WASHINGTON HIGH DEFEATS NILES 13-0 FOR SECOND STRAIGHT GRID VICTORY
SUBSTITUTIONS AND FUMBLES KEEP SCORE FROM BEING LARGER
By LUTHER EMERY
Having chalked up their second straight victory of the season with a 13-0 triumph at Niles Saturday afternoon, the Washington high school Tigers this week will prepare for their invasion of Wooster, a team that held Dover to a lone touchdown in a homecoming game last Saturday.
Coming out of the Niles encounter in good shape despite several hard knocks absorbed by members of the team the Tigers barring injuries in training this week will be in A-1 condition for their third combat of the season Saturday.
Must Stop Fumbling
What Coach Paul Brown must correct more than anything this week is fumbling. Massillon fans were pleased with the showing of the Tiger forward wall Saturday when it held Niles to one first down and that a direct gift by a five-yard penalty. The backfield, however was somewhat of a disappointment in many respects because of its inability to coordinate its attacks.
Time after time the Tigers launched into threatening offensives only to have a fumble or some other misplay end the attack. Most everyone expected a slaughter but there were three big reasons why the Tigers failed to make a killing as impressive as Canton McKinley’s 67-7 triumph over Akron South.
In the first place Coach Brown did not choose to trample over his opponent after he had him down. Instead, he pulled his first stringers shortly after each touchdown and allowed his subs to carry on the work. A running story of the game shows that the Massillon first string team played less than one-half the game and was pulled just when the attack became most vicious.
In the second place, Niles had more of a team than the Tigers and Massillon fans had expected. Instead of a team weighing 150 pounds as reported by its coach, Niles had an outfit that weighed fully 160 pounds and was exceptionally strong defensively.
First Downs Tell Story
In the third place the Tigers themselves muffed many chances to score by fumbling the ball at critical moments.
While the 13-0 score is anything but impressive, it does not furnish a real picture of the exact supremacy of the Massillon team, for the Tigers threatened throughout. Their 17 first downs to Niles’ one with the subs playing more than half the game better describes their superiority.
There was nothing flukey about either the local team’s scores.
Tigers Score In First Period
After twice being stopped within the 15-yard line, once on an intercepted pass and again on a 15-yard penalty, the Tigers late in the first period took the ball on their own 40-yard stripe and launched a drive that netted a touchdown.
McCants picked up eight on a spinner and made seven more and a first down on the
25-yard line on a fake reverse. Another seven-yard smash by McCants caused Niles to take time out, but the rest was of no good, for on the next play the big colored boy circled his left wing for a touchdown. Krier attempted a placekick for the extra point but the ball went wide of the goal posts.
The Tigers began another march in the second period that ended when Scanlon intercepted Shertzer’s pass on the 18-yard line.
Midway in the third period the second touchdown was scored. It was only the second time in the period that the Tigers secured possession of the ball. Shrake started the works by grabbing a punt on his own 40-yard line and returning the ball five yards. McCants slanted through left tackle for five yards and Schrake circled his right wing for 11 more and a first down on the 39-yard line. Again Shrake ripped off seven yards through left tackle and McCants made it first down on a spinner on the 27-yard line.
Tigers Score Again
The Tigers took time out for a few minutes and renewed their offensive. Shrake sifted through left tackle for three yards and picked up three more at left end. McCants was stopped without gain, but on the fourth down Krier circled right end and carried the ball to a first down on the 17-yard line. McCants made two yards at center and Shrake struck out around left end for a 15-yard touchdown run. This time Krier kicked the extra point.
An entire new Massillon team faced Niles at the next kickoff. The Massillon subs once had the ball on the 12-yard line but lost a chance to score when a fumble set them back seven yards. They came back again to the 25-yard line but lost the ball on downs. Once again they drove back to the 10-yard line when another fumble set them back 10 yards and at the end of the game they were hammering away only six yards from Niles’ goal line.
Massillon showed the only offense of the afternoon, for the Tigers completely stopped every effort of the Niles team to carry the ball. Niles made its only first down early in the first period. Infante recovered a Tiger fumble on the 35-yard line and the Tigers were penalized five yards for being offside on the next play. Gales in two plays made it first down on the 25-yard line and that’s as far as Niles got with the ball.
Stop Niles Threat
Other than that, Niles threatened but once. One of Gales’ punts rolled near the goal line. Since the end zones are not deep at Niles, Massillon was granted five yards by Niles to give it sufficient room to punt. McCants got off a poor one, however, the ball going out of bounds on the 14-yard line.
Niles immediately took the five yards back it had previously given the Tigers, which placed the ball on the nine-yard line. Three plays only advanced the pigskin six yards, however and an attempted pass on the fourth down was grounded behind the goal line to end Niles only real scoring threat of the game.
Perhaps the most sensational dash of the game was that Mellinger in the fourth period when after apparently being stopped 10-yards back of his goal line, he shook off half a dozen or more tacklers and dug his shoes into the sod in a fast dash along the sideline. It had the fans a screaming, but Niles had the last laugh for Mellinger fumbled when tackled after a run of 30 yards and the opponents recovered the ball.
McCants’ first two punting efforts were fine boots but he dubbed the next two. Chovan, sub wingback got off several pretty punts.
Niles watched Krier closely and the 175-pound halfbacks gained very few yards. McCants and Shrake were the most dependable ground gainers Saturday.
At least half of the crowd of 3,000 that attended the game must have been Massillon fans. It gave the local school a fine cheering section.
Line up and summary:
MASSILLON Pos NILES
Lohr LE Lewis
Birkish LT Pavalik
Porter LG Regazzo
Monore C Litvin
Snavely RG Matteo
Buggs RT Tricomi
Heisler RE Dixon
Shertzer QB Infante
Shrake LH Horniak
Krier RH Reese
McCants FB Gales
Score by periods:
Massillon 6 0 7 0 13
Substitutions:
Massillon – Mellinger, rh; Wolf, lt; Mansbury, fb; Chovan, lh; Dutton, qb; J. Schimke, g; G. Schimke, e; Cary, e; Dietz, e; Hutsell, lh; Molinski, rg; Smith, lg; Morningstar, c; Peters, rt.
Niles – McMurray, g; Brutz, g; Waters, e; Korance, hb; Scanlon, c.
