MASSILLON HIGH DIED GAME
Put Up a First Class Contest Against Canton
CANTON, 17; MASSILLON, 0.
McGregor, Disabled,
Went Into the Game and Turned the Tide of Battle
Massillon Carried the Ball to Canton’s Ten-Yard Line
but Couldn’t Put it Over.
Although defeated in the end by the score of 17 to 0, the Massillon high school football team managed to give Canton’s aggregation the worst scare it has received in many a long day when the two teams met for the first time this season on the high school grounds, Saturday afternoon. Expecting a one-sided score which could be reckoned by tens, it ran into a snag in the very first scrimmage, which promised to be its undoing. The day was only saved by rushing the disabled McGregor, Canton’s massive and invincible fullback, into a suit, and trotting him out to hunt for the weak spots in Massillon’s stone wall defense. With few exceptions he was the only man who could make a dent in Massillon’s light but scrappy line. When he did not carry the ball he made the hole for the other fellow. The advent of the heavy full back was not noticed at once but in the long run he proved the deciding weight in the scales of victory.
Massillon was more than an even match for the original team with which Canton started the game. Receiving on the first kickoff it made its yards repeatedly against the dazed Canton team, which had not anticipated such things. Massillon’s greatest playing was done in the first ten minutes of the second half. The same can be said of Canton, for in this time the two teams held against each other like two walls of adamant, the ball changing hands several times without moving more than a yard or two either way. Massillon received the ball on the kickoff in the second half and carried it without losing it, to Canton’s ten yard line. One touchdown and a goal meant victory for Massillon. With victory ten short yards off, Massillon played like a demon, but Canton, goaded by fear of defeat, held in desperation. Every hole in the red and black line was plugged by Canton backs. Massillon’s every trick was tried but Canton’s ends were wise and refused to be drawn in. Erb dropped back for a try at goal but the kick was blocked. Massillon recovered the ball and the battle royal began again. Twice the ball was lost and gained by Massillon on fumbles, but with twelve downs in succession the ball was not advanced an inch. Twice Massillon had but one man between the runner and the goal, but twice this man nailed the play. Atwater and Snavely carried the ball in these cases and carried it back for thirty yards, being downed by the last man between himself and the goal.
Canton soon came to its own. Receiving the ball on a punt it took a mighty brace and bore slowly through Massillon’s line, carrying the ball down the field on plunging line bucks. After losing the ball several times it at last forced it over for the second touchdown. The third touchdown was secured by the same tactics, although Massillon’s line never said die, and fought for all that was in it until the whistle blew. In the latter part of the second half Massillon punted every time it received the ball. It had not given up the hope of scoring but considered this the only manner in which it could again get within striking distance of the goal. Massillon’s good work in downing the runner where the ball dropped made this possible.
Massillon’s playing exceeded the hopes of the most sanguine. The line played low, the backs ran low, and the tackling was not only low but hard. There was no dragging. When a man was hit he knew it, and he faded without delay. Behind the playing on both sides was a Carlisle desperation, which brooked no trifling. Canton had thought Massillon would be easy and was desperate with the fear of defeat. Massillon knew that if ever under the sun, now was a chance to defeat Canton, and it was determined to do it. Every player was in the game to do or to die. Canton turned the trick, and Massillon died game. The score may after all be a fair estimate of the strength of the two teams for Canton easily outweighed Massillon ten or fifteen pounds to the man. This counted for little until the final test in the second half, when it won the game. A practical demonstration of Massillon’s ginger was Dave Reese, its 120 pound center who played the game against three different opponents of massive proportions and who stuck them all out.
An unprecedented crowd of over a thousand people boxed the field on all sides, and with the exception of a few Canton adherents, gave Massillon its undivided loyalty. If anything under the sun aided Massillon in the accomplishment of such great things it was the heroic loyalty of two hundred high school students, principally girls who took their stand at the north side of the field and yelled and shouted and sang themselves hoarse for the yellow and black in defeat and victory.
Following is the line-up:
Canton – 17 Pos. Massillon – 0
Blythe (c) le Richards
L. Wise lt Erb
Howells lg Carr
C. Wise c Reese
Karper rg Blackburn
Lathamer rt Clay
Cover re Wells
Brooks qb Atwater
Harris rh Snavely
Steiner lh Hammersmith (c)
Lawson, McGregor fb Davis
Time of halves: 20 minutes.
Touchdowns: Canton – McGregor 2; Blythe.
Goals from touchdown: Canton – Brooks 2.
Referee – Bast.
Timekeeper – Hall.
Linesman – Bloomberg.
