Author: <span>Eric Smith</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1988: Massillon 34, Barberton 21

Tigers’ big plays Work like magic

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

Tom Persell, a magician by avocation, was at a loss to explain the trick the Massillon Tigers pul­led on the Barberton Magics Friday.

“This time of possession is unbelievable,” said Persell, also a stat­istician, as he stared at a facts sheet fresh out of his computer in the pressbox at Paul Brown Tiger Sta­dium.

Program Cover

A paid crowd of 11,548 had just watched‑the Massillon Tigers beat the Barberton Magics 34‑21. What the crowd didn’t know was that the Tigers pulled all of those points out of a hat they wore for only 13 mi­nutes and 45 seconds. The Magics, meanwhile, hogged the stage on offense for 34 minutes, 15 seconds.

“You could do some serious re­search and I doubt you’d find a Mas­sillon team that scored 34 points with a time of possession like that,” said Persell.

Actually, there was a simple ex­planation.

When you score on an 85‑yard run, as Jason Stafford did in the second quarter while showing off his 4.38 speed in the 40 (times two), the offense is in and out.

Ditto when you score on a 74‑yard run, as quarterback Lee Hurst did one play after Barberton closed the cap to 14‑7 in the third quarter.

Same with Lamont Dixon’s 50­yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

The offense scored and sat, and it was “bring on the D.”

“Sometimes,” head coach Lee Owens was saying, “maybe we do score a little too quickly.”

Not that Owens plans to tell the ball carriers, “Fellas, run for 20 and take a dive.” It’s just that those take‑your‑breath‑away plays don’t give the defense any breathers.

The way Barberton’s bite‑sized quarterback, third‑year starter Butch Momchilov, was running the option, there was no time for deep breaths.

While the Tiger offense big­ played Barberton to death, Battlin’ Butch was whipping up volatile Momchilov Cocktails.

The Tigers met their quota on offense. Their goal is 350‑400 yards a game. They made it a third week in a row, with 400 on the nose.

The defense has a quota, too. Hold the foes under 200 yards. It hasn’t happened yet, but Barberton was the first team to really break the bank, collecting 347 yards.

Massillon’s defense made big plays when it had to, but was still concerned about Barberton’s abil­ity to move the ball.

“I don’t want to be too critical of us,” Owens said. “Give Barberton some compliments. They were like a boxer. We’d knock them down, and they’d get right back up.”

The Tigers missed a lot of tack­les, true. They will have to start connecting more frequently if they are to beat next week’s foe, Fair­field, which returns 19 of 22 starters from the only team to beat Cincin­nati Princeton last year (Fairfield improved to 3‑0 by edging Cincinna­ti Purcell‑Marian 7‑0 last night).

It is also true that Momchilov is the kind of option QB who makes tacklers miss. He proved to be a wizard at the fakes and pitches essential to making an option offense work.

When he wasn’t faking or pitch­ing, he was keeping and squirting out yards on his own.

”They played pretty good offense,” said gritty Tiger defen­sive back Brian Bach, who stands about 5‑feet‑8, and noted Momchi­lov is “about an inch shorter than me.

“He can cut real good,” Bach added. ”But we still need to play better on defense. I think we need more enthusiasm.”

Enthusiasm is building in town now that the team has improved to 3‑0 by beating a team that came in at 2‑0. It is tempered by a question many exiting fans were asking: “Can the Tigers stop Fairfield, or will they have to try to win a shootout?”

“The players aren’t happy with where we are on defense and I know the coaches are disappointed,” Owens said. “Right now, I’m baffled.”

But then, Fairfield, whose head coach Ben Hubbard led a scouting contingent to the Tigers’ game in Altoona last week, faces its own baffling question. How does one contain (forget about stopping) Jason Stafford?

The senior fullback rushed for 156 yards in 10 carries Friday, pushing him over 450 yards for three games. The only thing that stopped him was a pulled hamstring muscle he suf­fered with less than a minute left in the third quarter. He sat out the fin­al period.

“It happened when I was running downfield throwing a block,” he said while standing on the sidelines, keeping an eye on the action. Just then, his teammate Dixon broke loose for the 50‑yard touchdown run that created the final score. He be­gan running toward Dixon, making a “No. 1” signal with his index finger.

The play on which Stafford was injured was Hurst’s 74‑yard bootleg run.

Earlier, Stafford had run 85 yards on a play the team calls “inside ice.”

I fake to the inside then cut to the outside,” he said.

Barberton apparently had a good scouting report on Stafford. After Momchilov, who also plays safety, dove at Stafford and missed, he buried his faceguard in the turf. He knew no one would catch the blazing fullback. By the time Stafford reached the goal line, his closest pursuers were 15 yards behind.

After the game, the “inside ice” was on Stafford’s left hamstring in the training room.

“It’s not too bad,” he said. “I’ll I be ready to play.”

Stafford’s touchdown may have .been the key play in the game.

The Tigers had scored. early, par­laying Steve Snodgrass’ fumble recovery into a 38‑yard drive capped by Ryan Sparkman’s 1‑yard plunge at the 7:18 mark of the first quarter.

But Barberton tied the score at 7‑all with its next possession, driv­ing 79 yards in 13 plays, including an 18‑yard completion to the Tiger 13 on fourth‑and‑three. Big fullback Pat Robertson, who finished with 99 yards in 19 rushes, went the final yard.

Barberton further asserted itself by forcing the Tigers to punt on their next possession. The Tigers in turn came, up with an important de­fensive stand and forced the Magics to punt.

Earlier, a clipping penalty that infuriated the Massillon coaches brought back what would have been a 60‑yard TD blast by Stafford. The clipping flags came out again on the punt, and the Tigers were backed up to their own 15.

Stafford solved the field position problem in a hurry by breaking loose on first down for the 85­yarder.

Barberton head coach Don Ault was thinking about plays like that when he said, “That’s genes … there’s not much we could do about some of their big plays. They just out‑manned us.”

After the touchdown, Hurst ‑ not changing to a special kicking shoe for ‑the first time this year ‑ kicked his second extra point and the Ti­gers led 14‑7 with 4:08 left in the half.

Momchilov optioned Barberton to where it missed a 38‑yard field goal attempt with two seconds left in the half,

At halftime, Barberton led 171-­169 in total offense and 17:23‑6:37 in time of possession.

The Tiger defense, following a pattern of doing something positive when it had to, kept the Magics at bay by forcing a punt on the first possession of the second half.

The Massillon offense then threatened to put away the game by driving 60 yards in nine plays for a score. The touchdown came on an excellent adjustment. On third-­and‑one from the nine, Barberton’s defense shifted during the snap count so that most of its men were clogging the middle. The handoff went to Sparkman, who bounced off left tackle to the outside. He had clear sailing into the right comer of the end zone. Hurst’s kick was wide but the Tigers led 20-7 with 6:08 left in the third quarter.

The Magics didn’t disappear. The kickoff stuck them at their own 23 but Robertson quickly bulled for gains of 11 and 10. The drive kept moving and wound up consuming 77 yards in nine plays. Momchilov fired a seven‑yard pass to Steve Cuckler for a touchdown, and the kick made it 20‑14 with 57 seconds left in the half.

The Tigers faced the same sort of crises a week ago, when Altoona scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut a Massillon lead to 6 points. The Tigers then drove for a clinching touchdown on a mostly running drive described by Owens as “slug‑nose football.”

This time, the Tigers went back to kicking butt with the boot. On first down, Hurst, on the bootleg keep, sprinted around the right side, where he found an uncommon volume of running room.

“It was just a normal boot,” Hurst said. “I wasn’t really sur­prised I had that much room. Their linemen are aggressive and they jump inside. We had good blocking going on the play, too.”

“The play went the way the night went for us,” said center Don Ger­ber. “We came together and played as a team. On that play, everybody executed his block.”

Hurst showed good speed in turn­ing the corner and outrunning three Barberton pursuers on the 74‑yard burst.

Late in the game, Barberton rec­overed a Tiger fumble near mid­field and drove again. Momchilov passed seven yards to Dan Dimick for a touchdown. The kick was good and suddenly Barberton trailed 28­-21 and was within an onside kick of making real trouble. The same sort of thing happened in last year’s Barberton game, when the Tigers sweated out a 34-26 victory in the Rubber Bowl.

As in 1987, the Tigers recovered the onside kick ‑ this time, Mark Owens did the honors. Dixon’s 50-­yard TD burst came with 47 seconds left in the game.

“Everything is coming together,” concluded Tiger tight end Jeff Harig, who caught two pas­ses for 35 yards. “The line is hitting hard and getting it done.”

Speaking for the defense, end Monte McGuire said, “We played hard, but we’ve just got to get a lit­tle more aggressive. Put it in the books. We’re going to beat Fairfield. ”

Another word from the defense, by defensive back Shawn Ashcraft: “I thought we played well at times. We missed a few tackles. We can do better. Next week, we have to make no mistakes.”

“Barberton was good,” said Owens. “But Fairfield will be better.

M B
First downs rushing 9 12
First downs passing 3 6
First downs by penalty 0 2
Totals first downs 12 20
Yards gained rushing 351 226
Yards lost rushing 8 40
Net yards rushing 343 186
Not yards passing 57 161
Total yards gained 400 347
Passes attempted 9 23
Passes completed 5 13
Passes int. 1 0
Times kicked off 6 4
Kickoff average 55.5 35.3
Kickoff return yards 31 91
Punts 2 3
Punting average 41.0 33.0
Punt return yards 18 0
Fumbles 2 1
Fumbles 1 2
Penalties 6 5
Yards penalized 68 24
Number of plays 38 71
Tlme of possession 13:45 34:15
Third‑down conv. 4‑6 8‑15
Attendance 11,548

BARBERTON 0 7 7 7 21
MASSILLON 7 7 14 6 34

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter
M ‑ Sparkman 1 run (Hurst kick) 718
Second quarter
B ‑ Robertson 1 run (Horvath kick) 11:57
M ‑ Stafford 85 run (Hurst kick) 4:26

Third quarter
M ‑ Sparkman 9 run (kick failed) 6:08
B ‑ Cuckler 7 pass from Momchilov (Horvath kick) 0:57
M ‑ Hurst 74 run (Hurst run) 0:32

Fourth quarter
B ‑ Dimick 7 pass from Momchilov (Horvath kick) 1:41
M ‑ Dixon 50 run (kick failed) 0:47

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING:
Massillon ‑ Stafford 10‑156, 15.6 ave., I TD; Sparkman 10‑28, 2.8 ave., 2 TDs; Hurst 6‑98, 16.3 ave., 1 TD; Dixon 3‑61, 20.3 ave., 1 TD.
Barberton ‑ Robertson 19‑99, 5.2 ave., 1 TD; James 9‑59, 6.6 ave.; Momchilov 18‑25, 1.4 ave.; Ocepek 1‑3, 3.0 ave.

PASSING
Massillon ‑ Hurst 5‑9‑56, 56%, 0 TDs, 1 interc.
Barberton ‑ Momchilov 13‑23-­161, 57%, 2 TDs, 0 interc.

RECEIVING:
Massillon ‑ Harig 2‑35, 17.5 ave.; Spencer 1‑8; Manion 1‑6; Carpenter 1‑8.
Barberton ‑ Ocepek 3‑25, 8.3 ave.; Dimick 3‑51,17.0 ave., 1 TD; Cuckler 2‑36, 18.0 ave., 1 TD; Davis 2‑31, 15.5 ave.; James 2‑7, 2.5 ave.; Robertson 1 ‑11.

Massillon tops Barberton 34-21

By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer

Barberton coach Don Ault knew the best way to try and stop the high ­powered Massillon offensive attack was to keep the ball out of the hands of multi‑dimensional quarterback Lee Hurst and swift tailback Jason Stafford.

Barberton’s offense followed the game plan almost perfectly Friday night. The Magics dominated possession of the ball as they hogged it for more than 34 minutes and ran 60 plays to the Tigers’ 38.

The only problem was that when the Tigers did have the ball, they were the epitome of efficiency.

Massillon scored on five of its 38 plays, including three touchdown runs of 50‑plus yards, to record a 34‑21 victory over the previously unbeaten Magics be­fore a crowd of 11,548 at Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“Barberton had the ball all night, but we had the points and that’s all that mattered,” said Hurst.

“It seemed like our defense was on the field all night, but when we did have a chance we usually made the most of it.”

Hurst was a key factor, but on this night it was his feet rather than arm that helped decide the game with a key third‑quarter run.

The Tigers (3‑0) had broken a 7‑7 second‑quarter tie when Stafford raced 85 yards to give Massillon the lead for good.

The Tigers upped their advantage to 20‑7 midway through the third quarter when junior fullback Ryan Sparkman ran 9 yards to cap a 60‑yard scoring drive.

The Magics, however, weren’t done,

Shifty senior quarterback Butch Momchilov led a typical Barberton drive ‑ 9 plays, 77 yards, 5:11 consumed ‑ and hit Steve Cuckler with a 9‑yard TD pass.

That cut the Magics’ deficit to 20‑14 with 57 seconds left in the third quarter,

Masillon defeats Magics

But on the first play following the kickoff, Hurst faked a sweep to left to Stafford and the Magics’ defense collapsed on the senior tailback, who had 156 yards on 10 carries at that point.
Stafford, in fact, carried out the fake so intensely that he pull­ed a hamstring muscle and. was sidelined the rest of the game.

Hurst, meanwhile, bootlegged around the right side and raced 74 yards for a touchdown.

“It was bootleg keeper all the way,” said Hurst, who rushed 10 times and gained 98 of Massil­lon’s 343 rushing yards.

“All I have to do is read the blocks out front by (tight end) Jeff Harig and (guard) Tom Menches. They did a great job and I couldn’t believe how alone I was.”

Neither could Ault.

“We knew they had the bootleg and we knew we had to stop Hurst, but when you’ve also got a great back out there like Stafford you’re naturally more worried about him,” said Ault.

“We were keying on Stafford and Massillon did a great job exe­cuting.

“I thought we did a great job of ball‑control all game, but you can’t keep it away from them forever.

“And when they did get it they did a very good job ‑ that’s why I’d have to say they are a state power.”

The Magics made it interesting when Momchilov threw another TD pass with 1:41 to play to trim Massillon’s lead to 28‑21.

Massillon’s Mark Owens cov­ered the ensuing onside kickoff attempt and two plays later jun­ior fullback Lamont Dixon busted a 50‑yard TD run to clinch the game with 47 seconds left.

“Our offense did a great job, maybe too good a job because our defense was worn out by the end of the game,” said Massillon coach Lee Owens, whose squad faces Fairfield next Saturday.

“Maybe we need to take a lit­tle more time putting it in the end zone to give our defense a break.

“But in all seriousness, you have to give Coach Ault and the Barberton team a lot of credit. They did a great job controlling the ball and never gave up.”

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1988: Massillon 18, Altoona, PA 7

Fan-tastic! Massillon supporters fill local motels

By Kay Stephens
Staff Writer
(Altoona Mirror Sept 10, 1988)

When the high school football team from Massillon, Ohio, comes to Altoona today, at least 2,000 fans are expected to follow.

And because the Massillon vs. Altoona game is at night, local motels and hotels are booked solid.

Each of those fans will probably spend an average of $70 to $75 each for room, meals and other expenses, James Caporuscio of the Altoona‑Blair County Chamber of Commerce estimated. So the mass of fans from Massillon should be pumping an additional $150,000 into local businesses.

Those Massillon fans who come early or leave late are likely to help make the Keystone Country Festival at Lakemont Park a success. Some fans are expected to stop at the festival today before the 7:30 p.m. game or on Sunday before they go home.

The Sheraton Altoona set aside 35 rooms for the team and about 35 for the fans. In addition to a convention and some rooms for the Keystone Country Festival vendors, the 226 room facility is sold out.

Other Altoona motels like Days Inn, Knights Inn and Holiday Inn, in addition to smaller motels like the Wye Motor Lodge and Rogers Motel, have no rooms for tonight.

Some motel clerks said they were referring room requests to motels in nearby towns.

Some Massillon fans are expected to come by camper, Caporuscio added. A group called last summer and was referred to the Sanderbeck Campgrounds near Duncansville where they’re expected to spend the night.

While the motels and hotels are sold out, Mansion Park is not.

As of Friday, the high school athletic office estimated attendance at 4,400 to 4,500, but more tickets will be sold tonight. If the weather is good, attendance is expected to be higher, Mansion Park seats 10,471.

As of Friday, 2,600 Altoona were expected to show up for the game. There are 700 season ticket holders and the athletic office sold 1,900 game tickets.

Fans who did not buy tickets by Friday can purchase them tonight at Mansion Park. The gates open at 6 p.m,

This is the second year of a two­ year contract that the Altoona Area School District struck up with Mas­sillon School District for a football game between the two teams which used to face off regularly in the 1960s when fans traveled by trains to the games,

Massillon is bringing its band to the game, just as Altoona had to take its band last year to Massillon.

Altoona lost last year’s game, 34‑3.

When the Tigers travel,
so do the fans

Altoona amazed
by sea of orange

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

ALTOONA, Pa. ‑ A lost member of the “Trekkers from Tigertown,” fresh down the mountain that con­tains “world famous” Horseshoe Curve, needed directions to the sta­dium here Saturday evening.

A man standing in his front yard was hailed.

“You folks from Massillon?” the Altoona resident deadpanned. “Well, you, ‘just go right up there and keep going for about 10 miles.”

The man pointed to a remote peak in the wilderness. Then he laughed and gave the real directions to Man­sion Park, seven blocks from his mail box.

When he was finished he said, “I usually go to the games, but not tonight. You guys will kill us.”

Three hours later, a maroon army of fans on the Altoona High side of Mansion Park was whooping ‘it up. A little split end named Dave “Whitey” Berardinelli was dancing in the end zone, having just caught a touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Altoona was not exactly getting killed. The Mountain Lions had seized control of the action and, when the extra‑point boot sailed through, trailed the Massillon Ti­gers by just a 12‑7 margin.

In downtown Altoona, across the street from the old Penn‑Alto Hotel where some visitors from Massillon spent the weekend, stands a res­taurant called Frank n’ Joe’s.

“Breakfast is our specialty” is what the sign outside the greasy spoon says.

The restaurant can’t live on breakfast, though, so it stays open 24 hours.

“Passing is our specialty” is a sign one might hang on the 1988 Ti­gers, but they play the survival game, too. And Saturday night, they departed from their specialty to survive.

The possession after the Altoona touchdown loomed as the life‑or-­death moment in this game.

“It was time to put the finesse stuff on the shelf,” said Massillon head coach Lee Owens.

It was time, Owens said, to play “slug nose football.”

Some noses got flattened, all’ right. The Tigers marched for a touchdown in 11 plays. Nine of them were running plays. The offensive line fired out, and the running backs ran over defenders.

Owens’ ballyhooed “run and boot” offense did, however, make a cameo appearance during the march.

“The touchdown run was a boot‑leg,” Owens smiled, referring to quarterback Lee Hurst’s 8‑yard scoring roll around the right side.

Now the score was 18‑7, and would stay that way. Now it was time for the Orange Army on the visitors’ side to erupt.

The crowd at Mansion Park was about 9,000. The visitors’ grand stand was stocked to about 85 per cent of its capacity, and about percent of its inhabitants we wearing something that screamed “I’m a Tiger fan.”

More than 2,000 Trekkers from Tigertown made the trip, which, took four to 5 1/2 hours, depending on the weight of each driver’s foot.

Altoona residents marveled at the Massillon turnout.

“Why do they do it?” The ques­tion kept coming up.

They are what makes Massillon unique.” That was as good an answer as any.

The parking lot at Mansion Park was wall‑to‑wall Winnebagos, cam­pers and vans ‑ all decorated with something orange ‑ by 6:30 pm., an hour before kickoff.

Just before kickoff, members of the Reese’s Raiders club descended to the field to wave huge orange flags. The 100‑plus team members who bussed to Altoona then ran through a hoop that blared the mes­sage, “Massillon, Ohio … where everyone is a Tiger.”

At halftime, the man introducing the Massillon Tiger Swing Band – naturally, the band was there ‑ declared, “and from Massillon, Ohio, the high school football capital of the world …”

Most of the Trekkers from Tiger­town, it seemed, stayed the night.

An hour after the game ended be­came rush hour at Altoona’s fast food parlors.

“Lord, you people from Massillon eat a lot of pizza,” said a harried worker from Domino’s Pizza.

Altoona people weren’t the only ones marveling over the Trekkers from Tigertown.
Coach Owens, eating pizza and watching the Notre Dame ­Michigan game at the Sheraton, called the size of the Massillon con­tingent “amazing.”

“Would you get something like this from any town but Massillon?” Owens said.

He didn’t really need an answer.

‘Weak Two’ is tough Week two

Tigers have tough time knocking out Altoona,
await rampaging Magics

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

ALTOONA, Pa. ‑ Forget that preseason about the Massillon Tigers not having their La‑Z‑Boy Recliners until the week of the high school football.

Tigers had to fight their way out of a op before winning in Week Two. They led the Altoona Mountain Lions 18‑7 before a crowd of 9,000 here Saturday night. Four, as you probably know because preseason hype, will send the Tigers Fairfield.

Fairfield, a next‑door neighbor of Cincinnati Princeton, beat eventual state champion Solon last year and, in 1986, claimed the crown for itself. If you’re looking ahead, Fairfield is 2‑0 after beating Cincinnati Oak -21 in a track meet Friday.

Don’t look ahead.

Tigers had trouble digesting ‘Toona Saturday. And Week Three will pit the orange and black against a knuckle sandwich named Barberton Friday in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The Magics are back from scholastic foot­ball under old timer Don Ault, a former college head coach who came to the Magic City last year. They, too, are 2‑0. And they got there not by bullying habitual bung­lers. Their resounding 30‑12 victory Friday came against Walsh Jesuit, hardly a paroc­hial pipsqueak.

Walsh, usually a playoff contender, was tenderized by what veteran Massillon assis­tant coach Eric Schumacher, speaking from the Altoona Sheraton late Saturday, called “the best Barberton team I’ve seen.”

“It’ll be a big ball game,” added Lee Owens, the Tigers head coach.

Some Barberton folks in the over‑40 crowd still hold a big grudge over something that happened in 1959. Namely, a 90‑0 Massillon victory over the Magics.

You can bet the gross annual income of the Altoona Sheraton that this year’s Massillon­-Barberton game won’t be a 90‑0 job.

Meanwhile, you might have had a few tak­ers on a 90‑0 score in Saturday’s Massillon­-Altoona game.

The Tigers grabbed a 12‑0 lead by the time the game was 17 plays old.

Pro‑rating the score over four quarters ‑ slightly less than half of the first quarter was gone when the Tigers scored their second TD ‑‑ you were looking at a 96‑0 final.

And that’s how outmanned Altoona looked.

But something strange happened as the twilight disappeared and darkness swal­lowed the mountains behind Mansion Park.

‘Toona made like a shark and bit back .

The Mountain Lions played the Tigers on no less than even terms for the better portion of three periods.

And, when Altoona’s short passing game, by then clicking on eight cylinders, produced a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Lions trailed by only 12‑7.

“We got behind, but we were never afraid of them,” said Dave Berardinelli, the Altoona split end who caught the touchdown pass.

“I can’t say it was the same last year when we got beat pretty bad in Massillon. We were a slightly intimidated by the mystique. I re­member that their booster club gave us gifts in the hotel and I was thinking, ‘Gee, this must be some football town.’

“We just looked at them as another team this time.”

Yet, maybe there’s something to the mysti­que after all.

Just as mysteriously as the Tigers went flat and stayed that way for three quarters, they discovered their roar again after Altoona closed to 12‑7.

The Tigers drove 76 yards in 11 plays for a clinching touchdown.

Whereas the short passing game had click­ed during the 12‑0 getaway, the running game now became the force of the offense.

“It was time to put the finesse stuff on the shelf,” Owens said. “It was time to play slug nose football.”

Senior fullback Jason Stafford fired haymakers.

The 5‑foot‑9, 183‑pound speedster turned beat up would‑be tacklers in a series that be­came the jewel of one of the biggest night’s any Tiger rusher has ever had.

Stafford’s final, official totals were 24 carries for 182 yards and two touchdowns. The Massillon football press guide shows that Bill Harmon, Art Hastings, Tom Hannon, Mike Mauger and Mark McDew all exceeded 200 rushing yards in a game for the Tigers. Stafford’s outing is believed to rank in the top 10 all time.

The entire offense looked to be running on nitro during the critical drive.

“I looked in their eyes and knew they were ready to go,” Owens said.

The Tigers took over on their own 24 and quickly got a tough 13 yards from “A‑back” Ryan Sparkman. Quarterback Lee Hurst passed six yards to Robert Spencer, then Staf­ford crossed midfield on an 11‑yard blast.

Hurst bootlegged for 12 yards, then Stafford ground out 5 more to bash the Tigers inside the 30. Spark­man was stopped for no gain, but Hurst connected with tight end Jeff Harig for five yards that turned into a first down after a measurement.

Then Stafford rumbled 8 yards to the 16. It was Stafford again for 4 brutal yards for a first down to the 12.

Sparkman churned out 4 more to the 8. Then, on third and a short 2, Hurst took off on a bootleg around right end. By now, Altoona’s defen­ders were wondering whether it would be Stafford or Sparkman steamrollering inside, and the boot became a perfect call. Hurst scored easily.

The extra point failed, but the Ti­gers led 18‑7 with 8:06 remaining. They had the game on ice.

“As disappointed as I am in some things about the game, we still gained more than 400 yards (403), and the defense did some good things, including a very important goal‑line stand,” Owens said.

“We were ready at the start of the game then we scored twice and kind of lost it. We didn’t smell the blood and put ’em away. It takes a team a while to get to that point. We haven’t arrived yet. But we’re getting close.”

They looked more than close in the early going.

The Tigers received the opening kickoff then drove 73 yards in only eight plays for a touchdown. After an incomplete pass, Massillon plays covered 11, 4, 5, 9, 16, 9 and 19 yards. The last play was a draw to Stafford that turned into a touchdown. Hurst’s kick was wide and the Ti­gers led 6‑0 with 9:45 left in the first quarter.

The Tiger defense started as dominantly as the offense, forcing a punt after three nonproductive plays.

Massillon proceeded to cover 77 yards in only five plays ‑ a 7‑yard run by Stafford, a 5‑yard pass to Harig, a 7‑yard pass to Troy Manion, a 25‑yard bootleg run by Hurst and a 33‑yard touchdown sprint by Staf­ford, who broke a tackle and easily outran the secondary to the right corner of the end zone.

The two‑point conversion try failed and the Tigers led 12‑0 with 6:41 left in the first period.

The Tigers got the ball back quick­ly on an interception by Chad Buck­land. That’s when the offense seemed to go flat, although Altoona head coach John Franco saw it another way.

“They have great athletes and they hit us with tremendous execu­tion on their first two series,” Fran­co said. “We made an adjustment, bringing our coverage people in closer to the receivers, and it seemed to work.”

The Mountain Lions took over on downs at their own 32 late in the first quarter then used a mix of sideline passes and shots to the tight end over the middle to drive to the Tiger 1‑yard line on first and goal.

Massillon used its up‑against‑the­ wall unit to stage one of its great goal‑line stands of recent years. With T.R. Rivera leading the charge of the front wall, the stubborn Tigers stopped two running plays for no gain at the 1, then sniffed out a quar­terback bootleg and tackled QB Jon Ruff for a 5‑yard loss. Berardinelli couldn’t catch up to a fourth‑down pass and the Tigers took over on downs.

“My Lord, if we score down there, it’s a different ball game,” said Franco.

As the defense ran off the field, end Monte McGuire was greeted by a hearty hand slap from assistant coach Curt Strawder.

Strawder once gave defenses fits as a Massillon receiver. He is in third place on the Tigers’ all‑time list for catches in a single game (eight). He now shares that position with Harig, whose outstanding night included eight catches for 73 yards.

Hurst completed 13 of 23 passes for 103 yards and was credited with 52 rushing yards in 11 carries.

For Altoona, Ruff completed 13 of 23 passes for 177 yards before leav­ing with a knee injury. He twisted the knee on the last play of Altoona’s touchdown drive and did not return.

The injury did not have a big im­pact on the game since the Tigers scored the first time they had the ball after the Altoona TD.

The Massillon defense came through its second straight week of shutting out an opponent in the first half. The defense has allowed only one second‑half touchdown in each of the season’s first two weeks.

Just as the offense rose up after the Altoona touchdown, the defense upgraded its play down the stretch.

After the Tigers’ final touchdown, Altoona still had eight minutes to get something going. The Tigers, however, stuffed the Mountain Lions by putting heavy pressure on backup quarterback T.J. Keith.

MASSILLON 18
ALTOONA 7
M A
First downs rushing 17 3
First downs passing 7 8
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 24 12
Yards gained rushing 292 33
Yards lost rushing 13 42
Net yards rushing 279 -9
Net yards passing 124 214
Total yards gained 403 205
Passes attempted 24 34
Passes completed 14 16
Passes int. by 1 0
Punts 3 5
Punting average 33.0 35.4
Fumbles 2 3
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 6 2
Yards penalized 63 20
Number of plays 68 59
Time of possession 24.01 23.59
Attendance 9,000

Individual statistics

Rushing
Massillon) Stafford, 24‑182; Hurst, 11‑52; Sparkman, 6‑37; Dixon, 2‑8.
(Altoona) Farris, 14‑22; Rusnak, 4‑minus 3.

Passing
(Massillon) Hurst 13‑23‑0 107; Slutz, 1‑1‑0 17.
(Altoona) Ruff 13‑22‑1 177; Keith 4‑11‑0 36.

Receiving
(Massillon) Harig, B‑73; Pierce, 1‑17; Smith, 2‑14; Spencer, 2‑13; Manion, 1‑7.
Altoona) Berardinelli, 10‑111; Saylor, 3‑34; Farris, 3‑60.

ALTOONA 0 0 0 7 7
MASSILLON 12 0 0 6 18

M ‑ Stafford 19 run (kick failed)
M ‑ Stafford 32 run (pass failed)
A ‑ Berardineill 5 pass from Ruff (Swogger kick)
M ‑ Hurst 8 run (pass failed)

T.R. Rivera
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1988: Massillon 28, Cuyahoga Falls 6

Tigers barrel over Falls 28-6

Fake punt starts onslaught

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers ran and booted and made the crowd’s heart race.

Quarterback Lee Hurst’s heart was racing before he put on his boots.

Coach Lee Owens’ creative con­coction ‑ the run‑and‑boot offense ‑ lived up to advance bill Friday night when the Massillon Tigers outslugged and outran the Cuyaho­ga Falls Black Tigers 28‑6 in a high school football season opener seen by a paid house of 10,724 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Hurst, a junior starting his first varsity game, didn’t let it show, but he was “sluggish” according to Owens, and for a very specific reason.

“He’s under medication and he may have had a little too much of the medication tonight,” Owens said of the man who had just com­pleted 13 of 20 passes for 138 yards.

He didn’t have the energy he normally would have.”

Program Cover

“I’ve had a problem with a racing heart,” Hurst explained. “The medication is for that. They’ve made it stronger for football sea­son. I may have had too much of it.”

Massillon had too much of every­thing for Falls.

“I thought we did really well on offense,” Hurst said. “The backs ran well and the linemen did a super job blocking.”

Fullback Jason Stafford did a lot of the outrunning and outslugging. The 5‑foot‑9, 165‑pound speed burner rushed 18 times for 103 yards.

He never quite could get his 4.39 second 40‑yard dash speed out in the open, but, as he put it, “I was close to breaking it all the way on every play.”

Hurst and Stafford were well known names last year. Lamont Dixon was not. Dixon opened a few eyes, though, when he rushed six times for 98 yards out of the “A-back” position, as Owens calls it.

Ryan Sparkman, who played de­spite an upper‑leg injury, had been ticketed for starting duty at the “A­back” spot. Dixon played as though he would like the job, running over anything that was in his way.

Speaking of surprises, the Tigers set the tempo for the evening by pulling off a big one.

On the sixth play of the game, fac­ing fourth‑and‑three from the Falls 46‑yard line, the Tigers lined up to punt.

Three Tigers lined up five yards behind center. The man on the right was senior Jamie Slutz, who spent training camp battling for the start­ing quarterback job.

“The coach told me to check out­side to see if Joe (Pierce) was co­vered,” Slutz said. “When I saw that he wasn’t, I called for the snap to come to me.”

It did. Slutz rolled out, “just look­ing to get the ball to somebody.” He saw a linebacker pop in front of the streaking Pierce. Pierce broke be­hind the linebacker and Slutz fired a strike.

The 16‑yard completion gave the Tigers a first down at the 30. The inspired Tigers gained 6, 5, 7, 5 and 5 yards to set up a 1‑yard plunge into the end zone by Sparkman.

The point‑after kick failed, but the gamble had succeeded.

“With all the buildup about our offense, it would have been hard for us to punt there,” said Owens who has said frequently that he looks at punt as “a dirty word.”

The Tigers sputtered at times the rest of the way but managed to make their offense look like they have an Indy car to tune up the rest of the season.

They led 28-0 before Falls scored on a bomb with 55 seconds left in the game.

“There were a lot of times when we out‑athleted ”em,” said Owens, smiling at the word he invented.

“I’m disappointed in a lot of things. We’ll have to be a lot better tomorrow. But I don’t want to take away from the victory earned by the players and the coaching staff. it was a great one.”

Falls is not among the top names on the Massillon schedule. The Black Tigers loomed as a team that might improve on last year’s 7‑3 campaign before a car crash last winter killed two boys, paralyzed two others and led another to trans­fer from Falls to another school dis­trict. All would have been starters this year, including one of the boys who was killed, 6‑7 quarterback Kevin Humble.

“I know a couple of Falls guys and I know they dedicated the whole season to the guys in that crash,” said Massillon middle guard Bob Dunwiddie. “They came in on a bubble. After a couple of hard hits, they came back to earth.”

Dunwiddie was pleased with the Massillon defense, which allowed only 131 yards until Falls beefed the total up to 208 on its last possession.

“We pulled together as a team in­stead of being individuals ” he said

Coach Bill Humble was not at all displeased with his team, which leads one to believe he sees Massil­lon as a powerhouse.

“Our kids played hard,” he said. “I thought we played pretty good football.”

Massillon’s early success on the faked punt “really hurt us,” Hum­ble said. “That was a real key play.

There would be others.

Midway through the second quar­ter, Dixon exploded for 49 yards on a play that highlighted an‑84‑yard scoring drive.

“It was the old Redskin play, a counter gap,” said Owens. “I thought it worked well tonight.”

Dixon’s run was sandwiched be­tween two Hurst‑to‑Marlon Smith completions. The touchdown came on a 6‑yard run by Stafford, who swept left, was caught at the three, spun away and reached the football barely over the goal line as he hit the turf.

Hurst’s point‑after kick boomed through and Massillon led 13‑0 with five minutes left in the half.

Falls went three‑and‑punt and Massillon got the ball back on the Black Tigers’ 45. A 12‑yard recep­tion by Smith put the ball on the 20. On the next play tight end Jeff Harig ran a post pattern and Hurst led him with a high‑arcing pass to the back of the end zone. Harig dove and snagged the ball with his fing­ertips, pulling it in and hanging on as he crashed to the ground with a touchdown.

Harig did it again on the point ­after try, grabbing a tipped ball for a two‑pointer that gave the Tigers a 21‑0 halftime lead.

Falls staged a mild threat late in the third quarter. With the score still at 21‑0, the Black Tigers drove to the Massillon 22 where it was second‑and‑six. Pierce flew from his free safety position to break up what briefly appeared to be a touch­down pass on second down. Monte McGuire, playing with an air cast on his left ankle, stuffed 205‑pound fullback Jim Kearns for no gain on third down. A fourth‑down pass fell incomplete and the threat was over.

The Tigers drove 78 yards in 10 plays for an insurance touchdown. Sparkman went over left tackle and exploded for an 8‑yard touchdown run with 11:06 left in the game. Hurst’s kick made it 28‑0.

Falls’ touchdown drive was cap­ped by a 41‑yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jim Bal­lard to junior split end Jim Otis.

The Tigers were disappointed that the shutout got away. As the defense returned to the bench, Owens said, “Keep your heads up.”

The heads were up in the locker room afterward.

“We could have been a little more intense, but we did pretty well,” Pierce said.

GlenOak had riddled the Tigers for 14 completions in 20 attempts in a scrimmage the previous Friday. The Tiger linebackers’ timing was off that night, as they were not mak­ing the drops that would take away passes over the middle.

“The linebackers did a real good job tonight,” Pierce said. “They helped out the defensive backs a lot.”

Pierce said losing the shutout was a disappointment. McGuire agreed, but he didn’t look very dis­appointed.

“I feel good,” he said. “A win is a win.”

MASSILLON 28
CUY.FALLS 6
M CF
First downs rushing 13 5
First downs passing 7 3
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 20 9
Yards gained rushing 237 102
Yards lost rushing 17 11
Net yards rushing 220 91
Net yards passing 154 117
Total yards gained 374 208
Passes attempted 211 19
Passes completed 14 12
Passes int. by 1 0
Times kicked off 5 3
Kickoff average 55.8 30.31
Kickoff return yards 44 184
Punts 2 6
Punting average 32.5 30.3
Punt return yards 47 14
Fumbles 0 1
Fumbles lost 0 0
Penalties 5 3
Yards penalized 77 15
Number of plays 57 47
Time of possession 21.20 26.40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing
(Massillon) Stafford 18‑103, Dix­on 6‑98, Sparkman 7‑15, Owens 1‑9.
(Falls) Kearns 13‑28, Arney 8‑23, Ballard 6‑37.

Passing
(Massillon) Hurst 13‑20‑1, 138; Sultz 1-1-0, 16.
(Falls) Ballard 12‑19‑0, 117.

Receiving
(Massillon) Harig 4‑49, Smith 14‑33, Manion 3‑46, Pierce 1‑16, Dixon 1‑6, White 1‑4.
(Falls) Arney 8‑47, Otis Z4L 1 2‑12, Adkins 2‑12

Attendance 10,724

FALLS 0 0 0 6 6
MASSILLON 6 15 0 7 28

MAS ‑ Sparkman 1 run (kick failed)
MAS ‑ Stafford 6 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Harig 20 pass from Hurst (Harig pass from Hurst)
MAS ‑ Sparkman 8 run (Hurst kick)
CF ‑ Otis 41 pass from Ballard (pass failed)

T.R. Rivera
T.R. Rivera

 

Massillon vs. McK - Throwback (Large) History

1987: Massillon 15, Canton McKinley 18

On paper, call it even
Tigers have better offense, Dogs have the ‘D

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

You want to play the Massillon ­McKinley football game on paper?

Since we have to wait until 2 p.m. Saturday to see it on the field, why not ?

OK, then.

On paper, Massillon has a slight edge on offense. McKinley has a clear edge on defense.

Between the lines, Massillon’s edge on offense might be greater and McKinley’s advantage on de­fense might be slighter since the Ti­gers have played a tougher sche­dule.

Massillon’s offense has amassed 2,570 yards in 418 plays for an aver­age of 6.15 yards a play. McKinley’s offense has netted 2,309 yards in 414 plays for a 5.6 average.

The teams have comparable rushing numbers: Massillon’s 1,630 Yards at 5.7 a carry versus McKin­ley’s 1,766 at 5.6 a pop.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987

Massillon has a whopping advantage in the passing game. The Ti­gers have completed 61 of 127 passes for 940 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions, while the Bulldogs have connected on 38 of 95 for 543 yards, two touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Massillon quarterback Erik White has completed 60 of 122 pas­ses for 883 yards, seven TDs and six interceptions. McKinley quarter­back Pat Lyon, who has started all but two games, has completed 26 of 71 for 384 yards, two touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Six Tiger receivers ‑ Myricks (10 for 228), Wrentie Martin (12 for 223), Mark Kester (11 for 153), Jason Stafford (9 for 127), Craig York (9 for 87) and Gerald Pope (5 for 64) ‑ have caught at least five passes.

Keith Smith (7 for 177) and Mike Hedrick (7 for 96) are the only Bull­dogs with more than five recep­tions.

So that’s the offense.

What about the defense?

McKinley’s has been better.

The Tiger defense has allowed 2,121 yards against its nine opponents. McKinley foes have gained only 1,399 yards.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987

Massillon’s running defense has surrendered 1,409 yards at 4.3 a car­ry. McKinley’s rushing defense has yielded 862 yards at under 3.5 a tote.

Opponents have passed for 712 yards against Massillon and 537 yards against McKinley.

Elsewhere on the statistical charts, there are some uncanny similarities between the teams.

Both squads have fumbled 27 times. The Tigers have lost 14 of the bobbles. The Bulldogs have lost 11.

Both teams have intercepted 12 passes. McKinley’s Mark Hedrick has picked off four errant throws. Massillon’s Mark Kester has made three interceptions.

The Tigers’ top ground gainer is Jerome Myricks with 989 yards in 155 carries at 6.4 a carry. The Bull­dogs’ top rusher is Jeff Richardson with 145 carries for 970 yards at 6.7 a pop.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987

Massillon’s No. 2 ground gainer Jason Stafford with 357 yards at 6.6 a carry, has out rushed McKinley’s No. 2 man, Derrick Gordon with 259, yards at 6.8 per attempt.

But Massillon has no one else ­over 100 yards, while McKinley has DeVon Torrence with 156 yards in 17 carries, Kevin Campbell with 132 yards in 26 carries, and Lamuel Flowers with 116 yards in 28 carries.

Other Massillon rushers have included Shawn Ashcraft (8 for 57), David Ledwell (12 for 56), John Miller (11 for 55) and Vernon Riley (14 for 47).

Myricks leads the Tigers in scoring with 108 points. Richardson is McKinley’s top dog with 68 points. Richardson is behind the pace of his junior season in rushing yards. He needs 200 yards on the nose Satur­day to match his 1986 total of 1,170 rushing yards for 10 games.

Those are the numbers. That’s how it looks on paper.

Add it all up and this looks like a dead‑even match up.

Pups edge Tigers
Key play in first half ‘was about an inch short of the goal line…

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

It still means everything to the McKinley Bulldogs to play the Massillon Tigers.

There’s some solace in that for the Massillon team that got beat 18‑15 by McKinley Saturday.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987

It was true that McKinley fans were rubbing it in that their Bulldogs had beaten the Tigers four straight times for the first time since before radio was invented.

It was true that many Massillon fans were wondering when their beloved men of orange will ever defeat the crimson‑clad team from Canton again.

It was also true that the McKinley coach, Thom McDaniels, had cried with his team after what had been a brutal slugfest was over.

You don’t look like McDaniels looked ‑ like a man whose emotions had spent a week in a ringer washer unless the game means everything.

That is what Saturday’s game meant to him. As such, it meant that Massillon still has McKinley’s complete respect, if not its number.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987

‘We experienced a lot of things this year,” said McDaniels, talking about the tumultuous things that accompany a less‑than‑perfect season in either the Canton or Massillon football communities.

McDaniels has been McKinley’s head coach since 1982, the year after Terry Forbes steered the Bulldogs to the only big‑school state championship a Stark County team has ever won since the advent of the playoff era.

Such was the tumult of 1987 that his status at McKinley for 1988 is clouded.

McDaniels’ team finished ’87 with a 7‑3 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since his ’84 team went 7‑3.

Saturday’s setback gave Massillon a 1987 record of 6‑4, A pattern that has haunted John Maronto in his three years as Massillon’s head coach ‑ playing tough, but failing just short against the elite teams ‑ held true again.

Both Maronto and McDaniels are saying their futures at their respective schools are up in the air.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987

The Tigers stunned McKinley on the ground. After the Bulldogs stalled in three plays following the opening kickoff, Massillon set up at midfield.
From time to time under Maronto, the Tigers’ first play has been a bomb. McKinley knows that and may have been sucked in when Tiger quarterback Erik White dropped back for an apparent pass. However, the was a sprint draw, with Myricks taking a handoff and going through a gaping hole up the middle.

“We wanted to get Jerome one‑on‑one with a defensive back on that play,” Maronto said. “It was very well blocked by our players.”

Myricks is a hard man to catch in the open field. This time, nobody caught him. He shifted smoothly to the left sideline and out ran McKinley’s defense into the end zone for a 50‑yard touchdown run.

“We ran that play successfully the whole game,” Maronto said. “Most of our blocking schemes were effective, especially behind John Woodlock and John Schilling. There were a lot of exciting plays and Jerome came very close to breaking the long one on several others.”

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987

But while the Tigers were coming close to the big play, McKinley was making it. The Bulldogs used a running attack that netted 283 yards to score the game’s next three touchdowns.

A 93‑yard drive capped by Bulldog quarterback Pat Lyon’s 8‑yard pass to a wide‑open tight end, 6‑1 senior Dan Roshong, cut Massillon’s lead to 7‑6 with 34 seconds left in the first quarter. The extra‑point kick was wide left.

McKinley got great field position on its next possession following a 19‑yard loss on which Tiger fullback Jason Stafford was caught on a reverse. A short punt enabled the Bulldogs to set up on the Tiger 38, and they scored three plays later when tailback Jeff Richardson took a pitch left and motored 24 yards for a touchdown.

McKinley pulled out to an 18‑7 lead by driving 63 yards for a TD on its first possession of the second half. Richardson went over the right side to score from four yards out.

The Tigers turned it into a thriller when White got hot late in the third quarter, launching a mostly passing, 72‑yard drive capped by Myricks’ 6‑yard blast up the middle with 8:36 left in the game.

Since McKinley had failed on all three of its extra point tries, the Tigers had a chance to pull within a field goal of a tie by making a two‑point conversion. Jerome got the job done by running over Schilling and Woodlock on the right side, and it was 18‑15.

The Tigers, however, got the ball only once more, setting up on their own 18 after a punt and moving to the 30 on a diving 12‑yard reception by senior split end Craig York. Bulldog linebacker Scott Herrington sack­ed White for an 11‑yard loss to set up a punt, and the Bulldogs ran out the clock.

Save for a few inches, perhaps less, the game might have been drastically different.

The Tigers came up just short of the end zone when fullback John Miller, a secret weapon who had played the season primarily at inside linebacker, was stopped on fourth and goal from the 3 with 1:38 left in the first half.

Miller was so close to the goal line that White, the ­quarterback, signaled a touchdown.

“I was about an inch, maybe two, short of the goal line,” Miller said.

“The films show it couldn’t have been more than a couple inches,” Maronto said. “The play was blocked successfully at the point of attack. (Defensive tackle) Robert Copenny came from nowhere to get just enough of John’s legs to slow him down.”

The drive had begun at the McKinley 31 on the kickoff following McKinley’s go‑ahead touchdown. In fact, is was one of the more dramatic marches of the season.

McKINLEY 18
MASSILLON 15

MAS McK
First downs rushing 7 12
First downs passing 7 5
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 14 18
Yards gained rushing 190 306
Yards lost rushing 52 23
Net yards rushing 138 283
Net yards passing 90 67
Total yards gained 228 350
Passes attempted 14 8
Passes completed 9 5
Passes int. by 0 0
Times kicked off 3 4
Kickoff average 49.0 41.8
Kickoff return yards 63 46
Punts 5 3
Punting average 26.4 32.3
Punt return yards 0 13
Fumbles 0 2
Fumbles lost 0 0
Penalties 3 5
Yards penalized 26 25
Number of plays 60 51
Time of possession 22:54 25:06
Attendance 17,500

MASSILLON 7 0 0 8 15
McKINLEY 6 6 6 0 18

Grid war lives up to reputation
Tigers fall short against Bulldogs

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

The good fight has been fought. And now the war between the cities is over.

“I did a lot of thinking about the game today,” Massillon Tiger co-­captain John Miller said Sunday night, more than 24 hours after his football team fell 18‑15 to the McKinley Bulldogs. “Now I’ll just try to forget about it. It’s time to move on.”

The Tigers scored on their first play from scrimmage Saturday when Jerome Myricks cut loose for a 50‑yard touchdown run. McKin­ley, however, used a ground assault that netted 283 yards to score a touchdown in each of the first three periods on their way to the win.

“It’s a very tough loss for our football team and our program,” Tiger head coach John Maronto said. “A lot of energy was expended to come up a couple of inches short. But the thing you have to under­stand is that our young men gave everything they had … and a little bit more. It was one of the best high school football games I’ve ever been involved in … certainly one of the hardest hitting.”

Maronto, who has been under fire since last year’s 23‑6 loss to McKin­ley, has a 20‑10 record in his three years at the Massillon helm. He has been haunted by a series of close defeats against powerful teams. The coach’s three‑year contract ex­pires at the end of this school year, and there has been speculation he will not be offered a new pact.

As to his future in Massillon, Maronto said, “That remains to be seen.” He said his thoughts are fo­cused on other areas right now. “I’m more concerned with look­ing out for the best interests of the graduating seniors,” he said. “I want to make sure everyone has things in the right perspective in terms of next season. I’m most con­cerned with dealing with the team.

“This is the most successful 6‑4 team you could ever be involved with,” Maronto added. “People have to agree that these players played the toughest Massillon sche­dule possible ever. They weren’t more than an inch here or an inch there from being 9‑1. I’m pretty proud of the way this team played, the class they showed and the adversity it fought to overcome.”

Miller, a surprise starter at full­back Saturday, and fellow co-captain Erik Moledor wound down Sunday by going to the movie “Hellraiser” at Lincoln Theater.

“It was kind of dumb,” Miller admitted. Saturday’s game had been kind of sensational. But in the Tigers’ eyes, it had a “dumb ending,” what with McKinley on top.

“There was some serious hitting going on,” said Miller, who played inside linebacker in addition to full­back. “I mean serious. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I’m a little sore today, but nothing major.”

The Tigers finished their 1987 grid campaign with a 6‑4 record. It was only the sixth time since Paul Brown left town in 1940 that the team has endured as many as four losses in a season.

It also was the fourth straight set­back to McKinley, marking the second longest losing streak in the history of the series, which Massil­lon still leads 50‑38‑5. The Canton team won the first 11 games in the series, which began in 1894.

“We didn’t have as good a season as we thought we would,” Miller said. “We expected to go pretty far. I’m still glad I played on this team. I liked everybody on the squad. It was a great bunch.”

Moledor, a senior defensive back, was keeping a stiff upper lip Sunday but remained in obvious disappoint­ment.

“I thought we gave it everything we had,” said Moledor. “McKinley was pretty tough. Give ’em credit.”
“We really worked hard together this year. I think that’s the best thing we did … worked hard. Satur­day was tough. But I don’t think there are any regrets.”

John Miller
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1987: Massillon 7, Middletown 12

Place’s Middies deal Tigers third loss

Middletown coach feels bad about 12-7 win: Massillon coach feels boos

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

Jim Place spent his formative years in Massillon. He knows.

He knows what it is like here after the third defeat of a football season.

Painful No. 3 came Friday night by a 12‑7 score as 7,254 looked on in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The victor, Middletown High’s Middies, are coached by Place, who moved to Massillon when he was a fifth­ grader.

Place was telling someone on a locker room telephone. “Honest, I really never have.”

Program Cover

He was talking to Sonny Spiel­man, Massillon’s assistant athletic director, who is recovering from surgery to remove a non‑malignant tumor from his pituitary gland. Spielman was one of Place’s coaches at Central Catholic High School in the early 1960s.

The loss puzzled the Tigers, who were inexplicably flat in the first half, but still had a chance to win until near the end. It sent them into next Saturday’s McKinley game needing a victory to post their third straight 7‑3 season. Middletown, 7-­1 needs to beat Lancaster next week to make the Division I play­offs.

Place told reporters more about his love for Massillon, where he once attended St. Joseph School.

“If I pick up a newspaper in Mid­dletown and see Massillon lost, I feel bad,” he said. “There’s some Massillon in me. I felt bad tonight for Coach (John) Maronto. I shook his hand after the game and wished him well.”

The crowd was less sympathetic. The booing got loud late in the fourth quarter.

The Massillon dressing room was very quiet.

A reporter from Middletown asked Maronto if he thought a Mas­sillon fumble of the game‑opening kickoff was a turning point. The fumble led to a touchdown.

“I really don’t think the fumble was a factor,” Maronto said. “Mid­dletown played well and made no turnovers. (Tommy) Harkrader is a heck of a back. Their other back, (Duane) Gregory, is part of the quickness that hurt us. Frankly, they deserved to will.

“Middletown can play with the best team in any state at any time. Give them credit.”

Dion Roberts, a 140‑pound Middletown senior, gets much of the credit.

It was Roberts who recovered Steve Siegenthaler’s fumble of the opening kickoff at the 27‑yard line, setting up a 3‑yard touchdown run by the hard‑running Harkrader, a 6‑1 senior who will be playing some­where in the Big Ten (as his father and two brothers did) next year.

It was Roberts who intercepted Erik White’s pass in the end zone with 9:07 left in the contest, snuffing out a furious threat that seemed destined to reverse a 9‑7 Middletown lead.

“This was our biggest win of the season, by far,” said Jason Feczko, Middletown’s record‑setting place ­kicker, whose two second‑half field goals overturned a 7‑6 Tiger lead at halftime.

This was a game in which the agony and the ecstasy happened in the wrong order for the Tigers.

The most exciting play of the season had left Massillon fans in glee­ful spirits early in the second quar­ter. The Tigers’ first two posses­sions resulted in 11 modest gains on running plays. An incomplete pass left Massillon with a third‑and‑long from the Tiger 40.

White dropped back to pass and was about to be crushed by two Mid­dletown rushers when he flicked a little shovel pass to fullback Jason Stafford. Stafford used his sub-4.6 40‑yard dash speed to rocket through a huge gap in the middle. He cut left and easily out ran two Middletown defenders into the end zone for a 60‑yard touchdown that left the fans roaring.

Since Middletown’s point‑after kick died in a fumble, Lee Hurst had a chance to give the Tigers the lead. Hurst’s kick was perfect and the Ti­gers led 7‑6 with 10:30 left in the first half.

At halftime, the diminutive Greg­ory got the word. “They told me I was going to be running the ball more,” the 151‑pound junior said.

Gregory squirted through the middle and around the outside all night. With his excellent speed and low center of gravity (he stands 5­6), the Tigers had a devil of a time bringing him down. He finished with 124 yards in 13 carries. Har­krader added 89 yards in 13 rushes. Quarterback Jason Tisdale, a bruising 191‑pounder who was also swift and deceptive, rushed S5 yards in 15 carries.

They were the men who enabled the Middies to drive 57 yards after taking the second‑half kickoff. The drive stalled at the 11, but Feczko’s 27‑yard field goal gave Middletown a 9‑7 lead.

The 15‑play drive just about wiped out the third quarter. The field goal came with 4:31 left.

The Tigers proceeded to wipe out another big chunk of time ‑ and, almost, the lead ‑ after starting on their own 20 following the ensuing kickoff.

Senior tailback Jerome Myricks, who finished with 118 yards in 19 carries, finally got cooking after a so‑so first half. Runs of 9, 8, 10, 7, 14 and 10 yards by Myricks were the keys that gave the Tigers a first down on the Middletown 14-yard line.
The drive stalled on fourth down at the 8, and Hurst trotted on to the field to try a 25‑yard field goal that would give Massillon a 10‑9 lead. But Middletown gave the Tigers what shaped up as a huge gift when the right end jumped off sides. The miscue gave Massillon a first down at the 4, and the offense returned to the field.

On first down, Myricks was stop­ped for no gain by the middle of the line, On second down, Siegenthaler, getting his second rushing attempt of the season, was stopped for a 1-­yard gain to the 3. On third down, White rolled right but couldn’t get away from two hard‑charging Mid­dies. Just before he was hit, White avoided the sack by unloading the ball into the right side of the end zone, Unfortunately, Roberts was waiting and came away with an easy interception.

Middletown’s offense took over, unleashing Gregory, Harkrader and Tisdale on an all‑rushing drive that swallowed big chunks of time and yardage before halting on fourth down at the 21.

Feczko, who has made 13 of hi­s career field goal attempts and has range to 45 yards, drilled a 38­yarder to give the Middies their 12‑7 edge with 3:21 left.

Still, there was time … but at the end of an 8‑yard gain, Myricks fum­bled and Carlos Brooks recovered for Middletown with 2:27 left. On fourth‑and‑one with a minute left, Gregory blasted around left end for 14 yards to end all Tiger hopes.

Afterward, Harkrader was a happy man. “I’ve heard a lot about Massillon but I’d never seen them play,” he said. “This means a lot. Our offense just overpowered them. They hit pretty hard, but I don’t know if they were expecting us to hit as hard as we did.”

Nor were the Tigers expecting the troubles they had with the pas­sing game. The shovel pass to Staf­ford was the only completion of the night in eight attempts.

”They were the first team all year that was able to take away our, passing attack,” Maronto said.

The Middies didn’t mount much of an air game, either, as Tisdale completed two of seven passes for 29 yards. However, Middletown used a 268‑149 advantage in rushing yardage to win the battle of net offense 277‑209.

As a result of McKinley’s 14‑7 vic­tory over Glen0ak Friday night, the Bulldogs and Tigers will enter their annual showdown with 6‑3 re­cords.

“All I know is we’ve got a lot of’ hard work to do,” Maronto said. “We have to re‑evaluate and re­group. I’m certain of one thing. The team will come back and play their hearts out.”

MIDDLETOWN 12
MASSILLON 7
MAS MID
First downs rushing 11 15
First downs passing 1 0
First downs by penalty 1 2
Total first downs 13 17
Yards gained rushing 151 274
Yards lost rushing 2 6
Net yards rushing 149 268
Net yards passing 60 9
Total yards gained 209 277
Passes attempted 8 7
Passes completed 1 2
Passes int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 2 4
Kickoff average 58.0 55.8
Kickoff return yards 30 48
Punts 3 1
Punting average 37.0 46.0
Punt return yards 0 0
Fumbles 4 0
Fumbles lost 2 0
Penalties 3 4
Yards penalized 30 29
Number of plays 39 50
Time of possession 18:38 29:22
Attendance 7,254

MIDDLETOWN 6 0 3 3 12
MASSILLON 0 7 0 0 7

MID ‑ Harkrader 3 run (kick failed)
MAS ‑ Stafford 60 pass from White (Hurst kick)
MID ‑ FG Feczko 27
MID ‑ FG Feczko 38

John Miller
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1987: Massillon 0, Cleveland St. Joseph 8

Tigers are angry; Vikes are No. 1
Game‑turning safety might not have been safety, game films reveal

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

Does Saturday’s mud‑bath, 8‑0 victory over the Massillon Tigers mean Cleveland St. Joseph is the best high school football team in Ohio?

“Oh, yes … we are … by far,” St. Joseph linebacker Jerry Carlock said even before he had wiped a mask of mud from his face in a slippery locker room at Euclid’s Panther stadium.

A day later, back in Massillon,*, the feeling in the Tiger camp was that St. Joseph was not even the best team in the game. A great team, to be sure. But a dubious victor.

The outcome left St. Joseph with four straight shutouts, an 8‑0 record and a certain perch atop Ohio’s poll of Division I teams. The Vikings entered the week ranked No. 2 behind Cincinnati Princeton, which was upset by defending state champion Fairfield Friday. The Tigers, 6‑2, will be back home Friday to take on 6‑2 Middletown, who own a win over Fairfield this year.

In the film room at Washington High School Sunday night, coaches hurled paper wads at the screen in disgust over critical calls that influenced the scoring.

“I’m sure there will be a few extra people at the Booster Club meeting (tonight at 7:30 at the high school) who are curious about the game films,” one parent of a Massillon player said Sunday.

The players would normally see those films this afternoon. “We may not waste our time showing the players the films because of the total situation,” Massillon’s head coach, John Maronto said.

The game turned on a controversial safety with 4:27 left in the third period.

Tim Radigan, a 140‑pound St. Joseph senior who played the game of his life, put a 28‑yard punt in Downtown Coffin Comer. It skipped out of bounds inside the 1.

Erik White quarterback sneaked one yard, Jerome Myricks was stopped for no gain, Jason Stafford plowed ahead for two yards, and Mark Kester set up to punt from the back of the end zone.

Massillon has been playing football since 1894. It is hard to imagine field conditions ever having been worse than they were in Saturday’s rain. It was not surprising that the long snap to Kester was a bad snap that bounced in front of him.

Kester fielded the ball, straightened up and facing a stiff wind got off his best punt of the miserable night. However, an official ruled that his knee had been down in the end zone. St. Joseph was awarded a safety.

“The game films show what we thought at first had happened,” Maronto said. “Kester made a very heady play. In fact, he was picked by the coaches as our best special teams player in the game,

Kester, a senior who also plays defensive back and split end, said he thought he did everything he needed to do to avoid the safety.

MASSILLON 0
CLEVELAND ST. JOSEPH 8
M C
First downs rushing 2 5
First downs passing 1 0
First downs by penalty 0 2
Totals first downs 3 7
Yards gained rushing 84 146
Yards lost rushing 2 10
Net yards rushing 82 136
Net yards passing 45 0
Total yards gained 127 0
Passes attempted 11 2
Passes completed 2 0
Passes Int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 0 3
Kickoff average 00.0 42.0
Kickoff return yards 64 00
Punts 7 6
Punting average 21.7 30.5
Punt return yards 0 0
Fumbles 2 0
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 3 5
Yards penalized 33 30
Number of Plays 37 47
Time of possession 20:00 28:00

Attendance 8,000(est.)

St. JOSPEPH 0 0 2 6 8
MASSILLON 0 0 0 0 0

CSJ ‑ Safety, Massillon punter Kester’s knee ruled down In end zone
CSJ ‑ Howard 10 run (run failed)

Recalling the play, Kester said he went to his knee to knock down the errant snap, knowing he must not hold the ball with his knee on the ground. He then lifted his knee off the ground and picked up the ball, avoiding the rush and kicking it cleanly to the 35‑yard line.

“If he doesn’t have possession when his knee is on the ground, it shouldn’t be a safety,” Maronto said. “Mark did what he was supposed to do.”

The safety stood, and Massillon had to free kick the ball away to St. Joseph trailing 2‑0.

A good kickoff by Lee Hurst kept the Vikings from having great field position, as they had to set up on their own 38.

The Massillon defense, which played masterfully even though senior tackle and co‑captain James Bullock left the game early after reinjuring a sprained ankle, forced a punt after three plays.

Radigan, whose six punts for a 30.5 average were outstanding under the conditions, got off another good one, and the Tigers’ Steve Siegenthaler couldn’t hang on to it. St. Joseph coverage man Byron Hopkins pounced on the ball at the 15. Massillon stayed in the game, though, when Mark Freidly leveled star tailback Desmond Howard on fourth‑and‑one at the 6.

The Tigers moved to the 14 on third and two. Viking linebacker Scott Zele leveled Myricks a split second after the Tiger senior took a handoff and Massillon had to punt.

Most of the fourth period remained, however, after St. Joseph couldn’t budge on three plays, setting up another punt on fourth down from Massillon’s 48‑yard line.

Then … astonishment.

Radigan got off his punt but a flag flew.

Penalty against Massillon … 15 yards?

But what penalty.

“I was given two versions,” said Maronto, who spoke cautiously but clearly was disturbed by the development. “One was too many men on the field. The other was illegal equipment.”

An official exiting the field said the penalty was for too many men on the field. “The game films show we had 11,” Maronto said.

One observer reported that a Massillon player’s mouthpiece was dangling out of his mouth as the play unfolded. If, in fact, the call was illegal equipment based on the mouthpiece ‑ the call would have been technically correct. Based on the field conditions and the moment of the game, however, whistling the technicality would have been utterly flabbergasting.

The 15‑yard penalty moved the ball to the 33 with 8:05 left in the game. Howard ran 8 yards on first down, but the Vikings got a half‑the‑distance penalty after a facemask violation corroborated by the game films. Howard then ran 3 yards to the 10. On second down, he ran over the left side and into the end zone.

Many fans were shocked when St. Joseph head coach Bill Gutbrod, in his 38th year at the helm, elected not to put the game out of reach with a point‑after kick.

“I asked my man if he could give me the point and he was honest,” Gutbrod explained. “He said with the field the way it was, there was no way, he could get off the kick. So we went with a run. ”

The run failed, leaving the Tigers with 6:27 to try for a touchdown and tying two‑point conversion.

Massillon set up on its own 34 after the ensuing kickoff but had to punt after gaining just a yard on a pass completion.

Kester’s punt was fair caught by Howard at the St. Joseph 33. Massillon defense answered the challenge again, forcing a punt after three plays. Radigan got his last lick in, booting the ball to the Tiger 37 with 3:30 left.

There had been nothing to indicate the Tiger’ could wade through 68 yards of slop in a short period of time. But hopes soared when, on first down, White heaved a bomb over the middle into the arms of flanker Wrentie Martin. Martin was behind the defender but couldn’t get the traction needed to escape for a touchdown and was caught at the St. Joseph 18.

The hopes were dashed, though, when White threw four straight incomplete passes, the last of which far overshot Martin with 1:48 left. St. Joseph was able to run out the clock.

“I had guys open, and I wish I could have gotten them the ball,” White said. “Unfortunately, the ball slipped out of my hands a couple of times. Believe me, I wish I could have gotten the ball there. ”

On this night, the ball had a mind of its own. St. Joseph had several chances to take a lead in the first half.

Siegenthaler made a nifty return of the game opening kickoff, a squib kick, and Massillon set up on the 44.

A 42‑yard punt by Radigan, with a strong wind at his back, buried the Tigers at their own 13 with eight minutes left in the first quarter, one play after Bullock was carried off the field.

Punt exchanges enabled St. Joseph to get progressively closer to the goal line. First‑half Massillon possessions began on the 13‑, 5‑, 15‑ and 9‑yard lines.

St. Joseph possessions began in Massillon territory at the 38, 32 and 23.

The half ended in more controversy. A 23‑yard run by Myricks, who three times in the first half was one man away from breaking the same kind of touchdown run he popped in the mud at Austintown‑Fitch last year, put the ball near midfield.

On fourth and one from the Viking 47, a crazy looking play with men in motion was cut short when the Tigers were called for a delay of game. The Massillon camp contends a game official was holding the ball in a towel when it should have been spotted.

The penalty set up a punt, and the half ended with St. Joseph in possession around midfield.

The loss ended a six‑game Massillon winning streak but did not end the Tigers’ playoff hopes. If they beat Middletown and McKinley, they should amass enough points to finish in the top four of, Division I, Region 2. Massillon then would need a favorable ruling from the Ninth District Court of Appeals, which has been asked to overturn an OHSAA playoff ban against the Tigers.

St. Joseph has clinched a Division I playoff berth, setting up the outside possibility of a Tiger‑Viking rematch.

Statistics were predictable, based on the mud. St. Joseph held a 136‑127 edge in net offensive yards. Howard rushed 29 times for 90 yards. The Vikings ran only 18 plays on which the 5‑foot‑8 speedster did not have the ball.

Myricks also had the ball on more than half of his team’s 37 offensive plays. The 5‑foot‑11 tailback rushed 19 times for 73 yards and caught a pass for 1 yard.

The crowd fell short of the 10,000 figure some observers reported. It was in the range of about 8,000. The visitors’ side was a sea of orange; in fact, numerous Massillon fans sat in the home grandstand, and more than half of the throng may have been Tigertown rooters.

They went home disappointed after watching a strange game.

Said one fan dressed in orange, “I sure would like to see a rematch on a dry field.”

But in the St. Joseph camp, the feeling was different. “We’ve got to be one of the top two or three teams in Ohio, based on what we’ve done on the field,” Gutbrod said.

Added the linebacker Zele, “It feels great to be the No. I team in Ohio,”

John Miller
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1987: Massillon 56, Warren Harding 14

Tigers give Harding hard time
Most points vs. Warren since ’40 in 56‑14 rout

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

On the field, Jason Stafford lines up in front of Jerome Myricks.

In the interview room after the Massillon Tigers’ 56‑14 walloping of Warren Harding Friday night be­fore 7,745 in Paul Brown Tiger Sta­dium, Myricks took the seat in front of Stafford.

Program Cover

Neither took a back seat to the other in the game. They were co-­pilots on the same flying carpet.
Fullback Stafford rushed nine times for 115 yards and caught a pair of Erik White passes for 30 ~yards. Tailback Myricks motored 107 yards in 15 rushes and reeled in two passes for 41 yards.
That gave Myricks, a senior, 148 yards on the night to 145 for Staf­ford, a junior. The numbers helped the Tigers improve to 6‑1 and sink Warren to 4‑3.

“It’s about time,” Myricks said, rolling his eyes backward to Stafford. “It’s about time he ran the way I knew he could. He’s a good back. I knew it all along. Tonight, it showed. ”

Stafford agreed, saying, “Like the man said, it’s about time. I made my mind up right before the game. I told myself, tonight, I’ve got to do it.”

He did it all right. Using good blocks and great speed ‑ a Tiger coach put him at 4.5 over 40 yards; Stafford set the figure at 4.53 ‑ he exploded for runs of 28, 29 and 30 yards, the latter carry going for a touchdown that blew open a 41‑14 lead in the third quarter.

The program puts Stafford at 5 feet, 10 inches, 182 pounds. On pap­er, that’s small for a fullback … ex­cept Stafford says he weighs 168 pounds.

Stafford lost his entire sophomore season to ineligibility. Before that, he always played tailback.

Game action vs. Warren Harding 1987

In the Southern Cal tradition of paying one’s dues as an underclass­man fullback before becoming the main man at tailback as a senior, Stafford has learned to be a lead blocker for Myricks (who now has 798 yards in 117 rushes) this au­tumn.

“I don’t mind it at all … it’s just as fun,” Stafford said.

The game got to be tons of fun for the Tigers, but only after they over­came an early 7‑0 deficit and later broke away from a 21‑14 halftime lead.

Two things happened in the second half. The Tiger defense, bruised for 206 yards in the first half, gave up only 78 more yards. And the Massillon offense, which. warmed up with 191 yards in the first half, went stir crazy in the second, tacking on 270 more yards for a whopping 461 total.

“We talked at halftime only of getting back down to the basics, in­stead of trying to make a big play on every down,” Massillon head coach John Maronto said. “The defense got after them a little bit more in the second half. And you saw what the offense did.”

It did whatever it wanted.

“That’s one of the better offenses I’ve seen,” said Warren head coach Frank Thomas, a former Harding player who spent the middle 1970s as an assistant coach at Massillon. “We fumbled the ball away five times. We emphasized all week to our kids that we couldn’t play a powerhouse team like Massillon, with the offense they have, and turn the ball over.

“They have four or five people who can get their hands on the ball and score six points in eight seconds. Plus, they have that offen­sive line. That line is awesome.”

“There was absolutely no doubt in my mind we were going to come back,” Miller said emphatically.

Miller’s confidence was quickly substantiated when Steve Siegen­thaler returned a squib kick 31 yards to the Tiger 46‑yard line. White, the 6‑1/2 senior quarter­back, went‑for‑it all on first down, barely missing Gerald Pope on a bomb. But split end Craig York caught a pass on second down and made some nifty moves for an 18­yard gain. From there, Myricks and Stafford ran the ball to the 2, from where Vernon Riley ‑ the Ti­gers “big” fullback and regular nose guard ‑ rammed it in straight up the middle. Lee Hurst’s kick made it 7‑7 at the 4:34 mark of the first quarter.

Warren was driving again early in the second quarter. But the tide turned when Baugh was popped by Bob Dunwiddie at the end of a 13­yard gain to the 30 and fumbled away the ball. On the next two plays, Stafford turned on the bur­ners for gains of 28 and 29 yards. A clipping penalty sent the ball back to the 31, but White found Mark Kes­ter for a 15‑yard gain to the 16, and then drilled a pass to York at the 10. York put two of the prettiest fakes of the season on a pair of Warren defenders and turned the play into, a 16‑yard touchdown. Hurst’s kick made it 14‑7 with 5:05 left in the half.

Thirty‑four seconds later, the Ti­gers scored again.

Miller exploded out of his inside linebacker spot to put a ferocious hit on Warren tailback Mike Hall. The ball hit the ground. “I saw it coming,” said Myricks, who scooped it up on the dead run and sprinted 22 yards into the end zone. Hurst’s kick made it 21‑7, but War­ren was not finished.

After setting up on their own 35 after the ensuing kickoff, the Panthers drove 65 yards in 10 plays, With Hall covering the final 7 yards ‑Jones’ kick made it 21‑14 with 1: 25 left, and that became the halftime score. ‑

After that, it was all Massillon.

On the first possession of the second half, the Tigers drove 65 yards in seven plays. The capper was Myricks’ 11‑yard TD run on a pitch right. Myricks rushed for 48 yards on the drive. Hurst’s kick made it 28‑14 with 8:44 left in the third quarter.

Marko Miller, who had to leave the game in the first half after aggravating a foot injury, gained 18 yards on two carries after the kick‑off. But his second carry ended in a fumble recovered by Bullock at the Warren 37. A 15‑yard pass to Staf­ford and two 11‑yard runs by Myricks put the ball in the end zone. Hurst’s kick made it 35‑14 with 6:21 left in period three.

Warren’s next possession ended on the third play with an intercep­tion by Kester at the Harding 34. Stafford ran 4 yards to the 30 and on the next play rocketed over the right side for a 30‑yard touchdown run. Hurst’s kick made it 41‑14 with 3:59 left in the third frame.

Then it was razzle dazzle time. After the Tigers got the ball at their own 9 on a punt and punched it to their own 43 on first down, Hurst, the backup quarterback, came in and lined up as a receiver. White threw a sideline pass to Hurst that was actually a lateral, since Hurst was behind White when he caught the ball. Hurst then looked upfield and delivered a bomb to flanker Wrentie Martin, who easily got be­hind the coverage, caught the ball, and danced into the end zone on a 57‑yard completion. Hurst’s kick made it 49‑14 with 9:45 left in the game.

Fullback David Ledwell, who rushed 4 times for 25 yards, blasted in from 2 yards out at the 5: 42 mark. Senior Chris Smith got into the books with the point‑after kick.

The 56 points were the most Mas­sillon scored against Warren since 1940, when the Tigers won 59‑0.

White wound up with eight com­pletions in 16 attempts for 136 yards. Waite completed 18 of 31 pas­ses for 173 yards.

Miller, whose foot injury kept him from manning the defensive end spot from which he has played so well this year, wound up with 60 yards in nine carries. Baugh had a big day, catching 10 passes for 135 yards.

Next up for the Tigers is Cleve­land St. Joseph, which will play in Euclid High’s Stadium tonight against Cleveland St. Ignatius.

St. Joseph is 6‑0 and ranked second in Ohio. You might say next Saturday’s affair will be a big game.

“I’m glad to get this one out of the way,” Maronto said of the Warren game.

Cautioned the quarterback, White, “We can’t get carried away by what we did tonight. There’s a big one coming up.”

MASSILLON 56
WARREN 14
M W
First downs rushing 15 8
First downs passing 7 9
First downs by penalty 0 0
Totals first down 22 17
Yards gained rushing 270 116
Yards lost rushing 2 5
Net yards rushing 268 111
Net yards passing 193 173
Total yards gained 461 284
Passes attempted 17 31
Passes completed 9 18
Passes int. by 2 1
Times kicked off 9 3
Kickoff average 55.8 45.7
Kickoff return yards 73 157
Punts 1 1
Punting average 44.0 42.0
Punt return yards 0 0
Fumbles 1 5
Fumbles lost 1 5
Penalties 7 7
Yards penalized 58 40
Number of plays 53 56
Time of possession 23:44 24:16

WARREN 7 7 0 0 14
MASSILLON 7 14 21 14 56

W ‑ Miller 20 run (Jones kick)
M ‑ Riley 2 run (Hurst kick)
M ‑ York 16 pass from White (Hurst kick]
M ‑ Myricks 22 tumble return (Hurst kick
W ‑ Hall 7 run (Jones kick)
M ‑ Myricks 15 run (Hurst kick)
M ‑ Stafford 30 run (Hurst kick)
M ‑ Marlin 57 pass from Hurst (Hurst kick
M ‑ Ledwell 2 run (Smith kick)
Halftime talk
Propels Tigers

By CHRIS TOMASSON
Repository sports writer

MASSILLON ‑ At halftime Fri­day night, the Massillon locker room was not a place for feeble folks.

The heavily favored Tigers were defeating Warren Harding only 21‑14, and they had been out gained 206‑191 yards. So Massillon coach John Maronto gave his players’ eardrums a workout.

“He really let us have it,” said Massillon tailback Jason Stafford. “We weren’t used to be yelled at like that.”

Apparently it worked, as the Tigers came out in an utter frenzy and humbled the Panthers 35‑0 in the second half en route to a 56‑14 win.

“I told them at halftime that I wanted them to go back to basic ball,” Maronto said. “We had to set some sort of tempo for the game. ”

Massillon (6‑1) had thrown the ball 11 times in the first half, but in the second half the Tigers only put it up six times. The Tigers turned to good old Massillon football, han­ding the ball off on nearly every play to Stafford or Jerome Myricks.

In the second half, Myricks rushed for 79 of his 107 yards and scored two touchdowns. And Staf­ford had 45 of his 115 yards rushing and scored a touchdown.

While Myricks and Stafford may have run wild, the Panthers (4‑3) made it as easy for them. For the game, Harding turned the ball over seven times, leading to 35 Massillon points.

The Panthers, who were once ranked No. 9 in the state in Div­ision 1, are becoming quite skilled at turning the ball over. Last week, they also lost the ball seven times in a 16‑6 loss to Niles McKinley.

“You can’t make those kind of mistakes against a powerhouse football team,” said Harding coach Frankie Thomas. “We’d fumble the ball and it seemed like eight seconds later they’d be in the end zone. ”

You think Thomas was exag­gerating? Late in the second quar­ter with Massillon up 14‑7, Massil­lon defensive back Steve Siegen­thaler smashed Harding’s Mike Hall, and the ball squirted out. Myricks, playing defensive back, scooped it off the turf and sprinted 22 yards into the end zone before the average fan had time to swallow a kernel of popcorn.

And that was the only reason Massillon even led at the half be­cause the Panthers added a touchdown late in the second quar­ter.

Warren Harding might have made the game more interesting had it not’ lost its star running back, Marko Miller, in the late in the first quarter with a possible broken toe. Miller gained 46 yards on seven carries before he was carried off the field.

Despite intense pain, Miller returned to the game in the second half, carrying two times for 14 yards. But after he fumbled and Massillon drove for its fifth touchdown, he was given the rest of the night off.

Massillon didn’t have to go very far for its second‑half touchdowns. After Harding turnovers. three of the seven came on drives of less than 40 yards. But the Tigers did put together a nifty 92‑yard march ear­ly in the fourth quarter that gave them a 49‑14 lead.

And the usually conservative Maronto capped off the drive with reward for the fans who stayed throughout the massacre. Quar­terback Erik Martin threw a pass, behind the line of scrimmage to Lee Hurst, the backup quarterback, who flung the ball downfield. to a wide‑open Wrentie Martin to complete a.74‑yard TD bomb.

Massillon finished with 461 yards total offense to 284 for the Panthers. But the Panthers had only 78 yards. In the second half.

John Miller

 

 

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1987: Massillon 24, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 12

Tigers deliver another early KO
Irish are latest Foe to pay for season – opening defeat

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

Date: Sept. 4. Score: Akron Garfield 22, Massillon 8.

Diary entry: Somebody’s gonna Pay.

Altoona, GlenOak, Barberton, Fitch and now Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary have paid.

The Washington High football team was so angry about what happened Sept. 4 that it won’t let anybody in a game.

You want thrills in the final minutes Sorry. Brian Sipe lives in California.

Program Cover

The latest foe to get knocked out early was Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary. The Tigers decked the Irish with three quick touchdowns that produced a 21‑0 lead. They eventually bagged an easy 24‑12 win in front of 8,098 fans Friday night in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Erik White passed for 150 yards and Jerome Myricks scored three more touchdowns and rushed for 106 yards in the Tigers’ fifth straight win,

The Irish were good fighters. They finished with 276 offensive yards to Massillon’s 277. They controlled the ball for 23 minutes and 38 seconds, just 44 seconds less the home team. But really, folks, it was over early.

“We have to keep working,” said Mark Kester, one of White’s ace receivers. “We have a lot of room to improve. We have a lot of tough games coming up. But we’re real happy about what we’ve done.”

These kids have a right to be happy. Here are more recent diary installments.

Sept. 12 ‑ Lead Altoona 20‑3 at halftime in easy 34‑3 win.

Sept. 18 ‑ Hit GlenOak with first quarter TD … never let Eagles sniff end zone in 21‑0 win.

Sept. 26 ‑ Jump on Barberton for 34‑7 lead. Crazy finish lets Magics score three TDs in final three minutes in 34‑28 win.

Oct. 3 ‑ Shoot to 24‑7 halftime vs. Fitch in 38‑29 win.

The Tigers haven’t been perfect. But since Sept. 4, nobody has had a realistic shot at knocking them off in the waning minutes..

“We, played pretty well tonight against one of the tougher teams we’ve played,” said 6‑foot‑4 senior linebacker Mark Freidly. “I really didn’t think we let down after it was 21‑0. We try to go out there like it’s 0‑0 in the second half. They were just a pretty tough team, up there with Glen0ak and Fitch.

“We’ve been improving week by week. We’ve got to keep it up.”

Myricks keeps holding up his end. His three touchdowns Friday lifted his season total to 15. With 90 points through six games, he is within sight of the Tigers’ top‑five single season points leaders of all time.

He won’t catch Dutch Hill, who racked up 204 points in 1922. But he is within reach of Mike Mauger (152 in 1970), Heine Krier (149 in 1934), Bob Glass (137 in 1937) and Art Hastings (134 in 1960).

Massillon head coach John Maronto disdains talking about statistics.

He probably doesn’t have to worry about Myricks ‑ a cool customer who seems to have an excellent sense of team ‑ getting a fat head.

“The team,” Myricks said, ”is getting more confident. I don’t think anybody is getting a big head. We know we’ve got some tough games left to play. We know we have to improve.”

Maronto sees the improvement. He concedes the Tiger’s let down, “and that includes the coaches,” after getting the big lead.

But we can’t be anything but pleased,” Maronto said. “The team we just beat 24‑12 is a team that beat Garfield.”

Maronto said the offensive game plan was to pass on St. V’s 4‑4 (eight men always close to the line) defense.

The first time Massillon got the ball was on its own 9‑yard line after a punt. The first three plays ‑ out of a hurry‑up offense to keep the Irish defense offguard ‑ were completions from White to Myricks, Jeff Harig and Wrentie Martin. After a 3‑yard run by fullback Jason Stafford, White found Kester for 10 yards. Myricks was held to a yard gain and a pass intended for Harig fell incomplete.

That made it third‑and‑nine 38 yards from the end zone. White dropped back to pass and the Tiger line released the St. V pass rushers on what became a beautifully set up screen pass. Just before the rush reached him, White dumped a little pass to a wide‑open Myricks, who got to the outside before several downfield defenders could meet him and raced down the left sideline into the end zone.

Lee Hurst’s kick made it 7‑0 at the 5:32 mark of the first period.

Late in the first quarter, Tiger tackle Bob Dunwiddie jarred the ball loose from Irish back Phil Gori and Tiger defensive back Erik Moledor recovered on the St. V 30‑yard line. Myricks rushed for 11 yards and seemed angry he didn’t make it more. On the next play, he went through the middle, spun away from two defenders who met him at the 13, and sprinted to the right corner of the end zone.

It was the sort of spectacular run that has become a weekly scene for Myricks.

“They didn’t wrap their arms around me when they hit me,” Myricks said “That’s when I spun.” Hurst’s boot made it 14‑0 with 26 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Irish went 1‑2‑3‑punt and the Tigers took over near midfield. A 12‑yard run on a trap play by Myricks and a 17‑yard pass from White to Stafford were the key plays that put the ball on the 14, where it was first down. Myricks went through a gaping hole up the middle on the next play. He encountered resistance at the 5 but kept driving, finally spinning away from the last would‑be tackler at the 1 and making the end zone standing.

Hurst’s kick made it 21‑0 with 6:48 .left in the half.

Kester was impressed with White’s work on the drive. “He puts unbelievable touch on the ball,” Kester said. “He’s come such a long way.”

White’s fine half was tainted a bit late in the second period when, rather than taking a sack, he tried to pitch the ball to a teammate, but instead fumbled it away to St. V’s Steve Nagy at the Tiger 35‑yard line. That set up a 5‑yard scoring pass from senior quarterback Mark Lenz to Mark Clevenger with just 18 seconds left in the first half. A two point conversion attempt failed and it was 21‑6 at the intermission.

The Tigers started from their own 40 after taking the second‑half kickoff and put together the drive that iced the victory. They ate up half the third quarter in driving to the 3, where Myricks was stopped for a 3‑yard loss on third down.

The Tigers settled for Hurst’s 23‑yard field goal and led 24‑6 with 6:37 left in the third quarter.

The Irish made things a bit interesting by scoring on a 58‑yard drive late in the third quarter. The key play was a spectacular aerial hookup between Lenz and fullback Chris Littler on a play that covered 32 yards, Later, on first down from the 13, Lenz delivered a low flying bullet which Chris Markowski picked off his shoestrings in the end zone. The extra‑point kick failed and it was 24‑12 with 59 seconds left in the third quarter.

St. Vincent put together another impressive drive midway through the fourth quarter, marching from the Irish 36 to the Tiger 23. But on fourth‑and‑five, Littler was strung out on a sweep by Tiger defenders David Hackenbracht and Steve Siegenthaler and stuffed by inside linebacker John Miller three yards short of the first down.

The Tigers took over on downs with 7:22 left, and although the Irish got the ball back on a fumble with 3:42 remaining, it was too late for St. V.

One play after the Irish got the ball back, Lenz suffered a pulled hamstring muscle when he was pulled down by Siegenthaler a yard shy of a first down. Taking over at quarterback was Dave Houston, son of former Massillon All‑Ohioan Jim Houston.

Houston’s first play was a rifle shot pass that was intercepted by Myricks. The play began the rush to the parking lot.

Irish head coach John Cistone, whose record against the Tigers fell to 0‑5, and whose season record dropped to 2‑4, was hardly crushed.

“We feel good about coming back on them,” the 22nd‑year St. V mentor said. “We made a game of it. We moved the ball right along but we made some mistakes. We stopped ourselves.

“Massillon,” Cistone added, “is a little more explosive on offense this year. Myricks is a talent. He has some great moves.”

Despite the late Irish surge, Maronto said he was generally pleased with the work of the Tigers’ defense.

“Defensively, we played at the level we’re capable of playing,” the coach said. “What put our defense in a hole a couple of times was our offense. I have a lot of confidence in our defense.”

The Tigers held St V’s leading rusher, Littler, to 55 yards in nine carries. Before leaving with his injury, Lenz completed nine of 15 passes for 126 yards.

The Tigers’ White completed 12 of 22 passes for 150 yards. Myricks rushed 26 times for 106 yards and caught two passes for 54 yards. Senior split end Craig York had a good night, catching three passes for 22 yards. Kester finished with three receptions for 36 yards.

Next up for the Tigers is Warren Harding, which takes a 4‑1 record into a game against one of its big rivals, Niles, tonight.

John Miller
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1987: Massillon 38, Austintown Fitch 29

Tiger offense runs wild against Fitch
Massillon attack fells Falcons 38 – 29

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

The Mets are dead. Long live the Tigers.

The New York Mets. And the Massillon Tigers.

What’s the connection? Well, what happened in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday night was “football the way it oughtta be.” Weren’t they saying something like that in the Big Apple last year?

Program Cover

The offenses went berserk as the Washington High football team outscored Austintown‑Fitch 38‑29. Only 8,284 folks showed up in P.B.’s Big House. But the ones wearing orange were loving it.

When was the last time a Massillon crowd jumped into a game like this? That was a question goin’ around.

And it didn’t stop at the locker room door.

“A football team needs to generate a lot of emotion,” said Massillon quarterback Erik White. “A lot of that comes from the fans. I get pumped up when I hear them. We need our fans behind us and I’d like to thank them for tonight.”

Football the way it oughtta be?

The Tigers scored five touchdowns on a Fitch team that had given up a combined two TDs to its four previous opponents. Every coach from Knute to Woody would think that means “de‑fense.” But Friday’s offensive outburst was the stuff fans could sink their teeth into.

It was the most impressive onslaught against a quality opponent during the John Maronto era. Last year’s 27‑0 win over Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary ‑ next Friday’s Tiger foe ‑ had been the Maronto era’s most impressive previous outburst.

Maronto, a disciple of defense, was disturbed about Friday’s missed tackles and fundamental lapses that allowed Fitch to amass 294 net offensive yards.

But he broke into a spontaneous grin when asked if he was happy anyway.

“This one was an awfully big win for the town,” the coach said. “it was a win for pride. The kids won with heart and effort. I can’t think of any better words. It’s an indication of the character they have.”

The pride had been twice wounded by Fitch, coached by former Massillon player David Hartman. Fitch beat Massillon 21‑19 in 1985 and 13‑10 in 1986 in the only two meetings the rivals have had.

Vengeance belonged to the Massillon offense. The Tigers amassed 326 yards, 235 on the ground and 91 in the air.

Senior tailback Jerome Myricks rushed 25 times for 119 yards and scored three more touchdowns. His totals at the halfway point of the season include 76 rushes, 585 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Junior fullback Jason Stafford, coming off the bench after junior David Ledwell got the start, rushed 70 yards in five carries. Ledwell, reinserted after Stafford turned an ankle, carried once for 14 yards.

Added Maronto, “Erik White’s stats were not as impressive as they have been (White completed 6 of 12 passes for 91 yards), but he showed a lot of poise and leadership. And the offensive line deserves a whole lot of credit. (Guard) Tracy Liggett and (center) Don Gerber are a couple of juniors who have become outstanding. People around the country know about (guard) John Woodlock and (tackle) John Schilling. And (tackle) Billy Kline has come on and done a real nice job.

“Our tight ends (Gerald Pope and Jeff Harig) continue to block well We’ve got a nice chemistry going.”

Chemistry and a four‑game winning streak. The Tigers improved to 4‑1 while hard‑luck Fitch fell to 2‑3 heading into next week’s game against Youngstown Ursuline.

“They just outmanned us,” said Fitch’s Hartman. “Their offensive line is huge. But we played with a lot of heart. We had lousy field position in the first half and we got behind. We certainly moved the ball in the second half when we got field position. We just didn’t stop them.”

The Tigers defense stuffed Fitch in the first half, allowing only 39 nets yards. But Fitch cranked up its wing‑T attack in the second half, enabling outstanding senior tailback Mike Sztary to finish with 114 yards in 15 carries. He also returned a kickoff 96 yards for a score.

Fullback Kevin Motter wound up with 61 yards in 7 carries, while junior quarterback Darick Fletcher ran for 43 yards and passed for 50 more.

Sztary, who is listed at 165 pounds, gives the impression of a much bigger back during his fearless slashes with the ball. But a visit to the locker room after the game revealed that his program weight is accurate. He is, in fact, a skinny kid with deceptive strength.

“We didn’t make any adjustments for the second half,” Sztary said. “We just played with a lot of heart.”

But every time Fitch would threaten to get back in the game, the Tigers put on a scoring drive of their own.

The Tigers started the game on their own 24 after taking the opening kickoff and came out throwing. White passed on three of the first four plays but the Tigers had to punt following an incompletion. Fitch mishandled Mark Kester’s boot and the Tigers’ Vernon Riley recovered at midfield. On the next play, White launched a bomb toward the right flag in the end zone and Fitch’s Rod Turner intercepted at the 5.

“I knew right then we were going to move the ball, even though it was an interception,” White said. “We were determined. We were confident.”

Fitch drove 34 yards and had a second‑and‑one when Hartman gambled and sent in the Falcons’ first pass of the night. Fletcher threw into double coverage. Myricks, playing free safety, easily reached the 30‑yard toss and tipped it to cornerback Steve Siegenthaler, who raced 20 yards to the Tiger 45‑yard line.

The Tigers then went on a long running march that included gains of 3, 8, 3, 3, 6, 6 and 2 yards, a 6‑yard pass, then runs of 2, 2 and 3 yards. That ended the first quarter with the ball on the 3‑yard line on third-and‑goal.

On the first play of the second quarter, Myricks went straight up the middle with a gigantic hurdle step that carried him into the end zone. Lee Hurst’s kick made it 7‑0.

The field position Hartman cited then came into play. Sophomore return man Charles Wesson fielded

Hurst’s booming kickoff near the goal line and slipped at the 1, where his knee was ruled to have touched the ground. On third‑and‑one, Myricks and Siegenthaler slammed Motter for a yard loss and the Falcons had to punt. A short boot gave the Tigers possession on the Fitch 35. On third‑and‑seven, White led Harig with a perfect looping pass that gained 31 yards down the left sideline, putting the ball on the 1. Myricks again hurdled straight ahead for the score, and Hurst’s boot made it 14‑0 with 7:36 left in the half.

Then came a shocker.

Fitch immediately got back in the game when Sztary took Hurst’s kickoff near the right corner of the end zone, charged up the middle, broke a tackle at the 30 and sailed into the clear on a 96‑yard touchdown run. Jeff Wilkins’ kick made it 14‑7 at the 7:20 mark.

Then … the aftershock.

The Tigers scored two plays after the ensuing kickoff. On second‑and‑four, Stafford went up the middle on a quick hitter, encountered two tacklers at the first‑down mark, then did a Myricks imitation. Stafford exploded out of the pack and was off to the races, scoring on a 59‑yard run. Hurst converted again to make it 21‑7 with 6:1 3 left in the half.

An interception by Myricks ended Fitch’s next possession three plays after it started. Myricks returned the pickoff 26 yards to the Fitch 38. A personal foul against Fitch and a 10‑yard run by Myricks set up Hurst’s 27‑yard field goal, which gave the Tigers a 24‑7 halftime lead.

A different Fitch team came out of the locker room.

The same guys who couldn’t total 40 yards in the first half gained 60 on their first four plays of the second half. Three plays later, on third‑and‑goal from the 9, Fletcher rolled right, broke two tackles, and scored. The point‑after was blocked by Vernon Riley, but Fitch was back in the game, trailing 24‑13 with 8:30 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers struck back.

Myricks, a man for all reasons, returned the kickoff 40 yards. White connected with Pope on a 16‑yard sideline route that put the ball on the Fitch 40. After a 5‑yard motion penalty, it was time for Myricks’ weekly breakaway. The 5‑11, 181‑pound senior followed blocks by Stafford, Kline and Woodlock around the right side, saw daylight in the middle and cut back to it, broke three tackles as he headed for the right sideline, and went scott free the last 25 yards down the right sideline.

“When I break into the open field, I feel I can score,” said Myricks. “Again, I have to thank the offensive line for letting me get that far. The whole line blocked great again.”

“Fitch is one of the best defenses in the state. Scoring 38 points against them … that’s not too bad.”

Myricks’ 45‑yard TD burst and Hurst’s kick made it 31‑13 with 6:37 left in the third quarter.

It was the killing blow, even though Fitch managed to sandwich a 10‑yard scoring run by Sztary and a 13‑yard TD pass from Fletcher to Rod Tofil around a 15‑yard touchdown run by White.

White has scored on keepers two straight weeks. Last week, he ran a bootleg left to hit Barberton with a 4‑yard TD run. Last night, he faked the quick hitter to the fullback and rolled right, showing good speed as he outran the fooled Fitch defense into the end zone.

The second half was a game of neither team being able to stop the other. The Tigers won the game by being unstoppable in the first half, as well.

Maronto credited Brandon Oliver, the new offensive coordinator, and offensive assistants Nick Vrotsos, Tom Jarvis, Ron Bayduke and Tim Manion for putting together a package that was too hot for Fitch to handle.

“Really, though, it’s the players who deserve the credit,” Maronto said. “We’ve got a lot of big games coming up. We’ve got a lot of work ahead. But the players deserve to savor this one a little while.”
M F
First downs rushing 10 11
First downs passing 6 3
First downs by penalty 1 2
Total first downs 17 16
Yards gained rushing 246 236
Yards lost rushing 11 1
Net yards rushing 235 22
Net yards passing 91 71
Total yards gained 326 294
Passes attempted 12 10
Passes completed 6 5
Passes Int. by 2 1
Times kicked off 7 5
Kickoff average 54.1 46.2
Kickoff return yards 90 198
Punts 2 2
Punting average 20.5 39.0
Punt return yards 6 0
Fumbles 0 1
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 6 5
Yards penalized 34 55
Number of plays 51 44
Time of possession 27:05 20:55
Attendance 8,284

FITCH 0 7 14 8 29
MASSILLON 0 24 7 7 38

M ‑ Myricks 3 run (Hurst kick)
M ‑ Myricks 1 run (Hurst kick)
F ‑ Sztary 96 kickoff return (Wilkins kick)
M ‑ Stafford 59 run (Hurst kick)
M ‑ FG Hurst 27
F ‑ Fletcher 8 run (kick failed)
M ‑ Myricks 45 run (Hurst kick)
F ‑ Sztary 10 run (Fletcher run)
M ‑ White 15 run (Hurst kick)

John Miller
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1987: Massillon 34, Barberton 28

Strange magic shades Tiger victory
Rubber Bowl ‘goblins’ emerge in Barberton comeback

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

AKRON ‑ Rubber Bowl goblins howled in record decibels Saturday night, but through the chaotic uproar John Maronto could hear the victory bell.

“Anybody who has been in coaching for a while will tell you a win is a win is a win,” said Maronto, whose Massillon football team won 34‑28 over Barberton in front of 8,000 fans. About 2,000 stragglers remained at the end. They learned that the way to a win is a maze with a billion possible courses.

Or, considering Barberton’s comeback from a 34‑7 deficit against Massillon’s second and third units, perhaps a billion‑and‑one. In this case, the Tigers won only after Barberton running back Jim Ferguson scored three touchdowns on short sweeps in the final three minutes of the game. The segment left the Tigers with two key injuries.

“Our guys played like little tigers,” said elated Barberton head coach Don Ault, whose assistants were telling the players, “We’re going 8‑2! We’re going 8‑2!” in the background. The loss dropped the Magics to 2‑2.

Massillon Tiger fans began seeking the path back to S. R. 241 soon after senior tailback Jerome Myricks capped the latest of his spectacular nights, sweeping right and breaking tackles until he broke clear along the sideline and finished off a 43‑yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half.

The run was at once a comment on Myricks’ ability and on the domination the Tiger first string imposed on the Magics. Sprawled flat either by textbook blocks or tackles broken by Myricks were Barberton defenders at the 47, 40, 35 and 30 yard lines. At the end of the connect‑the‑dots run, Lee Hurst booted a P.A.T. kick and the Tigers led 34‑7.

Myricks, a 5‑11, 181‑pounder with 4.5 40 speed and a rare slithering sense that makes tacklers miss, also scored on runs of 34 and 54 yards en route to rushing 190 yards in just 10 carries.

The Tigers won their third straight game, heading into Friday’s grudge match against Austintown‑Fitch, and improved to 3‑1. In the four games, Myricks has rushed 51 times for 466 yards at a science‑fiction 9.1 per carry. He has scored nine touchdowns, seven on the ground and two on passes.

Opponents are starting to look at Myricks and say, “Phone home, Jerome.” Except for sporadic bouts with the dreaded fumblitis, he’s been out of this world.

Ault, Barberton’s 57‑year‑old, first‑year head coach, called Myricks one of the nation’s best high school backs. And then he called attention to the fact the Tigers substituted with their second and third units after it was 34‑7.

“I want to thank Massillon and Coach Maronto for what they did for us,” Ault said. “That’s nothing but a classy operation.” Translation: Ault was elated his team could avoid a demoralizing blowout.

Myricks’ final touchdown lifted Massillon’s edge in net offense to 303‑92 at that point of the game.

“We asked our second and third teams to hold the lead,” Maronto said. “Some strange things happened, but they did hold the lead.”

In a bit of foreshadowing, four of the first eight plays of the fourth quarter resulted in one team recovering the other team’s fumble. The latter three fumbles occurred consecutively, and the last was Magic fullback Pat Robertson’s bobble that gave the Tigers possession at midfield. After three plays and a punt. Barberton took over at its own with seven minutes left in the game.

One of an endless stream of flags (the Tigers were penalized 14 times for 106 yards; the Magics lost 96 yards on 11 infractions) advanced the ball to midfield on an illegal block. Scrappy little Barberton quarterback Butch Momchilov, ineffective to that point, suddenly got hot. The 5‑foot‑10 junior delivered a strike over the middle to 6‑2 senior Jim Bell, who was tackled on the 6.

On the next play, Ferguson, a 6‑foot speedball, sprinted around left end and went untouched into the left corner of the end zone. Dan Dimick’s kick made it 34‑14, but only 2:53 remained.

Seconds later the Magics regained possession on a fumble 32 yards away from the goal line. Momchilov quickly passed over the middle again, this time to Ferguson at the 9. At that point, the Tigers sent their first unit back on the field.

But Ferguson scored again anyway on the same play that had got him the previous touchdown. Again he easily found the left corner of the end zone.

It was a costly play for the Tigers. Co‑captain John Miller, who had checked back into the game at inside linebacker, re‑injured a sprained ankle that sidelined him during much of the pre‑season.
“It looks like John’s ankle is going to keep him out a while,” Maronto said solemnly.
Attendants formed a human seat to carry Miller off the field. Dimick then kicked another P.A.T. and it was 34‑21 with 1: 37 left.

The Magics’ luck hadn’t run out. Barberton sophomore Mark Jung dove on the ensuing onside kick, which had squibbed all the way to the Massillon 36‑yard line. Momchilov again heaved a bomb over the middle to Ferguson, who caught the ball at the 5. The Magics called their second time out, then threw an incomplete pass, then turned Ferguson loose on the by‑now familiar sweep left. He scored again, Dimick made the kick ‘ and suddenly the Magics were within a miracle of victory with 28 seconds left in the game.

Barberton players turned to the few hundred fans left on the home side of the Rubber Bowl, exhorting them to get up and holler. Even though the Tigers got the ball when the ensuing onside kick went out of bounds, and sat on it until the clock expired, the Magics hollered off into the night as if something wonderful had happened.

In the Massillon camp, there was concern over injuries to Miller and to defensive tackle James Bullock, who also re‑injured an ankle during one of the late defensive stands.

The Tigers had established their dominance early. Barberton received the opening kickoff and punted after three plays. Massillon unleashed several of its weapons on a 10‑play, 75‑yard touchdown march. Runs by Myricks, Stafford and Vernon Riley and passes from quarterback Erik White to Wrentie Martin and Gerald Pope systematically moved the ball from the Tiger 30 to the Magics’ 34.

The Tigers were so confident they could move the ball that they went for it on fourth and inches from their own 39. White sneaked for the first down. On second down from the 34, Myricks followed fine blocking on an apparent 10‑yard gain up the middle. But using his surprising power, he exploded out of a three man pack to streak into the right corner of the end zone. The point‑after kick failed and it was 6‑0.

The Tigers forced another punt then had to punt themselves, but got the ball back when Magic return man Erik James fumbled. Jason Relford pounced on the ball at the Barberton 34.

White drilled a rocket into the end zone that Craig York couldn’t contain. It became fourth and four, when the bench sent in a play that worked beautifully, the old bootleg. Martin went in motion right, influencing the Magic defense in that direction. White deftly faked a handoff right to the fullback and tucked it in his gut while whirling around the left side. The 6‑51/2 senior weaved his way into the end zone on a 27‑yard run. A two‑point run failed and it was 12‑0 with 10:17 left in the first half.

“The Tiger defense again stopped Barberton on three plays. Massillon took over on its own 46 after the punt. On the first play, Myricks followed good blocking over the right side then popped outside to where he had clear sailing for a spectacular 54‑yard touchdown run. Lee Hurst’s kick made it 19‑0 with 8:23 left in the second quarter.

The Tigers would have had good field possession again moments later but Myricks, playing deep man on the punt, fumbled and the Magics’ instead got the field possession at their own 46. Aided by two personal foul penalties, they moved 54 yards in six plays, capped by a 4‑yard run by Ferguson, who started left on a sweep then made a quick cutback and scored easily.

Late in the half, the Tigers mounted another running passing drive that resulted in a score. They covered 63 yards in seven plays, with Miller, playing running back, bolting over from the one. Riley ran for a two‑point conversion and it was 27‑7 with 1:37 left in the first half.

Stafford wound up with another good night at fullback, gaining 78 yards in only eight carries.
Ferguson carried 15 times for 103 yards. Robertson, the brother of NBA point guard Alvin Robertson, carried 19 times for 70 yards.

White completed four of 10 passes for 40 yards before being relieved early in the second half by Hurst. Momchilov finished with nine completions in 18 throws for 111 yards.

In Rubber Bowl games against Barberton, the Tigers lost 9‑7, in 1977, won 21‑6 in 1979, lost 26‑24 in 1981, won 38‑7 in 1983, and came from behind at halftime to win 30‑20 in 1985.

Meanwhile, most of the Massillon‑Barberton games played in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium have been Tiger romps, including last year’s 56‑0 blowout.

The Tigers now turn their attention to Austintown Fitch, which desperately needs a win after its 2‑2 start. Fitch leads the all‑time series with the Tigers 2‑0, having won in 1985 and ’86. Fitch’s head coach is former Massillon player David Hartman.

Asked about getting ready for Fitch, Maronto said, We have a lot of work to do. We have to reshuffle our thoughts a little bit and make a decision on what the best course will be.”

MASSILLON 24
BARBERTON 28
M B
First downs rushing 13 9
First downs passing 0 5
First downs by penalty 1 2
Totals first downs 14 16
Yards gained rushing 320 202
Yards lost rushing 2 8
Net yards rushing 318 194
Net yards passing 33 130
Total yards gained 351 324
Passes attempted 12 19
Passes completed 4 10
Passes int. by 0 0
Times kicked off 6 5
Kickoff average 56.0 29.8
Kickoff return yards 24 29
Punts 2 6
Punting average 25.0 29.3
Punt return yards 5 4
Fumbles 6 4
Fumbles lost 5 3
Penalties 14 11
Yards penalized 106 96
Number of plays 41 61
Time of possession 19:02 28:58

Attendance 8,000

Massillon 6 21 7 0 34
Barberton 0 7 0 21 28

First quarter
M ‑ Myricks 34 run (kick failed) 5:51. Drive covered 75 yards in 10 plays.
Second quarter
M ‑ White 27 run (pass failed) 10:17. Drive covered 33 yards in 4 plays.
M ‑ Myricks 54 run (Hurst kick) 8:23. Drive covered 54 yards in 1 play.
B ‑ Ferguson 4 run (Dimick kick) 4:26. Drive covered 54 yards in 6 plays.
M ‑ Miller 1 run (Riley run) 1:37. Drive covered 63 yards in 7 plays.
Third quarter
M ‑ Myricks 43 run (Hurst kick) 10:57. Drive covered 63 yards in 3 plays.
Fourth quarter
B ‑ Ferguson 6 run (Dimick kick) 2:53. Drive covered 81 yards in 10 plays.
B ‑ Ferguson 9 run (Dimick kick) 1:37. Drive covered 32 yards In 2 plays.
B ‑ Ferguson 5 run (Dimick kick) 0:28. Drive covered 36 yards In 5 plays.

John Miller