Author: <span>Eric Smith</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 37, Red Lion Christian Academy, DE 14

OLD SCHOOL WIN
Tigers rip highly touted Delaware team

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

MASSILLON There comes a time when hype meets reality. A moment where all the buildup either proves to be true, or just a bunch of manufactured bluster.

That moment came inside Paul Brown Tiger Stadium on Friday. There, a program representing the old money of high school football – Massillon – met a program fancying itself as the much talked-about nouveau rich of the sport in Delaware’s Red Lion Christian Academy.

The reality of this night was that Red Lion’s hype wasn’t enough to take down Massillon, as the Tigers ran over the Lions, 37-14, in front of a crowd of 6,828.

The win, arguably the Tigers’ most impressive of the season, improved Massillon to 6-1 entering next Thursday’s home tilt against Warren Harding.

The loss was the fourth in a row for Red Lion, which – despite a boatload of Division I college recruits – is 2-4.

“We might not have the biggest bunch; they were bigger,” Tiger coach Jason Hall said. “They might have been faster all around, and they might have been stronger. There ain’t no Massillon kids on that team over there.”

Much was made of Red Lion’s defensive line – among other parts of its team – coming into the game.

After all, Red Lion has one defensive end heading to UCLA, and a defensive tackle in Kenny Bigelow who is being courted by some of the premier college programs in the nation.

However, the Tigers came out from the start convinced they could run on the Lions. And they were right, especially with tailback Ryne Moore going right at the Red Lion defensive front.

With Moore churning out the yards, Massillon was able to jump out to a 20-0 lead with 9:07 left in the first half. The 5-foot-8, 175-pound junior accounted for all three Tiger scores, all while rushing for a 79 yard on 13 carries over the Tigers’ first five drives.

Moore would top the 100-yard plateau by halftime – gaining 110 yards on 17 first-half carries – while finishing with 172 yards on 34 carries.

“What can you say about Ryne Moore?,” Hall said. “Ryne Moore is as tough as nails. We knew coming into this game that they averaged 75 snaps a game, so we kind of two-platooned up to keep Alex (Winters) and (Kentrell Taylor) fresh on defense and make Ryne the workhorse.”

Just as critical as the Tigers’ ability to run on Red Lion was the way their defense was able to keep the Lion offense under wraps. A big reason for that was the way Massillon didn’t allow freshman quarterback David Sills – already a USC commit – to get into a rhythm.

Sills only had one stretch of more than two consecutive completions in the first half, and that included Red Lion’s lone first-half score, a 6-yard touchdown pass to Fredrick Canteen II with 5:38 left in the half to cut the gap to 20-7. He finished the half completing just 12 of 21 passes for 126 yards, with the one scoring pass and an interception.

For the game, Sills completed 21 of 38 passes for 252 yards, including a late TD pass against Massillon’s backups. He threw two interceptions.

“Defensively, we put their quarterback in a position where they could only have a little success if they put him under center where we couldn’t disguise as much,” Hall said. “Once you cut their offense down like that, we cut their offense by 75 percent once they went under center.”

Massillon’s passing game had its share of ups and downs as well against the Lions. However, one of those ups proved to be a huge momentum shift for the Tigers with just under 90 seconds left in the half when Kyle Kempt hit a wide-open Tre Hendricks for an 89-yard touchdown to make it 27-7 Massillon with 1:25 left until the band show.

“We had it earlier, but we had some pressure, and Kyle threw it away in the flat,” Hall said. “So we came back to it. Kyle made a great read to see that they were in cover-2. He had enough patience to wait for Tre to come open, and Tre made a great play.”

The Tigers completed 11 of 22 passes for 265 yards. Of those, Kempt accounted for 247 yards on 10-of-21 passing, including a 70-yard TD pass to Montel Harrison with 8:41 left to make it 37-7.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 38, Akron Hoban 16

Massillon turns five turnovers into rout of Hoban

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

AKRON The Massillon Tigers ventured away from the friendly confines of Paul Brown Tiger Stadium for the first time in the 2011 season Friday night as they faced Hoban. And they weren’t about to be a rude guest when it came time to accept the generosity of their hosts.

Massillon capitalized on multiple Hoban mistakes to blow open a close game in the second half and keep the Knights winless with a 38-16 win in front of a couple thousand fans inside the University of Akron’s InfoCision Stadium.

The Tigers scored 17 points off Hoban turnovers, as the Knights gave up the ball five times.

They also converted a blocked punt into a score, while also recovering an onside kick that didn’t result in points.

“We played a good third quarter,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said after his team improved to 5-1. “We did some things with the turnovers and the field positions. But we had way too many negative plays for a Massillon football team.”

Leading 10-7 at halftime, the Tigers took the second-half kick and drove 42 yards in nine plays to make it 17-7 on Kyle Kempt’s 2-yard pass to Beau Huffman.

On the second play of the subsequent Hoban possession, the Tigers recovered a fumble at the Knight 28. One play after the Tigers would miss a field goal to end that threat; Hoban fumbled again on its own 20.

This time, Massillon converted. Three plays later, Brody Tonn would just get the ball over the plane of the goal line, giving the Tigers a 24-7 lead – post-PAT with 4:07 left.

“I was pleased with how our kids came out in the third quarter,” Hall said. “Instantly, our defense started playing like we expect them to.”

A fourth-quarter interception ended with Massillon grabbing a 38-10 lead on Jason Boykins’ 5-yard run with 2:25 left.

The second-half burst was merely a continuation of a first half filled with as many missed scoring chances as it was converted chances. Both teams turned the ball over in the first half, and both ended up costing the offending team on the scoreboard.

Massillon capitalized on a pair of Hoban mistakes for both of its first-half scores. The first scoring chance came late in the first quarter, after Eric Copeland blocked a Knight punt at the Hoban 14.

Four plays later, Alex Winters fought his way into the end zone from the Knight 2 for a 7-0 Massillon lead at the 39-second mark in the quarter.

The Tigers’ final score of the half could have been higher, as Garrett Kreiger recorded the first of two interceptions on the night and returned it over 50 yards for a touchdown. However, a block in the back penalty against Massillon took the score off the board with just over a minute left in the half.

It appeared the Tigers weren’t going to get any points out of the chance after a pair of sacks and a procedure penalty pushed the ball all the way back to the Hoban 29, where it was fourth-and 27.

But freshman Andrew David, despite kicking into a hard, swirling wind, put a 46-yard field goal just over the crossbar for a 10-7 lead with 17 seconds left in the half.

“Andrew can kick that; we know he can,” Hall said. “We have no hesitation sending him out there. It was a little concern with the wind … but he has a powerful leg.”

While the Tigers were able to capitalize on Hoban’s mistakes for their points, they also were partially responsible for much of the Knights’ scoring. Massillon turned the ball over two times in the game, resulting in 10 Hoban points.

“We want to win the turnover battle, and we don’t want negative plays,” said Hall, whose team was outgained, 289-218.

Hoban, which outgained Massillon 167-71 in the first half, missed on a 21-yard field goal try at the end of a 13-play, 78-yard drive to start the game. However, the Knights recovered a Tiger fumble at their own 21 midway through the second quarter, which opened the door for their only first-half scoring drive.

Buoyed by a Tiger personal foul penalty, along with a 14-yard completion on third-and-10 from the Massillon 24, Hoban got on the scoreboard on the 13th play of the drive. Hoban’s Dominic Orsini rolled to the left, then threw back across the field to a wide-open Jimmy Martter in the end zone for an 8-yard scoring pass to tie the game at 7 with 4:42 left in the half.

“They came out and they did some funky stuff offensively that we had to adjust to,” Hall said. “We didn’t win the line of scrimmage in the first half. They controlled the time of possession.”

A muffed punt by the Tigers gave Hoban the ball at its own 43 early in the fourth quarter. Nine plays later, Matty McGee booted a 29-yard field goal to make it 24-10 Tigers with 8:41 left.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 27, Akron Firestone 13

It wasn’t pretty, but Massillon moves to 4-1

Chris Easterling
The Independent

MASSILLON – At the end of the night, the Massillon Tigers emerged with a 4-1 record. But that doesn’t mean the Tigers are satisfied.

On Friday night, the Tigers had to overcome a choppy performance to hold off the Firestone Falcons, 27-13, in front of 6,486 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

It was Massillon’s third straight win, all of which have come by double figures. However, the most recent win no doubt left head coach Jason Hall grinding his teeth at some of his team’s own struggles to find the consistency he has emphasized.

“We didn’t play a really good game,” Hall said. “We played obviously good enough to win. We had, offensively, a lot of negative plays. … It is what it is.”

Massillon finished with 293 yards of offense, with 194 coming in the first half as the Tigers opened up a 13-0 lead. However, there were very few sustained, efficient drives for the Tiger offense.

The most efficient drive for Massillon came on its first drive, when it marched 82 yards in six plays to take a 7-0 lead just 1:43 into the game.

The Tigers were 4-of-5 for 72 yards passing on the drive, while Alex Winters capped the drive with a 1-yard run.

After that, the Tigers spun their wheels often, even when they picked up quality field position.

Three times in the first half, Massillon reached the Firestone 30, but only mustered a pair of long field goals by Andrew David for the 13-point lead at the half.

“They came out in a six-man front,” Hall said of Firestone’s defense. “We just didn’t adjust to some of their pressures. Our quarterbacks were taking some hits. It’s things we have to correct.”

Massillon was able to grab a three-score lead when Kyle Kempt capped a 66-yard, seven-play drive with a 1-yard plunge to make it 20-0 with 2:53 left in the third. The Tigers also scored on a 14-yard Winters run with 9:16 left for a 27-7 lead.

“It’s nice to get that cushion,” Hall said. “It’s nice to see us hit two long field goals tonight.

We’d like to see us when we get into that red zone not get negative plays and put us in that situation. Anytime you get that bonus score in the fourth quarter, a little security blanket, it’s nice.”

Maybe the nicest thing for the Tigers on this night was their defense. Despite a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns by Firestone – one which pulled the Falcons to within 20-7 with just over five minutes left – Massillon allowed its guests few sustained drives.

A big reason for that was the Tigers’ ability to come up with the takeaways when they needed it. Brody Tonn intercepted a pair of passes for Massillon, while both Garrett Kreiger and Gareon Conley also picked off Falcon passes.

“We gave up those two red-zone passes, which are things we have to correct,” Hall said of his defense, which ultimately allowed 211 total yards on the night. “In the course of the game when it was crucial, our defense came out and responded. They were able to make some big plays.”

Massillon was playing short-handed, due to a handful of players being suspended due to violating team and school rules. That number included at least three starters.

Hall wouldn’t say what the status of those players would be for next week’s game against winless Hoban at InfoCision Stadium.

“Right now, they’re being dealt with for breaking school and team policy,” Hall said. “The total discipline hasn’t been determined. There’s not much else to say.”

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 35, Woodson, Washington D.C. 14

Another Rout
Tigers start fast before Going into cruise control

Chris Easterling
The Independent

MASSILLON The Massillon Tigers weren’t focusing so much on H.D. Woodson (D.C.) this week as they were focusing on themselves and making themselves better. Turns out, they gave just enough focus to the Warriors to come away with a win.

The Tigers scored on their first four offensive possession to remove all doubt early, then put it in cruise control from there in beating Woodson, 35-14, Friday night in front of 6,172 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Massillon came into the week with very little to go on with regards to its visitors from the nation’s capital — just a few clips off YouTube and some of last year’s films. Turns out, that was all the Tigers would need in running their record to 3-1 heading into next week’s home game against Firestone.

“It got kind of sloppy at times,” Tigers coach Jason Hall said afterward. “Sometimes, that can be expected when you don’t know much about people. The end of the game, we got a lot of young guys out there playing.”

By the time Woodson gained its first first down of the game — on the first play of the second quarter — Massillon already held a 28-0 lead. The Tigers also had a 203-8 edge in total yards at that point.

From there, it became a matter of Massillon trying to get through the final 36 minutes without sustaining any critical injuries while trying to maintain a measure of sharpness. The Tigers dipped into their second-unit defense to start the second half, while the reserve offense made its first appearance on the second possession of the third quarter.

“All in all, we came out pretty hot in the first quarter there,” Hall said. “We’re pleased.”

Massillon got the scoring started with 7:48 left in the first quarter when Alex Winters hauled in an over-the-shoulder, one-handed grab on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Kempt for a 7-0 lead. But the Tigers would add three more scores before the quarter was over, spreading the wealth to just about everybody in the offensive backfield.

Ryne Moore got into the act on the next Massillon possession, scoring from 8 yards out with 4:53 remaining in the quarter. Kentrell Taylor got his turn next just 41 seconds later on an 18-yard touchdown run for a 21-0 lead.
The final Tiger back to find the end zone before the first quarter ended was Eric Copeland, who provided the second Tiger touchdown catch of the game when he made a wide-open 2-yard catch with 15 seconds left in the quarter.

The Tigers took a 35-0 lead into the locker room at halftime thanks to Gareon Conley’s 45-yard interception return for a score. It was one of two second-quarter interceptions for Conley, and part of a four-takeaway game for Massillon, which also recovered an onside kick in the first quarter.

Still, despite the lopsided score, there was plenty for Hall to critique his team about. And that started from the very first moment of the game when Massillon muffed a pooch kick to give Woodson the ball at the Tiger 34.
Massillon’s offense also found itself grinding its wheels after jumping out to the 28-0 lead.

After gaining 203 yards on 19 first-quarter plays, the Tigers netted minus-5 yards on just five second-quarter snaps.

The offense continued to have its share of struggles in the second half. Massillon finished the game with 226 total yards, but a net of 23 in the final three quarters.

“There was some sloppy stuff,” Hall said. “We had some negative plays. We had a mishap on the goal line on a run play. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t have to practice.”

Woodson’s offense, though, could not get any consistency going against Massillon’s defense, whether it was the Tiger first-stringers or their backups. The Warriors finished with 159 yards, 104 of those coming in the fourth quarter when they got on the scoreboard with a pair of touchdowns — one a run with 9:09 left and the other a punt return with 7:03 left.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 49, Maumee 14

TIGERS ROMP
Dominate to bounce back from loss to GlenOak

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

MASSILLON The memory hung in the pit of the Massillon Tigers’ stomach for a whole week. A day longer than that, actually.

On Friday night, the Tigers got a chance to rid themselves of that sickening feeling left over from a game that got away last week against GlenOak. Unfortunately for Maumee, they were the team on the receiving end of Massillon’s fury.

The result for the Tigers was a cathartic 49-14 rout of the Panthers in front of 7,021 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I think our kids understand that we played hard last week, but we didn’t execute fully,” Tiger coach Jason Hall said after his team improved to 2-1. “I thought for the most part, we executed. … They’re starting to mature. It’s definitely a nice sign.”

Since the previous Thursday, Massillon was left to dwell on its 22-21 come-from-ahead loss to the Golden Eagles. Many fans have dwelt mostly on the controversial call late that cost the Tigers a potential fumble recovery and a chance to possibly win the game.

The Tigers, though, dwelt mostly on the missed opportunities that slipped through their fingers in the first half. They thought of the three possessions that reached the GlenOak 15, but never brought points.

Against Maumee, they didn’t let such opportunities get away from them. Not by a long shot.

After being forced to punt on the game’s first possession, Massillon scored the next seven times it had the football to turn what some thought would be a tight game into an early rout. The Tigers led 28-0 at halftime, and 42-7 after three quarters.

“If you don’t score consistently in the red zone, you lose games,” Hall said. “We learned that last week. We were the better team last week, and we didn’t execute and let them back in the game. Our kids definitely at least showed signs of learning and getting better.”

The Tigers would take their lead to as large as 49-7 early in the fourth quarter. And they did so by doing just about anything they wanted.

Big runs by their tailbacks? Sure thing, as Ryne Moore ripped off a pair of scoring runs — including a 72-yarder in the third quarter — and Kentrell Taylor added a 27-yard TD run of his own, while reserve tailback Jason Boykins added a 1-yard plunge early in the fourth.

Big pass plays? Yep, as Kyle Kempt connected with Garrett Kreiger for scoring tosses of 30 and 47 yards.

Even backup quarterback Brody Tonn got into the action early. After Maumee fumbled a punt snap at its own 11 in the first quarter, Tonn took a designed quarterback keeper into the end zone on the subsequent play for a touchdown.

By the time halftime arrived, Massillon had racked up 237 yards. The Tigers finished with 457 yards, with Moore rushing for 116 yards on just five carries while Kempt completed 11 of 12 passes for 144 yards.

KEEPING SCHNEIDER DOWN
Most of all, the Tigers did it by doing the one thing Hall stressed all week they needed to do. Massillon’s defense kept Maumee’s elusive and dangerous quarterback Jake Schneider under wraps.

Schneider, who rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the Panthers’ first two games this season after gaining 1,200 yards on the ground a year ago, was hounded on virtually every play. He finished with 51 yards on 18 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown plunge midway through the third quarter to cut it to 28-7.

The Panther quarterback’s passing was equally harassed by the Tigers, who sacked Schneider twice. Schneider finished with 179 yards passing, 55 of those coming on a fourth-quarter scoring pass to Dominique King that made it 49-14. He also threw an interception.

“We’re a pretty athletic defense, so we forced him to run around,” Hall said. “We made him earn his stuff. … All in all, we didn’t let them control the sprint-out and the scramble out and throwing deep down field. That kid’s a good football player, he really is.”

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 21, Canton Glenoak 22

Inadvertent whistle costs Massillon chance at late, go-ahead score

Chris Easterling
The Independent

For the better part of three quarters Thursday night, it was the opposite story from a year ago for the Massillon Tigers with regard to handling GlenOak star tailback Bri’onte Dunn. Instead of letting the Golden Eagle back run wild, the Tiger defense was able to keep Dunn relatively in check.

However, when the fourth quarter came around, Dunn began to run wild, scoring two touchdowns in the final 7:10 of the game to lift the Golden Eagles to a 22-21 win over Massillon inside Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

While Dunn’s fourth-quarter outburst may have ultimately cost Massillon, many may look at an apparent fumble by the Golden Eagles at midfield that was nullified by an inadvertent whistle with 1:33 remaining. The ball was given back to GlenOak, which ran out the rest of the clock.

“Ultimately, what they did was take the game out of letting the kids decide,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall after his team fell to 1-1 on the season, “whether we win or GlenOak wins.”

Dunn, who had 297 yards in three quarters a year ago on his way to 320 yards in a 28-27 Tiger win, had 115 rushing yards on 23 carries through three quarters. In the fourth quarter, he exploded for 134 yards on 16 carries with a pair of scores to help GlenOak erase a 21-10 Tiger lead.

“Coach (Scott Garcia) said we had to work hard,” Dunn said. “We were down two touchdowns. We worked hard and we weren’t quitting for this one.”

The GlenOak senior finished with 249 yards on 39 carries. He also threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Lunden Butler on a halfback pass to give the Golden Eagles a 7-0 lead with 49 seconds left in the first quarter.

For Massillon, though, Thursday night was as much about missed opportunities as it was about Dunn’s fourth-quarter heroics. Massillon basically spent the entire first half in GlenOak territory. In fact, the only play out of their five first-half drives that was snapped on the Tiger side of the 50 was the first play of the game — a 48-yard strike from Kyle Kempt to Justin Blake to the GlenOak 27.

However, for all of that great field position, the Tigers only mustered one score on a 28-yard game-tying touchdown from Kempt to Montel Harrison with 11:15 left until halftime.

Two sacks and a penalty self-destructed the first drive at the GlenOak 15-yard line. Another drive, which started after Massillon recovered an onside kick, ended when it was stopped on downs at the GlenOak 4.

Still another, which reached the GlenOak 6, was thwarted when a pass off a field-goal try was picked off in the end zone.

“We missed opportunities,” Hall said. “We missed a field goal. We bobbled the snap; it happens. We got stopped on fourth down. … As hard knocks as we thought the end of the game was, we missed on opportunities where that situation could’ve been avoided.”

That missed chance cost the Tigers a chance for the halftime lead. GlenOak, given the opening, didn’t miss on its chance to take the edge into the intermission.

The Golden Eagles drained the final 4:15 off the first-half clock and took a 10-7 when Stephen Semple wrapped up the half with a 23-yard field goal.

GlenOak’s final first-half drive featured the two longest runs of the first half for Dunn, who was bottled up for much of the half to the tune of 75 yards on 16 carries. Thirty-one of those yards came on consecutive runs of 13 and 18 runs to take the ball down to the Tiger 7.

The Tigers’ fortune with regards to field position didn’t change with the change in halves. However, they found their luck in finishing drives did, as they took their first third-quarter possession from the GlenOak 43 into the end zone on Ryne Moore’s 17-yard scoring run for a 14-10 lead with 7:20 left in the third quarter.

They recovered a GlenOak fumble on the Eagles 47. Three plays later, Kempt hit Tre Hendricks for a 46-yard scoring pass to take a 21-10 lead with 5:24 left in the third.

A second GlenOak turnover — this one an interception by Brody Tonn — forced the Tigers to take just their second snap of the game in their own territory, this time at their own 27.

Massillon would not run another play in GlenOak territory the rest of the game.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 31, Akron Buchtel 6

Massillon rolls past Buchtel, 31-6, in opener

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

The Massillon Tigers may be, for all intents and purposes, still a relatively inexperienced team. After all, one game doesn’t make for a season’s worth of experience.
However, the Tigers woke up this morning a team with a 1-0 record this season, after picking up a 31-6 season-opening win over the Buchtel Griffins on Thursday night in front of 8,353 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

And that, ultimately, can mean a lot to a team trying to get a lot of guys a lot of experience on the run.
“It’s massive,” Tiger junior quarterback Kyle Kempt said. “It’s a big confidence boost. Going into next week, we feel good about ourselves.”

Granted, next week could — and likely will — bring with it a whole new list of questions. It will also bring with it a
Thursday night matchup against a GlenOak team that also beat an Akron City Series team (Firestone) in its opener.

But all of that, for now, is a point to be dealt with at a later time. Right now, the Tigers are simply enjoying the rewards of a mostly successful season opener.

“Anytime you get a win, you want to enjoy it,” Tiger coach Jason Hall said. “We want our kids to enjoy it tonight and enjoy it in school tomorrow. Once we get to lifting and watching film, it’s going to be about us correcting those mistakes.”

That may be the ultimate payout from Thursday’s win for Massillon. The Tigers get the win, while the coaches get a film’s worth of teaching points to go over.

On the positive, though, Massillon can look at the way it went up 21-0 in the first half as reason to be pleased. After a three-and-out on it’s first possession — followed by a Buchtel drive down to the Tiger 20 that ended with a blocked field goal — Massillon grabbed a 6-0 lead on its second possession.

The catalyst for the first Tiger scoring drive was senior running back Alex Winters, who gained 56 of 89 yards on the drive. Winters capped it off with a 2-yard scoring plunge at the 3:28 mark of the first quarter, although the extra point was missed.

Winters was one of two Tiger running backs to carry the ball more than 10 times on the night, as Massillon rushed for 166 yards on 37 carries for the game. Ryne Moore added a 19-yard fourth-quarter run for the Tigers, while gaining a team-high 102 yards on 16 carries.

“I think a lot of people don’t know that Ryne Moore’s pretty good,” Hall said. “He made a move in the open field that’s as good as any. … It’s nice to get them going.”

The Tigers also, eventually, got Kempt going late in the first half. He was 3-for-3 for 101 yards on Massillon’s last two possessions, both of which ended with long touchdown passes to Montel Harrison.

Harrison caught a 57-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead — following the two-point conversion — with 2:02 left in the half. He then caught a wide open 32-yard scoring strike with four seconds remaining before the band show to make it 21-0.

“That was big for me,” said Kempt, who finished the game 8-of-13 for 134 yards with a touchdown and an interception that Buchtel returned 50 yards for a score to cut it to 21-6 early in the third quarter.

“Him being able to do that for me was just a big confidence boost,” he added. “It was a boost for the entire team as well.”

Buchtel’s Darren McGinnis led all rushers with 121 yards on 22 carries. However, outside of the Griffins’ initial drive of the game, they never were able to mount a serious offensive threat.

Not too bad for a team looking to gain its varsity experience on the run. Of course, the Tigers also know there will still be questions to answer in seven days.

“I don’t think anything will quiet people down,” Kempt said with a laugh. “It’s Massillon. That’s the fun part about it.”

GAME STATS

History

2010: Massillon 24, Toledo Whitmer 28

Big plays by Whitmer end Massillon’s season

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

TOLEDO, OH — In a fourth quarter of big plays, the biggest play ended up being made by the Whitmer Panthers. Because of that, the Massillon Tigers find themselves heading into the offseason much earlier than they had expected.

Jody Webb’s second touchdown run of the fourth quarter – a 44-yarder – gave the Panthers a 28-24 lead with 2:48 remaining, and they were able to hold off the Tigers twice after that as they won a Division I Region 2 quarterfinal game in front of about 8,000 at Whitmer Memorial Stadium.

“They hit a couple of big plays, big runs,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall, whose team bows out at 7-4. “You can’t give up big plays.”

Webb rushed for 137 of his game-high 220 yards in the final 12 minutes of the game. Of those, 103 yards came on his two touchdowns runs – the other being a 59-yarder – in the final 5:09 of the game that twice gave Whitmer the lead.

“No. 1, we have a lot of respect for their defense,” said Whitmer coach Joe Palka, whose 10-1 team will meet Twinsburg in a regional semifinal next Saturday.

“They’re a good defense, no matter what anybody says. I wasn’t surprised they kind of bottled us up (until the fourth quarter). They have some kids going two ways, and we really don’t. I think we kind of wore them down as the game went along.

In between those two runs, Massillon was able to retake the lead when Kyle Kempt hit Justin Olack down the right sideline for a 55-yard touchdown with 3:16 left to momentarily give the Tigers a 24-21 lead. That was one of two touchdown passes for Kempt, who also hit Devin Smith for a 69-yard touchdown in the first quarter that gave Massillon an early 7-0 lead.

“With three minutes to go in the game, we’re up,” Hall said.

Kempt finished 16-of-30 for 298 yards in his first-ever playoff start. He was also hurt by three drops in the fourth quarter that could have helped the Tigers move down the field, as well as an interception that bounced off the hands of a receiver with 2:40 remaining.

“Kyle’s improved every week,” Hall said. “He’s gone up against a couple of special defensive lines the last couple of weeks (in McKinley and Whitmer). I think from day one until today, I think he’s gotten better.”

Part of the Tigers problem was giving Kempt time to throw the ball. With a pair of highly-recruited defensive ends in Kenny Hayes and Chris Wormley, Whitmer was able to record eight sacks for the night, which hampered Massillon at times. Still, despite the Panthers’ defensive pressure, the Tigers were able to take a 14-7 first quarter lead with scores on their first two possessions. Jake Reiman’s 1-yard run with 6:21 remaining in the quarter provided that margin.

Whitmer’s first touchdown was set up by a 54-yard run by Webb on its first play of the game, a run that put the Panthers on the Tiger 9. Three plays later, Tre Sterritt powered in for the first of two first-half touchdowns to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:03 left in the quarter.

Sterritt also ran it in from the Tiger 2 on the second play of the second quarter to tie the game at 14-14.

Massillon was able to take the lead at halftime when it capitalized on a scoring chance that it couldn’t the previous week late in the half against McKinley. In last week’s game, the Tigers failed to score on multiple chances from the Bulldog 8 late in the half.

On Saturday night, the Tigers reached the Whitmer 10 with less than 30 seconds remaining. This time, they converted with a 27-yard Anthony McCarthy field goal with 9.2 seconds remaining to take a 17-14 halftime lead.

That would remain the score until the fourth quarter, when the big plays took over and swept the Tigers out of the playoffs.

GAME STATS

Whitmer 28

Massillon 24

at Whitmer Memorial Stadium

Massillon 14 3 0 7 24

Whitmer 7 7 0 14 28

SCORING SUMMARY

M – Smith 69 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

W – Sterritt 1 run (Kenczewicz kick)

M – Reiman 1 run (McCarthy kick)

W – Sterritt 2 run (Kenczewicz kick)

M – FG McCarthy 27

W – Webb 59 run (Kenczewicz kick)

M – Olack 55 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

W – Webb 44 run (Kenczewicz kick)

Mas Whi

First downs 13 12

Rushes-yards 23-41 44-247

Comp-Att-Int 17-32-1 11-14-0

Passing yards 319 141

Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-0

Penalties-yards 6-59 4-30

Records 7-4 10-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

Massillon – Reiman 9-35 TD.

Whitmer – Webb 22-220 2 TDs.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 16-30-298 2 TDs, INT; Smith 1-1-21; Olack 0-1-0.

Whitmer – Palicki 11-14-141.

Receiving:

Massillon – Smith 5-100 TD; Olack 6-128 TD.

Whitmer – Lucas 6-82.

Massillon vs. McK - Throwback (Large) History

2010: Massillon 17, Canton McKinley 40

McKinley keeps bell with 40-17 win over Massillon

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH – The little things can seem so insignificant when looked at individually. A missed tackle or a dropped pass or a missed assignment or a penalty, all can be looked at as mere bumps in the road for a football team.

On Saturday afternoon, those little things added up quickly for the Massillon Tigers. The sum of those little things was a 40-17 beating at the hands of the archrival McKinley Bulldogs in front of 17,794 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I thought they executed and we didn’t,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall, whose team will take a 7-3 record into next Saturday’s Division I Region 2 quarterfinal, expected to be at Toledo Whitmer (9-1). “We missed tackles. … We shot ourselves in the foot. You can’t have (five) turnovers, which can be put on a lot of things. You can’t take field position. You can’t have personal fouls. You can’t have all the little things that just build up.”

Those little things began to really cause Massillon problems in the second quarter despite its possession of a 10-7 lead on an Anthony McCarthy 37-yard field goal.

With McKinley (8-2) eyeing a fourth-and-10 situation from the Massillon 28, the Tigers were flagged for pass interference to give the Bulldogs new life. On the next play, Massillon was hit with its second straight penalty – this one a personal foul – to put McKinley at the Tiger 6.

Those two Tiger penalties were among the nine they were flagged for in the game, for 95 yards. McKinley, meanwhile, was flagged 12 times for 143 yards. After the two penalties, Sa’Veon Holloway ran it in from there to give McKinley a 14-10 lead – post point-after try – with three minutes left in the half.

Massillon would drive down to the McKinley 8 on its next possession. However, three straight incompletions – including two drops – and a missed field goal left the Tigers with no points to show for it.

“We missed two consecutive big plays down in the end zone, two opportunities to score,” Hall said. “We miss a field goal. No matter what, you want to put some points on the board in that situation.”

McKinley’s defense harassed the Tigers in five turnovers on the afternoon, but none were bigger than Jermaine Edmondson’s two third-quarter interceptions for the Bulldogs. Both turnovers would end up as Bulldog touchdowns – one on a Kyle Ohradzansky 24-yard run; the other on a 19-yard Ohradzansky-to-Malcolm Robinson pass – to put McKinley up 27-10 with 4:17 left in the third.

“The coaches always tell me to be there at the right time,” Edmondson said. “I just jumped on the ball and got the interception.”

The turnovers spoiled what started out like a good day for the Tiger offense. After McKinley scored on its first possession to take a 7-0 lead, Massillon marched right back down the field to match the score with one of its own on a 1-yard Jake Reiman run.

Massillon came out running the Wildcat formation with Devin Smith lined up at quarterback for the first three plays, gaining 30 yards on Smith runs to move to the McKinley 34. Smith, who added 135 yards on seven catches, also had a 33-yard reception on the drive to put the Tigers at the Bulldog 4.

“We’ve been practicing that,” Hall said of the Wildcat. “We’ll mix that in every once in a while. We haven’t used that a lot, but I thought it was time to let him run around.”

The Tigers came into the game knowing they had to shuffle some things around up front due to another injury – or in this case, illness – situation. Kyle Belak, who moved from guard to center in Week Seven due to injury, was lost to a case of mononucleosis in the middle of the week.

Craig Kircher then moved from left tackle to center, while Brian Robinson moved from right guard to left tackle. Tim Dimitroff then moved into the right guard spot.

That line was faced with the challenge of dealing with a highly-regarded McKinley defensive front, led by ends Steve Miller and Se’Von Pittman. Early on, they did just that, as Massillon gained 184 yards in the first half.

The problem, though, was that as the second half went on, the Bulldogs began to get more and more pressure on sophomore quarterback Kyle Kempt. By the fourth quarter, they were able to pin their ears back and really get to the Tiger passer, as they finished with three sacks, all in the second half.

“We just kept playing hard and kept rushing the passer,” Miller said. “We just kept rushing the quarterback and having fun.”

McKinley, meanwhile, began to have some fun rushing the football. The Bulldogs finished with 357 rushing yards for the game, with a pair of 100-yard rushers in Elijah Farrakhan (136 yards on 14 carries) and Ohradzansky (101 yards on 15 carries).

Ohradzansky’s second scoring run may have been the dagger, a 36-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter to give McKinley a 34-17 lead. That came on the Bulldogs’ subsequent possession after Massillon had found new life – so it thought – on Reiman’s second 1-yard touchdown run of the game to pull within 27-17.

“It was huge,” Ohradzansky said of the scoring run. “It really killed their momentum. It really allowed us to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to take this thing over and we’re going to end it right now.’ And that’s what we ended up doing.”

GAME STATS

McKinley 40

Massillon 17

at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

McKinley 7 7 13 13 40

Massillon 7 3 7 0 17

SCORING SUMMARY

McK – Montgomery 38 run (Lioi kick)

Mas – Reiman 1 run (McCarthy kick)

Mas – FG McCarthy 37

McK – Holloway 6 run (Lioi kick)

McK – Ohradzansky 24 run (Run failed)

McK – Robinson 19 pass from Ohradzansky (Lioi kick)

Mas – Reiman 1 run (McCarthy kick)

McK – Ohradzansky 36 run (Lioi kick)

McK – Holloway 1 run (Kick failed)

McK Mas

First downs 20 22

Rushes-yards 54-357 31-100

Comp-Att-Int. 5-11-0 15-36-3

Passing yards 70 189

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 12-143 9-95

Records 8-2 7-3

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

Massillon – Reiman 12-50 2 TDs; Winters 5-32; Smith 5-23; Taylor 4-14.

McKinley – Farrakhan 14-139; Ohradzansky 15-101 2 TDs; Holloway 16-80 2 TDs;

Montgomery 5-64 TD.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 15-35-189 2 TDs; Smith 0-1-0 INT.

McKinley – Ohradzansky 5-11-70 TD.

Receiving:

Massillon – Smith 7-135; Winters 3-(minus-7); Olack 2-38; Miller 1-10; Kreiger 1-8; Baez 1-5.

McKinley – Robinson 3-56 TD; Sweat 1-8; Foster 1-6.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2010: Massillon 55, Avon Grove, PA 17

Massillon avoids looking ahead, routs Avon Grove

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH – There is always the danger in Week Nine for the Massillon Tigers to find themselves a tad distracted, their minds wandering ahead to the next week’s showdown with hated McKinley.

The minds of the Massillon players certainly found themselves drifting early in Friday night’s contest against Pennsylvania visitor Avon Grove at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Of course, there were no worries of a potential letdown, as they were already well on their way to a 55-17 rout of the Red Devils.

“All in all, we handled our business, we stayed healthy and it leads up to McKinley Week,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall after his team improved to 7-2 and all but clinched a playoff berth. “That speaks for itself.”

Massillon scored on all seven first-half possessions to jump out to a 48-10 halftime lead. The first six scores came courtesy of the Tiger first-teamers, while backup quarterback Anthony McCormick’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Rambo with two ticks left on the first half clock gave the reserves a first-half score of their own.

By that time, most of the Tiger faithful among the 7,603 in attendance weren’t thinking about the Red Devils. They certainly were thinking a team in red, but that team was McKinley, not Avon Grove.

With McKinley having already gotten a 24-hour head start on its rest and preparation for next Saturday afternoon’s showdown at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium by playing – and winning – on Thursday night at Boardman, the Tigers were more than happy to be able to call it an early night for their regulars.

“When you’re a kid, you don’t think of it that way,” Hall said. “Those kids like to play. They wanted to go back out and play. More importantly, we’re healthy. We didn’t get dinged up tonight. We’re expecting back some more depth next week with Jake Reiman and Tyler Robinson coming back. We’re gearing up for this McKinley game.”

Massillon still needed to take care of its business against Avon Grove before its attention could fully be directed at the Bulldogs. And considering the results of last week’s game – a 20-6 loss to Warren Harding – Hall made sure his players’ minds were set on the Red Devils as well.

“We were all disappointed from last week,” Hall said. “We didn’t think we played well. Warren took it to us and I didn’t think we responded. It was kind of a business mentality this week. I thought our kids came out quick and were ready to play.”

Whatever concerns the third-year coach had surely dissipated on the first drive of the game. The Tigers needed just four plays – following a 50-yard return by Devin Smith – to make it 7-0 as Alex Winters ripped off a 16-yard touchdown run just 1:56 into the game.

It was one of two scoring jaunts for Winters in the first quarter. His 13-yard run made it 21-3 with 1:52 remaining in the quarter.

Kentrell Taylor – who led the Tigers with 84 yards on 12 carries – also ran for a pair of first-half scores, including a 7-yard run that gave the Tigers a 27-3 lead after one quarter. His 17-yard scoring run capped the night for the Massillon first unit.

The passing game wasn’t forgotten either as Kyle Kempt completed 10-of-16 passes for 159 yards in his six possessions with a pair of touchdown passes to Smith.

As impressive as the Tiger offense was, the defense was more than its equal. That, more than anything, put a smile on Hall’s face after Massillon gave up a 348-yard rushing performance to Warren’s Demond Hymes last week.

Facing a shifty, fast and elusive tailback in Avon Grove’s Brandon Monk, the Tigers swarmed to the ball and never let him get loose for the big play he is capable of. Monk – whose 71-yard kickoff return set up an Avon Grove field goal that cut it to 7-3 with 8:30 left in the first quarter – finished with 83 rushing yards on 17 carries.

Monk was able to get into the end zone for a third-quarter score against Massillon’s reserves.

The only touchdown the Tiger first-unit defense surrendered came with 38 seconds left in the first half on Charles Holmes Jr.’s 16-yard run.

“We played the way we expected to play,” Hall said. “The kids aren’t going to be perfect, the coaches aren’t going to perfect. The best way to get that Warren game out of your mouth was to play another game. It was nice to get out there and play, the kids running and tackling. It was kind of a move-on time.’

And now, the Tigers get to move on to the most important game of the year – McKinley.

GAME STATS

Massillon 55,

Avon Grove (Pa.) 17

at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

Avon Grove 3 7 7 0 17

Massillon 27 21 7 0 55

SCORING SUMMARY

M – Winters 16 run (McCarthy kick)

AG – FG Mayhart 28

M – De. Smith 67 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Winters 13 run (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 7 run (Kick failed)

M – De. Smith 14 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 17 run (McCarthy kick)

AG – Holmes 16 run (Mayhart kick)

M – Rambo 25 pass from McCormick (McCarthy kick)

AG – Monk 15 run (Mayhart kick)

M – Conley 17 pass from McCormick (McCarthy kick)

AG Mas

First downs 10 21

Rushes-yards 31-84 35-225

Comp-Att-Int 7-19-2 17-31-0

Passing yards 64 263

Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-0

Penalties-yards 1-5 4-35

Records 3-5 7-2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: Massillon – Taylor 12-84 2 TDs; McCormick 7-83; Winters 3-32 2 TDs; Da. Smith 10-13.

Avon Grove – Monk 17-83 TD.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 10-16-159 2 TDs; McCormick 7-15-104 2 TDs.

Avon Grove – Fiala 7-18-64 2 INTs; Monk 0-1-0.

Receiving:

Massillon – De. Smith 6-109 2 TDs; Rambo 3-54 TD; Conley 2-31 TD.

Avon Grove – Pankonien 2-23; Benson 2-21; Holmes 2-9.