2024 Booster Club Report – Week 13 – Post-Teays Valley; Preview of the Big Walnut Game

Massillon (11-2) defeated Teays Valley (8-5), 48-14.  It was historical win No. 959.  This week Massillon travels to Mansfield for a regional championship playoff game against Big Walnut (12-1).

Link to the Teays Valley Game Story

Link to the Teays Valley Game Statistics

Review of the Teays Valley game

Massillon advanced to the Region 7 championship game with a 48-14 victory over Canal Winchester.  It was an odd first half of football as the Tigers ran just four plays offensively and scored three touchdowns, while the special teams returned three kicks for additional scores, to take a 42-7 lead into the locker room.  The offensive TDs came on a 7-yard run by Mylen Lenix, a 77-yard pass from quarterback Jalen Slaughter to Braylyn Toles and a 52-yard run by Ja’Meir Gamble.  Tyler Hackenbracht tallied all three special team touchdowns on punt returns of 50 and 81 yards, along with a touchdown return of 100 yards.  Meanwhile, the defense held Teays Valley to a net zero yards rushing and ten yards passing during the half.  The backups played most of the second half with a running clock in effect.  Peytton Mitchell led all Massillon rushers with 12 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown.  Inside linebacker Ja’Dyn Williams led the team on defense with five tackles and a sack.

“It was a big win last week,” said Massillon head coach Nate Moore.  “Every playoff win is a good win.  The Tigers pretty much rolled.  It was a great performance by a lot of guys. ”  Moore also singled out the outstanding play of Tyler Hackenbracht, who returned two punts and a kickoff for touchdowns.  And following his third punt return attempt when he was finally tackled by Teays Valley, he received a standing ovation from the Massillon crowd, along with loud joyous relief evident from the other side of the field.

The guest players were wide receiver Jacques Carter and defensive lineman Michael Wright Jr.  “It was a good game,” said Carter.  “Got the young guys in early.  It was a good team win.”  “It was fun,” added Wright.

Preview of the Big Walnut Game

Big Walnut enters the game with a 12-1 record.  Their season to date:

• Columbus Watterson (13-0): 0-20 L
• Dayton Dunbar (3-7): 56-8 W
• Groveport-Madison (7-5): 24-13 W
• Delaware Hayes (7-4): 41-21 W
• Westerville South (5-6): 31-28 W
• Franklin Heights (3-7): 45-12 W
• Worthington  Kilbourne (5-7): 31-0 W
• Westerville North (6-5): 32-31 O.T. W
• Dublin Scxioto (1-9): 38-10 W
• Columbus Westland (8-3): 34-33 W
• Logan (1-10): 42-0 W
• Massillon Perry (6-6): 35-24 W
• Ashland (12-1): 28-10 W

The Golden Eagles finished the regular season 9-1 and are 3-0 in the playoffs, while averaging 34 points per game and giving up 16.  In contrast, Massillon averages 35 points per game and gives up 12.  Big Walnut is seeded first in Region 7 by Harbin.  In Calpreps.com they are ranked second behind No. 1 Massillon.

Big Walnut participates in the Capital Division of the Ohio Capital Conference, which is located in the Columbus area.  Over the past five years they have compiled an overall record of 45-16, including a 9-4 mark in the Division II state playoffs, an event in which they participated in each of those years.  Their best finish in that span was 12-1, which occurred in 2022.  In that year, they fell in the playoffs to Massillon, 38-0.  The following year they also played the Tigers in the post-season and led 9-0 early.  But the Tigers quickly regrouped and won comfortably, 42-21.

Massillon during the last five years has compiled a record of 60-9, including a 21-3 mark in  the state playoffs.  They also captured the Division II state championship in 2023 with a perfect 16-0 record.  During that 5-year span they won all three games against Lakewood St. Edward, 3-time Division I state champion, and all five games against Canton McKinley.

As a whole, Moore believes that the Big Walnut offense is better than its defense.  The offense uses a pro-style, with a lot of tight end looks, usually with two and often with three in the formation.  To confuse the defense, they will frequently flip tight end/offensive tackle to gain a blocking advantage.  In the passing game, they are not shy about using empty sets.  The offense is a young group, starting four seniors, four juniors and three sophomores.

The best player is sophomore running back Nolan Buirley (6′-1″, 185).  He has good speed and can run with power.  He also has another gear when he’s through the line.  Buirley has the ability to put up a lot of yards in a game.  In empty sets he will line up in the slot.  Watch for tag screens to him in that situation.  The quarterback is sophomore Eli Stumpf (6′-3″, 180).  Moore says he does an nice job.  He throws a good ball and has decent speed when escaping the pocket.  He also has some designed runs.  Stumpf’s primary receiver is junior tight end Owen Pollock (6′-4″, 225), a 3-star recruit with an offer from Miami of Ohio.  The offensive line averages 6′-1″, 253 lbs.

“Big Walnut is a heavy-run team,” said Wright.  “We have to stop the run.  It’s a big game for me.  I need to do my job.”:

The defense aligns in a 3-4 odd front.  At times they will slide a linebacker up to present an even front.  The secondary utilizes cover-3 or cover-4, with zone coverage.  But they will occasionally mix in some man-to-man, with cover-1.  The strength of this unit is the linebacker corps.  Like the offense, this group is also young, starting three seniors, six juniors and a pair of sophomores.

The best player on this side of the ball is junior outside linebacker Clint Stover (6′-2″, 195), a 4-star recruit.  His brother, Cade, played defensive end for Ohio State and was drafted earlier this year by the Houston Texans.  Stover wlll come off the edge and is the primary blitzer.  He is also good in pass coverage.  The defensive line is on the smaller side, averaging 6′-2″, 213 lbs.  However, as a whole, the front seven is an extremely active group.

“We need to attack the corners,” said Carter.  “We can get it done if the quarterback (Slaughter) is on his  game.”

Massillon will be the visiting team.

Notes

Here are some Massillon player statistics over the past six games:

• Running back Ja’Meir Gamble:  80 attempts for 864 yards and 12 touchdowns.  Averaged 144 yards per game at 10.8 yards per carry.
• Quarterback Jalen Slaughter: 61 completions in 93 attempts for 926 yards and 10 touchdowns.  Averaged 154 yards per game and 15.2 yards per completion with a completion percentage of 65.6%.  Way ahead of most high school quarterbacks.
• Wide receiver Braylyn Toles: 26 receptions for 439 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Averaged 16.7 yards per catch.
• Linebacker Mylen Lenix: 28 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 12 tackles-for-loss.
• Lineman Michael Wright Jr.: 22 tackles, 3 sacks and 7.5 tackles-for-loss.
• Defensive back Tyler Hackenbracht: 41 tackles and three kick returns for touchdown.

Academically, the Tigers produced a fine grade point average of 3.47.

The available cash for post-game player meals has been exhausted.  The Booster Club is look for additional funding.  Please help.

To Tigers!