AUSTINTOWN ‑ Falcon Stadium is a 10,000‑seat facility. It is also a torture chamber to the Massillon Tigers. The Austintown‑Fitch Falcons, occupant of the structure, added to the agony with a 14‑0 high school football decision over the Tigers Friday.
Fitch scored a touchdown on the last play from scrimmage to win the 1986 game, won on a 40‑yard field goal in 1988, and deviated from its running game to capitalize on two touchdown passes to win in 1990.
There were no last‑second heroics or surprises by Fitch in the most recent meeting, but the Tigers were stuffed by the Steel Valley Conference school’s steel‑like defense and lost before 8,000 fans on a cool, breezy Friday night.
The Tigers fell to 2‑3. The last time they had that mark was 1984, Mike Currence’s final year as head coach.
Massillon has also lost its last three games, the first time that has occurred since 1988, when Lee Owens’ first team dropped decisions to Fitch, Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary and Warren Harding.
The Tigers were shut out for the first time since an 8‑0 loss to Cleveland St. Joseph in the eighth‑game in 1987 on a muddy field in Euclid during John Maronto’s final year as Massillon head coach.
It was a dry field when the Tigers and Fitch played Friday. David Hartman, Fitch head coach and Massillon native, was pleased his team survived a battle of smash mouth football.
“It was a fight,” he said. “They’re much … much better than what we saw on film against Alliance and (Akron) Garfield.”
Jack Rose glanced at the post‑game offensive statistics while seated in the Fitch gym, adjacent to the Tiger lockerroom. The first‑year Massillon head coach was perplexed about his team’s offense. “We cannot score in the red zone,” he said. “We have to get that fixed.”
The Tigers had one scoring drive stopped inside the Fitch 20 and two others inside the Falcon 30. Rose noted the Tigers had problems finishing off scoring drives in both the Garfield and Cincinnati Moeller games.
“We worked a lot in practice on moving the ball inside the 30,” he said. “We’ve tried to get them in a frame of mind they have to execute once they get down there. We’ll just have to keep working.”
Part of Fitch’s defensive game plan was to contain Massillon quarterback Mike Danzy. “We felt he had done so many things against the teams they’ve played,” said Hartman “Our goal was not letting him make any big plays. Their offense is different, but we had to prepare for more things than we did when Lee Owens was coach.”
Fitch took the rollout away from Danzy and that forced him to scramble up the middle, where he was often greeted by a host of players wearing all‑red uniforms. He was either sacked or tackled behind the line of scrimmage five times and finished with minus‑35 yards rushing.
“This was our third, shutout,” said Hartman, “We have a good defensive team.”
Fitch has posted shutouts in three of its last four games, even though linebacker Dan Inglis missed most of the second half after he was ejected early in the third quarter. “The official told me he kicked somebody,” Hartman said.
The Tigers were held to only 83 yards in total offense. “I figured we could get 300 yards in total offense against them,” Rose said. “I thought we could get 150‑160 rushing and 140‑150 passing.” The Tigers unveiled the running game on their first series, but Fitch stopped it without allowing a first down.
Fitch then reciprocated with an 8‑play, 59‑yard drive that was capped by a big play on fourth down. Fullback Shawn Kamrad, 6‑1, 195, made a statement on his first carry when he blasted off left tackle for 12 yards to the Massillon 47.
The Tigers gave ground grudgingly on the next six plays and forced Fitch into a fourth‑and six at the 31.
Quarterback Nick Siciliano rolled left and flipped a pass to Kamrad over the middle. The Fitch fullback caught the ball at the 30, motored upfield, received a punishing block near the 20 and the short pass turned into a 31‑yard touchdown. Joe Ferraro hit the P.A.T. and Fitch led 7‑0 at the 5: 47 mark of the first quarter.
The Tigers responded with their best sustained drive of the game after Dan Hackenbracht returned the kickoff to the 33. Wide receiver Jarmey Elder made a one‑hand grab of a Danzy pass on a slant pattern for eight yards. Dan Seimetz picked up six on a counter‑gap and the ball was at the 47.
An offensive holding call appeared to stop the drive, but Danzy rolled left and hit Jerry May on an out pattern for 18 yards to the Fitch 40. Stinson picked up 12 of Massillon’s next 13 yards on the counter‑gap play and the first quarter ended at the Fitch 27.
On the first play of the second quarter, Stinson blasted off left guard and into the Fitch secondary. He was jarred at the 15, the ball popped loose and Fitch’s Chris Inglis recovered.
Early in the third quarter, Massillon defensive tackle B.J. Payne recovered a fumble at the Fitch 23. Eugene Copeland picked up a yard off right tackle, Stinson was held to another yard on another off‑tackle play and nose tackle Jason Kokoski, 5‑11, 210, diagnosed a screen pass and Copeland was thrown for a four yard loss.
On fourth‑and 14, Danzy rolled right, was blindsided and ‘Chris Inglis picked up the ball at the 30 and was eventually tackled at the Fitch 47.
After the Tigers held, Danzy hit May on a corner route for 34-yards to the Fitch 36. But the Tigers couldn’t net another first down in the drive and Hackenbracht was thrown for a 2‑yard loss on a fourth‑and‑three with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
The Falcons executed their Wing‑T offense to perfection on their next series with Kamrad running the dives and Siciliano running the keeper up the middle or taking the ball outside on the option. The drive consisted of 18 plays, covered 69 yards and was capped by Kamrad’s 1‑yard burst off left tackle. Ferraro’s placement made it 14‑0 with 7:18 to play.
Ferraro, also a defensive back, ended any Massillon comeback hope with an interception at‑the Tiger 45 with less than 6: 00 left to play.
FITCH 14 MASSILLON 0 M F First downs rushing 2 10 First downs passing 2 2 First downs by penalty 1 0 Totals first downs 5 12 Net yards rushing 24 179 Net yards passing 59 43 Total yards gained 83 222 Passes attempted 12 4 Passes completed 5 2 Passes int. by 0 1 Kickoff average 47.0 50.3 Kickoff return yards 72 21 Punts 4 4 Punting average 29.3 29.0 Punt return yards 10 17 Fumbles 2 1 Fumbles lost 2 1 Penalties 1 5 Yards penalized 11 59 Number of plays 37 50 Time of possession 18:58 29:02
Fitch 7 0 0 7‑14 Massillon 0 0 0 O_ 0
F ‑ Kamrad 31 pass from Siciliano (Ferraro kick) F ‑ Kamrad 1 run (Ferraro kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATICS
Rushing M – Stinson 13‑41, Seimetz 3-12, Copeland 2‑3, Hackenbracht 2‑3; F – Kamrad 23‑105, Siciliano 9‑46, Turner 11‑13.
Passing M – Danzy 5‑12‑1, 59; F – Siciliano 2‑4-0, 43.
Receiving M – May 2‑52, Elder 2,11; F – Kamrad 1‑31, Moore: 1‑12.
Massillon bows, Rose vows comeback Moeller sinks Tigers to 2-2; tough test at Fitch up next
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
A trace of blood tinged the top of the “4” on Andre Collins’ Cincinnati Moeller football jersey. Collins’ team had just overcome the Massillon Tigers 24-14 in front of 16,762 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Saturday night. In the process, the big junior running back became a walking symbol of his team’s series against the Massillon Tigers.
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The outcome gave Moeller four victories over the Tigers in the last four years. The blood? Well, Moeller has extracted a pint or two from Tigertown. The Crusaders lead the all-time series seven games to none. A Collins has faced the Tigers in each of the last four games. In 1989 and ’90, Moeller’s hero was Andre’s brother, Carlos. Andre has suited up the last two years.
Andre hasn’t had the same impact as his brother. But the games have had a big impact on him. “This game means a lot,” said Andre, his brother rooms with ex-Tiger Eric Wright at the University of Kentucky. “I feel sad that it’s the last game between our teams. I enjoy playing here. Massillon has the greatest fans … probably in the nation.”
In the 1970s, Moeller may well have had the greatest high school teams in the nation. That is no longer the case. But the Crusaders of the ’90s are still a playoff-style team, if not an actual qualifier, every year.
Jack Rose’s Tigers are 2-2 heading into a Friday night game at Austintown, where Massillon has lost three straight times. Rose’s response to losing is anger and resolution. “We’re going to come back,” he told a large gathering of alumni late Saturday night at AMVETS Post 6.
Earlier, in the locker room after the loss, he vowed he and his staff will “get things to where we want them,” which wasn’t where they were Saturday. Yet, Rose conceded Moeller is an excellent team, well coached, more than adequately talented, and very smart.
If there were technical aspects of the game he could fault, he could not criticize his team’s effort. “We played hard,” Rose said, emphasizing the last word. “Our kids were really playing hard.”
In terms of having a shot at Moeller in the final moments of the fourth quarter, this was the Tigers’ second-best game of the series. In the 1990 game, Moeller won on a last-second touchdown reception by Carlos Collins. In the ’91 game, the Tigers led by a point at halftime but faded down the stretch.
In Saturday’s battle, the Tigers put together a touchdown drive’ that turned a 10-point deficit into a precarious 17-14 Moeller lead with 6:19 left in the game.
Moeller clinched the win on a toss to tailback Brian Balsly, who raced 44 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. Balsly, who finished with 126 rushing yards, hobbled off the field earlier in the half. “It was back cramps,” he said. “I just played through them when I got back in.”
Moeller was coming off a loss to Covington Catholic. “That was a shame,” said Moeller head coach Steve Klonne, still tortured by a phantom (he thought) roughing-the-kicker call set up Covington’s go-ahead touchdown. “This gets us back in the right frame of mind.” “I think this will get us going,” added Balsly. “I think we can go as far as we want to go”
The Tigers stopped Moeller in ‘the early going Saturday. Massillon had the first possession and punted, then Moeller did the same thing. The Tigers then used eight plays to cover 67 yards for a touchdown.
The big plays were a third-and-eight scramble for a first down by quarterback Mike Danzy, and a 49-yard Danzy-to-Alonzo Simpson pass play. On this series, safety Dan Hackenbracht joined Andre Stinson to form the Tiger backfield. It was Hackenbracht who scored from two yards out on third adown, following blocks by Matt Orr and Mark Miller.
Jason Brown’s kick made it 7-0 with 6:09 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers wound up with a 179-135 advantage in total offense in the first half. In the end, Moeller led 360-285.
The Crusaders began making inroads on their second possession, on a drive consisting of runs of 8, 4, 3, 7, 5, 4, 6, 3 and 7 yards. There was only one pass in the mix, an incompletion that helped allow the Tigers to stop Moeller on fourth-and-one from the 18. Linebacker Jake Reed made the penetration that led to Andre Collins getting stopped.
The Tigers had a chance to take charge midway through the second quarter. A 35-yard run by Stinson gave them a first down on the 25. The chance passed when Moeller held the Tigers right there on downs.
And, from there, Moeller created the field position that led to a tie at halftime. Moeller had perhaps its poorest passing night in the Massillon series, but the Crusaders did get a key 21-yard catch from 6-7 1/2-inch tight end Bob Brannen before having to punt deep into Massillon territory.
Following a Tiger punt, the Crusaders needed two plays to score from 54 yards out. Quarterback Dan Feichtner found his favorite target, senior flanker Brad Hronek, for a 53-yard gain to the 1. Feichtner scored on the next play, and Brian Huston’s kick made it 7-7 with two minutes left in the half.
The Tigers missed another opportunity with a fumble near the Moeller 20 in the closing seconds of the half.
“We thought we were in field goal range one play before that,” Rose said. “We were trying to take one shot at the end zone before the kick. Obviously, it didn’t work out.”
Moeller went to work at the start of the third quarter, driving 80 yards in nine plays – all runs. Feichtner again scored from a yard out. Huston’s kick made it 14-7 with 6:52 left in the third quarter.
“They were real methodical,” Rose said. “They were just taking it right at us, as we thought they would. Stopping them can be difficult. They’re big, they move well, and they execute well.”
Huston kicked a 20-yard field goal with 10:20 left in the game to make it 17-7.
The Tigers’ next possession got life on a 22-yard scramble by Danzy to the Moeller 46. A 19-yard completion to Todd Peters took the Tigers into scoring territory.
Simpson almost made a spectacular, comeback catch at the 2 on a ball ruled incomplete. But on fourth-and-five, Simpson cut from left to right, underneath the secondary, and caught a Danzy pass which he carried to the 2. “We put that play (the pass to Simpson) in for this game,” Rose said.
Stinson scored from a yard out, Brown made the kick, and it was 17-14 with 6:19 left.
Moeller answered by moving 75 yards in six plays, the last of which was Balsly’s game clinching 44-yard TD run.
Now the Tigers will try to rebound against Fitch, which improved to 3-1 Saturday with a 33-25 win over Lakewood St. Edward. Fitch was upset in its opener, 14-10 by Youngstown Chaney, but bounced back to defeat Mentor 17-0 and Erie Prep 13-0.
MOELLER 24 MASSILLON 12
MA MO First downs rushing 6 14 First downs passing 6 3 First downs by penalty 2 1 Totals first downs 14 18 Net yards rushing 157 257 Net yards passing 128 103 Total yards gained 285 360 Passes attempted 26 1 Passes completed 9 4 Passes int. by 0 0 Kickoff average 48.0 56.8 Kickoff return yards 70 50 Punts 4 3 Punting average 35.8 29.7 Punt return yards 12 14 Fumbles 2 1 Fumbles lost 1 0 Penalties 3 4 Yards penalized 35 40 Number of plays 63 57 Time of possession 22:14 25:46
Moeller 0 7 7 10 24 Massillon 7 0 0 7 14
MA – Hackenbracht 2 run (Brown kick) MO – Feichtner 1 run (Huston kick) MO – Feichtner 1 run (Huston kick) MO – FG Huston 20 MA – Stinson 1 run (Brown kick) MO – Balsly 44 run (Huston kick)
Hard day’s night in Tigertown Garfield rally provides 14‑13 upset
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
It rained Friday, hard enough, maybe, to wash tomorrow into today. For the Massillon Tigers, 14‑13 losers to Akron Garfield, tomorrow got here too soon.
“I told the team before the season, ” Tiger head coach Jack Rose said after his football team fell to 2‑1, “we would face a crisis sometime this season. “Obviously, it got here with this game. It’s tough.”
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“But,” added Rose, “I really feel we’ll bounce back. We’ll have a good week of practice. Our kids will play hard … they’ll play as well as they can against Moeller.” Cincinnati Moeller, 6‑0 in the all‑time series against the Tigers will pay a visit next Saturday to Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, where 9,950 saw last night’s game.
Meanwhile, tomorrow couldn’t have arrived at a better time for Garfield. “We use a lot of two‑way players,” explained Garfield head coach Bill McGee. “We want October to get here. Tonight felt like October.” It felt that way because of the rain, because it was cool. Consequently, some of the energy the two‑platoon Tigers might have sapped from the Rams on a hot day hung around. It was there after the Tigers broke a 7‑7 halftime tie with a touchdown in the middle of the third quarter.
Garfield marched 59 yards after the ensuing kickoff . Junior running back Frank Idley scored from nine yards out with 2:25 left in the third quarter. Since the Tigers had misfired on the previous extra‑point kick attempt, Garfield’s Mark Glockner was able to give his team a 14‑13 lead by booting it through when it was his turn.
When the Tigers couldn’t keep moving on a fourth-quarter drive that pushed the ball to the Garfield 15‑yard line, the Rams toughened up and rode out the 14‑13 lead until it was the final score.
The rain couldn’t wash away yesterday. Not for Garfield’s senior quarterback, Joe Nemith. Nemith said a recurring thought kept flashing through his mind throughout the game. ”Sixty to 13,” was the thought, he said. “That’s all … 60 to 13.”
That was the score by which the Rams lost to the Tigers in 1991. “Our kids were highly motivated by that 60‑13 theme,” McGee said. “It was real embarrassing for us … not that Massillon ran it up, or anything like that. We just had one of our poorer teams.”
This year’s team is different. It has at least five seniors with a shot at landing a Division I college scholarship. It has sophomores who should keep the 2‑8 nightmare that was the 1991 season from happening again soon . ‘ “I’ve said all along they play harder this year,” Rose said. “They have a lot of talent. They have good speed and good balance.” McGee, who says the goal of his team (now 2‑1) is to win the 1992 state title, returned the compliment. “I underestimated how physical a team Massillon is,” he said. “That was one of the harder‑hitting games we’ve played in a long time.” There were a few hard feelings afterward. Most of Garfield’s players punctuated their post‑game celebration by dancing on the Obie the Tiger insignia on the middle of Massillon’s sand‑turf field.
By that time, most of the Tigers were near the locker room. Some of them saw the celebration and went out to meet it. There was some shoving, but the mini‑melee was quickly broken up. McGee didn’t endorse the actions of his team. “Get your fat (butt) back to the locker room,” he told one of his linemen.
But he understood it. “That was all about something that happened before the game,” he said. “Their players all congregated on the tiger. The problem was, they cross the 50‑yard line and pushed some of our players out of the way to do it.”
There were also some hard feelings in the stands. Some directed their anger at Rose, who is in his first year as Tiger head coach. “Go back to Kent State,” a few of them yelled. Rose was an assistant coach at Kent State before becoming the Tigers’ defensive coordinator in 1991.
The loss was tough on Rose. He looked like a man who had been up all night in the postgame locker room. But he is a tough man. He was composed as he assessed the loss.
“The main thing,” he said, “was that we kept shooting ourselves in the foot … penalties … turnovers … mistakes.”
The game was tense throughout. Garfield woke up the crowd right away when sophomore sensation Antoine Winfield returned the opening kickoff from his 8‑yard line to the Tigers’ 5 before Dan Hackenbracht brought him down. A clipping penalty on the return put the ball on Massillon’s 25, but Garfield needed only five plays to run it in. On third down from the 7, Winfield lined up at left halfback in the T‑formation (three back) offense, took an inside handoff, and streaked up the middle for a touchdown. Glockner’s kick made it 7‑0.
The Tigers wound up with only three first‑half possessions, which will happen against a good ball‑control team. They made it to the Garfield 15 on the first and to the Garfield 32 on the second, but didn’t score until the third.
Quarterback Mike Danzy threw a 31‑yard touchdown pass to tight end Todd Peters with 1:32 left in the half. Peters ran an end zone route and Danzy hit him with a well‑thrown bomb that barely eluded the sophomore, Winfield, who was streaking in front of him.
Jason Brown’s kick created a 7‑all halftime score.
Early in the third quarter, Tiger cornerback Scott Brediger recovered a Winfield (yes, the soph plays running back, too) fumble at the Garfield 35.
A holding penalty set up a third‑and‑19, and Danzy tried to hit flanker Alonzo Simpson on a post pattern near the goal line. Again it was the soph, Winfield, arriving on the scene to make the interception; however, Garfield was stuck with the ball on its own 4‑yard line.
Switching to running back, Winfield fumbled on second down and the Tigers’ Joel Smith recovered at the 1. Tiger senior Eugene Copeland scored on the next play, but Brown’s extra point try was wide left, and the Tigers led 13‑7 with 6:23 left in the third quarter.
Garfield drove 59 yards for the decisive points after the ensuing kickoff. A 9‑yard run by Frank Idley and the conversion kick made it 14‑13 with 2:25 left in the third quarter,
Key plays were a pair of 13‑yard completions from Nemith to senior end Eugene Lewis.
“They were bringing a strong safety to the strong side and I was throwing to the short side,” Nemith said. “We were in a spread formation and we’d send the tight end to the flats, up the seam.
Garfield then pulled a stunner by onside kicking, but the Tigers recovered near midfield.
The Tigers spent the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter driving the ball ‑ running it, mostly. A bootleg run of 17 yards gave the Tigers a first down on the 16. But two runs for a total of one yard and a holding penalty stalled the drive, then Danzy was sacked for a 19‑yard loss that was nearly worse than that. Danzy threw while he was going down and the ball was picked off by a Garfield lineman who would’ve had clear sailing to the end zone. The Tiger quarterback, though, was ruled down, as McGee scolded a Ram assistant coach who blew his stack over the ruling.
Garfield then staged a drive reminscent of 1987, the last time the Rams beat the Tigers. They completed a pass to loosen things up and otherwise used Idley and Winfield on runs. They took the ball from their own 17 to the Tiger 16. There was 2:43 left when B.J. Payne stopped Idley at the 16 on fourth down.
Danzy scrambled for a yard, then threw three incomplete passes. On fourth down, Danzy lobbed what seemed destined for a completion to Peters, but there he was again ‑Winfield ‑ flashing in to knock away the pass.
Garfield took over and ran out the clock. The Rams wound up with a 213‑160 advantage in total offensive yards. They got away with gridiron murder, fumbling six times, losing four of the cough‑ups. Idley was the workhorse, rushing 87 yards in 23 carries. Nemith didn’t pass much, but he did it effectively ‑ 5‑for‑6 for 58 yards.
Tiger running back Andre Stinson left the game in the first half with a bruised thigh and was replaced by Hackenbracht. Stinson returned in the second half and wound up with 48 yards in 11 carries. Hackenbracht was the Tigers’ second‑leading rusher with 42 yards in eight carries.
“It was a good game,” concluded Garfield’s coach, McGee. “We’re a good team. We win here occasionally.”
The Tigers, meanwhile, are a team facing a crisis: trying to rebound from a tough loss, and having to do it against Cincinnati Moeller.
GARFIELD 14 MASSILLON 13 M G First downs rushing 8 10 First downs passing 2 4 First downs by penalty 1 1 Totals first downs 11 15 Net yards rushing 116 155 Net yards passing 44 58 Total yards gained 160 213 Passes attempted 14 6 Passes completed 3 5 Passes int. by 0 1 Kickoff average 44.0 31.7 Kickoff return yards 39 111 Punts 2 2 Punting average 33.0 40.0 Punt return yards 8 0 Fumbles 2 6 Fumbles lost 1 4 Penalties 5 6 Yards penalized 44 55 Number of plays 47 55 Time of possession 18:27 29:33
Alliance 7 0 7 0 14 Massillon 7 0 6 0 13
G ‑ Winfield 7 run (Glockner kick) M ‑ Peters 31 pass from Danzy (Brown kick) M ‑ Copeland 1 run (kick failed) G ‑ Idley 9 run (Glockner kick)
Massillon rallies again Tigers seem doomed, then rally for overtime win
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
It was over. Walsh Jesuit led 14-0 and had the game in the bag.
Then it was over again. Shut out through three quarters, Massillon caught some magic and led 21-14.
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Roll over Beethoven. Walsh drove far and fast to make it 21-all and create overtime. Momentum City. Mo-town. Walsh stormed to the 1 in OT. It was over again.
On the other hand, Socrates (or Yogi Berra maybe), laid down the law long ago: It ain’t over “til it’s over.
A penalty made Walsh settle for a field goal and a 24-21 lead. Then the Tigers got their turn in overtime, and when it was really over, they had won a 27-24 jaw-dropper in front of 11,731 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
In high school overtimes, each team gets a turn to run its offense 20 yards from the goal line. If they’re still tied after each team has taken a turn, they do it again. They could stay all night long taking turns.
However, Mike Danzy and Jerry May turned out the lights on the Warriors. Earlier, they had hooked up on a 59-yard touchdown pass. In overtime, on third-and-five with Walsh up by 3, they hooked up again. Danzy rolled right and threw a strike to May in the right corner of the end zone. All that was left was for May to wind up on the bottom of a flesh pile of celebrating teammates.
The Tigers, 2-0, locked themselves in the locker room, sang the alma mater while standing on benches, and roared through a fire-breathing speech by head coach Jack Rose.
“This game,” Rose told them, “is going to make you guys tough to beat.”
Walsh, 1-1, has been through this before. In a 1989 playoff game, the Warriors led 24-7 in the third quarter before the Tigers staged one of the greatest comebacks in their history for a 42-24 win.
In some ways, last night’s game was more dramatic than the 1989 gut-buster, maybe because the ’89 game wasn’t close at the end … because the ’92 game ended on the last play.
There were a lot of heroes, but then again, just one big Mr. Hero if you take a mouthful from Tiger senior Dan Hackenbracht to heart.
“We were playing OK until the fourth quarter, “Hackenbracht said. “Then everybody started playing for the team. There were no individuals playing out there. Just one team. There are no individuals on this ” team. It’s great to be a part of it.
“This game,” Hackenbracht concluded, “really brought us together.” A 75-yard punt return for a touchdown by Hackenbracht that created a 14-all tie with 4: 59 left in the fourth quarter helped the cause.
This from a guy who one week earlier couldn’t hang on to a punt in a 17-8 win over Alliance. And, yes, the bobbles bothered him.
“I couldn’t sleep all week,” Hackenbracht said. “I didn’t even know I’d be returning punts until tonight.”
Rose stuck with him. “He’s got a great ability to make that first tackler miss on a return,” Rose said. “That’s the key to breaking them.”
Hackenbracht was playing safety when he set up a Walsh punt by knifing in to break up a third-down pass over the middle. After the play, Hackenbracht faced the Walsh bench and engaged in some pleasant conversation.
“A few of their guys were saying, “They don’t want none … they ain’t nothin,” Hackenbracht said. “When I lined up to take the punt, I looked over to their bench. I saw three guys. Theycalled my name. I winked at them I just had a feeling.
“Then I just concentrated on looking the ball into my hands. I looked up and all I could see was a huge hole on the right. Then I saw gus throwing blocks. Eric Woods…Josh McElhaney. I don’t know who else.” He sprinted into the right corner of the end zone.
The turning point had come lake in the their quarter. Walsh had a 14-0 lead and was poised to put away the game after a late hit penalty gave the warriors the ball at the Massillon 31. On first down, Tiger tackle Paul Schroeder intercepted a screen pass in the Walsh backfield and returned it to the Warrior 15, where he was run down by the intended receiver, Walsh tailback Andrae Martin.
“I just had a feeling about that play.” Schroeder said. “The coaches told us that if their line looked like it was letting us through to the quarterback, watchout for the screen. The quarterback (Matt Smith) looked me right in the eyes. All I saw was his eyes. Then he looked away. Then he looked back to my side and threw it.”
The Tigers took over late in the third quarter and wound up scoring with 9:30 left in the fourth … on fourth down from the 5 … on a diving catch card by Alonzo Simprion in the same spot where Hackenbracht scored on the punt return. And May caught the game winner in overtime.
Simpson’s clutch catch, followed by Jason Brown’s kick, made it 14-7.
Walsh’s best player, 6-5, 245-pound tight end/linebacker Mike Vrabel, hopped off the field with a badly sprained ankle on the next series. Then the tailback, Martin, perhaps the second-best player, was carried off. Still, Walsh drove near midfield before the Tigers made the defensive stop, setting up Hackenbracht’s punt return.
The breakaway TD ignited the crowd. The defense responded with a quick stop. The Tigers got the ball back at their own 37 on a punt with 3:40 left. Walsh stopped two running plays, setting up a third-and-six.
Danzy went back to pass and was rushed hard. “I was pretty close to getting sacked,” Danzy said, “but God gave me the ability to use my feet, and I broke contain.”
Meanwhile, May was getting open. “I started out as a decoy,” May said. “I saw Mike was getting rushed on my side and watched. I got open and he threw a strike.”
May put a nifty move on cornerback Brian Hopkins at the 35 to break into the clear. He dove into the end zone, did a belly smacker, then, as he put it, “puked.”
The TD play covered 59 yards. Brown’s kick made it 21-14 with 2:17 left. Massillon athletic official Dave Null went to the locker room to help prepare for the victory celebration. He emerged after a few moments saying, “What happened?”
What happened was Smith, a second-year starter at quarterback, kept his cool, completed some big passes (one a 17-yard completion on fourth-and-10), and drove Walsh 78 yards for a touchdown. Senior Chris McDonald caught a 27-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left. Junior Dave Regula converted the high-pressure kick to make it 21-all. Overtime.
The Tigers won the toss and elected to let Walsh’s offense – get the first crack from the 20. Martin, back in the game, stormed for eight yards on each of the next two plays. Then Walsh used two plays to pound the ball to the 1 on third down. A critical illegal procedure call ruined the touchdown opportunity. Jake Reed and Woods made the defensive stop on third-and-goal from the six. Then Regula booted a 24-yard field goal to give Walsh a 24-21 lead.
The Tigers then got the ball on the 20. Andre Stinson, who wound up with 88 rushing yards after amassing 85 yards last week, hammered for seven yards to the 12, but then was thrown for a two-yard loss on a run around the left side. That made it third and five – third and the ball game.
The Massillon coaches had noticed Walsh’s defense was paying special attention to the dangerous receiver, Simpson. They sent Simpson out on a curl.
“They were biting pretty hard (on fakes to Simpson),” noted Danzy. “Jerry was to go out and up (to the right corner of the end zone.” “We hadn’t run that play since last year,” May said. “I was playing quarterback then and it was my favorite play.”
The free safety left May and began to run toward Simpson, allowing May to break free. “It was a perfect throw,” said May, who caught the ball on the run, alone, in the end zone.
Walsh had managed to take a 7-0 halftime lead despite the fact the Tigers led 17:17 to 6:43 in time of possession.
The Warriors scored with 8:17 left in the second quarter on a 33-yard pass from Smith to senior wingback Mark Mason. The drive covered seven plays and 65 of Walsh’s 86 first-half yards.
Danzy’s scrambling highlighted a Tiger drive that seemed destined to tie the game at halftime. It was third-and-goal from the 1 with 2:15 left when Walsh called a timeout.
Walsh tackle Chris Giordano dumped Danzy for a 5-yard loss, then Brown was wide right on a 28-yard field goal try. The play call, a Danzy run in which he started backward, had many fans scratching their heads.
Rose said Danzy’s elusiveness and the fact Walsh would be loaded up for an inside run (the Warriors wound up shifting Vrabel so he was nose-to-nose with 305-pound Tiger tackle Brandon Jackson) were behind the play call.
“I’m not going to second guess that one,” he said.
The Tigers got the ball first in the third quarter and drove before a fumble set up Walsh’s second TD. The Warriors needed only five plays to cover 56 yards. The score came on an 18-yard pass from Smith to junior Brock Kreitzburg. Regula’s kick made it 14-0 with 5:30 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers appeared to be in deep trouble. Of course, it wasn’t over. By the time it was, Tigertown had gone head over heels for its ’92 team.
MASSILLON 27 WALSH 24 M W First downs rushing 10 7 First downs passing 5 8 First downs by penalty 1 2 Totals first downs 16 17 Net yards rushing 140 122 Net yards passing 135 181 Total yards gained 275 303 Passes attempted 17 25 Passes completed 8 8 Passes 2 2 Kickoff average 42.0 53.8 Kickoff return yards 80 38 Punts 1 4 Punting average 30.0 36.5 Punt return yards 100 0 Fumbles 2 0 Fumbles lost 1 0 Penalties 5 4 Yards penalized 45 30 Number of plays 63 58 Time of possession 27:41 20:19
Walsh 0 7 7 7 3 17 Massillon 0 0 0 21 6 27
W – Mason 33 pass from Smith (Regula kick) W – Kreitzburg 18 pass from Smith (Regula kick) M – Simpson 5 pass from Danzy (Brown kick) M – Hackenbracht 75 punt return (Brown kick) M – May 59 pass from Danzy (Brown kick) W – McDonald 27 pass from Smith (Regula kick) W – FG Regula 24 M – May 15 pass from Danzy
Individual statistics
Rushing (M) Stinson 26-88, Danzy 11-41, Copeland 7-11, Seimetz 1 -0. (W) Martin 14-59, Smith 9-42, Lloyd 9-21.
Passing (M) Danzy 8-17-2, 135; (A) Smith 8-25-2,181.
Tigers muddle through It’s rough, but Rose wins No. 1 Danzy‑to‑Simpson connection key in 17‑8 Tiger victory
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
Jack Rose’s first Massillon football team staggered through a thorny debut but still managed to plant a 17‑8 loss on the Alliance Aviators Friday.
Program Cover
A crowd of 11,640 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium saw Massillon gain a 316‑208 edge in net offensive yards, a reflection of the relative closeness of the fray.
It was one of those games everyone expected the Tigers to win but was tighter than many expected, leaving the winners shaking their heads and the losers shaking their hoisted helmets.
“We weren’t satisfied with that performance,” Rose said.
He was talking about the reaction of his players, not just the coaches.
I like the fact the players weren’t satisfied,” Rose said. “It’s a young team. They want to improve.”
Alliance’s 243‑pound senior nose guard, Marlon Baker, led the Aviators’ post‑game pep rally.
“We’re gonna go 9 and 1,” Baker shouted as the Aviators gathered in a huddle on the field. “We’re gonna go 9‑1 and get another shot at ’em. We gotta work. Just a little bit more. A little bit more.”
Alliance head coach Phil Dorn, like Rose a first‑year pilot at a new school who has been a head coach elsewhere, was a graduate assistant at the University of Michigan in 1991.
“I’ve seen a lot of football,” Dorn told his team. ”I’ve coached in the Rose Bowl. I’ve coached with a Big Ten champion. Let me tell you. If you play hard like that all year, you’ll win the Federal League championship.”
Alliance spent the night throwing half a scare into the Tigers without ever making things extra spooky.
‘Tiger senior Jason Brown kicked a 20‑yard field goal on the third play of the second quarter to provide a 3‑0 lead. Shortly after that, Massillon’s Scott Brediger intercepted an upfield bullet pass from Alliance junior quarterback Joe Brady and gave the Tigers possession 28 yards from the Aviator end zone.
Two plays later, Massillon junior quarterback Mike Danzy rolled right and lofted a pass into the end zone to 6‑foot‑2 junior receiver Alonzo Simpson , who is already starting to remind fans of 1989 Tiger senior Rameir Martin.
“The defensive back (senior Tamiko Hatcher) played me tight on the line (on the TD play),” Simpson said. “I got a quick start and got behind him. It was a TD route. I can’t explain it. I don’t think about it. I just run it.”
He was wide open for the catch. Danzy made a perfect throw. Brown kicked the extra point and it was 10‑0 with 7:54 left in the first half.
After that, a Tiger fumble and an Alliance interception set up two field goal attempts by 265‑pound placekicker Timiko Payton. Both had plenty of leg, but tries from 26 and 33 yards sailed wide.
The Tigers led 10‑0 at the half.
“I thought we started the game a little scared,” said Massillon senior running back Andre Stinson, who gained 68 of his 81 rushing yards in the second half. “We were better when we came off the field at the end of the half. I thought we, were OK in the second half.”
Alliance blew its first and best chance in the second half.
A 41‑yard pass from Brady to speedster Tony Townes put[ Alliance inside the 10 early in the third quarter. However, two dropped balls at the goal line preserved the Tigers’ 10‑0 lead. The first drop was an incompletion. The second was a completion to Townes at the 1. Townes seemed right at the goal line when he fumbled. Tiger senior Eric Woods recovered.
“That was a turning point, Dorn said.
Massillon’s offense clicked on the next two series. A 39‑yard run by Stinson was the highlight of a drive that ended on downs at the 10.
On the Tigers’ next possession, a 39‑yard bomb from Danzy to tight end Todd Peters put the ball on the 17. Two plays later, guard Scott Baumgardner threw a key block and running back Dan Hackenbracht did the rest, scooting around the right side for an 11‑yard touchdown run.
Brown’s P.A.T. boot made it 17‑0 with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
Hackenbracht was a promising punt returner as a sophomore. He missed most of his junior year due to an injury. He had trouble handling punts last night, and fumbled one at midfield late in the game. Brady completed a bomb to set up a 1‑yard scoring run by junior Shawn Watson with 50 seconds left in the game.
“I wasn’t pleased with our kicking game,” Rose said. “Jason Brown had been punting real well in the preseason but didn’t do as well tonight. He’ll do much better.
“As for ‘Hack,’ maybe his motor was running too hard, this being the opener. He has great ability as a punt returner,”
Danzy, in his first varsity start, completed 6 of 14 passes for 155 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. He rushed 10 times for 33 yards.
Dorn, the Alliance coach, said part of his early strategy was to rattle Danzy.
“They played better defense than they had in their scrimmages,” Rose said. “They brought a lot of people. Sometimes they brought up four corner people. Sometimes they brought ’em up the middle.”
Observed Danzy, “I was kinda nervous before the game but I just tried to go with the flow and the nerves went away after awhile. We had some ups and downs, but we had some good moments for a first game.
Massillon’s defense was strong.
Things got off to a good start when Tiger junior tackle B.J. Payne made three tackles for losses in the first six minutes of the game.
At halftime, the Aviators had rushed just 19 yards on six attempts. Brady did manage 63 first‑half passing yards, but on only 5 completions in 14 throws ‑ and there was Brediger’s key interception.
Subtract Alliance’s last second 49‑yard TD drive set up by the Tiger fumble and the Aviators would have finished with just 159 total yards.
“We didn’t get the shutout, but I’m pleased with the defense … we ran to the ball,” Rose said. “You have to remember Hack and Eric Woods are our only two regulars back on the defense from last year. And it’s pretty much the same on offense. We have Brandon Jackson and Mark Miller back on the line but everybody else has a lot less experience,”
Brady wound up completing 9 passes in 23 attempts for 149 yards. Three went to Townes for 83 yards.
Simpson gave the Tigers 80 yards on three catches. A week earlier in a practice game against Lakewood, Simpson got the Tigers going with a long reception. It was the same thing against Alliance, The Tigers had to punt after their first two possessions, but Danzy threw to Simpson for 30 yards on the third possession to set up Brown’s field goal.
Rose’s game plan going in was to pund the ball inside on the run, considering Alliance’s defensive troubles in the preseason. The Tigers had 18 first‑ or second‑down plays in the first half, and 15 of them were runs. Ten of the plays went for two yards or less.
“Give Alliance credit,” Rose said. “They stepped it up.”
The Tigers will play at home again next Friday against Walsh Jesuit.
“That’ll be a good test,” Rose said. “They’ll be a lot more physical on defense than what we saw tonight. But I look for us to improve a lot.”
MASSILLON 17 ALLIANCE 8
M A First downs rushing 7 4 First downs passing 5 5 First downs by penalty 1 1 Totals first downs 13 10 Not yards rushing 161 59 Net yards passing 155 149 Total yards gained 316 208 Passes attempted 14 23 Passes completed 6 9 Passes int. by 1 1 Kickoff average 53.3 37.0 Kickoff return yards 22 67 Punts 3 7 Punting average . 26.7 41.3 Punt return yards 6 0 Fumbles 4 1 Fumbles lost 2 1 Penalties 3 7 Yards penalized 25 55 Number of plays … 55 57 Time of possession 21:21 26:39
Massillon 0 10 7 0 17 Alliance 0 0 0 8 8
M ‑ FG Brown 20 M ‑ Simpson 27 pass from Danzy (Brown kick) M ‑ Hackenbracht 11 run (Brown kick) A ‑ Watson 1 run (Brady run)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
(M) Copeland 9‑36, Stinson 15‑81, Danzy 10‑33, Seimetz 3‑3, Hackenbracht 3‑8. (A) Smith 13‑16, Adger 3‑9, Watson 9‑34, Black 2‑10.
PASSING
(M) Danzy 6‑14‑1, 155. (A) Brady 9‑23‑1, 149.
RECEIVING
(M) Simpson 3‑80, Peters 1‑39, May 1‑19, Stinson 1‑17, (A) Black 4‑47, Smith 1‑13, Watson 1‑8, Townes 3‑81.
A hungry Massillon defense spent most of Saturday night diving shark‑like into the ballyhooed Cleveland St. Ignatius offense.
Ignatius, however, turned the second half into a “touchdown sandwich” ‑ scoring at the start of the third quarter and end of the fourth quarter ‑ to bag a 14‑13 victory in front of 20,150 at the Rubber Bowl in the Division I high school football playoff semifinals.
Jason Woullard, who played a whopper of a game on defense, became a hero on offense with a fourth down, 42‑yard TD pass reception from quarterback Nick Mossides to break a 7‑7 tie with 4:36 left in the game.
Someone asked Massillon head coach Lee Owens if the play was ad libbed.
“We’ve practiced it 100 times,” Owens said. “It was just a play‑action fake and pass.”
The play was unusual, though, because it was Woullard’s first varsity reception. It was reminiscent of the recent regular‑season finale against McKinley, when star linebacker Eric Wright’s first rushing attempt as a varsity player went for a touchdown.
After Woullard’s TD catch, Jason Brown’s extra‑point kick try hit the right crossbar and bounced away. The uprights at the Rubber Bowl, home field for the University of Akron, are the NCAA width, 5 feet. narrower than the high school width. The kick would have made it between the wider uprights.
That kept the score at 13‑7.
The Tigers went for the kill on the subsequent kickoff. Brown was to attempt a pop‑up kickoff designed to travel 25 to 30 yards to an open side of the field.
“It was the same type of kick we used to gain possession right at the end of the first half,” Massillon head coach Lee Owens said.
Even if the Tigers didn’t recover, Owens said the maneuver seemed safer than allowing the threat of a kickoff return.
“We practice that kind of kick every day,” he said.
Brown, who became Massillon’s all‑time, single‑season point‑after‑touchdown record holder earlier in the game, applied his foot too low on the ball, creating a very short kickoff. Ignatius took over on its own 47-yard line, then drove 53 yards for a touchdown.
Senior running back Jack Mulloy went in from two yards out to make it 13‑13 with 1:23 left in the game. Fernando Paez boomed the P.A.T. kick into the 18th row of seats at the closed end of the Rubber Bowl. It became the game‑winning point.
Paez then kicked off into the end zone for a touchback that forced the Tigers to start from
their own 20. A 14‑yard Mossides‑to‑Geoff Merchant pass on first down offered hope, but the next four plays went no‑where, returning the ball to Ignatius on downs with 51 seconds left.
Ignatius quarterback Kevin Mayer fell on the ball twice and the game was over.
“I give all the credit to our kids.” said Ignatius head coach Chuck Kyle. “They never lost faith in themselves.”
“They were up against a ,real team that had all the motivation in the world ‑ they’d dedicated the season to Paul Brown.”
“I feel the same way about this team I’ve felt all season,” Owens said. “I’m very proud of the way they conducted themselves all year. This is a special group.”
“It’s just a shame all the work they put in had to end this way. It doesn’t seem fair. But give Ignatius credit. They’re an outstanding team.”
The Tigers led 7‑0 at halftime, thanks to a single play that was the same length as Ignatius’ decisive, final TD drive.
On third and seven from the Massillon 47, Tiger senior Marc Stafford beat defensive back Bill Craighead in man to man coverage, then took in a perfectly thrown bomb from Mossides and easily ran in for a touchdown. The 53‑yard play ended with just 39 seconds left in the first half. Brown’s kick made it 7‑0.
At halftime, Ignatius had mustered just 61 yards against a Massillon defense that put a hard pass rush on the All‑Ohio candidate, Mayer.
An interception by Dan Hackenbracht snuffed out Ignatius’ first possession. A crunching sack by Woullard and Wayne Gallion stopped the second one.
At the start of the second half, though, Ignatius set up at its own 48 after a squib kick and return. Having sputtered while using formations with four wide receivers, the Wildcats switched to an option attack with just two wideouts.
“That’s just normal for us, to switch around,” Mayer said.
A 21‑yard scramble by Mayer became the key item in a nine play, 52‑yard touchdown drive capped by sophomore fullback Eric Haddad’s six‑yard run on second‑and‑goal. The kick by Paez was good and it was 7‑7 with 7:46 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers then drove 49 yards in seven plays, featuring a 32‑yard run by Travis McGuire, who wound up with 118 rushing yards. On second and six from the 20, Falando Ashcraft plowed for four yards but lost the football. Mike McHale recovered for Ignatius at the 16.
The Massillon defense adjusted to the option attack, forcing Ignatius to punt.
Again, the Tigers drove, this time from their own 45 to the Ignatius 23. Again, they lost the ball on second and six. This time, it was Mossides and McGuire unable to make the connection on a handoff. Ignatius pounced on the loose pigskin at the 27.
On third down, Mayer’s deep pass was broken up by Hackenbracht and Troy Burick, forcing another Ignatius punt. It had been raining for about five minutes when the Tigers took over on their own 40‑yard line. On third and short, Mossides sneaked three yards to the Ignatius 48. Moments later, it was fourth down on the 42, with less than half the fourth quarter remaining.
Mossides made a play action fake, set up, and let loose a high arcing pass that floated over Ignatius linebacker Regan Fitzpatrick. Woullard caught the ball at the 32‑yard line and outraced Fitzpatrick into the end zone to give the Tigers their momentary lead.
Ignatius came back with its decisive drive.
Massillon’s defense was outstanding through most of the night.
Take away the two touchdown drives and Ignatius gained just 79 yards on eight other possessions.
“We played good defense all night,” Owens said. “We couldn’t ask the defense to play much harder. The two times they scored, we gave them a short field on the kickoff, and they took advantage of it.”
Massillon wound up with a 293‑182 edge in total offense.
Ignatius, on the other hand, contained the Tigers’ powerful ground game. Massillon finished with 155 rushing yards, the second lowest total of the season (lowest was 134 yards against Moeller).
Mayer completed just 10 of 27 passes for 119 yards, with one interception.
“They played some of the best pass defense I’ve seen,” Mayer said. “They mix up their coverages and they come hard on the rush.”
The Ignatius ground game produced 104 forward yards, but when quarterback sacks were factored in, there were 41 yards in losses, giving the Wildcats a net of 63 yards on the ground.
Junior Dean Lamirand rushed 12 times for 58 yards.
Mayer and Lamirand made the key plays on Ignatius’ game‑winning drive.
Mayer delivered one completion on third‑and‑six that took the ball to the Massillon 42‑yard line with 3:50 left in the game. On fourth‑and‑six, he hit Mulloy along the left sideline for a first down. Mulloy went out of bounds with 1:57 left in the game.
The Tigers were still in decent shape, though, until Lamirand took the ball on an option pitch and bolted 22 yards up the middle to the 2. Mulloy scored on the next play.
“When we got to the 2,” said Ignatius’ 315‑pound offensive tackle, Juan Porter. “we pretty much knew there was no way we weren’t going in.”
Owens said this morning that the pain of the loss had not left him, and that he is not sure it “ever will completely.”
“I’m still dying inside,” the coach said. “The state title was right there. To come so close to the final game only to lose it at the end is difficult to take.”
Owens stressed that the final kickoff in the game was not an onside kick attempt.
He said that even though the Tigers had recovered a short kickoff earlier in the game, Ignatius had left an open portion of the field around the 25yard line again, and the kick was designed to go there.
“The reason we didn’t call for a squib kick was that they have been effective at fielding and returning squibs,” Owens said.
Owens said Ignatius started the game in a different run defense set than had been anticipated.
“They committed more people to the run than anybody we’d played,” he said,
The Tigers adjusted to how the Ignatius ends were blocking the Massillon tackles and the counter play opened up in the second half, Owens said.
Owens said the defensive staff had an excellent game plan.
“Everything Coach (Jack) Rose wanted to do, he was able to do,” Owens said.
Owens said Ignatius final drive was “a matter of only being able to hold down such an outstanding offensive team for so long.
IGNATIUS 14 MASSILLON 13 M I First downs rushing 9 4 First downs passing 1 8 First downs by penalty 0 1 Totals first downs 14 13 Yards gained rushing 186 104 Yards lost rushing 31 41 Net yards rushing 155 63 Net yards passing 138 119 Total yards gained 293 182 Passes attempted 13 27 Passes completed 7 10 Interceptions 0 1 Times kicked off 3 3 Kickoff average 26.7 53.7 Kickoff return yards 37 24 Punts 4 6 Punting average 41.8 28.3 Punt return yards 8 21 Fumbles 2 0 Fumbles lost 2 0 Penalties 3 1 Yards penalized 25 5 Number of plays 62 57 Time of possession 26:19 21:41 Attendance 20,150
Ignatius 0 0 7 7 14 Massillon 0 7 0 6 13
M ‑ Stafford 53 pass from Mossides (Brown kick) I ‑ Haddad 6 run (Paez kick) M ‑ Woullard 42 pass from Mossides (kick failed) I ‑ Mulloy 2 run (Paez kick)
It was written in the skies: Game would be electrifying
Steve Doerschuk Independent Sports Editor
Sometimes you can see it in there eyes.
Sometimes you can see it in the skies.
Put your mind on rewind and stop the tape at Aug. 17, in Lakewood Ohio.
Play.
The Massillon Tigers, with a tradition older than the crusty, two‑story houses that frame Lakewood High Stadium, are playing a practice game of football against Cleveland St. Ignatius, the Goliath come lately of Ohio high school football.
Wind kicks up. Heavens explode. Thunder and lightning break dance in measure so violent that play is stopped.
It is a late‑summer storm of foreshadowing.
The teams would meet again. They would bring the storm to the floor of a stadium dug out of the earth in Akron.
They would play one of the classic games in the history of the high school playoffs.
In the end, the outcome would pierce like lightning through the hearts of the Massillon players, coaches, fans.
Ignatius scores a touchdown and kicks the extra point to give itself a 14‑13 lead with 83 seconds left in the state semifinal conflict.
Joe Studer, a former Massillon player, a Massillon coach, a Massillon man, is bloodied but unbowed.
“We can win it! ” he yells on the sidelines. His eyes flash. He stands tall.
A cold rain is failing. There is no lightning in the sky. There is no miracle play.
The last of the thunder rolls through Massillon’s majority share of the phenomenal crowd, announced at 20,150, which if true would mean there were 15,000 empty seats in the Rubber Bowl ‑ and there surely didn’t seem to be.
The final score is 14‑13, Ignatius.
It had been a night of one team’s thunder against the other team’s lightning.
Massillon scores first on a bomb. Ignatius ties the game on a long drive. Massillon goes ahead with a fourth‑down pass that goes for a touchdown, followed by a narrowly missed extra point kick try. Ignatius gets the ball in a do‑or‑die and drives for 7.
If it wasn’t a classic game in terms of execution ‑ fumbles, dropped passes and missed assignments were sprinkled throughout ‑ it was a blockbuster in terms of drama and hard hitting.
“Ten, 20, 30 years from now,” Chuck Kyle, the Ignatius coach, said in his post‑game team speech, “people will talk about this game.”
Kyle underscored his thought by repeating the words.
“They will talk about this game.
For the moment, the talk will come easily in Cleveland. The words will come hard in Massillon.
This was, probably, the most painful among a handful of similar losses absorbed by the Tigers during the Lee Owens era.
There was a 43‑yard field goal by Jeff Wilkens that gave Austintown‑Fitch a victory over the Tigers in 1988. There was a last‑ditch drive capped by a last‑second touchdown pass to Carlos Collins that gave Cincinnati Moeller a win over the Tigers in 1990.
The loss to Ignatius was more painful than even the one to Moeller mainly because the Tigers have never been closer to winning a state championship than they were this year.
Sure, the Tigers made it to the state finals in 1980, but there they met a Moeller team that put away the game early.
They made it to the championship game again in 1982, but another loaded Moeller team won going away, 35‑14.
This time, the Tigers were one key play away from making it to the championship game with a loaded team of their own, against a Centerville team that is a clear underdog against, as it turns out, Ignatius.
Amid the pain, it must be remembered 1991 was the year Massillon, which went to the playoffs just four times in the first 16 years, made a habit of playing in the tournament.
It was the Tigers’ third straight playoff season.
It must also be remembered that they excelled in the 1991 tournament, winning two games by a combined 70‑27, then outgaining by a margin of 293 yards to 182 the team whose program is bucking for its third state title in‑the last four years.
Rewind your mind one more time, to the moments after Saturday night’s final gun.
The defeat stings infinitely more than cold rain on the face as the Massillon players trudge to the locker room.
The team passes through a human tunnel of people dressed in orange.
“We love you,” yells one of them, a man named Phil Glick. “Hold your heads up. We love you.”
Deja vu at the Rubber Bowl: Tiger win recalls ’89 thriller
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
It is almost as if the Massillon Tigers bottled the 1989 season, popped the cork, and are watching it spill over the 1991 landscape.
“It’s scary,” Massillon head coach Lee Owens was saying after Saturday’s 42‑21 playoff victory over Toledo St. John’s, “’how much this season, at times, has reminded me of 1989.”
Coming back from a 21‑7 deficit to beat St. John’s was just the latest leg in the Tigers’ trip down Deja Vu Boulevard.
The game was quite similar to the 1989 playoff win over Walsh Jesuit, in which the Tigers trailed 24‑7 before rallying for a 42‑24 victory.
Adding to the spookiness is the fact the Walsh Jesuit and Toledo St. John’s high school buildings are exactly the same ‑ built from the same blueprint, the same year.
The 1989 Tigers bounced back from a fourth‑week loss to Moeller and won four straight games, lost to a strong Catholic school team to snap the losing streak, then rode into the playoffs with a win over McKinley.
The 1991 Tigers have followed exactly the same course.
So why should they stop now?
Just as the ’89 Tigers advanced to the state semifinals against Cleveland St. Ignatius in the Rubber Bowl, so will the 1991 team.
Come to think of it, Owens said, now is the time to put an end to this replay business.
”As many similarities as there have been,” Owens said, “it’s time to write another script.”
The 1989 Tigers lost to Ignatius by the same 42‑21 score posted against Toledo St. John’s at the Rubber Bowl Saturday night.
“The only way we can approach it,” said Owens, “is to believe we have a much better shot at Ignatius this time around.”
The Tigers can hope the St. John’s game, witnessed by a crowd announced at 10,809, put foreshadowing in place of flashbacks.
The contest ended with backup fullback Dan Seimetz bashing his way inside the 1-yard line. The referee’s spot had the ball pushing against the goal stripe as time expired, symbolic of the momentum the Tigers established with ‘a blockbuster second half.
St. John’s scored on its first play from scrimmage in the second half on a wide‑open, 46 yard pass play from quarterback Dave Croci to split end Brad Vineyard. A wide‑open, two‑point conversion pass created a 21‑7 lead for the Titans, sparking memories not of 1989, but of 1990, when the Tigers were dismissed from the playoffs by Sandusky, 27‑7 at the Rubber Bowl.
However, there was still the question of St. John’s being able to contain Massillon’s running game.
Moments before Vineyard’s stunning touchdown, the Tigers had made a statement. Defying all convention, especially since they trailed by a meager 6 points at the time, they “went for it” on fourth‑and‑one from their own 29‑yard-line in the early moments of the third quarter.
“We wound up having to punt on that possession,” Massillon head coach Lee Owens said, “but we easily made the first down on the fourth‑and‑one. It was our way of saying, ‘We’re not having our way now, but we’re the better team.”
Travis McGuire was the man who ran for the first down on the fourth‑and‑one.
Falando Ashcraft would become the man who got the Tigers over the top, providing their first lead of the game with an 80‑yard touchdown run.
But it was McGuire who led the early part of the comeback,
It was McGuire who exploded for gains of 34 and 20 yards to set up a three‑yard smash by Ashcraft with 5:50 left in the third quarter, trimming St. John’s lead to 21‑7.
The Tigers’ next possession started on their own 18, but McGuire spinned and sprinted for 53 yards in two plays to quickly create a scoring threat Ashcraft smashed through the line for 18 to make a first‑and-goal at the 7.
On fourth down from the 2, Eric Wright came in as a blocking back, and McGuire dove over his block for a touchdown. The P.A.T. kick was wide right enabling St. John’s to keep a 21-20 lead with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.
A sack by “Rob” defensive end Jason Woullard set up a St. John’s punt, but the Tigers again had poor field position starting at their own 11 in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. McGuire got the Tigers out of the hole with a nine yard gain to the 20, which led to a “free play” on which quarterback Nick Mossides tried to hit Marc Stafford deep down the right sideline. The pass sailed out of bounds, setting up a third-and‑one.
The give went to Ashcraft on, trap play.
“That was no surprise,” said Toledo St. John’s head coach Fred Beier. “The fullback trap and the tailback counter trey are their bread and butter.”
Ashcraft confirmed that St John’s read the play well however, he said his team’s offensive line also blocked it well.
“Travis turned the guy he was blocking out, and I went the opposite way,” Ashcraft said.
He broke into the clear, outrunning Titan defensive back Jason Dzierwa into the right comer of the end zone for an 80 yard touchdown. The play and McGuire’s two‑point conversion run gave the Tigers a 28‑21 lead with 9:49 left in the game.
“That was the game winner,” Owens said. “That’s the one that put us ahead.”
The kayo punch came seconds later, on St. John’s next play from scrimmage. Gadget plays had been kind to the Titans in the first half, including a fake field goal that produced a touchdown.
This time, a gadget play ‑ a double‑pass ‑ became a killer. Croci fired a quick out to Dzierwa, who in turn fired the ball upfield. By that time, the Tigers had switched from zone to man-to‑man coverage, and linebacker Brandon Turley easily intercepted the ball.
The Tigers took “over on the Titans’ 32 with nine minutes left in the game. A 17‑yard run by Ashcraft helped set up a one-yard flip into the end zone by McGuire with 6:04 left in the game. Brown’s kick made the score 35‑21.
It was “stick a fork in the Titans” time when cornerback Ron Roberson intercepted a Croci pass moments later. Roberson made a short return to the St. John’s 6.
Ashcraft’s two‑yard run and Brown’s kick made it 42‑21.
Sophomore Mike Danzy, who would have been the starting quarterback had Mossides been unable to play (coming off a concussion suffered in last week’s Akron Ellet game) finished out the game.
Had Seimetz gained another foot on the final play of the game, the Tigers would have scored close to 50 points in a game it had looked like they might well lose.
St, John’s got off to a good start when Vineyard found a seam in the middle of the field and returned the opening kickoff 65 yards to the Tiger 28.
“That threw us off balance a little,” Ashcraft said.
On that possession, Dan Maidlow, who kicked a game winning, 40‑yard field goal against Barberton the previous week, lined up for a 42‑yard attempt. The Titans set up for the field goal with three receivers on the right side of the field ‑ the fake was on. Croci, an all‑district quarterback who wound up completing 13 of 20 passes for 212 yards, was the holder on the play. He straightened up, rolled right, and easily connected with Dzierwa on a 24-yard TD pass. Maidlow’s kick made it 7‑0 with just 97 seconds gone in the game.
The Tigers then drove 50 yards to the Titans’ 14, where it was fourth‑and‑five, They, too, went for the fake field goal, but holder Jerry May’s run was stopped, setting up an 86‑yard St. John’s touchdown drive that featured the “trips” (three receiver) formation and 52 passing yards by Croci.
“They were giving us some cusion with their defensive backs at that point, and we took advantage of it,” Beier said.
Running back Jon Beier, the coach’s nephew, ran seven yards for a touchdown. Maidlow’s kick was wide right and it was 13‑0. St. John’s, with just over eight minutes gone in the game.
The Tigers’ later adjustment to tight, man‑to‑man coverage and heavy blitzing worked. However, Owens contended there was another factor in the early part of the game.
“St. John’s had probably never played in front of a crowd this big under this kind of pressure against a ‘name’ team like Massillon,” he said. “We’ve seen it many times before. A‑team will come out against us riding a wave of adrenalin and make great play after great play. That’s what seemed to be happening.
“One thing we tell our players is that a team riding that big, early, emotional wave will probably burn itself out. We tell our guys to just keep playing their game.”
The Tigers’ second and third possessions ended in punts; conversely, so did St. John’s third and fourth possessions.
Midway through the second quarter, the Tigers staged a 49-yard scoring drive. The march started with McGuire fumbling and losing four yards, but he gained 18 yards on a screen pass on the next play. The Tigers ran the next eight plays for 35 yards, the last of them a three-yard, third‑and‑goal touchdown run over the right side bv McGuire. Brown’s kick made it 13‑7 with 4:37 left in the first half, and that score stood up at intermission.
“We were fired up at half time,” said Tiger offensive, tackle Brandon Jackson.” We knew what we had to do.”
Certainly, the Tigers looked like they knew what they were doing throughout the second half.
MASSILLON 42 ST. JOHN’S 21 M J First downs rushing 16 4 First downs passing 1 4 First downs by penalty 0 0 Totals first downs 17 12 Yards gained rushing 442 87 Yards lost rushing 4 28 Net yards rushing 438 59 Net yards passing 29 212 Total yards gained 467 271 Passes attempted 10 20 Passes Completed 3 13 Passes Int. by 0 2 Times kicked off 7 4 Kickoff average 43.4 44.5 Kickoff return yards 39 152 Punts 3 5 Punting average 43.3 42.6 Punt return yards 44 16 Fumbles 3 1 Fumbles lost 0 0 Penalties 4 5 Yards penalized 50 62 Number of plays 67 40 Time Of Possession 27:52 20:08 Attendance 10,809
St. John’s 13 0 8 0 21 Massillon 0 7 13 22 42
SJ ‑ Dzierwa 24 pass from Croci (Maidlow kick) SJ ‑ Beier 7 run (kick failed) M ‑ McGuire 3 run (Brown kick) SJ ‑ Vineyard 46 pass from Crocl (Dzierwa pass from Grocl) M ‑ Ashcraft 2 run (Brown kick) M ‑ McGuire 2 run (kick failed) M ‑ Ashcraft 80 run (McGuire run) M ‑ McGuire 1 run (Brown kick) M ‑ Ashcraft 2 run (Brown kick)
Late autumn. Orange‑and-black vs. Orangemen. Two good running teams. Too cold to pass.
It was a perfect night for some smash‑pumpkin football.
And that is what the Massillon Tigers played Saturday night in carving out a 28‑6 football playoff victory over the Akron Ellet Orangemen in front of 11,000 frozen customers at Fawcett Stadium.
Massillon advanced to the Region 2 (of Division 1) championship game Saturday night at 7 against Toledo St. John’s at the Akron Rubber Bowl. Ellet finished the year with a 9‑2 record.
The Tigers ripped open a 21‑0 halftime lead and had no trouble riding out the victory even though starting quarterback Nick Mossides spent the second half in the locker room after his head bounced off the hard turf after a hit late in the first half.
It was so clear Massillon was the better team that Ellet head coach Joe Yost didn’t bother moping.
“They’re the best we’ve seen, he said. “We didn’t play our best game, but let’s face it. They’re an outstanding team.”
Massillon, 9‑2, was mightier on both lines of scrimmage against an Ellet team billed as a big bunch of bruisers.
“They looked bigger on film than they actually were ” Massillon head coach Lee Owens said. “They did, in fact, have good size. But Walsh Jesuit, Cincinnati Moeller and Akron St. V all had bigger teams.
“They were very aggressive. The only team that’s played more physical than Ellet was probably St. V.”
The Tigers got back their one-two running punch, with fullback Falando Ashcraft, who sat out most of a 42‑13 win over McKinley with a sprained ankle, rushing for 102 yards.
‘G.A.’ to apply at Rubber Bowl All tickets for Saturday’s 7 p.m. Massillon‑Toledo St. John’s playoff game at the Akron Rubber Bowl will be general admission, Washington High ticket official Josie Rollstin said Sunday. Tickets, $5 apiece, will go on sale Tuesday at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Hours that day will be 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Tiger Stadium. The sale will shift to Washington High School Thursday (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and Friday (7 a.m. to noon). There will be no special hours for season ticket holders, and no limit on the number of tickets one can buy.
Travis McGuire stayed on fire with a 19‑carry, 198‑yard, two‑touchdown night.
Ellet wound up with a 48‑21 lead in passing yards, but it was the smash‑pumpkin stats that mattered: Massillon led 318‑124 in rushing yards.
McGuire expanded his school‑record, single‑season rushing total to 1,612 yards (8.1 per carry). Ashcraft moved nearer second place on the Massillon career rushing yards list. He has rushed for 1,106 yards this year after totals of 195 as a sophomore and 1,182 as a junior. That adds up to 2,483, just short of Bill Harmon’s second‑place total of 2,505 (1973-75). Tops on the list is Art Hastings (3,090 yards, 1958‑60). In Saturday’s game, Ashcraft exploded over the right side on a trap play for a 49‑yard touchdown run that gave the Tigers a 21‑0 lead with 7:25 left in the second quarter.
“I wasn’t 100 percent … probably in the late 80s,” Ashcraft said. “I was still a little sore. This was like a little test. I’ll definitely be back close to 100 percent next week.”
The Tigers advanced to the Region 2 championship game against Toledo St. John’s Saturday night at the Akron Rubber Bowl. St. John’s nipped Barberton 10‑7 in another playoff opener.
Ellet, also 9‑2, gave the Tigers a dose of Jackson deja vu on the first play from scrimmage.
A year ago, Jackson scored early in a playoff game against Massillon at Fawcett on a long run by Jaiye Murdock. On Saturday, Ellet would have scored on a broken play had not one of the Orangemen been caught clipping. Ellet tailback Bobby Clark picked up a bad pitch deep in his own territory, retreated to his own goal line, and wound up running at least 150 yards to the opposite end zone. The clip was nowhere close to the streaking Clark; Yet, it brought the ball all the way back to the Ellet 26‑yard line.
Ellet punted after three plays, then the Tigers tried three passes and had to punt themselves.
Thanks to its defense, Massillon had the ball back on a punt in good field position moments later. McGuire traveled 33 yards on a counter play for a touchdown. Jason Brown’s P.A.T. kick made it 7‑0 with 5: 27 left in the first quarter.
Ellet’s next possession ended when a pass from quarterback Ryan George hit an official and ricocheted to Massillon’s Wayne Gallion. Two plays later, McGuire exploded for a 28-yard touchdown run, but the play was called back by a holding penalty. The possession ended with a punt.
Another Ellet possession became another three‑and‑out. This time, a 25‑yard punt return by Troy Burick gave the Tigers possession on the Ellet 31‑yard line. By this point, the Tigers were relying almost exclusively on the run. It took eight running plays to create another touchdown ‑ McGuire’s one-yard run. Brown’s kick made it 14‑0 with 9:16 left in the second quarter.
Ellet again had to punt after three plays. This time the Tigers took over on their own 43. Mossides hit McGuire for a seven‑yard gain on first down. On second down, Ashcraft exploded for his 49‑yard touchdown run. Brown’s kick made it 21‑0 with 7:25 left in the half.
“Falando’s touchdown was on a trap away from (the strong side of) our unbalanced line,” Owens said. “It was a great play call.”
Owens said offensive players recommended the play, which was in turn endorsed by offensive line coach Joe Studer.
“That touchdown was a key play,” Owens said. “Another big key was our defense stopping their scoring threat late in the first half. If they find a way to score, that gives them something to build on in the second half.”
Ellet had driven to the Massillon 27 with just over a minute left in the half before a sack by Massillon’s Jason Woullard and Brandon Turley snuffed out the threat.
Sophomore Mike Danzy took over at quarterback for the Tigers in the second half.
Neither team mounted a scoring threat until early in the fourth quarter, when Danzy engineered an all‑running, 59-yard touchdown drive. Gains of 21 yards by Ashcraft and 25 yards by McGuire set up an eight‑yard touchdown run by Eric Wright.
Brown’s P.A.T. kick gave the Tigers a 28‑0 lead with 8:36 left in the game.
Ellet salvaged some pride with a touchdown with 1:07 left, a two‑yard run by 6‑foot‑4, 215pound fullback Danny Crookston.
The point‑after pass attempt failed, and the final score stood at 28‑6.
“We played hard and with a lot of effort,” Owens said. “We really played well on defense. We played hard on offense, but not as well. Our continuity was not that good.”
“Still, we had some nice explosiveness on offense, at times. Ellet had only given up 48 points all season and we scored 21 in the first half.”
On defense, the Tigers forced Ellet to pass, and the Orangemen were ineffective. George, who likes running the ball out of an option attack, completed only three of 17 passes, with two interceptions. Eric Woods made his third interception in the last two games.
As for the Jackson deja vu factor, it fizzled quickly,
Clark, the tailback whose long touchdown run was called back by the clip, disappeared.
MASSILLON 28 AKRON ELLET 6 M E First downs rushing 10 8 First downs passing 0 1 First downs by penalty 1 1 Totals first downs 11 10 Yards gained rushing 326 268 Yards lost rushing 8 44 Net yards rushing 318 124 Net yards passing 21 48 Total yards gained 339 172 Passes attempted 12 17 Passes completed 5 3 Passes int. by 0 2 Times kicked off 5 2 Kickoff average 49.2 24.0 Kickoff return yards 12 80 Punts 4 7 Punting average 33.8 36.0 Punt return yards 68 6 Fumbles 2 2 Fumbles lost 2 0 Penalties 9 3 Yards penalized 87 45 Number of plays 49 56 Time of possession 20:17 27:43 Attendance 11,000
When the final gun sounded, it seemed as if Steve Studer was shot out of it.
Within seconds of the finish of Saturday’s 42‑13 Massillon victory over McKinley, Studer, the Tigers’ strength coach had sprinted across the field and seized the victory bell that goes to the winner.
He and a pack of cheerleaders wheeled the bell across the Fawcett Stadium grass, to the Massillon side. It took the cheerleaders about 30 seconds to paint the bell orange and black.
“Let’s haul that baby home,” exclaimed Jeff Thornberry, president of the Tiger Sideliners amid general approval of a celebrating Massillon mob.
Thornberry had been in charge of the “Beat McKinley” parade Friday night. He said it drew a record number of entries. He heaved a sigh of relief after the parade was over. It had taken a lot of work.
Beating McKinley and making the state playoffs pumped a big second wind into him.
“I’ll have another parade,” he said.
The Tigers rained down a parade of points on the Bulldogs.
It was the biggest point spread in the classic battle in 31 years, dating to Massillon’s 42‑0 victory in 1960.
Even Paul Brown’s six Massillon teams that beat McKinley never did so by as many as the 29 points that separated the Tigers and Bulldogs Saturday.
Travis McGuire 302 Rushing Yards and 5 TD’s.
Saturday’s game was a page out of the Chuck Mather playbook. Mather, who attended Saturday’s game, was head coach of the Tigers when they beat McKinley 33‑0 in 1950, 40‑0 in 1951, 41‑8 in 1952 and 48‑7 in 1953.
The effort of Massillon’s offensive line and running back Travis McGuire was second to none.
McGuire scored five touchdowns and rushed for a school record 302 yards. Tiger statistician Richie Cunningham turned in the figure at 299 yards at the end of the game, then went home to review the videotape. He found three more yards and adjusted the figure. It is 302 that will go into the official record books, surpassing the previous record of 263 by Homer Floyd in 1954 ‑ against McKinley.
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley
Tiger head coach Lee Owens improved his record against McKinley to 3‑1.
“Not as good as 4‑0,” he said.
But not too shabby, either.
McKinley’s Thom McDaniels now is 5‑5 against Massillon.
Massillon linebacker Eric Wright, in his third
year as a starter, is 2‑0 against McKinley at Fawcett Stadium. Afterward, he demonstrated a quality that has made him a team captain the last two years. He did not pat himself on the back for another smashing game. Asked to identify the turning point of the game, he credited a teammate.
“The two interceptions by that man right there,” he said, pointing to junior defensive
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley
back Eric Woods, back in Massillon, in the Tiger locker room.
Season holders get first shot at tickets Akron Ellet will be the Massillon Tigers’ opponent in the first round of the Ohio high school football playoffs.
Ellet, 9‑1, will take on Massillon, 8‑2, at 7 p.m. Saturday in Fawcett Stadium, where the Tigers mauled McKinley 42‑13 two days ago.
Game manager Dan Brooks of Canton City Schools said Sunday that the only tickets sold early in the week will be reserved seats.
“Last year, when Massillon played Jackson (in a Division I playoff tilt at Fawcett), we gave both schools 11,000 tickets,” Brooks said. “I can’t imagine that Ellet will need that many.”
All tickets will be $5, Brooks said, adding there will be no discount for students.
Tickets will go on sale Tuesday at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium for season ticket holders who display their green card only. Hours will be 7:30 a.m. through 9 p.m.
Woods helped render McKinley’s passing game almost harmless.
“We were a little surprised by how little they passed,” he said. “We thought they would pass most of the time.”
Instead, McKinley’s junior quarterback Joe Pukansky completed just six of 13 passes for 40 yards.
“Give credit to our line” for putting some heat on Pukansky, Woods said.
Woods’ first interception stopped McKinley’s first possession of the third quarter and led to a Tiger touchdown that broke open a 21‑13 game. Woods made the pickoff after teammate Jason Woullard tipped a Pukansky pass headed for tight end Paul Popko.
McKinley had looked like a serious threat to the Tigers early in the game, scoring on its first possession.
“We were too aggressive on their first series,” Woullard said. “We were over‑running the tackles.”
The Bulldogs gained 80 yards on their first possession. They picked up just 87 more yards the rest‑of the game.
“We played our base coverages most of the game,” Woullard said. “We just played it well.”
Woullard played a full game at “Rob” defensive end after missing most of the previous week’s contest with a bruised shoulder.
“Beating McKinley beats a little pain any time,” he said.
Massillon’s offensive line gave the Bulldogs a beating.
“I think everyone on the line had his best game today,” said Ryan Orr, a card‑carrying member of “The Wrecking Crew,” as the line calls itself. “We stayed low and did a good job executing.”
Orr hopes the Tigers can blow a few more teams out of the water.
“It’s just one game at a time, and everybody pulling together, trying for a four‑game winning streak,” he said.
Four more wins would make the Tigers state champions.
The Tiger Booster Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Washington High gym, and not in the school auditorium where the meetings usually are held.
Studer boys give line a lift, get kick out of pounding of McKinley
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
Nobody enjoyed Saturday’s 42‑13 Massillon victory over McKinley more than Joe Studer.
“It was as great a win as any I’ve ever been a part of as a coach,” said Studer, who gave up the head coaching job at Triway High after the 1990 season to become offensive line coach of the Massillon Tigers.
Triway was 8‑2 in Studer’s last year there, but trading in status as a successful boss for a job as an assistant made sense to him. He was a senior on the 1974 Massillon team and he bleeds Tiger orange.
Now he knows what it’s like to beat McKinley as a Tiger player, and as a Tiger coach. What’s more fun?
“That’s a tough one,” Studer said. “My senior year McKinley was 9‑0 and we beat them on a last‑second pass from Greg Wood to Eddie Bell. That was the McKinley team with Jap Jeter and Jonathon Moore. That’s a good memory.”
Outstanding play by the Massillon offensive line will be a memory that will last for many who saw the 1991 win over McKinley.
“It was a nice game for the line,” Studer allowed. “We came off the ball well and we were able to move their line. My hat is off to the young men.
“Of course, there’s always room for improvement.”
In what areas?
“There was one play for minus yardage against McKinley,” Studer said.
Another good game by the line would come in handy Saturday when the Tigers face Akron Ellet in the first round of the playoffs Saturday.
Ellet has one of the best defensive fronts the Tigers will have seen.
“Their tackles are real big so we have to make sure we play low and come off the ball low and gets under their pads,” Studer said.
How does Ellet’s defensive front wall stack up to the best the Tigers have seen?
“In terms of overall scheme, talent and quickness, Moeller was the best,” Studer said. “For flat‑out physical size, Walsh was No. 1. Of course, Akron St V was real strong, too.”
Studer took a quick look at the Massillon unit that calls itself “The Wrecking Crew.”
Center Scott Chariton (5‑10 215, Sr.) ‑ “His biggest asset is balance. He keeps a low center of gravity.”
Strong guard Ryan Orr (S‑10, 250, Sr.) ‑ “A great down blocker, and very consistent … a lot of hip strength.”
Strong tackles Brandon Jackson (6‑4, 300, Jr.) and Mark Miller (6‑0, 245, Jr.) ‑ “Both of them have come a long way since having to step in for Chris (Dottavio). It left us with a big hole when Chris got hurt and these guys have done the job.”
Quick guard Matt Williams (6‑1, 215, Sr.) and quick tackle Steve Miller (6‑0, 215, Sr.) ‑”Both have overcome the fact they aren’t the size of someone you’d visualize as an offensive lineman. Both have come a long way. They have quick feet and they’re technicians with good football sense.”
Tight end Greg Paul (6‑3, 215, Sr.) ‑ “When Travis (McGuire) has run the counter Greg has been at the point of attack putting a good block on a guy who’s usually bigger than him.”
Senior Dan Sciury (6‑2, 250, Sr.), an all‑county performer on defense, started on the offensive line last year. Sciury still plays some on offense. He was in there against McKinley when the Tigers used an unusual three‑tackle set.
“Dan means so much to our defense that we’ve used him sparingly on offense,” Studer said. “He’s a great student of the game.”
Two other seniors have been part of the line’s success, behind the scenes.
“Seth Aegerter has backed up at tight end and he’s on the kickoff return team,” Studer said. “Jason Crites backs up at guard and he’s also on the kickoff return team. Both of them have put in a lot of hard work.”
Studer has received more than a little help from assistant coach Tim Daniels and strength coach Steve Studer.
The Studers, who are brothers, and Daniels all were offensive line starters in college. Steve and Joe hogged the starting center position at Bowling Green for six straight years during the 1970s. Daniels was a big tackle for the Tennessee Volunteers in the early 1980s.
“The strength program has been real important in what we’ve done on the line,” Joe Studer said. “Steve put these guys through a lot of hard work in the off‑season.”
“The training techniques I used at Triway I got from Steve,” Joe Studer said. “When I came back to Massillon to coach Steve and I were pretty much on the same page right from the start.
“One thing we’ve done this year that has helped has been maintain and even build our strength as this season has progressed. A lot of times, a football player will lose strength during the season.”
Studer said the key to his unit’s progress this year has been quite simple: hard work.
“The way these guys apply themselves as a group is impressive,” he said. “They’ve been so consistent in their effort. They also have a lot of football sense. You don’t have to tell them a lot of things twice.
MASSILLON 42 McKINLEY 13 MA Mc First downs rushing 22 6 First downs passing 0 2 First downs by penalty 0 0 Total first downs 22 8 Yards gained rushing 408 140 Yards lost rushing 4 13 Net yards rushing 404 127 Net yards passing 3 40 Total yards gained 407 167 Passes attempted 3 13 Passes completed 1 6 Passes int. by 2 0 Times kicked off 7 3 Kickoff average 41.3 48.0 Kickoff return yards 78 132 Punts 1 4 Punting average 32.0 26.0 Punt return yards 16 5 Fumbles 1 1 Fumbles lost 1 1 Penalties 3 5 Yards penalized 11 40 Number of plays 63 43 Time of possession 23:17 24:43
MASSILLON 14 7 14 7 42 McKINLEY 7 6 0 0 13
SCORING SUMMARY M ‑ Eric Wright 18 run (Jason Brown kick) Mc ‑ Don Martin 1 run (Jack Vincenzio kick) M ‑ Travis McGuire 14 run (Brown kick) M ‑ McGuire 11 run (Brown kick) Mc ‑ Ron Burr 3 pass from Joe Pukansky (kick failed) M ‑ McGuire 6 run (Brown kick) M ‑ McGuire 1 run (Brown kick) W ‑ McGuire 79 run (Brown kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING (Massillon) McGuire 36‑302, Wright 6‑46, Mike Danzy 5‑18, Dan Seimetz 3‑10, Falando Ashcraft 3‑7, Nick Moasides 1‑6, Eugene Copeland 3‑5, Marc Stafford 1‑3; (McKinley) Pukansky 6‑45, Martin 7‑35, Che Bryant 6‑27, Bruce Richards 9‑24, Tremaine McElroy 1‑1.
Ashcraft, Woullard say they’ll play against Bulldogs
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
The recovery will be painful as the Massillon Tigers attempt to restore the glow on their 1991 football season.
As head coach Lee Owens put it, “No matter what you try to say, there’s never anything good about a loss,” including Friday’s 28‑25 setback to Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary in front of 12,300 on a warm October night at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
So it was when the Tigers lost 14‑7 to Cleveland St. Joseph on a frozen night the ninth week of the 1989 season. That year’s team recovered ‑‑ after a grim week of practice for McKinley ‑ to beat the Bulldogs and win two playoff games.
“There’s really no magic about trying to come back,” Owens said. “I’ve had a lot of confidence in this team all season and that’s not going to change now. We’ll just prepare as hard as we can, as always. We’ll make every effort to be as well prepared as we can.”
The Tigers had to adjust Friday to two things they hadn’t prepared for ‑ in‑game injuries to “rob” (read outside backer) defensive end Jason Woulland and fullback Falando Ashcraft,
On the first series of the game, Woullard suffered what was diagnosed as a bruised (not separated, as one fast‑traveling rumor had it) right shoulder. In the third quarter, Ashcraft sustained a sprained right knee judged to be less serious than the one that knocked quarterback Nick Mossides out of the fifth game of the season. Ashcraft’s injury was initially thought to be a sprained ankle; in fact, he was helped off the field after the game with no shoe on his right foot, and his ankle heavily wrapped. After the game, he climbed out of a cold whirlpool bath and declared, “I’ll, be all right.”
Woullard, like Ashcraft, said he would be able to play against McKinley.
No one can deny the injuries hurt the Tigers. Ashcraft had rushed for 75 yards at the time of his injury, pushing his season total to 998 (Travis McGuire gave the Tigers 135 rushing yards, lifting his season total to 1,113). Woullard has quietly had a superb season in one of the Tigers’ most demanding defensive positions.
On the other hand, no one was denying St. Vincent is an outstanding team. The Fighting Irish, whose 7‑2 record is the same as the Tigers’, clinched a Division III playoff spot and could be back at Tiger Stadium next month playing for a state title.
“St. V played a great game,” Owens said. “They beat us physically and they beat us a couple of times at the skill positions.”
Third‑year starter Chris “Juice” Campbell set a record for most yardage by a wide receiver facing Massillon in catching five passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. He is simply a magnificent athlete, and he still looked fresh at the end despite playing full‑time on offense and defense, and on kickoff teams.
Irish tailback Larry Henderson also showed flashes of brilliance but was generally contained (27 on one carry, 31 yards over nine other lugs) before he left the game with a cramped thigh. Henderson’s replacement, junior Cameron Puhler, hardly cramped St. V’s style after entering the game in the third quarter. He rushed 13 times for 77 yards. Puhler ‘ whose efforts were key in touchdown drives that reversed what had been a 17‑7 Massillon lead was billed in advance by Irish head coach John Cistone as an outstanding back. So, he was a surprise only to those unfamiliar with the Irish.
Everything was going the Tigers’ way at the start of the third quarter. They emerged from the locker room with a dominating offensive march that expanded a 10‑7 halftime lead to 17‑7. Then they stuffed the first Irish offensive possession of the second half and got the ball back on a punt.
The Tigers drove 65 yards for a touchdown on the opening series of the second half. Ashcraft opened the drive with five smashing carries for 40 yards. It was third down from the 9 when McGuire made one of his most spectacular runs of the season, taking a short pass from Mossides near the line of scrimmage, advancing the ball to the 3 where he was met by a swarm of defenders, then fighting and spinning his way through St. V’s Bosco Pearson, Brandon Stancliff, Henderson and Craig Hoffman. All four wound up on the sand turf, with McGuire in the end zone.
Brown’s P.A.T. kick made it 17‑7 with 7:43 left in the third quarter.
The turning point of the game came midway through the third period, on second‑and‑eight from the Massillon 42. Henderson, playing defensive back, intercepted a tipped pass from Nick Mossides and returned it 27 yards to the Massillon 39; Henderson pulled up lame after the run and never returned.
St. Vincent’s next play was a 23‑yard pass to Campbell. The Irish scored on third‑and‑eight when junior quarterback Josh Zwisler hooked up with flanker Bosco Pearson on a 14‑yard scoring pass to the right flat. Ed Jamison’s P.A.T. boot made it 17‑14 with 3:26 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers then started their first series after Ashcraft’s injury. They punted after three plays.
Two plays later, Zwisler lobbed a bomb over the middle, and Campbell ran under it for the catch and a 48‑yard gain to the Tiger 25. Puhler’s running took care of the rest of the 71‑yard drive. A 17‑yard gain put the ball on the 4, and he scored on the next play. Jamison’s kick made it 21‑17, St. V, with 10:44 left in the game.
A squib kick left the Tigers buried on their own 10, and they again had to punt after three plays. The Irish got the ball on the Massillon 42, and scored on a 33‑yard play on which Campbell ran under a bomb along the right sideline. Jamison’s kick again was good, and it was 28-17, St. V, with 6:25 left in the game.
The Tiger offense responded with its most impressive scoring possession of the night, 55 yards in six plays, eating up just 1:56.
A 13‑yard run by McGuire, a 15‑yard Mossides pass to Marc Stafford, and a 14‑yard Mossides pass to McGuire set up McGuire’s 4‑yard TD run on first‑and‑goal. The Tigers went for two so they could close the gap to a field goal, and succeeded when McGuire hit Greg Paul on an option pass.
It was 28‑23 with 4:29 left in the game.
“I felt real good about our chances if we got the ball back,” Owens said. ‘”The offense showed a lot of determination, on that drive.”
Essentially, the game came down to a third‑and‑eight play with the clock winding toward the 2 1/2‑minute mark. With the ball on the Irish 33, Puhler took the ball on a sprint draw, in the face of a blitz, dodged a tackler, and sprinted up the middle 12 yards for a first down to the 45. Puhler ran 10 yards on the next play, and from there the Irish had no trouble running out the clock.
Massillon had dominated the first half, except for the game’s opening series when Campbell burst over the middle on a third-and‑nine and was wide open when he caught a Zwisler pass in stride en route to a 64‑yard touchdown play.
It was 7‑0 with 61 seconds gone in the game.
The Tigers struck back quickly, driving 66 yards in seven plays, ignited by a 14‑yard completion to Terry Holland. On first down from the 9, McGuire broke up the middle, broke two tackles and burst into the end zone. Jason Brown’s booming P.A.T. boot to the top row of the north end zone made it 7‑7 just 1:57 after Campbell’s TD.
Following a missed 45‑yard St. Vincent field goal try, the Tigers drove 67 yards before running out of downs at the 13. The Tigers quickly got the ball back on a Henderson fumble and Jonathon Jones’ recovery at the Massillon 40. The Tigers drove 56 yards to the 4 before settling for a 21‑yard field goal by Brown. It was 10‑7 with 8:56 left in the half.
It stayed that way at halftime, at which point St. Vincent led 178‑175 in total offense.
The Irish wound up with a 386-309 edge in total offense.
The Tigers still have a solid chance to make the playoffs for the third straight year and seventh time overall.
However, Owens said, “The playoffs are the last thing on my mind right now.”
The Tiger locker room was not a happy place. Outside the locker room, a woman walked toward a parking lot on the outside of a fence. “Yea, Tigers,” she said. “I still love you.”
St. Vincent head coach John Cistone was happy but not gloating after the game.
St. VINCENT 28 MASSILLON 25 M S First downs rushing 12 7 First downs passing 4 7 First downs by penalty 2 0 Totals first downs 18 14 Yards gained rushing 225 162 Yards lost rushing 6 8 Net yards rushing 219 154 Net yards passing 90 232 Total yards gained 309 386 Passes attempted 15 19 Passes completed 8 9 Passes int. by 0 1 Times kicked off 5 5 Kickoff average 49.2 50.0 Kickoff return yards 108 83 Punts 4 3 Punting average 35.0 36.7 Punt return yards 12 15 Fumbles 0 1 Fumbles lost 0 1 Penalties 1 9 Yards penalized 5 53 Number of plays 59 53 Time of possession 24:24 23:36 Attendance 12,300
St. VINCENT 7 0 7 14 28 MASSILLON 7 3 7 8 25
SCORING SUMMARY SV ‑ Campbell 64 pass from Zwisler (Jamison kick) M ‑ McGuire 9 run (Brown kick) M ‑ Brown 21 FG SV ‑ Pearson 14 pass from Zwisler (Jamison kick) SV ‑ Puhler 4 run (Jamison kick) SV ‑ Campbell 33 pass from Zwisler (Jamison kick) M ‑ McGuire 3 run (Good pass from McGuire)
History 
