Each week, the staff of massillontigers.com will provide input of their choice related to the current season or Massillon football in general.
Week one was a rough night. We have to move on to Canton GlenOak who also lost. They lost to Toledo Whitmer 38-24. The outcome of the GlenOak game is essential to the success of our 2017 season. Next week’s winner will depend on which team is most successful in regrouping and improving on week one. We all need to get behind our Tigers as our support is critical this week. Go Tigers! — GV
This year the Tigers are competing in Division 2, Region 7 for one of the eight post-season playoff spots. Based on last weekend’s scores, certain teams have already established themselves as contenders. Start with Westerville South. They competed last year in Division 1 and posted a 1-9 record. But they moved down this year and started off with a bang, trouncing Dublin Scioto, 50-14. Running back Jaelen Gill, an OSU recruit, led the Wildcats with 138 yards rushing and four touchdowns. North Canton’s 43-12 victory over Brush looks good on paper, but aside from that, there were no real eye openers. Here are the teams that should contend: Massillon, North Canton, Lake, Boardman, Ashland, Wooster, Westerville South, Worthington Kilbourne, Dublin Scioto, New Albany and LIcking Heights. And save a spot for one of the Columbus city teams. In what is arguably the weakest region in D2, only 12 of the 27 teams posted victories last weekend. Normally a team would need win seven or eight teams to qualify. But with the weakness of this region, it is conceivable that one or more teams could get in with just six victories. — DE
This will be the 9th game with GlenOak in the recent series. In that six of the last seven were decided by three points or less, one can expect the same type of nail biter this time around. GlenOak’s offense revolves around Tate Rhoads, a returning starter at quarterback. Stop him, according to Massillon Head Coach Nate Moore, and you win the game. Rhoads is a threat to both run and throw the ball off the read option. He knows when to run and he knows where to run, causing headaches for opposing defenses. In the passing department, Rhoads favors the short toss, particularly to receiver Darius Stokes. So it is imperative that the Tigers get pressure on him in passing situations. Although the skill position starters are a talented group, nearly all of them play both ways. The offensive and defensive lines, dominated by underclassmen, are considered their weak areas. — DE
Game statistics start from the line of scrimmage so the first thing I want to talk about is how the yard line (spotting the ball for statistics) is determined. If any part of the ball lies on or above a yard line future action is computed from that yard line. If all of the football has been advanced beyond a yard line the next yard line is the yard line used for spotting the ball and calculating statistics. However, for statistical purposes there must always be at least one yard to be gained for a first down or touchdown This comes into play when the game officials spot the ball within one yard of a first down, or within one yard of the goal line, or between the 11 and 10 yard line. The statistical yard line is one yard back. — JB
