofacre, Whitfield, Allen, Meldrum.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Harrison, Tracy, Ertle.
CENTERS – Spicer, Gentzler, Dowd.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Long, Washington, Radtke.
FULLBACKS – Archibald, Chet Brown.
BARBERTON
ENDS – Bartee, Debevec, Gissinger, Hampton.
TACKLES – Mollric, Boden, Cooksey, Goletz.
GUARDS – Creager, Chaykoski, Brosko, Dean, Flesher, Savage.
CENTER – Thombs.
QUARTERBACK – Izo
HALFBACKS – Nevling, Iverson, Burnette, Burrough, Jones, Smith.
FULLBACKS – Hatula, Morgan.
Score by periods:
Massillon 0 7 12 7 26
Barberton 7 0 0 7 14
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Archibald 2, Duke, Radtke.
Barberton – Bartee, Izo.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Kasunick 2 (placekicks).
Barberton – Izo 2 (placekicks).
Officials
Referee – A.N. Smith (Elyria).
Umpire – Virgil Hinton (Canton).
Head Linesman – Bud Shopbell (Canton).
Field Judge – Stan Macheck (Elyria).
STATISTICS
Mass. Barb.
First downs 16 11
Passes attempted 8 27
Passes completed 3 15
Had passes intercepted 1 4
Yards gained passing 38 214
Yards gained rushing 358 30
Total yards gained 304 244
Yards lost 16 20
Net yards gained 378 224
Times punted 2 3
Average punt (yards) 33 26
Yards punts returned by 0 6
Times kicked off 5 3
Average kickoff (yards) 39 34
Yards kickoffs returned by 23 62
Times fumbled 1 2
Lost ball on fumbles 1 1
Times penalized 10 4
Yards penalized 93 50
