Massillon Dominates Canton GlenOak Once Again

Massillon Dominates Canton GlenOak Once Again

STATS

There was a time not too long ago when the Tigers and Eagles enjoyed some very competitive games.  In 2015, Nate Moore’s first year as head coach, it was GlenOak that won the day, with a 37-21 victory.  The next two games were also along that manner, with Massillon winning 24-21 and 24-10.  But since then, it has been completely one-sided in the Tigers’ favor.  In fact, the average score over the past eight years has been a whopping 47-6, when including Friday’s 54-7 margin.  But this game may finally mark the end of the series after 16 contests due to the persistent disparity between the two programs.  GlenOak will almost certainly move in another direction and Massillon’s constant challenge to find opponents will only get worse.

Massillon scored a touchdown on each of its first four drives.  The first involved the Tigers methodically moving the ball down the field 81 yards in 13 plays, with Savior Owens finishing it off with a 5-yard run.  Mateo Herrera added the PAT.  The second drive covered 57 yards in 6 plays, with Owens scoring once again, this time from the 3 yard line.  The third was a 4-play, 47-yard drive.  The TD run was by a hard-charging Brayton Feister from 14-yards out, which followed runs of 20 yards and 12 yards.  And the fourth drive needed just two plays, with the latter being an 86-yard run by Gary Yeager, who weaved his way through the entire GlenOak secondary and didn’t stop until he had covered nearly the entire field for a touchdown.  Unfortunately, the fifth possession ended with a pass interception in the end zone.

In between and after the Tigers were up 21-0, the Eagles finally showed some life, moving the ball 78 yards in 10 plays for a score.  Within the drive were two big plays.  The first was a 37-yard bomb from Jamel Hall to Caybren Saunders that moved the ball to the Massillon 17.  The second was a 20-yard rainbow using the same combination for the score.  Joey Kelly added the extra point.

The start of the second half spelled disaster for the Eagles.  First, they failed to cover Mateo Herrera’s kickoff inside the ten yard line by treating it as an uncaught punt.  The Tigers raced to recover the ball.  Although the drive stalled,  Herrera was able to convert a 25-yard field goal.  Then, on the next kickoff, the return player was hit so hard by Sabastian Harper that the ball popped straight up into the air and was recovered by Massillon.  That led to 1-yard run by Owens, his third of the night, and the game was essentially over at that point.

After GlenOak failed on a fourth down attempt on their own 21 yard line, the Tigers covered the necessary distance in just two plays, with Owens scoring from the six.  Then, early in the fourth quarter, Herrera converted a career-long 45-yard field goal, ending the night for the starters.  The final score came with the fourth quarter coming to a close, when quarterback Manny Patterson kept on a fake handoff and strolled 12 yards untouched into the end zone, making the final score 54-7.

As a team, the Tigers outgained the Eagles in yardage, 425 (343-82) to 111 (15-96).  Backup sophomore running back Yeager electrified the crowd and ended up with 154 yards in just 8 attempts, along with his 86-yard touchdown.  Owens toted the ball 16 times for 107 yards and four TDs.  Quarterback Rasmus Haines completed 6 of 10 passes for 60 yards, with three going to tight end Da’Shaun Williams for 36 yards.  Brayton Feister led the defense with eight total tackles and two tackles-for-loss.  Anthony Hoover and Braylon Gamble had six tackles apiece.

Next week Massillon hosts NFL Academy Europe-Africa, a team the Tigers played in Oregon two years ago.  GlenOak plays Cleveland Heights on a neutral field.

(Photos by Marlene Kanipe)

Savior Owens (1), Joe Pierce (19)

Savior Owens (1)

Gary Yeager (20), Geovanni Vinson (24), Mateo Herrera (7), Dey’Veair Adams (30), Sabastian Harper (3)

Mateo Herrera (7) lining up for a 45-yard field goal, Savior Owens (1) holding

Brayton Feister (18)

Gary Yeager (20) finishing off his 85-yard touchdown run

Landon Barnhart (72), Dayvionne Floyd (51), Rasmus Haines (13)

Micah Walker (78), Landon Barnhart (72), Rasmus Haines (13), James Gatsios (61), Marcus Garner (60), Geo Jackson Jr. (21)

Savior Owens (1)

Adrian Pascley (27)

Deontay Malone (6)

Top Games for Week 2

Top Games for Week 2

Canton McKinley (1-0) at Lakewood St. Edward (1-0) – Last week McKinley defeated Warren Harding 33-0 and St. Edward survived Olentangy Liberty 15-12.  This one will be a real test for the Bulldogs as they find out just how good they are going to be this year.

Cleveland Glenville (0-1) at Olentangy Liberty (0-1) – Glenville was handled by Massillon 31-18, while Liberty lost 15-13 to St. Eds.  Both are looking to right the ship.  A good game to compare scores.

NFL Academy-London (1-0) at Akron Hoban (0-1) – NFL is riding high after a 44-24 victory last week over Marietta, GA.  Meanwhile, Hoban lost a late lead at West Orange, FL, in a 28-24 loss.  Massillon faces NFL next week.

Cleveland St. Ignatius (0-1) at Pickerington North (1-0) – Ignatius lost 22-21 last week to Avon, the defending Division II state champion.  Avon successfully converted a 2-point conversion with 13 seconds left in the game to avoid overtime.  North defeated Troy 31-14.

Pickerington Central (0-1) at Columbus Watterson (1-0) – Central seems to have lost its luster after losing last week to Gahanna Lincoln 35-3.  Watterson started out as expected with a convincing 35-0 win over Anthony Wayne.

Cincinnati Princeton (1-0) at Middletown (0-1) – Princeton began the season by holding off state power Cincinnati Moeller by the score of 31-24.  Meanwhile, recently strong Middletown dropped a 35-3 decision to GMC favorite Cincinnati Elder.

Cincinnati Winton Woods (0-1) at Kings (1-0) – League play begins this week in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. This early matchup has two teams chasing Cincinnati Anderson for the title.  Last week Winton Woods lost to Springfield 14-13 in overtime.  Kings defeated Cincinnati Sycamore 34-6.

Cincinnati Elder (1-0) at Covington Catholic, KY (1-0) – Last week Elder defeated Middletown 35-3.  Covington beat Ryle Union,  KY, 50-6.  Should be a good one.

In Region  7

Massillon (1-0) at Canton GlenOak (0-1)

Pickerington Central (0-1) at Columbus Watterson (1-0)

Dubln Coffman (1-0) at Big Walnut (1-0)

Columbus Walnut Ridge (0-1) at Columbus DeSales (1-0)

North Canton (1-0) at Medina (0-1)

Boardman (0-1) at Lake (1-0)

Perry (1-0) at Akron St. Vincent (0-1)

Canal Winchester (0-1) at New Albany (1-0)

Several Great Games On Tap For Week 1

Several Great Games On Tap For Week 1

The opening few games of the regular season are typically the most intriguing.  That’s because the better teams are stepping out of their comfort zones to challenge the perennial powers in order to both find and correct problems early and to see where their programs stand across the entire state.  This year is no exception.  There are at least ten games that draw interest state-wide, beginning with Massillon vs. Cleveland Glenville.  Here are the big ones, along with last season’s records:

Cleveland Glenville (12-3) at Massillon (9-4) – Glenville is the defending Division IV state champion and will move this year to either DII or DIII depending on September’s enrollment count.  Massillon won the Division II state championship three years ago and, with a loaded lineup this year, is expected to challenge for the state title once again.  Glenville survived last year’s match, 22-17 in overtime.

Olentangy Liberty (8-5) at Lakewood St. Edward (11-3) – Liberty captured the Division I state title in 2024, but seems to have returned to normal.  Last year they lost 21-17 to Olentangy Orange in the regional semifinals.  Last season St. Edward lost to Orange 21-0 in the state semifinals.  But they are a favorite to win the crown this year.

Avon (14-1) at Cleveland St. Ignatius (1-10) – Avon is the 2-time defending state champion in Division II.  In last year’s title game, they defeated Cincinnati Anderson, 37-10.  This year they are searching for a new quarterback and struggled against Massillon in the first scrimmage.  Meanwhile, Ignatius is still trying to right the ship after mediocre results in recent years.  Avon won last year’s encounter, 40-14.

Walsh Jesuit (11-2) at Medina Highland (12-1) – Walsh is the early favorite over Akron Hoban to capture Region 5 in Division II.  Last year they advanced to the state semifinal game, only to lose 38-7 to Avon.  Highland has been very good of late.  After running the table last year, they stumbled against Avon in the Region 6 finals, losing 36-19.

Hudson (10-3) at Austintown Fitch (9-2) – Hudson is the annual favorite in the big-school division of the Suburban League.  In 2025 they lost 35-3 to Hoban in the regional semifinals.  Fitch, which has opted up to Division I this year, also fell in the regional semifinals, 42-21 to Walsh.  Hudson won last year’s match, 28-14.

Youngstown Ursuline (2-0) at Columbus DeSales (9-3) – Ursuline will try to pick up the pieces after last year’s fiasco that resulted in the cancellation of most games.  Last year DeSales, led by quarterback RJ Day, son of Ohio State Coach Ryan Day, lost in the regional semifinals to Massillon, 48-14.  Day returns for his senior year.

Trotwood Madison (8-4) at Toledo Central Catholic (11-5) – Madison is a traditionally strong team in Division II.  Although, last season they dropped a 38-7 decision to Cincinnati Anderson in the regional finals.  Toledo Central, which plays most of their games against Detroit parochial schools, has returned to DII, where they won the state title in 2022.  Last season they lost in the DIII state finals to Columbus Watterson, 30-0.

Cincinnati Moeller (8-4) at Cincinnati Princeton (9-3) – In last year’s playoffs Moeller lost 17-13 to Cincinnati St. Xavier, a team that they beat in the regular season, 30-13.  Predicted to be a Division I contender this year, they hope not to repeat that performance.  But they apparently have some issues to fix after being manhandled by Massillon in scrimmage action.  Princeton fell 32-30 to Cincinnati Elder in the second round.  In last year’s game Moeller defeated Princeton, 41-20.

Middletown (11-3) at Cincinnati Elder (12-1) – This will be a great opener for both teams.  Last season Middletown lost 22-6 to Cincinnati St. Xavier in the state semifinals.  Elder, one of the favorites this year in Division I, lost to St. X in the regional finals, 42-34.

Cincinnati St. Xavier (11-3) at Lakota West (7-5) – Always strong St. Xavier opens once again with Lakota West.  Last year St. X advanced all the way to the state finals, where they lost to Olentangy Orange, 28-14.  Lakota West, after several outstanding seasons, seems to have yielded the GMC torch to Princeton and Middletown.  But that may change this year.  Last season West lost to Moeller in the second round of the playoffs, 33-14.  In the regular season, St. Xavier beat West in a close one, 14-7.

Glenville Preview

Glenville Preview

Cleveland Glenville, coached by long-time mentor Ted Ginn, has been one of Northeast Ohio’s power-house football teams for a number of years.  And for the second consecutive year they are opening the season on the road against the Massillon Tigers, a team that they defeated last year, 33-27 in overtime.

Recently, they have been competing in Division IV, a classification that is based on student enrollment.  But that will change following this year’s merger with Collinwood.  Only, they will not know their new division until a student count is made in September.  It could be Division III or it could be Division II.  Regardless, it will be a welcome change for all the other DIV schools, with the Tarblooders having won state championships there in 2022, 2023 and 2025.  In fact, last year they defeated Shelby in the final game, 45-7.

In the regular season, Glenville competes in the Senate Athletic League, within which they have won 175 straight games.  But they are not shy about scheduling top competition outside of the league.  This year they are facing Massillon (2023 DII champion), Olentangy Liberty (2024 DI champion), Football North (Canadian all-star team), Columbus Watterson (2024 and 2025 DIII champion) and Akron Hoban (DII annual contender).  And the Tarblooders usually hold their own in these games.  They also own a 61-13 overall record over the past five years, with a 24-2 mark in the playoffs.

But of course, they are also the beneficiary of a host of outstanding athletes that attend school at the Ginn Academy.  These players are added to the Glenville roster without the disadvantage of a competitive advantage adjustment to enrollment, which is totally within the OHSAA rules.  In this regard, a student that attends a school that does not have sports is permitted to play for any other school within the school district that he resides.  Thus, Glenville has been able to assemble a team stocked many of the best players from the City of Cleveland.

“It’s a great challenge ahead of us,” said Massillon head coach Nate Moore at the weekly Touchdown Club meeting.  “They beat us last year.  But we just want to take care of our business.  We’re the team everyone is talking about.  But we have to prove that every day.  All of our guys are working hard.  We’ve had a great off-season.  We really felt good about our camp.   We made a lot of progress.  But there’s a lot of work to be done yet.  We have 78 guys that all have the same mindset, to have us in a good position on Friday night.”

The Tarblooders return six starters on offense and four on defense.  But don’t let that fool you.  They have plenty of athletes waiting their turns.  In fact, ten players have committed to play for various teams at the Division 1 college level.  Here’s a position-by-position breakdown:

• Quarterback – The starter is senior LaMarques Greenwood (6’-0”, 185) (Army), who returned to Glenville after a year at Cleveland Heights. Last year for Heights he threw for 1,118 yards and 15 touchdowns.  He also has good speed and is a threat as a runner.  Last year he rushed for 547 yards and six touchdowns.
• Running backs – It’s running back by committee, but all are good. The best player is senior Da’Von McDougle (6’-0”, 200), will attend James Madison next year.
• Wide receivers – This is a strength in that three of the starters are committed to Power-4 colleges: Junior Emiere Lemons (6’-3”, 205) (Penn State), junior Jaylen Edwards (5’-9”, 170) (Ohio State) and senior De’Anthony Crittenden (5’-9”, 170) (Indiana). Moore said that the Tigers will need to put pressure on the quarterback to control them.
• Tight end / fullback – Watch for senior Elijah Harden (6’-3”, 220) (Pittsburgh) at tight end and senior Lorenzo Smith (6’-3”, 235) (South Florida) at fullback.
• Offensive line – They are big up front and very physical, averaging 6’-2”, 280 lbs. Senior Eason Hankins (6’-4”, 235) is committed to Kent State.  Moore said that it will be a four quarter battle to see who can run the ball.  Someone is going to tap out.
• Defensive line – The 4-3 front seven is good. The best players on the line are senior Kaylon Bailey (6’-3”, 220) (Colorado) and Smith.
• Linebackers – McDougle is a 2-way player in the middle.
• Safeties – This group is the strength of the defense. They are very athletic, according to Moore.  They play both cover-1 and cover-0, with mostly man-to-man coverage.  The group includes junior Jaquan Gibson (Indiana), Edwards (2-way player, best in position), senior Garry Pritchett (Syracuse) and junior Cordale Scott (Miami of Ohio).

Moore introduced his co-captains at the meeting.  They include Braylon Gamble, Isaac Maxheimer, Ke’Aun Fowler.

Go Tigers!

B.J. Payne Inducted into Massillon Tiger Football Hall of…

B.J. Payne Inducted into Massillon Tiger Football Hall of Fame

B.J. Payne was a 2-year varsity starter for Massillon in 1992 and ‘93, excelling as a defensive lineman.

As a junior, under first-year head coach Jack Rose, the team went 5-5 against a very formidable schedule, including Cincinnati Moeller and Indianapolis North Central.  In fact, seven of the ten opponents finished with seven wins or more.  But the Tigers did manage to defeat 8-2 Alliance, 7-2 Walsh Jesuit and 9-1 Bloomington South, Illinois.

His senior year, as co-captain, went much better with a 10-2 record, outscoring the opposition by an average of 42-11.  Along the way they bested 8-2 Akron Garfield, 7-3 Austintown Fitch and 8-2 Mansfield Senior, once in the regular season and then again in the playoffs, before falling to Walsh Jesuit 30-20 in the second round of the Division I playoffs.

Following the season, Payne was named 1^st Team All-Ohio.  In addition, he played in the Ohio North-South All-Star Game and the Big 33 All-Star Game, the latter of which pits the best of Ohio against the best of Pennsylvania.

From 1995 through 1998 Payne suited up on the defensive line for Mount Union College.  During that time the Raiders compiled an unprecedented 54-1 record and captured three Division 3 national championships.

Then he spent a couple of years participating in World Wrestling Entertainment, before trying his hand at high school coaching.

The first stop was Lexington, Ohio, where coached from 2006 to 2011, compiling a record of 37-26.

In 2012 he left Lexington and assumed the head coaching position of Hilton Head Island and has been there as of this writing through fourteen seasons.  During that time Payne compiled a record of 83-65.  His best seasons were:

• 2015: 10-2 record; South Carolina Class AAAA Coach of the Year; Carolina Panthers Coach of the Year; finalist for National High School Coach of the Year
• 2024: 9-3 record
• 2025: 11-2 record; lost in Round 3 of the five round state playoffs; South Carolina Class AAAA Coach of the Year

Congratulations to B.J. Payne.

Brayton Feister Commits to Oregon

Brayton Feister Commits to Oregon

Massillon 4-star inside linebacker Brayton Feister had his big day on Friday when he verbally committed to play football next year for the University of Oregon.  It was a major splash, covered exclusively by ESPN, and as exciting as that of quarterback Justin Zwick’s big press release when he signed with Ohio State back in 2002.

Feister joins four other Tiger players who have previously committed verbally to Division 1 college programs, including Savior Owens (Michigan State), Deontay Malone (Ohio State), Braylon Gamble (Boston College) and Georgio Jackson (Miami of Ohio).

Feister’s commitment was covered live by the ESPN sports network during airing of the Pat McAfee Show.  The hosts covered the event for over ten minutes, providing video highlights of Feister’s previous performances, displaying statistics, interviewing Brayton and family members, discussing the impact on the Oregon program and filming the actual commitment from the Washington High School auditorium.

Congratulations to Brayton Feister.