Scrimmage Report: Massillon vs. Cincinnati Moeller
Massillon Head Coach Nate Moore is not shy about scheduling some very good teams for pre-season scrimmages. That’s because these teams will certainly expose the Tigers’ weaknesses before the regular games get underway. Last Saturday it was Avon, the dominant power in Division II, Region 6, and on Thursday it was Cincinnati Moeller, the Division I, Region 4 champion in each of the past three seasons. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Talk before official practice got underway was that Moeller is primed this year with enough talent to possibly unseat 3-time defending Division I champion Lakewood St. Edward. And they certainly showed why against Massillon by fielding a stellar defense and an excellent quarterback to boot. In the first half it was all Crusaders as they out-did the Tigers in first downs, 9-1. However, they only led 7-3 at the break on account of a Massillon ground defense that was just as stingy.
Moeller scored in the first quarter when they drove the ball 60 yards on their second possession and finished with a 2-yard TD pass to the tight end. In the second quarter they were stopped on downs at the Tiger nine, and later at the Massillon twenty, when Michael Wright caused and recovered a fumble. A third scoring drive was negated when, with 16 seconds left, a 44-yard field goal attempt was missed wide to the left.
For Massillon, however, it was one 3-and-out after another. Five in a row. Only, after taking over the ball following the missed field goal, quarterback Jalen Slaughter finally completed a pass, of 68 yards, to the speedy Jacques Carter, which advanced the ball to the 17 yard line with 6.5 seconds left. A subsequent pass was dropped in the back of the end zone, but Mateo Herrera was able to connect on a 33-yard field goal as time expired, making the score 7-3 in favor of the Crusaders. During that half both Slaughter and Eli Moore held the reigns at the QB position.
In the Tigers’ sole varsity possession of the second half, they went to the air and drove 65 yards for a touchdown, with Slaughter completing 4 of 8 passes for 48 yards, including a 5-yard toss to Braylyn Toles for the score. The drive was aided by a pass interference penalty on Moeller. That made the final varsity score 10-7 in favor of Massillon.
Moeller struggled most of the time to move the ball effectively on the ground, but had good success with the passing game. But they had difficulty finishing drives. Meanwhile, the Tigers did have a few good runs, but just couldn’t convert first downs on account of missed passes and dropped balls.
The JV team lost their end of the scrimmage, four touchdowns to one. The lone Tiger score came on a 15-yard pass from Sherraad Bennard to Javon Merriweather. It was a 6-play drive, all passes, as Bennard completed 3 of 6 for 83 yards.
Massillon travels to Beaverton, Oregon, next Wednesday to open the season with a game against NFL Academy-London.
A big thank you goes out to Matt McBeth for providing live details of the scrimmage.
