Blanked!
By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor
St.
Ignatius Week officially began at 10:43 p.m. Friday.
That's
when the Massillon Tigers saw the final second click off the scoreboard clock at
the south end of Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, closing a 59‑0 victory over
the Garfield Rams in front of 9,475 high school football fans.
Head
coach Rick Shepas ‑ standing on the block 'M' at midfield ‑ gathered his players and coaching staff
around him after the game and explained the facts of life with regard to the next opponent on the
Tigers' schedule, the vaunted St. Ignatius Wildcats, a team Massillon has never
tamed.
"We're
going to have a chance to go up and scout them," said Shepas.
"They're a good football team. They've always been. Our program is
improving and we're going to find out where our program is at next week."
The
Tigers did a commendable job of focusing on the here and now in dispatching
The
"We're
pretty happy but we need to improve quite a bit for next week," Alleman said. "We had a lot of mistakes. We just made
some nice plays here and there and that's how we got the shutout.
"We're
pretty excited for the (St. Ignatius) game. It's going to be a big game. But we
can't have nearly as many mistakes as we did tonight or we could get
beat."
The
closest
Shepas
admitted his charges were shooting for the shutout.
"(A
shutout) is what we wanted going into the game," Shepas said. "We
were looking for that. The kids have been working hard defensively."
The
Tigers had their way with
On
its first possession,
Two
Robert Oliver running plays netted 23 yards to get things started.
After
Justin Zwick hooked up with Devin Jordan for 18 yards
and
Zwick, lining up in the shotgun, rolled to his left and found
Two
plays later Zwick rolled left and completed a pass to
Joe Jovingo for 18 yards to the
From
there, Oliver picked up eight yards around left end on first down to the
On
its third possession of the evening,
A
high snap was bobbled by the
Four
plays later, Abdul nailed a 28‑yard field goal and the Tigers were up 17‑0
early in the second quarter.
The
A
clipping penalty on the Tigers negated a spectacular 60‑yard punt return
to the end zone by Michael White, but the yellow flag only prolonged the
inevitable.
Beginning
at their own 24,
On
second‑and‑3 from the
Johnson
scored on the very next play, skirting right end from 15 yards out. Abdul's
right foot made it 24‑0
Amazingly,
"That
seems to be the way its going," Shepas said of his team's quick‑strike
ability. "We've got a good front.
"We're
getting a good mix of run and pass right now. Zwick
is effective calling the plays. Our running backs ‑ if they don't put the
football on the ground ‑ are pretty effective."
Zwick established a Massillon Tiger career passing record for most attempts
(422) and completions (232) with his 16‑of‑23 performance.
Nine
of those completions were to Jordan, who seems to have taken over as No. 12's
favorite receiver.
"There's a lot of receivers you have to deal with when we
come out and throw the football," Shepas said. "We've been spreading
the ball around.
"Devin
seems to be a go‑to guy but remember we thought he was the guy who was
going to replace Drobney in the understanding of the
defensive coverage."
"We
knew they were good," McGee said. "They were more of everything than
we thought. On offense they really have the whole shot.
"They're
just real good. This and the 1991 team (coached by Lee Owens) for them are the
two best teams I've seen them have in the past 20 years or so."
The
Tigers second half scoring was more of the same. A one‑yard
Zwick to
Then
Zwick found pay dirt himself on a keeper around right
end from three yards out at 1:24 of the third.
McGee
indicated
Junior
linebacker Tony Graves tallied for the
Oliver,
who rushed for a game‑high 130 yards in just ten carries, got into the
scoring column on a 28‑yard jaunt with 7:49 to play, and Terrance Roddy closed the scoring on a 56‑yard burst with 2:22
to play.
M G
First downs rushing 14 9
First downs passing 10 2
First downs by penalty 0 4
TOTAL first downs 24 15
Net yards rushing 279 157
Net yards passing 233 87
TOTAL yards 512 244
Passes attempted 23 12
Passes completed 16 6
Passes intercepted 0 1
Punts 1 1
Punting average 27.0 28.0
Fumbles/Lost 2/1 5/1
Penalties 8 4
Yards penalized 70 39
SCORING
M
‑
M
‑ Ashcraft 7 pass from Zwick (Abdul kick)
M
‑ FG Abdul 28
M
‑ Johnson 15 run (Abdul kick)
M
‑
M
‑ Zwick 3 run (Abdul kick)
M
‑ Graves 49 fumble return (Abdul kick)
M
‑ Oliver 28 run (Abdul kick)
M
‑ Roddy 56 run (Abdul kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS