Tigers stand firm against tough Bears
By CHUCK HESS JR. Independent Sports Editor
Medical textbooks will tell you a man is made of some metal, some minerals and a few other odds and ends, but some gallant gridders from Washington and Upper Arlington Highs penned a different version Friday night at Tiger Stadium.
Their formula was courage, desire and stamina and the Tigers added one other element—tradition—that intangible that says the enemy shall not pass the Orange and Black goal line come hades, high water and a dozen or so assorted injuries.
The result was a 13-7 victory before the season’s largest crowd, 14,324, after 24 minutes of bone crushing football. By winning their third straight game and their 15 th consecutive regular season contest, the Tigers sent Arlington down to its second defeat in three games.
The Golden Bears’ bus trip home was not happy, but they did have the knowledge that they outplayed the Tigers offensively. Arlington rolled up 234 yards to the Tigers’ 146 and 13 first downs to the Orange and Black’s eight.
Already banged up before entering the game, the Tigers suffered more injuries. Second liners such as defensive end Rusty Venables, guard Dennis Bricker and tackle Bruce Chapman answered the call.
It wasn’t the Tiger defense which faltered, allowing Arlington its only touchdown with 2:08 left in the first quarter. Joe Studer’s snap over punter Todd Keller’s head from the Massillon rolled to the 18 where Joe Foley pounced on it. The Golden Bears drove to the two—with the help of some neat ball carrying by fullback Bill Cornwell—and lost the ball on downs.
Terry Henderson fumbled on the Tigers’ first carry. George Lewis recovered on the four and on the third play Cornwell drove over from the one with 2:08 left in the first quarter. Dave Goldthwaite, a soccer style kicker, booted the conversion.
Mark Streeter grabbed a deflected pass at the Massillon 12 in the second stanza to stop an Arlington drive after Tim Gutshall had whaled into Arlington receiver. The Tiger defense stiffened at the Massillon 37 and 39 in the third quarter. Terrific punts by Arlington’s Ken Hoag on the two fourth downs put the Tigers into deep holes when the ball was grounded on the four and on the six. A holding penalty and Charles Danzy’s fumble set the Tigers back to the two in both cases.
Keller, who also did some fine punting, was forced to kick from the end zone. Tom Kaparos ran back from the Tiger 47 to the 37 where he was about torn apart by Tim Graber.
Arlington moved to the seven in six plays. Tiger middle guard Allen Lemon whacked Bear quarterback Gary Ginther and the Tigers took over early in the fourth quarter.
Ends Vince DiLoreto and Venables stopped an Arlington drive on the Massillon 34. DiLoreto wrenched the ball lose from Ginther and Venables dove on it.
Denny Gutshall went to his knees to intercept an Arlington pass on the Massillon 18 and DiLoreto and Tim Gutshall stopped the Bears at the Tiger 25 when they hauled Ginther down shortly before the game ended.
The Tigers scored in the first quarter after John Mayor had run the opening kickoff back from the 15 to the 34. An interference penalty put the ball on Arlington’s 49 and Gary Waldrop, the offensive hero of last week’s game, took off on a trap over for the score with 10:50 remaining.
Alan Binks used his soccer kick for the conversion.
Mayor got things going again near the end of the first quarter with a 33-yard punt return to the Arlington 47. In seven plays Massillon scored again with Henderson going over right tackle from five yards way. There was 11:23 left.
The conversion snap by Studer was high and Binks had no chance to kick.
Streeter’s 29-yard punt return to the Tiger 41 started another drive late in the second period, but Jon Tenuta intercepted Greg Wood’s aerial intended for Mayor at the Bears’ 25 and the Orange and Black didn’t get out of its territory the remainder of the night.
“This was one of the best victories I’ve had as a Massillon coach because we had kids playing out there who played on nothing but pure, u n a d u l t e r a t e d g u t s,” Commings said. “Most of the guys who were hurting were on the offense. I think the kids hung in and did a heck of a job.
“Nobody knows the inside and all of the bugaboos which have hit this team in the past three weeks. I was very apprehensive because we had to play a lot of different kids in a lot of different places, but they responded.
“We hit like there was no tomorrow. We hit a little too hard for an Arlington team which played its heart out and that’ what won the game.”
Pete Corey, Arlington coach, was quite proud of his team and said “The Tigers had to play a whale of a game. We had them on the ropes but couldn’t find the knockout punch. Our offensive line executed as a team.
“Andy Schmidt played his heart out and I think Dale Keitz did too. They all did.
“I think it was a case of who would out execute the other. We made a couple of mistakes on some of Bob’s favorite plays up the middle and that was it. What a hard hitting game!”
MASSILLON
Ends – Huffman, T. Lemon, Matie, T. Gutshall.
Tackles – Lee, Csonka, Rich, Nicewander, Chapman.
Guards – Fenton, Schumacher, Bricker, Graber, Parrish.
Center – Studer.
Quarterbacks – Wood, Bickford.
Halfbacks – Danzy, Henderson, Streeter.
Fullbacks – Waldrop, McGuire.
Defensive ends – Rolland, Venables.
Middle guard — A. Lemon.
Defensive halfbacks – D. Gutshall, Mayor, Pifer, Swann, Dailey, Herring, Lentz.
Punter – Todd Keller.
Placekickers – Alan Binks, Brad Limbach.
ARLINGTON
Ends – Southworth, McKee, Woods, Keitz, Parfenchuk, Tenuta, Webb, Sinelmann.
Tackles – Brown, Olsen.
Guards – Kuehn, Glandon, Lewis, Corna.
Center – Gerlach.
Quarterback – Ginter, Mercer, Kaparos.
Halfbacks – Cross, McPherson, Foley, Staker, Hoag, McCarty.
Fullbacks – Cornell, Schmidt.
Placekicker – Goldthwaite.
OFFICIALS
Referee – Dr. Phil Davidson; umpire – Richard Bowers: head linesman – Jack Werkowitz; field judge – Robert Stewart; back judge – Dr. Henley Freeman.
Arlington 7 0 0 0 — 7
Massillon 7 6 0 0 — 13
SCORING
M – Gary Waldrop 49 run (Alan Binks kick): A – Bill
Cornell 1 run (Dave Goldthwaite kick); M – Terry Henderson 5 run (bad snap on kick).
THE GRID STICK
M
A
F dns – rush
7
8
F downs – pass
0
4
F downs – penalties
1
1
Total f downs
8
13
Yds gnd rush
190
169
Yrs lost rush
44
14
Net yds gnd rush
146
155
Nt yds gnd pass
0
79
Total yds gnd
146
234
Pass complet
0-6
5-20
Pass inter
2
1
Yd on Pass int
29
0
Kickoff ave (yd)
3-39
2-41.5
Kickoff re (yd)
50
34
Pt ave (yds)
6-34
3-25.3
Pt re (yds)
0
32
Lst fumb ball
1-2
1-4
Yds paenal
4-37
3-35
Total num plays
51
72
Elap time
22:01
25:59
