Owens hopes ‘right Massillon team’ shows up after 20‑7 loss to McKinley
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
A great season may still await them.
But there is only one way to attain it, one of the Massillon Tiger football captains said after Saturday’s 20‑7 loss to McKinley.
“The only thing that can help us get over this,” senior cornerback Chad Buckland said, “is if we go all the way.”
“All the way” means a four‑game winning streak against competition that will get nastier each week.
The Tigers are one of 16 teams in the Division I playoffs. The one that wins the next four weekends will be state champ.
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Right now, though, the Tigers are a 7‑3 team needing just one win to get over a loss to their arch‑rival.
Two months ago, the Tigers were a play away from beating mighty Cincinnati Moeller. Now they are a team that must prove itself all over again.
“Can we come back?” said Tiger coach Lee Owens, repeating a question put to him. “We didn’t do a good job of it the last time we were in a similar situation (losing in Austintown a week after falling to Moeller). I hope we do better than we did the last time.
Owens senses it will be easier to rebound this time. He noted the Tigers didn’t seem crushed by the McKinley loss the way they were after getting nipped by Moeller.
But the team needs a spark, he said.
Game Action from Canton McKinley 1990
“Some of the fans have been saying, , Which Massillon team will show up today?’ And I see their point,” Owens said. “There have been times when we’ve been good enough to play with any team in Ohio. There have been other times when we could be defeated by any one of the teams entering the playoffs.
“It will depend on which Tiger team shows up. I hope it’s the right one.”
Were the Tigers lacking fire in their bellies against McKinley because they knew a playoff spot was locked up?
“I don’t think so,” Tiger defensive tackle Ron Humphrey said. “I hardly even thought about the playoffs all week. I was just thinking about McKinley.
“There’s nothing you can say or do to change what happened today. We lost. It’s over.
“We’ve got to get our sulking out of the way in one day and get back to work.”
“We have to get this one behind us as soon as we can,” agreed senior wide receiver Steve Brown.
“We can’t hang our heads,” echoed tight end Chris Roth.
“We have to forget McKinley and regroup,” said junior linebacker Eric Wright. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to play hard in the playoffs and try to win all our games.”
“We’ve got to keep our heads up and not make a big deal out of the McKinley game,” said running back Falando Ashcraft.
Every Tiger interviewed gave the Bulldogs their due.
“I knew they were capable of playing like this,” Buckland said. “I thought all along they were going to explode. Unfortunately, they did … against us.
“On the positive side for us, McKinley has to sit home. It’s a lot better knowing you’re going to get to play again.”
Owens learned Sunday that his team will face Jackson in the first round of the playoffs Saturday at Fawcett Stadium. He had little to say on the matter, in keeping with the tight ship he says will be run this week.
“It does not matter who we play this week,” the coach said Sunday night at 8 from his office.
“We’re just glad to be in the playoffs.” His only comment on Jackson: They must be a good team, having won nine games. When a team loses only once you assume they’re a fine team.”
Owens had been through a busy Sunday already. He wasn’t finished.
“It’s going to be a long one,” he said.
MASSILLON 7 McKINLEY 20 Ma Mc First downs rushing 3 10 First downs passing 4 7 First downs by penalty 1 1 Totals first downs 8 18 Yards gained rushing 68 183 Yards lost rushing 20 19 Net yards rushing 48 164 Net yards passing 113 143 Total yards gained 161 307 Passes attempted 22 22 Passes completed 8 14 Passes int. by 1 3 Times kicked off 2 4 Kickoff average 57.5 47.3 Kickoff return yards 42 16 Punts 6 2 Punting average 30.2 42.5 Punt return yards 2 13 Fumbles 3 3 Fumbles lost 1 1 Penalties 3 7 Yards penalized 45 70 Number of plays 46 70 Time of possession 17.21 30.39 Attendance 16,741
McKINLEY 0 7 7 6 20 MASSILLON 0 0 7 0 7
McK ‑ Martin 28 pass from Henry (Curtis kick) Mas ‑ Roth 38 pass from Burick (John kick) McK ‑ Curtis 1 run (Curtis kick) McK ‑ Kaiusin 3 run (kick failed)
Bring on the Bulldogs Tigers overtake St. V; starter at QB up in the air
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
The Massillon Tigers made their fans nervous but got the job done Friday night in their final “prelude to the Pups.”
They trailed 9‑7 at halftime and put Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary in scoring range early in the third quarter. That was enough to make folks remember a loss to Cleveland St. Joseph in last year’s McKinley warmup.
The Tigers were smashing the rest of the way, though, en route to a 24‑9 victory.
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Massillon goes into McKinley week with a 7‑2 record and four‑game winning streak. St. Vincent fell to 4‑4, which is also McKinley’s record following an 18‑15 loss at unbeaten Boardman last night.
There is a strong possibility the Tigers will be in the Division I playoffs, win or lose next Saturday. Head coach Lee Owens sees a loss as unspeakable, however.
“We will tell our players we need to beat‑‑McKinley to make the playoffs,” he said.
Whether or not that comes true, the point is this: if the Tigers hope to win playoff games, a loss to McKinley is the worst way to get ready. It is uncertain who will start at quarterback against McKinley.
Barry Shertzer started, as usual, Friday night. But it was Troy Burick who finished. It was Burick who accounted for the Tigers’ only first‑half touchdown, finding tight end Chris Koth over the middle from nine yards out. It was Burick behind center when the Tigers scored their two second‑half touchdowns, one set up on his well thrown 46‑yard bomb to Marc Stafford.
“We’ll look at the films and we’ll look at how things go in practice,” Owens said.
Burick has played extensively all year but never so much in key situations as against St. V.
Barry was throwing the ball high in practice all week and he was throwing it high again tonight,” Owens said. “It was one of those situations where your starting pitcher doesn’t have his best stuff and you go to the bullpen. The Tigers got the ball first Friday and punted after three incomplete passes, all catchable but high throws by Shertzer. Shertzer completed six of 11 passes for 57 yards in his remaining action. For the season, he has completed 69 of 151 passes for 849 yards, with seven touchdowns and four interceptions.
Burick came into the game with eight completions in 17 attempts for 108 yards. His passing has been fair, but he has been a dangerous man on the bootleg runs that are a big part of Owens’ run‑and‑boot offense.
“Everyone knows Troy gives us an added dimension,” said Owens, speaking of the junior’s aptitude for making tacklers miss.
Burick had his best passing night against St. V, completing three of five for 62 yards. He also rushed six times for 22 yards, giving him 20 carries for 151 yards on the year.
Don’t look for Owens to announce early who will go at QB against McKinley. He’ll keep the Bulldogs guessing.
There will be no guesswork, though, when it comes to running back Falando Ashcraft. The Tiger junior will get the ball.
Ashcraft dented St. V for 124 yards in 25 carries. He looked downright scary in the fourth quarter, when the Tigers put the game away.
With 6:39 left in the game, James McCullough scored from three yards out and Ryan John converted the kick to give the Tigers a 17‑9 lead .
Mike Martin’s kickoff, a squib job, resulted in a fumble, and Martin recovered. Burick ran for 11 yards to the St. Vincent 31‑yard line. Then Ashcraft got the ball and a sweep left and roared around the well‑blocked left side. He looked like a man possessed as he steamed away from a pack of pursuers into the end zone, where he showed the nail to the portion of a crowd of 10,327 seated in the north grandstand at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
John’s kick, his 28th successful conversion in a row, made it 24‑9 with 6:05 left. It was “turn out the lights” time for the Fighting Irish.
Owens said a key to Ashcraft’s big night was St. Vincent’s strategy.
“‘The last three times we’ve played them they’ve keyed on the A-back (it was Travis McGuire Friday),” Owens said. “That opens up some things for the bootleg runs. and it opened up some things for Falando.
“Of course, Falando is really running the ball well. He’s improved. He’s a load to try to bring down.”
Ashcraft said there is another factor in a season in which he has rushed 152 times for 888 yards.
”The offensive line. has been more intense lately,” he said, “That’s helped a lot.”
There were mixed opinions as to how rugged an opponent St. Vincent was. The Irish came in billed as a formidable team with huge linemen on both sides of the ball.
“They were just big and fat,” joked Tiger defensive tackle Mark Murphy. “They weren’t bad. We were down at halftime, but we still thought we’d played pretty good defense.”
“They’re tough,” said Tiger offensive lineman Brent Bach. “You’d hit them and they’d slide off.”
“We should have had an easier time with them than we did,” said defensive back Chad Buckland, who shares the team interceptions lead (five) with Dan Hackenbracht after both of them picked off a pass.”
They were more physical than Stow. But they were about as capable a team as Stow.”
As for the progression of Friday’s game, it went like this.
St. Vincent’s first possession started after a 25‑yard punt return from slick junior Chris Campbell. The Fighting Irish drove 39 yards to where John Donatelli booted a 31yard field goal with 7:48 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers answered on the ensuing possession, driving 67 yards in 14 plays. Shertzer directed a drive from the Massillon 33 to the Irish 15. Ashcraft then made perhaps his best run of the night — he was caught in the backfield but fought loose and plowed three yards for a first down.
Burick came on, as he has in the past in the goal‑line offense. On third down from the nine, Burick sold St. V on the run, then hit a wide open Roth for a touchdown with 1:21 left in the first quarter. John’s kick made it 7‑3.
It stayed that way until late in the half, when a facemask penalty against the Tigers kept a St. Vincent drive alive. On second and three from the 28, sophomore quarterback Josh Zwisler unleashed a pass to the left corner of the end zone, where the 6‑1 Campbell leaped over 5‑8 cornerback Scott Karrenbauer for a touchdown reception.
Jeff Perry blocked the conversion kick attempt and it was 9‑7 with 33 seconds left in the half.
At halftime, when the offense and defense break into separate meetings, assistant coach Gary Wells delivered his most peppery talk of the season. Owens didn’t play it up as much, for two reasons; first, he thought his team was superior to St. Vincent and would win the game; second, there were some boos at halftime when the Tigers ran out the clock with two running plays.
“The guys felt bad enough about that,” he said. “I didn’t think I needed to get on them any more.”
St. V received the second‑half kickoff and was stuffed in three plays. Hackenbracht picked up a bouncing punt and fumbled, giving the Irish possession at the Tiger 37. Tiger tackle Ron Humphrey recovered a St. V fumble three plays later at the 31. From there the Tigers ‑‑ under Shertzer’s direction ‑‑ marched 69 yards in 10 plays to where John kicked a 26‑yard field goal. It was 10‑9, Tigers, with 4:08 left in the third quarter.
Hackenbracht atoned for his mistake by intercepting a pass and returning it 30 yards to the Irish 21. Burick came on but the Tigers couldn’t convert the opportunity.
He fared better on his next series, steering the Tigers 77 yards in six plays, most notably the 46‑yard pass to Stafford.
“Marc has great speed and he made an outstanding catch,” Owens said.
It was the longest catch of Stafford’s varsity career … something else for McKinley to think about.
McCullough scored three plays later at 6:39 of the fourth quarter, and a scant 34 game seconds later, Ashcraft was in the end zone.
The game was won.
MASSILLON 24 ST. VINCENT 9 M V First downs rushing 10 2 First downs passing 4 4 First downs by penalty 2 1 Totals first downs 16 7 Yards gained rushing 190 97 Yards lost rushing 21 15 Net yards rushing 169 82 Net yards passing 119 79 Total yards gained 288 161 Passes attempted 19 10 Passes completed 9 4 Passes int. by 0 2 Times kicked off 5 3 Kickoff average 40.6 41.0 Kickoff return yards 46 72 Punts 3 5 Punting average 36.0 29.8 Punt return yards 27 41 Fumbles 2 8 Fumbles lost 1 2 Penalties 2 6 Yards penalized 2 6 Number of plays 20 51 Time of possession 25:39 22:21 Attendance 10,327
V – FG Donatelli 31 M – Roth 9 pass from Burick (John kick) M – Campbell 28 pass from Zwisler (kick failed) M – FG John 26 M – McCullough 3 run (John kick) M – Ashcraft 26 run (John kick)
Last year’s hit played just fine on the P.A. last night at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
“Don’t worry … be happy.
This was no night to fret about a win.
The Massillon Tigers knew one was coming.
Turned out to be a come‑from‑behind (if you want to get technical) 45‑7 high school football victory over Youngstown East before about 6,500 in rain‑soaked (but sand‑turf dry) Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers are 6‑2. East is 0‑8.
No surprises.
This was a night for fun.
“Ga‑ree! Ga‑ree! Ga‑ree! fans sang in the rain, hoping human cannonball Gary Young would get a touchdown. His only one, a 60‑yarder, was called back by a penalty. Still, “Air Gary” made a spectacular somersault on a TD try from the 2. He didn’t score, So what?
It was a night to prepare for the big ones. Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary. McKinley. Teams the Tigers probably must beat to make the playoffs.
Another Gary, Miller, the Tigers’ starting center, said Friday amounted to “more or less a practice game for St. V.”
It was good practice.
“We did pretty well,” Miller said. “Everything seemed to fit together.”
It vas a night to build confidence.
“We have a good chance to go to state,” said Brandon Turley, the outside linebacker.
Turley is a junior. Senior Ron Humphrey did a double take when he heard his younger teammate talking so.
“It’s not time to talk about that yet,” he said.
Humphrey looked at Turley and laughed.
East is a playoff albatross. It paid next to nothing (2.5 computer points) to defeat the winless team. But the night could have been worse. The Tigers gained points from these Friday winners: Stow (26‑0 over Springfield), Covington Catholic (35‑14 over Kentucky Scott), Akron Garfield 20‑0 over Ellet) and even Nordonia (13‑7 over Cuyahoga Falls ‑ not bad for a team that lost 70‑0 here two weeks ago).
It was a night to learn about respect. You may have nukes to their pistols, but you lose unless your finger and mind are on the trigger.
East drove 62 yards in 10 plays and scored on the game’s first series. That wasn’t supposed to be in the cards.
“One thing we got out of tonight,” junior linebacker Jason Woullard said, “was learning never to take any team lightly.
“We came out in a trance. We were lackadaisical. They scored on us. After that I don’t think we were in a trance any more.”
East was little.
East was playing a dozen sophomores.
East even used two freshmen.
But East led 7‑0 when junior quarterback Darnell Bracy hit diving senior end Leo Hudson for a 12‑yard touchdown, and Hudson added the extra‑point boot.
There was 8:15 left in the first quarter when East scored. There was 6:37 left in the first quarter when it became apparent it didn’t really matter. That was when Tiger senior James McCullough blasted 10 yards for a touchdown one play after his running mate, Falando Ashcraft, weaved 31 yards.
Ryan John made the first of his six P.A.T. kicks and it was 7‑7.
Brian Cole snared an interception moments later, setting up a 12‑yard touchdown run by Ashcraft. The score came with 4:25 left in the quarter. The Tigers led 14‑7 less than four minutes after they had trailed.
Ashcraft proceeded to amass his second‑biggest game of the year ‑11 carries for 142 yards and three touchdowns. The man who dented Covington Catholic for 190 yards in the Buddy LaRosa Classic now has rushed 127 times for 764 yards and 12 touchdowns.
McCullough, a transfer from McKinley, had his biggest night with 83 yards in 11 carries, Usually starting in his position is junior Travis McGuire, who didn’t dress because of an ankle injury. McGuire said he has been jogging and will play against St. Vincent.
Also skipping Friday’s game were tight end Chris Roth (separated shoulder), guard Dan Sciury (sprained ankle) and defensive tackle Mark Murphy (bronchitis), Head coach Lee Owens said all are expected to Play against St. Vincent.
Friday was even night to practice kicking field goals. The Tigers had yet to attempt one this season until John delivered a 26‑yarder with 5:23 left in the game.
Backup quarterback Troy Burick rushed for touchdowns on two short runs.
Senior receiver Steve Brown caught three passes for 54 yards and now leads the team in receptions (26) and receiving yards (779).
Owens was unhappy about East’s early success. But he couldn’t be too displeased.
“It was a chance to work on some different sets,” he said. “It was nice to get a big win.”
The Tigers didn’t give away too many secrets for scouts from St. Vincent and McKinley.
“We were awful basic,” Owens said. “At the same time we got to try out a couple of different plays and a couple of different combinations of players we may use in the future.”
The future?
It most surely was a night to think about that.
MASSILLON 45 EAST 7 M E First downs rushing 18 1 First downs passing 4 7 First downs by penalty 2 1 Totals first downs 24 9 Yards gained rushing 370 53 Yards lost rushing 15 32 Net yards rushing 355 21 Net yards passing 73 106 Total yards gained 428 127 Passes attempted 15 23 Passes completed 6 7 Passes int. by 1 4 Times kicked off 8 2 Kickoff average 47.1 39.0 Kickoff return yards 33 122 Punts 1 3 Punting average 35.0 25.7 Fumbles 0 2 Fumbles lost 0 2 Penalties 4 5 Yards penalized 34 56 Number of plays 70 43 Time of possession 28:32 19:28
Scoring E ‑ Hudson 12 pass from Bracy (Hudson kick) M ‑ McCullough 9 run (John kick) M ‑ Ashcraft 13 run (John kick) M ‑ Burick 2 run (John kick) M ‑ Ashcraft 60 run (John kick) M ‑ Burick I run (John kick) M ‑ FG John 26
Loss in Massillon prepares Team for Indiana title chase
By STEVE DOERSCUK Independent Sports Editor.
Massillon is a football town, by George.
In fact as George Papas went on and on about Tigertown long after Saturday night’s game in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, it almost seemed he did not want to leave..
Eventually, he boarded a charter bus, though. He had to. He is head coach of the Indianapolis North Central team that dropped a 21-15 decision to Massillon before a crowd of 10,002.
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Many coaches in Pappas’ position would have been seeing red. A yellow storm left North Central penalized nine times for 107 yards.
Instead, Pappas blamed his own camp for the mistakes. And he talked a blue streak about the orange and black.
“I love coming here,” said Papas. “It does a helluva lot for your kids. The whole atmosphere is fantastic, the big crowd, the great stadium.
“The biggest thing, though is playing against that team. Those kids play football the way it is supposed to be played. That helps your program. It shows you the way it is supposed to be done.
This was not some greenhorn from Hayseed High talking. Papas is a former Purdue University linebacker who has made his North Central team competitive against the best in Indiana.
In fact, the thrust of his post-game speech was getting ready for a run at the Indiana state championship.
“We close our regular season next week against Terre Haute North, he said. “Then we have a playoff game against Decatur Central (North Central will be a heavy favorite). Then its on to Carmel baby. We have to play at Carmel, but I don’t care if we play ‘em in a gravel pit.”
Carmel is the defending Indiana state champion. And yes, the North Central-Carmel game is already scheduled – they do things differently in the Hoosier State, where everybody makes the playoffs.
North Central would need to win six playoff games to be state champs. The Panthers are currently 4-3, but all three losses have been in competitive games against powerful teams.
Massillon will have to earn a playoff spot. The Tigers are 5-2 heading into their final three regular season games: an anticipated easy game against winless Youngstown East, a contest against a St. Vincent-St Mary squad that lost in overtime-here last year, and the traditional war against Canton McKinley.
East and St. Vincent both lost Saturday. The Youngstown team fell 21-6 to Chaney. The Akron team bowed 15-6 to Youngstown Cardinal Mooney. McKinley was idle this past weekend.
The Tigers would almost certainly make the playoffs by winning all three games.
Head coach Lee Owens said the outing against North Central was a bit rough around the edges. But he also saw it as a win over one of the top teams on the schedule.
“In terms of talent North Central is really not that much different than Cincinnati Moeller,” Owens said, “The only real difference is Moeller’s discipline.”
“If North Central can iron out some of the mistakes. I think they’re good enough to win their state championship. It would be something if we eventually could say we beat a state champion from Kentucky (Covington Catholic) and a state champion from Indiana.”
Pappas was perplexed about the discipline angle.
“Mistakes have cost us in each of our loses,” he said. “I wish I had an answer on why some of these things go wrong. Honestly, we work on the things over and over again in practice.”
Still, Pappas was pleased with the improvement made over last yaear’s game in Massillon, a 39-14 loss.
“I was very disappointed with the way we played defense here last year,” he said. “It was different this time.”
He hopes there will be a next time.
“I’d love to come back,” he said.
North Central athletic director Roland Inskeep is supposed to decide this week if he will sign a new two-year contract with the Tigers.
Owens has already said he would accept a new contract.
Adam Alexander, a senior lineman for the Panthers, offered about the same appraisal as Pappas.
“Massillon doesn’t seem to have extraordinary talent, but they play the game the way it’s supposed to be played,” He said. “It was exciting to be here. It was a good experience for those of us who probably, won’t go on to play at a college.”
MASSILLON 21 NORTH CENTRAL 15 M NC First downs rushing 5 9 First downs passing 7 2 First downs by penalty 3 0 Total first downs 15 11 Yards gained rushing 155 181 Yards lost rushing 29 32 Net yards rushing 126 149 Net yards passing 159 40 Total yards gained 285 189 Passes attempted 19 15 Passes completed 11 6 Passes int. by 0 1 Times kicked off 4 3 Kickoff average 44,5 32.3 Kickoff return yards 25 73 Punts 5 6 Punting average 32.2 40.6 Punt return yards 70 12 Fumbles 3 2 Fumbles lost 1 1 Penalties 4 9 Yards penalized 36 107 Number of plays 61 46 Time of possession 25:43 22:17 Attendance 10,007
North Central 7 0 0 8 15 Massillon 7 7 0 7 21
M – McCullough 2 run (John kick) NC ‑_Evans, 62 run (Nelson kick) M – Roth 26 pass from Shertzer (John kick) M – McCullough 1 run (John kick) NC – Meyers 9 pass from Black (Mayes pass from Black)
Remember how you felt the last time you were in the middle of the big hill on your favorite roller coaster?
That sort of giddy release flushed the faces of most Massillon Tiger fans Friday night after a 70‑0 atomic drop on Nordonia at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
Following gut‑twisters that became losses to Cincinnati Moeller and Austintown‑Fitch playoff hungry Tigertown did not need a simple victory over a clear underdog Nordonia.
Tigertown needed ‑ and got ‑ a knockout punch. A crowd of 9,872 saw Massillon improve to 4‑2 and Nordonia fall to 3‑3.
The Tigers put a Falando Ashcraft ‑ ‘flyin’, Travis McGuire‑’high‑fivin’, Gary Young‑’skyin’ 70‑0 whoppin’ on the Knights. That trio accounted for 252 of the Tigers 423 rushing yards.
Other 70-0 games
Friday’s 70-0 rout of Nordonia was the fifth such victory in Massillon history. The other 70-0 games:
Year, foe Tiger coach 1922, New Philadelphia Paul Brown 1935, Akron East Paul Brown 1936, Portsmouth Paul Brown 1959, Mansfield Leo Strang
The five biggest Tiger routes:
Year, foe Score 1922, Akron North 94-0 1959, Barberton 90-0 1918, Orrville 82-0 1923, Salem 82-0 1924, Alliance 77-0
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Ashcraft, who scored three touchdowns, said the Tigers are back.
“We wanted to blow them out early and give the guys on the second team a chance to play,” he said after rushing 74 yards in 12 carries.
If was 35-0 at halftime. The first unit played one series in the third-quarter. The second and third units came on (strong, in fact), the way the Tiger bench players did in a famous 90-0 win over Barberton in 1959.
This was the fifth time in Massillon history the Tigers have won by a 70-0 final. Massillon teams have won 11 shutouts by scores greater than 70-0, including a record 94-0 win over Akron North in 1922.
“Right now,” Ashcraft added, we’ve forgotten about the first half of the season, Right now, we’re concentrating on winning the rest of our games, one week at a time.”
Ashcraft wasn’t the only Tiger who thought Friday’s outcome was good tonic for the Tigers. “I was not worried about us at all,: said Young, the little speed merchant who looked like Barry Sanders on breakaway touchdown runs of 50 and 38 yards. “Both of the losses were in our hands. We were close to being undefeated.
“Right now,” added Young, known for his headlong dives on special teams, “this brings us back together… where we need to be…a team.:
“The main thing,” added Dan Scinry, a junior who has looked strong on the offensive line, “was getting our pride back. We had a tough week of practice. In fact, we had a new drill called The Pride Drill. It helped a lot.:
Head coach, Lee Owens cited the underrated factor of getting playing time for everyone on the team. “We played everyone and any number of guys did a good job,” he said. “We talked all week about starting over again. Tonight was he first leg of a five‑game home stand. There are some tough games coming up. But it was a great way to start.”
Junior Troy Burick got the start at quarterback, with senior Barry Shertzer wearing a sport hat and a Massillon American Legion baseball jacket on the sidelines after suffering a concussion last week.
Burick let it all hang out early, throwing an incomplete bomb to Marc Stafford on the first play of the game. The Tigers didn’t score on that series, but the second time they had the ball Burick, whose forte is running, found a grand canyon around the right side on a bootleg run and raced 38 yards to the 17.
On the next play McGuire showed some cuts and jukes that could soon get him a job at an Arthur‑Murray studio near you. It went for a touchdown.
The Tigers had only two other possessions the rest of the way on which they did not score.
Nick Mossides and Seth Aegerter joined Burick as Tiger quarterbacks who directed touchdown drives.
“I thought all of our quarterbacks looked good,” Owens said.
It is believed Shertzer will reclaim the starting job when he returns to full health. He will not be allowed to take part in contact drills until the middle of next week at the earliest; hence his status is uncertain for next Saturday’s game against Indianapolis North Central.
“We’ll have to see how things go in practice. Owens said.
By, the late stages of the second quarter, it was apparent the Tigers had far too many horses for the Knights.
A scout from Indianapolis captured the mood when the Tigers gained possession on the 13-yard line after a ball was snapped over the Nordonia punter’s head.
“Two plays or three?” the scout said to his partner.
Surprise! It took the Tigers four plays to score (James McCullough bulled in from the two with seven seconds left in the half)
Ryan John, who has quietly become a reliable point after kicker, converted the boot to create the 35-0 halftime score.
Some of the Nordonia players were bothered that the Tigers added another 35 in the second half.
Nordonia head coach Jim Fox held no grudges whatsoever.
“I told Lee, ‘I didn’t think you ran up the score’ He put in his second and third units and you can’t tell them to lay down,” said Fox. “I’m embarrassed we did so poor more than anything else.
“I knew it would be a real physical mismatch. Stow was picked to win our conference, Nobody picked us for a high finish. We have a competitive, scrappy bunch of guys. But when I saw that Massillon beat Stow 51-0, I knew we might be in some trouble.”
The Tigers led only 7‑0 after one quarter but scored on the first play of the second period, Stafford, who could become a more prominent figure in the passing game the rest of the way, got wide open in the left flat, took a short pass from Burick at the 12, and juked the rest of the way on a 19-yard scoring play.
A Ron Humphrey fumble recovery at the six set up the third touchdown, a six yard run by Ashcraft with 9:39 left in the half.
The Tigers then drove 61 yards after a punt. Ashcraft scoring from two yards away.
Nordonia crossed midfield for the only time on the opening possession of the second half before stalling at the 23. The first‑team offense drove 77 yards. Ashcraft running four yards for a TD with 4:40 left in the third quarter. John kick made it 42-0.
McCullough, the Tigers’ big backup fullback, muscled his way 25 yards for a touchdown with 10:57 left in the game. John’s kick made it 49‑0.
The Tigers quickly got the ball back on a fumble, and the 5‑foot‑8 Young quickly found daylight and put some distance on the pack on a 50-yard TD burst with 9:32 left.
Jason Brown’s P.A.T. kick made it 56 zip.
Nordonia punted after three plays and Young scored on a carbon copy of his previous touchdown play, this time traveling 38 yards. Gary Miller, who gave up placekicking to focus on being this year’s starting center, booted one for old time’s sake and it was 63-0 with 6:10 left.
The final touchdown was set up by Aegerter’s 52-yard bootleg run to the two. Ron Roberson scored on the next play with 2:49 left. Miller’s kick enabled the Tigers to hit the 70 mark for the first time since 1959, when Mansfield Senior was handed a 70-0 shiner.
MASSILLON 70 NORDONIA 0 M N First downs rushing 16 4 First downs passing 4 3 First downs by penalty 1 0 Total first downs 21 7 Yards gained rushing 422 129 Yards lost rushing 11 36 Net yards rushing 412 93 Net yards passing 64 33 Total Yards gained 476 126 Passes attempted 12 13 Passes completed 5 3 Passes Int. by 2 1 Yardage on pass int. 10 2 Kickoff average 42.9 45.0 Kickoff return yards 19 74 Punts 2 7 Punting average 46.0 29.7 Punt return yards 54 4 Fumbles 3 3 Fumbles lost 1 2 Penalties 3 4 Yards penalized 25 29 Number of plays 55 57 Time of possession 18:02 29:58
Nordonia 0 0 0 0 0 Massillon 7 26 7 28 70
M ‑ McGuire 17 run (John kick) M ‑ Stafford 19 pass from Burick (John kick) M ‑ Ashcraft 6 run (John kick) M – Ashcraft 2 run (John kick) M – Ashcraft 4 run (John kick) M – McCullough 25 run (John kick) M – Young 50 run (Brown kick) M ‑ Young 38 run (Miller kick) M – Roberson 2 run (Miller kick)
AUSTINTOWN ‑ The Massillon Tigers have found their Bermuda Triangle. They have located their Twilight Zone. They have landed on their Field of Dreams (nightmares are dreams, too, aren’t they?). For the Tigers, its name is Fitch Stadium. They lost there 14‑7 Friday night to drop to 3‑2 in the 1990 high school football season.
The Fitch Falcons, 5‑0 this year, improved to 3‑0 against Massillon at that dastardly place. In 1986 the Tigers lost at Fitch on the last play from scrimmage. In 1988 they lost on a game‑ending field goal.
Last night they lost with a quarterback who played much of the fourth quarter with a concussion not discovered until after the game, played in a murky rain.
Counting the games in Massillon, the Tigers are 2‑4 in the all‑time series against Fitch.
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‘We could make so many excuses if we wanted to. But maybe that’s not what we need to be doing right now’ Lee Owens
Fitch’s head coach throughout has been David Hartman.
In 1965 Hartman earned a diploma from Washington High. Maybe they should take it back. On the other hand, it’s nothing personal. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Hartman said amid Fitch’s post‑game celebration.
What Fitch does best is block out of the wing‑T formation on offense. Hartman ought to get an honorary masters degree in misdirection.
“We have guys going this way, that way and every which way,” Hartman said. “Massillon has a lot of quick kids who really swarm to the football. If you run the same guy on the same play all of the time, they’ll kill, you. With a.11.9ur misdirection, they had a difficult time ganging up on us.”
Tiger head coach Lee Owens knows better than anyone two straight losses is the wrong direction.
“We were flat, there were some big penalties, the field was wet we could make so many excuses i we wanted to. But maybe that’s not what we need to be doing right now,” Owens said. “There was a point in the game when they were outplaying us. We started playing harder, but we couldn’t get over the hump.
“There’s no reason for what happened tonight. I really felt coming in we were definitely the better team. Fitch played a good ball game. We didn’t.”
Fitch’s misdirection started clicking at the end of the first half when the Falcons drove 57 yards for a touchdown. With 1:22 left in the half, 6‑4 tight end Dave Fitz‑Patrick caught an eight‑yard touchdown pass from 5‑9 quarterback Frank Senediak on third‑and‑eight.
“We thought their cornerback would be playing up and he was,” Fitz‑Patrick said. “That enabled me to get pretty open.”
Senediak, a carbon copy of Fitch’s bootlegging wizard who was the 1988 quarterback, Derrick Fletcher, passed just enough to keep the Tigers off balance, completing six of seven for 68 yards.
Senediak also ran 16 times for 64 yards. His ball handling was the key on Fitch’s opening possession of the third quarter, which ended when he hit another wide‑open receiver, running back Chris Davis, on an 18‑yard touchdown pass.
Gary Pritchard, who gave up soccer to be a placekicker, boomed the P.A.T. and it was 14‑0 with 7:54 left in the third quarter.
Facing a must‑score possession, the Tigers did just that, driving 65 yards off the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. It wasn’t easy. Following two bootleg runs by quarterback Barry Shertzer that went for losses, it was fourth‑and‑16 from the 29.
Tight end Chris Roth lined up on the right side, beat the coverage on a post pattern, and hauled in a nicely thrown bomb from Shertzer for the touchdown. Ryan John’s P.A.T. kick sneaked over the crossbar and it was 14‑7 with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
It was unclear when Shertzer suffered the concussion, but it may have been on a hit during one of those bootleg runs.
Shertzer, who completed a key third‑and‑11 pass of 37 yards to split end Steve Brown, was woozy after the contest. At 1:15 a.m., he was in the emergency room at Massillon Community Hospital. It was believed he would stay overnight as a precaution.
Shertzer had thrown only one interception in four games but was picked off twice Friday. The Tigers also fumbled the ball twice.
“Their offense did a nice job, but as far as their defense I thought it was mostly a matter of us stopping ourselves,” Owens said.
The Massillon (defense took control in the fourth quarter. With just under seven minutes to go, the Tigers had caught on to Fitch’s misdirection and stuffed the falcons deep in their own territory. On a third down carry that went nowhere, Fitch senior running back Jim Toto made the mistake of yelling an expletive at Tiger cornerback Chad Buckland.
Fitch was penalized half the distance to the goal and had to punt from its own 14.
A 43‑yard punt still left Massillon in excellent field position, but Fitch had the ball back on a fumble on the next play.
The Tiger defense made another big stand, but a punt evaded return man Troy Burick, who pounced on the pigskin at the 7.
On the next play, Falando Ashcraft charged over the left side and nearly broke away for a touchdown. He was stopped after a 21yard gain. Two plays later, Ashcraft bounced outside and gained 32 yards to the Fitch 42. The Tigers were in business.
Ashcraft ran two yards on a critical fourth‑and‑one moments later, but on first down, a Shertzer pass seemed to slip out of his hand and went directly into the arms of Toto.
“It was an automatic,” Owens said. “Fitch didn’t have our receiver covered and Barry called the audible.”
But Fitch called the shots after that, and ran out the clock.
Nobody seemed to give Fitch much of a chance before the game, a fact not lost on the Falcons.
“Even the local paper, The Vindicator, said we didn’t have a chance,” said Senediak. “It got us fired up when we read we weren’t supposed to have much talent or much size. We didn’t think we were going to win. We knew we were going to win.”
Fitz‑Patrick, the tight end who caught the early touchdown pass, painted the Falcons as a confident bunch. “We think we can win the state championship,” he said.
Owens had said before the game this year’s Fitch team is capable of beating any state power on a given night, but may have difficulty doing it consistently.
Hartman concedes the Falcons still have some proving to do. “That remains to be seen,” he said, when asked if his team is capable of beating Ursuline, Mooney and Boardman, three powerhouses left on the schedule.
The Tigers’ next three games are against Nordonia, Indianapolis North Central and Youngstown East, all at home.
‘To tell you the truth, I didn’t say much to our players after the game,” Owens said. “It’s clear what we have to do … work our tails off and rebuild after these setbacks.”
FITCH 14 MASSILLON 7 M F First downs rushing 3 11 First downs passing 6 3 First downs by penalty 1 0 Totals first downs 10 14 Yards gained rushing 119 177 Yards lost rushing 25 14 Net yards rushing 94 163 Net yards passing 155 68 Total yards gained 249 231 Passes attempted 25 7 Passes completed 10 6 Passes int. by 2 0 Yardage on pass int 0 20 Times kicked off 2 3 Kickoff average 38.0 44.7 Kickoff return yards 32 34 Punts 3 4 Punting average 42.7 38.5 Punt return yards 14 27 Fumbles 3 2 Fumbles lost 2 1 Penalties 4 6 Yards penalized 35 46 Number of plays 50 55 Time of possession 18:11 29:49 Attendance 11,500
Owens. Forget and move on Moeller wins on pass with seconds left
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
The Browns were on live Sunday but the Massillon Tigers watched reruns.
The game they watched was better than the Browns vs. the Jets, too.
It was, of course, the game film of the previous night’s 24‑23 loss to Cincinnati Moeller before 16,764 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. You could give it the title: “The Ecstasy and the Agony.”
But head coach Lee Owens preferred another: “History.”
“We’ve officially closed the book on Cincinnati Moeller,” Owens said at 3:45 p.m., just after the team film viewing ended.
“It was a great game to coach in. It was one big chess match … there were literally adjustments made by both sides on every play.
“It was also an extremely difficult game to lose. But it’s over. It’s time to prepare for another tough challenge.”
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The Tigers, whose 3‑1 record is the same as Moeller’s, will play Friday at Austintown‑Fitch. Fitch is off to a 4‑0 start, including a dominating performance against a Mentor team that thought this might be a playoff year. The Falcons have won their only two games against the Tigers in Austintown.
In fact, the most recent loss at Fitch was quite like Saturday’s setback to Moeller.
At Fitch in 1988, Jeff Wilkens kicked a 43‑yard field goal on the last play of the game to reverse a Tiger lead.
At Tiger Stadium Saturday, with the Tigers leading 23‑17 in the closing seconds, Carlos Collins streaked open over the middle and caught a perfectly thrown 39‑yard touchdown pass from Moeller quarterback Neil Dougherty.
The play ended with 14 seconds left to tie the game at 23‑all. Senior Terry Knecht, who has the same thunder in his right leg as Wilkens, easily boomed the extra point through the uprights.
It was a crushing moment for Tigertown.
Prior to Moeller’s final possession, which began with 2:55 left in the game and 67 yards away from the Massillon goal line, the Tigers had clearly played well enough to end their 10‑year jinx during which the Cincinnati powerhouse had won the only four games ever played between the teams.
Prior to the final possession, the Tigers led 234‑198 in total offense…and looked good doing it.
Dougherty, however, led Moeller downfield and came up with a couple big plays. He converted twice on crucial fourth downs, including a fourth‑and‑10 one play before Collins’ dramatic catch.
Yet, wrenching as it was, one of the elements that makes Massillon Tigertown was exposed even as Collins danced back to the sidelines.
Spontaneous applause broke out among the Tiger fans.
“I thought the boys played a good game,” explained one woman who was applauding.
No question about that. This was by far the best of the Massillon‑Moeller games. It also was the first one in which the Tigers had the lead.
The Tigers took the lead by ramming the ball 69 yards on the first possession of the second half. They got the second‑half kickoff following a little bit of macho ‑ they had deferred after winning the opening coin toss, choosing to kick off to Moeller.
Knecht’s 33‑yard field goal on’ Moeller’s first possession of the second half made it 21‑17. The Tigers took a 23‑17 lead on the fourth play of the fourth quarter when Knecht, serving as Moeller’s punter, couldn’t reach a high snap that squirmed out of the end zone for a safety.
The Tigers couldn’t capitalize on good field position off the ensuing ‘fee kick, nor on similarly good field position after a Moeller punt.
Scott Karrenbauer’s fair catch of that punt gave Massillon possession on its own 29 with 6:46 left. Two players who had their finest games advanced the ball downfield. Tight end Chris Roth caught a Barry Shertzer pass for 14 yards. Later, running back Travis McGuire twisted and churned for a 17‑yard gain for a first down on the Moeller 32.
On fourth‑and‑one from the 23, as the clock wound near 3:00, the Tigers decided to go for a first down.
“I thought they’d try to kick a field goal there,” Moeller coach Steve Klonne said. “If they’d have made a field goal, we’d have been dead.”
Owens said a field goal was not a realistic option, the coaches having determined from practice kicks that their range is 30 to 35 yards. The field goal would have been around 40 yards.
Instead, the give went to Falando Ashcraft, who had a touch of daylight inside but seemed to spot a bigger opening to the outside. He bounced outside but was stopped by Moeller’s best defensive player, linebacker Jason Knecht.
Moeller proceeded to move the ball despite sacks by Massillon linemen Mark Murphy and Jermaine Hinton. Dougherty came up with the big completions when his team needed them the most. None was bigger than the fourth‑and‑10 pass to senior Jon Hess to the Massillon 39.
The play was somewhat controversial. Replays suggested Hess may have caught the sideline pass on a short hop. The spot of the ball seemed generous. Klonne seemed in agony on the sideline, apparently fearing it was over.
But when the measurement was made, Massillon coach Jim Letcavits observed with quiet resolve on the sideline, “They got it by half the ball.”
Collins then scored on the next play, The big one had slipped away, leaving the Tigers hoping for better things in the next big one, this week.
MOELLER 24 MASSILLON 23 MA MO First downs rushing 9 4 First downs passing 4 8 First downs Penalty 0 0 Total first down 13 12 Net yards rushing 156 151 Net yards passing 92 160 Total net yards 234 265 Passes attempted 15 23 Passes completed 9 12 Passes intercepted 0 1 Fumbles/lost 2‑1 1‑1 Punts 4 5 Punting average 42.0 38.0 Penalties 0 5 Yards penalized 0 40
Moeller 7 7 3 7 24 Massillon 7 7 7 2 23
MOE – Langenkamp 11 pass from Dougherty (Knecht kick) MAS ‑ Ashcraft 1 run (John kick) MOE ‑ Collins 4 run (Kncecht kick) MAS ‑ McGuire 9 run (John kick) MAS ‑ Ashcraft 1 run (John kick) MOE ‑ FG Knecht 34 MAS ‑ Safety, Punt snapped out of end zone MOE – Collins 39 pass from Dougherty (Knecht kick)
Moeller rallies to stun Massillon
By MARK CRAIG Repository sports writer
MASSILLON ‑ It was a simple play, but not an easy one to execute unless you have an athlete with composure, good hands and 4.4 speed.
Unfortunately for an estimated crowd of just over 18,000 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, the Cincinnati Moeller High School football team has just that type of athlete, senior running back Carlos Collins.
Collins, who last year stabbed the hearts of Massillon Washington football fans with 322 yards rushing in a 41‑7 rout of the Tigers, did it again Saturday night. His 39‑yard TD reception with 14 seconds left in the game lifted Moeller (3‑1) to a 24‑23 victory over the Tigers.
Lined up as the inside receiver in the trips formation on fourthand‑10, Collins blew past the outside linebacker, streaked by the free safety and snared a perfectly thrown pass by quarterback Neil Dougherty. Terry Knecht’s PAT gave Moeller the one‑point win and raised the Crusaders’ lifetime record against the Tigers to 6‑0.
“The play is nothing fancy,” said Moeller head coach Steve Klonne. “Carlos just streaks ‑zoom! Right down the field. We knew there was nobody on the field who could stay with Carlos.
Not many high school kids can.”
Massillon defensive coordinator Greg Gillum said he knew the game‑winning formation was trouble, even though the Crusaders had lined up in it earlier and not thrown to Collins.
“They’ve hit that play for big yardage in all the games they’ve played,” Gillum said. “We knew they’d be looking for Carlos. We had a guy play about five yards off to try and give them the underneath stuff, but Carlos just blew by everyone.”
Collins, who finished with a game‑high 131 yards rushing on 23 carries, knew he was going to score as soon as he lined up.
“After about six steps, I saw the whole thing develop,” said the 6foot‑1, 187‑pound Collins. “This was a thing of beauty, much more exciting than last year.”
The game also was a thing of beauty for the Tigers ‑ until the final drive, that is. But on that drive, which started at the Moeller 22 with 2:39 left to play, Moeller converted a third‑and‑ 10 situation at the Moeller 37, a fourth‑and‑seven at the Moeller 40 and the final fourth‑and‑10 situation that crushed the Massillon faithful.
Massillon’s offense gave the Tigers a 21‑14 lead by taking the second‑half kickoff and going 69 yards on 14 plays. Junior Falando Ashcraft finished the drive 5:54 after it began by driving into the end zone from a yard out. Ryan John added the PAT.
Massillon’s defense then held Moeller to a 34‑yard field goal by Knecht at the 1:51 mark of the third.
Massillon punter Chris Roth had a big hand in the next score for Massillon ‑ a safety with 9:52 left in the game that gave Massillon a 23‑17 lead.
Roth boomed a 56‑yarder that backed the Crusaders up on their own 8. Four plays later, a high snap went through punter Knecht’s hands and out of the end zone.
What would have been Massillon’s game‑winning drive was stopped on fourth‑and‑1 at the Crusader 22. With 3:13 to go in the game and after Massillon had driven 49 yards in eight plays, Ashcraft plowed into the line, but was stopped for no gain.
Moeller out gained the Tigers in total yards, 265‑234. Moeller had one turnover, while Massillon had none.
Ashcraft led Massillon in rushing with 48 yards on 20 carries. He scored two TDs, the first coming on a 1‑yard run that tied the score at 7‑7 in the first quarter.
Massillon running back Travis McGuire, who had some big gains off the draw play, set up Ashcraft’s second TD with a 23‑yard burst to the 1. He also scored on a 9‑yard draw up the middle to knot the score at two TDs apiece with 1:17 left in the first half.
Moeller 7 7 3 7 24 Massillon 7 7 7 2 23
MO ‑ Lagenkamp 8 pass from Dougherty (Knecht kick) MA ‑ Ashcraft 1 run (John kick) MO – Collins 4 run (Knecht kick) MA ‑ McGuire 9 run (John kick) MA ‑ Ashcraft 1 run (John kick) MO ‑ FG Knecht 34 MA ‑ Safety. Punt snap out of end zone MO ‑ Collins 39 pass from Dougherty (Knecht kick)
Tigers get win, Rams get respect Moeller next for 3‑0 Massillon
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
Forget the “looking ahead to Moeller factor.
Instead, give Akron Garfield an Aretha Franklin salute:
“R‑E‑S‑P‑E‑C‑T.”
That’s what the Rams deserve for giving the Massillon Tigers a night on the edge before 11,370 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium,
While it is true the Massillon Tigers were not at their best in a 20‑14 victory over Garfield, a couple other things also are true.
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One, in the words of old warhorse Nick Vrotsos as he kicked around the game with other Massillon coaches, “The name of the game is to win.”
Two, Garfield is a very good team; so good, in fact, that head coach Lee Owens made sense when he said, “I’d be surprised‑if- they lost another game.”
Two observers in entirely different parts of the Massillon locker room made exactly the same point. They were Gary Vogt, last year’s Booster Club president, and Tom Stacy, the Tigers’ offensive coordinator.
“Garfield has got to be the best 0‑2 team in the state,” they both said.
Hard to argue. The Rams have outgained both McKinley (218‑184) and Massillon (293236) in their defeats.
Bill McGee, the classy Garfield head coach, did not seem to take the loss hard.
“This was definitely a much better effort than our game against McKinley,” he said.
I’m proud of ’em. I think we’re on our way. ”
The Tigers, 3‑0, wore down their first two opponents, Stow and Covington Catholic, in winning by a combined 90‑14 margin. Both of those opponents used many two‑way players. So did Garfield, but the Rams hardly faded in the fourth quarter.
In fact, Garfield drove 81 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to make it 20‑14 and had the ball at midfield with three minutes left before an interception by Dan Hackenbracht on a flea‑flicker pass snuffed out the big scare.
McGee said one of the most important things his staff did all week was to plan substitutions so two‑way starters could stay fresh.
“I think Massillon’s greatest strengths are diversification and the two‑platoon system,” McGee said. “We knew we’d be facing fresh players every time the ball changed hands.”
Two weeks ago Owens was saying the Tigers were at an exceptional level considering the earliness of the season. No more.
“We’ve practiced poorly the last two weeks and it’s started to catch up to us,” he said after improving his personal record against Garfield to 2‑0. “My biggest concern is that we have not improved. I’m just glad Moeller is the next team we play. That will force the entire team to come up a notch. I expect to have a great week of practice.”
Ah, yes, Moeller. The Fighting Crusaders, 4‑0 in the abbreviated all‑time series with the Tigers, will be in Massillon next Saturday.
“In my heart I believe we are a better team than they are,” said Owens, speaking of Moeller. “I hope we can convince the players of that.”
One player who does not need to be convinced is defensive tackle Ron Humphrey.
Tigers needed some big plays to beat Garfield and Humphrey provided a couple of them. One was an eight‑yard sack of Garfield’s junior quarterback, Barry Christ, late in the first half that preserved a 13‑8 lead at the intermission.
” I don’t think we were looking ahead, ” said Humphrey, a 6‑foot‑2, 235‑pound senior. “We were coming off the road trip to Cincinnati and we were a little tired. We weren’t focused. I think we will be next week.
“Garfield was also a lot stronger than the other teams we’ve played. A lot smarter, too. They used their running backs to help block our front four and it was effective. The other teams hadn’t done that.”
Tony DeLappi, a senior lineman on the other side of the ball, agreed Garfield was the best of the Tigers’ three opponents so far. He also agreed the Tigers weren’t at their best.
“We didn’t play to our full potential,” the 5‑11, 230‑pound offensive tackle said. “We’re capable of playing better. Next week, I think everybody will see us play to our potential.”
DeLappi was on the field during the most important series of the game when the Tigers scored after the second‑half kickoff to take a two‑touchdown lead.
Massillon also scored on its first possession of the first quarter after a sack by Tiger defensive end Jermaine Hinton snuffed out Garfield’s opening series. On fourth down from the 13‑yard line, Tiger quarterback Barry Shertzer had good enough protection to scan both sides of the field, then loft a pass over 6‑3 cornerback Corvin Harrison to 6‑5 split end Steve Brown at the back of the end zone on the right side. Ryan John’s kick made it 7‑0 with 5: 50 left in the first quarter.
Garfield then started on its own 25 after sophomore Jason Brown’s kickoff. Two plays later, on third-and‑two, 6‑foot, 185‑pound senior halfback Troy Robinson broke two tackles on the right side and exploded 67 yards for a touchdown. It was a play Garfield has been using for many years. The powerful, speedy Robinson followed 220 pound fullback Sean James’ block on an off‑tackle play. Foes know it’s corning, but Garfield’s execution can still kill you.
Garfield took an 8‑7 lead on a bit of luck. The P.A.T. snap was botched. Sophomore quarterback Joe Nemith, the place‑kick holder, tracked down the loose ball and found John Wright wide open for a two‑point conversion pass.
Massillon showed its respect for Garfield on the next series. On fourth‑and‑one from their own 43, the Tigers punted. Under Owens, they usually use a fake or a regular play under similar circumstances.
Senior Chris Roth, who had his best night as a Tiger punter, buried Garfield at the 16. Garfield plowed to midfield when, on a carry by Robinson, Scott Karrenbauer stripped the ball and Chad Buckland recovered for the Tigers.
Shertzer went to Brown again seven plays later, lofting a 21‑yard scoring strike over 5‑10 defender Reggie Hitchcock. Brown’s second TD was part of a big night that included eight catches for 82 yards.
The Tigers had trouble after the touchdown, calling two timeouts to sort out some confusion before a two‑point conversion pass attempt failed when Roth dove to catch a tipped ball but landed just out of bounds.
That made it 13‑8 at the half.
Garfield had bottled up the Tigers’ running game in the first half. Junior Falando Ashcraft, who rushed for 190 yards against Covington Catholic, was held to 12 yards the first half. He doubled that number immediately with a 24yard blast on his first carry of the second half.
A twisting 11‑yard run by Travis McGuire on second‑and‑nine was another key as the Tigers marched 76 yards in 11 plays. Ashcraft dove in from the one and John added the P.A.T. kick to make it 20‑8 with 8:26 left in the third quarter.
Garfield stopped itself on its next possession, as Hitchcock, one of the two‑way starters, simply lost the handle on a handoff. Hackenbracht, continuing to show a big‑play knack (two interceptions last week), recovered the fumble.
It was three plays and punt for the Tigers, though. Another good Roth punt pinned Garfield at the 19. It took the Rams three plays to dig out and turn the game back into a thriller. The play was a 47‑yard pass to Corvin Harrison, who was covered well but forcefully snatched Christ’s deep pass.
On fourth‑and‑seven from the 13 Christ hit Hitchcock for 10 yards. Morris Cosey, best known as a 250pound defensive tackle, got the ball from the fullback position on the next play and barged Fridge‑like into the end zone, off tackle, standing up.
The Rams tried a fake kick on the P‑A‑T, but it was short‑circuited when sophomore Eric Woods tackled Nemith before Nemith could get off a pass. It was 20‑14 with 9:38 left.
The Tigers, then the Rams, then the Tigers again went one‑two-three‑punt on the game’s next three series.
The Rams got the ball on their 30‑yard line with 3:41 left.
“They’d run the ball effectively but they were running out of time,” Owens said. “They couldn’t just try to drive the ball down the field.”
On second‑and‑seven from the Tiger 47, as the clock wound past two minutes, Robinson took a handoff, then pitched the ball to Christ. The quarterback heaved a bomb toward Harrison, but Hackenbracht was in perfect position and made an over-the‑shoulder interception on the 8.
Ashcraft mustered a 13‑yard run on first down, a key play in that the Tigers were then able to run out the clock.
MASSILLON 20 GARFIELD 14 M G First downs rushing 8 7 First downs Passing 5 3 First downs Penalty 1 0 Total first down 14 10 Net yards rushing 149 229 Net yards passing 99 81 Total net yards 236 293 Passes attempted 18 8 Passes completed 9 4 Passes intercepted 0 2 Fumbles/lost 2‑1 6‑2 Punts 5 3 Punting average 40.6 42.3 Penalties 1 4 Yards Penalized 5 28 Time of poss 21:28 38:32
Receiving (Mas) Brown 8‑82, Stafford 1‑7, McGuire 1‑10. (Gar) Hitchcock 1‑11, Harrison 2‑60, Robinson 1‑10.
Massillon 7 6 7 0 20 Garfield 8 0 0 6 14
M ‑ Brown 13 pass from Shertzer (John kick) G ‑ Robinson 67 run (Wright pass from Nemith) M ‑ Brown 2l Pass from Shertzer (pass failed) M ‑ Ashcraft 1 run (John kick) G ‑ Cosey 3 run (run failed)
Fourth ‑ down savvy, fourth‑quarter scoring flurry give Tigers 39‑14 win
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
CINCINNATI ‑ On the First of September, in the second week of the high school football season, during the third game of the Buddy LaRosa Classic, the Massillon Tigers became kings of the fourth down.
It helped that they were kings of the fourth quarter, ripping off 21 mind‑boggling points, whipping their thousands of highway followers into a frenzy, and scoring a 39‑14 victory over the Covington Catholic Colonels.
But had they not first become kings of the fourth down, who knows?
Maybe they would not have been kings of The Jungle, the name Bengals fans give Riverfront Stadium.
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A scant 63 seconds into the game, the team from the Kentucky town across the Ohio River, just over yonder paddleboat, had struck like an unexpected plunge into icy water. Covington Catholic linebacker Nate Roedig swooped into the path of a Barry Shertzer pass and returned his interception 35 yards for a touchdown.
Not only did the Colonels lead 7‑0. They stopped the Tigers on three plays to set up a fourth‑and‑11 on the Massillon 25‑yard line.
What the Tigers did next defied all the laws laid down by men named Knute and Woody and, for that matter, Paul Brown, who was Massillon head coach Lee Owens’ personal host the night before during an NFL exhibition game.
You might have seen a thousand games and never witnessed a fake punt in that precarious situation. But that is what the Tigers did.
Scott Karrenbauer’s snap went not to punter Chris Roth, but to one of the ”up men,” a “blocker” named Troy Burick, who happens to be a quarterback. One of the “punt coverage” men happened to be Travis McGuire, a running back with exceptional receiving skills. McGuire faded off the line to a wide-one spot. Burick flicked him the ball. McGuire raced 20 yards for a first down.
“Punt,” Owens pointed out, “is a four‑letter word. It’s like surrendering.”
From there the Tigers maneuvered for a touchdown in 11 plays (on Falando Ashcraft’s six‑yard run on fourth down). James McCullough went in from the 3, the point after kick failed, and it was 7‑6.
On Massillon’s next possession, Ashcraft rushed five yards on fourth‑and‑one from the Colonel 42, Shertzer gained three yards on fourth‑and‑one from the 30, and Ashcraft made four yards on fourth‑and‑one from the 8. Shertzer scored from three yards out, a conversion pass failed, and it was 12‑7 with 6:36 left in the first half.
On their next possession, set up by a Dan Hackenbracht interception, the Tigers again turned a fourth‑arid‑one into a first down. But this time the drive ended with a punt.
Hackenbracht came right back, intercepting another pass from sophomore quarterback Adam McCormack and returning it 40 yards to the 8 with 1:09 left in the half.
McGuire, one of the aforementioned masters of deception, caught a conventional pass from Shertzer on an eight‑yard scoring play that gave the Tigers an 18‑7 halftime lead.
Covington Catholic cut the gap to 18‑14 midway through the third quarter, and it stayed that way until late in the fourth period before the Tigers exploded.
First Eric Wright recovered a fumble to set up a 15‑yard bootleg run for a touchdown by Shertzer with 3:27 left in the game.
Then Wayne Gallion recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Ashcraft roared 35 yards for a touchdown on the next play.
Then Covington Catholic went nowhere in three plays, and Scott Karrenbauer weaved through tacklers before breaking into the clear on a 77‑yard punt return for a touchdown.
Ryan John converted all three P.A.T. kicks. The Tigers had scored 21 points in a span of 104 seconds.
Massillon’s share of the crowd spent the final three minutes of the game on its feet, rocking the stadium with noise.
”We don’t like to be in close games … we don’t like anyone to be close to us,” said Ashcraft, who was named game MVP in a media vote after rushing 28 times for 190 yards. “We started executing the way we should have been doing all along.
“This is great … this is better than the McKinley game.”
Ashcraft was clearly enjoying himself as he celebrated with teammates on the field long after the game. Before the Tigers gave way to Cincinnati Moeller and Mount Carmel (Ill.), combatants in the fourth of Saturday’s five Classic games, they united in front of their fans and basked in a long, loud ovation.
The Tigers out gained the Colonels 369‑111 in net offensive yards en route to a 2‑0 record.
“To tell you the truth,” Owens said, “I was not real concerned even when they made the game 1814 (on a 42‑yard TD pass from McCormack to Nate Cogswell). Their receiver was hit by two of our defenders and he basically just bounced into the clear. That was pretty much all the offense they got the entire day.”
Owens wasn’t wrong. Not counting the 42‑vard pass, the Colonels gained an average of 2.03 yards in their other 34 offensive plays.
“It was another great game by the defense,” Owens said.
The Tiger offense had planned to pick apart Covington Catholic with a passing game but Shertzer was not sharp, completing seven of 23 throws for 67 yards, with one touchdown.
“Barry was not his normal self,” Owens said. “Part of that is inexperience. Part was the tough man-to‑man coverage they used. One thing about Barry … he never gets down on himself.”
The offensive line got down to business and blocked large running gaps for Ashcratt and McGuire ‑ 12 carries, 52 yards).
“We used about all we had on defense as well as offense,” said Covington Catholic head coach Lynn Wess, who has had his team in the Kentucky Class 3‑A state championship game the last three years. “We had quite a few problems with their delay draw. They block it very well.”
David Wilson, the Colonels’ star senior running back, said the Tigers were a little bigger and a little faster. “They play good football.”
It’s not time to get carried away with the Massillon Tigers, even if they did knock the stuffing out of Stow 51‑0 in a high school football season opener Friday night.
It is most certainly time, however, to be impressed with their potential.
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“I’m looking forward to seeing them in the state playoffs,” said Gary Mattes, the head coach who led Stow to five Metro Conference championships in the 1980s. “They should make it.
“It was just our misfortune to have to play them tonight. I’m sorry we didn’t give the people of Massillon a better show.”
Actually, coach, the good citizens liked the show just the way it was. They were delighted that:
* The revamped 5‑4 “Bengal defense” stopped Stow for no gain or a loss on 17 of 26 first‑half plays.
* Massillon rolled up a 473‑124 advantage in net offensive yards.
* A passing game stocked with a new quarterback, new receivers and mostly new blockers amassed 213 yards.
* The running game produced 102 yards in seven carries from Travis McGuire and 93 yards in 13 rushes from Falando Ashcraft.
* A team that looked good in scrimmages against Cleveland St. Ignatius, Lima and Central Catholic looked even better in the first game that counted.
Some pigskin philosophers believe a coaching staff needs two years to streamline its system. Third‑year Tiger head coach Lee Owens just might be ready to unleash a juggernaut capable of, say, beating Cincinnati Moeller and winning a state title.
“If we play like real Tigers,” said Ashcraft, “we can make the playoffs and go all the way to the title.”
Make no mistake. Owens believes a state title is possible this year.
“This was a great way to start the season. It was a great way to start the decade,” he said.
Owens said he has never had a team come close to scoring 51 points in a season opener; yet, he thought “the story of the night” was the defense’s shutout.
“We were truly dominant on defense,” he said. “Looking back, we could really start to see the defense coming together in our scrimmage at Lima.
“Tonight, we shut out a team that has a very good offense. They moved the ball all over the place in their scrimmage against Buchtel. But we stopped them by being very aggressive and very quick. We were also much more physical than they were.”
Senior tackle Mark Murphy set the tone for the night when, on the game’s first play from scrimmage, he nailed star running back Kalonji Werts for a two‑yard loss. On the next play, he plowed into Werts and caused a three‑yard loss.
“They gave me the inside splits,” said Murphy, a 6‑foot, 228‑pound senior. “I used my speed to get through.”
Stow naturally adjusted to Murphy, reducing the gaps and blocking at his knees, but that only created openings for his teammates.
“The whole defensive front played an excellent game,” said senior defensive back Chad Buckland. “We played well together. I knew we could play like that.”
Murphy said the defense “didn’t play to its full potential.” He wants to see even more intensity next Saturday when the Tigers take on Covington Catholic in Cincinnati at the Buddy LaRosa Classic.
His teammate Mike Martin, a senior defensive end, thinks the intensity will be there.
“The defense played great … and it will the rest of the season, too,” predicted Martin. “We came out pumped and we beat them physically and mentally.”
The beating manifested itself in injuries.
Werts, a speedy senior regarded as Stow’s best player, didn’t see action after the first quarter after suffering a deep thigh bruise.
Stow quarterback Jeff Behrman missed the second half with broken ribs.
Running back Charles Harris was knocked out with a strained knee.
They were “key injuries,” Mattes said, though not pretending the Bulldogs would have made it a dogfight had they played.
“They gave us a lot of problems,” the Stow coach said. “Their execution was excellent. And whoever calls their plays did an excellent job. We couldn’t draw a bead on any one person. And they have an excellent quarterback.”
Barry Shertzer got his first start as the Tigers’ varsity QB. In three quarters, he completed 13 of 26 passes for 175 yards with a mixture of short, medium and long‑range throws.
Flanker Ken Weber, playing despite a dislocated toe, caught three passes. So did split end Steve Brown and tight end Chris Roth.
But the receiver who had the biggest day was Marc Stafford, both of whose catches went for touchdowns.
The Tigers scored the first two times they had the ball, first on an 11‑yard run by Ashcraft, then on an eight‑yard Shertzer‑to‑Stafford pass.
“We did exactly what Coach Owens wanted, and that was to hit them with points early,” said senior captain Brent Bach, an offensive tackle. “We did exactly what we wanted to do.”
The play that turned the game from a rout into a wipeout was a well‑thrown bomb that Stafford caught on the run and carried into the end zone. The play went 48 yards and gave the Tigers a 33‑0 lead late in the third quarter.
Assessing the offense, Owens said, “We really looked smooth on our first two drives. We were running plays just the way you draw them up on the board.
“After that, we seemed to lose our intensity for a while. But were able to regroup.” Owens said “the only negative” of the evening was points after touchdown. The Tigers were unsuccessful on conversion tries following five of the eight touchdowns.
“We need to make those automatic,” he said. “But it’s hard to talk about any negatives after everybody played so well and there were so many positives.”
MASSILLON 51 STOW 0 M S First downs rushing 16 3 First downs Passing 7 1 First downs Penalty 3 1 Total first down 26 5 Net Yards rushing 260 72 Net yards Passing 213 52 Total net yards 473 124 Passes attempted 28 13 Passes completed 14 2 Passes intercepted 0 1 Fumbles/lost 2‑2 6‑4 Punts 3 8 Punting average 47.3 28.6 Penalties 7 8 Yards penalized 70 62
Stow 0 0 0 0 0 Massillon 14 6 19 12 51
M ‑ Ashcraft 11 run (Miller kick) M‑ Stafford 8 pass from Shertzer (Miller kick) M ‑ McGuire 23 run (kick failed) M ‑ Ashcraft 6 run (pass failed) M ‑ Stafford 48 pass from Shertzer (Miller kick) M ‑ Roberson 1 run (run failed) M ‑ Turley 7 return with fumble recovery (kick failed) M ‑ Slicker 1 run (kick failed) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RECEIVING (Massillon) McGuire 2‑36, Brown 3‑17, Roth 3‑32, Ford 2‑56, Weber 3‑34, Hawkins 1‑32. (Stow) Gabele 1‑42, Foster 1‑10.
Here is a summary of the Tigers’ scoring drives:
FIRST HALF First quarter
8:22‑Falando Ashcraft 11 run over right side. Gary Miller kick. Drive: 45 yards, 5 plays. Keys: 11‑yard Barry Shertzer‑to‑Travis McGuire completion on third‑and‑10; 17‑yard Ashcraft run.
5:14‑Marc Stafford 8 pass from Shertzer. Miller kick. Drive: 56 yards, 8 plays. Keys: Ashcraft 17 run; offsides penalty on Stow on fourth‑and-two; 11‑yard Shertzer‑to‑Chris Roth pass one play before TD strike.
Second quarter
4:01‑McGuire 23 run. Kick failed. Drive: 73 yards, 7 plays. Key: 18‑yard Shertzer‑to‑McGuire pass one play after 12‑yard loss on sack.
Massillon hammers Stow 51-0
By BOB STEWART Repository sports editor
MASSILLON ‑ With all the subtlety of a sledge, the Massillon Tigers opened their new season by hammering the visiting Stow Bulldogs 51‑0 before 11,020 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday night.
In a game neither coach thought would happen. Massillon’s players belted the bejabbers out of the visitors, rolling to a pair of quick TDs in the first period, and blowing open the game with a three-TD barrage in the second half that took only 2:13 of clock time. Two of the TDs came within 58 seconds of each other.
The Tigers’ defense, led by hit‑happy Mark Murphy, playing like his Green Bay Packers’ namesake, smacked back the Bulldogs’ first two offensive threats with some body banging that left Stow with minus yards and minus some semblance of sensibilities.
“Well, it certainly was a lot better than that Repository game,” quipped Massillon Coach Lee Owens, who “came a cropper” as the West Coach in The Repository’s inaugural Stark County All‑Star game in June at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium.
“We didn’t expect this,” said Owens after his Tigers amassed 473 yards to Stow’s 124. “The fans now want to know if we are this good, or if Stow was just not very good.
“We thought Stow was very good, but our kids really were fired up. They wanted to get out there and hit people, and they did,” said Owens, the 34‑year‑old mentor beginning his third season here. The win gives him a 17‑6 record in Tigertown.
He noted his team was not trying to score a lot of points, but that the depth of the Tigers this season may be exceptional.
“I was really proud of our second unit,” said Owens. “They played very well, and all our subs seemed to rise to the occasion.‑ I guess they were trying to tell us they should all be No. 1,” he said.
Stow coach Gary Mattes said the Tigers ferocious hitting was the major factor. “Our kids have been hit before, but not constantly like that. We lost a couple good backs, including our quarterback, early, and that didn’t help,” he said.
But he was quick to note be wasn’t making any excuses, and praised the Tigers, noting he was “looking forward to watching them play in the state playoffs. They certainly should be there.
“They have an excellent team, and their offensive execution was just so precise we couldn’t handle it,” he said.
Mattes said his team has to regroup, now. “We still think we have a pretty good football team. We just have to come back and be able to show it,” he said.
Junior running back Falando Ashcraft and junior receiver Marc Stafford each scored two touchdowns, Stafford’s coming on passes from senior quarterback Barry Shertzer, an 8‑yarder and a 48‑yarder.
Ashcraft, who opened the night’s splurge of six‑pointers with an 11‑yard dash, also got the third quarter blitz begun with a 6‑yard run. He finished with 93 yards on 13 rushes, but wasn’t even the top dog.
Travis McGuire, a junior running back who wears No. 1 and makes sure the fans know he thinks he is No. 1 by holding his index Finger aloft even before he gets to the end zone, scored on a 23‑yard scamper which was but one of his seven carries from scrimmage that totaled 107 yards.
The Tigers also got 1‑yard touchdown rushes by subs Ron Roberson and Scott Slicker.
The Tigers dominated every statistic: First downs 26‑5; rushing yards 260‑72; passing yards 213‑52.
Stow 0 0 0 0 0 Massillon 14 6 19 12 51
M – Ashcraft 11 run (Miller kick) M ‑ Stafford 8 pass from Shertzer (Miller kick) M ‑ McGuire 23 run (kick failed) M ‑ Ashcraft 6 run (pass failed) M ‑ Stafford 48 pass from Shertzer (Miller kick) M ‑ Robertson 1 run (run failed) M ‑ Turley 7 fumble return (kick failed) M ‑ Slicker 1 run (kick failed) A – 11,020.
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