WASHINGTON HIGH SHOWS GREAT POWER IN DEFEATING TIFFIN JUNIORS 40-19
TIGERS NOW READY TO MEET BULLDOGS FOR COUNTY TITLE
By LUTHER EMERY
Bring on those Bulldogs!
There’s a pack of Tigers eager to get’em at Lehman stadium, Canton next Saturday and there’s a county championship at stake. Massillon wants that title.
The Tigers tuned up for their big game of the season last Saturday by whipping Tiffin Junior Order Home 40-19 while Canton at the same time was having a difficult time wrestling a 12-0 victory from Alliance. Massillon beat Alliance 19-0.
Tigers Show Power
Football as played on Massillon Field Saturday afternoon ought to bring the county championship to Massillon. Never this season has the orange and black crusher shown the power it did in rolling over the Junior Order gridders.
There was the lapse in the third period when the subs were in the game. It made it interesting for the crowd, mighty interesting, but when the regulars jumped into the breach in the fourth quarter the outcome was a settled matter. Massillon was the superior team. It was clicking. Tiffin suffered its worst lacing of the season and the Juniors do not play any easy schedule.
Canton, somewhat demoralized a week ago when its state championship hopes were dimmed by Springfield, was quite the contrary. The Bulldogs were not at their best against Alliance. Their high powered running attack couldn’t get out of low gear and they had to take to the air to win the game.
Everything Works For Tigers
On the other hand everything seemed to work for the Tigers. They passed better than at anytime this season and their running plays had the Juniors backing up all the time, that is with the exception of the third period when the subs went haywire and provoked fans to pulling hair and uttering words that would wreck a typewriter.
Passes produced one touchdown, helped to contributed to another and scored one of the extra points.
The Juniors brought to Massillon a defense designed especially to stop the spinner and powerful thrusts of D.C. McCants who has been doing most of the ground gaining of late.
In designing the defense, Coach John Starrett overlooked Henry Krier. With the defensive strength focused on the center of the line an alley was left through tackle and the Flying Dutchman continually smashed his way through this opening for gain after gain.
Largest Score Made Against Juniors
The scored rolled up by the Massillon eleven was twice as large as that made by Sandusky, which defeated Tiffin 20-0 several weeks ago. Steubenville only defeated Tiffin 6-0. There’s a comparison that puts a feather in the local team’s hat. The Juniors on the other hand scored three times as many points as any other team has been able to register on the Tigers this season.
Those three touchdowns caused no little excitement on the bench and in the stands. The Tigers had staked the subs to a 20-point lead and within the short space of eight minutes the Juniors had narrowed the margin to one point 20-19 to be exact.
Coach Brown stormed around on the sidelines. There wasn’t that much difference between his first and second teams. Something was wrong. The benched regulars got keyed up as victory seemed about to be taken from them. Then the gun cracked ending the third period. The first stringers went back in with a vengeance. The complexion changed immediately. In five plays the Tigers had a touchdown. They scored another and still another and had the ball on the one foot line when the timekeeper put an end to the rout.
Get Off Bench to Win
Perhaps the sojourn on the bench did the regulars good. They had played good football in the first half but never did they show such a devastating attack as they did when returned to the game in the fourth period.
The subs game them the ball on their own 32-yard line. Krier ran 14 yards for a first down on his 46. He circled his left end on a triple pass for another first down on the 16-yard stripe. Shrake on a reverse gained nine through left tackle. McCants carried to the
four-yard line and Krier went through right tackle with such force that he nearly knocked the fence over in getting stopped.
Catching the Juniors completely off guard, Krier passed to Lohr in the end zone for the extra point.
The next time the Tigers got their hands on the ball they scored again. Shrake started it when he returned a punt to his 40-yard line. McCants in four plays made a first down in midfield. Shrake lost a yard but with the Junior secondary drawn in within a few feet of the line, Krier passed to Lohr for a first down on the 36-yard line. Shrake made two yards and Krier again passed to Lohr for a first down on the five-yard line. McCants went over in two plays. Krier’s kick was wide.
Lohr Intercepts Pass
The Juniors received but on the second play Lohr intercepted a pass and dashed back to the five-yard line before being downed. Shrake moved the ball two yards nearer the goal and McCants plunged across. Krier placekicked the extra point to conclude the scoring for the day at 40-19. The Tigers, however, threatened once more and would have scored again had they had 20 seconds more; as it was the game ended with the ball within a foot of a touchdown.
What happened in the earlier periods follows.
After being stopped in their first attempt to carry the ball the Tigers again secured possession of the pigskin on the 50-yard line. McCants made a first down on the 37 in three plays and picked up eight more on a spinner before Krier smashed right tackle for an
18-yard run to the 11-yard line. Three plays only netted six yards so Shertzer stepped back and passed beautifully to Lohr who went high in the air to pull the ball down behind the Tiffin goal for the first touchdown of the game. Krier kicked the extra point.
Another touchdown was added in the second period. Shrake brought a punt back to his own 28 and McCants in two plays made 18 yards and a first down on his 46. A one-yard gain and a five-yard penalty advanced the ball to the Tiffin 48 where Krier set out on a triple pass for a 41-yard jaunt to the seven yard line. Shrake lost three but Krier again smashed right tackle for the touchdown and kicked the extra point.
Heisler Blocks Punt
A punt that appeared to hit a stone wall, bounced off the chest of Fritz Heisler and rolled backward 32 yards to the eight yard line where Buggs pounced upon it put the Tigers in position to score their third touchdown of the game. Line plays advanced the ball to the one-half yard line where McCants plunged over on the fourth down.
Exit the Massillon regulars and enter the subs. Tiffin received and the yannigans forced them to punt, but Dietz in attempting to block the punt knocked Ball, the kicker down and the Tigers’ were penalized 15 yards for roughing him.
That seemed to fire the Juniors to new hope. Paynter made four yards and E. Cartwright lugged the ball to the 30-yard line and again to the 20. Ball made four yards and Paynter danced his way across the goal.
Mellinger returned the Following kickoff beautifully to his 39-yard line but the Juniors held and blocked Chovan’s punt, W. Singleton scooping up the rolling ball and dashing for a touchdown. Ball kicked the extra point.
The Tigers received but fumbled, Hudley covering for Tiffin on the Massillon 25-yard line. On the second play Ball passed to Cartwright for the touchdown. The third quarter ended shortly thereafter, the Massillon regulars went into the game and the rest you have.
Statistics bear out the superiority of the Tiger team. The local eleven made 19 first downs to the Juniors’ eight. They completed five of eight passes for a gain of 64 yards and a point after touchdown, while Tiffin completed four of 12 passes for 52 yards. Furthermore the Tigers intercepted four Junior passes, two in the last period.
Field In Fine Condition
Perhaps the most striking of all Saturday was the condition of the field. The fans who did turn out expected to see a mud battle. Instead the players after the game were as clean as they were at the conclusion of any game last season.
The field through a little heavy was not soggy. Neither was it muddy. Groundskeepers had removed the snow Friday. The drainage beneath the sod carried most of the moisture away and the sun took care of the rest. It is a safe bet that few gridirons under similar conditions would look as good as Massillon Field did Saturday. This city can be proud of its athletic plant.
Ball kicked the longest punt that has been booted on Massillon field this year. He drove the ball 70 yards with the wind and nearly got it over Bob Shrake’s head. The plucky Tiger safety man got his hands on the pigskin, fumbled but recovered.
Lineup and summary:
Massillon Pos. Tiffin Jr. Home
Lohr LE Bridges
Birkish LT Valentine
Porter LG Hundley
Monroe C R. Manning
Snavely RG Warf
Buggs RT Herren
Heisler RE Hamlin
Shertzer QB Ball
Krier LH Paynter
Shrake RH S. Cartwrifht
McCants FB E. Cartwright
Score by periods:
Massillon 7 7 6 20 40
Tiffin 0 0 19 0 19
Substitutions:
Massillon – Dietz, re; Mellinger, rh; Molinski, g; Peters, t; Schimke, e; Smith, g; Sladavic, fb; Wolfe, t; Morningstar, c; Mansbury, hb; Chovan, rh; Hutsell, rh.
Tiffin – Stevens, lh; Ferguson, e; Campbell, lt; Singletow, rt; Manning, qb; Johnson, rh.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – McCants 3; Lohr; Krier.
Tiffin – E. Cartwright; Paynter; Singleton.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Lohr (pass from Krier). Krier 3 (placekick).
Tiffin – Cartwright.
