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.

Massillon Travels to Cincinnati for Final Season Tune-Up

Massillon Travels to Cincinnati for Final Season Tune-Up

Massillon head coach Nate Moore believes that facing top competition early is a major key to overall success, in that it gives the coaches opportunities to find the shortcomings and make the necessary adjustments before the team gets too deep into the season.  For the two scrimmages this year, the Tigers face is Avon, winner of the last two Division II state titles, and Cincinnati Moeller, which is always a contender for the Division I title.  Then it gets real, with the season opener against Cleveland Glenville, winner of the 2025 Division IV championship.

After dominating Avon last Friday, the Tigers hit the road this Thursday for the second of two scrimmages, this time against Moeller.  Fans should expect this one to be played in more game-like conditions.

The Crusaders suffered through a number of paltry seasons before righting the ship in 2021 after finding the right coach in Mark Elder in 2020.  Elder resigned following the 2022 season, opening the door for current head coach Bert Bathiany, who has continued that success.  Here is how the Crusaders have performed over the past five years:

• 2021 – Record: 11-4. Won regional title.  Lost 22-21 to Springfield in the state semifinals.
• 2022 – Record: 13-2. Won regional title.  Lost 28-24 to Springfield in the state semifinals.  Defeated Massillon 49-31 in the 2022 season opener.
• 2023 – Record: 10-5. Won regional title.  Lost 29-19 in overtime to Springfield in the state semifinals.
• 2024 – Record: 14-2. Won regional title.  Lost 28-14 to Olentangy Liberty in the state finals.
• 2025 – Record: 8-4. Lost to 17-13 to Cincinnati St. Xavier in the second round.

Moeller was relatively young last year, particularly on offense, where they return eight starters.  Of particular interest is quarterback, where they are working on finding a new signal caller, having lost all-everything Matt Panatoski, now at the University of Kentucky.  Panatoski previously won Ohio’s 2024 Mr. Football and was a finalist last year.  A pair of juniors are vying for the starting spot, in Nick Monserez and Trey Noble.  The defense returns five starters, including three in the defensive backfield.

The strength of the team may be the offensive line, which is anchored by three exceptional players:

• Senior Patrick O’Brien (6’-5”, 292), who was 1^st Team All-Ohio last year and is verbally committed to Purdue.
• Junior Jace Mongomery (6’-3”, 250), who was Honorable Mention All-Ohio last year.
• Senior Kal-El Johnson (6’-8”, 320), a 4-star transfer from Cincinnati Taft, who has verbally committed to Georgia Tech.

This should pose a challenging task for the Tiger front-7.

Another player to watch is senior wide receiver Reggie Watson, who was 2^nd Team All-Ohio last year.  He is committed to Louisville for baseball.

For the Tigers, they hope to match up well with the Crusaders and gain some momentum heading into next week’s season opener against always strong Cleveland Glenville.  The Tarblooders won last year’s encounter, 33-27 in overtime.

Charles Calhoun Inducted into Massillon Tiger Football Hall of…

Charles Calhoun Inducted into Massillon Tiger Football Hall of Fame

 Charles Calhoun was a 3-year varsity member of the Tigers, in 1980-82, while playing under Head Coach Mike Currence.  In 1981, he was a backup defensive lineman, standing 6’-1”, 240 lbs.  The team finished with a 7-3 record that year, while significantly outplaying and nearly upsetting eventual state champion Canton McKinley in the season finale, losing 9-6.

In his senior year Calhoun was moved to offensive guard, measuring in at 6’-2”, 240 lbs.  He was also named co-captain.  Most of the starters were in their final year of varsity football and they made the most of it, reaching their peak with a 12-1 record.  After going undefeated during the regular season, they advanced in the playoffs to the state finals, where they dropped a 35-14 heartbreaker to Cincinnati Moeller.

Along the way they ran a gauntlet of good teams in their final seven outings, posting these results:

• Defeated 9-1 Sharon, PA, 28-7
• Defeated 8-2 Canton GlenOak, 42-14
• Defeated 7-3 Mansfield, 37-14
• Defeated 8-2 Canton McKinley, 7-0
• Defeated 10-1 Sandusky in the regional finals, 29-7
• Defeated 11-1 Berea in the state semifinals, 31-0
• Lost to 13-0 Moeller, 35-14

As an award for exceptional play, Calhoun was named both 1^st Team All-Ohio and National High School All-American.  The following summer he was invited to play in the Ohio North-South All-Star game.  He was also honored as the team captain.

But Calhoun didn’t leave Massillon without first winning the shotput in the Class AAA division of the 1983 state track meet, with a toss of 56’-10 ¼”.  His points helped the Tigers to a third-place overall finish.

The next stop was Illinois State University, where played on the offensive line from 1983-87.  In 1986 he was named Outstanding Offensive Player.  He was also honored as Honorable Mention All-Missouri Valley Football Conference.  The following year he was named 2^nd Team.

Congratulations to Charles Calhoun.

Massillon Handles Avon in Opening Scrimmage

Massillon Handles Avon in Opening Scrimmage

Massillon and Avon have met annually in the first scrimmage of the season for several years now.  And, aside from the initial few meetings, which were more one-sided in the Tigers’ favor, the matches have been relatively close.  But that was not the case this year, as Massillon was clearly the better team, while winning 28-7 over an Eagle team that captured the past two Division II state titles.  The biggest difference was a Massillon defense that was, simply put, smothering everything thrown at them.  Meanwhile, the offense found its way to some big plays, while showcasing a bevy of athletic talent at the skill positions.  Just ask Ohio State-bound Deontay Malone, who caught three touchdown passes.

The first part of the scrimmage involved each team running two series of ten plays each, with drives beginning at their own 35.  If stopped on downs at any point, the team re-started at the 35.  In six tries, Avon was able to gain just 27 yards in twenty plays, while never crossing midfield.  Meanwhile, Massillon ripped off 154 yards of offense and scored two touchdowns.  Here’s how it went.

• Avon – Advanced to the Avon 46, aided by a 5-yard penalty, and punted.
• Avon – Advanced to the Avon 38, but lost the ball on a fumble.
• Avon – No gain and punted.
• Massillon – Advanced to the Avon 44 and punted. Rasmus Haines at quarterback.  Drive stalled on an errant pass.
• Massillon – On the first play, Savior Owens sped around left and end and outraced the Avon secondary to the end zone. Mateo Herrera ‘s PAT was good.  Score, 7-0.
• Massillon – Advanced to the Massillon 46 and ran out of plays.
• Avon – Advanced to the Avon 47 and punted.
• Avon – Advanced to the Avon 41 and punted.
• Avon – No gain. Ran out of plays.
• Massillon – Connected with Giorgio Jackson on a crossing route from the Avon 42. Jackson broke two tackles and willed his way into the end zone.  However, a holding penalty brought the ball back to the Avon 29.  On the next play, Haines connected with a leaping Deontay Malone in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown.  Score, 14-0.
• Massillon – Advanced to the Massillon 36 and ran out of downs.

In the second part each team started at the opponent’s 25 and had five plays available.

• Avon – On the first play, the receiver got ahead of Massillon defender on a post pattern and caught an uncontested pass for a touchdown. Score, 14-7.
• Avon – Lost yardage on the remaining four plays.
• Massillon – Malone caught a 12-yard TD pass from Haines in the center of the end zone, diving at the goal line to secure the ball. Score, 21-7.
• Massillon – On the next play, Malone caught a 25-yard pass from Haines for a touchdown, Malone’s third of the day. Score, 28-7.
• Massillon – Just a touch long on a potential TD pass to Jackson in the end zone.

The teams also practiced kickoffs and field goals.

Offensively, the Tigers showed good balance between the run and the pass.  The best success in the run game came on designed runs around end.  It appeared that Avon’s inside blitz game finally got the better of them.  Owens was on the field sporadically, with other running backs also inserted.  Brayton Feister did not run the ball, playing only defense.  Haines was under center throughout.  He showed good command of the pocket and avoidance of the rush, while the line provided adequate protection.  Offensive line starters included Marcus Garner and Micah Walker at tackle, Landan Barnhart and James Gatsios at guard, and Dayvionne Floyd at center.  The tight end was Da’shun Williams.

The defense played a 3-front (Joe Karder, Noah Garner and Brydon Fiester), but nearly always blitzed one or two of their four linebackers (Feister, Sabastian Harper, Christian Culler, Isaac Maxheimer).  Meanwhile, the secondary (Malone, Chayce White, Braylon Gamble and Giovanni Vinson) brought extremely tight coverage.  As a group, they put tremendous pressure on the Avon offense, particularly in taking the quarterback out of his game.  Meanwhile, it was nearly impossible to run on this group.

The JV teams had three series of ten plays each and tied 1-1.  The freshmen won their scrimmage, 3-1.

Massillon will travel to Cincinnati next Thursday to face Moeller in a final tuneup.  Avon will play Toledo Whitmer.