‘Night of Long Run’ wins for Tigers
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor
It was “The Night of the Long Run” for the Tigers as they put together four of them for touchdowns of 34 yards or more, combined the effort with some terrific blocking, great defensive work and generally kicked the devil out of hapless Columbus Marion Franklin.
The spell could have been woven for an even greater count than the 48-0 final had Tiger head coach Chuck Shuff elected to keep his first string in beyond the point of 1:22 left in the first half. However, Shuff doesn’t play that way.
“I’M GRATEFUL,” said losing coach Jim Harper of Franklin. “I told you on the telephone Wednesday that your team had too good talent to stay down for long. I can’t put my finger on what’s wrong with our team.”
Massillon’s non-league victory got the Orange and Black above the .500 mark for the first
time this season at 4-3 and was a perfect tune-up for next week’s big clash at Warren Harding. The Tigers’ third straight victory, second consecutive shutout and third whitewash job dropped the Red Devils to 3-4.
Junior tailback Tom Grizzard, subbing for injured senior tailback and co-captain Mark Streeter ran for touchdowns of 43, 34 and five yards. Senior quarterback Greg Wood darted 41 yards, senior tailback Keith Herring dashed 76, junior fullback Bill Harmon blasted for 14 and junior tailback Harold Dorsey dashed for two for another.
Senior Dave Dowd kicked five conversions and junior Enzo Fatigati one.
Two of Grizzard’s touchdowns came on option plays. Grizzard’s other score came on a pitch inside end as did Dorsey’s. Wood did some daring running when trapped to get his TD and pitched to Herring when trapped on an option to give Herring his score. Harmon just plain bulled his way off tackle.
GRIZZARD gained 132 net yards in nine carries for a 14.7 average in the first half, most of that yardage in the first quarter. Harmon now called behemoth in the Beowulf epic, totaled 67 yards in six carries for an 11.2 average, also all in the first half.
The Tigers totaled 321 net yards, including 279 rushing in the first half, converting four of five third-down attempts. The Orange and Black defense held Franklin to 33 yards, including 20 rushing and allowed the Devils to convert none of six third-down attempts, putting the game on ice after the first 24 minutes.
Tiger pursuit and rushing was outstanding and tackling vicious. Sophomore linebacker Anthony Grizzard had a reported 10 tackles.
Cornerback Dorsey recovered a Franklin fumble on the Massillon 42 in the second quarter to stop the Red Devils’ longest first half advance and start a touchdown drive. Safety Eddie Bell picked up a Devil fumble on the Massillon 24 in the third period, one play before Herring took off on his TD drive.
The Tigers’ first-team blocking was stupendous, including key hits by Harmon on Grizzard’s long TD runs, bringing hope that the spirited play will continue against the Region 2 computer leader, Harding, next week.
THE TIGERS kept the Devils in the hole with a 52.3-yard kickoff average by Dowd and Keith Harmon and a 51-yard punting average by Todd Keller.
“It helped out a lot to have those long kicks and long runs,” Shuff said. “The defense was real good. They had hardly any yardage the first half.”
“I hope that was a good tune-up for Harding,” Shuff said. “It’s going to be a real head knocker.”
Shuff pointed to Tom Grizzard’s and Bill Harmon’s running.
“Grizzard ran the off-tackle hole very nicely and broke several tackles,” Shuff said. “The Big Bear” broke one on his TD run, took one guy by Bill’s shirt tail and two hanging onto his back into the end zone. Grizzard was just fantastic.
The skipper pointed out that Wood did some fantastic reverse field running and darting in and out between would-be tacklers on his six-point journey.
“We passed much more tonight because they practically had a nine-man line on us at the beginning of the game,” Shuff said. “The Devils had a linebacker up on the line which forced us to go up inside tackle more. We had more speed that their defense. Eddie Bell took out two people on one of our option plays.
FRANKLIN – 0
Ends – Brown, Scott, Mathis, Flemmings, Washburn.
Tackles – Fitzerald, Crowder, Englemen, Blount, Oats, Simpson.
Guards – Goode, Spears, Jones, Scior, Broadnaz, Lanier.
Center – Smith, Johnson.
Quarterbacks – Chestmut, Hunt.
Halfbacks – Mosely, McBroom, M. Moon, Mourning, Anderson, Carter, Estice, McCoy, Billingslea, R. Moon.
Fullbacks – Bradley, Tiller, Miller, Horn.
MASSILLON – 48
Ends – Lemon, Bell, Coates, Bammerlin, Gutshall.
Tackles – Lauber, Rich, Honaker, M. Matie, Goff, Easter, Greshen, Drobney, Genet, Glick, Rambaud.
Guards – Snell, Dowd, Christoff, Schumacher, Bettilyon, K. Waldrop, Parrish, White, Bricker.
Centers – Studer, Nagle, Mitchael.
Quarterbacks – Wood, Keller.
Halfbacks – Hughley, Butterfield, Fothergill, Simpson, Dorsey, Stewart, Arner, Robinson.
Fullbacks – B. Harmon, G. Waldrop, Martin, Rogers, Hoffner, Lab.
Kicker – Fatigati.
Massillon 28 7 6 7 48
C. Marion Franklin 0 0 0 0 0
SCORING SUMMARY
M – Harmon, 14 run (Dowd kick);
M – Grizzard, 43 run (Dowd kick);
M – Grizzard, 34 run (Dowd kick);
M – Wood, 41 run (Dowd kick);
M – Grizzard, 5 run (Dowd kick);
M – Herring 76 run (kick failed);
M – Dorsey, 2 run (Fatigati kick).
OFFICIALS
Referee – Warren Jones.
Umpire – Kermit Blosser.
Head Linesman – Dr. Phil Davidson.
Field Judge – Hugh Davis.
Back Judge – Ron Giacomo.
GRIDSTICK
M F
First downs – rushing 14 2
First downs – passing 3 1
First downs – penalties 2 1
Total first downs 19 4
Yards gained rushing 396 104
Yards lost rushing 6 21
Net yds. gained rushing 390 83
Net yds. gained passing 57 33
Total yards gained 447 116
Passes completed 5-11 3-10
Passes intercepted by 1 0
Yardage on passes intercepted 6 0
Kickoff average (yards) 8-53.3 1-30.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 29 127
Punt average (yards) 1-51.0 6-35.8
Punt returns (yards) 8 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Lost fumbled ball 1-4 2-2
Yards penalized 6-80 6-70
Touchdowns rushing 7 0
Total number of plays 53 42
