Category: <span>History</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 38, Akron Garfield 0

Massillon ends two-game losing streak, routs Garfield

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

MASSILLON Some good news on the scoreboard was what Massillon needed. That good news is what it received on Friday night.

Facing an overmatched Garfield team, the Tigers came out and took control early and rolled to a 38-0 win at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The win snapped Massillon’s longest losing streak – two games – since 2011, and improved its record to 6-2 on the season.

It was the elixir the Tigers needed to not just calm the waters around town, but also get them in the right direction heading into a huge final two regular-season games. That starts with next week’s home game against St. Vincent-St. Mary, followed by the finale against resurgent McKinley.

“It’s nice to see our kids smile,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said. “We have a couple big ones coming, and a huge one definitely here in seven days. … We regroup now and move on.”

Massillon took control of the game in the first half, and unlike the previous two weeks against Austintown Fitch and Ursuline, didn’t let a halftime lead disappear. The Tigers, following an opening-drive turnover, turned their last two first-quarter possessions into scores for a 14-0 lead.

They wouldn’t stop scoring, either. A 21-0 halftime lead turned into a 31-0 edge after three quarter, with the entire fourth quarter spent playing under a running clock.

The first score was set up by Jeff Koch’s second interception in as many games, and third turnover picked up by the junior cornerback. Ten plays later, J.D. Crabtree was in the end zone with a 2-yard run and a Massillon lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Mike White, one of three running backs the Tigers used in the first quarter alone, made it 14-0 when he took a swing pass and raced 66 yards for a touchdown on their next possession. Despite a penalty flag that the officials ultimately picked up, Massillon was up 14-0.

White would add a pair of second-half scoring runs, a 12-yarder in the third quarter and a 55-yarder in the fourth.
Crabtree’s second short scoring run – a 3-yarder – made it 21-0 Massillon midway through the second quarter. The Tiger senior became the fifth running back in the last seven years to top the 1,000-yard rushing mark with a 55-yard scamper on that scoring drive.

“Being a 1,000-yard rusher, it’s always what I dreamed of,” Crabtree said. “I tried at it last year, but I came up 300, 400 short. (Running backs coach Joe) Pierce, I know he’s going to be proud of me. He works me hard.”

Crabtree finished Friday night with 173 yards, 124 in the first half. He now has 1,120 on the season.

One key to the Massillon win was its ability to not be its own worst enemy, as had been the case in the previous two games. That’s not to say the Tigers didn’t have miscues – their first drives of both the first and second quarters ended in turnovers – but they were significantly lessened overall compared to previous weeks.

After 19 combined flags against Massillon in the two losses, it was flagged five times against Garfield. That’s more in line with the first five games of the season, when the Tigers had just 14 penalties combined.

“I thought our kids were focused,” said Hall, whose team also got a 51-yard field goal by Andrew David. “They didn’t get worked up. They handled the turnovers. We made them have to drive the field and the things we want to do. I thought we did a good job.”

Which is why Massillon was able to get a whole lot of good news on the scoreboard.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 14, Youngstown Ursuline 23

Ursuline uses strong running game to stop Massillon

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

YOUNGSTOWN The more physical team always was expected to be the team to emerge from Friday night’s showdown between Massillon and Ursuline with the win.

The Irish were the more physical of the two teams on this night inside Youngstown State University’s Stambaugh Stadium. That fact was reflected on the scoreboard, which read Ursuline 23, Massillon 14.

And no one was disputing that fact less than Tiger head coach Jason Hall, whose team dropped its second consecutive game – both to Youngstown area teams – to fall to 5-2.

“We got beat physically,” Hall said. “It is what it is. Their defense beat us up physically. There you go. We all got to look in the mirror.”

Massillon’s only two scores were set up by short fields. One came after a shanked punt set up their first possession at the Irish 26; the other after Jeff Koch’s interception started their final possession of the first half at the Ursuline 37.

Both ended with J.D. Crabtree touchdown runs. The first put Massillon ahead 7-0; the second gave the Tigers a 14-13 halftime lead.

Other than that, Massillon found next-to-nothing consistently go right for it against a stout Irish defense. The Tigers had their first drive of the second half end with a blocked 22-yard field goal, and their final drive of the game end with a 41-yard field goal go wide right.

Massillon’s running game was limited to a net of 77 yards, although Crabtree did run for 105 yards on 18 carries. The Tigers put the ball up 37 times, completing 14, for 223 yards.

“They got movement,” said Hall, whose team also was hurt by eight penalties. “They were able to get some penetration. It really cut off our cut-backs and our seams.”

The Tigers did have two other drives reach Ursuline territory, one to the Irish 39 and the other to the Irish 37. The first ended in a punt after the drive was short-circuited by a first-down sack in the second quarter; the latter saw the Tigers lose 31 yards on a bad punt snap to put the Irish in business at the Massillon 27 late in the third quarter.

The second one would set up Ursuline’s 26-yard field goal with 10:04 remaining. That gave the Irish the lead for good at 16-14.

“We’re growing up as a football team,” Ursuline head coach Larry Kempe said after his team improved to 5-2. “I’ve always liked our physicality defensively. We’re starting to understand that offensively up front, too.”

That was evident in the Irish’s patience with the running game. Of their 63 offensive plays, 60 were rushes, netting a total of 274 yards.

For the second week in a row, Massillon allowed a pair of 100-yard rushers, with one of those two being the opposing quarterback. This time, it was Irish quarterback Vito Penza leading all rushers with 168 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns.

Penza’s 32-yard run on the Irish’s second possession pulled them within 7-6 of the Tigers. His 1-yard plunge with 9:05 left in the second quarter gave Ursuline a 13-7 lead after the PAT.

His final score – a 55-yard run with 8:33 remaining – made it a two-score game at 23-14.

“We knew we had to play Ursuline football, Youngstown football,” Penza said. “We played really well as a team.”

Kimauni Johnson also topped 100 yards rushing for Ursuline, gaining 106 yards on 27carries

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 33, Austintown Fitch 34

Fitch ends Massillon’s unbeaten hopes again

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

MASSILLON It was like deja vu for Massillon. For the second year in a row, Massillon found itself needing a furious last-minute rally to try to knock off Austintown Fitch. For the second year in a row, that comeback fell short for the Tigers, this time in 34-33 loss at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium on Friday night.

A year ago at Austintown, the comeback was halted when Fitch picked up a sack with less than five seconds left. On Friday night, the Tigers were thwarted when a 40-yard field goal try went wide right with five seconds remaining.

Either way, it was the second year in a row the Falcons knocked off Massillon when it was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Division II.

“It came down to a last-second play, but at the end of the day, you can’t make as many mistakes as we did,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said after his team fell to 5-1. “Special-teams blunders; we had some uncharacteristic penalties. Good teams don’t win like that. We didn’t play a great game tonight.”

Which was another eerie resemblance to last year’s 30-27 loss in Austintown. In that game, Massillon had miscues on offense, including bad penalties at inopportune times, which put it behind the 8-ball.

This time, the Tigers had a season-high 11 penalties for 96 yards. It was a jaw-dropping total for a team that had just 14 flags on it the first five games combined.

They also had not one, but two bad punt snaps.

One set up Fitch to tie the game at 14-14 late in the first half.

The other, early in the fourth quarter, was salvaged when Andrew David tracked it down at the goal line and boomed a 48-yard punt. Two plays later, the Tigers even found themselves with a 33-27 lead after Jeff Koch – playing in place of the injured Reggie Rogers – returned a fumble 53 yards for a score with 8:49 remaining.

Except that Massillon would botch the subsequent point-after try, leaving it ahead by just six points. Nine plays later, the Tigers would find themselves behind by a point after Fitch marched  down for a 2-yard Antwan Harris touchdown run – and, most importantly, the subsequent PAT kick – with 4:13 remaining.

Harris, the Fitch quarterback, had a second big rushing performance against Massillon. He rushed for 114 yards and two scores Friday, a year after going for 147 yards and three touchdowns in last year’s win.

“Antwan is Antwan,” Fitch coach Phil Annarella said after his team improved to 5-1. “He does this every week for us. He’s just an absolutely fabulous kid, fabulous football player. He’s carried us through six weeks now, and hopefully, we’ll have him for the last four too.”

Harris had help in the form of tailback Tyler Hewlett. Hewlett, filling in for the injured Darrin Hall, rushed for 133 yards and two scores.

Of course, Massillon probably never saw an ending like the one it ended up having 12 minutes into the game. Two drives into the contest, the Tigers had a 14-0 lead, racking up a 12-play, 80-yard march and a 13-play, 96-yard drive.

J.D. Crabtree scored the first Tiger touchdown, one of two scores by him on a night when he rushed for 114 yards. The second score came on a Danny Clark-to-Rogers touchdown pass, part of a 237-yard passing night by the Tiger sophomore.

All of it, ultimately, for naught in the eyes of their head coach.

“I guess it’s always frustrating,” Hall said. “We played well in spurts. We made a lot of mental mistakes.”

That’s why, when all was said and done, Massillon once again needed a furious last-minute rally to try to beat Fitch. It’s also why, once again, the Tigers couldn’t end up beating Fitch.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 26, Steubenville 13

Massillon gets physical, stays unbeaten with win over Steubenville

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

MASSILLON It’s not how you start, but how you finish. Or, if you were Massillon on Friday night, it’s both how you start and how you finish.

The Tigers jumped out on visiting Steubenville to a two-touchdown first-quarter lead. Then after Big Red had threatened in the second half, Massillon came up with the necessary drives — and points – to keep them at bay in a 26-13 win at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“Everybody knows we both play physical football,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said after the state’s No. 1-ranked Division II team improved to 5-0. “You expect momentum shifts in this game. I thought we put a drive together when it counted. … Our kids, when it counts in the fourth quarter, they come through.”

When it counted most, the Tigers hitched their wagon to their running game. Specifically, they hitched it to running back J.D. Crabtree.

Crabtree took over in the fourth quarter, which started with Massillon nursing a 23-13 lead.

That’s when the senior battering ram gained 48 – on 10 carries – of his game-high 127 yards.

It may not have resulted in any touchdown drives, but it took time off the clock.

“Coach Hall came out and said that they said we were the less-physical team here and they were going to come out and be too physical for us,” Crabtree said. “I think we all took that to heart. Our goal was to come out strong in the first quarter and hit them hard.”

Massillon had 90 rushing yards in the fourth quarter, and finished with 201 net yards on the ground. Austin Jasinski also had a big 44-yard run on the Tigers’ next-to-last drive that moved the ball from the Tiger 12 to the Big Red 43.

That drive, the final scoring drive of the game, ended with an Andrew David 26-yard field goal with 2:45 remaining. It was one of two second-half field goals by David, who also hit a 42- yarder with 1:21 left in the third quarter to provide Massillon with a 23-13 advantage.

Those were the Tigers’ only two scores of the second half. They had started it with a 20-7 lead.

“It’s the biggest weapon, if not the country, then the state,” Hall said of David.

Massillon set itself up for a big finish by flying out of the gates with its best start of any of its four games against American competition. After a first-possession three-and-out, the Tigers put the ball in the end zone on both of their next two drives.

The first one was set up by their defense, when Malek Jackson picked off a Steubenville pass and returned it inside the Big Red 15. Three plays later, Danny Robinson caught a 9-yard screen pass from Danny Clark to give Massillon a 7-0 lead with 8:20 left in the first quarter.

A nice punt return by Jasinski – plus a Big Red penalty – put the Tigers in business on their next drive at the Steubenville 16. This time, it took four plays to reach the end zone, with Crabtree scoring from 12 yards out for a 14-0 lead with 5:27 left in the quarter.

Steubenville (4-1) finally cracked the scoreboard when Niko Petrides caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Dimitri Collaros with 8:19 left in the half to cut it to 14-7. It was one of two scoring strikes for Collaros, who finished 17-of-30 with 225 yards.

The other Steubenville score came on the first drive of the second half, a 15-play, 80-yard march that milked 5:17 off the clock. It ended on a 30-yard pass from Collaros to Charles Reeves.

Robinson had Massillon’s other touchdown, a 6-yard run with 5:48 left in the first half. It came on the drive immediately following Steubenville’s first score.

“The one thing about these guys, they like to compete,” Hall said. “They don’t get worked up; I get more worked up than they do. They adjust, they keep working.”

Steubenville did have a couple of chances to add points to its total. Big Red drove to the Tiger 10 – trailing by 10 – early in the fourth quarter, but was stopped on downs.

After Massillon pushed its lead to 13 late in the fourth, Steubenville drove to the Tiger 20. That possession ended on three incomplete passes into the end zone with under 1:50 remaining.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 77, St. John’s Collegiate, Ont. Canada 13

Kicking it into history
David sets record Williams also ends Team gender barrier

Chris Easterling
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON Andrew David calmly lined himself up and waited for the snap. Once that snap arrived, he turned his powerful leg loose and sent the ball on its way toward history.

And with that kick just 11 seconds into the second quarter Friday night, the Massillon senior set a school record with a 58-yard field goal.

Of course, by the time David attempted that record-setting mark on first down, the Tigers owned a six-touchdown lead over visiting St. John Collegiate (Ontario). It would only get worse from there for the Canadian guests, as Massillon pile-drove them into the Paul Brown Tiger Stadium turf in a 77-13 rout.

“We knew if we could get in that situation, he’d have a shot at the school record,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said after his team improved to 4-0. “I know that was one of his goals. It was a perfect time for him to have a crack at it.”

Andrew David’s 58-yard field goal.

The game was never in doubt from the moment Massillon scored on the game’s fourth play for a 7-0 lead. So the only real drama was left to the kicking game, starting with David’s booming boot and ending with Taylor Williams breaking down a barrier by becoming the first female to both appear and score a point in the varsity game for the Tigers.

David’s kick was 2 yards longer than the previous mark, set by David Abdul in 2001. It also tied the fourth-longest field goal in Ohio history, three behind the record of 61 yards set by Mentor’s Kevin Harper (2007) and Mayfield’s Carey Spear (2009).

“For me it’s awesome, because we’ve had some many great kickers come through Massillon,” David said. “For Steve (Schott) to be helping me, I’m not sure Steve ever got a chance to kick it that far, but I’m sure Steve could’ve, and I know David Abdul could’ve as well. … For me to be able to come out and hit that, it was a stamp to everything I’ve been doing and my preparation.”

The second bit of history came with 4:19 remaining in the first half after Marcus Perrin scored on a 34-yard run to make it 63-0 Tigers. That’s when Williams became the first female to appear in a varsity game for Massillon, as she attempted the point-after kick.

A bad snap threw the entire sequence off, but didn’t negate the importance of the moment. And with four seconds remaining in the third quarter, she would get another opportunity at history, this time connecting on a PAT that made it 70-6 on the scoreboard and put her in the books as the first female to score a point at the varsity level in school history.

“I was really nervous at first,” said Williams, who hit another PAT later in the fourth quarter.
“The nerves really got to me this game. After I got it, it was amazing.”

The first half alone took two hours to play, primarily because Massillon couldn’t stop scoring.

The Tigers scored on six straight first-quarter to lead 38-0.

Three of those six scoring drives were no more than two plays. Mike White scored on a oneplay, 35-yard drive, J.D. Crabtree capped a two-play drive with a 16-yard run, while Todd Fichter caught a 7-yard scoring pass to close out another two-play march.

Danny Clark also threw a 51-yard touchdown pass on the fourth play of the game to Reggie Rogers. Crabtree added a 3-yard scoring run to cap an abbreviated five-carry, 74-yard, two touchdown night.

The only drama of the second quarter, outside of the kicking game, was whether or not Massillon would actually have to punt. It did, with 5:16 left in the half and a 57-0 lead, only to see St. John give it right back by mishandling the punt.

“We’re healthy and a lot of guys played tonight,” Hall said. “We’re going to let them have a nice weekend. We’re going to let them have the rest of the weekend off and by the time we get to Sunday, it’s going to be all about Steubenville.”

The second half was played under the new Ohio High School Athletic Association “mercy rule” which stipulated a continuous clock for a game in which a team holds a 30-point lead. That didn’t stop both teams from putting up a pair of touchdowns.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 46, Warren Harding 24

Massillon overcomes slow start to roll past Warren Harding

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

MASSILLON The start continues to be an issue for Massillon. The finish, though, remains exactly what the Tigers want to see.

For the third game in a row, Massillon found itself slowly coming out of the gates as it welcomed Warren Harding to Paul Brown Tiger Stadium for its home opener. The Tigers found their second gear, though, after falling into an early deficit, and used it to race past the Raiders for a 46-24 win Friday.

The win improves Massillon to 3-0, with Canadian visitor St. John Collegiate paying a visit next Friday.

“It was our home opener, and Massillon, you’re not going to lose your home opener,” said senior Danny Robinson, who had a touchdown run and a team-high four catches.

“We’re not going to come out there and lose to Warren. They’re a great team, and their running back (Keemari Murry) is really good, but we weren’t going to lose our home opener.”

Early on, the momentum certainly favored the visitors. The Raiders used a 82-yard touchdown run by Murray and a field goal after recovering a Tiger fumble to lead 10-0 midway through the first quarter.

Massillon, though, seemed to get angry at that point. And when it got angry, it found a second gear.

The Tigers finished the first half by scoring on its final five possessions. What started with a Andrew David field goal with a minute left in the first quarter ended with a 17-yard Austin Jasinski scoring run with 1:22 remaining in the half.

When it was all said and done, Massillon owned a 29-10 halftime lead.

“We didn’t come out crisp at all offensively,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said. “It took a bit to gather our thoughts. They hit us with a big play.”

The big play was the bulk of Warren’s offense on the night. And Murry was the key to that.

A year after rushing for 201 yards against the Tigers in Warren, Murry gained an even 200 yards on Friday night. Of that, though, 154 yards came on his two touchdown runs – the 82-yarder and a 72-yarder early in the second half that pulled the Raiders to within 29-17.

Quindez Stubbs added a 68-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter for Warren.

Outside of those two touchdown runs, Murry had 46 yards on 15 carries. He had rushed for over 320 yards in the first two games.

“I’ll watch it on film, but I think we just rolled wrong a couple times,” Robinson said. “It’s fixable mistakes. Other than that, I think our defense and our offense played great.”

Once again, that offense featured a heavy dose of J.D. Crabtree running the ball. Crabtree topped the 100-yard plateau for the third straight week, gaining 161 yards on 27 carries and scoring three touchdowns.

But maybe the bigger plus was the way various others stepped up, especially in the passing game. Quarterback Danny Clark had his best night throwing the ball of the season, completing 13 of 16 passes for 203 yards.

Those 13 completions were spread around to seven different receivers, which didn’t even include leading receiver Reggie Rogers, who did not play – along with safety Mike Smith – for disciplinary reasons. Despite that, Todd Fichter caught three passes, while Jasinski grabbed two and James Hendricks, Chase Piatko, Dylan Henderson and Tre’on Vance each caught one.

“Todd, Austin are coming along,” Hall said. “Austin was hurt in the preseason, and this was a great game for him. Starting next week we get our guys back and we keep plugging along.”

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 17, Canton Glenoak 14

Crabtree’s running keys Massillon in victory over GlenOak

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

PLAIN TWP. One moment, J.D. Crabtree looked like he was going down to the ground. The next, he was on his way to the end zone.

And that Houdini act by the Massillon senior running back was the latest crazy play to decide a Tigers-GlenOak showdown.

Crabtree’s 45-yard run with 5:45 remaining lifted Massillon to a 17-14 come-from-behind high school football win over the Golden Eagles in front of a capacity crowd at Bob Commings Field.

“I hit the hole and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m in trouble,’ ” said Crabtree, who maintained his balance with one hand while in the pile. “I was able to push some guys off me. My receiver, Dylan Henderson, caught a great block for me on the end, I was able to make a cut and take it right end.”

That run was the next-to-last carry in a 24-carry, 174-yard performance for the Tiger senior.

But it would be his 24th and final run that would ultimately seal the game.

With 1:18 remaining, Massillon had the ball in a fourth-and-inches situation at the GlenOak 42.

The Tigers elected to call timeout, and head coach Jason Hall wanted to punt the ball away.

Crabtree, though, had other ideas.

“We were getting ready to punt and he looked at me and he said, ‘I will get that yard,’ ” Hall said. “So we said, ‘Let’s do it.’ ”

With the offense back on the field, the ball went to Crabtree one final time. He powered his way for a 3-yard gain, picking up the first down and sealing the win.

It marked the second week in a row Crabtree had a huge second half to carry Massillon to a 2-0 start. A week ago, he rushed for 161 yards after intermission to rally the Tigers from 17 points down to beat Perry.

This time, it was a 124-yard performance that helped the Tigers turn a scoreless halftime total into a winning margin.

“I think the guys need to realize that we need to throw the first punch and the last punch,”

Crabtree said. “It said on our offensive scouting report, ‘Start to finish.’ I think that hit me big. I know we came out kind of slow and went into the half 0-0, but I knew coming out, the look in the guys’ eyes told me how it was going to come out.”

Those teams went into the locker room scoreless after both teams ended what was essentially their only second-quarter possessions without capitalizing. Massillon reached the GlenOak 7, but missed a 25-yard field goal.

GlenOak reached the Tiger 9, where it ran a fake field goal to the 5 for a first down. But after a running play, the clock ran out without the Golden Eagles being able to get another play off.

The third quarter, though, was an offensive onslaught for both teams. The Tigers scored on their first possession, with Danny Robinson’s 1-yard run capping a 76-yard, eight-play drive fora 7-0 lead.

Seven plays later, GlenOak tied it up when Brennon Tibbs ran it in from 3 yards out with 6:32 left in the third. Tibbs, the Golden Eagle quarterback, ran for 81 yards on the night.

After a Tiger three-and-out, GlenOak marched down for a 14-7 lead. This time, it was Cameron Cabilla doing the honors, running it in from 13 yards out with 3:18 remaining in the third.

“They got good at running that power read,” Hall said.

Massillon would draw closer on its final third-quarter drive. Andrew David did the honors with a career-high 50-yard field goal with 1:18 remaining.

Neither team would score again after that. At least, not until Crabtree went full Houdini to help Massillon escape from GlenOak with a win.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2014: Massillon 37, Massillon Perry 30

TIGERS TURN ON POWER

Crabtree, Clark key Massillon Rally

By Chris Easterling
The Independent

PERRY TWP. The lights went out on Perry Stadium late in the first half Thursday night.

That’s when the light appeared to go on for Massillon.

Trailing by 17 points at halftime, the Tigers came roaring back in the second half against a never-quit Perry team, ultimately posting a 37-30 season-opening win in front of a sellout crowd.

“Finally our kids decided to fight back,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said. “I questioned that in the first half. … Our kids responded.”

Massillon took its first lead of the game with 54 seconds left in regulation when Danny Robinson ran it in from 16 yards out.

The previous possession, J.D. Crabtree put the Tigers in position by scoring from 5 yards out, with Danny Clark scoring the game-tying two-point conversion.

Those two scoring drives capped a second half in which Massillon scored on five of six possessions.

In other words, five of the six times after the lights went out.

Perry had just taken a 23-6 lead, then recovered a mishandled squib kick with 18 seconds left in the half when the power went out. But during that 25-minute delay, Hall admitted seeing a difference in his team.

“I saw our kids get real emotional when the lights went out,” Hall said. “I think it finally smacked them in the face a little bit. They knew the score; they had a chance to catch the breath. From that point on, I thought we played good.”

The difference showed in a flipping of the script, as Massillon exerted control of the ground game that Perry had dominated in the first half. The Tigers did so with a steady diet of Crabtree, who rushed for 164 yards and two scored on 17 second-half carries.

Crabtree finished with 197 yards on 25 carries for the game. “We’ve ran that fast of an offense all offseason,” Crabtree said. “That was just almost like a practice to me. Perry’s a good team and they came out a lot stronger than I expected, but we came out and took it to them in the second half.”

Massillon only had 38 rushing yards in the first half, running it just eight times compared to 12 pass attempts. One of those resulted in the Tigers’ lone first-half score, a 30-yard touchdown from Clark to Tre’on Vance to make it 16-6 with 2:37 left in the half.

The problem for Massillon was that Perry was dominating the run game before the intermission. The Panthers had 305 first-half yards on the ground, with just 331 total in the initial 24 minutes.

Braxton Berry and Keishaun Sims were the biggest producers. Berry ran for 161 of his 193 yards in the first half, including a pair of touchdowns that helped Perry open up a 16-0 lead with 4:44 left.

Sims, meanwhile, answered the Tiger first-half score with 79-yard run to make it 23-6 with 24 seconds left in the half. He also answered in the third quarter with an 80-yard run to make it 30-19 after Massillon pulled within four.

Sims finished with 173 yards on nine carries.

“We didn’t finish, I know that,” Perry coach Keith Wakefield said. “We need to finish the game and we didn’t finish the game. Did we?”

Massillon, though, went to the ground 23 times in the second half, compared to 14 passes after the break. The Tigers did have a 5-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Henderson in the third quarter that made it 23-19.

Andrew David’ career-long 49-yard field goal pulled Massillon to within 30-22 four plays into the fourth quarter. Thus setting up the dramatic final charge to the finish line for the Tigers.

GAME STATS

2013: Massillon 14, Medina Highland 17

TIME RUNS OUT
Season ends as another Massillon rally falls short

BY CHRIS EASTERLING
Independent sports editor

AKRON Massillon’s two regular-season losses both followed a similar script.

The Tigers found themselves in a hole in the fourth quarter. Then, they scored late to give themselves an
opportunity to pull out the win.

It happened against both Austintown Fitch and St. Vincent-St. Mary. And Friday night in a Division II regional
semifinal against Highland, it happened once again.

And once again, the Tigers weren’t quite able to finish off the comeback. But this time, it cost them their season,
as they lost a 17-14 decision to the Hornets in front of 7,670 at InfoCision Stadium in Akron.

“We just never clicked,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said after his team finished 9-3. “We just didn’t. … Highland played a good game. They were consistent all game.”

The Tigers trailed by 10 with three minutes left and were faced with a fonrth-and-7 from their own 14. But
Danny Clark hit Marcus Whitfield for an 86-yard catch and run to pull Massillon to within 17-14-with 2:55
remaining.

At that point, visions of how Massillon almost erased a 16-point deficit in the final five minutes against Fitch
flashed in the minds of many. But as was the case then, it didn’t quite happen.

“Our kids are going to fight until the end,” Hall said. “Obviously, that was a big play. Our kids, even when it’s
not going well, our kids are going to fight.”

After forcing a three-and-out, Massillon got the ball back with 2:28 left at its own 37- But a second-play
interception – the second turnover of the game for the Tigers – kept them from capitalizing on that chance. A
last-ditch drive that started at the Massillon 5 reached the Tigers 31, but could go no farther.

“You’re hanging on for dear life at that point,” said Highland coach Tom Lombardo, after his team’s 12-0 record
earned it a regional-final matchup with Avon next week. “I was just saying some prayers there.”

Massillon’s defense helped stake it to a 7-3 halftime lead. The Tigers turned a first-quarter interception by
Reggie Rogers, which was brought back to the Hornet 19, into a J.L. Crabtree 2-yard run with 3:06 left in the
first quarter.

The Tigers, though, helped Highland get its first score when they fumbled at their own 21 with 39 seconds left
in the half. Luke Allen hit a 37-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining before the break to cut the Massillon
lead to four.

Highland took its first second-half possession and turned it into a lead it would never relinquish. Starting from
their own 14, the Hornets went 86 yards in 12 plays, the last three covered by Bruce Kinsey with 5:56 left in the
third quarter, for a 10-7 lead.

Kinsey set Highland up with the score thanks to a 24-yard run – with an extra 15 tacked on after a Tigers
personal-foul penalty – that put the ball on the Massillon 31.

“With a defense like that, you need to keep pressing” said Kinsey, who rushed for 77 yards, while throwing for
110 yards. “That’s one good football team. That game could’ve gone either way. There were so many
momentum swings for both us and them, and thankfully, we were the ones who came out on top.”

Massillon had one more possession that went into Highland territory after the Hornets’ go-ahead score. But the
push to the Hornets’ 46 was short-circuited by a three-yard loss on third down.

The Tigers offense never again snapped the ball on the Highland side of the 50. They finished with 226
total yards and just nine first downs.

“It was tough sledding for everybody out there today,” Hall said.

Highland gave itself some breathing room with 6:43 left. On second-and-7, tailback Alex Harris hit a seam in
the defense and raced virtually untouched for a 43-yard touchdown for a 17-7 lead.

Harris finished with 110 yards on 19 carries.

“You’re not going to keep them from hitting that zone read or power read,” Hall said “They’re going to be able
to hit it Take your hat off to them, they’re a good football team.”

GAME STATS

2013: Massillon 33, Nordonia 17

TURNING IT ON
Massillon puts it together after half to defeat Knights

By CHRIS EASTERLING
Independent sports editor

MASSILLON When Massillon and Nordonia met in a first-round playoff game last year at Paul Brown Tiger
Stadium, the Tigers wasted no time laying waste to the Knights’ hopes for an upset. They led by 14 after one
quarter, and 35 at halftime after they scored 63 points in the win.

On Friday night, the two teams met against in a first-round playoff at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, this time as
Division II members. And matching the division they reside in now, it took until half No. 2 for the Tigers to hit
the accelerator.

Still, hit the accelerator Massillon did, as it once again ended Nordonia’s season with a 33-17 win in front of
6,371 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I think this game was a wake-up call,” said Tiger linebacker Danny Robinson, whose fourth-quarter
interception helped set up Massillon’s final score. “I think we were taking them lightly at the beginning. The
second half, we turned it on, and that’s how we have to play the rest of the playoffs.”

Next up for Massillon, which is now 9-2, is a regional semifinal Friday night against top-seeded Highland at a
site to be announced Sunday. The Hornets improved to 11-0 by beating Avon Lake in a first-round matchup.
But it was a while before the Tigers could start thinking about next week. First, they had to take care of a
Nordonia team that had plenty of experience back from last year’s team, which had suffered a 63-34 loss to
Massillon in the Division I playoffs.

Massillon had its own pair of adversaries in the first half, which ended with the Tigers leading 16-14. One was
an injury bug that left the Tigers shuffling players around on the offensive line, which lost Ronnie Humphrey to
a leg injury while playing without center Nathaniel Devers due to illness.

“We handled some adversity,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said. “We had Ronnie go down; Nate’s sick. So, I’m
just really proud of our guys and that depth that came in and played on that offensive line. I was proud of them.”
The second adversity was some miscues that opened the door for the Knights to twice hold leads. The first, after
the Tigers netted minus-3 yards on a first-drive punt, resulted in Nordonia taking a 7-0 lead when David Murray
hit Alex Alders in stride for a 31-yard touchdown.

The second came after the Knights jarred the ball loose after a Massillon completion for a fumble. Alders
picked it up and ran it back 25 yards to give Nordonia a 14-13 lead 4:55 left in the half.

Those two scores, though, were basically all the Tigers allowed Nordonia’s explosive offense to get. Massillon
limited the Knights to 232 total yards, the second-lowest four-quarter yardage total for the Knights this season,
while they were only 18-of-42 passing for 145 yards.

The Tigers also forced three Knights turnovers in the game, including a pair of interceptions in the second half.
Two of those turnovers ended up turning into points — a fumble that led to Andrew David’s 29-yard field goal
with 1:06 left in the half for a 16-14 lead; and Robinson’s pick that was turned into a J.D. Crabtree’s second
touchdown run for a 33-14 lead with 11:19 remaining.

“We prided ourselves on our defense the whole year,” Massillon linebacker Devon Ingram said. “We knew we
just had to come out and play Massillon ‘D’ like we usually do. We knew we’d be all right.”

It also didn’t hurt the Tigers one bit that, even with all the line shuffling, Lyron Wilson continued his torrid end
of the season. One week after gaining a combined 289 yards against St. Vincent-St. Mary and McKinley, the
senior rushed for 149 yards against Nordonia.

Crabtree added 89 yards and a pair of second-half touchdowns for the Tigers.

“We continued to run the ball,” said Wilson, who gave Massillon a 13-7 second-quarter lead with a 1-yard run.
“We continued to run the ball well. A big shout-out to the ‘O’ linemen, because they helped us do it.”

And what the Tigers did was once again move past Nordonia and into the second round of the playoffs

GAME STATS