Tiger Rally Repels Bulldogs 18-14
Real
Champs Fight Back!
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
“That’s the mark of a real
champion!”
Those words might have been
uttered by a
But they weren’t. That’s why they mean so much more today to
one of the most terrific bunch of boys ever to wear the famous orange and black
garb of the Tigers.
Following the Bengals’ 18-14 come-from-behind victory over
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THE TIGERS convinced one outsider that they deserve to wear the
But the Brucemen
convinced all the Tiger fans watching at Fawcett that they deserved to wear a
second straight crown. Any team which
can be down 14 points at half time to a fired-up, superbly coached, hard-hitting
team like McKinley and come back to win -–for the third time this
season—certainly deserves to be called a champion.
The other 2 times the
The 1965 season truly saw a
superb team effort on the part of the players.
Each did his part. Each came to
the fore time and again during a 10-game slate, which had more pressure-packed
moments than an old-time movie serial.
The win Saturday gave
For Coach Earle Bruce it was
a 43rd straight unbeaten game, counting the August all-star
game. He now has a 3-1 record at
Fawcett, having split 2 games there with
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FOR THE thousands of fans who watched via television Saturday, it must have
been like seeing a replay of an old movie on the late-late show for this year’s
game came close to being a carbon copy of last year’s. The Tigers beat McKinley 20-14 at Tiger stadium
in 1964.
This time, however, the WHS
eleven started its comeback earlier, not waiting for the last quarter to roll
around. Quarterback Dave Sheegog, playing in his final high school game, got his
mates started with a 24-yard run-back of the second half kickoff to his 34-yard
line.
The Tigers moved in for a
score in 11 plays, finally getting their deadly, ground-gobbling,
time-consuming offense into high gear.
“Sweet Walter” Lemon, another senior, picked up 16 yards in 5 plays on the
drive with Sheegog and junior Tommy James also in on
the effort.
The touchdown came after a
first down procedure penalty had set
With almost 6 precious
minutes chopped off the clock in the scoring soiree, McKinley attempted to get
a drive going following the kickoff. But
3 plays later it was “TJ for the TD” again.
Bulldog quarterback Larry
Haines attempted a pass with second down on his 33. James intercepted on the 40,
went down the left sideline and scored with
The Bengals
forced a punt on the next series as linebacker Paul Marks threw Haines for a
10-yard loss on third down. Sheegog ran back 31 yards with the boot to the McKinley
24. But a penalty and 2 incomplete
passes halted the drive on the 24.
It looked as if McKinley
were about to come charging back. Their
outstanding fullback Larry Clayton went booming off right tackle for 28 yards
to the
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THEN SHEEGOG intercepted another pass on what McKinley Coach Ron Chismar called the key play of the game.
Lemon, Sheegog,
Foster and James all had a hand in the assualt. Lemon had an 8-yard run, Sheegog
a pair of 8’s and Foster an 11.
It was Foster who came up
with what Bruce thought was the key play and so did all of the Tiger fans.
Foster blasted through the
middle to the 3 and over, off left tackle, in successive plays with 2 minutes
remaining. Sheegog
tried to hit Paige for the conversion but Rick couldn’t hold it.
But the heart-throbs weren’t
to stop. McKinley, showing the great
stuff it is made of, continued to fight, moving the kickoff to the 29 after a
23-yard runback by Mathews to the 25.
With third down on the 27,
Haines hit end Ed Hinton on the 39. Then
Haines faded to pass, slipped and went down on the 29 with Mike (Big Boy) Sherrett on top of him.
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THE NEXT PLAY saw Haines fade again. This time
Marks picked off the fourth McKinley pass of the day, more than in any other
game for the Tigers.
Unlike in the second half, McKinley
was in command in the first period.
Hopped up like a horse on loco weed, the Pups rammed away for 2 quick TD’s before the startled Tigers knew what had hit them and
it looked as if an upset were in the making.
Half Fred Mathews was the
star here. He ran the opening kickoff
back 44 yards to the
He picked up 40 more yards
on the drive, the payoff coming on a 32-yard pass-run combination with Haines
on the propelling end. The down was
third and the time remaining
The Tigers got a 20-yard
runback to the 30 by Sheegog. But then disaster struck Sheegog,
passing into the teeth of a strong wind, saw his aerial hold up short. Mathews hauled down the errant toss on the
McKinley 35 after a frantic effort by Paige to bat it away and
hot-footed it to the
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WITH CLAYTON carrying the ball 5 times and picking up 25 yards, the Bulldogs got
their next TD with
Mathews had a key third down
pass reception for 6 yards on the Tiger 21.
Clayton brought the ball to scoring distances by bursting through the
center on successive plays to shake off tacklers and travel from the 21 to the
3.
Sheegog ran back the kickoff to the Massillon 34, a distance of 24 yards. But on the first play, Bill Knucklos recovered a
The Brucemen
then stopped the Bulldogs’ drive on the
The remaining seconds of the
first period and all of the second were a standoff. McKinley had the ball for only 9 plays in the
second canto.
The Obiemen
had 2 drives going, one for
Chismar said after the game that he thought
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BRUCE confirmed Chismar’s statement about using a
lot of odds and ends in the first half.
He felt that his team did a better job of rushing the passer in the
second half, which helped cut down on the effectiveness of the Bulldogs’
passing.
When asked what it was he
said at half time to fire up the Tigers, Bruce replied, “Go Get
them!” He added, “That old
Chismar commented on his passing in the second half by saying that broken
patterns were involved when James intercepted for a TD and Sheegog
pilfered to start the drive for the winning score.
“They wouldn’t have scored
if it hadn’t been for that,” Chismar said.
Chismar, a fine sportsman, refused to say that the absence of speedster Darryl
Rippey hurt.
“Elbert Bradley did a fine job of filling in,” he said. “I cannot take anything away from him.”
Tiger defensive backfield
Coach John Behling explained the reason for the Bengals’ trouble in covering passes in the first
quarter. “The boys couldn’t hear their
cover calls,” he said.
The Lineups. .
.
Ends – Paige, B. Williams,
McGuire, Gallion,
Tackles – Hartley, Neago, Petroff, Sherrett.
Guards – Rose, Whitified, Kraft, Richards, Zorger.
Centers – Marks, F.
Williams, Ehmer.
Quarterbacks – Sheegog, Doolittle.
Halfbacks – Lemon, James, Muhlbach, Smith, Healy, McFadden, McLendon.
Fullbacks – Foster, Manson.
McKINLEY – 14
Ends – Ring, Snell, March,
Hinton.
Tackles, Scott, Adamski, Rushe.
Guards – Robinson, Hall, Nucklos, Shimek.
Centers – D’Antonio, McEwen.
Quarterback – Haines.
Halfbacks – Mathews,
Bradley, Johnson.
Fullbacks – Clayton,
Dickerson.
Score by
Quarters:
McKinley………….. 14 0 0 0 – 14
Touchdowns:
Foster (3-yard run).
McKinley – Mathews (23-yard pass-run from Haines);
Haines
(one-yard sneak).
Extra points:
McKinley – Fronimo 2 (placekicks).
OFFICIALS:
Referee – George Ellis (
Umpire – Tony Pianowski (
Head Linesman – Branton Kirk (
Field Judge – Tom Ascani (
Attendance: 22,326
Statistics
. . .
First downs—rushing 10 7
First downs—passing 3 3
First downs—penalties 0 0
Total first downs 13 10
Yards gained rushing 165 153
Yards lost rushing 2 29
Net yards gained rushing 183 124
Net yards gained passing 43 60
Total yards gained 226 184
Passes attempted 12 11
Passes completed 4 4
Passes intercepted by 4 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 42 27
Times kicked off 4 3
Kickoff average (yards) 45.0 49
Kickoff returns (yards) 65 63
Times punted 1 1
Punt average (yards) 40.0 29
Punt returns (yards) 28 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 1 2
Lost fumbled ball 1 0
Penalties 5 1
Yards penalized 25 15
Touchdowns rushing 2 1
Touchdowns passing 0 1
Touchdowns by interception 1 0
Miscellaneous 0 0
Total number of plays 38 31