PASSES BEAT NILES 72-0 AS TIGERS WIN N.E.O. BIG SIX CHAMPIONSHIP
BYELENE AND DUTTON FLASH AS MASSILLON SCORES THROUGH AIR
By LUTHER EMERY
An aerial attack, as efficient as it was spectacular, carried the Washington high Tigers to their ninth victory of the season Saturday afternoon as they smothered Niles high 72-0 before the smallest crowd of the season. Less than 3,000 fans attended the contest.
The victory brought to Massillon the first Big Six football championship, a loop reorganized last spring from the remnants of the N.E.O. Big Ten. The football trophy will be presented to Massillon at a meeting of the league in Alliance, December 10.
Score Six Times With Passes
Air lanes pointed toward the Massillon goal Saturday as the Tigers tossed six passes for touchdowns and three for points after touchdown. It was a masterful exhibition of aerial rivaling that of the bombardment that took place in the Barberton game.
Howard Dutton and Mike Byelene manned the guns and fired away with success all afternoon. Particularly the sophomore Mike, who played the major portion of the game because of Coach Paul Brown’s desire to give Dutton as much rest as possible.
Byelene threw them far and short and bulleted one into the waiting arms of Jake Gillom who was down on his knees in the end zone with his hands raised toward the heavens when the ball dropped out of the sky and got into his arms.
Passer Given Protection
No team can have a forward passing attack without first having a passer and no passer can throw the ball accurately without having ample time to pick out his man. That’s where the unsung hero comes in and if you were a close observer Saturday you would have noticed that one of the main reasons why the Tiger passing attack clicked was that the passer had plenty of time to throw the ball.
McCants, Jack Lange and the other backs and linemen threw up a wall of protection that gave Dutton and Byelene a chance to pick the receiver. Then they fired. Only one was intercepted and not a one was blocked behind the line of scrimmage.
From the very start when Dutton rocketed the pigskin to Bob Shertzer for 12 yards and a touchdown it was evident that the fans would be treated to plenty of forward passing.
The first three touchdowns came out of the sky with Lohr racing for one and Shertzer for two of them and just when Niles was expecting another cannon ball, big D.C. McCants galloped through his right tackle for 55 yards and another score.
A little bit of straight football gave Krier an opportunity to sweep his left end from the three-yard line and kick a point after touchdown for a new high point record in the N.E.O. league.
Then back to the air the Tigers went and as though trying for a long distance record, Byelene pegged the ball to Shertzer for a net gain of 60 yards and another touchdown.
You might have thought that enough and Coach Brown not caring to roll up a gigantic score on a friendly rival, sent in new replacements, but 125-pound Ed Herring had ambitious ideas, snared a Niles pass set sail for a 45-yard run and looked like a forward pass himself as he flew over would be tacklers and side-stepped others in his touchdown jaunt. Three men were left strewn behind him, but all managed to continue in the game.
A 15-yard loss because of a fumble looked like a certain barrier to another touchdown after the ball had been advanced by a pass to the six-yard line but Byelene faded back and let go again. Up came Lohr in the air to take the ball over the heads of two Niles players and six more points were added to the Tigers’ score.
Score After Fumble
As usual the breaks go against the losing team and Mike Byelene was on the ob to see that they did. He pounced on Kaye’s fumble on the 20-yard line, ripped through for 10 yards and then aimed another pass to Herring who danced around in the end zone as the ball sailed into his arms. Over into the same corner Byelene shot the ball to Bob Shertzer for another point and the Tiger total was swelled to seven.
Then old Jake Gillom seemed to think that he ought not be left out of it and carrying the ball three times in succession, once for a run of 35 yards, he stormed his way across the Niles goal. They it was that Jake got down on his knees and took a pass from Mike for the extra point and the 66th of the afternoon.
Ambitious Jack Herring gathering the ball off the ground and sweeping the ends like a scared rabbit, lugged the ball across for the final score. His final effort was a 30-yard sweep around his right end. He was given fine support as he outran the Niles secondary and carefully picked his way along the east sideline to the north goal. Gillom tried to make the extra point but was smothered in his tacks and the timekeeper fired his gun to keep the score from getting any larger.
Hopelessly outweighed and at times playing a team of midgets, Niles had little to offer offensively except a forward passing attack that faded out when most needed.
The visitors threatened but once and it looked mighty serious for the Tigers that one time in the third quarter when Gales, returning a Massillon kickoff, broke through the entire Tiger team and raced to the Massillon 42-yard line before being downed from behind by Neri Buggs, who wouldn’t give ground for 10 pound shell.
Carry Ball To 20-yard Line
Niles wasn’t through yet, however, for Gales pegged the ball to McCormick for a first down on the Massillon 26-yard line. Two line plays took the ball to the 20-yard line and Coach Hoker, of Niles, hoping to attain the distinction of being first to score on the Tigers, sent in what regulars he had resting on the bench for one last desperate thrust. The regulars tried twice and at the end of the two attempts were shoved back to the 37-yard line where they lost the ball on downs. That ended Niles’ scoring threat but it in no way stopped the fight of the visitors. They were in there tackling and piling on right up to the end; but accomplishing little.
Long passes for touchdowns usually hold down the number of first downs a team makes in a game, but not Saturday. Statistics show the Tigers made their 10 yards on 25 occasions while Niles made four, three of them in the third period.
Massillon gained 189 yards with the forward pass, completing eight of 18. One was intercepted and eight were thrown away. Those were in addition to the three that produced points after touchdown. Niles completed five of 13 passes for 73 yards. Five were grounded and three intercepted.
Massillon lost 45 yards in penalties to Niles’ 50 yards.
In setting a new scoring record in the N.E.O. Big Six, Krier exceeded the former record held by Larry Russell, Alliance ace of two season ago. Krier went into Saturday’s game with 136 points and scored a touchdown and one extra point to increase his total for nine games to 143. Russell made 139 in 10 games.
The 72 points scored against Niles increases the Tigers’ total for the season to 421, an average of 46.77 points a game, which is higher than Canton McKinley’s per game average. Canton has scored 466 points in 10 games an average of 46.6 points per game.
The Washington high band broke loose with new music and a new drill Saturday afternoon. A sidelight of next Saturday’s contest with Canton will be the drilling of the two bands. Canton for years has had the best scholastic band in the county, but the Massillon musicians have been practicing overtime and drilling on Oak Avenue S.E. with the hope of having something to toot their horns about next Saturday.
Lineup and summary:
Massillon Pos. Niles
Shertzer LE Bogg
Wolfe LT Treceini
Molinski LG Sawyer
Morningstar C Chuirazzi
Snavely RG Roberts
Buggs RT Kramer
Lohr RE Lewis
Dutton QB Reese
Krier LH Driscoll
Lange RH Flask
McCants FB Zuzolo
Score by periods:
Massillon 12 13 21 26 – 72
Substitutions:
Massillon – Byelene, qb; McDew, le: Gillon, fb; Herring, lh; Miller, lg; Graybill, c.
Niles – Miller, lg; McCormick, re; Kave, lh; Gales, fb; Traxer, rh; Bender, le.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Shertzer 3; Lohr 2; McCants; Krier, Gillom; Herring 3.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Shertzer 2 (passes); McCants (line plunge); Gillom 2 (line plunge and pass); Krier (placekick).
Referee – Boone.
Umpire – Smith
Head Linesman – Wagner.
BOOSTER CLUB
MEETS TONIGHT
Coming Game Big Pep
Meeting Subject
Canton and Massillon will be raked
over the coals many times tonight
in informal pep conversation as the
Booster club gets together for its
biggest meeting of the year.
Coach Paul Brown will be called
upon to talk, but the Massillon grid
mentor will not disclose his plan of
attack for Saturday nor give an
expression of opinion on the possible
outcome of the big battle for the
State championship.
There will be plenty of opinions
from other sources, however, and the
game will be both won and lost many
times before the evening is over.
While the meeting is primarily for
Boosters, anyone whether a member
or not may attend. The meeting will
be held at 7:30 p.m. in the main
study hall.
