Author: <span>Eric Smith</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2008: Massillon 45, Parma Normandy 14

Tigers vent in big victory
Massillon rolls up a 45-14 win over Parma Normandy

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH —

An angry football team can be a dangerous football team. The Massillon Tigers were an angry team as they entered Paul Brown Tiger Stadium for Friday night’s game against Normandy – angry over last week’s last-second loss to Jordan (Utah), and angry at the memories of last year’s loss to the same Invaders they lined up against on this evening.

They took some of that anger out on the Invaders early on, building up a 21-0 second-quarter lead. While Normandy got within seven at halftime, Massillon regained its composure and pulled away for a 45-14 victory at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“No. 1, last week we talked about getting that chip off our shoulder,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall, whose team takes a 2-1 record into next Friday’s game against reigning Division V state runner-up Ursuline at Youngstown State University. “No. 2, they had something prove from last year. I don’t think our kids thought they went up there and played their best game.”

Both defenses were forced to make stands in the first quarter. Normandy missed a 42-yard field goal after getting an interception on the first play of the game, while the Tigers missed 32-yard field goal of their own after their defensive stop.

Bo Grunder made sure the Tigers’ next defensive stand didn’t go to waste. After a three-and-out on Normandy’s second possession, he took the punt at his own 18, eventually cutting his way across the field and running all the way back for an 82-yard touchdown at the 1:24 mark of the first quarter for a 7-0 Tiger lead.

Tiger quarterback Michael Clark’s nifty running and sleight of hand helped Massillon get a 21-0 lead just 1:22 into the second quarter.

The first time, he perfectly executed a play fake to J.T. Turner on a jet sweep, only to keep it on the bootleg to the left and run virtually untouched for a 60-yard touchdown. The second one came when he ran for 33 yards after Grunder recovered a Normandy fumble at its 39, finally being brought down at the Invader 6.

“The defense, they have to watch for us to hand off to J.T.,” said Clark, who finished with 127 yards rushing in the game. “I think we had run that play earlier in the game and got 30 yards. They have to respect that. As soon as they do, you keep it.”

Turner took the next play the rest of the way for the Massillon touchdown at the 10:38 mark of the second quarter and a 21-0 lead.

But Normandy came to life after that score, grinding out two long scoring drives to make it 21-14 at halftime.

The first drive went 68 yards in seven plays, with Michael Louis scoring from 6- yards out at the 7:50 mark of the first half. The second one chewed up 81 yards on just six plays – one of which was a 61-yard run by Squirek – with Squirek doing the honors from 3-yards out with 3:31 left in the half.

Squirek was a bull for the Tiger defenders to deal with all night, rushing for 167 in 18 first-half carries alone. He finished the game with 207 yards on 26 carries.

“He was tough to take down,” Turner said. “He was a big dude. He was a load to bring down.”
Normandy came out of the locker room after the half and drove to the Tiger 20, but Spencer Leno dropped the Invaders for a 2-yard loss on fourth down. Boosted by the stop, Massillon hopped on the back of Turner on the next drive, moving 78 yards in eight plays – seven of those Turner runs – before the senior ran in from 3-yards out for a 28-14 Massillon lead with 3:55 left in the third.

Turner had 71 yards rushing on the drive, after gaining just 46 in the first half. He finished with his third straight 100-yard rushing game with 156 yards on 23 carries.

“I started catching cramps at halftime,” said Turner, who broke the game open with a 17-yard touchdown run on the final play of the third quarter for a 35-14 Tiger lead. “I took a few pills, drank some Gatorade and (Tiger assistant Elden) McVicker just told me to go out there and keep running hard.”

GAME STATS

Massillon 45
Normandy 14
At Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

Normandy 00 14 00 00 14
Massillon 07 14 07 10 45

SCORING SUMMARY
M – Grunder 82 punt return (Geier kick)
M – Clark 60 run (Geier kick)
M – Turner 6 run (Geier kick)
N – Louis 6 run (Cook kick)
N – Squirek 3 run (Coon kick)
M – Turner 3 run (Geier kick)
M – Turner 17 run (Geier kick)
M – Geier 30 FG
M – Partridge 7 run (Geier kick)

Nor Mas
First Downs 15 17
Rushes-Yds 54-323 41-309
Comp-Att-Int 1-9-0 4-12-1
Passing Yards 4 63
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0
Penalty yards 44 25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing:

Massillon

Turner 23-156 3 TDs;

Clark 8-127 TD;

Reiman 7-22;

Partridge 2-4 TD.

Normandy

Squirek 26-207 TD.

Passing:

Massillon

Clark 3-11-51 INT;

Partridge 1-1-12.

Normandy

Pierce 1-9-4.

Receiving:

Massillon

Price 1-32;

Adkins 1-12;

Gaines 1-10;

Grunder 1-9.

Normandy

Sala 1-4.

Records:

Massillon 2-1;

Normandy 1-2.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2008: Massillon 24, Jordan, UT 27

Tigers suffer controversial heartbreaker at Herbstreit

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

CANTON, OH —

It is said true character doesn’t truly show itself until it is put under adverse situations. If that is the case, then Massillon head coach Jason Hall is about to find out just what kind of character his Tiger football team has this week.

In Saturday night’s finale of the Herbstreit Challenge quadruple-header at Fawcett Stadium, Massillon suffered its first loss of the season in a most controversial fashion when Jordan (Utah) stunned the Tigers with a 36-yard field goal by Garrett Blaisdell at the end of regulation for a 27-24 win.

“Right now, it’s just hard for the Tigers to accept this loss,” Hall said after his team fell to 1-1.

“It’s a situation where I think the team’s pretty close,” Hall added. “We’re going to suck it up, let it sink in. We’re going to get right back to work. That’s part of us, coaches and adults and the people who are around these kids, to be positive role models in their support group. It’s our job to teach them how to handle situations and keep fighting. And that’s what we’ll do.”

Whether the Beetdiggers should have ever even had a chance to get the kick off is sure to raise the blood pressure of Hall, his players and those Tiger fans among the crowd at Fawcett Stadium for years to come.

Jordan moved from its own 20 – following a missed 39-yard field goal by Massillon – to the Tiger 37 in a span of 33 seconds, leaving just 12 ticks left on the clock. Beetdigger quarterback Alex Hart hit Braden Hammond for an 18-yard pass to move the ball to the Massillon 19.

And this is where things really entered the Twilight Zone.

By rule, the clock stops as the chains move for a first down. However, the clock also is supposed to be wound as soon as the ball and chains are set.

It appeared when the whistle blew the play down, there was one second left on the clock, leaving no time for Jordan to get the kick off. But first the officias never started the clock up initially, then put the clock at five seconds remaining, but again, didn’t start it up.

In the confusion, about 20 different players were running on and off the field as Jordan frantically tried to get the kick off. In the end, Blaisdell did get the kick away, and it was true, leaving the Tigers distraught and angry.

“I tell our kids, sometimes life’s not fair,” Hall said. “Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes it doesn’t. We just have to get back to work (Sunday) and Monday and prepare to play Normandy.”

Jordan coach Alex Jacobson, amidst his jubilant players, admitted his team might have caught a break at the end.

“I don’t feel good about what happened with the clock at the end of the game,” Jacobson said. “I felt like we should have been playing for overtime. I’m man enough to admit it.”

The end-of-the-game fiasco wasn’t the only time an official’s call left the Tigers scratching their heads and altered the complexion of the game.

With just under eight minutes remaining and the Tigers leading 24-21, Michael Clark threw a pass to an open receiver. At about the same time the ball hit the receiver’s hands, he was hit by the defender.

The hit jarred the ball loose at the Massillon 31, with a Jordan player falling on it. The official closest ruled it immediately as a fumble, although the Tiger sidelines vehemently argued the receiver had never actually gained possession before the ball came loose.

Nevertheless, the call stood, and five plays later, Blaisdell kicked a 32-yard field goal to tie the game at 24-all with 5:48 remaining.

“They just said he had the catch,” Hall said. “Catch, hit, fumble. They said he had possession of the ball.”

The fourth-quarter officiating controversies left a black mark on what was easily the most entertaining of the four games at Fawcett on Saturday, the closest of which beforehand had been a pair of 21-point games.

Neither team was able to get more than a seven-point lead at any point in the game, with Jordan’s spread offense helping it to first-half leads of 7-0 and 14-7.

The Beetdiggers were able to hurt Massillon throughout the game by running crossing patterns, which Hart would feed the ball to for big gainers. Hart finished with 294 yards on 31-of-42 passing.

“The crossing routes were big, weren’t they,” Jacobson said. “It kept drives alive and we converted on third down in a big way. Anytime you can do that against a great football team, that’s big.”

Meanwhile, the Tigers also methodically ground their way down the field in response, tying the game at 7-7 on a six-yard Clark run midway through the second quarter, and then at 14-14 on a J.T. Turner one-yard plunge with 1:41 left in the first half.

Turner once again asserted himself on the ground, finishing with 128 yards on 23 carries. He had 106 yards in the second half.

“We just made a few adjustments,” Hall said. “They were really blitzing us hard, and we just started locking our guys on and running some zone iso. Pretty much try to get hat on hat and try to get J.T. to be a great athlete. I thought he ran extremely hard.”

Massillon took its first lead at 21-14 when Clark hit Robert Partridge – who was playing his first game at receiver – for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 7:25 left in the third. After Jordan tied the game at 21-21, the Tigers took their final lead when Jeremy Geier booted a 32-yard field goal 45 seconds into the fourth quarter.

And thus was set up one of the wildest – and most controversial – final 11 minutes in Tiger history.

GAME STATS

Jordan (Utah) 27,

Massillon 24

At Fawcett Stadium

Jordan 07 07 07 06 27

Massillon 00 14 07 03 24

SCORING SUMMARY

J – Hart 20 run (Blaisdell kick)

M – Clark 6 run (Geier kick)

J – Dimond 4 run (Blaisdell kick)

M – Turner 1 run (Geier kick)

M – Partridge 21 pass from Clark (Geier kick)

J – Spillman 11 run (Blaisdell kick)

M – Geier 32 FG

J – Blaisdell 32 FG

J – Blaisdell 36 FG

Jor Mas

First Downs 23 17

Rushes-Yards 30-129 42-174

Comp-Att-Int 31-42-1 8-10-1

Passing Yards 294 169

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2

Penalty Yards 70 7

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

Massillon

Turner 23-128 TD;

Reiman 6-29;

Clark 10-8;

Price 1-4;

Partridge 1-3;

Ivan 1-2.

Jordan

Hart 17-74 TD;

Spillman 8-41 TD;

Dimond 3-10 TD;

Hunt 1-7;

Hammond 1-(-3).

Passing:

Massillon

Clark 8-10-169 TD, INT.

Jordan

Hart 31-42-294 INT.

Receiving:

Massillon

Gaines 2-40;

Grunder 2-28;

Adkins 2-26;

Price 1-54;

Partridge 1-21 TD

Jordan

Hunt 10-79;

Hammond 7-79;

Jones 5-40;

Brown 4-52;

Spillman 4-38;

Dimond 1-6.

Records:

Massillon 1-1;

Jordan 1-1.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2008: Massillon 45, Akron Buchtel 29

Tigers give Hall his first Grunder’s four TDs help Massillon pull away from Buchtel

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH —

There were mistakes and turnovers; dropped passes and penalties. But at the end of Jason Hall’s first game as the Massillon head coach, there was also a win for the Tigers on Friday night.

While far from a clean opening-night performance, the Tigers were able to put together the plays when they had to in posting a 45-29 win over the Buchtel Griffins in front of about 8,000 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“We have to play better next week,” Hall said. “That’s what we talked to our kids about tonight. No. 1, we have to capitalize in the red zone and not make mistakes going in, and we have to make smart decisions coming out when we’re pinned deep.

“We just have to keep training our kids to be smart football players. We have to be more fundamentally sound when we have the ball. I thought our kids did a good job adjusting tonight.”

While there were plenty of things the Tigers will cringe about in the film session, one thing they won’t be grimacing over was the performance by Bo Grunder at receiver.

All the 5-foot-9, 159-pound Grunder did was catch four touchdown passes on five receptions on the night, for a total of 112 yards. He had scoring catches of 26, 40, 17 and 24 yards, the last which gave the Tigers a 38-15 lead.

“I never thought I’d score four TDs in a game, but I did,” Grunder said. “Me and (quarterback Michael) Clark connected. That’s going to be all season.”

Grunder also contributed on defense, picking off a pass on the goal line and also recovering a fumble on the first play of the season.

As for the guy throwing the ball to Grunder, Clark made the most of his first game action since Week Four of last season. He completed 10-of-18 passes for 170 yards and four touchdowns, as well as a pair of interceptions, one of which was returned 100 yards by Buchtel’s Tahj Dent for a touchdown.

“We’re all starting to get clicking,” Clark said. “The offensive line, everything. It’s just really coming together, and it’s going to lead to big things.”

However, for both teams, the turnovers were a major issue on this evening. Massillon turned it over three times, two of which lead to Buchtel scores. The last one – the Dent interception – was returned the length of the field for a score which cut the deficit to 17-15 with 9:46 left in the third quarter.

The Tiger defense, though, stiffened on the two-point conversion try, not allowing the Griffins to tie the score.

“Any time a team goes for two,” Hall said, “when you stop a team from going for two, you take away an instant chance to change momentum. They had a chance to tie, and they don’t, and momentum can shift just like that in high school football.”

It would begin to shift heavily to Massillon after that stop. The Tigers scored on consecutive drives for a 31-15 lead through three quarters, while the Griffins turned it over on consecutive drives to help set up that change in momentum.

Massillon finished the game by scoring on four of its last six possessions, with Clark adding a rushing touchdown to cap the Tiger scoring.

Buchtel wouldn’t go quietly, though, as Dent scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. The senior quarterback finished with 124 yards on the ground and a pair of scores, plus 136 yards through the air.

“The quarterback was quick,” Grunder said of Dent. “He had moves. We couldn’t wrap him up. He kept juking our linemen.”

The Tigers looked to start the game off with a bang. However, they spent much of the first quarter starting and stopping with the momentum, mostly stopping.

“It was our first game, so we were really excited,” Clark said. “I think we all stuck together.”

Their first possession – which started at the Griffin 34 – ended a yard short of picking up a first down. After taking a 7-0 lead on a 26-yard Clark-to-Grunder touchdown pass on their second possession, the next three times the Tigers touched the ball – literally – they gave it up to Buchtel.

An interception was brought back to the Tiger 4, which resulted in a 1-yard John Coleman touchdown run which evened the score at 7-7 following the PAT. The subsequent kickoff was fumbled at the Massillon 11, but the Tiger defense held on a fake field goal try.

The very next Tiger play, the Buchtel defense swooped in and stuffed the ball carrier in the end zone for a safety and a 9-7 Griffin lead.

But just as quickly as the first quarter changed to the second, the momentum moved to Massillon. Clark and Grunder hooked up for another long touchdown pass – this one for 40 yards – to give the Tigers the lead for good at 14-9.

Jeremy Geier capped Massillon’s next possession with a 26-yard field goal, the first of his career, to make it 17-9 with 48 ticks left on the first-half clock.

GAME STATS

Massillon 45
Buchtel 29
at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

Buchtel 9 0 6 14 29
Massillon 7 10 14 14 45

SCORING SUMMARY
M—Grunder 26 pass from Clark (Geier kick)
B—Coleman 1 run (Dent kick)
B—Kashrelle King safety
M—Grunder 40 pass from Clack (Geier kick)
M—Geier 26 field goal
B—Dent 100 interception return (rush failed)
M—Ivan 1 run (Geier kick)
M—Grunder 17 pass from Clark (Geier kick)
M—Grunder 24 pass from Clark (Geier kick)
B—Dent 35 run (Parker pass from Dent)
M—Clark 6 run (Silva kick)
B— Dent 8 run (pass failed)

Buchtel Mass
First Downs 12 21
Rushes-yards 35-126 46-254
Comp-Att-Int 9-23-2 10-18-2
Passing yards 136 170
Fumbles-Lost 4-3 1-1
Penalty yards 56 20

Individual statistics:
Rushing:

Massillon

Turner 22-140;

Reiman 4-46;

White 4-33;

Clark 8-26;

Roberson 3-7;

Patterson 2-4;

Ivan 3-2.

Buchtel

Dent 20-124.
Passing:

Massillon

Clark 10-18-170 4 TDs,INT

Buchtel

Dent 9-23-136 2 INTs..

Receiving:

Massillon

Grunder 5-112-4;

Turner 2-7;

Ivan 1-29;

Gaines 1-13;

Price 1-9.

Buchtel

Parker 3-54;

Lovelace 3-52.

Records

Massillon 1-0,

Buchtel 0-1.

Massillon vs. McK - Throwback (Large) History

2007: Massillon 23, Canton McKinley 20

Tigers work extra for win. Willoughby’s QB sneak gives Massillon victory over McKinley in OT

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

The track record wasn’t good for the Massillon Tigers. Four times in the first nine weeks of the season, they trailed in the fourth quarter. All four of those times, they ended up on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

So as the Tigers entered the fourth quarter Saturday at Fawcett Stadium looking at a 10-point deficit, they had two opponents staring back at them: history and the McKinley Bulldogs. And they decided to disregard both, sending the orange-clad portion of the 14,642 in attendance home jubilant with a 23-20 overtime victory.

It marked just the third overtime game in the 116 meetings between the rivals. The Tigers have won all three – in 1988, 1994 and Saturday.

The Tigers would not hold the lead in the game until Chris Willoughby fought his way in from a yard out in overtime to give Massillon the win and a 6-4 final record.

“When it was 17-7, we knew there were 12 minutes left in the game,” said Willoughby, who said it was his first quarterback sneak attempt since his freshman year. “We knew we still had time to come back. We had to keep together as a team and play hard and good things would happen, and it did for us.”

The good things were mostly happening for McKinley in the first three quarters, starting with an 83-yard Christian Griffin touchdown run for a 7-0 first-quarter lead. The Bulldogs seemed to have the big-play magic in the third, when Jordan Evans hit Ramon Brown for a 23-yard touchdown for a 17-7 lead with 50 seconds left in the half.

Justin Turner would begin to turn momentum in Massillon’s favor with a kickoff return to the Bulldogs 41. A McKinley personal foul penalty on the play pushed the ball closer to the goal line, at the Bulldog 26.

Buoyed by the short field, Massillon made it a one-possession game on a 5-yard DeVoe Torrence scoring run at the 10:38 mark of the fourth quarter. Torrence finished with a game-high 134 yards on 35 carries, with a pair of touchdowns.

“Boy, you’re down 17-7 over here, it didn’t look good,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team was tied 7-7 at half. “J.T.’s kick return was big. It was really a turning point. We were able to come back from that and score, that was big.”

Massillon appeared to see its chances disappearing when it was stopped on a fourth-and-1 at the McKinley 25. But that’s when the second good thing happened for the Tigers.

Faced with third-and-9 from its own 26, McKinley attempted a short sideline pass. Tiger cornerback D.J. Spencer read the play perfectly, jumping the route and intercepting the ball at the Bulldog 31.

All of the sudden, Massillon’s hopes were resuscitated with 3:36 showing on the fourth-quarter clock.

“I felt like I had an opportunity to get it,” Spencer said. “I missed the first one down there around the 20. I seen that (the quarterback) was kind of floating the ball, so I felt like I could get it.”

Massillon would get a shot at a 37-yard field goal to tie, but was whistled for a false start as the kick was going through the uprights. Moved back to a 41-yard try, Steve Schott calmly knocked the ball through to square things at 17-all with 1:10 remaining.

“I kind of knew after I made the first one before the penalty that I wasn’t going to miss the second one,” said Schott, whose fourth-quarter field goal a year ago lifted the Tigers past McKinley. “I was kind of in the zone there. My confidence was up after making the first one. I just knew that once I got the second opportunity that it was going to be good.”

McKinley struck first in overtime, as Andrew Gage – whose 37-yarder in the third quarter gave the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead – kicked a 35-yard knuckleball for a 20-17 edge. But the Tigers came back, moving to the Bulldogs 2 when Willoughby, with a defender in his face, hit Torrence on a swing pass for a 21-yard gain.

“That play’s worked for us in the past,” Willoughby said. “Coach Stacy calls great plays. That was a great call, and it turned out good.”

Not as good as two plays later, when Willoughby plunged into the end zone and set off the Tiger celebration.

Turner’s return is ‘special’ play for Massillon

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The Massillon Tigers had just given up a big play to fall behind by 10 late in the third quarter, and all of the momentum was swinging on the side of the McKinley Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. But as soon as the subsequent kickoff nestled into the hands of Justin Turner, the momentum shifted back more toward Massillon with each yard he picked up.

By the time he was forced out of bounds, he was at the Bulldogs 41. An extra 15 yards tacked on for a personal foul penalty against McKinley gave the Tigers the ball at the Bulldogs 26.

The Tigers would convert that drive into seven points, cutting their deficit to just three with over 10 minutes left in regulation. They would go on to force overtime, where they would prevail 23-20.

“I gave up a big play on defense and they scored off of it,” Turner said. “I wasn’t reading my keys. Then I looked at the clock and realized I had to go out and make a big play.”

That Turner did. Then again, Turner – and the rest of the Tiger kickoff return team – was doing that just about all season long.

Turner came into the game with 252 yards on seven returns, an average of 36 yards per return. As a team, the Tigers were averaging over 27 yards per return,

For much of the game up to that point, McKinley had kept Turner in check on kickoffs. The best starting field position the Tigers had until then following a Bulldog kickoff was their own 30 to start the game.

“I just had to be patient,” Turner said. “We’ve been returning kicks all year. It was just that time, I had to do it.”

While McKinley had kept Turner under wraps for much of the game, Massillon’s coaches felt like he was on the verge of getting free at least once before.

“We told him the one before, we said ‘You hit it too quick,’” Tiger special teams coordinator Jamey Palma said. “We said ‘Be patient and let you’re wall set up. Just be patient, find your seam and go.’ He just did a great job of being patient and making a big play.”

When it came time to make that big play, Turner did so. And because of that, the Tigers brought the Victory Bell back to Massillon with them after the game.

Torrence answers call for Massillon

By CHRIS EASTERLING

When DeVoe Torrence transferred from Canton South to Massillon last spring, it was for moments like the one he experienced on Saturday afternoon at Fawcett Stadium playing in the 116th edition of the Massillon-McKinley game. Once he got his chance, he wasn’t about to not capitalize on that opportunity.

Torrence gained 134 hard-fought yards on 35 carries, yards which helped the Tigers pull out a 23-20 overtime victory over the Bulldogs.

“It was wild,” Torrence said. “Just being my first time being a Massillon Tiger playing in the McKinley game, it meant a lot to me. We went out there, I stepped up, Steve Schott stepped up, I mean, we all stepped up. We just got it done.”

For all the big-name opponents Torrence faced for the first time this season, teams like St. Ignatius and Mentor, there is still nothing like the atmosphere surrounding a Massillon-McKinley game. But he wasn’t about to let that effect him.

“There were no jitters,” Torrence said. “(Tiger coach Tom) Stacy got us coached up and had us ready to play.”

The Ohio State-bound senior came into the game needing just 72 yards to top the 1,000-yard plateau. He did that by halftime, when he had 81 yards on 17 carries as the two teams went into the locker room tied at 7-7. He finished with 1,062 yards and 11 touchdowns, after scoring a pair against McKinley.

“DeVoe is just a heck of an athlete,” Tiger center Blake Seidler said. “I give him all the credit in the world. He got over that 1,000-yard mark today, so what’s that tell you.”

Torrence did so despite the fact McKinley was attempting to key on him every time he touched the ball. He only had three plays over 10 yards or more, as he had to fight – like the rest of his Tiger teammates – for just about every yard.

“DeVoe’s a warrior,” Tiger quarterback Chris Willoughby said. “He has heart and he runs the ball hard every play. He did a great job.”

Not that Torrence and the Tigers weren’t used to seeing a defense keying on the run. While the Bulldogs kept Massillon’s offense out of the end zone on all but two drives in regulation, there was little they were doing differently than what the Tigers’ nine previous opponents had been doing.

Still, Massillon was able to gain 233 yards on the ground as a team.

“It was just a case of more guys in the box,” Torrence said. “That was what teams have done all year. They’ve just put guys in the box.

“It came down to who was going to be the most physical,” Torrence added. “We felt like we showed that.”

Torrence and Willoughby burned that defensive scheme for the biggest play of the game in overtime. After Torrence had been dropped for a 3-yard loss on the Tigers’ first play from the McKinley 20, Willoughby threw a swing pass to the tailback – just ahead of the Bulldog pass rush – which turned into a 21-yard gain to the Bulldogs 2.

Two plays later, Willoughby ended the game with his game-winning touchdown plunge.

“We almost didn’t get it off,” Torrence said. “Chris, he got it up there in time. I was just thinking ‘I’ve got to catch this ball.’ I just caught it.”

And the Tigers – and Torrence – have the win to show for it.

Spencer is latest Tiger to step up in big game

By CHRIS EASTERLING

Five weeks ago, D.J. Spencer wasn’t even in the Massillon Tigers’ starting lineup. Today, he is just the latest in a long line of unlikely heroes to emerge in the ancient rivalry that is Massillon-McKinley.

With 5:15 left in regulation in Saturday’s 116th installment of the rivalry at Fawcett Stadium, things looked bleak for the Tigers. They had just given the ball back to McKinley on downs at the Bulldog 25 down by three points.

However, Spencer – a senior cornerback – jumped an out pattern on third-and-9 to get an interception at the McKinley 31. That would lead to the game-tying field goal, and Massillon went on to get the 23-20 overtime win.

“My team needed a play, and it was clutch time,” Spencer said. “We had to buckle down. Coach was telling us that that was the time and the crucial point.”

Spencer hadn’t seen a whole lot of time through the first half of the Tigers’ season, as he was behind Kevin Massey at cornerback. However, when Massey was sidelined for the Buchtel game in Week Seven due to a concussion, that opened the door for Spencer to get his chance.

The senior has more than held his own since getting the chance. He hasn’t left the starting lineup since that game, even though Massey returned to action the very next week.

“He didn’t start for us at the beginning of the year,” Tiger defensive backs coach Jamey Palma said. “I remember it was about Week Four or Five, I had a meeting with him, and I said ‘Just hang with us, you’re going to help this team.’”

And he did.

“Right after the St. Ignatius game, we started playing him a lot more. He’s played excellent. He’s going to remember that play for the rest of his life.”

Spencer is just the latest Tiger to go from relative unknown to hero because of what he did in the McKinley game.

A year ago, it was Corey Hildreth getting a blocked punt to help set up a Tiger score. In 2001, it was Craig McConnell whose interception helped to seal a hard-fought Massillon win.

In other years, it has been a Victor Redrick or a Dave Sheegog. Whoever it is, they instantly become immortalized for making a play which turned the tide in favor of the Tigers.

“We’ve got great kids with a great mentality,” Palma said. “They never quit. D.J. is one of those kids. We were down 17-7, we needed to make a play, and he has a great mentality.

“They don’t think about the negative, they’re thinking ‘Let’s make a play’ and go ahead and do it. It’s great for him. He’s a great kid, and people are going to remember him forever here.”

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Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2007: Massillon 69, Cincinnati Western Hills 13

Tigers use fast start to roll past Cincinnati Western Hills

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The week before the McKinley game always can be a dangerous one for the Massillon Tigers, no matter the records. It can be especially hazardous when the Tigers’ opponent is one like Cincinnati Western Hills, an athletic team sporting a lackluster record.

But those pre-McKinley perils can go by the boards rather quickly when the Tigers take care of business early and often, as was the case on Saturday afternoon when they dismissed the Mustangs 69-13 in front of 6,477 at sun-splashed Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Massillon, which will take a 5-4 mark into Fawcett Stadium this Saturday, scored on its first five possessions on its way to a 42-0 halftime lead. “It felt real good (to jump on Western Hills early),” said Tiger senior tailback K.J. Herring, whose two touchdowns helped Massillon grab a 21-0 first-quarter lead. “It’s a long season, and you’re a little banged up. So you’re like, ‘OK, we can take it to these guys.’ It felt real good just to jump on them real quick.”

The Tigers did a good job of jumping on every opportunity Western Hills provided them.

Herring’s first score – a 5-yard run on the Tigers’ initial play – was set up by a botched snap on a Western Hills punt. The Tigers also got a short field later thanks to a recovered pooch kick, as well as a fumbled punt by the Mustangs.

The Tigers led 35-0 before the 1-8 Mustangs picked up their initial first down, and were up 55-0 before Western Hills’ Tharon Gardner hit Armondo Thomas for a 78-yard touchdown strike with 3:11 left in the third quarter to break up the shutout bid. Western Hills finished with 224 yards, 103 of those on its two touchdown passes.

“The defense had a great week of practice, and we showed that out there,” said Tiger junior cornerback Justin Turner, who also ran for a score while lining up at quarterback in the second quarter. “We didn’t give up no big plays. Then we put in the younger dudes, and they did real good.”

Massillon was well on its way to its best offensive game of the season by halftime, when it had amassed 306 total yards. By that time, the Tigers – who finished with a season-best 502 yards – were liberally substituting, which gave a chance for players like Alexander Love, who rushed for a game-high 120 yards and three touchdowns on 16 second-half carries.

“I thought we played well early,” Tiger coach Tom Stacy said. “I thought we flopped around a little bit and didn’t execute at times the way we wanted to. It’s a good win for us, and hopefully it’s something we can carry into (the McKinley) week.

“What we have to be able to do is carry these last three weeks into game 10 with that kind of momentum, because we’re going to need that. They’re a much better football team – McKinley – than their (3-6) record indicates, and they’ve played very well at home this year.”

The Tigers may have given McKinley something else to think about against Western Hills: the passing game. After struggling to consistently throw the ball – outside of a 175-yard performance in the season opener – Massillon showed what kind of threat it can be through the air against the Mustangs.

Massillon completed 11 of its 13 pass attempts for a season-best 178 yards. Senior quarterback Chris Willoughby was 6-of-7 for 72 yards and two touchdowns, while junior Tim Adkins completed all three of his aerials for 79 yards with a score. Sophomore Robert Partridge hit on two of his three passes for 27 yards.

Not only were the Tigers efficient throwing the ball, they also were diverse, spreading it around to seven different receivers. Giorgio Jackson (four catches, 44 yards) and Brandon Pedro (two grabs, 39 yards) were the only Tigers to catch more than one ball. Jackson finished with two touchdowns, while Pedro added a 13-yard scoring catch in the first quarter.

“The passing game hasn’t been so good at the beginning of the season,” said Jackson, who had second-quarter touchdown catches for 30 and 14 yards. “We’re trying to balance our offense so people can’t stop our run. We can’t just rely on our run, we have to do both. That’s why we’re trying to do both.”

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Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2007: Massillon 56, Warren Harding 0

Massillon makes it two in a row with 56-0 rout of Warren

By CHRIS EASTERLING

K.J. Herring took the handoff, broke through the line and raced 14 yards into the end zone. With that run and subsequent PAT, Massillon jumped on top of Warren Harding 7-0 on Friday night.

It would be all the points the Tigers would need, but just for good measure, they added 49 more in what would quickly turn into a 56-0 rout in front of 7,188 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“We got off to a fast start,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team will play host to Cincinnati Western Hills next Saturday afternoon at 2:30. “We talked about that this week, about coming out here at home on Senior Night and getting off to a good start, and we did.”

Herring, for the second week in a row, was the rushing star for the Tigers, who evened their record at 4-4. The senior rushed for 199 yards on 14 carries and scored four touchdowns, giving him 356 yards and seven scores over the last two weeks.

But it wasn’t just Herring. DeVoe Torrence, back in the lineup after missing last week’s game due to injury, added 139 yards and a pair of scores on the ground.

It didn’t seem to matter who the Tigers gave the ball to, they were able to churn out yards. Massillon gained 449 rushing yards.

“It’s coming together,” Herring said. “We’re figuring out where to put people and how to distribute the ball. … DeVoe comes off the injury, and you can see what he can do. It’s exciting.”

The Tigers wasted no time in jumping on the young Raiders, who fall to 3-5. Massillon scored on five of their six first-half possessions in building up a 35-0 halftime lead.

It didn’t matter how far the Tigers needed to go, they were able to traverse it with relative ease. They had scoring drives of 28, 66, 54, 98 and 65 yards prior to the half, racking up 288 yards in the process.

The only first-half drive that didn’t reach the end zone was squelched by a first-play fumble at the Raider 35. Yet, even that turnover didn’t hurt the Tigers, as they got the ball back on the next play on a Warren fumble.

It was that kind of night for Massillon – even when things would go wrong, it would end up with a positive.

Take the first Tiger possession of the second half, when a 13-yard Herring run was negated by a holding penalty. The very next play, Herring ripped off a 70-yard touchdown run which made it 42-0 Massillon just 35 seconds into the third quarter.

“I just told everybody to stay focused,” Herring said. “We just had to focus on what we had to do. We’re just trying to show that we’re a team and trying to work together.”

Meanwhile, the Tiger defense was doing its part in giving its offense help. Massillon limited Warren to just 172 yards and 12 first downs on the evening.

“It feels a lot better,” Tiger defensive end Steve Yoder said. “Not giving up any points is a huge step from the last couple of games.”

A big key to the Tiger defensive effort was their ability to keep Raider quarterback Mike Dorsey in check. Dorsey, another in a long line of mobile quarterbacks which have given Massillon fits in the past, gained 50 yards on 20 carries while throwing for 32 yards.

“We had not had good success with running quarterbacks before,” Tiger safety Corey Hildreth said. “I was glad we stepped it up and did good. ”The shutout bid wasn’t secured until the final seconds, as the Raiders drove down inside the Tiger 25. However, Massillon prevented Warren from removing the zero on the scoreboard.

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Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2007: Massillon 48, Akron Buchtel 14

Tigers beat up on Buchtel

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The Massillon Tigers were looking for a prescription to cure themselves of the recent struggles they have been through recently. Fortunately for them, the Buchtel Griffins were just the medicine they needed.

Massillon matched its best first-half point production this season, and carried that on through to the end of a 48-14 win over the struggling Griffins in front of 7,014 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“It’s like a weight off our shoulders, definitely,” Tiger center Blake Seidler said. “I really don’t know how to explain it. It’s a mixed feeling. It’s a win, at the same time, you just have to, I don’t know, take it one at a time, I guess. It’s kind of hard to explain.”

The win snaps a two-game losing streak for the Tigers, who improve to 3-4 with a visit from Warren Harding forthcoming next Friday. Buchtel, which has struggled in Ricky Powers’ first season at the helm of his alma mater, fell to 1-6.

Things were academic by halftime, when the Tigers led 31-6. K.J. Herring added the topper to start the second half, when he returned the kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and a 38-6 lead.

Herring had his best all-around game of the season, in large part because the Tigers were without the services of DeVoe Torrence. Torrence was out with a sprained ankle.

Making the most of the chance, Herring rushed for 157 yards on 12 carries with touchdown runs of 42 and 70 yards.

“It felt good,” Herring said. “It felt really good. I talked to the linemen – I talked to everybody on the team – and I just asked them, ‘We need to come together and finish this out.’ I’m really proud, because everybody came up, even the people who came in. … We just all came together and it worked out.”

Massillon’s offense scored on five of its seven first-half possessions to build up its 25-point edge. One of the two drives the Tigers were stopped on, they still managed to get the ball back on a fumbled punt at the Buchtel 46.

The Tigers were aided by great field position throughout the half, something that wasn’t the case in last week’s loss at St. Ignatius. Massillon’s worst starting position was its own 34 against Buchtel; its best starting position against the Wildcats was its own 28.

“That’s what you have to do if you want to win in high school football week in and week out,” Tiger coach Tom Stacy said of the field position. “That’s what we did tonight.”

The first two Tiger drives started on the Buchtel side of the 50, including their first drive, which started at the Griffin 2 after a blocked punt. That drive took all of one play – a 2-yard Steve Yoder run – to crack the end zone.

Justin Turner’s 11-yard run on a direct snap made it 14-0 after Steve Schott’s PAT kick.

Buchtel – which actually had more first-half yards than Massillon, 173-165 – cracked the scoreboard with six seconds left in the first quarter. That came on a 27-yard Tahj Dent-to-Dominique Gray pass, although the subsequent two-point run failed to keep it at 14-6.

Massillon scored on its final three second-quarter possessions – after it forced the fumble on the punt less than two minutes into the quarter. The Tigers made it 45-6 after Herring ripped off a 70-yard run on Massillon’s first second-half play.

Buchtel’s offense wasn’t exactly stifled through the course of the evening. The Griffins mustered 310 yards for the game – five fewer than Massillon – and had a 14-play, 75-yard scoring drive to cut it to 45-14 with less than a minute left in the third quarter.

“Our defense was on the field a lot tonight,” Stacy said. “I think in the third quarter, they were on the field for almost the entire quarter.” By then, though, many in the crowd were more interested in what was going on in the Indians’ American League Division Series game against the Yankees. There was a loud, sustained roar from the crowd when Travis Hafner’s game-winning hit was shown on the video screen during a break in the action.

The last bit of intrigue came with 5:52 left, when Schott booted a 28-yard field goal for a 48-14. The kick tied him with David Abdul for Massillon’s career field goal record with 29.

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Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2007: Massillon 0, Cleveland St. Ignatius 27

No ‘O’ sinks Tigers vs. Iggy

By CHRIS EASTERLING

PARMA – The difference is like night and day. Eight days earlier, the Massillon Tiger offense rolled up a season high 52 points, 498 offensive yards and 433 rushing yards in a nail-biting loss to Mentor. On Saturday night at Parma’s Byers Field, they could only muster 13 yards rushing and 75 total yards – both season lows – against a St. Ignatius team which had lost to Mentor just a week before the Cardinals edged the Tigers.

However, it was on the scoreboard where the biggest difference was, as the Tigers were shut out for the first time since 1998 in a 27-0 setback to the Wildcats.

“I don’t know,” said Massillon coach Tom Stacy, whose 2-4 team may have seen its playoff hopes ended with the loss. “If somebody’s got an answer, I’d like to hear it, because I certainly don’t have one for that. It’s unbelievable that you could block that well last week and then not block that well this week.

“They (the Wildcat defense) loaded up the box and said, ‘Hey, if you’re going to beat us, you’re going to beat us throwing the football.’ And we’re just not good enough throwing it right now.”

The last time Massillon was shut out came exactly nine years ago in Week Six of Rick Shepas’ first season. Glen Mills (Pa.) did the honors with a 19-0 win at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Compounding the problem was the injury status of DeVoe Torrence, who rushed for 283 yards against Mentor. Torrence did not start the game because of his undisclosed injury, and like the rest of his teammates, was never able to get into any kind of rhythm running the ball. He finished with just one yard on 13 carries.

“DeVoe was banged up,” Stacy said. “We weren’t even sure he was going to play tonight. He was touch-and-go, and we kept it under wraps because we didn’t want them to game-plan it.”

K.J. Herring finished as the Tigers’ leading rusher with 36 yards on 10 carries.

“I think it was team defense,” said St. Ignatius coach Chuck Kyle, whose team is 5-1. “We were stringing it out as far as the running game, not giving DeVoe a seam, because if you give him a seam, then look out. We tried to string them out a little bit there.”

It was also a night-long issue of field position for the Tigers, whose best starting position was their own 28-yard-line. A big reason for that was the leg of St. Ignatius kicker Nicholas Yako, who put all six of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Massillon struggled to change that field position, as it failed to record a first down on six of its 13 possessions. The Tigers’ first snap on the Wildcats’ side of the 50 didn’t come until the final play of the game, which was also the first time they picked up more than one first down on a drive.

“We were really bad on offense,” Stacy said. “I thought our defense really played well considering everything. We just couldn’t do anything on offense.”

St. Ignatius – which finished with 182 yards and eight first downs – put the pressure on the Tigers to keep up by jumping out to a 13-0 halftime lead, which proved to be all the points it would need. Yako booted a pair of 40-plus-yard field goals – a 43- and 49-yarder – while Emmett Lydon added a 1-yard run for the Wildcats.

While St. Ignatius’ offense was doing its part getting the lead, the Wildcat defense was setting the tone by making life impossible for the Tigers. Massillon finished the first half with minus-4 yards of offense, a problem exacerbated by a minus-37 rushing performance.

The Tigers also gave up four sacks in the first half for a loss of 39 yards. They were sacked one more time in the second half for a total loss of 49 yards.

“We can’t put all of that on the offensive line,” Stacy said of the sacks. “It’s play-calling; it’s offensive line; it’s running backs blocking; it’s wide receivers not getting open; it’s (the quarterback) holding on to the ball too long. It was a combination of all of that.”

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History

2007: Massillon 52, Mentor 56

Tigers’ explosion not enough

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The numbers were mind-numbing Friday night: 66 points, 668 yards of offense, 463 rushing yards, two 160-yard rushers and nine touchdowns.

And then halftime arrived in Massillon’s game against Mentor at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

By the time the smoke finally cleared, some three-and-a-half hours after it all began, the last big play was made by the Cardinals, who scored on an 8-yard Bart Tanski-to-Steve Orkis pass with 24 seconds left in a 56-52 Massillon setback.

“The fans got their money’s worth,” said a dejected Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team is now 2-3 headed to next Saturday’s game at St. Ignatius in Parma. “That was a heck of a high school football game, that’s for sure. Their offense is just a juggernaut. … We knew they were good, we just didn’t have a whole lot of answers for them.”

Massillon took the lead – the eighth lead change of the game – with 1:52 remaining when fullback Steve Yoder crashed through the line for a 21-yard touchdown. Steve Schott’s extra point made it 52-49.

But Tanski was an efficient 7-of-7 for 71 yards on the winning drive. The only running play on it was an 8-yard scramble by the Mentor quarterback.

“You have to score when you can,” Stacy said. “You have to punch it in when you can.”

After scoring just 30 points in its last three games combined, Massillon came out with a different look to the offense, lining up in the power-I with Torrence at tailback and K.J. Herring at a halfback next to the fullback. With both Torrence and Herring in the game at the same time, they were able play off of each other with big-time results for the Tigers.

Torrence finished the game with 283 yards and four touchdowns – 168 of those yards and two of those scores in the first half. His 200-yard effort was matched by Mentor’s Tom Worden, who ran for 226 yards – 176 in the first half – and three scores on the night.

Herring added 109 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown run which gave Massillon a 10-7 lead with 4:47 left in the first quarter.

“We wanted to get K.J. more involved in the game,” Stacy said. “We felt we needed another weapon in there to help take some of the pressure off of DeVoe.”

The problem was, the scoring wouldn’t end at that point. In fact, there were still 49 points and three lead changes to go – just in the first half.

The first defensive stop didn’t occur until just over a minute was left in the first quarter, and even then points were scored. Massillon would punt the ball away to Mentor, only to have Dorie Irvin strip the Cardinal return man, while J.B. Price swooped in to recover the fumble and return it 35 yards for a touchdown. Schott’s extra-point kick made it 17-14 Tigers with 1:09 left in the quarter.

Massillon’s biggest pain was Tanski. With the precision of a skilled surgeon, the senior calmly led the Cardinals down the field on drive after drive.

Tanski was 7-of-13 for 69 yards in the second quarter, with a pair of touchdown strikes to Orkis. He added a 15-yard touchdown run, a run which gave Mentor a 35-24 lead with 2:00 left until the band show.

Tanski finished 25-of-38 for 299 yards and three scores. He also ran for 56 yards.

The Tigers, not to be outdone, managed to change the scoreboard one final time before the half, with Torrence scoring from a yard out with 27 seconds left to slice it to 35-31 after the PAT.

The two teams would each score once in the third quarter – Worden scoring from 2-yards out with 8:48 left in the stanza, and Torrence from 9-yards out with 20 seconds left – keeping the Mentor lead at four, 42-38.

Torrence gave Massillon its first lead since the second quarter on a 24-yard run with 7:25 left – 45-42 after the PAT. But Tanski’s second scoring run, a 2-yarder, put Mentor in front 49-45 with 4:01 remaining.

A 40-yard kickoff return by Justin Turner, with an added 15 yards on a Mentor penalty, put the ball at the Cardinal 34. Massillon then was added by a key offside penalty against Mentor on a fourth-and-4 play at its own 28, extending the drive. Two plays later, Yoder scored to give the Tigers – momentarily – their final lead.

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Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2007: Massillon 14, Youngstown Ursuline 3

Massillon gets enough big plays to turn back Ursuline

By CHRIS EASTERLING

Any win is a work of art, especially when a team is mired in a two-game losing streak the way Massillon was entering Friday night’s contest with Ursuline at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. So, don’t expect the Tigers to be deducting for style points after pulling out a tough 14-3 victory over the Fighting Irish.

“At this point, you take them any way you can get them,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team evened its record at 2-2. “It wasn’t pretty. I’ll tell you what, that’s a pretty good football team. … Obviously it helped us not having (Ursuline tailback Darrell Mason) playing. But, hey, we’ll take it.”

It was obvious by the mood in the Tiger locker room they weren’t about to give it back. After having to trudge in after consecutive setbacks to Solon and Normandy the past two weeks, the players were able to revel in the joy that comes with winning on Friday.

“It feels like we got a chip off our shoulder,” Tiger senior quarterback Chris Willoughby said. “We know we still have to work hard. We have a good team (Mentor, which is 3-1 after beating previously-unbeaten St. Ignatius 38-17 on Friday) coming in here next week.”

The Tigers were able to move the ball between the 20s all night, but they struggled to punch it into the end zone. The exceptions were a pair of touchdown passes from Willoughby – a 10-yarder to Josh Cross with 8:39 left in the second quarter and a 47-yarder to Kevin Massey with 5:37 remaining that broke open a 7-3 game.

Willoughby played the entire game save for the first series after Mike Clark suffered a foot injury. Clark had been named the starter earlier this week, and his status for next week’s game against Mentor is uncertain.

The senior quarterback made the most of his opportunity, completing 5-of-8 passes for 72 yards. He had at least two others dropped.

“Coach told me to be ready to go whenever,” Willoughby said. “I always have to be ready. Being a senior, I felt like I had to lead the team.”

The Tigers’ running game managed to grind out enough yards to wear down the Irish, as Massillon gained 162 yards rushing. Of those, 158 were by DeVoe Torrence, who carried it 29 times.

“We thought we could be able to run the ball,” Stacy said. “We have to be able to run the ball. And one of the things we wanted to do is we wanted to run DeVoe a bunch. We wanted to pound it up in here. We knew they had a lot of linemen going both ways, and we wanted to wear them down. I think we were able to do that.”

Massillon finished the night with 240 yards of offense. The Tigers also had a 32-yard field goal blocked.

What Massillon was able to do more than anything on Friday is keep Ursuline from crossing the goal line. Yes, the Irish were able to gain 192 yards of offense, but when they got into Tiger territory, the defense arched its back and turned them away.

The only Ursuline points came on a 39-yard Mike Metzinger field goal, which cut Massillon’s lead to 7-3 with 2:57 left in the first half.

Massillon came up with a pair of turnovers on consecutive Ursuline third-quarter possessions. The first, a fumble recovery at the Tiger 24, turned back the Irish’s deepest penetration of the second half.

Justin Turner also came up with a leaping interception at the Massillon 41 on the next drive.

“I can’t say enough about our defense, our defensive coaches, the game plan and the way we executed on defense,” Stacy said. “We did enough offensively to win. Defensively, I thought our guys did a great job.”

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