TIGERS UNLEASH POWER AS THEY CRUSH ERIE EAST 66-0
MASSILLON LINEMEN OUTCHARGE WARRIORS
Tiger Forward Wall Tears Visiting Pennsylvanians Into Shreds As Backs Get Away To Long Touchdown Runs;
2,000 See Game
By LUTHER EMERY
Erie East’s battle scarred Warriors of the gridiron, left for home today with deep respect for Washington high school football and mindful of the 66-0 defeat, the largest score by which an Erie East team has been defeated since 1920, the first year football was played at the school. East dropped a 68-0 decision that year and it has stood as the height of humiliation since.
And it still stands. The Tigers might have broken it had they wanted to last night, but Coach Paul Brown preferred using his second and third teams.
Tigers Too Fast for Erie
The route came as a complete surprise for the heavier Warriors were expected to make a fight of it. But that probably tells the story. The Warriors were too heavy for their own good. They were out maneuvered by the faster and more agile Tigers, whose lightning like thrusts split the visitors’ ranks wide open and picked touchdowns out of the sky for cheap points.
Though Erie showed more offense than Warren, last week’s opponent, it lacked the hard fighting defense the Tigers faced a week ago and appeared slow afoot.
The Warriors showed a couple of good halfbacks in Clark Tyzinski and Bill Crotty, but just as at Warren, the Erie line was so badly out charged, the backs had a difficult time advancing.
The Tiger linemen hit and hit hard and the blockers scalped Warrior tacklers at every turn.
Erie came to Massillon with what was considered a good opportunity for winning the northwestern Pennsylvania championship, but it returned home, feeling the sting of football as played by the Ohio champions.
Never Quit Trying
One thing in favor of the Warriors, they never quit trying. They were still pegging away for a touchdown when the final gun sounded and had just succeeded in turning back a threatening advance of the Tiger third team which had it succeeded would have set a new scoring record for Erie East opponents. That’s where the Warriors managed to save themselves. Scribes cannot refer to them as the team that took the worst beating in Erie history.
The Warriors likewise took their defeat gracefully and in a sportsmanlike manner. Too frequently teams resort to unfair tactics when they find themselves taking a terrific beating on the gridiron. Not the Warriors. They played the game cleanly and squarely.
In fact the teams finished on such friendly terms and Erie was so impressed with the Massillon football spectacle, that talk was already started last night of getting Massillon to Erie for a game next year, band and all.
The Warriors appeared nervous as they took the field, but they shouldn’t have been for they have played before crowds larger than the 12,000 that saw last night’s game.
Probably it was because their coach had them on the field 45 minutes before the game, or maybe it was a certain fear for the Tigers that gave the Warriors a bad case of butter fingers from the start of the game. They couldn’t catch a kickoff or pick a rolling ball off the ground.
Be what it was, fear or nerves, the Tigers gave reason for both when they pile drove through the visitors line for their first touchdown from kickoff, smashed through for another in the same period and bagged five more in the second. The varsity was removed from the game with several minutes of the second period remaining to be played and three more touchdowns were shoved across the goal line in the third and fourth quarters by the second and third stringers.
While the varsity started the visitors and took much of the starch out of them with their sudden and vicious attack, it remained for three second string backfield men to score seven of the 10 touchdowns.
Roscoe Clendening got one on a dazzling run; Pokey Blunt scored two, George Fabian three and Fred Moody one.
Used Versatile Attack
They used a versatile attack that made it difficult for fans in the stands to follow the ball. The Warrior were victims of the same deception and once they found trace of the leather, the ball carrier was on his way with little chance to catch him.
Seldom do you see a game with as many long, sensational runs as that of last night. As it turned out, it’s too bad all were made by the one side. A couple of Erie touchdowns would have made the second half more interesting.
But the Warriors never threatened dangerously. Only twice did they work the ball into Massillon territory and on both occasions the attacks were repelled before they could reach the 40-yard line.
Even so, Erie made more yards than Warren which last week finished with a net gain of five. The Warriors gained 136 last night which with 41 in losses deducted, left them with a net gain of 95 yards or 90 more than Warren.
What the Warriors lacked principally was drive. The Tiger linemen moved them to any designated spot. Capt. Vic Klein, was troublesome at times, but one of the most sensational plays of the evening, a short pass from Slusser to Ray Getz, went straight through Vic’s tackle for a gain of 61 yards and a touchdown.
The long runs for touchdowns, cut down the Tigers’ chances for first downs. They made a dozen to Erie’s five.
Slusser Scores Touchdown
They put three of their first downs together to score their first touchdown after the opening kickoff. Starting on the Tiger 42, Slusser and Clendening marched the leather to the
one-yard line where Slusser took it over for the touchdown. Getz’s attempted kick for the extra point was blocked, but Slusser scooped the ball up and tried to fight his way over. He was thrown hard on the one-yard line and did not succeed.
After an exchange of punts, Red James took an Erie punt from his 40 to his 49-yard line. Slusser tossed a pass to James for another 16-yard gain and a first down on the 35. Clendening then went through his right tackle as though fired from a cannon and ran 35 yards for a touchdown. This time Getz’s kick for the extra point was low.
That was all for he first quarter which ended 12-0 but it looked as though everyone on the team would reach the Promised Land in the second period so fast did the Warriors yield ground.
On the second play of the period, Slusser whipped a 20-yard pass to Getz, who ran another 20 for a touchdown. Again his kick was blocked and the score remained 18-0.
But it didn’t stand at 18-0 very long, for Pokey Blunt was sent into the game and that meant more hard times for the Warriors. Standing on his own 39-yard line, Slusser tossed a short over hand pass, about the length of a shovel, to Getz as the latter came tearing through his right tackle. Getz never stopped until he crossed the Erie goal, a run of 61 yards.
Horace Gillom reoved Getz’s last obstacle from his path with a pretty block on the 20-yard line. This time Getz kicked a bullseye to hoist the count to 25-0.
Within a minute they score another. The kickoff struck an Erie player and Gillom and Slusser recovered on the Erie 45. Slusser picked up three yards and then turned Blunt loose for a 42-yard dash around left end and a touchdown. He also carried the extra point across to boost the score to 32-0.
Erie struck back after the kickoff to march the ball from their 20 to the Tiger 43, a 22-yard pass from Tysinski to Maxumerzyk, being the chief ground gainer of the series. It was a gallant effort. Tyzinski punted out on the Tiger 30 and on the very next play Fabian shook himself loose and ran 70 yards for a touchdown, the longest of the evening. Getz’s kick for the extra point, struck an Erie player and bounced over the crossbar. Those points boosted the Tiger score to 39-0.
Fabian Intercepts Pass
The Tigers kicked off to the Warriors and on the second play Tyzinski tried to dump a pass over the line. Fabian was there, however, pulled the ball out of the air and galloped 34 yards for the touchdown. Pizzino carried the 46th point across.
That was all the scoring for the first half. The second team had more difficulty scoring touchdowns than the varsity.
They took the second half kickoff on their 33-yard line and marched to the eight-yard line where Moody carried it over the goal on an end around play. Pizzino carried the extra point over.
On the following kickoff, Erie again advanced the ball into Tiger territory, reaching the
44-yard line on this attempt, only to have Bill Croop of the Tigers, recover a fumble. On an end around play, Kester took the ball to the 26-yard line and Blunt made the rest of the distance on the next jaunt. Offside penalties gave the Tigers three cracks at the extra point. Fabian was over once but it was not allowed and the last bid, an end around play by Kester failed leaving the score 59-0.
A 15-yard penalty forced the locals to punt the next time they got the ball and the fourth quarter was half over before they could score again. This time Fabian got away for a
48-yard touchdown run and he passed to Kester for the extra point. The third team played t he last five minutes.
Power To Spare
Massillon Pos. Erie East
Getz LE Forgash
Pedrotty LT Klein
Russell LG Hart
Martin C C. Thomas
Henderson RG Ebisch
Swezey RT Swanson
Gillom RE Flanagan
Foster QB Skovron
Slusser LH Lundstrom
James RH Tyzinski
Clendening FB Lininger
Score by periods:
Massillon 12 34 13 7 66
Substitutions:
Massillon – Appleby, c; Fabian, lh; Pizzino, fb; Moody, re; Kester, le; Kingham, qb; blunt, rh; Wallace, lt; Croop, rt; Broglio, lg; Cardinal, rg; Rogich, c; Adams, rh; White, lh; De Mando, re; P. Gatz, le Oliver; Hill; De Hoff; Pettay; Armour; Forrest.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Slusser; Clendening; Getz 2; Blunt 2; Fabian 3; Moody.
Points after touchdowns:
Massillon – Getz 2 (placekick); Pizzino 2 (plunges); Blunt (carried); Kester (pass).
Referee – Russell Rupp.
Umpire – Yans Wallace.
Head Linesman – C.W. Rupp.
Game Statistics
Mass. Erie
First downs 12 5
Passes completed 4 3
Passes incomplete 5 5
Passes intercepted 0 1
Yards gained passing 133 42
Yards gained rushing 438 94
Total yards gained 571 136
Yards lost 5 41
Net yards gained 566 95
Times penalized 5 1
Yards penalized 35 5
Kickoffs 10 2
Average kickoff (yards) 38.3 41.5
Punts 2 8
Average punts (yards) 32.5 27.1
Lost ball on fumbles 1 2
Fumbles recovered 3 4
