1893: Massillon 16 Salem 6

Game played November 11, 1893
From The Massillon Evening Independent

SALEM COMES TO GRIEF
MASSILLON 16              SALEM 6

A fair sized audience saw the Massillon high school football eleven defeat the eleven from Salem high school by the score of 16 to 6 in a well played game at Russell Park on Saturday afternoon.  This was the first regular game that the local high school team has played this season, and they won a well earned victory.  While they are yet comparatively young in years as well as in experience on the football field, they have the making of good football players, for they thoroughly understand the game and all of its various points, and with steady practice will have a team that will be hard to defeat by teams of their own and even heavier weight.

When the two teams lined up for play it was at once discovered that the boys from the neighboring city were much larger and heavier than the local boys, but in a very few minutes after the contest began it was evident that while the Massillon boys lacked in strength and weight they more than excelled their plucky opponents in science and skill.

The local team’s victory was largely due to their good team work and the excellent interference for their runners when they had the ball in their possession and were heading for the coveted goal of their opponents.  Their best gains were made by runs around the ends, while they could not make any material gains by bucking the enemy’s line which was too heavy for them to break through.

The Salem team soon demonstrated to the onlookers that they were inferior to the home team, as they could not make any large gains by sending their backs around the ends of the Massillon line, for they were soon brought to earth by the excellent tackling of Captain Young’s men, but they did succeed in gaining lots of ground by bucking their opponents’ line, as their superior strength and weight were too much for the home eleven to overcome.

The best features of the local team’s playing were Roberta’s fine tackles and end runs for large gains, Captain Young’s good all around work, Emery’s tackling and timely interference and Hilton’s punting, tackling and runs, while the work of the balance of the eleven was good and showed that each player put his whole heart and soul in his efforts to help win the game.

The teams lined up as follows: