TIGERS COME TO LIFE IN SECOND HALF AND TRIM COLUMBUS AQUINAS 52-6
MASSILLON GRIDDERS ROLL UP 39 POINTS IN LAST TWO PERIODS
By LUTHER EMERY
Unsteady at first ,but gaining momentum as the game progressed ,the orange and black Tigers of Washington high rolled over a fighting Columbus Aquinas high team 52-6 here Saturday afternoon to score their seventh victory of the season and propel their big six-foot three inch fullback, D.C. McCants into scoring leadership of the N.E.O. league.
For two periods the Tigers played ragged football, but they snapped out of their dilemma in the second half and rolled away to victory like the same happy team of a month ago.
McCants Big Point Maker
McCants, scoring six touchdowns, was the big point maker of the day, while Krier with two touchdowns and three points after touchdown was the second best ground gainer. Shrake, given little support when he carried the ball, made up for his loss of ground gaining by his hard blocking when Krier and McCants had hold of the pigskin.
While the 52-6 score did not equal the 66-0 triumph registered over Aquinas by Canton two weeks ago Massillon fans should not be frightened too greatly by the comparison, for had the Tigers played the brand of football in the first half they showed in the second half they would have easily rolled up 66 points.
The Tigers took the field against Aquinas looking the part of the same listless team that faced Alliance a week ago. The old pep and dash appeared to be lacking and the much lighter Columbus gridders submarined under the Tiger forward wall to stop all advances the first quarter and hold the locals to a scoreless tie. The few Massillon fans who had turned out to see the game wanted a slaughter and naturally began to show their dissatisfaction.
Tigers Score Touchdown
The Tigers slowly began to find themselves in the second period however and soon scored a touchdown when McCants plunged over from the one yard line after a 61-yard march. Krier placekicked the extra point.
The local team scored again in the period when an Aquinas fumble was recovered on the Columbus team’s 46-yard line. Shrake advanced the ball to a first down on the 34-yard line and Krier circled right end for the touchdown. This time his attempted kick for the extra point was wide of the goal posts.
Massillon kicked off and when Aquinas failed to touch the ball a Massillon player pounced on it to give the Tigers possession of the pigskin on the 34-yard line. A penalty for clipping set the orange and black back 15 yards and Datello intercepted Shertzer’s pass to end the threat. Then Aquinas opened up with a passing attack that ended with Gramm snatching a 20-yard pass from Datello and running 20 more yards for a touchdown. Birkish got his face in the way of the ball to block the attempted placekick. The half ended with the score 13-6.
Tigers Play Like Different Team
After intermission the Tigers came out to play like a rejuvenated ball club. The third period was only a couple of minutes old when Shrake caught a punt on the 35-yard line and ran it back to the 23. A five-yard penalty and a dash by Shrake made it first down on the seven-yard stripe and McCants in two plays was over. Krier’s attempted kick was wide again.
Aquinas had no more than received the kickoff when an attempted forward pass dropped into Krier’s arms and he was away in a flash for another touchdown. This time he toed the ball between the uprights to make it 26-6.
With McCants carrying the ball most of the time the Tigers marched from the Aquinas
45-yard line to their fifth touchdown.; McCants going over from the four-yard stripe. Krier’s placekick hit the left upright and bounded back.
A 50-yard march that began in the closing minutes of the third quarter and continued into the fourth period ended with McCants again going across from the four-yard line. This time Krier snapped a pass to Fritz Heislter in the right corner for the extra point and the score was 39-6.
McCants Runs 19 Yards
A 68-yard drive that ended with McCants dashing 19 yards around his right end brought the seventh touchdown of the afternoon. Krier ran with the ball in an attempt to score the extra point and shook off a couple of tacklers but stepped out of bounds on the play leaving the score at 45-6.
The eighth and final touchdown resulted in a 75-yard march up the field with McCatns finally lugging the pigskin over from the two-yard line. The ball was placed in position by Krier who ran it back from his own 44-yard line to the 10-yard stripe. Krier crossed the goal on the play but the officials ruled he stepped out of bounds by several inches. He kicked to goal to make it 52-6.
The Tigers in defeating Aquinas and regaining a large portion of the prestige they had lost, score 25 first downs to the visitors’ five. Aquinas scored all of its first downs in the first half and was able to make but very few yards the last two periods. The local team established somewhat of a record in that it did not punt a single time the entire game.
With the exception of the pass for the point after touchdown, the Tigers failed to connect another time with their aerial attack. They tried six passes and had one intercepted. Aquinas completed four of six passes for a gain of 69 yards.
It was dad’s day Saturday afternoon and the fathers of the players sat on the sidelines with numbers pinned on their backs corresponding to those on the jerseys of their sons.
Dutton Shows How to Block
Some may like a forward pass and others may prefer a long spiral punt, but when you come right down to it, there’s nothing much prettier in football than a good hard block and it was left for young Howard Dutton, the lightest player on the field for the Tigers to produce those thrills.
Failure to block was the Tigers’ principal weakness the first half for they frequently failed to take the Aquinas tackles and ends out of plays. They did better in the second half and Dutton got his chance to produce when Shertzer was out of the game with an injured shoulder.
While Shertzer’s blocking was not up to par his tackling was vicious and time and again he nailed Aquinas backs on the line of scrimmage when they attempted to circle the end he was backing up.
Standing head and shoulders above the rest of the Aquinas players was Gramm, right end, who played a whale of a defensive game in addition to his fine punting. Kicking behind his goal line, never appeared to bother him in the least and several times he safely booted the pigskin out of danger while standing in the end zone.
The Tigers who meet East high at Akron this week, have now scored 246 points to their opponent’s 12, a record for a Massillon team in recent years.
Lineup and summary:
Massillon Pos. Aquinas
Wolf LE McBride
Birkish LT Fisher
Porter LG Melchlore
Monroe C Crawford
Snavely RG Rudolfo
Buggs RT Wagnone
Heisler RE Gramm
Shertzer QB Bennett
Krier LH Ceschlar
Mansbury RH Chevellard
McCants FB Murphy
Score by periods:
Massillon 0 13 19 20 52
Aquinas 0 6 0 0 6
Substitutions:
Massillon – Shrake, ry; Schimke, le; Dietz, re; Dutton, qb; Morningstar, c.
Aquinas – Cussin, lh; Datello, rh; Lux, rg; Wiullner, c; Schneider, rt; McBride, qb; Boehm, le; Salvatore, lh; Alloy, qb; Alilrando, re.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – McCants 6; Krier 2.
Aquinas – Gramm.
Point after touchdown:
Massillon – Krier 3 (placekick); Heisler (pass).
Referee – Boone.
Umpire – Barrett.
Head Linesman – Kester.
