Category: <span>History</span>

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2007: Massillon 69, Cincinnati Western Hills 13

Tigers use fast start to roll past Cincinnati Western Hills

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The week before the McKinley game always can be a dangerous one for the Massillon Tigers, no matter the records. It can be especially hazardous when the Tigers’ opponent is one like Cincinnati Western Hills, an athletic team sporting a lackluster record.

But those pre-McKinley perils can go by the boards rather quickly when the Tigers take care of business early and often, as was the case on Saturday afternoon when they dismissed the Mustangs 69-13 in front of 6,477 at sun-splashed Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Massillon, which will take a 5-4 mark into Fawcett Stadium this Saturday, scored on its first five possessions on its way to a 42-0 halftime lead. “It felt real good (to jump on Western Hills early),” said Tiger senior tailback K.J. Herring, whose two touchdowns helped Massillon grab a 21-0 first-quarter lead. “It’s a long season, and you’re a little banged up. So you’re like, ‘OK, we can take it to these guys.’ It felt real good just to jump on them real quick.”

The Tigers did a good job of jumping on every opportunity Western Hills provided them.

Herring’s first score – a 5-yard run on the Tigers’ initial play – was set up by a botched snap on a Western Hills punt. The Tigers also got a short field later thanks to a recovered pooch kick, as well as a fumbled punt by the Mustangs.

The Tigers led 35-0 before the 1-8 Mustangs picked up their initial first down, and were up 55-0 before Western Hills’ Tharon Gardner hit Armondo Thomas for a 78-yard touchdown strike with 3:11 left in the third quarter to break up the shutout bid. Western Hills finished with 224 yards, 103 of those on its two touchdown passes.

“The defense had a great week of practice, and we showed that out there,” said Tiger junior cornerback Justin Turner, who also ran for a score while lining up at quarterback in the second quarter. “We didn’t give up no big plays. Then we put in the younger dudes, and they did real good.”

Massillon was well on its way to its best offensive game of the season by halftime, when it had amassed 306 total yards. By that time, the Tigers – who finished with a season-best 502 yards – were liberally substituting, which gave a chance for players like Alexander Love, who rushed for a game-high 120 yards and three touchdowns on 16 second-half carries.

“I thought we played well early,” Tiger coach Tom Stacy said. “I thought we flopped around a little bit and didn’t execute at times the way we wanted to. It’s a good win for us, and hopefully it’s something we can carry into (the McKinley) week.

“What we have to be able to do is carry these last three weeks into game 10 with that kind of momentum, because we’re going to need that. They’re a much better football team – McKinley – than their (3-6) record indicates, and they’ve played very well at home this year.”

The Tigers may have given McKinley something else to think about against Western Hills: the passing game. After struggling to consistently throw the ball – outside of a 175-yard performance in the season opener – Massillon showed what kind of threat it can be through the air against the Mustangs.

Massillon completed 11 of its 13 pass attempts for a season-best 178 yards. Senior quarterback Chris Willoughby was 6-of-7 for 72 yards and two touchdowns, while junior Tim Adkins completed all three of his aerials for 79 yards with a score. Sophomore Robert Partridge hit on two of his three passes for 27 yards.

Not only were the Tigers efficient throwing the ball, they also were diverse, spreading it around to seven different receivers. Giorgio Jackson (four catches, 44 yards) and Brandon Pedro (two grabs, 39 yards) were the only Tigers to catch more than one ball. Jackson finished with two touchdowns, while Pedro added a 13-yard scoring catch in the first quarter.

“The passing game hasn’t been so good at the beginning of the season,” said Jackson, who had second-quarter touchdown catches for 30 and 14 yards. “We’re trying to balance our offense so people can’t stop our run. We can’t just rely on our run, we have to do both. That’s why we’re trying to do both.”

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2007: Massillon 56, Warren Harding 0

Massillon makes it two in a row with 56-0 rout of Warren

By CHRIS EASTERLING

K.J. Herring took the handoff, broke through the line and raced 14 yards into the end zone. With that run and subsequent PAT, Massillon jumped on top of Warren Harding 7-0 on Friday night.

It would be all the points the Tigers would need, but just for good measure, they added 49 more in what would quickly turn into a 56-0 rout in front of 7,188 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“We got off to a fast start,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team will play host to Cincinnati Western Hills next Saturday afternoon at 2:30. “We talked about that this week, about coming out here at home on Senior Night and getting off to a good start, and we did.”

Herring, for the second week in a row, was the rushing star for the Tigers, who evened their record at 4-4. The senior rushed for 199 yards on 14 carries and scored four touchdowns, giving him 356 yards and seven scores over the last two weeks.

But it wasn’t just Herring. DeVoe Torrence, back in the lineup after missing last week’s game due to injury, added 139 yards and a pair of scores on the ground.

It didn’t seem to matter who the Tigers gave the ball to, they were able to churn out yards. Massillon gained 449 rushing yards.

“It’s coming together,” Herring said. “We’re figuring out where to put people and how to distribute the ball. … DeVoe comes off the injury, and you can see what he can do. It’s exciting.”

The Tigers wasted no time in jumping on the young Raiders, who fall to 3-5. Massillon scored on five of their six first-half possessions in building up a 35-0 halftime lead.

It didn’t matter how far the Tigers needed to go, they were able to traverse it with relative ease. They had scoring drives of 28, 66, 54, 98 and 65 yards prior to the half, racking up 288 yards in the process.

The only first-half drive that didn’t reach the end zone was squelched by a first-play fumble at the Raider 35. Yet, even that turnover didn’t hurt the Tigers, as they got the ball back on the next play on a Warren fumble.

It was that kind of night for Massillon – even when things would go wrong, it would end up with a positive.

Take the first Tiger possession of the second half, when a 13-yard Herring run was negated by a holding penalty. The very next play, Herring ripped off a 70-yard touchdown run which made it 42-0 Massillon just 35 seconds into the third quarter.

“I just told everybody to stay focused,” Herring said. “We just had to focus on what we had to do. We’re just trying to show that we’re a team and trying to work together.”

Meanwhile, the Tiger defense was doing its part in giving its offense help. Massillon limited Warren to just 172 yards and 12 first downs on the evening.

“It feels a lot better,” Tiger defensive end Steve Yoder said. “Not giving up any points is a huge step from the last couple of games.”

A big key to the Tiger defensive effort was their ability to keep Raider quarterback Mike Dorsey in check. Dorsey, another in a long line of mobile quarterbacks which have given Massillon fits in the past, gained 50 yards on 20 carries while throwing for 32 yards.

“We had not had good success with running quarterbacks before,” Tiger safety Corey Hildreth said. “I was glad we stepped it up and did good. ”The shutout bid wasn’t secured until the final seconds, as the Raiders drove down inside the Tiger 25. However, Massillon prevented Warren from removing the zero on the scoreboard.

GAME STATS

 

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2007: Massillon 48, Akron Buchtel 14

Tigers beat up on Buchtel

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The Massillon Tigers were looking for a prescription to cure themselves of the recent struggles they have been through recently. Fortunately for them, the Buchtel Griffins were just the medicine they needed.

Massillon matched its best first-half point production this season, and carried that on through to the end of a 48-14 win over the struggling Griffins in front of 7,014 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“It’s like a weight off our shoulders, definitely,” Tiger center Blake Seidler said. “I really don’t know how to explain it. It’s a mixed feeling. It’s a win, at the same time, you just have to, I don’t know, take it one at a time, I guess. It’s kind of hard to explain.”

The win snaps a two-game losing streak for the Tigers, who improve to 3-4 with a visit from Warren Harding forthcoming next Friday. Buchtel, which has struggled in Ricky Powers’ first season at the helm of his alma mater, fell to 1-6.

Things were academic by halftime, when the Tigers led 31-6. K.J. Herring added the topper to start the second half, when he returned the kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and a 38-6 lead.

Herring had his best all-around game of the season, in large part because the Tigers were without the services of DeVoe Torrence. Torrence was out with a sprained ankle.

Making the most of the chance, Herring rushed for 157 yards on 12 carries with touchdown runs of 42 and 70 yards.

“It felt good,” Herring said. “It felt really good. I talked to the linemen – I talked to everybody on the team – and I just asked them, ‘We need to come together and finish this out.’ I’m really proud, because everybody came up, even the people who came in. … We just all came together and it worked out.”

Massillon’s offense scored on five of its seven first-half possessions to build up its 25-point edge. One of the two drives the Tigers were stopped on, they still managed to get the ball back on a fumbled punt at the Buchtel 46.

The Tigers were aided by great field position throughout the half, something that wasn’t the case in last week’s loss at St. Ignatius. Massillon’s worst starting position was its own 34 against Buchtel; its best starting position against the Wildcats was its own 28.

“That’s what you have to do if you want to win in high school football week in and week out,” Tiger coach Tom Stacy said of the field position. “That’s what we did tonight.”

The first two Tiger drives started on the Buchtel side of the 50, including their first drive, which started at the Griffin 2 after a blocked punt. That drive took all of one play – a 2-yard Steve Yoder run – to crack the end zone.

Justin Turner’s 11-yard run on a direct snap made it 14-0 after Steve Schott’s PAT kick.

Buchtel – which actually had more first-half yards than Massillon, 173-165 – cracked the scoreboard with six seconds left in the first quarter. That came on a 27-yard Tahj Dent-to-Dominique Gray pass, although the subsequent two-point run failed to keep it at 14-6.

Massillon scored on its final three second-quarter possessions – after it forced the fumble on the punt less than two minutes into the quarter. The Tigers made it 45-6 after Herring ripped off a 70-yard run on Massillon’s first second-half play.

Buchtel’s offense wasn’t exactly stifled through the course of the evening. The Griffins mustered 310 yards for the game – five fewer than Massillon – and had a 14-play, 75-yard scoring drive to cut it to 45-14 with less than a minute left in the third quarter.

“Our defense was on the field a lot tonight,” Stacy said. “I think in the third quarter, they were on the field for almost the entire quarter.” By then, though, many in the crowd were more interested in what was going on in the Indians’ American League Division Series game against the Yankees. There was a loud, sustained roar from the crowd when Travis Hafner’s game-winning hit was shown on the video screen during a break in the action.

The last bit of intrigue came with 5:52 left, when Schott booted a 28-yard field goal for a 48-14. The kick tied him with David Abdul for Massillon’s career field goal record with 29.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2007: Massillon 0, Cleveland St. Ignatius 27

No ‘O’ sinks Tigers vs. Iggy

By CHRIS EASTERLING

PARMA – The difference is like night and day. Eight days earlier, the Massillon Tiger offense rolled up a season high 52 points, 498 offensive yards and 433 rushing yards in a nail-biting loss to Mentor. On Saturday night at Parma’s Byers Field, they could only muster 13 yards rushing and 75 total yards – both season lows – against a St. Ignatius team which had lost to Mentor just a week before the Cardinals edged the Tigers.

However, it was on the scoreboard where the biggest difference was, as the Tigers were shut out for the first time since 1998 in a 27-0 setback to the Wildcats.

“I don’t know,” said Massillon coach Tom Stacy, whose 2-4 team may have seen its playoff hopes ended with the loss. “If somebody’s got an answer, I’d like to hear it, because I certainly don’t have one for that. It’s unbelievable that you could block that well last week and then not block that well this week.

“They (the Wildcat defense) loaded up the box and said, ‘Hey, if you’re going to beat us, you’re going to beat us throwing the football.’ And we’re just not good enough throwing it right now.”

The last time Massillon was shut out came exactly nine years ago in Week Six of Rick Shepas’ first season. Glen Mills (Pa.) did the honors with a 19-0 win at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Compounding the problem was the injury status of DeVoe Torrence, who rushed for 283 yards against Mentor. Torrence did not start the game because of his undisclosed injury, and like the rest of his teammates, was never able to get into any kind of rhythm running the ball. He finished with just one yard on 13 carries.

“DeVoe was banged up,” Stacy said. “We weren’t even sure he was going to play tonight. He was touch-and-go, and we kept it under wraps because we didn’t want them to game-plan it.”

K.J. Herring finished as the Tigers’ leading rusher with 36 yards on 10 carries.

“I think it was team defense,” said St. Ignatius coach Chuck Kyle, whose team is 5-1. “We were stringing it out as far as the running game, not giving DeVoe a seam, because if you give him a seam, then look out. We tried to string them out a little bit there.”

It was also a night-long issue of field position for the Tigers, whose best starting position was their own 28-yard-line. A big reason for that was the leg of St. Ignatius kicker Nicholas Yako, who put all six of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Massillon struggled to change that field position, as it failed to record a first down on six of its 13 possessions. The Tigers’ first snap on the Wildcats’ side of the 50 didn’t come until the final play of the game, which was also the first time they picked up more than one first down on a drive.

“We were really bad on offense,” Stacy said. “I thought our defense really played well considering everything. We just couldn’t do anything on offense.”

St. Ignatius – which finished with 182 yards and eight first downs – put the pressure on the Tigers to keep up by jumping out to a 13-0 halftime lead, which proved to be all the points it would need. Yako booted a pair of 40-plus-yard field goals – a 43- and 49-yarder – while Emmett Lydon added a 1-yard run for the Wildcats.

While St. Ignatius’ offense was doing its part getting the lead, the Wildcat defense was setting the tone by making life impossible for the Tigers. Massillon finished the first half with minus-4 yards of offense, a problem exacerbated by a minus-37 rushing performance.

The Tigers also gave up four sacks in the first half for a loss of 39 yards. They were sacked one more time in the second half for a total loss of 49 yards.

“We can’t put all of that on the offensive line,” Stacy said of the sacks. “It’s play-calling; it’s offensive line; it’s running backs blocking; it’s wide receivers not getting open; it’s (the quarterback) holding on to the ball too long. It was a combination of all of that.”

GAME STATS

2007: Massillon 52, Mentor 56

Tigers’ explosion not enough

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The numbers were mind-numbing Friday night: 66 points, 668 yards of offense, 463 rushing yards, two 160-yard rushers and nine touchdowns.

And then halftime arrived in Massillon’s game against Mentor at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

By the time the smoke finally cleared, some three-and-a-half hours after it all began, the last big play was made by the Cardinals, who scored on an 8-yard Bart Tanski-to-Steve Orkis pass with 24 seconds left in a 56-52 Massillon setback.

“The fans got their money’s worth,” said a dejected Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team is now 2-3 headed to next Saturday’s game at St. Ignatius in Parma. “That was a heck of a high school football game, that’s for sure. Their offense is just a juggernaut. … We knew they were good, we just didn’t have a whole lot of answers for them.”

Massillon took the lead – the eighth lead change of the game – with 1:52 remaining when fullback Steve Yoder crashed through the line for a 21-yard touchdown. Steve Schott’s extra point made it 52-49.

But Tanski was an efficient 7-of-7 for 71 yards on the winning drive. The only running play on it was an 8-yard scramble by the Mentor quarterback.

“You have to score when you can,” Stacy said. “You have to punch it in when you can.”

After scoring just 30 points in its last three games combined, Massillon came out with a different look to the offense, lining up in the power-I with Torrence at tailback and K.J. Herring at a halfback next to the fullback. With both Torrence and Herring in the game at the same time, they were able play off of each other with big-time results for the Tigers.

Torrence finished the game with 283 yards and four touchdowns – 168 of those yards and two of those scores in the first half. His 200-yard effort was matched by Mentor’s Tom Worden, who ran for 226 yards – 176 in the first half – and three scores on the night.

Herring added 109 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown run which gave Massillon a 10-7 lead with 4:47 left in the first quarter.

“We wanted to get K.J. more involved in the game,” Stacy said. “We felt we needed another weapon in there to help take some of the pressure off of DeVoe.”

The problem was, the scoring wouldn’t end at that point. In fact, there were still 49 points and three lead changes to go – just in the first half.

The first defensive stop didn’t occur until just over a minute was left in the first quarter, and even then points were scored. Massillon would punt the ball away to Mentor, only to have Dorie Irvin strip the Cardinal return man, while J.B. Price swooped in to recover the fumble and return it 35 yards for a touchdown. Schott’s extra-point kick made it 17-14 Tigers with 1:09 left in the quarter.

Massillon’s biggest pain was Tanski. With the precision of a skilled surgeon, the senior calmly led the Cardinals down the field on drive after drive.

Tanski was 7-of-13 for 69 yards in the second quarter, with a pair of touchdown strikes to Orkis. He added a 15-yard touchdown run, a run which gave Mentor a 35-24 lead with 2:00 left until the band show.

Tanski finished 25-of-38 for 299 yards and three scores. He also ran for 56 yards.

The Tigers, not to be outdone, managed to change the scoreboard one final time before the half, with Torrence scoring from a yard out with 27 seconds left to slice it to 35-31 after the PAT.

The two teams would each score once in the third quarter – Worden scoring from 2-yards out with 8:48 left in the stanza, and Torrence from 9-yards out with 20 seconds left – keeping the Mentor lead at four, 42-38.

Torrence gave Massillon its first lead since the second quarter on a 24-yard run with 7:25 left – 45-42 after the PAT. But Tanski’s second scoring run, a 2-yarder, put Mentor in front 49-45 with 4:01 remaining.

A 40-yard kickoff return by Justin Turner, with an added 15 yards on a Mentor penalty, put the ball at the Cardinal 34. Massillon then was added by a key offside penalty against Mentor on a fourth-and-4 play at its own 28, extending the drive. Two plays later, Yoder scored to give the Tigers – momentarily – their final lead.

GAME STATS

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2007: Massillon 14, Youngstown Ursuline 3

Massillon gets enough big plays to turn back Ursuline

By CHRIS EASTERLING

Any win is a work of art, especially when a team is mired in a two-game losing streak the way Massillon was entering Friday night’s contest with Ursuline at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. So, don’t expect the Tigers to be deducting for style points after pulling out a tough 14-3 victory over the Fighting Irish.

“At this point, you take them any way you can get them,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team evened its record at 2-2. “It wasn’t pretty. I’ll tell you what, that’s a pretty good football team. … Obviously it helped us not having (Ursuline tailback Darrell Mason) playing. But, hey, we’ll take it.”

It was obvious by the mood in the Tiger locker room they weren’t about to give it back. After having to trudge in after consecutive setbacks to Solon and Normandy the past two weeks, the players were able to revel in the joy that comes with winning on Friday.

“It feels like we got a chip off our shoulder,” Tiger senior quarterback Chris Willoughby said. “We know we still have to work hard. We have a good team (Mentor, which is 3-1 after beating previously-unbeaten St. Ignatius 38-17 on Friday) coming in here next week.”

The Tigers were able to move the ball between the 20s all night, but they struggled to punch it into the end zone. The exceptions were a pair of touchdown passes from Willoughby – a 10-yarder to Josh Cross with 8:39 left in the second quarter and a 47-yarder to Kevin Massey with 5:37 remaining that broke open a 7-3 game.

Willoughby played the entire game save for the first series after Mike Clark suffered a foot injury. Clark had been named the starter earlier this week, and his status for next week’s game against Mentor is uncertain.

The senior quarterback made the most of his opportunity, completing 5-of-8 passes for 72 yards. He had at least two others dropped.

“Coach told me to be ready to go whenever,” Willoughby said. “I always have to be ready. Being a senior, I felt like I had to lead the team.”

The Tigers’ running game managed to grind out enough yards to wear down the Irish, as Massillon gained 162 yards rushing. Of those, 158 were by DeVoe Torrence, who carried it 29 times.

“We thought we could be able to run the ball,” Stacy said. “We have to be able to run the ball. And one of the things we wanted to do is we wanted to run DeVoe a bunch. We wanted to pound it up in here. We knew they had a lot of linemen going both ways, and we wanted to wear them down. I think we were able to do that.”

Massillon finished the night with 240 yards of offense. The Tigers also had a 32-yard field goal blocked.

What Massillon was able to do more than anything on Friday is keep Ursuline from crossing the goal line. Yes, the Irish were able to gain 192 yards of offense, but when they got into Tiger territory, the defense arched its back and turned them away.

The only Ursuline points came on a 39-yard Mike Metzinger field goal, which cut Massillon’s lead to 7-3 with 2:57 left in the first half.

Massillon came up with a pair of turnovers on consecutive Ursuline third-quarter possessions. The first, a fumble recovery at the Tiger 24, turned back the Irish’s deepest penetration of the second half.

Justin Turner also came up with a leaping interception at the Massillon 41 on the next drive.

“I can’t say enough about our defense, our defensive coaches, the game plan and the way we executed on defense,” Stacy said. “We did enough offensively to win. Defensively, I thought our guys did a great job.”

GAME STATS

2007: Massillon 13, Parma Normandy 27

Offensive woes lead to Massillon’s second straight loss this year

By CHRIS EASTERLING

PARMA – The Massillon Tigers arrived in Parma for Friday’s game with Normandy as a team looking to put a disappointing loss to Solon the rear-view mirror. They departed a team which may very well stand at a crossroads in a season which carried such preseason promise, yet now stands on shaky ground.

Such are the facts of life on the heels of a disappointing 27-13 loss to the Invaders at Byers Field.

The loss drops Massillon to 1-2 on the season. All the Tigers have awaiting them in September are home games against a talented Ursuline team and the reigning Division I state runners-up Mentor, and a return trip to Parma to meet St. Ignatius.

Adding injury to insult is the fact the Tigers likely have lost junior Justin Turner for an extended period of time with a high ankle sprain, and reserve safety Cooper Ivan to a leg fracture.

“I haven’t been at a crossroads with a football team in a long, long time,” Tiger coach Tom Stacy said. “I’m not sure what one is. Obviously, we don’t have a lot of confidence on offense. We tried everything.”

Yet, Massillon could not, for the second straight game, discover the offense which was so explosive in the second half against Middletown. The Tigers have scored just one touchdown, a 2-yard run by DeVoe Torrence with 1:08 left which cut the Normandy lead to 20-13, in the last eight quarters.

The Tigers finished Friday’s game with 198 yards of offense, with an equal number on the ground and through the air, 99 yards each. Massillon had 12 first downs in the game, seven of those prior to halftime.

“We tried everything,” Stacy said. “We tried to go outside, we tried to go inside. We tried to throw the ball quick, we tried to throw the ball quickly. We tried pretty much everything we had. We just couldn’t get it going.”

Normandy, meanwhile dominated the line of scrimmage, especially on offense. The Invaders rushed for 205 yards on 41 carries, with Russ Galeti gaining 146 yards and scoring three touchdowns.

“All I preach is we out hit our opponents,” said Normandy coach Rich Turner, whose team is 3-0. “We know we don’t have the skill our opponents have. But if we out hit opponents and control the line, we can turn it into a scrum game, and that’s what it looked like an awful lot.”

The first four minutes of the game summed up the Tigers’ fortunes on the night. The Invaders caught Massillon with an onside kick on the opening kickoff, and recovered it at the Tiger 40.

“We did same thing against Elyria last year,” Turner said. “Elyria was a big favorite in that game. We got two in that game. I’m sort of disappointed we only got one tonight.”

Two plays later, though, Kevin Massey came up with an interception at the Massillon 4. But the Tigers gave it right back six plays later with a fumble at their own 40, which was returned four yards to the Massillon 36.

A 35-yard run by Galeti and the subsequent extra point made it 7-0 Normandy with 8:14 left in the first quarter. The Tigers answered with a drive to the Invader 4, but needed Steve Schott to boot a 22-yard field goal – the first of two first-half kicks for the senior – to cut it to 7-3 with 4:16 remaining in the quarter.

Another long Galeti run, this one of 48 yards, made it 13-3 after the PAT was missed with 8:53 remaining in the half. Again, Schott would help the Tigers whittle away at the lead with a 31-yard field goal with 1:59 left before the band show, making it 13-6.

Galeti would open up a two-touchdown edge with 4:01 left with a 4-yard run, increasing it to 20-6. Torrence would cap a furious Tiger drive against a Normandy prevent defense with his touchdown run, but the subsequent onside kick attempt was returned 50 yards for a score by the Invaders’ Jordan Ebinger.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

2007: Massillon 3, Solon 10

Miscues costly for Tigers

By CHRIS EASTERLING

Massillon coach Tom Stacy talked all week about how the Solon Comets weren’t about to beat themselves. And on Friday night, they didn’t.

The Tigers, however, made enough miscues to beat themselves. That fact, coupled with Solon’s strong all-around showing, resulted in a 10-3 Massillon loss at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“We made some mistakes, and we just didn’t make some plays,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team is 1-1 for the first time in his three-year tenure.

Massillon turned the ball over three times, while Solon (2-0) had no turnovers in the game. One of those turnovers – a muffed punt at the Tiger 6 with just over five minutes left – set up the Comets’ go-ahead touchdown, a 1-yard Jim Geitz run.

Of course, the Comet defense played a big part in the Tigers’ struggles. Massillon – a week after gaining 443 yards, including 268 on the ground – was held to 107 total yards by Solon. The Tigers rushed for 63 yards, with no ball carrier gaining more than 25 yards.

“It’s just a lot of heart and a lot of hard work,” said Geitz, who led all rushers with 128 yards. “All of our kids, they just throw all of their heart out there all the time, our defense especially. They just put (it all) on the line every single play, that’s what got us those turnovers.”

The Tigers had chances throughout, reaching at least the Comet 27 four different times. Only once did that result in points, when Steve Schott knocked through a 44-yard field goal with 58 seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 3-3.

One drive ended with a fumble at the Solon 24 in the first quarter, while another resulted in a 49-yard field goal falling short in the third quarter. The most disappointing may have come on the first drive in the second half, when Justin Turner set the Tigers up in good field position with an 87-yard kickoff return to the Solon 3.

But three running plays netted two yards, leaving Massillon with a fourth-and-goal inside the Comet 1. The fourth-down play was stuffed by the center of the Solon defense, leaving the game knotted at 3-3.

“You get the ball on the one-foot line or wherever we had it on down there, you have to punch it in, but we didn’t do it,” Stacy said. “They stopped us, and give them credit.”

The Tigers couldn’t get into Solon territory in the fourth quarter, after both third-quarter drives did. They appeared to ready to get the ball back with just over five minutes remaining, but the punt was mishandled by the return man, and Solon fell on it inside the Tiger 10.

Three straight Geitz runs – the last from 1-yard out – managed to break the deadlock, giving the Comets the lead for good with 5:08 remaining. The Tigers’ last possession resulted in an interception by Tyler Rodman, who snagged a bobbled pass for Solon.

“We just didn’t make plays,” Stacy said. “We had plays in the passing game; we had three or four drops. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Solon cracked the scoreboard first with a 35-yard Pat Jacobs field goal with 4:04 remaining in the first half. The kick capped a nine-play drive which started on the Comet 46.

The Tigers didn’t stay behind for long. Key by two big pass plays – one to Turner and another to Giorgio Jackson – Massillon took the ball from its own 33 to the Comet 27 on its next drive.

But the drive stalled at that point, and Schott was called upon to boot a 44-yard field goal. He did, with room to spare, to tie things up at 3-3.

GAME STATS

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2007: Massillon 42, Middletown 21

Tigers run past Middies

By CHRIS EASTERLING

For one half of Friday night’s season opener against Middletown, the Massillon Tigers looks liked a team trying to get adjusted – to the sweltering heat, to a boatload of new players and to the Middies themselves.

After halftime, though, the Tigers looked like a team which had made those adjustments, and cruised to a 42-21 victory over Middletown in front of an impressive opening-night crowd at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers went from a 14-7 halftime edge to a 42-14 advantage with 2:46 remaining in the game. A big reason for that was the Massillon running game of DeVoe Torrence and K.J. Herring, who combined for 252 yards and three touchdowns on 35 carries.

“I think our running game wore them down,” Tiger coach Tom Stacy said. “I think DeVoe and K.J. started to pound on them. I think our conditioning paid off in the second half.”

Torrence led the way for the Tigers with 157 yards on 20 carries, many of those impressive runs where he churned out extra yards after the initial hit, or by dancing around the first defender he came across. It was the Ohio State recruit’s first appearance in front of the Tiger fans in a regular-season game after transferring in from Canton South in the spring.

“I was very excited,” said Torrence, who gained 122 yards in the second half. “We’ve been working hard. I knew our linemen were working hard. I was amped, though, since Day One. I had to try to prove myself.”

He did so, as he added another 49 yards on three receptions in the game.

The Tigers finished with 443 yards in the game, 228 of those after halftime.

“I think the first half, we had a lot of jitters,” Tiger center Blake Seidler said.

Middletown took advantage of the Tigers’ young defense on its first play, as Caleb Watkins hit Allen Roberts in stride down the middle of the field. Roberts took the ball to the Massillon 3, where Justin Turner finally dragged him down.

On the next play, J.J. Greenwood ran it in off left tackle for a Middies score. Zach Ferrell’s PAT made it 7-0 just 2:29 into the season.

“They had a big hit right off the bat,” Stacy said. “That was a great play on their part.”

The Tigers answered on their next possession with a crisp four-play, 57-yard scoring drive of their own. The final 37 of those yards were covered by a Willoughby-to-Kevin Massey touchdown pass down the right sideline.

Steve Schott evened it up with a PAT with 8:09 left in the first quarter

It would stay that way until Steve Yoder plowed in from a yard out with 13 seconds left in the half to make it 14-7 Tigers after the PAT. The score was set up by a bad snap on a Middletown punt try, which gave Massillon the ball at the Middie 22.

In between those two Tiger scores, the two teams took turns spinning their wheels. Massillon had a drive reach the Middletown 34, only to be halted by a fumble. Another reached the Middie 48, but also went nowhere.

The best Tiger scoring chance between the two touchdowns came on their next-to-last drive of the half, which reached the Middletown 1. However, a fumbled snap, lost yardage on a run and eventually a missed 26-yard field goal dashed Massillon’s hopes for a change to the scoreboard.

Middletown did not have much better success, only getting on the Tigers’ side of the 50 once after its initial score. That drive, which reached the Massillon 33, was snuffed out when Turner came up with an interception.

The Middies evened thing up with an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive to start the second half, with Roberts catching a 13-yard touchdown pass with 9:11 left in the third. They would get the ball right back after Massillon fumbled the ensuing kickoff, but could do nothing with the opportunity.

Massillon, however, was able to kick it into high gear the next time it touched the ball. With Torrence carrying it six times for 52 yards on the drive, the Tigers ripped off an eight-play, 66-yard scoring drive, the last four coming on a Torrence run with 4:53 left in the third to grab a 21-14 lead.

From there, the Tigers simply took off. On their next drive, K.J. Herring ripped off a 40-yard scoring run to make it 28-14 Tiger, which was the third-quarter score.

Tiger quarterback Mike Clark added a 13-yard scoring run, while Torrence capped his night with a 36-yard touchdown scamper with 2:46 left. Middletown did score with 1:04 remaining on a Watkins 26-yard run.

GAME STATS

2006: Massillon 10, Toledo Whitmer 14

End of the line

Tigers don’t capitalize on scoring opportunities in loss to Whitmer
Division I Region 2 Semifinal

By CHRIS EASTERLING
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

The Massillon Tigers figured if they held Toledo Whitmer to just a pair of touchdowns, chances were good they would find themselves back in a regional championship game for the second year in a row.

Massillon was able to do just that, but will still be putting the equipment away this week after it suffered a 14-10 defeat at the hands of the Panthers in a Division I Region 2 semifinal on a cool, rainy Saturday night at Parma’s Byers Field.

Two old, familiar problems showed up to sabotage the Tigers’ dreams of matching last year’s magical playoff run – a dangerous running quarterback, and the lack of big plays on offense.

“Their quarterback is a good player,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team bows out at 7-5. “We knew that coming in, and he ran the ball well. But it was our inability to finish on offense that really hurt us. When you give up 14 points in the playoffs, you should win. We just didn’t do enough on offense to get it done.”

Whitmer’s quarterback-in-a-fullback-body, Donnie Dottei, hurt Massillon with 113 yards rushing on 23 carries, including a third-quarter score that put the Panthers on the board for the first time. Many of those runs were on designed quarterback counter plays similar to the ones which caused the Tigers so much trouble in a loss to Mentor earlier in the season.

“We never saw that tape, but we knew that Mentor had a good game plan also out of the spread offense,” said Whitmer coach Joe Palka, whose team will take a 9-3 record into this Friday’s regional final against McKinley at Byers Field. “We knew that the quarterback run could give them problems.

“Fortunately today, it worked well for us. Donnie is one of our best runners, so it worked out good.”

Dottei also hurt Massillon with his arm – somewhat. It was his 24-yard touchdown strike to tight end Kevin Koger, a ball Koger made a nifty adjustment on to grab behind a Tiger defender, which provided the winning points with 8:22 remaining in the game.

The Tigers did enough to jump in front 10-0 in the first half, even with all-state tailback Brian Gamble limited to just defensive duties for much of the game due to an ankle injury. Massillon scored on its first possession of the game – a drive that started at the Whitmer 47 following a punt – when junior K.J. Herring ripped off a 37-yard touchdown run with 9:54 remaining.

Herring and sophomore J.T. Turner picked right back up where they left off a week ago in the win over Perry, when they combined for 96 yards rushing. In fact, they bettered those numbers as Turner finished with 117 yards on 18 carries, while Herring ran for 99 on 16 totes.

“They did a good job,” Stacy said of Herring and Turner. “They did a good job. Still, when you lose an all-state tailback, it’s big. He does so much for us, not just running the football, but catching it also. But the two young guys did a nice job.”

Massillon’s second – and final – score came on the Tigers’ first drive of the second quarter. Starting at its own 20, Massillon methodically drove the ball to the Panther 10, but stalled. Facing a fourth-and-6 situation, Steve Schott was called on to kick a 27-yard field goal, which he did to make it 10-0 Tigers with 3:55 left until halftime.

It would be the final time the Tigers would change the number on their side of the scoreboard this season.

The Tigers were able to eliminate the turnovers for the third straight game.

But they did set up Whitmer’s first score with a bad snap on a punt which moved the ball from the Panther 39 to the Massillon 17. Two plays later, Dottei was in the end zone to make it 10-7 Tigers with 8:54 remaining in the third quarter.

Massillon had its share of chances throughout the game, snapping the ball 30 times on Whitmer’s side of the 50 on the evening. Every second-half drive by the Tigers reached at least the 50, and three of the four possessions moved at least to the Whitmer 39.

But none of those drives could produce points, not even a last-ditch drive which reached the Panther 20 following a 37-yard Turner run. Three incomplete passes, as well as an 8-yard loss on a screen pass, sealed Massillon’s fate.

“We had a lot of opportunities to make plays tonight, and we didn’t make them,” Stacy said. “It’s really a hard thing to explain. We didn’t protect (quarterback Bobby Huth) very well, again. That was really disappointing. We just didn’t make plays when we had to, to win.”

Massillon’s loss brings an end to the Tiger careers of 27 seniors, including the likes of Gamble, Huth, Andrew Dailey, Trey Miller, Antonio Scassa and Emery Saunders. It was those players Stacy was thinking about most as he stood outside the same locker room from which the Tigers emerged following their historic win over St. Ignatius just a year earlier.

“I just feel bad for our seniors,” Stacy said. “It’s a great group of kids. They took us to the state championship game last year. I just feel bad for them. The Gambles and Daileys and Saunders. They’ve done so much for our program the last three years, I just feel really bad for them.

“We have a lot of guys hurting in there. They’ve invested a lot of time and effort into the program. You lose a game like this, you’re hurting. We have a lot of guys hurting in there right now.”

Massillon 7 3 0 0 10

Whitmer 0 0 7 7 14

SCORING SUMMARY

M ‑ K.J. Herring 37 run (Steve Schott kick)

M ‑ Schott 27 field goal

W ‑ Donnie Dottei 7 run (TreCaris kick)

W ‑ Kevin Koger 24 pass from Dottei (Caris kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Massillon rushing: J.T. Turner 117; Herring 16‑99 TD; Gamble 3‑14; Tommy Leonard 3‑8.

Whitmer rushing: Dottei 23‑113 TD; Dewayne Frazier 11 ‑42; Jeremy Jones 1‑0.

Massillon passing: Bobby Huth 7‑16‑67.

Perry passing: Dottei 2‑9‑41 TD.

Massillon receiving: Andrew Dailey 2‑17; Josh Cross 1‑32; Bryan Sheegog 1‑15; Giorgio Jackson 1‑8; Trey Miller 1‑3; Brian Gamble 1‑(‑8).

Whitmer receiving: Koger 2‑41 TD.

GAME STATS