The Orangemen are scheduled to meet this Thursday, July 20th at 6:30 pm in the East Press Box of Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Doors will open at 6:00 pm with some refreshments available.
The cost of the annual membership is $150.00 (checks made payable to “The Orangemen”). Membership includes a LOWER WEST STADIUM PARKING PASS.
Your name will also be prominently listed on the Orangemen page of every home football program if your dues are received before the August 1st printing deadline.
The Chris Spielman Football ProCamp, sponsored by AultCare, is slated for Tuesday, July 18, at Massillon Washington High School. The event will run from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm and is free of charge for boys and girls entering grades 1 through 8.
Throughout his one-day camp, Chris Spielman, along with area high school and college coaches, will offer tips and hands-on instruction, including lectures, fundamental football skills stations, contests and non-contact games in a high-energy, fun and positive environment. Campers will be placed in small groups by age to ensure that each child gets maximum instruction.
The comprehensive camp experience is great for athletes of all skill levels, whether they are new to the game or have been playing for years. Individual team awards will be given in each age group.
Each attendee will receive a souvenir autograph from Chris Spielman, a camp team photo with Chris Spielman and a limited-edition Chris Spielman Football ProCamp t-shirt.
Founded in 1998, ProCamps® is a best-in-class event management and sports marketing company specializing in developing, managing, and operating camps, appearances, brand activations, and related experiences for professional athletes and coaches in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, PGA, ATP, NCAA, NASCAR, WPSL, MLL and NFHL. ProCamps helps Fortune 500 brands activate and execute more than 175 events across the country to effectively deliver brand messaging to thousands of parents, kids, and coaches via retail promotions, TV/radio/print, social media, and on-site activations.
This Saturday morning, July 15, your Massillon Tiger players will be canvassing the Massillon neighborhoods selling Booster Club memberships.
By supporting the Booster Club with your membership, you will be helping to provide the resources necessary to keep our football program among the best in the state of Ohio. The standard membership can be purchased for $10. Also available above the standard membership are the Bronze ($25 or more), the Silver ($50 or more) and the Gold ($100 or more). The Bronze, Silver and Gold members are recognized in the Massillon game program each week during the season. Each member will receive a Membership Card and a hand painted Obie Tiger lapel pin, a tradition started in 1952. Corporate memberships are also available and are also displayed in the game program.
Please welcome our Tiger Players and support our Booster Club, Team, School and Community with your membership. Your support is needed and greatly appreciated. Thank you!
The National Federation of State High Schools (NFHS) continues to tweak its rules governing high school football, this year focusing on protection of defenseless players. Below is a summary of these changes:
A defender will no longer be permitted to punish a receiver in an attempt to jar the ball loose while the receiver is in the act of catching it. In addition, this type of contact must be withheld until the receiver completes the catch and turns himself into a runner. Prior to this, the defender can use only open hands.
A defender can use only open hands against a quarterback who is in the act of throwing the ball or just after releasing the ball.
No contact is permitted against a runner whose forward progress has been stopped by other players or who is in the act of sliding feet first.
No contact is permitted against a player who is considered to be out of the play.
Only open hands can be used against the receiver of a punt or kickoff until he turns himself into a runner.
Blindside blocks can only be administered using open hands.
The pop-up onside kick has been eliminated in order to protect defenseless receiving players.
Other rule changes include:
Face guarding by a pass defender is now permitted provided he does not make physical contact with the receiver.
A defender is not permitted to contact a center’s arm or the ball until the ball has been released from the center’s hand.
During the last two minutes of either half, an offended team can opt to have the clock restarted on the snap rather than immediately after the penalty has been enforced.
Home jerseys must be dark in color and contrasting to white. This may ultimately eliminate those light gray uniforms.
Starting with the 2017 season, the OHSAA will begin assigning each school to a football playoff division using both its current enrollment and an adder that takes into account the number of roster players that arrived at the school via the transfer route. Termed “Competitive Balance (CB),” the goal is to “level the playing field,” particularly with the parochial schools, who are perceived to have an advantage over public schools in drawing area when it comes to securing players. The idea is that moving certain parochial schools up a division will level the field within each division.
Ohio’s football playoff system has been in place since 1972. Throughout its 45 years of existence, the parochial schools have claimed a sizeable number of state championships when compared to public schools, in spite of comprising just 18% of the total school count. In recent years, parochial schools have dominated the playoffs in the upper divisions, capturing 9 of the last 10 titles in D1, 4 of the last 5 in D2, the last 8 in D3 and the last 3 in D4. In 2016, the state title went to a public school only in Division 6. This history of imbalance has caused the ire of many public school administrators and led to a 2012 proposal to conduct separate playoffs for public and parochial schools.
Although a majority of school superintendents approved a referendum to place the proposal on the ballot, the OHSAA intervened fearing that if passed the parochial schools would leave the OHSAA. Thus they engineered a compromise that changed the proposal to an “adder” system. In 2014, the proposal was approved and it is scheduled for implementation starting with the current season.
In essence, if a student from outside the school district enrolls in a public high school, two points are added to the school’s enrollment. If the student had originally enrolled in the school system in the seventh or eighth grade, one point is added. For parochial schools, if a student from a public school enrolls in the high school, two points are added. If a student from a parochial elementary school enrolls in the high school, one point is added. An exception is that a parochial high school may identify a home elementary school and no points are added for any enrollees from that school. The adder can have the effect of moving a school up a single division, but not two.
Here are some observations as CB takes affect:
For Division 1, splitting the playoffs would have produced a more competitive environment among the public schools. However, CB will only create the potential for adding yet more parochial schools to the division and make it that much harder for the public schools to compete. It’s only a coincidence that no parochial schools were added this year.
Several schools moved up or down throughout the various divisions, mostly due to changes in base enrollment. However, many parochial schools moved up a division due to the effects of the CB adder. This was likely the intent of the change.
As expected, the highest CB adders belong to the parochial schools. Top among the group is Lakewood St. Edward, with an adder of 381. In terms of percent change in enrollment, the highest is Toledo Central Catholic (TCC), with an adder of 94%. Interestingly, the change in base enrollment would have dropped TCC from D3 to D4. However, the adder was sufficient enough to move them up two divisions to D2. But per the rules schools can move up only one division. Thus TCC finds itself back in D3. Avid football fans will note that TCC annually dominates its conference, which is comprised primarily of D1 and D2 teams.
While D1 remains effectively unchanged, D2 got stronger with the addition of Cleveland Benedictine, Akron Hoban, Mentor Lake Catholic and Dayton Carroll, which join holdovers Cincinnati LaSalle, Toledo St. Francis, Toledo St. John’s, Walsh Jesuit and Columbus St. Charles.
The only large public school to move up a division due to CB was Tiffin Columbian. Tiffin advanced from D3 to D2 on account of a CB adder of 88. Massillon Perry moved up to D1, but this is due only to an increase in base enrollment, not their CB adder of 21.
Traditional large public school powers Mentor, Toledo Whitmer, Hilliard Davidson, Huber Heights and Cincinnati Colerain do not have open enrollment. Thus, their adders are in the single digits. Of course, they’re D1 anyway.
Massillon is the 32nd largest school in D2 (104th largest school the state) with an enrollment of 500. With the CB adder, Massillon climbs to the 18th position in D2 (90th in the state), with an adjusted enrollment of 538 or an increase of 8% (7th largest increase among public schools in D2; 189th largest increase among all schools in the state).
It takes an adjusted enrollment of 618 to qualify for D1. Therefore, with a current adjusted enrollment of 538, it does not appear likely that Massillon will return to D1 anytime soon.
The OHSAA may need to modify its CB formula in a couple of years after they find little change in the playoff results. Either that or administrators may once again push to split the playoffs.
Throughout Massillon’s storied football history numerous games have been played that significantly impacted the season, whether it be a league championship, the final A.P. Poll, a trip to the playoffs or determination of the state champion. But few were as big as the 1972 rematch between the Tigers and the Golden Bears of Upper Arlington, a buildup of which garnered instant statewide attention.
There was a bitter taste in the mouths of many Massillon fans back in 1966 for more than one reason. After showing complete dominance on the gridiron for the better part of four decades and coming off of consecutive state championships, the Tigers were sitting on an uncharacteristic record of 3-3-1. Compounding that was a 21-6 defeat in Tiger Stadium at the hands of Upper Arlington, a relative unknown from Columbus. It didn’t matter that future Ohio State head coach Earl Bruce had just left town and newcomer Bob Seaman had taken over. There was no room in Massillon rebuilding. It got even worse when during the following year the Tigers’ bid for an undefeated season was derailed at home by this same team, 7-6.
Although the Golden Bears lost the final game of that 1966 season to Columbus Watterson 35-0, negating an undefeated season and potential state title, they would go on to win the next three. In fact, UA’s head coach Marv Morehead would remain through the 1970 season and finish his 15-year career having lost just once (Watterson) in his last seven years. As a side note, both Arlington and Mentor finished 10-0 in 1968, but the title went to the defending champion Bears. Meanwhile Mentor, a 19-0 winner over the Tigers that year, would open with UA in 1969, only to lose 7-6.
But Massillon was able to turn the program around and ease the pain somewhat with the arrival of new coach Bob Commings, who finished 7-2-1 in 1969 and 10-0 in 1970, while capturing the A.P. state championship. The problem was that the sportswriters supplanted Upper Arlington in the top spot, in spite of the defending champ Golden Bears also going 10-0. This didn’t sit too well with a lot of football fans across state. So it was time for a rematch.
The Massillon Offense (Photo by Massillon Independent)
The game was set for 1972, the venue being Marv Morehead Stadium, located in Upper Arlington. Both teams were 2-0 and primed for outstanding seasons. As was the case in Massillon, there was also a big buildup in Columbus. So it was no surprise that a capacity crowd of 11,500 showed up for the game, including some 4,000 Tiger fans As was tradition at that time, many cars traveling to the road game were decorated with signs and ribbons displaying their support of the Tigers.
But surprisingly to the Massillon fans, all pre-sale tickets were general admission. So those 4,000 fans showed up early to get the choice seats, assembling at the north end zone visitors’ entrance. Only the visitors’ side also numbered around 4,000. That would have been OK, except that the gate for the home fans opened a half hour early and many of these patrons, having been sold GA tickets, began finding their way to visitors’ stands. This angered the Massillon contingent and upon the gate being opened, they rushed the stands without their tickets being checked. Within five minutes all of the seats on the visitors’ side were occupied. Anyone coming later was forced to stand.
Massillon’s Tommy Hannon blows through the Upper Arlington line (Photo from 1973 Massillon WHS Yearbook)
As far as Tiger fans were concerned, the game did not disappoint. After a scoreless first half, Upper Arlington fumbled the second half kickoff and Massillon recovered at the UA 33, launching a march to the end zone. Following a 19-yard draw play by Tommy Hannon, Terry Edwards went over from the one for the initial score. Hannon’s PAT run made it 8-0. Then early in the fourth, the Tigers scored again following a Brian Bach interception at the UA 25. Massillon needed just two plays for the clincher. Again it was Edwards, tallying his second TD, this time on a 13-yard run. It followed a 12-yard jaunt by Hannon. The game ended with the Golden Bears on the Tigers 14 yard line. But it didn’t matter as Massillon fans celebrated the huge 14-0 victory throughout the long ride home. They enjoyed that the Tigers were victorious and all was right in the world.
Massillon dominated play, leading in total yardage 328-130, yards rushing 306-60 and first downs 15-6. The only turnovers were the ones mentioned above. After the game, Coach Commings remarked, “I’m very happy…it’s always a nice feeling when you beat a good, strong football team and Upper Arlington is a strong, well-coached team that never quits. No question, our defense won if for us.” Upper Arlington Coach Pete Corey took the loss well, saying, ““Massillon is a great team, they execute as well as any football team I have ever seen. That Tom Hannon is one of the best runners we have ever faced, he can seem to be running at top speed and then shift into high gear…he’s a fine one.”
The loss was Upper Arlington’s first at home since opening their new field four years earlier. A second loss that year eliminated them from potential qualification in this the first year of the state playoffs. But two years later they were back in the hunt, losing to Warren Harding in the state finals.
Massillon would go on to post an undefeated season, but drop a 17-14 heartbreaker to Cincinnati Princeton in the state semifinals, a game that was played in OSU Stadium. Tommy Hannon was named high school All-American and would later star for Michigan State and the Minnesota Vikings. Coach Bob Commings coached for one more year before taking over the head duties at the University of Iowa. Later he would mentor GlenOak.
Massillon and Upper Arlington faced each other three more times following the 1972 game, with the Tigers winning in ’73 and the Golden Bears winning the next two.
Saturday, June 17, marks the 28th Annual Cruise-On-In & Dance Party, which is renowned for being the largest car show in Ohio. Covering the length of Lincoln Way in downtown Massillon, the event features hundreds of classic cars, trucks and motorcycles, food and entertainment, wrapping up with a 10:00 pm fireworks display.
While there, be sure to stop by the Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club booth to say hi. For sale will be Booster Club memberships with Obie pin, Community Discount Cards, Massillon Tiger apparel and Massillon Football Game videos. Pose for a photo with the Massillon Obiemobile.
Also, take some time to visit the Massillon Museum. Currently on display are the Paul Brown / Tiger Swing Band feature and the World War 1 exhibit.
The Car Show is presented by ESPN 990, The Boys & Girls Club of Massillon and the Massillon Area Car Club
The Ohio High School Athletic Association has released its regional assignments for the 2017 football playoffs and Massillon once again finds itself in Region 7, along with several Columbus-area schools. However, some modifications have been made to the list owing to the incorporation of “competitive balance,” with five schools from last year moving out and five new schools moving in.
Those vacating Region 7 and moving up to Division 1 include Groveport, Delaware and Perry, last year’s Division 2 state runner-up. Mansfield and Tri-Valley have been reassigned to Division 3. Newcomers to Region 7 from Division 1 include North Canton and Westerville South. Moving up from Division 3 are Ashland, Columbus Whetstone and Columbus Whitehall.
The new divisional assignments were the result of (1) basic changes to school enrollment for the coming year, and (2) adjustments to school enrollment as part of the new competitive balance strategy. The goal of competitive balance is to “level the playing field” by moving schools up a division when they enjoy a high number of transfer students that participate in the given sport. The method was particularly directed at parochial schools. However, none of last year’s Division 2 parochial schools moved up to Division 1, whereas several parochial schools shifted from Division 3 to Division 2, including Cleveland Benedictine, Mentor Lake Catholic and defending Division 3 state champion Akron Hoban, all of which are in a loaded Region 5.
Once again there are 27 teams in Region 7. Eight of these will qualify for the playoffs once the season has ended. So who should fans keep an eye on? If the current regional assignments had been in place for the last ten years, one can determine those teams from Region 7 that would be considered contenders. These include the following, based on the number of times (in brackets) they would have qualified over this time period:
(8) Massillon (6) Ashland, Canal Winchester (5) Lake, Wooster, Westerville South, New Albany, Licking Heights, Big Walnut (4) North Canton, Boardman, Dublin Scioto, Worthington Kilbourne, Logan
Of course, knowledgeable fans would look to Massillon, Westerville South, Dublin Scioto and Worthington Kilbourne as the favorites to advance, with Lake, North Canton and Boardman as the dark horses..
For a complete list of the teams in Region 7, click Here.
Throughout the year the Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club raises money through various means to help fund the club and provide benefits to worthy students. One of those activities involves the purchase of vehicle license plates that display the Obie mascot on the left side and the words “Massillon Tigers” at the bottom. Approved by the governor in 2013, WHS was the first high school in Ohio to have its own commemorative plate. The extra cost is $35 per year, with $25 going to the club to fund an annual scholarship. Plates can be purchased through any DMV in Ohio.
Eligible students must be associated with the football program and demonstrate excellence in both academics and citizenship. This year’s award winners are Dillon Delong, Kordell Ford, Nathan Gregg, Seth Blankenship and Samantha Smith.
In years past, Ohio’s traditional powers would open the season with lesser opponents in order to allow time to season upcoming players to the intensity of varsity-level football. But for this year’s Tiger opponents, the opposite seems to be true. More and more top teams are opting for challenging starts to the season. It could be that coaches feel the need to test their players early as they search for their starting elevens. Or maybe it’s just the price these teams pay for long-term success, with the difficulties found in scheduling non-league opponents, given the implications of playoff points.
Here’s a rundown of the openers for Massillon’s 2017 opponents:
Mentor (6-4) once again opens with Massillon, which finished 8-2 last year and qualified for a spot in the playoffs. But the Cardinals also have Cleveland St. Ignatius and Cleveland Glenville waiting in the wings, so a loss to the Tigers could contribute to a second consecutive playoff miss. Last year Mentor beat Massillon in a shootout, 57-31.
Canton GlenOak (6-4) played a weak Virginia team in 2016, winning 42-17, but has replaced them with Toledo Whitmer (8-2). Whitmer’s losses last year were to Detroit Central (10-0) and Toledo Central (10-0). This should be a great opener.
Warren Harding (9-1) has dropped Cleveland Shaw (4-6) in favor of Canton McKinley (6-4). The last time these two teams met was in 2002, when the Raiders prevailed 38-7, enroute to a state runner-up finish. Last year Warren lost in the Division 2 regional finals to Hudson, whereas Division 1 McKinley lost in Round 1 to Stow.
Youngstown Ursuline (2-8) once again faces Cleveland Benedictine (3-7), with last year’s game being decided in overtime in favor of the Bennies. Both teams are trying to return to previous dominance. But scheduling woes continue to get in the way.
Bedford (7-3) blasted a very weak Berea Midpark team in last year’s opener. But now the test will be a bit tougher when they face Nordonia (3-7), which has enjoyed some success in recent years. Although they stumbled last year, the Knights have qualified for the playoffs in each of the previous four years.
Austintown Fitch (5-5) repeats with Hudson (9-2). Last year the Falcons lost 17-7 and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in three years. Meanwhile, Hudson advanced to the Division 2 state semifinals, where they lost to Perry 14-3. This should be another good one.
Canisius (10-2), the defending New York Catholic state champion (9th overall), opens a week later with Pittsford (8-2). The Panthers started the 2016 season No. 1 in New York and finish 9th.
Akron Firestone (4-6) has dropped Akron St. Vincent (6-4) in favor of Wadsworth (5-5). The Irish defeated Firestone last year 46-6. This is a slightly easier opponent, but the results will probably be the same.
Akron St. Vincent (6-4) has replaced Akron Firestone (4-6) with Tri-Valley (9-1). Although not the same caliber as the Irish, Tri-Valley has previously qualified for the playoffs in seven of the last eight years, just missing out last year. In addition, Tri-Valley has dropped to Division 3, the same division as St. V.
Canton McKinley (6-4) opens with Warren Harding (9-1), following a 2-year series with Akron Hoban (9-1). The Bulldogs lost to Akron Hoban by scores of 49-0 in 2015 and 42-14 in 2016.
So the 2017 season should be off to a roaring start, with many of these openers having significant implications on playoff qualification. It should be a great year.
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