Tigers Wallop Rayen 39 To 0 For Ninth Straight Win
LAST DUEL BEFORE McKINLEY CONTEST
Regulars Score Three Touchdowns And They Are Pulled Out With Second And Third Stringers Carrying Burden In Cold Battle
By FRED J. BECKER
Independent Sports Editor
And now, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, sit back, take an aspirin tablet or two, take a good long drink of H2O (that’s about all there is for us these days) and try to keep your nerves under control if you can. The main event that you’ve been awaiting for nine long weeks is only five days away.
The preliminaries are over, the big show is moving on to the set and next Saturday afternoon it will have its premier and its finale all within the space of a few hours.
It’s the Same Old Picture
It will be a battle between 22 youthful warriors out on a chalk line gridiron, fighting out their hearts to bring victory to their colors. On the sidelines will be 22,000 of more frenzied spectators, nerves strained to the breaking point, shouting encouragement to the band of gladiators they want to emerge victorious.
Yes, it’s the same old picture the same old setting and the same old rivalry that has come down through the years. It’s the annual football clash between the Tigers of Washington high school and the Bulldogs of Canton McKinley. Ohio’s schoolboy classic of the gridiron.
Play At Fawcett Stadium
This year it will be staged at Fawcett stadium, Canton and this year, as in years past, the warriors of the two schools come to the end of the trail with hopes high and with a determination that the school they represent shall hold the crown of champion when dusk settles over the torn sod of the battleground next Saturday night.
For one team a cherished ambition will be realized. For the other it will be a heart breaking, dismal windup, the bursting of a bubble they had hoped would stay intact to the finish. Seldom does a Massillon-Canton game end in a tie.
Once again these two old scholastic foes of the gridiron come to the end of a long, hard journey rated as the outstanding teams in Ohio. This year both enter their 10th and final tussle of the season with undefeated records. Of the two the Tigers own the best, they have won nine in a row. The Bulldogs have won eight and have a 13-13 tie with Warren to mar an otherwise perfect slate.
Both teams hurdled their final obstacles last week. The Bulldogs completed their final task before the Tiger encounter last Thursday night barely nosing out a determined Mansfield team 12 to 7. Two Canton touchdowns in the closing minutes of the fourth period saved the Bulldogs from their first lacing of the season.
The Tigers completed their final assignment before testing the bite of the Bulldogs last Saturday on a snow covered gridiron at Tiger stadium by defeating Youngstown Rayen 39 to 0 for their ninth victory in a row while 5,000 shivering, teeth chattering fans braved a cold, wintry blizzard to watch their favorites run rough shod over a beefy but rather awkward opponent from Mahoning County.
Saves Regulars
As was expected the game proved a rather easy task for Coach Elwood Kammer’s youthful pigskin chasers. Scoring in every quarter they rolled up six touchdowns and three points after touchdowns, hitting pay dirt twice in each the first and second periods and scoring lone markers in both the third and fourth.
As far as keeping his regulars in good physical condition, the game worked out fine for Kammer. His starting lineup contained only eight of the Tiger first stringers, the other three remaining on the sidelines throughout the encounter.
After the Tigers had scored their third touchdown early in the second period, Kammer pulled all his regulars out of the encounter and sent them into the clubhouse, the second team doing the battling the rest of the day, giving way to the third stringers a minute or two before the final gun. Every Tiger in uniform got a chance to have his nose pushed into the snow that covered the field.
Rayen furnished but little opposition to the orange and black. The Youngstown lads were quite hefty but they failed to show a thing until late in the fourth quarter when Jack Pickering, a pretty fair sort of halfback and Rayen’s offensive star, brought his comrades to life by taking a Massillon punt on his 23 yard line and racing it back 60 yards to Massillon’s 17 before being pulled down from behind by Bob Richards, Tiger guard. It was the longest single individual gain of the day and the only reason young Mr. Pickering did not make it a touchdown was because he appeared to be so fagged out he could hardly put one foot ahead of the other in the final stretch.
After Pickering enlivened his mates with his spectacular dash, the Youngstown outfit made a determined bid for a touchdown and almost succeeded. They finally worked the ball to Massillon’s three-yard line with a first down coming up but they lacked the punch to put it over, the Tigers ganging up on them and repelling Rayen’s four attempts to score.
Luke Scores Early
It did not take the Tigers long to tally their first set of counters. The Tigers received and an exchange of punts gave Massillon the ball on Rayen’s 39. On the first play the orange and black did a clever bit of ball handling and when it was all over Wilmer Luke had scooted down the sideline for 39 yards and a touchdown. Bob Wallace took the ball from center, tossed it to Romeo Pellegrini for what looked like a reverse, and then Pellegrini uncorked a lateral to Luke who had come around from his end post and the lanky colored boy tucked the leather under his arm and neatly picked his way through the visitors for a nifty bit of running that did not end until he was back of Rayen’s goal line. Mastriann’s placekick was good for the extra point.
A few minutes later another Tiger touchdown was in the making. Tom Jasinski punted to Pickering who was hit hard by Pellegrini just as he was picking up the ball. Pickering fumbled and Luke covered on Rayen’s 24-yard line. Then on another one of those triple passes Wallace, Mastriann to Pellegrini, Romeo skirted right end for six. On the next play Wallace, “Crazy Legs” they call him now, dashed around his left end and never stopped until he had planted the ball back of Rayen’s goal line. It was an 18-yard dash. Mastriann again made good on the conversion.
The third Massillon touchdown was on the way when the first quarter ended. Jasinski took Moses Garcia’s punt on Massillon’s 30 and ran it back nine yards to the 39. Pellegrini on a reverse hit right tackle for five and then Wallace went on another rampage, this time around left end for 27 yards to Rayen’s 29-yard line. Pellegrini from punt formation cracked through the line for eight and Mastriann made it a first down to Rayen’s 18 as the quarter ended.
Pellegrini stumbled and fell on the first play of the second quarter, losing six yards. He then pitched a strike to Luke who was chased out of bounds on Rayen’s five yard line. Pellegrini made two at the line, Mastriann went to the one through left tackle and Pellegrini scored on the next play.
After the kickoff Kammer pulled his seven regulars and sent in the remainder of the second team to help Luke, Richards and Wilbert Pedrotty who had done a good job with the varsity. Luke replaced Don Willmot, Richards was in for Bill Gable and Pedrotty filled Glenn Keller’s shoes.
With the regulars in the club house, enjoying a hot shower, the second team went to work on the visitors and chalked up Massillon’s fourth touchdown before the second quarter ended.
Blocked Punt Brings Score
Vic Turkall punted to Adrian Castella who was downed by Bob Clark on Massillon’s 37. Pedrotty tossed Armando Rossi without gain and Richards crashed through to floor Casetlla for a 16-yard loss. Castella then dropped back to punt but Don Sedjo rammed through to block the kick. As the ball sailed across Rayen’s goal Bob Heltzel grabbed it for the touchdown. Turkall’s place kick was good and boosted the score to 27-0.
A Rayen fumble led to Massillon’s fifth set of counters soon after the third period opened. Dick Walschlag dropped the ball and Pedrotty covered on Rayen’s 30. Wilbert Webb attempted a pass to Pedrotty which failed. Sedjo hit for three and Turkall passed to Clark for 9 to Rayen’s 18. A pass from Turkall intended for Luke missed fire and then Webb missed the ball on a lateral losing 10. Turkall, however, wiped out this loss by pitching a pass into Luke’s arms and the Massillon end went over for a touchdown. The gain covered 28 yards.
Soon after the fourth quarter opened, Pickering staged his thrilling 60-yard run and the Tigers had their chance to show how rugged they were by successfully repelling Rayen’s
only real bid for a touchdown.
By this time Rayen was gambling desperately on passes in an effort to score. Pickering was doing most of the tossing and seldom hitting a receiver. He did, however, hit one receiver and it meant another touchdown for Massillon. The receiver happened to be Sedjo and he raced 50 yards for the score.
It happened near the end of the game. After getting the ball on Massillon’s 48 through a punt, Pickering dropped back and cut loose with a pass.
The ball landed squarely in the waiting arms of Sedjo who was standing on the 50 and with a clear field ahead the Massillon fullback romped 50 yards unmolested for the sixth and final Tiger touchdown.
Massillon’s third team took over after the kickoff. Pickering completed three passes, all to Stan Grosshandler, before the game ended but Rayen was still far away from a touchdown when the gun sounded.
The statistics show Massillon made 12 first downs to five for Rayen. The Tigers attempted 22 passes, completed six for 102 yards. Rayen tried 23, completed five for 51 yards and had five intercepted.
The Tigers had a gross yardage from all plays of 263 and a loss of 46 for a net yardage of 217. Rayen had a gross of 85 with a loss of 28 for a net of 57 yards.
Bulldogs Next
Massillon – 30 Pos. Rayen – 0
Luke LE Hunyadi
Arrington LT Burnett
Tonges LG Cappuzzello
Williams C Schan
Richards RG J.Degennaro
Berger RT Conroy
Jasinski RE Galose
Pedrotty QB D.Degennaro
Pellegrini LH Pickering
Wallace RH Tabachino
Mastriann FB C. Bruno
Score by quarters:
Massillon 14 13 6 6 – 39
Touchdowns: Luke 2, Wallace, Pellegrini, Heltzel, Sedjo
Points after touchdown: Mastriann 2 (place kick),
Turkall 1, (place kick).
Substitutions – Massillon: Webb, Ielsch, Belch, Sedjo, Turkall, Profant, Clark, Heltzel, Cicchinelli, McGuire, Weeks, Prine, Matako, Millar, Bonk, Rouhler, Stevens, Makowski, Paulson, Slussler, Green, Kelly, Edie. Rayen: Surbrick, Dios, Maltbie, Garcia, Nicklas, Labozan, Chimento, Markawitz, Wolshaf, Julian, Russi, Castella, Dickey, Fox, Gosshandler.
Referee: Lobach. Umpire: Shafer.
Headlineman: Murphy. Field judge: Brown.
Statistics
Tigers Rayen
Total first downs 12 5
Yards gained by rushing 161 34
Yards lost by rushing 46 28
Net yards gained by rushing 115 6
Forward passes attempted 22 23
Forward passes completed 6 5
Yards gained by passing 102 51
Total net yardage rushing
and passing 217 57
Passes had intercepted 0 5
Number of punts 10 5
Average distance of punts 27 19
Number of kickoffs 6 2
Average distance of kicks 40 34
Number of fumbles 1 3
Times ball lost on fumbles 0 2
Number of penalties against 5 4
Yards lost by penalties 35 30
Big Program for Tiger Boosters
The final meeting of the Tiger Booster club before the Massillon-Canton game next Saturday will be held in the Washington high school auditorium this evening at 8 o’clock.
It will be one of the most important of the year and should prove to be one of the most interesting.
It will be an open meeting and all Tiger fans are invited.
Coach Elwood Kammer will not attend tonight’s meeting. The Tiger coach never attends the meeting before the Canton game.
Officers for the coming year will be elected. The Tiger swing band of Washington high school will be on hand to furnish music and the recently organized Massillon chapter of the Society of the Preservation and
Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America will make its first public appearance.
