Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

LORAIN HANDS WASHINGTON HIGH 12 – 0 TRIMMING
POOR OFFENSE ROBS MASSILLON OF ANY CHANCE OF WINNING

Lacking a smooth working or well directed offense, without which no football team can go very far, Washington high’s gridiron aggregation took a 12 to 0 pasting from Lorain high’s stocky eleven in last Saturday afternoon’s torrid tussle on Massillon Field, the first scholastic grid combat to be staged here this fall. Shoving over touchdowns in the first and fourth quarters Lorain piled up enough points to win its first scholastic battle with a Massillon team and displayed a clean cut superiority over the orange and black throughout most of the contest.

Massillon lost because it lacked a consistent attack. Its offense lacked punch and only once was the Massillon outfit able to work the ball inside Lorain’s 20-yard line. However, the orange and black several times was within scoring distance but twice lost chances for touchdowns because its aerial attack failed to function and its other chances went glimmering when the Lorain defense was too tough to crack.

The defense work of the line was the only bright spot in Massillon’s performance. Playing under a boiling sun, that brought mid summer temperatures, the orange and black forward wall for three quarters stood off the crushing line plunges of the heavy Lorain backs. But the pace was too much for the local boys and they cracked early in the fourth quarter when the visitors began a steady line hammering attack that carried the ball 40 yards down the field and across the Massillon goal line for their second set of counters.

Lorain, however, put the game on ice early in the first quarter. The fans had hardly become settled in their seats before the visitors had scored a touchdown. It took three minutes to do it and a brilliant 45-yard dash by Kissel, Lorain halfback, paved the way for the points. Massillon received and punted. Mauger stopped Ujhelyi, the Lorain quarterback, on Lorain’s 48-yard line.

On the first play Kissel tucked the ball under his arm and with splendid interference circled Massillon’s left end and dashed down the field as his teammates boxed in or spilled the Massillon secondary defense. Seven yards from the Massillon goal he was pulled to earth by Captain Laughlin and tackle Fox. But Lorain was not to be stopped within sight of Massillon’s goal. Wolfe, Lorain’s giant fullback, smashed through the Massillon line on the second play and planted the ball back of the goal line. Ujhelyi missed a place kick for the extra point.

With their backs to the wall the orange and black tried desperately to even up the score but Lorain’s defense was too tough. The local team confined itself almost entirely to line bucking plays in the first quarter. It gained some ground but could not dent the Lorain forward wall when in scoring precincts.

Near the close of the period Wolfe pulled his team out of a hole when he grabbed a Massillon forward on his 20-yard line and raced the ball back 19 yards before being forced out of bounds.

Massillon’s best chance of scoring came in the second quarter but the chance was lost when its aerial attack failed to materialize. Foster returned one of Wolfe’s punts to Lorain’s 20-yard line. Briggs flipped a pass to Shanabrook for 18 yards and the ball was on the visitor’s 21-yard mark. Then Briggs tried to pass to Straughn but it went over the Massillon end’s head when he turned and stopped to see where the ball was. Had Straughn pulled the pass out of the air he might have gone over for a touchdown.

A few minutes later Briggs covered a fumble on Lorain’s 34-yard line. Once again he attempted a pass to Straughn and again the ball went over Straughn’s head with a clear field ahead.

The third quarter was played largely in midfield. Massillon might have gained ground on end runs with proper interference, but only a few were tried. Most of them, however, produced some yardage.

It was at the start of the fourth quarter that Lorain showed its best punch of the day. The Massillon line, however, by this time was beginning to feel the effects of its battering and the heat. Ujhelyi intercepted a Massillon pass on Massillon’s 40-yard line as the quarter opened. He went through for 20 yards before being downed by Dommer. Three plunges gave Lorain a first down, putting the ball on the 25-yard line. With another first down in sight Lorain was penalized 15 for holding but it made up the penalty and gained enough ground for a first down when Ujhelyi tossed a pass to Kissel for 17 yards, taking the ball to the 14-yard line. Uhhelyi and Wolfe toted the leather to the one-yard line in three plunges. Ujhelyi plunged into the line again. He was stopped a half yard from his goal but on the next play he went over. He again missed a place kick for the additional point.

With the forward pass left as its only hope for overcoming the Lorain lead in the closing minutes of play, Massillon began to toss passes in a desperate fashion but only one out of 10 attempts in the final period worked and the game ended with Lorain in possession of the long end of the count.

Up until the fourth quarter the ground gaining ability of the two teams was about equal. But in the final period Lorain ripped off five first downs and had Massillon shaded 10 to six when the game ended. Massillon tried the air game a lot in an effort to gain but got nowhere with it.

The orange and black attempted 19 passes, but only two were completed, one in the second quarter for 18 yards and the other in the fourth for 10. Two were intercepted by Lorain. The visitors did not depend a great deal on passes for their gains. They attempted but four, working only one for 17 yards. Massillon intercepted one.
Lineup and summary:
Massillon – 0 Pos. Lorain – 12
Straughn LE Stevenson
Fox LT Crehore
Henderson LG Armstrong
Potts C Glorioso
Mauger RG Traub
Anthony RT Towner
Shanabrook RE Delcey
Briggs QB Ujhelyi
Foster LHB Kissel
Grant RHB Burge
Laughlin FB Wolfe

Score by quarters:
Lorain 6 0 0 6 12

Substitutions:
Massillon – Dommer for Fox, Schnerlie for Straughn, Nichols for Briggs, Fox for Dommer, Dommer for Anthony, Straughn for Schnerlie, Briggs for Nichols, Evans for Fox, Garland for Henderson, Schnerlie for Dommer.

Lorain – Fitzgerald forTowner, Shade for Burge, Towner for Fitzgerald, Burge for Shade.

Touchdowns – Wolfe, Uhhelyi

Offiicals:
Referee – Maurer (Wooster).
Umpire – Lobach (F. & M.).
Head Linesman – Jenkins (Akron).

Time of quarters – 12 minutes.

Earl Straughn
esmith