Tigers Claw Cleveland Glenville 50-0
Bengals’ Defense Shares Opening Night Limelight With Sparkling Offense
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
They ran it here! They ran it there! They ran that pigskin everywhere!
Like “Hurricane Betsy,” which dropped some of its remaining rain on Tiger stadium, the Massillon Tigers roared up and down the gridiron for 48 minutes in their opener Friday night. They left the plucky but out manned Cleveland Glenville Tarblooders in the devastation of a 50-00 shellacking before 10,253 fans.
The Washington high eleven had its ground game operating to perfection in its first quest for a 21st state championship. The Orange and Black line chopped down the opposition like a machete fells sugar cane. The backs hit their holes like a scared rabbit evading a hunter’s gun.
But the defense deserves a pat on the back, too, for its multiple-player, bone-crunching tackles and lightning-like charges. The Tarblooders were held to a minus 3 yards on the ground, losing 76 yards.
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GLENVILLE got only 2 sustained drives going all night but was stopped both times by a determined Tiger defense. The Tarblooders moved from their 41-yard line to the Obiemen’s one-foot line in the first period and from the Massillon 48 to the 5 in the fourth quarter.
Had Glenville scored in the driving rain, which hit in the first quarter and kept on sporadically the rest of the night, the Tarblooders might have tied the score. It was 8-0 at the time. But halfback Johnny Pollard was stopped short.
“I thought we were over and so did Pollard,” Glenville coach Phil Crawley said later. “That hurt us and so did the fact we have a lot of green kids and Massillon has a lot of depth. We figured we would be in trouble on those 2 counts.
Tiger Coach Earle Bruce thought, “Those 2 goal line stands helped a lot, especially since some of the younger boys were involved.” Bruce was happy that a lot of juniors got a chance to play and that he had the opportunity to get his running game into shape. He felt the rain hampered his team’s ground efforts.
The wet stuff not withstanding, the Bengals rolled up 337 net yards to 80 for Glenville and 19 first downs to 6. The Tigers gained nothing through the air in 5 tries.
The rain played havoc with the ball-handling, 10 fumbles resulting. Massillon lost 3 of 4 and Glenville 2 of 6.
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THE TIGERTOWNERS scored in every quarter with the most points – 20 – coming in the second. Several players figured in the fireworks. Quarterback Dave Sheegog scored 2 touchdowns, 2 conversions and passed for 2. Halfback Tommy James, Jr., tallied twice for 6-pointers. Halfback Walt Lemon got 2 and a conversion and halfback Will Foster one. End Rick Healy got the other conversion.
The defending state champions scored the second time they got their hands on the ball. They almost went in the first time after a pass interception but fumbled on the Glenville 13.
Safety Rick Paige intercepted another Glenville aerial on the Tarblooder 35 and ran it back to the 8. Lemon got the call on the option play to the right on the next play and “Sweet Walter” scored with 7:07 left in the first quarter. Sheegog converted via a run.
After stopping Glenville on the one-foot line, the Tigers ground machine, with Sheegog, Foster, Lemon and fullback Terry Manson all taking turns, moved the pigskin to the Glenville 42. Lemon shot off left tackle for the remaining distance with 9:35 remaining in the second canto. The conversion attempt missed when a fumble occurred on the option.
The Tigers scored the next 2 times they got the ball in the second quarter, after bottling up Glenville in its own territory. The first chance came when tackle Dick Hartley made a teeth-rattling tackle which threw Glenville to its 14 after a bad fourth-down snap.
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JAMES, bringing back memories of his famous father’s 1940 running, carried to the 3 on the first play. Foster, like James a junior, slanted left for the TD on the next play for a 20-0 lead at 7:26. The conversion attempt went awry.
The third second-period score came when Paige intercepted a pass on his 45 and
long-legged it back to the Glenville 38.
Four plays later, with first down on the 26, James saw daylight between left guard and left tackle and “Red, Jr.” was gone for a score at 3:27. Sheegog kept for the conversion.
Paige intercepted another pass near the end of the half on his 35 and returned to the Glenville 32. This time “Ramblin’ Rick” was injured and sat out the rest of the game with a left bruise, which does not appear too serious. Sheegog came up with a slight “Charlie Horse.”
A Tiger fumble on the 22 aborted this scoring try.
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THE BENGALS activated the scoreboard lights twice in the third stanza. Driving straight down the field on the ground after the kickoff, the Tigers scored at 7:44. They covered 67 yards in 10 plays with Sheegog keeping off the “I” on first down from the 7. “Dandy Dave” tossed to Healy for 2 extra points.
Another bad fourth-down pass from center and fumble gave Massillon the ball first down on the Tarblooders’ 7. Three plays later Sheegog went off the right side for the Tigers’ sixth TD. Sheegog passed for the conversion with the ball bouncing off end Bill Williams’ hands and into the outstretched arms of Lemon.
The final Massillon score came at 8:16 of the fourth quarter. Safetyman Craig Maurer ran back a punt from his 40 to Glenville’s 40. Four plays later it was “TJ” again. This time James slipped through a trap hole at left guard on first down from the 9. The conversion missed.
Bruce felt that Lemon, Foster and James ran well. He thought junior Mike Kraft did a good line backing job but generally was pleased overall with his team’s performance.
Although he wouldn’t admit it, the Skipper was obviously running under wraps. He must play a tough Cleveland Benedictine team here next week in the second of 5 straight home games. Benedictine defeated Cleveland St. Edward 13-12 in its opener last night.
A Good Start!
GLENVILLE – 0
Ends – Stewart, Smith, Bullard.
Tackles – Wilson, Binder, Gibbs.
Guards – Kince, King.
Centers – Greene, Kitt.
Quarterback – Patrick
Halfbacks – Harris, White, Dean, Holton, Pollard.
Fullbacks – Reese, Robbins.
MASSILLON – 50
Ends – Healy, Griffin, Gallion, Moyer, B. Williams, Humphrey, Crone,
Paige, Riese, Russell.
Tackles – Petroff, Hartley, Campbell, Neago, Croop, Sherrett.
Guards – Rose, Kraft, Beiter, Mazon, Whitfield, Richards, Porrini.
Centers – Marks, Ehmer, Croop, Williams.
Quarterbacks – Sheegog, Maurer, Doolittle.
Halfbacks – Lemon, Smith, McLendon, James, Foster, Muhlbach,
McFaden.
Fullback – Manson
Score by quarters:
Glenville………………… 0 0 0 0 – 0
Massillon……………….. 8 20 16 6 – 50
Touchdowns: Sheegog 2 (7 and 2 yard runs); Lemon 2 (8 and 42 yard runs);
James 2 (26 and 9-yard runs); Foster 1 (3-yard run).
Extra Points: Sheegog 4 (2 runs); Lemon 2 (pass from Sheegog);
Healy 2 (pass from Sheegog).
OFFICIALS
Referee – Harvey Hodgson, Jr. (Massillon).
Umpire – Jack McLain (Columbus).
Head Linesman – Bud Shopbell (Canton).
Field Judge – Don Welsh (Wooster).
Statistics
Mass. Opp.
First downs—rushing 17 2
First downs—passing 0 3
First downs—penalties 2 1
Total first downs 19 6
Yards gained rushing 351 73
Yards lost rushing 14 76
Net yards gained rushing 337 (3)
Net yards gained passing 0 83
Total yards gained 337 80
Passes attempted 5 17
Passes completed 0 3
Passes intercepted by 3 0
Yardage on passes intercepted 36 0
Times kicked off 8 1
Kickoff average (yards) 42.2 28
Kickoff returns (yards) 0 157
Times punted 0 3
Punt average (yards) 0 25½
Punt returns (yards) 62 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 4 6
Lost fumbled ball 3 2
Penalties 2 3
Yards penalized 30 35
Touchdowns rushing 7 0
Touchdowns passing 0 0
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous 0 0
Total number of plays 54 56
