TIGER CHAMPS AWAIT CROWNING
State Title Assured By Comeback Victory Over McKinley, 20-14
There’s no truth to the
rumor the ABC Television Network has offered the 1964
The network well might hire
the Tigers because the
Trailing 14-0 going into the
fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against Canton McKinley, a game that had the
state championship at stake, an undefeated season hanging in the balance,
22,685 emotionally charged fans watching in Tiger stadium and un-numbered
thousands viewing on television, the Tigers staged one of the greatest
come-from-behind victories any Massillon team has put together to win 20-14.
The Tigers, who led the
Associated Press poll voting as the No. 1 team in the state most of the season, should be officially crowned state champs when
the final poll comes out Tuesday.
Outplayed by the hard
hitting McKinley squad, stopped at the 1-yard line by the McKinley defense in
the second quarter, stopped again at the 14 and at the 3-yard line in the 3rd
quarter, Massillon for better than 2½ quarters of the game was a
toothless Tiger held at bay by a pack of angry Bulldogs.
BUT THEN the unwritten script began to unfold, putting junior quarterback Dave Sheegog in the starring role. Sheegog, 5’ 10”,
170-pounds, came into the contest on offense when
regular quarterback Steve Kanner went out with cramps
in his leg. The Tigers started to move
with Sheegog at the controls and by the time the gun
went off signaling one of the greatest mob scenes ever seen in the stadium, the
Tigers were on top, with a brand new set of teeth that look like they will last
another year.
There were other hero’s in
the Tiger comeback that will rate as one of the greatest in
Determination and
persistence paid off for the Tigers who kept the pressure on McKinley despite
the 14-point deficit and wore down the Bulldogs. McKinley played almost the entire game
without Ed Jones, the roving cornerback, in the “monster” defense and Larry
Haines who broke a finger in the second quarter, but managed to come back and
almost bring the Bulldogs into the lead with a drive in the wining second of
the ball game. In the final analysis,
The Bulldogs broke on top
with
Sheegog fumbled the ensuing kickoff with the Bulldog’s guard Tom Bradbury
recovering on the
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THE TIGERS
MOUNTED one offensive more in the
second quarter moving from their own 46 to the McKinley 1. A penalty against McKinley for grabbing a
facemask gave the Tigers the ball at the Bulldog 10 with first down. Lawrence picked up a yard up the middle, Kanner sneaked out for 3 and Hewitt went 5 to the one. With fourth and 1
The third quarter looked no
better for the Tigers despite the recovery of 2 McKinley fumbles. On the second play from scrimmage following
the kickoff for the second half, Willie Hall fumbled and end Wes Goodnough recovered at the Bulldog 23.
McKinley moved the ball to
the 21 when Will Hall fumbled and
After moving to the 11, the
Bulldogs punted, Romans’ kick coming to rest at McKinley 40. There were 3 minutes and 54 seconds left in
the third quarter when the Tigers started their greatest comeback in many a
year.
Hewitt picked up 2 and Kanner 3. Kanner left the game and Sheegog
came in. Giving a sign of things to
come, Sheegog picked up 10 yards on a roll out. Hewitt picked up 4 on a second down and with
third and 6 Sheegog hit end Ken Gillmore
with an 8-yard pass putting the ball on the 13 with a first down coming
up. Lemon squirted off for 6 yards as
the quarter ended. With second and 4,
Herring went to the 4 and then to the one from where
McKinley couldn’t move the
ball and punted to the Tiger 39 where the Tigers started a 9 play 61-yard
drive. Sheegog
picked up 6 yards and then hit Herring with a pass up the middle to the Bulldog
35.
Sheegog gained a yard to the 2 and with fourth and 1 Hewitt just made it over
the goal line for the score. Sheegog tied the score at 14-all by scoring the extra
points over the left side with
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McKINLEY TOOK Paul Marks’ kick to the 12
and gained 6 yards in 3 carries. Roman
punted to the
But the ball game wasn’t over. With 48 second left on their own 24 the
Bulldogs moved to the 42 on an 18-yard gain picked up by Haines. A halfback pass from Mathews to Hall picked
up 8 yards and another pass from Haines to Mathews, the Bulldogs most dangerous
runner, put the ball on the Tiger 24. On
first down, Haines tried to hit Mathews with a pass inside the 5-yard line but
Dave Whitfield deflected it and Mathews never had a chance for it with 11
seconds left. Mathews got another pass
to move it to the 17. Thinking time had
run out
Bedlam reigned for a long
time on the field and in the Tiger locker room.
Coach Earle Bruce being
congratulated in a packed office said, “I still can’t believe it.” Asked if he made any adjustments in the
second half, Bruce replied, “No. Sheegog came through with flying colors. He’s a calm, cool and collected
quarterback. We went with the
quarterback keep off the inside belly series.
Our game plan was to run the ball.
We fumbled in the first half and didn’t in the second. Physically we came on in the second half.”
Asked if he thought the
Tiger could come back while trailing 14-0, Bruce said. “You know, once you’ve come back, you always
think about coming back,” Bruce said referring to the
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FOR DON NEHLEN,
who brought the Bulldogs up to contention for the
state title after taking over a team that was 6-4 last year, it was a bitter
defeat.
“
“Sheegog
was great for them, but Kalogeras was by far the best
football player on the field. We just
didn’t have quite the depth.”
Asked if his team tired late
in the game, Nehlen said, “No, I don’t think so. You’d look that way too if you had your back
to the wall like that. Let’s just say
our daubers were down a bit.”
Nehlen was unhappy with the officiating.
“We recovered 3 of their
fumbles, but we didn’t get the ball.
None of the officials even looked at it,” he said.
Statistically,
First downs—rushing 10 7
First downs—passing 4 2
First downs—penalties 1 0
Total first downs 15 9
Yards gained rushing 173
170
Yards lost rushing 15 14
Net yards gained rushing 158
156
Net yards gained passing
57 58
Total yards gained 215
214
Passes attempted 10 7
Passes completed 5 5
Passes intercepted by
1 0
Yardage on passes intercepted 22
0
Times kicked off 4 3
Kickoff average (yards) 46.5 53.3
Kickoff returns (yards) 62 27
Times punted 1 5
Punt average (yards)
34.0 30.6
Punt returns (yards)
52 0
Had punts blocked
0 0
Fumbles 4 3
Lost fumbled ball
2 2
Penalties 0 5
Yards penalized 0 40
Touchdowns rushing
3 1
Touchdowns passing
0 1
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous 0 0
Total number of plays
57 51
McKINLEY – 14
Ends – N. Roman, E. Bradley,
Ring, Chaney.
Tackles – Scott, Miller, Carpenelli, R. Kinnard, Dodd,
Frazier, Shaheen.
Guards – Spencer, Bradbury, Vafides, Ra. Spencer.
Center – J. Roman.
Backs – Haines, Mathieu,
Mathews, Hall, Rippey. E.
Bradley,
Kalogeras,
Dunnerstick.
Ends – Gilmore, Franklin,
Paige, Goodnough, Garcia,
D. Whitfield.
Tackles – Binge, Morgan, Rambaud.
Guards – T. Whitifield, Laursel, Zorger.
Centers – Muhlbach, Biddle.
Backs – Kanner,
Sheegog, Herring, Hewitt,
Pribich,
Manson, Lemmon, Conti, Marks, Schenkenberger.
McKinley………… 14 0 0 14 -- 14
Touchdowns –
McKinley: Bradley (9-yard pass from Haines); Kalogeras (1-yard run).
Extra points – Vafides 2 (kicks); Sheegog 2 (run).
Officials:
Referee – Tony Pianowski (
Umpire – Harold Rolf
(Ironton).
Head Linesman – Joe Romano (
Field Judge – Russ Kemper (