CANTON WINS STARK GRID TITLE AS FORWARD PASSES DEFEAT TIGERS 21-0
MASSILLON UNABLE TO SOLVE BULLDOGS’ FINE AERIAL ATTACK

By LUTHER EMERY

A master passing attack that split the Tiger defense with its unerring accuracy carried the Canton Bulldogs through the air to a 21-0 victory over Washington high Saturday afternoon at Lehman field before a capacity crowd of 10,000 spectators.

In defeating the Tigers, the Bulldogs won their first Stark county title in years. From 1928 until 1932 they had not been able to beat either Massillon or Alliance. Canton was not emphasizing football.

Canton Now Stressing Football
A year ago, however, Canton decided to stress athletics and with the appointment of Jimmy Aiken as coach began to build its football machine. It succeeded in defeating Massillon
19-0 but was deprived of a county title when beaten by Alliance.

Additional material was recruited for this year’s team and the Bulldogs blossomed out with the finest eleven that has represented Canton on the football field in 13 years. It won nine of its 10 games and Massillon and Alliance, Stark county’s two leading Class A teams were numbered among its victims.

Now that McKinley has finally won the Stark county title it seems destined to retain it for a long time and why shouldn’t it?

Canton Should Continue to Rule
If Massillon, in addition to its own material, had Alliance, Barberton, Dover, New Philadelphia and Niles to choose from, it would have an even chance to defeat its own rival. The cities combined would have a population equal to that of Canton.

Sour grapes? Not exactly. It is a situation Massillon and Alliance will have to face year in and year out, for if McKinley continues to emphasize football at the present rate, an annual duplication of that which took place on Lehman field Saturday can be expected.

There will be an occasional off year when either Massillon or Alliance will wage a successful revolution but Canton with four times the talent to draw from should rule Stark county football in the future.

Massillon was simply outclassed Saturday as the Bulldogs set about to play their best game of the season. They did everything right and at the right time and played near perfect football. There wasn’t a bad punt. They fumbled but once and their great defense held the Tigers to one first down.

Passes Beat Tigers
But had it not been for the great aerial attack of the Canton team, the game might have ended somewhere in the victory of a scoreless tie. That Massillon would not be able to score was clearly demonstrated from the start of the game to the final whistle, but it is a question if Canton could have scored without the aid of a forward pass in advancing the ball.

Accurate pegs helped put the Bulldogs in position for two of their three touchdown drives and nearly produced a fourth score when Huff stepped out of bounds on the one foot line after snaring a pass in the fourth period. It was fourth down with goal to go and so McKinley lost the ball.

The Tiger line put up a fine defensive game. It stopped Wilson Frye, McKinley’s ace ball
carrier on most occasions and probably would have been even more successful had not the Bulldogs passing attack drawn the secondary back to a point where it was too many steps away from the line of scrimmage to be out of great value in backing up the forward wall.

Stop Touchdown Drives
The line, however, made many a valiant stand during the afternoon when backed up to its goal posts. Three times it hurled back the Canton challenge, twice on the one foot line. However, the local forwards were out-charged by their heavier adversaries when on the offensive and this largely accounts for the Tigers inability to gain ground.

The Canton tackles and guards zoomed forth with the passing of the ball while the ends laid back and smeared the hard off tackle smashes which Massillon hoped would bring it victory.

Martin Gylog, who plays left end for McKinley on defense was in Henry Krier’s way all afternoon. Only once did Krier gain ground and that contributed to the Tigers only first down. Running from punt formation, he found a hole in the left side of the Canton line that yielded nine yards. McCants in two attempts made it a first down by plunging through center. Only two other gains of any consequence were made by Massillon players. Shrake on one occasion dashed through Canton’s right tackle for six yards while Dutton passed three yards to Lohr in the closing seconds of the game. Lohr fumbled after making the catch, however and Canton recovered as the gun ended the game. It was Massillon’s only completed pass in six attempts. Two passes were intercepted. Canton on the other hand completed nine passes in 18 attempts for a total gain of 146 yards.

Canton Scores Early
Canton scored in the first six minutes of the game. Krier bounced the kickoff to Jurkovic who was downed on the 18-yard line after a three-yard return. Three plays advanced the ball six yards and there followed two exchanges of punts that left Canton in possession of the ball on Massillon’s 46-yard line. On the very first down, Jurkovic passed 27 yards to Halter who was downed on the 19-yard line. Frye crossed up the Tigers and ran his right end behind beautiful interference for a touchdown. Frye carried the ball across for the extra point.

The Bulldogs got the Tigers in another hole early in the second period when Haas recovered a fumble on the Massillon 27-yard line. The red and Black hammered to the eight-yard line but here its attack failed and McCants batted down Jurkovic’s pass in the end zone. The Tigers got the ball on their 20 and punted back to their 46 when they failed to gain. Again Jurkovic faded back and shot a 31-yard pass to Halter for a first down on the 15-yard line and once again the Tigers rallied and knocked down a pass in the end zone to end the threat. The local team secured the ball on the 20 and Frye immediately intercepted Krier’s pass on the 35. Jurkovic once more hurled the ball to Halter for a first down on the 16-yard line. Three running plays only gained two yards, but on the fourth down Jurkovic shot the ball to Huff who caught it on the goal line and fell over for a touchdown. Jurkovic placekicked the extra point and it was 14-0 in favor of Canton. The half ended with the ball in midfield.

McKinley scored its last touchdown in the third period after being thrown back once by a tight forward wall. Abdulla started it when he intercepted Shertzer’s pass on the Massillon 46-yard line. Here the red and black showed its best running attack. Abdulla made four yards, Frye 13 and Abdulla 19 more for a first down on the 10-yard line. Frye wormed through for six yards and then the Tigers braced. Halter got a yard, Abdulla two yards, but a shuttle pass to Abdulla failed to gain on fourth down and Massillon took the ball.

Krier was hurried on the punt and kicked back to the 19-yard line. Again Canton attacked. Frye made two yards and Abdulla was turned loose for a 14-yard sprint to the three-yard line. Halter placed the ball on the one-half yard line and Abdulla carried it over. Huff’s placekick produced the extra point.

Tigers Make Only First Down
Following the next kickoff Massillon made its only first down of the afternoon. Shrake brought the ball back to his 44-yard line. Krier made nine yards through right tackle and McCants plunged for a first down on the Canton 44-yard line. It was the first time in the game that Massillon was able to work the ball into Canton territory. There the attack ended, for Canton took the ball when Massillon clipped while the ball was in the air on a punt and a near touchdown resulted shortly thereafter. A pass to Huff made it first down on the Massillon 31. Frye after losing four yards was turned loose around his right end for a dash to the Massillon four-yard line. He was knocked out by McCants on the play, but continued to play after being revived. Halter was tossed by McCants for a six-yard loss. Lohr knocked down Jurkovic’s pass and Frigley gained but three yards at center, so Jurkovic stepped back and fired another pass at Huff who caught the ball on the one-foot line but stepped out of bounds, thus failing to make a touchdown. It was fourth down with goal to goal. Massillon took the ball and there ended Canton’s last threat.

It was the last game for four Massillon players, Bob Shrake, Fred Heisler, Carl Porter and Willis Monroe. All performed nobly, especially Heisler and Porter who played fine defensive games.

Against Massillon’s one first down, Canton made 15, three in the first period, six in the second, four in the third and two in the fourth.

Canton had 12 men on the field most of the afternoon. When it wasn’t an extra substitute it was Jimmy Aiken. The latter kept a steady stream of new blood flowing into his lineup throughout the last half of the fourth quarter.

Though bands do not win football games, Massillon can have the satisfaction in knowing that its musical organization performed every bit as good as the Canton band Saturday.

Both bands drilled on the field before the game and between halves and Myron McKelvey, Tiger drum major had it all over the Canton leader.

Lineup and summary:
McKinley Pos. Massillon
Huff LE Lohr
Wyandt LT Birkish
Gylog LG Porter
Shopbell C Monroe
Allen RG Snavely
Haas RT Buggs
Lancaster RE Heisler
Jurkovic QB Shertzer
Frye LH Krier
Halter RH Shrake
Frigley FB McCants

Score by periods:
McKinley 7 7 7 0 21

Touchdowns:
McKinley – Frye; Huff; Abdulla.

Points after touchdown:
McKinley – Frye (off-tackle); Frigley (placekick); Huff (placekick).

Substitutions:
McKinley – Abdulla, lh; Daniels, lh; Shipley, c; Green, re; Fry, c; Russ, lh; Baker, le; Wertzman, lt; Bartel, Glick, rt; Reed, rg; Dunbar, rt; Strauch, fb; Flagg, qb; Fonte, re; Swanson, rg; Swimmer, fb.
Massillon – Wolfe, lt; Dutton, qb; Molinski, rg; Morningstar, c.

Referee – Lobach (Franklin-Marshall).
Umpire – Shafer (Cleveland).
Head Linesman – Barrett (Sebring).
Field Judge – Howell (Beloit).