Tigers Whip Warren 39-14 For Sixth Victory Of Season
Passes And Long Runs Provide Thrills For Father’s Night Crowd
By LUTHER EMERY
Writing their scores both in the sky and on the ground, the Washington high Tigers romped through Warren Harding, high here Friday evening for a 39-14 triumph and their sixth in seven games before a small crowd of 11,000 fans.
Uncorking a potent passing attack for the first time, the Tiger gridders showed off before their dads who were seated on the sidelines and who at the end of the game wore grins on their faces as big as the numbers on their backs.
It was Dads’ night and a good night for the Massillon gridders to perform. Because it was Dads’ night, Warren was undoubtedly saved from a more humiliating defeat for Coach “Chuck” Mather, eager to give every boy a chance to show his Dad how it is done, swept his bench of players and used all 44 uniformed men in the game, the greatest number that has ever participated in a Washington high school game, as far as we have been able to learn.
The Tigers took Warren to the races, with Tiger backs getting off to long runs for touchdowns. The only sad part of it all is that it had to happen to a grand guy like J.O. (Heinie) Beck, Warren coach.
It was a game in which the statistics belied the score. You don’t chalk up first downs when a fellow covers 60 yards for a touchdown. You give him six points instead and as a result Warren had 11 first downs to the Tigers’ six.
The yards gained tell the truer picture, however, for here the local eleven rolled up 480 to Warren’s 251.
* * *
THE PANTHERS scored as expected, causing Coach Mather his only concern of the game. “If we could only keep somebody from scoring,” he moaned after the contest while the public address announcement of Canton McKinley’s 46-7 victory over Alliance was still ringing in his ears.
The Tigers came out of the game in pretty good shape, though Jim Reichenback and Dick Jacobs were touched up with injuries which were not believed to be too serious.
The boys ran for the goal line like a colt for the oats bin, as they fattened the Tiger scoring column with points. Most of the local team’s scores, were on long thrusts. Clarence Johnson went 31 and 60 yards for two of the touchdowns and snared a pass from Jack Hill good for 34 yards and a third score. Irvin Crable scored from 14 yards out and Al Brown got away for jaunts of 60 and 47 yards.
Warren was stubborn the first half and the visiting linemen fought hard to trap Tiger ball carriers. They could be moved easier the last two periods, however, when the Tigers did most of their scoring. The Warren touchdown drives were unleashed with the Tiger second stringers in the game, though the first team line was on the field when a third period
five-yard pass produced Warren’s first touchdown.
* * *
THE RUNNING of the Tiger backs was some of the hardest of the season, but when Coach Mather grades his pictures he will probably find the overall performance of the team was below that of the Mansfield game.
There were many hard blocks, some weak ones too, and many instances of tacklers sliding off Warren ball carriers when a good shoulder might have brought the runner to earth.
With it all the Massillon gridders score was 14 points better than that made by Canton McKinley against Warren, but the Bulldogs on the other hand held the Panthers scoreless.
Most pleasant part of the performance was the improvement in the Tiger passing attack. The team completed seven of 10 attempts for 183 yards, and climaxed the aerial works by going 87 yards for the last touchdown in two pass plays.
Passes also figured in other touchdown drives. Jack Hill was given the best protection accorded him this season, affording him every opportunity to pick out his receivers.
* * *
HERB EDINGTON, the guy who ran the Tigers wobbly at Warren last year, was once again the offensive star of the visiting team, though Teammates Bill Bevan and Williams were close behind.
Edington churned up the turf with his hard running and actually exploded through tackle in the fourth quarter to score the visitors’ second touchdown from 14 yards out.
The Tigers rolled to a touchdown the first time they came into possession of the ball. Only a few seconds more than four minutes of the first period had expired when on fourth down and a yard to go, Clarence Johnson was given the ball on a double reverse. The Warren team was completely fooled as he raced around left end for 31 yards and six points. Jerry Krisher placekicked the extra point.
Warren got to the 20-yard line toward the close of the quarter, its deepest penetration of Tiger territory in the entire first half, but lost the ball on a fumble. The Tigers took over and after an exchange of punts, launched a touchdown drive from their own 31. With the help of a 33-yard pass to Johnson and a 19-yarder caught by Roderick, they advanced the ball to the 14-yard line from where Irvin Crable went over on a double reverse. Two Warren tacklers sensed the play, but were taken out of Crable’s path by some timely blocking.
* * *
THE TIGERS shot the works in the third period and scored every time they came into possession of the ball. It didn’t take two minutes to get the first when on the fourth play of the second half, Johnson burst through the Warren line to run 60 yards for a touchdown.
Al Brown followed with another 60 yarder the next time he came into possession of the ball, and with a 26-0 lead, Coach Mather began sending in a steady stream of substitutes who soon found Warren was a pretty tough bunch to handle. The Panthers shoved the second string line backward and rolled 65 yards to the seven-yard line where Coach Mather decided to give his first string line a try at a goal line stand. Two plays later the visitors had their first touchdown on Robison’s peg to Manyak.
Only one minute and 43 seconds of the third period remained but it didn’t take the Tigers that long to get their next score as they took the kickoff, moved to the 47 where Al Brown was released for a dash into pay dirt that brought the score to 32-7.
Warren marched right back with the kickoff from the Panthers’ own 45-yard line to the 14 where Edington broke away for the visitors’ second touchdown.
The Tigers final score came the last time they managed to gain possession of the ball. They stopped a Warren drive on their own 18, were penalized five for being in motion, then took to the air for two plays and a touchdown. Johnson took a lateral, dropped back and fired a terrific pass that Jack Houston caught on the Warren 34, where he was downed in his tracks. Hill rifled the ball the rest of the distance to Johnson, who scampered over for the Tigers’ last points of the game.
In beating Warren 39-14, the Tiger players accomplished one of their objectives – that of whipping the Panthers by a greater score than that made by Alliance in a pre-season practice game which Alliance won 12-7.
The local gridders will now turn their attention toward the invasion of Toledo Waite next Friday evening. The sophomores will go to Mansfield today for a scrimmage with Augie Morningstar’s youngsters.
Smiles For Dads
MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, HOUSTON, Roderick, Gleason, Streeter, Studer, Zellers, Crone, Martin.
TACKLES – JONES, TAKACS, Krisher, A. James, Stanford, Mitchell, Schumacher, Campbell, Kalleker.
GUARDS – PAUL, REICHENBACK, Morrow, De Walt, W. Houston, Turkal, Laps, Leinenveber.
CENTERS – McVEY, Kent, Patt.
QUARTERBACKS – HILL, D. James, Close.
HALFBACKS – JACOBS, JOHNSON, Crable, Shine, Bush, Grier, Russell, Waikem.
FULLBACKS – BROWN, Ebbert, Lane, Howe.
WARREN
ENDS – MANYAK, ZOFKO, Haidaris, Rounds, Stocz.
TACKLES – SWOPE, B. JAMES, Lafferty, Doing.
GUARDS – BAILES, SALVATO, Capito, Ylisela.
CENTERS – BOHYER, Liberatore.
QUARTERBACKS – ROBISON, Venetta, Manusackis, P. Smith.
HALFBACKS – MACHUZAK, CLESS, Edington, Williams.
FULLBACK – BEVAN.
Score by periods:
Massillon 7 6 19 7 39
Warren 0 0 7 7 14
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Johnson 3; Brown 2; Crable.
Warren – Manyake, Edington.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Krisher 2; Johnson (placekicks).
Warren – Bevan 2 (placekicks).
Statistics Of The Game
Mass. Warren
First downs 6 11
Passes attempted 10 17
Passes completed 7 10
Had passes intercepted 1 0
Yards gained passing 183 91
Yards gained rushing 297 166
Total yards gained 480 257
Yards lost 6 37
Net yards gained 474 220
Times punted 2 5
Average punt (yards) 33 35
Punts returned by (yards) 28 0
Times kicked off 7 3
Average kickoff (yards) 45 43
Kickoffs returned by (yards) 69 123
Times fumbled 2 4
Lost ball on fumble 1 1
Times penalized 7 2
Yards penalized 35 10
