Massillon Playoff Run Ended by Big Walnut

November 23, 2024
by Don Engelhardt

Massillon Playoff Run Ended by Big Walnut

Statistics

Massillon’s dream of a consecutive Division II state championship came to a sudden end when they were upset by Columbus-area Big Walnut, 14-7, in the Region 7 finals. The Golden Eagles returned a kickoff to start the second half for a touchdown to break a 7-7 tie and that ended up being the difference in the game on the scoreboard, although the statistics show a much different story.

The two teams played at Mansfield’s Arlin Field and they were met with a miserable night of weather. The temperature was around 40 degrees and there was a 20 mile per hour wind howling along the length of the field, with rain coming down in sheets throughout the contest. In spite of that, the Tigers were able to put up 378 yards of offense against 170 yards for Big Walnut. In fact, Massillon running back Ja’Meir Gamble rushed for 184 yards (8.4 yards per carry), eclipsing the entire Eagle offense. The Tigers even led in first downs, 16-10. But they couldn’t translate that performance onto the scoreboard, as a slew of penalties prevented them from finishing drives.

The Massillon offensive line was whistled for an unprecedented nineteen false starts, at least one occurring during eight of their nine possessions. In fact, one drive alone saw six flags thrown for that infraction. From this writer’s vantage point there appeared to be two possible reasons for this and probably a combination of both. The first was that the smaller Golden Eagle line needed to gain some advantage or else be blown off the ball on run plays by the larger Tiger line. So, as a legal football ploy, each time Jalen Slaughter went into his snap cadence, the 3-man line in unison quickly shifted a half gap or a full gap to one side or the other. That required the offensive linemen to rapidly readjust their blocking plan. The Eagles did this on every play. And it might have been too much for these young minds to handle. But sometimes it might have been players reacting to the twitching movements.

The second was that the Big Walnut crowd was quite enthusiastic throughout the game and brought the noise every time Massillon had the ball. It’s possible that the offensive line had difficulty hearing Slaughter’s cadence and they began to anticipate the snap. Perhaps Coach Nate Moore will enlighten the Tiger fans on this at the next Booster Club meeting.

Massillon received the opening kickoff and returned it to the 20 yard line. They did advance to the 40, but a pair of false start penalties hampered the try and they were forced to punt. Big Walnut returned the favor a few plays later and the Tigers this time started at their own 18, only to punt from the 44. With anticipated difficulty in throwing against the wind they kept it mostly to the ground. In other words, the goal may have been to get through that first quarter unscathed and then turn on the offense.

Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles, which had the wind at their backs, took over at their own 45 and proceeded on their lone scoring drive of the night. They covered the distance in ten plays, with quarterback Eli Stumpf completing all four of his passes for 30 yards and short runs covering the rest. The score came early in the second quarter when Stumpf, on third down and three, was able to elude a heavy pass rush and connect with Brody Hatfield for a diving catch just over the goal line.

With the field now reversed, the Tigers now had the wind. From the 25, Slaughter went to play action pass on the first play and lofted a beautiful rainbow to a streaking Braylyn Toles. He gathered the ball near midfield and raced untouched to the endzone. It was a remarkable pass connection given the speed of the wind. Nolan Hendrick’s kick was good and the score was tied.

Unfortunately, Massillon had only one other possession in the second quarter and this one stalled out at the Big Walnut 28. They did have a fourth and one at the 18, but four consecutive false start penalties put that drive in the drawer.

The Golden Eagle dagger came when Nolan Buirley returned the second half kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. Ironically, with wind at their back, the Tigers elected to kick short of the goal line and the low kick got there a bit too quickly for the coverage team to get into position to make the stop.

One quarter remained for the Tigers to take advantage of the wind before the field was reversed. But the first attempt was squashed by a false start penalty. Subsequently, they had Big Walnut stopped in their side of the field and would have had great field position, but they roughed the punter. Two plays later they incurred an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. By the time the Eagles punted they were at the Massillon 34 and downed the ball at the three yard line.

The Tigers tried to move out from the goal line, but were hampered by three false start penalties. Fortunately, it was Big Walnut that now roughed the punter, giving Massillon new life. They took advantage. Aided by Gamble runs of 17 and 29 yards they advanced to the Eagle nine yard line, where they faced a fourth and two. Mylen Lenix got the call this time and he dove high over the line for an apparent first down. But the spot by the referee was not favorable and they were stopped.

The Tigers had three more tries in the fourth quarter, now operating into the wind, but never got out of their own territory. Of course, there were three additional false start penalties during those drives.

But credit Big Walnut for playing good fundamental football and making sound coaching decisions. The stunting by the defensive line appeared to be an effective technique in causing havoc for the Massillon line. And they employed five pass defenders against three receivers to pressure the Tiger passing attack. Nevertheless, they did only score one offensive touchdown, which is the norm for most of the games this year, so the Massillon defense did its job.

Slaughter ended up completing 7 of 18 passes for 163 yards, with the long one going for 75. Dante Malone caught three balls for 66 yards and Toles had two for 76 yards and the score. Linebacker Jadyn Williams led the defense with 11 tackles.

For Big Walnut, Buirley rushed 24 times for 92 yards (3.8 ave.) and Stumpf completed 11 of 16 passes for 67 yards (6.1 ave.) and the TD. Four passes went to Owen.

The Tigers bow out with a fine record of 11-3 record and can look back at several big wins, including NFL Academy-London, Buffalo’s Canisius, Lakewood St. Edward (for the third consecutive year) and Canton McKinley. For the Golden Eagles, they move on to the state semifinals to face Cincinnati Anderson.