TIGERS SMOTHER NEW CASTLE 52-7 BEFORE CROWD OF 12,000
HARD CHARGING LINE RIPS RED HURRICANE
Massillon Eleven Gives Peak Performance Of Season In Winning Seventh Game On Schedule; Band Scores Again In Flashy Exhibition
By LUTHER EMERY
A pack of Tigers, thirsting for revenge and fighting to obtain an objective for their coach, swept out of Ohio and into Pennsylvania Friday evening to take the wind out of New Castle’s Red Hurricane 52-7.
While 12,000 fans, the largest football crowd in New Castle history, looked on, the Massillon eleven gave the greatest exhibition of football its supporters have seen since the great 1936 team whipped Canton McKinley here 21-0.
Score Eight Touchdowns
With George Slusser’s strong right arm firing deadly accuracy and the backs, even to the substitutes, pile driving behind a sturdy line, the Tigers scored twice in every period, rolled up 21 first downs and gained the net total of 372 yards by rushing and 155 by passing.
If the Red Hurricane had any wind, it did all itS blowing before the game. The sturdy Massillon line, giving its best performance of the season, threw back the New Castle ball carriers for a net loss of 25 yards from scrimmage. Their two first downs were made on forward passes which made it possible for them to finish with a total gain of 14 yards from scrimmage.
The Hurricane struck once, in the third period when with a Massillon second team in the game, Rip Roberts took a Massillon kickoff and in a beautiful sideline dash, raced 85 yards for a touchdown.
That run and a 31-yard pass that took the ball to the Massillon 44-yard line, represented the only two times the Red Hurricane was able to penetrate into Massillon territory.
New Castle Gallant In Defeat
Badly beaten as their team was, New Castle fans were gallant in defeat and Massillon citizenry should remember New Castle sportsmanship when some day victory will go to the opponents.
The crowd was orderly, it gave the Tiger band a great ovation and spectators lined the streets after the game to applaud, not “boo” Massillon cars as they passed by.
It was back in 1936 after the Tigers waded out of the mud and rain at New Castle with a 13-0 triumph, that Coach Paul Brown was quoted in New Castle, as saying, “If it hadn’t rained tonight we would have beat them 45 or 50 to nothing.”
The statement irked Brown. He denied ever making it and wasn’t exactly pleased with the way New Castle teased him with it in pre-Massillon game ballyhoo last year and this.
So Brown determined long ago, he was going to turn the statement into a boomerang and go out and get those 50 points.
He announced his team was primed to shoot the works and it did. It shelled New Castle with passes, it launched one offensive after another and the few times the Hurricane succeeded in blowing it back, the orange and black countered with another scoring drive.
“The fellow who misquoted me can be blamed for those 50 points,” Brown said in the dressing room after the game.
Uses Every Member of Squad
His team to a man helped him accomplish the objective and the score mounted one touchdown after another, even with a second and third team in the game. Every boy who wore a sweater saw service and when the Tiger coach glanced around at the sidelines in the closing minutes of play, we wondered if he had designs on sending in the cheerleaders.
In front of the brilliant performance of the Massillon ball carriers was a Tiger line that for the second straight week earned the title of seven blocks of granite. The forward wall, composed of Fred Toles, Bud Lucius, Jim Russell, Earl Martin, Lynn Houston, Red Henderson and Horace Gillom played brilliant ball.
Their vicious charge opened huge holes in the New Castle line and frequently enabled the ball carrier to sprint through without a hand being laid on him.
On defense they were superb. New Castle’s attempts to carry the ball from scrimmage resulted in a net loss of 25 yards. The backs gained 15, but they were thrown for 40 yards in losses.
Martin On The Go
Leading this display of defense was Earl Martin, the elongated Tiger center who is developing into one of the best snapper-backers the school has ever had.
Martin was in the thick of the fight and on several occasions penetrated into the Hurricane backfield to smear the ball carrier for losses.
Offensively, there was little to choose from in the statistics. In fact to find the ground gainer with the best average you must leaf into the page of substitutes and stop at the name of Roscoe Clendening. He only carried the ball twice, in sneak plays through guard, but he went 30 yards on one and 13 for a touchdown on another, to average 21.5 yards per try.
Red Snyder in 14 attempts gained the net total of 122 yards. George Slusser in 16 attempts gained 92 yards. Ray Getz in seven attempts made 32 yards. George Fabian in nine runs went 48 yards and little John Pizzino in three attempts went 41 yards.
The Tigers completed nine of 16 passes for 155 yards and had one intercepted. New Castle completed two of 12 passes for 39 yards and had four intercepted. Theoretically the policy of fighting fire with fire is sound, but it failed for the Hurricane as far as forward passing was concerned last night.
Getz Shines As Receiver
Contrary to the usual procedure, it wasn’t Toles or Gillom who did the catching last night. It was Ray Getz in straight shots down the alley. The Hurricane left Toles get by to snag the first touchdown pass, but kept him and Gillom covered the rest of the evening.
The Tigers, however, are blessed with the best lot of receivers they have ever had and Getz was the boy who hauled in the leather last night.
He made several sensational catches, one of which was the finest play seen in many a game that was not allowed because of an offside penalty. It is worth describing.
The Tigers had the ball on their own 40 and Horace Gillom was called back into punt formation. Standing on his own 28, he caught the ball, faded back to the 20 and then fired a long, bullet pass that Getz snared on the New Castle 25 yard line and raced across the goal. Getz ran hard between two New Castle players to make the catch and was away with the ball before they knew what had happened. The Head Linesman, however, ruled a Massillon player offside, did not allow the touchdown and penalized the Tigers five yards. The pass is not recorded in the statistics of the game.
The statistics likewise do not describe the quality of punting Gillom put on last night. He booted the ball skillfully with one exception, that a sideline kick that only traveled five yards from scrimmage and cut down his average. Three of his punts were good for over 40 yards from scrimmage, which means that with Gillom standing 15 yards behind the line, the ball actually traveled over 55 yards.
Rocky Red Snyder had his customary luck of winning the toss and elected to receive. For the first minute it appeared the Red Hurricane would play inspired ball as it held the Tigers on the Massillon 45 and forced them to punt.
It is the customary thing for the orange and black to drive for a touchdown from the kickoff and New Castle scribes made note of the fact that the Hurricane had stopped Massillon.
Tigers Get First Touchdown
The resistance was only temporary however, for the Tigers forced the Hurricane to kick back, the ball rolling dead on the Massillon 31. It took just three plays to get a touchdown.
After Snyder had picked up a yard, Slusser ran hard through right tackle, reversed his field and was hauled down from behind the New Castle 28-yard line.
He caught the Hurricane asleep on the next play as he faded back and shot the ball to Toles who took it on the one-yard line to out distance the New Castle secondary and cross the goal.
A 50-yard drive produced another touchdown the same period. An exchange of punts and the Tigers secured the ball in midfield.
Getz ripped through for 16 yards and Snyder battered his way for 15 more. Fred Toles went to the nine-yard line on a mouse trap and Getz circled the other side to pick up the remaining yards and a touchdown. He was hit just as he reached the goal line but had the drive to carry over the stripe.
Intercepted Pass Starts It Again
Early in the second period Slusser intercepted Laruo’s pass on the Hurricane 45 and dashed back to the 17 before being brought down. Two plays only gained three yards but on third down Snyder found a big hole at right tackle, cut through it and smartly sidestepped the Hurricane for the third touchdown.
A 43-yard drive produced the fourth touchdown in the closing minutes of the second quarter. Snyder dashed to the 18-yard line. A line play and a pass resulted in the loss of five yards, so Slusser took the ball and gained five. On fourth down he fired it to Getz who made a leaping catch and fell as he caught the ball on the five-yard line. Slusser walked through standing up for the touchdown. Getz who had missed the three previous attempted placekicks for the extra point booted the ball between the uprights this time to raise the score to 25-0 at the half.
The Tigers came out with a rush to open the third period and marched back with a 70-yard drive for a touchdown. Two passes, one for 20 yards and another for 18, took the ball to the 17-yard line. Slusser and Snyder carried it the rest of the way with the red head going over for the touchdown. Again Getz’s toe produced the extra point and the score was 32-0.
A Statue of Liberty play was smeared for a 14-yard loss and enabled the Hurricane to hold the Tigers next time they procured the ball.
They scored again in the third quarter, however, after getting the ball on the Hurricane 46. A 14-yard loss when Slusser muffed the ball from center, set the locals back to their own 40 where Gillom executed his long pass to Getz that was not allowed. A five-yard penalty set the ball back to the 35.
Snyder Scores Another
On a fake kick, Snyder ran 27 yards to the New Castle 38 and Slusser on fourth down rammed through to a first and 10 on the Hurricane 34. He ran 14 yards behind good interference to the 20-yard line on the next play and got the ball in position for Snyder to cover the remaining distance on a fine bit of broken field running. Getz kicked his third straight point to hoist the total to 39-0 and Brown sent in a flock of substitutes.
Gillom booted the kickoff to Roberts, who caught the ball on his 15-yard line, bobbled it momentarily and then headed straight up the east sideline. He outraced the Tigers though Gillom nearly caught him on the five-yard line but was taken out with a questionable block. It was a run of 85 yards and brought joy to the New Castle stands.
Lauro kicked the extra point and the score was 39-7.
Clendening took over the spotlight for Massillon after the following kickoff and with a
30-yard run, in which New Castle players bounced off him like rubber balls, carried the ball to the Hurricane 30. Fabian moved the leather to the 13 in two plays and Clendening sneaked through for 13 yards and the touchdown. Fabian tried to buck the extra point but was stopped and the score stood at 45-7.
A complete second and third team finished the game for the Tigers. With Fabian doing most of the ball carrying, the Tigers marched 60 yards to the one-yard line, Fabian going over for the touchdown. Pizzino bagged the extra point, the last of the game.
Bill McMichael was the only member of the Tiger team who did not compete. He put on his uniform but was kept on the sidelines throughout the game, lest he aggravate a charley horse that has bothered him for several weeks.
New Castle likewise had its casualties, Joe Gender, regular halfback, did not play nor did Castrucci, a quarterback.
The Tiger team had dinner in New Castle after the game, then continued on to Pittsburgh to spend the night in the Fort Pitt hotel. Today the players will attend the Pitt-Fordham game and return home tonight.
Massillon Well Represented
Massillon was well represented. Several thousand local grid fans drove to New Castle or rode the special train which pulled out of this city at 5:15 and which arrived in time for the kickoff.
There was a rush for seats, however and many a Massillon patron did not get the seat his ticket called for.
The Massillon special train delegation followed the Tiger band to the stadium and the band, putting all the routine it has used this season together, gave a fine performance during intermission.
The finest tribute that has yet been paid to the Tiger musical organization took place at the close of the game. At the moment the contest ended the Tiger band marched up the field. Instead of spectators rushing for theexits, they stood up. The show between halves had pleased them so they wanted to see more and as one New Castle sports writer said in the press box, “your band is just as outstanding as your football team.”
The band held the audience for five minutes after the game and few Massillon or New Castle fans left the field during the demonstration.
Singing Not So Good
Massillon spectators will need a lot of brushing up on the “Alma Mater”, if they are going to make themselves heard. Only occasionally was the singing audible.
Prior to going to New Castle, the band was the guest of the athletic association at a dinner at the Green Tree.
New Castle had a fancy band, too, a particularly good playing band and marched through several letter formations.
Tom Henrich, of the New York Yankees, has decided never to sit in the press box again. Especially if paged. He was so besieged by youngsters wanting his autograph that he had little time to watch the last three quarters of the game. But Tom accommodated and there were a lot of happy faces among the boys.
Restaurants and eating places in New Castle and all along the way enjoyed the patronage of Massillon fans. The Leslie hotel, where the Tiger team made its headquarters during the several hours in the city, was crowded with diners but had made elaborate preparations to serve everybody.
The treatment accorded the Massillon team and fans was complimentary to the Pennsylvania city. Massillon fans spoke well of it and hope that the friendly relations continue.
They Got The 50
Massillon Pos. New Castle
Toles LE Motsko
Lucius LT Kuinis
Russell LG Castrucci
Martin C Adamo
Houston RG Rucker
Henderson RT Roussos
Gillom RE Toscano
Slusser QB Davies
Getz LH Roberts
Zimmerman RH Sowinski
Snyder FB Lauro
Score by periods:
Massillon 12 13 14 13 52
New Castle 0 0 7 0 7
Substitutions:
Massillon – Fabian; Pizzino; Clendening; James; Lechleiter; Foster; Croop; Zqeezy; Page; Wallace; Appleby; Mauger; Broglio; Kester; Kingham; Pettay; Oliver; Cardinal; Moody; France; Pualik.
New Castle – Noga; Piccirillo; De Marco; Paluszak; Palkovich; Makihill; Phillips.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Toles; Getz; Snyder 3; Slusser; Clendening; Fabian.
New Castle – Roberts.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Getz 3 (placekick); Pizzino (buck).
New Castle – Lauro (placekick).
Referee – Very.
Umpire – Jenkins.
Head Linesman – Wallace.
Game Statistics
Mass. N.C.
First downs 21 2
Passes 16 12
Passes completed 9 2
Passes incompleted 6 6
Passes intercepted 1 4
Yards gained passing 155 39
Yards gained rushing 411 15
Total yards gained 566 54
Yards lost rushing 39 40
Net yards gained 527 14
Times penalized 1 2
Yards penalized 5 10
Kickoffs 8 3
Average kickoff 45 50
Punts 4 9
Average punts 30 29
Individual Ball Carrying
Massillon
Player Times Yds. Yds. Total
Carried Gained Lost
Snyder 14 129 7 122
Slusser 16 106 14 92
Getz 7 35 3 32
Fabian 9 48 0 48
Toles 2 7 14 -7
Pizzino 3 41 0 41
James 2 2 1 1
Clendening 2 48 0 48
______ _____ _____ _____
Totals 55 411 39 372
New Castle
Lauro 11 12 27 -15
Sowinski 1 2 0 2
Roberts 4 1 13 -12
____ ____ ___ _____
Totals 16 15 40 -25
