Washington High And Akron South Battle To 7-7 Tie
ORANGE AND BLACK NARROWLY ESCAPE DEFEAT SATURDAY
By LUTHER EMERY
An offside penalty inflicted on Akron South enabled Washington high school to tie the Cavaliers of the Rubber City 7-7 Saturday afternoon in an interesting battle at League Park, Akron.
After a listless first half in which the local team gained but little ground, the Tigers went out in the last two periods to batter through the inspired Akron defense and score a touchdown and come within a few yards of pushing over a second marker.
Fortunate to Gain Tie
But though the local team on a whole out played its opponents yet the Tigers can consider themselves fortunate that they broke even, for had not Akron been offside when Clendening’s placekick after touchdown went wide, the score would have read:
Akron 7; Massillon 6.
Though the line showed a lot of strength in the first two periods, the Massillon offense failed to flash any driving power and was exceptionally poor on lending interference to the ball carrier. Time and again the runner was dropped in his tracks when his teammates failed to clear South tacklers out of the way. As a result, the first quarter and a large portion of the second period was nothing more than a kicking duel between Kester of the local school and Gabalac and Porter of south. They booted the ball almost on even terms, Kester kicking against the wind in the first period.
In the second period however, South began to resort to a more versatile attack, and forward passes were mixing in with end runs and spinner plays. The deceptiveness mystified the Massillon defense and after Porter had returned a punt from his own 10-yard line to his 35-yard line, the Cavaliers launched an attack that did not end until the Tiger goal line was crossed.
Rogerson Scores On Pass
Neidert found an opening at center for two yards, but Gabalac wiggled through on a spinner play to his 45-yard line. Neidert went through left guard for a gain of five yards and Rogerson ripped off four more on a reverse play through his left tackle. Porter made it first down on the Massillon 43-yard line. Gabalac was stopped after a center rush of three yards and Clendening knocked down a long pass destined for Rogerson, Porter crossed up the Tigers, however, before being downed. The Tigers braced momentarily, and only allowed Rogerson three yards in two attempts Neidert faked a spinner and found an opening for six yards, and with only a foot to go, Gabalac slipped through for a first down on the Massillon eight-yard line. Gabalac lost a yard, and the Cavaliers still had eight yards to go after Rogerson carried the ball. Then it was that Gabalac stepped back and hurled a perfect pass to Rogerson, who was left unguarded. He caught the ball on the goal line and went over in one step. Gabalac placekicked the extra point. Neither team showed any more offense the remainder of the first half.
Tigers Strong In Third
The Tigers started in with a rush in the third quarter that served notice that sooner or later they were going to score a touchdown. They carried the ball from their own 35-yard line to the Akron 37-yard line, when a 15-yard penalty ended the touchdown march.
Though the orange nad black began their drive for points in that period, they did not succeed in crossing the Cavaliers goal line until the early minutes of the fourth quarter. After an exchange of punts, they came in possession of the ball on their own 47-yard line. Bordner hit for five yards but a five yard penalty sent the locals backward instead of forward. Kester’s pass was knocked down but Williams moved the ball 15 yards in three cracks at the line for a first down on the South 37-yard line. He hit for three more, but the Tigers were offside and penalized five yards. Kester reeled off five around right end and Williams faked a spinner and shot through left guard for four yards. The same play yielded seven more yards and a first down on the Akron 26-yard line. Kester got a yard at tackle but Clendening was stopped without gain. The teams reversed their position on the field as the quarter ended. Kester tossed a pass to Clendening that gained but one yard and with fourth down up, the Massillon quarter flipped the ball to Hess who ran to the Akron five-yard line before being downed. In two plays Kester carried the ball over for six points. Cledening’s attempted placekick for the try for point after touchdown was wide and short of the goal posts, but South was ruled offside on the play and the point was given the Tigers and the score was tied at 7-7.
Lose Ball On Eight-Yard Line
The local team threatened again in the middle of the period when it carried the ball from the 49-yard line to the eight-yard line where it was lost on downs by inches. The Cavaliers had but the one opportunity to score while the Tigers were only dangerous on two occasions.
While Massillon failed to make a first down during the first half, the Cavaliers negotiated the 10-yard distance four times. On the other hand, the Tigers made four first downs in each of the third and fourth periods, while the Rubber City boys were stopped in their tracks.
The local team intercepted four Akron passes, knocked three down while five were completed for a total gain of 50 yards.
Massillon tried five passes and completed two for a gain of 20 yards.
The game nearly set a record for the small number of players taking part. Only one substitution was made by Coach McGrew while the South tutor altered his lineup but twice during the afternoon.
Only a small crowd witnessed the tussle a great contrast to the huge crowds which have viewed Akron-Massillon games in years past.
The high school band was taken by bus to the game and kept one side of the field ringing with music while the south band pepped up the other side.
Line up and summary:
Massillon – 7 Pos. Akron S. – 7
Getz LE Orcutt
Willison LT Ridge
Worthington LG Smith
Schott C Huth
Monroe RG Popavich
Price RT Mansor
Hess RE Niedert
Kester QB Porter
Clendening LH Gabalac
Singer RH Rogerson
Williams FB C. Niedert
Score by periods:
Massillon 0 0 0 7 7
Akron South 0 7 0 0 7
Substitutions:
Massillon – Bordner for Singer.
Akron South – Martinkus for Mansor; Kazon for Popavich.
Touchdowns:
Akron South – Rogerson.
Massillon – Kester.
Point after touchdown:
Akron South – Gabalac (placekick).
Massillon – Willison (forfeit).
Referee – Smith.
Umpire – Clifford.
