Tigers Score Three Touchdowns
AERIAL ATTACK IS DECIDING FACTOR
Massillon Gladiators Record Seventh Straight Win And Inflict Worst Defeat Of Season On Trumbull County Outfit
By FRED J. BECKER
Independent Sports Editor
A snarling Tiger, thirsting for blood, clawed three man-sized chunks out of a bunch of Presidents at Warren Friday night, missed out on two others by scant margins and today had once again established itself as the king pin of Ohio scholastic football.
Traveling through the air on the brilliant execution of aerials and ripping through on the ground for steady and substantial gains, the Washington high school Tigers last night, before a capacity crowd of 10,000 howling fans in Harding stadium. Massillon, defeated a never-say-die Warren G. Harding football team 20 to 0 for its seventh straight victory of the 1943 season and its most important triumph of the campaign.
PASSES BRING THREE TOUCHDOWNS
Three times did Coach Elwood Kammer’s stalwarts drive though and over the Presidents for touchdowns, two of them coming directly on passes, the third being the result of a long and brilliantly executed overhead attack. On two other occasions the Tigers struck deep into enemy territory but missed touchdowns, being robbed of additional points largely through their own actions rather than Warren’s defense, although the defensive play of the Presidents was determined throughout the ball game, even though the eastern Ohio lads were not able to successfully turn back the deadly thrusts of a vengeful and victory bound Tiger.
In conquering Warren for the seventh straight time since 1937, the orange and black last night became the second team this fall to take the measure of the Presidents and the first team to run up a total of 20 points on Jesse O. Beck’s aggregation. Warren’s only previous defeat before its engagement with Massillon came in its third game of the season, a 13-0 loss to Youngstown East.
OUTSHINE BULLDOGS
And in subduing the hard fighting and inspired Warren outfit, the Tigers did something which Canton McKinley’s Bulldogs failed to do. The Cantonians three weeks ago met those same Presidents on the same field the Tigers played them on and were lucky to come away with a 13-13 tie. The Presidents that night showed the Bulldogs they were not the big guys they thought they were.
And now what, if any, bearing does the results of Warren’s two battles with Stark county’s most bitter and ancient rivals have on the coming Massillon-Canton tussle November 20? Well, that will be decided three weeks from now. The most important thing right now is that the Tigers accomplished what the Bulldogs failed to do.
The Tigers, whether any one appreciates it or not, have become a pretty well knit and coordinated ball club. They are today a sturdy outfit that plays as a well-oiled machine, with a determination to go places and with the ability to make that determination succeed.
They may not be an outstanding team, taken as a whole, but they are a darned good ball club and one that is going to be mighty hard to stop from here on out. The team that does stop them, if they are stopped before the curtain is rung down late next month, will have to play better football all the way than the Tigers do – and that’s something not one of the seven opponents conquered thus far has been able to do.
The Tigers defeated Warren last night because they were the better ball club. The statistics show it, without question, and the orange and black showed it out there on the field in such a convincing fashion that not even the most rabid Warren fan could deny it, even though the majority of them refused to give up hope until the fourth quarter when the Massillonians punched over their third touchdown.
There is one striking difference between Massillon football and the brand played by most any other schools. The Tigers have been taught to play the kind of football that pays dividends on the scoreboard. They have been taught to go out for points and to get them as quickly and as easily as possible. And they have been throughout the season and are today in splendid physical condition to withstand the rigors of grueling combat and believe me it is that superb condition which has been a deciding factor in bringing Tiger points and keeping opposing clubs away from pay dirt.
TIGERS HAVE COURAGE
Few are the teams in the country today with sufficient intestinal fortitude and brains to fling a forward pass the first time they get hold of the ball. But that’s just what the Tigers did last night, catching their opponents napping, and that brilliant and to Warren, unexpected attack, set up Massillon’s first touchdown early in the opening quarter and gave the Tigers the edge and put Warren in the hole so badly the Presidents were never able to get out of it.
That’s the kind of football the Tigers play and that’s the kind of football that pays off in victories.
The Tigers chalked up touchdowns in the first, third, and fourth quarters. They failed to score one in the second quarter, even though they marched the ball from their own 10 to Warren’s 10, without a break, only to lose out when in sight of Warren’s goal line. Again early in the fourth quarter they advanced the ball to the President’ five yard line, only to lose it because their offense failed to click just right.
Massillon played plenty of good football last night and defensively checked Warren’s offensive thrusts quite completely, the Presidents only once getting inside Massillon’s 20 yard line, that coming late in the fourth period. As usual the entire Tiger team performed excellently on defense with hard tackling stopping the Warren backs most of the time. The defensive play last night of Dick Arrington and big Bob Williams was beautiful to watch. Arrington, an outstanding defensive player all season, smeared Warren backs all over the lot throughout the entire game Williams likewise performed in a brilliant manner.
Offensively Captain Bob Wallace, Romeo Pellegrini and Henry Mastriann carried the offensive burden with Tom Jasinski and Don Willmot cutting in for a large slice of the glory by their brilliant catching of forward passes. It was Jasinski who was on the receiving end of the long aerial heaved by Pellegrini the first time the Tigers got hold of the ball and Tom’s nifty catch and long run set up the first Massillon touchdown. It was Willmot who was on the receiving end of two other passes that produced Massillon’s second and third touchdown. Both of them were cleverly executed aerials with Willmot looking like a DiMaggio in the outfield as he speared Pellegrini’s well-placed strikes.
BRUISING GAME
Out on the field the game was a bruising and hard fought battle. The Warren Presidents never gave up and the Tigers were never far enough ahead until late in the battle to relax even for a moment. The Presidents, even though they didn’t score, had sufficient offensive strength in such backs as Landres Williams, Don Spencer, and Ed Kvesich and a potential pass receiver in Leonard Corbin to make them a threat every time they had the ball.
The statistics, however, provide a convincing proof of Massillon’s superiority. The Tigers made 19 first downs to four for Warren. From scrimmage the orange and black had a net gain of 258 to 100 for the Presidents. The Tigers tried 12 forward passes, completing six for 106 yards, two of them directly for touchdowns, a third setting up a set of counters. Warren failed to complete on pass in six. Massillon intercepted three Warren aerials, the Presidents snagged two Tiger heaves.
Penalties several times checked the Tigers in their forward progress but for the most party they were able to overcome these setbacks and continue their victory march.
After bagging their first set of counters early in the game, the Tigers took command of the situation and while they picked up a lot of ground they really didn’t get going until the middle of the third quarter and then it was a bit of unnecessary roughness on the part of the Presidents that touched off a Massillon bonfire that was to envelope the eastern Ohioans and inflict on them the worst defeat they have suffered this season.
Henry Mastriann lugged the ball through the Warren line on a spinner and dashing toward the sideline had picked up 16 yards before being forced out of bounds. The Warrenites seemed determined to run Henry out of the ball park and probably would have had not a wire fence enclosure stopped them. But they ran the Tiger fullback right smack into the fence, even though it was far back from the sidelines. It appeared to all and mostly to the officials that such energetic action on Warren’s part was uncalled for and constituted unnecessary roughness, the play bringing a 15-yard penalty for the Presidents. The Tigers also did not like to have their fullback treated that way and from then on they literally tore the Presidents to shreds. Those Tigers are bad medicine, once they get riled up.
Warren received the opening kickoff, defending the south goal. Jasinski kicked out of bounds on Warren’s 47. Arrington had a lot to do with smearing three Warren thrusts at the Tiger line and when Williams fumbled on the third try, Dick was right there to pounce on the ball, the Tigers gaining possession on their 42-yard line.
BRILLIANT PASS
Then as the Tigers came out of their huddle, Pellegrini took the ball on a pass from Williams, faded back and cut loose with a long aerial. Down the field sailed the ball and hoofing it down the field to catch that same ball was big Tom Jasinski. The veteran Tiger end out-raced the entire Warren team, got into the clear ahead of Spencer, Warren safety man, turned, and there was the ball coming to nestle in his arms. Tom made a neat catch and hotfooted it toward Warren’s goal, being brought to earth on the five-yard line. It was a breath-taking play. The spectators gasped as the Tigers completed the aerial and so did the Presidents and they never quite recovered from the shock during the rest of the game.
With the ball on Warren’s five it required but two more plays to move it across the goal line. Wallace hit left tackle for two and Pellegrini raced around his right end for the remaining distance. Romeo added the extra point by again racing through the Warren team into the end zone.
After an exchange of punts Jasinski intercepted a Spencer pass on Massillon’s 10-yard line. Here the Tigers set in motion one of their most impressive offensive marches, carrying the ball 80 yards without a break but failing to score. Mastriann, Wallace, and Pellegrini on plunges and runs moved the ball through and around the Warren team in a steady march downthe field to Warren’s 10 before the attack bogged down. Then with fourth down coming up and six to go Pellegrini tried a pass but fullback Ed Kvesich intercepted the ball on his seven. The Tiger march had netted five first downs in a row. The half ended with Warren in possession of the ball on its 38.
Early in the third quarter Massillon gained possession of the ball on its 15 after a Spencer punt and this time moved 85 yards through the enemy without a halt for the second Massillon touchdown. Fourteen plays were required.
Pellegrini picked up six at right tackle and Wallace made it a first down to his 26-yard line. Pellegrini was tossed for a five yard loss but Mastriann on a spinner wheeled through right tackle and dashing toward the sidelines went to Massillon’s 38 before being rushed out of bounds and into the wire fence. The Warren tactics drew a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness, putting the ball on Warren’s 47. Wallace picked up six yards at the left end and Mastriann smeared through right tackle for a first down on Warren’s 36. Wallace dashed around left end for 11 to the 25.
Mastriann hit the time for three and then Pellegrini lugged the leather wide around right end and raced 17 yards to Warren’s five on a pretty dash. Mastriann made three in two tries and then Wallace dashed around left end and over the goal line but Massillon lost the touchdown when the officials ruled a Tiger back was in motion. The five-yard penalty put the ball back to the seven but the Tigers were not to be stopped this time. Pellegrini pitched a perfect strike to Don Willmot who took the ball in the end zone for Massillon’s second touchdown. Mastriann added the extra point from placement.
JASINSKI ON JOB
Once again late in the third quarter Jasinski was the right man in the right place, intercepting another Spencer pass on his 15 and running it back to Warren’s 49 before being chased out of bounds. Wallace clipped off 14 yards at left end and then Pellegrini heaved a pass to Mastirann that netted a 20-yard gain and put the ball on the Warren 14. Pellegini scooted around right end and down to the Warren three for another first down. Mastriann went to the two-yard line as the third quarter ended.
Henry smashed the line again on the first play in the fourth quarter but once again a Massilon back was in motion and this time the five-yard penalty stopped a Massillon touchdown. With the ball on the seven, Pellegrini’s pass to Jasinski miss fired, Wallace made but two at the line and when Romeo sought to try another pass he found no receiver open and the Warren forwards charged through and drove him way back to his 20 where they floored him and took the ball.
A short time later Spencer was forced to punt and the Tigers got the ball on their 42 and this time they were not to be denied. In 11 plays they advanced the ball 58 yards and chalked up their third touchdown.
Pellegrini’s attempted pass to Wallace was knocked down by Spencer who missed an interception by the scantiest of margins. Mastriann, Keller, and Pellegini smashed ahead to a first down on Warren’s 28. Mastriann made two more at the line and then Wallace skirted wide around his left end and raced down to the nine-yard line before being run out of bounds. His dash picked up 16 yards. Pellegrini raced around his right end and over the line but once again the ball was called back and Massillon was set back 15 yards for clipping, putting the ball on Warren’s 22.
Wallace and Pellegrini picked up five and then Pellegrini heaved a pass to Jasinski who was downed on the 10 after a nine-yard gain. With fourth down coming up and 10 to go, Pellegrini calmly pitched another point getting strike to Don Willmot, the lanky Massillon end again making a perfect catch in the end zone for the third touchdown. Mastriann’s attempted place kick was wide but Henry sure put plenty of stuff into his kick, sending the ball clear out of the lot. It was a white ball and apparently the only one Warren had because the game was finished with a natural tan ball.
Warren made its best and only bid for a score in the closing minutes of the game. Landres Williams took Jasinski’s kick off and raced it back 31 yards to Massillon’s 39. Kvesich ripped off 16 yards on a pretty run to take the ball to Massillon’s 24. Three plays moved the ball to the Tiger 18, the first time Warren had been able to penetrate inside Massillon’s 20, but on the next play, Sedjo, who had replaced Mastriann, smeared Kvesich who took a short pass from Sepncer and Warren failed to make the necessary yards, losing possession on Massilon’s 15. The game ended a few plays later with Keller fumbling and Warren covering on Massillon’s 32 as the gun sounded.
SEVEN STRAIGHT
Mass. – 20 Pos. Warren – 0
Willmot LE Corbin
Arrington LT Bevan
Tonges LG Martin
Williams C Polena
Gable RG Sicuro
Berger RT Storz
Jasinski RE Marco
Keller QB Marcecillo
Pellegrini LH Spencer
Wallace RH Williams
Mastriann FB Kvesich
Score by quarters:
Massillon 7 0 7 6 – 20
Touchdowns: Pellegrini, Willmot 2.
Points after touchdowns: Pellegrini (run), Mastriann (placekick)
Substitutions: Warren – Abe, Williams, Aurand, Fritz.
Massillon – Belch, Heltzel, Jewell, Turkall, Luke, Sedjo.
Referee: Lobach. Umpire: Allison.
Healineman: Shafer. Field judge: Rupp.
MASSILLON – McKINLEY
FOOTBALL TICKETS
Washington High School Ticket Office
FOR MASSILLON
SEASON TICKET HOLDERS
One McKinley ticket for each reserved season ticket.
Not more than six tickets to be held by one customer.
MONDAY, NOV. 1
From 6 TO 9 P.M.
BRING YOUR RAYEN TICKET
Balance of tickets for general public, limit six to
a person, on sale Tuesday, Nov. 2, 6 to 9 P.M.
PRICE $1.10 a ticket
