Massillon mauls Woodrow Wilson
By WILLIAM R. SANDERSON
Independent
Sports Writer
With the mismatch
between the Massillon Tigers and Youngstown Woodrow Wilson Redmen obvious from
the start, among the Tigers priorities was keeping their key players healthy.
No such luck.
An injury to senior
running back Terrance Roddy ‑ Massillon's second leading rusher this
season cast a shadow over the Tigers 74‑0 victory over Wilson on Friday
night at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
Massillon was closing
in on its first touchdown of the game after receiving the opening kickoff when
Roddy hurt his left knee on a carry that put the ball on the three‑yard
line. After lying on the field for a minute, he limped off the field with
assistance and didn't return.
"We're thinking
it's a knee sprain," Massillon coach Rick Shepas said. "We don't
know. We, won't know until we get it looked at."
The Roddy injury comes
one week after the Tigers top rusher Ricky Johnson limped off the field in the
second half of the Mansfield game after aggravating his sprained ankle.
Aside from the injury
to Roddy, the Tigers, now 6‑1 on the season, pretty much had their way
with the 0‑7 Redmen.
For one thing, Shepas
wanted to see a more disciplined performance from his team He wanted his squad
to eliminate some of the penalties that have been problematic over the course
of the first six weeks of the season. The Tigers only committed two infractions
for 10 yards.
"I think our guys
did a good job," Shepas said. "They had a good week of practice and
they played very enthusiastically instead of playing to the level of their
opponents and that's a credit to them."
Another focus of
Friday night's action was the Tiger passing game. Despite the sheets of rain
that fell throughout the first half of the contest, Massillon was able to get
some work done in that area as well.
Starting quarterback
Matt Martin played the first half and completed nine of his 10 passing efforts
for 127 yards and two touchdowns before giving way to junior Shane Walterhouse
and sophomore Brian Morningstar who split the quarterbacking duties in the
second half. Devin Jordan led the receiving efforts with four catches for 92
yards and a touchdown.
"We had a great
game plan from our coaches," Martin said. "The line blocked very well
and I had a lot of time. The receivers caught the ball well in the wet weather
and the backs ran hard. It was a total team effort."
Prior to the injury,
Roddy had set up the initial touchdown of the game with a run of 20 yards.
After the injury, junior Tuffy Woods stepped right into the breach and looked
very impressive. After finishing off the first scoring drive from three yards
out, he quickly scored again on Massillon's next possession.
Following a Billy
Relford punt return to the Wilson 27, Woods carried for 26 yards before scoring
on the next play on a 1‑yard run.
After the Tigers sent
Wilson three and out again, junior quarterback Steve Hymes lined up as a
running back and scored from 22 yards out on the first play of the drive. That
was set up by another strong punt return by Relford.
After rushing for the
first three touchdowns, the Tigers scored the next couple through the air.
Martin hit A.J. Collins for a 15‑yard touchdown pass that made the score
26‑0 after the extra point kick by Max Shafer.
After a blocked punt
gave the Tigers the ball on the Wilson eight, Martin threw a 10‑yard
touchdown pass to James Heischel. A two‑point conversion on a pass from
Relford to Woods made it 34‑0 at the 6:03 mark of the second quarter.
Martin finished his
day off with a six‑yard touchdown pass to Jordan at the end of the second
quarter to make the score 41‑0 at halftime.
Even after mass
substitutions in the early going of the second half, the Tigers not have much
difficulty continuing to dominate. Shepas was pleased with the performance of
his backups. "In that second half I thought Eric Smith made some nice
hits," Shepas observed.
"Tomar Pettis did
a real nice job on defense. Andrew Pullin ran the ball well and Walterhouse and
Morningstar did a good job at quarterback." Pullin raced in from 15‑yards
out for one score early in the third quarter. Walterhouse scored on another 15‑yard
run and Pullin broke another scoring run from the Wilson 45 to make it 61‑0
after three quarters.
"I saw the hole
open up and I just took it," Pullin said of his 45‑yard jaunt.
"I hope that I'll get to play a little more next‑week and hopefully
I'll be able to produce the same way."
With Roddy possibly
sidelined, that may indeed be the case. Pullin finished with 90 yards on 10
carries to lead the Tigers' ground game.
The defensive backups
got into the act as well as Pettis, a sophomore, sacked the quarterback for a
18‑yard loss and later dropped a Wilson running back for a fouryard loss.
"I had to pinch
to the outside and there was the opening," Pettis said of the sack.
"I rushed in on the quarterback and I don't think he even saw me at
first."
Pettis proved he could
do it on offense to with a 17‑yard run with 1:06 to go in the contest and
Gavin Pedrotty intercepted a Wilson pass ran in the final score as time
expired.
As badly as his team
was outplayed by the Tigers, Wilson coach Dan DiGiacomo was proud of his team
for not quitting. Even late in the game, the Redmen exhibited enthusiasm after
making a play.
"They played for
48," DiGiacomo said. "We asked them to give all they had for 48
minutes and they did that."
The garne marked the
first start for Tiger linebacker Shawn Crable, who had seen some time against
Mansfield after returning from foot surgery. After the game, the defensive
stalwart said he felt fine.
"I was just happy
to be back on the field," Crable said.
"I didn't feel any pain. I was getting a little restless, but they
held me out for the right amount of time."
Massillon 74
Wilson 00
M W
First downs rushing 14
1
First gowns passing 4
0
First downs, by penalty 1
0
TOTAL first downs
19 1
Net yards rushing 251
‑18
Net yards passing 141
20
TOTAL yards
392 2
Passes attempted 12
15
Passes completed 11 4
Passes Intercepted 0
1
Punts 0 5
Punting average 00.0
29.2
Fumbles/Lost 4/0 2/1
Penalties 2 2
Yards penalized 10 15
Massillon 19 22 20 13
74
Wilson 00 00 00
00 00
SCORING
M ‑ Woods 3 run (Kick failed)
M ‑ Woods I run (Shafer kick)
M ‑ Hymes 22 run (Kick failed)
M ‑ Collins 15 pass from Martin (Shafer kick)
M ‑ Heiscel 10 pass from Martin (Woods pass
from Relford)
M ‑ Jordan 6 pass from Martin (Shafer
kick)
M ‑ Pullin 15 run (Smith kick)
M ‑ Walterhouse 15 run (Smith kick)
M ‑ Pullin 45 run (Kick failed)
M ‑ Pettis 17 run (Smith kick)
M ‑ Pedrotty 63 interception return
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Massillon rushing: Pullin 10‑87, Roddy 4‑34,
Pettis 5‑32, Hymes 2‑31, Woods 3‑29, Walterhouse 4‑19,
White 2‑12.
Wilson rushing: Benjamin 5‑11.
Massillon passing: Martin 9‑10‑126 3
TDs, Morningstar 2‑2‑15.
Wilson passing: Sims 4‑14‑20 INT.
Massillon receiving: Jordan 4‑92 TD,
Collins 1‑14 TD, Woods 2‑12, Gates 1‑12,
Helscel 1 ‑10 TD, Smith 1‑3.
Wilson receiving: Jones 3‑12.