Tigers
display mettle
In
topping Hoover
semifinals with 27‑7 win
By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor
They
might want to change the Massillon Tigers theme song from "Eye of the
Tiger" to "We Shall Overcome."
With
three starters missing due to injury and illness, and two others battling to
stay on the field despite being hospitalized within the past week, the Tigers
dug deep and dealt the North Canton Hoover Vikings a 27‑7 setback to win
the Division I Region 2 regional championship in front of a near capacity crowd
at Fawcett Stadium, Saturday night.
Rick
Shepas knew all week he would be without starting running back Ricky Johnson
and starting defensive lineman Marquis Johnson. But on Friday night, as he and
his wife were watching her nephew play in a Division IV regional final at
Central Catholic High, Shepas got a telephone call from offensive coordinator
Dan Murphy and the news wasn't good.
Starting
right guard Tony Thornsberry, possibly the Tigers'
most consistent offensive lineman this season, was hospitalized. He would have
his appendix removed at 1 a.m. Saturday.
"I
thought God was testing me a little bit," Shepas said. "I said, ‘I'm
going to have a little faith and trust in him and go to sleep and whatever is
meant to be is meant to be.’”
Then
as the team began to gather later Saturday morning, starting right offensive
tackle J.P. Simon turned up sick. He had spent most of the early‑morning
throwing up and was taken to the hospital where he was given a couple of liters
of fluid intravenously.
"I
told J.P., 'Buddy you've got to tough it out,"' Shepas said. "We
didn't want to have that whole right side of the line gone. He
toughed it out."
Simon
was wobbly but he played. Tim Dewald filled in for Thornsberry and did an outstanding job, according to
Shepas.
Meanwhile,
cornerback Jamaal Ballard, who didn't play last week after having surgery on
his thumb, returned to the lineup. The junior, his hand in a cast to protect
the thumb, came up with not one but two interceptions as the
"I
had to come out tonight and make a statement playing with my team,"
Ballard said. "I gave up a touchdown but I picked off two and took one to
the house."
That
interception return for a touchdown was called back because of a clipping
penalty on the runback. But Massillon would score just the same as David Hill
went around the left side of the line for an 18‑yard touchdown run that
put the Tigers up 24‑7 with 6:30 to play in the football game.
"All
I saw was an opening from Robert (Oliver) blocking and I just took it to
it," Hill said. "Coach told me at halftime to run like I normally run,
which is hard. The team had belief in me and I didn't want to let them down. So
I did what I had to do."
Hill
finished with 61 yards in 11 carries and may become an even bigger part of the
offense next week as Oliver, who had 67 yards in 12 carries, suffered a knee
injury that did not look good at game's end.
"We've
been overcoming adversity for a long time," Shepas said. "It just
seems to be a norm now."
The
Tiger defense held North Canton to 95 yards of offense in the second half as
The
Vikings rushing total for the entire contest was minus‑1 yard.
"We
stuffed the run," said linebacker Justin Princehorn.
"They got us on a couple of pass plays deep in the first half. We put in
some adjustments and came out the second half and held them to no points."
"Coming
off the first McKinley game, we don't want nobody to
run on us," said linebacker Shawn Crable.
"So when teams are running on us we get a little mad. We played kind of
soft in the first half. The second half we came out with a little more fire and
things went our way."
A
54‑yard quick kick by Justin Zwick helped set
up
After
North Canton punted, two Zwick‑to‑Devin
Jordan sideline passes generated 31 yards to give the Tigers a first down at
the
From
there Zwick tossed a short pass to Oliver in the left
flat. The senior snagged the ball at the 9 and went in untouched. David Abdul's
kick made it 7‑0
On
third‑and‑nine from the North Canton 18, Zwick
floated left with the shotgun snap then threw back to
Abdul
was true with a 22‑yard field goal that capped a 12‑play, 68‑yard
drive to open the second half and the Tigers' 17‑7 lead held into the
fourth quarter.
The
Vikings penetrated down to the
"Not
coming up with that score, we needed that to make it a 17‑14 game,"
said
"We
knew they were talented, big and strong. Offensively they can beat you a lot of
ways. I was just proud of the way our team fought."
A
few minutes after that big fourth down play, Ballard's second interception
would set up Hill's touchdown run.
Abdul
closed the scoring with a 33‑yard field goal with 3:43 to play, setting
up a rematch with St. Ignatius, a 40‑33 winner over Warren Harding in the
Region I title game in
"We're
just warming up fellows, just warming up," Princehorn
shouted in the post‑game Tiger huddle. "It is meant to be."
M NC
First downs rushing 9 3
First downs passing 12 11
First downs by penalty 0 1
TOTAL first downs 21 15
Net Yards rushing 165 (-1)
Net yards passing 252 248
TOTAL yards 417 247
Passes attempted 38 35
Passes completed 23 15
Passes intercepted 2 3
Punts 4 5
Punting average 41.3 43.4
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 1/0
Penalties 11 5
Yards penalized 101 25
SCORING
M
‑ Oliver 9‑yard pass from Zwick (Abdul
kick)
NG
‑ Luken 57‑yard pass from Reifsnyder (Reifsnyder kick)
M
‑
M
‑ Abdul 22‑yard field goal
M
‑ D. Hill 18‑yard run (Abdul kick)
M
‑ Abdul, 33‑yard field goal
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
-
Statistics courtesy of RICHARD CUNNINGHAM