TIGERS TRIM ALLIANCE 19-0
GALLANT STAND NEAR GOAL LINE FEATURES MASSILLON VICTORY
By LUTHER EMERY
Forcing its way through stubborn opposition to three touchdowns Saturday, Washington high school defeated Alliance, 19-0 and for the time being holds first place in the race for Stark county football honors. The game was also an N.E.O. league contest but had little bearing on the title since Alliance like Massillon, was defeated by Barberton 19-0. A crowd of 5,000 saw the Tigers triumph.
The victory made it five out of six for the Tigers who this Saturday meet Columbus Aquinas on the local field. Canton beat Aquinas 66-0 a week ago.
Fumbles Stop Scoring Threats
Neither Alliance nor Massillon had anything to fire their enthusiasm to usual heights Saturday. Fumbling and intercepted passes, frequently broke up the advances of both teams and had it not been for several of those monkey wrenches the Tiger machine might have rolled on to two or three more touchdowns.
Alliance, however, was roughened by similar miscues, a fumble for a loss and an intercepted pass being two big reasons why the Aviators did not score on the Massillon team.
The Massillon line, however, which made a gallant stand on its own goal line in the closing minutes of play was another and the chief reason why the visitors joined the list of four other opponents who have failed to score a point on the Tigers this season.
Alliance Threatens
Shadows were already creeping in from the west sideline when the aerial attack the visitors had hoped would bring them victory began to click. The Tigers were hammering away in Alliance territory when Yoder pounced on Mansbury’s fumble on the 48-yard line and recovered the ball for Alliance.
A pass was grounded but both sides were offside on the play and the down remained the same. Marazza lost a yard, but Dantzler swept his left end for seven. Marazza picked up two yards, but was offside and was penalized five. Marazza ran to a first down on the
38-yard line. A pass Kellner to Blackburn, was good for nine yards. He hurled another, this one directed for Dantzler, but it fell shot of its mark. Once more Kellner tossed the ball and this time it dropped into the arms of Marazza who was downed on the 18-yard line. Marazza gained a yard on a pass and Kellner wiggled through to carry the ball to the 10-yard line. Mellinger nearly intercepted Kellner’s pass but the ball slipped through his fingers. With fourth down coming, Marazza slid through to the eight-yard line for a first down.
On the very first play Marazza shot through the line to place the ball on the one-yard line. Here the Tigers put up their great stand, the feature performance of the afternoon. With second down and one to go, Marazza fumbled when rushed by the Tiger forwards but recovered for a one-yard loss. Again he plunged, but not more than a foot did the Tigers forward wall give. With fourth down and a yard to go, Marazza tried to catch the Tigers asleep and shot Dantzler around d his left end. But this time the Massillon eleven was on the alert and was not to be caught napping as it was a week ago when Joe Williams, under similar circumstances circled left end for the only points chalked up against the locals this season.
Tigers Turn Back Threats
Marazza’s strategy failed and Dantzler was met by a flock of Tigers just as he reached the line of scrimmage and when the pileup was cleared away, the ball was on the one-foot line. Before the Tigers could put it in play, the gun ended the game.
Alliance threatened on one other occasion, but just as a break gave it the chance so a break ended the threat. The excitement started when Gray covered McCants’ fumble on the
16-yard line. Alliance carried to the eight-yard stripe before McCants, standing on his own goal line pulled down Kellner’s pass and jogged back to the20-yard stripe before being downed.
As for the Tigers scores, they were made in the first, second and fourth periods.
Alliance got into a hole at the outset when a bad pass from center to Kellner set the Aviators back from the 28 to the five-yard line. An exchange of punts and the Tigers secured the ball on their own 26-yard stripe. Krier made it look like a touchdown right away by circling his right wing for a 13-yard gain and right down on the 13-yard line. McCants ripped off three more and Mansbury added nine for a first down on the one-yard line. McCants was stopped on the line of scrimmage but he shot through right tackle for a touchdown on his second attempt.
There followed a play seldom seen in football. Krier set his foot against the ball for a placekick for the extra point. The Alliance line raised up and Gray came charging in with his hands high. He succeeded in touching the ball but only helped to deflect it between the posts and the pigskin traveling with sufficient force cleared the bar.
Alliance Opens Up
Alliance receiving the kickoff turned loose a fine assortment of plays for open football, such as passes off a lateral and passes off a kickoff but the Tigers were on the alert and this aided by a bad case of “butter fingers” on the part of the Alliance players broke up the consistency of their attack and kept them from entering the danger zone until the latter part of the game.
It was one of the many recovered fumbles of the afternoon that placed the Tigers in position for their second score and Krier was the whole show this time. He covered Kellner’s fumble on the 35-yard line. A five-yard penalty on Alliance advanced the ball to the 30-yard stripe from which point Krier raced around his right wing to a touchdown. This time his attempted placekick was wide of its mark.
The final score of the game came midway in the fourth quarter. Krier secured the ball for the Tigers by hauling down Kellner’s pass in midfield. McCants made three yards and Krier made it first down on the 33-yard line. McCants made three more and again Krier picked up the remaining seven for a first down on the 23. Mansbury ran 20 yards before being forced out of bounds on the three-yard line and Krier went through right tackle for the touchdown. He tried a pass that fell into Lohr’s arms for the extra point but Massillon was penalized five yards for an infraction of the rules. An attempted placekick for the extra point fell short and the score remained 19-0.
In attempting to score with the forward pass Alliance threw the ball 25 times. Six of the passes were completed for a total gain of 63 yards. Six were intercepted and the other 13 fell to the ground. Massillon tried seven passes and completed one for a gain of seven yards. Three were grounded and two intercepted.
The Tigers made 16 first downs to 11 for Alliance.
The crowd Saturday afternoon rivaled that of the opening game with St. Vincent’s for size, but it is safe to say the gate receipts excelled those of any game this year.
Lineup and summary:
Massillon Pos Alliance
Lohr LE Korleski
Birkish LT Gray
Porter LG Wade
Monroe C Hudson
Snavely RG R. Fete
Buggs RT Jones
Heisler RE Blackburn
Shertzer QB Marazza
Krier LH Admonius
Mansbury RH Monti
McCants FB Kellner
Score by periods:
Massillon 7 6 0 6 19
Substitutions:
Massillon – Wolf, lt; Shrake, rh; Dutton, qb; Mellinger, lh; Dietz, re; McDew, re.
Alliance – Dantzler, rh; Greenawalt, c; Yoder, le.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – McCants; Krier 2.
Point after touchdowns:
Massillon – Krier (placekick).
Referee – Howells.
Umpire – Boone.
Head Linesman – Barrett.
