McKinley Has Too Many Guns For
Tigers
A
COMBINATION OF the irresistible force and the immovable object.
That
would be an apropo description for Canton McKinley’s Bulldogs who, before over
23,000 fans at Tiger stadium Saturday afternoon, provided proof that they are
worthy of the title, “1956 Oho state football champions.”
The
best ball club to face a Massillon team in many a year and probably the best of
all McKinley arrays without a doubt played its best game of the season and
proceeded to paddle the out-manned but always-fighting Tigers by a stunning
34-7 count.
Let’s
give McKinley credit. It had the horses
as it:
1.
Went
undefeated for a second straight year and extended the school record to 20 triumphs
in a row.
2.
Beat
Massillon for a second season in a row, the first time this trick has been
pulled since 1933.
3.
Handed
the Tigers their first loss on home sod for the first time since Mansfield
turned the tide in 1949.
4.
Gave
a Massillon team its worst beating since the 35-0 thrashing of 1942.
5.
Registered
34 points to hike its school record to a season total of 490 points in 10
games. The old mark was 487 points in
11contests.
6.
And
captured the state title for a second straight year, another first for a Bulldog
team.
According
the Bulldogs the championship and the Rutgers Hall of Fame trophy that goes
with it is only a matter of formality.
The
loss for the Tigers was the sixth over the last 10 campaigns and it marked the
first time since 1947 the Bengals dropped two in one year. The Tiger record of eight wins, two
setbacks, is the school’s worst since the 6-4 mark of 1947.
McKinley
thus scored as many points in one game as it did against the Bengals in the
seven previous years combined. And the
win was the Bulldogs’ 27th in the ancient and colorful rivalry. Massillon, which has been the victor 29
times (five battles ended in ties) now has won 22, lost 12 and tied three over
the last 36 years.
It
was the ninth straight year the Tigers and Bulldogs had met with the state
title riding on the outcome. Up until
last season the locals had grabbed the brass ring seven consecutive years.
And
now let us give credit to the local team, the more inexperienced and immature
of the two.
* * *
LEE TRESSEL’S aggregation might have folded after being hit so hard early in the
game but the Tigers never gave up trying.
And when they realized they were a beaten ball club they fought back
even harder.
But
some bad breaks, their own mistakes and the stout McKinley defense left them a
cropper.
Coach
Tressel said the fumble on the first play after the kickoff following
McKinley’s initial touchdown hurt his team immensely and who is there to
disagree? There was another fumble
after the second Bulldog TD and the Tigers were in a hole they were never able
to get out of.
Three
fumbles lost to the enemy and two pass interceptions stalled the Tiger attack
and Tressel attributed the local defense to a “good McKinley offense.”
“They
were a great ball club Saturday but I felt we were better than we showed. We certainly could have done a better job,”
he said.
That sterling McKinley offense was centered around Quarterback Ron “Ike” Grimsley, the magician who directed the Bulldogs in his usual fine fashion; All-Ohio Bob Williams, who was simply great on defense and plucked two Massillon passes out of the air and also pounced on a Tiger fumble, all in the third period; little Phil Martin, a will-o-wisp who wrecked the Tigers with his sensational running in the first half; and Wayne Fontes, his running mate at halfback who ran equally as well inside as he did outside.
The
mercury-footed Martin tallied on runs of five, 57 and 77 yards in that order
and finished up the day with 191 yards in 15 carries – an average of 12.7 yards
per trip. Fontes made 95 in 16 runs and
Grimsley gained 81 in 14. The latter’s
passing wasn’t anything to brag about but the Bulldogs were hardly pressed into
going to the sky.
Mike
Hershberger, the boy with a man-sized heart, led the Tiger attack despite the fact
he was hampered by his bad knee. He
carried 13 times for 68 yards, blocked with abandon and turned in an
outstanding defensive game. Speedy
Ivory Benjamin collected 74 yards in 15 carries and “Chuck” Beiter, took over
for Chester Brown at fullback and picked up 43 yards in eight trips. Even for a losing cause, there were other
Tiger stats.
* * *
THE BULLDOGS, who did very little wrong, went on the prowl after they won the toss
of the coin and elected to receive.
They pounded off the tackles and skirted the end like demons for 14
plays.
Fontes
too Tim Krier’s kickoff on the 22 and got back to the McKinley 35 from which
point Grimsley went on the air. Big
Williams got behind the defenders at the Tiger 35 but the pass sailed over his
head and the invaders then decided to hoof it.
Fontes
had a hole at the left side for 10 yards and four plays later, on a fourth and
two situation, blasted through center for four yards as he kept his team
rolling at the Tiger 43. Only
Hershberger kept Grimsley from going all the way and after Ike’s 16-yarder the
Bulldogs chopped off short yardage to reach the five. At 6:01 Martin, with the aid of a nice block by Fontes, raced
around the right flank for the first Bulldog TD and Grimsley followed with the
first of his three conversions.
This
had happened to the Tigers on many other occasions in the past and usually the
Orangemen retaliated with a bang. But
after Brown returned Williams’ kickoff 13 yards to the Massillon 38, Benjamin
fumbled after dashing eight-yards.
Linebacker
Jesse Chenault covered the pigskin at the Bulldog 38 and McKinley was in
business again. After Fontes and
Fullback Arnold Lewis made two a piece, Martin wowed the crowd and stunned the
Tigers again. He got off a 56-yard pay
dirt jaunt by going off right tackle, working himself loose from three would-be
tacklers and cutting away from two more.
In the clear at the Orange 40, he raced to the end zone without too much
effort. Grimsley again converted with
(text unreadable) the period.
Less
than a minute later Rinehart fumbled and McKinley had a break again, this time
at the Tiger 18. After a 15-yard
holding penalty, Grimsley tossed to End Bob Burchfield for 15 yards and from
the 13, Grimsley threw again. Martin
made a beautiful catch as he fought off two defenders but he was out of the end
zone and the Bulldogs were stymied, temporarily anyway.
* * *
IN THE SECOND period, following a punt exchange, Benjamin recovered his own fumble
on a punt and from their own 19 the Orangemen picked up steam. They made one first down on the ground and
another via the airlanes as a reverse pass, Gene Stewart to End Don Elavsky,
netted 19. But from the Bulldog 40 the
Tigers had to kick. Hershberger’s kick
was taken by Fontes, hit immediately by Benjamin and the ball was on the eight.
Mr.
Martin made it 20-0 in a jiffy. After
he lost two, Fontes picked his way for 17 yards to the 23 to set the stage for
Martin’s third touchdown dash of the half.
On a 77-yarder, the scatback went to his right, faked two defenders out
of the way and sped to the end zone.
The
Tigers came up with their first real thrust after Washington returned the
kickoff to the Bengal 36. Benjamin did
a neat bit of running for 19 and Hershberger spun and fought his way for 20 and
a first down at the Bulldog 26. Tiger
fans were yelling for a score but Massillonians were to be denied this
time. Hershberger made three and
Benjamin five to make it third and about two at the 18.
Then
the Tigers, trying to catch the enemy by surprise, decided to take to the
air. Rinehart intended to slip the oval
to lanky Clyde Childers but Childers slipped and fell and the smooth Tiger
quarterback was forced to “eat it.”
Coach
Tressel later explained that the coaches had noticed the McKinley halfbacks
coming up fast as the Tigers stayed on the ground. The strategy called for a long throw to Childers but things went
haywire as Childers fell and the other eligible receiver, Benjamin, was
covered. On the next play Tackle Harry
Sylvester knifed in to throw Beiter for a six-yard deficit and the locals’ bid
was stopped.
Williams
was the fly in the Massillon ointment during the third period. The Tigers had possession four times but
twice Williams intercepted a pass and on anther occasion be recovered a fumble.
At the
outset of the canto he hauled in a Rinehart pitch and ran back to the Massillon
32. In just six plays the Bulldogs
tallied again. Fontes started the drive with a 17-yard sprint and from the four
he bulled over to make it
27-0
at 7:41.
* * *
THREE PLAYS after the kickoff Williams covered the Tiger fumble at the Bengal 18
and soon McKinley hit the jackpot for the fifth time. From the 13 Grimsley went back to pass, decided he had to run
with it, and run he did. He ran to the
left, then cut back toward the west sidelines and wasn’t hit until he crossed
the final stripe.
Near
the end of the period Fontes punted into the west stands and the Tigers began
to percolate from their own 48.
Hershberger made eight, Beiter seven and Benjamin made 11 yards on the
last play of the session.
Benjamin
sandwiched five yards between five by Hershberger for a first down at the 16
and the Tigers weren’t to be shutout even though they lost four on a
fumble. Hershberger came back with five
before Beiter tallied from the 15. The
junior fullback ploughed through right tackle and had good blocking as he
scored at 9:40. Davie Richardson
converted for the 21st time this season – his 11th one in
a row.
After
an exchange of punts the Bulldogs began to move again. Hershberger punted, with his beauty going
out of bounds at the eight, and the McKinley lads advanced to the Tiger 30
before the game came to a close.
The
22,993 paid admissions brought Massillon’s total attendance for seven home
games to 98,159. This was the third
largest number to see Tiger teams play at home in modern history.
It
was the last football game in a Tiger uniform for 16 boys – Elavsky, Krier,
Rinehart, Hershberger, Richardson, Washington, Chester Brown, Bob Brown, Dick
Brenner, Joe Wells, Tom Mays, Dick Whitfield, Jim Mercer, Bruce Bixler, Tom
Meldrum and Bob Kiplinger. McKinley
will lose 12 by graduation, including such boys as Grimsley, Fontes, Bob
Williams, Phil Martin, Dick Martins, Dick Roknich, and Burchfield, plus Guard
John Ifantides, who will be too old for scholastic competition next fall.
The summary:
MASSILLON – 7
ENDS
– Elavsky, Brenner, Hagan, Childers, Wells, Mays.
TACKLES
– Mercer, Whitfield, Halter, Bixler, Brownlee.
GUARDS
– Meldrum, B. Brown, Heine, Herimann.
CENTERS
– Krier, Kiplinger.
QUARTERBACKS
– Rinehart, Stewart.
HALFBACKS
– Hershberger, Benjamin, Bivings, Washington, Richardson.
FULLBACKS
– C. Brown, Beiter, Reese.
McKINLEY – 34
ENDS
– B. Williams, Burchfield, Reeves.
TACKLES
– Roknich, Paul Martin, Koeliner, Sylvester, S. Williams, Patterson.
GUARDS
– Ifantides, Bender, Chenault.
QUARTERBACK
– Grimsley.
HALFBACKS
– Phil Martin, Fontes.
FULLBACKS
– Lewis, D. Martins.
McKinley 14 7 13 0 34
Massillon 0 0 0 7 7
McKinley scoring:
Touchdowns – Phil Martin 3; Fontes, Grimsley.
Extra points – Grimsley 3 (placements).
Massillon scoring:
Touchdown – Beiter.
Extra point – Richardson (placement).
STATISTICS
Massillon McKinley
First downs, rushing 10 17
First downs, passing 1 1
First downs, penalties 0 0
Total first downs 11 18
Yards gained rushing 207 396
Yards lost rushing 32 6
Yards gained passing 19 28
Total yards gained 192 420
Passes attempted 4 9
Passes completed 1 2
Passes intercepted by 0 2
Times kicked off 2 6
Kickoff average (yards) 35.0 43.3
Kickoff returns (yards) 86 29
Times punted 2 2
Punt average (yards) 31.7 18.5
Punt returns 9yards) 1 -2
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 6 2
Lost fumbled ball 3 0
Penalties 2 6