Barberton Defeats Washington High 14-0
Tiger Backfield Men Helpless Behind Weak Line
By LUTHER EMERY
They may call them the Magicians, but there was nothing magical about the Barberton high school gridders’ 14-0 victory over Washington high school at Barberton Saturday afternoon. The purple and white eleven with a strong scrappy line, a fast and shifty quarterback and a hard hitting fullback played straight football and simply rushed the Massillon eleven off its feet to gain the first grid victory ever registered against a Tiger eleven.
Washington high, reinforced by some new reverse plays, couldn’t begin to execute them for the weak forward wall of the Massillon team wilted like a field of oats in a windstorm and the Barberton linemen came crashing through to check nearly every attempt at deceptive football.
Plays Smashed
Once in the first period, the orange and black gained some 12 yards on a double reversal and after that they lost more ground than they could gain on these double and triple plays simply because the line would not hold long enough to permit their execution.
But though the line was weak as a whole, it was strong in one spot and that was the guard position held down by John Singer, who is just about the smallest person on the forward wall at that. Singer showed as much fight and scrap as the others put together and for that reason probably made one half of the tackles Saturday, which is to say that he also made as many tackles as the rest of the team put together.
Because of the weakness of the line, the Tiger backfield, couldn’t get going. Clendening and Williams on a couple of occasions demonstrated what they might do if the forward wall would give them half a chance, the former twice nearly getting free for touchdown sprints, while Williams, who had been marked by the Barberton gridders, got the ball on one kickoff and carried it back to midfield before being downed. From scrimmage he couldn’t gain a yard. Clendening picked up most of the ground the orange and black gained from scrimmage Saturday afternoon. It was the first time this season that he has shown any ability to advance the ball.
The Barberton gridders were jubilant in their victory over the orange and black for it was the first the school has ever been able to register against a Massillon eleven.
The pill, bitter as it was, might have been worse, however, were it not for the fact that the Barberton eleven is coached by Jimmy Price, former Washington high quarterback and halfback of a few years ago. Jimmy has a hard fighting team at Barberton this year, one that has lost but one game, and one that should keep its slate clean the remainder of the season.
Price’s team, however, gained no more first downs from scrimmage than did the Massillon eleven Saturday afternoon, each team making the required yardage nine times. Barberton, however, played much of the game in Massillon territory, while the local team on only a few occasions worked the ball into the Magicians’ half of the field. Only when Barberton scored its two touchdowns, however, did the purple and white succeed in getting deep into Massillon territory.
Barberton Scores Early
Barberton scored early in the first quarter. Getting the ball on its 15-yard line, the Magicians with Williams and Jerina carrying the ball reeled off three first downs in a row to carry the pigskin to the Massillon 21-yard line. Williams picked up seven yards at right end and right guard and Jerina on the third down plunged through to the four-yard mark before being tackled. Williams made a yard and Jerina in two attempts crashed his way through right tackle across the goal line. He placekicked the extra point.
The last score of the game was tallied in the third quarter when after advancing the ball from the Barberton 45-yard line to the Massillon 25-yard line, Williams shirted his right end for a touchdown. Whitman bucked across the extra point.
Massillon threatened but once and that ended on the two and one-half yard line where the Tigers forfeited the ball on downs. A pass, Clendening to Getz, had placed the ball on the 26-yard line and a 15-yard penalty inflicted on Barberton for holding advanced it to the
11-yard line. It was in the fourth quarter. Kester gained three yards at right tackle and Clendening hit the same spot for four more. Williams got but a yard on the next play and with fourth down coming and two yards to go for a first down, Clendening was stopped after a gain of about a yard and the opportunity for a touchdown was lost.
The Tigers never threatened again and their passing attack, which had the Magicians baffled on several plays, got weaker as the game progressed and was useless at the end.
Homecoming Day
It was homecoming day at Barberton, but the crowd that turned out for the game would indicate that the school has very few alumni members. Less than a thousand people witnessed the duel and several hundred of those were from Massillon.
Following the game several members of the Massillon squad got into a scuffle with some Barberton spectators who gave them the raspberries as they were leaving the field. The group was quickly dispersed before anything more than bruises could be administered by opposing fists.
Line up and summary:
Barberton Pos Massillon
Conrad LE Brunker
Burdett LT W. Monore
M. Williams LG Singer
Bernard C Schott
Burnley RG Schimke
Gilcher RT Adams
Ziblet RE Getz
J. Williams QB Knowlton
Reese LH Clendening
Klase RH Kester
Jerina FB Williams
Score by periods:
Barberton 7 0 7 0 14
Substitutions:
Barberton – Whitman for Klase; Campbell for Burdett.
Massillon – K. Monroe for Schimke; Krug for Adams; Heisler for Brunker; Foster for Knowlton; Gump for Getz; Buhecker for Kester, Porter for K. Monore; Bender for Gump; Shrake for Clendening; Amic for Williams; Bender for W. Monroe; Mudd; W. Toles.
Touchdowns:
Barberton – Jerina; Williams.
Point after touchdown:
Barberton – Jerina (kick); Whitman (carried).
Officials:
Referee – Weltner.
Umpire – Tucker.
Head Linesman – Werner.
