Massillon Throttles Teays Valley, Advances to Regional Finals

November 16, 2024November 16, 2024
by Don Engelhardt

Massillon Throttles Teays Valley, Advances to Regional Finals

Statistics

Coaches will tell you that there are three phases to the game of football: offense, defense and special teams. They are all equally important. In fact, the Tigers during each and every practice focus first on special teams. And how that part of the game impacted the Division II, Region 7, Round 3 game at Zanesville, which Massillon won convincingly over Teays Valley (8-5), 48-14. For it was special teams that set the tone.

The group of eleven guys in that phase of the game were simply marvelous in returning the ball for three first-half touchdowns. Among them was Tyler Hackenbracht, who was on the receiving end of all three. The first two were punt returns, of 50 yards and 81 yards, and the third was a 100-yard kickoff return. The third score gave the Tigers a 35-7 lead midway through the second quarter and the game was essentially over that point.

The second phenomenon in this game involved the offense. Normally, a defense is tasked with keeping the opposing offense off the field. Only in this game, it wasn’t the Teays Valley defense, but the Tiger special teams that relegated the Massillon offense to the bench for nearly the entire first half. Of course, the offense itself also had something to do with that. Nevertheless, by halftime the Tigers had run just four plays. But with those four plays they scored three touchdowns and racked up 144 yards of total offense. The game eventually ended with the Tigers amassing 232 yards of offense in 23 plays, at 10.1 yards per play. Just 23 plays? Unheard of for a winning team. That, coupled with the special teams TDs, is surely something that the Massillon program has never experienced in their long history.

The third story of the night was the defense. Once again, they were simply dominating. Dominating to the tune of holding Teays Valley’s power running game to a mere ten yards in 31 carries, including four quarterback sacks that accounted for 37 lost yards. The Vikings’ passing game was limited to 104 yards.

Teays Valley received the opening kickoff, quickly lost four yards in three plays and was forced to punt. That’s when Hackenbracht retrieved the ball off a bounce and immediately headed across the field to the right side. Once turning the corner, he was escorted by a host of blockers to the end zone.

On Teays Valley’s next possession they were again forced to punt. This time Hackenbracht caught the ball on the fly and repeated the jaunt of the first score.

The third Viking possession started at their own seven after the kickoff returner initially bobbled the ball. They did manage to advance to the 20, but the punt snap was bobbled and the Tigers tackled the punter, taking over at the seven. From there it took just one play for Mylen Lenix to find his way into the end zone.

Finally, after the Vikings’ next punt, they were able to avoid a return, placing the Tigers at their own 20. Now, the Massillon fans finally had an opportunity to settle back and enjoy a nice, multi-play drive to the end zone. But it didn’t happen. Following a 4-yard penalty for a false start, quarterback Jalen Slaughter tossed a short pass to Braylyn Toles to for a 2^nd and 7. But it was a setup ploy. On the next play, Toles broke his pattern over the middle on a skinny post and was wide open for the pass, which he snagged around his 40 and raced untouched to the end zone. That made the score 28-0.

At that point, Teays Valley found some offense, driving 73 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown. It ended in a 6-yard pass from quarterback Brady Farmer to Luke Burgett, a tight end that had slipped out of a bunch formation. The drive included 41 yards rushing, 6 yards passing and the remainder in defensive penalties.

But it didn’t take the Tigers long to respond as Hackenbracht secured the subsequent kickoff at the goal line and raced through a gaping hole on the left side of the Viking pursuit, off for his third touchdown of the night.

After holding Teays Valley again, Hackenbracht had a third chance to return a punt. But this time he was tackled with little gain. Only, the fans on both sides of the field were cheering, the Vikings for finally making a stop on Hackenbracht and the Tigers for the appreciation of Hack’s great efforts.

More Massillon points came just one play later when Ja’Meir Gamble, on his sole carry of the night, broke through the line and sped untouched 52 yards to the end zone, making the score 42-7.

The third quarter started with the backups in the game and a running clock in effect. Only, the Vikings’ Tyler Tietz picked up a loose ball and ran 44 yards to the end zone, ending the running clock. So, Massillon head coach Nate Moore temporarily reinserted his first team offense. Finally, the Tiger fans got to experience a nice long drive, this one of 50 yards in 11 plays. It culminated in a 3-yard touchdown run by Peytton Mitchell. The backups then returned to finish it out.

Peytton Mitchell led all Massillon rushers with 12 carries for 61 yards and a TD. Gamble’s lone attempt resulted in a 52-yard score. Slaughter completed 4 of 6 passes for 105 yards and a TD, which Toles took to the house. Hackenbracht had 226 return yards, which enters the record book as No. 2 for 129 punt return yards in a single game. He will also finish in the Top 10 for single season yards and tied for first for single season punt return touchdowns, along with Bo Grunder and Austin Brawley. Inside linebacker Ja’Dyn Williams finally returned from injury and led the team with five tackles and a sack.

For Teays Valley, Peter Graham had 12 carries for 40 yards. Farmer completed 12 of 19 for 104 yards and TD, going to Burgett. Chase Cahill was high on the team with five tackles. The Vikings were 2 of 11 on third down conversions. They also had a time of possession of 33:32, as compared to the Tigers’ 14:28. Such was the weirdness of the game.

The Zanesville school officials did a great job hosting the game.

Massillon (11-2) will next face Big Walnut (12-1) in the regional finals at a site to be determined.