As Lanale Robinson led the Tiger Swing Band in the alma mater, Massillon head coach Tom Stacy had his head down. He was deep in thought, no doubt pondering the Tigers upcoming regional championship game on Saturday against unbeaten Canton McKinley.
Clearly Stacy wasn’t happy with what he had just witnessed as the Tigers knocked off a game and feisty Findlay team 27-20 at Arlin Field in Mansfield last Saturday night in front of 12,264 paying customers.
“We have to play much better to even have a chance next week,” Stacy said. “There’s no question about that.
“We came back tonight but we didn’t play very well. We made a lot of mistakes, a lot of goofy penalties. We did some stuff tonight that we hadn’t done all year. That was kind of disappointing. But it’s a win. That’s all you can say.”
It was a heart-stopping win, one marred by penalties and mental mistakes uncharacteristic of two teams playing in the 12th week of the season.
Findlay looked to be beaten when it got the ball back on its own 22 with 1:22 to play. But the Trojans pulled the old hook and ladder play out of mothballs and if not for a heroic effort by Brian Gamble to run down Findlay’s Caleb Enright at the 3-yard line, the game would have gone into overtime.
“(Gamble) has made big plays for us all year and that was big,” Stacy said.
Findlay still had time to get it in the end zone. A short completion to Enright in the left flat came up a yard short and with the final seconds ticking off the clock, Trojan quarterback Chris Schneider tried to sneak it in instead of spiking the ball to stop the clock.
The middle of the Tiger defensive line did not yield and Massillon had survived to play another week.
“There’ll be so many ‘what ifs?’, I don’t know if I’ll ever watch this film, I swear,” said Findlay head coach Cliff Hite. “We had them. They had us. We had a shot. That’s all you can ask for.
“We wanted to spike the ball but he didn’t get the right signal. It happens. That’s high school football. When you go no huddle with no time outs, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
It should never have come to that but the Tigers were their own worst enemy all night long. They were penalized 10 times for 97 yards, including no fewer than three \”roughing the kicker\” flags and three other personal fouls.
Massillon also lost three fumbles, one at the Findlay 13-yard line.
“We’re down here with a chance to put it away and we fumble the snap,” Stacy said. “We haven’t fumbled a snap all year and we fumbled two tonight. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”
Findlay led 10-7 at halftime, controlling the football for 17 of the first 24 minutes of play.
The Trojans went up 17-7 after a 52-yard punt return by Zack Kraus set up an 8-yard Schneider to Andrew Leddy touchdown pass at 9:38 of the third quarter.
Then Massillon woke up, marching 65 yards in nine plays with Gamble covering the final half yard for the touchdown. Steve Schott tacked on the point after to make it Findlay 17, Massillon 14 at 6:07 of the third quarter.
Tiger junior defensive back Michael Porrini recovered a Findlay fumble on the second play of the Trojans ensuing possession, setting Massillon up at the Findlay 29.
Bobby Huth, who completed 10 of 13 passes for 102 yards on the night, rolled right on first down and connected with Zack Vanryzin at the 8-yard line and the senior wideout did the rest to give the Tigers their first lead of the night at 21-17 with more than five minutes still to play in the third.
Massillon then forced Findlay into a three-and-out series, and the Tigers took over at their own 20 after the Trojan punt.
On first down, Huth took the snap and looked to be optioning right, but instead pitched the ball to Robinson on a reverse. The senior tailback turned the corner and sprinted down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown. A failed two-point conversion made it Massillon 27, Findlay 17 at 3:20 of the third.
“I’m upset the way we let the third quarter go,” Hite said. “When we got up 17-7, it was almost like we let up a little bit and Massillon turned it up about 15 notches.”
“We tried to,” Stacy responded. “We needed to. We told the kids at halftime we needed to. It was kind of like we were playing in a fog the first half.”
The lone fourth quarter tally came when Findlay marched from its 10 to the Massillon 7, then settled for Brandon Walker’s 24-yard field goal with just under five minutes to play.
The Tigers tried to run out the clock but the plucky Findlay defense forced a Massillon punt with 1:22 to play.
“We’re 11-1 and we have a chance for a rematch now and we’ll see what happens,” Stacy said. “To play like that and get a win, we were fortunate.
“We got the rematch but we have to do something about it. We have to play better. We have to up our play to have a chance (against McKinley), that’s for sure.”
Tom Stacy did not want the Massillon Tigers to go deep into the playoffs with the taste of their Week 10 defeat at the hands of rival McKinley lingering in their mouths.
There will be no such problem when the Tigers travel to Mansfield’s Arlin Field to take on the 10-1 Findlay Trojans in a Division I Region 2 regional semifinal Saturday evening at 7.
That’s because Massillon got right back up on the horse after being bucked off the week before, and dealt game but overmatched North Canton Hoover a 45-14 defeat in front of an announced crowd of 8,954 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Saturday.
The Tigers found the end zone on their second possession of the night and their defense was back to its usual aggressive, physical form in keeping Hoover off the scoreboard until Massillon had built an insurmountable 31-0 lead.
“This game was huge for us,” said senior co-captain Antonio James. “We needed to bounce back after we got dismantled last week, and this was a good bounce back for us. Hopefully we can keep it going until we meet the Pups again.”
Junior co-captain Brian Gamble was his usual dominating self, laying hard lick after hard lick on Hoover ball carriers while rushing for 146 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass for good measure.
“We told everybody we were going to bounce back and we did,” Gamble said. “Right now we have to focus on next week.
“It’s like coach Stacy says, we have to play smart, physical and fast, and we’re going to do that again against Findlay.”
The Massillon defense applied relentless pressure on Hoover quarterback Josh Nettleton, and forced three turnovers. The Vikings did accumulate over 300 yards of total offense but were just 3 of 15 on third down when it really mattered.
“We just came out and we were focused and got the job done,” said senior Dirk Dickerhoof. “Now we’re looking toward next week.
“It was really important to get our confidence up after getting beat last week. There was no doubts in our minds once we got the first touchdown. We just came on from there.”
Gamble had plenty of help on offense. Senior tailback Lanale Robinson rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown in just 12 carries. Junior quarterback Bobby Huth rebounded with a 10 of 15 passing night for 172 yards and a touchdown. He also capped off the Tigers’ first scoring drive of the evening by skirting right end and diving into the end zone from three yards out with less than a minute to play in the first quarter.
“I got after Bobby after watching the (McKinley) tape and he said he was going to run the ball with a lot more aggression this week,” Stacy said. “I thought he did that.”
Hoover got a first down on its ensuing possession after Huth’s touchdown dive but was quickly forced to punt, setting Massillon up with first down at its own 30.
After two Robinson runs netted a Tiger first down at the 41, Huth rolled to his right and connected with Zack Vanryzin for what ended up as a 38-yard gain to the Hoover 21.
Huth found Gamble for 11 more yards on the next play, then Gamble took a handoff and went around right end for an 11-yard touchdown at 9:49 of the second quarter. Steve Schott tacked on the point after and the Tigers were up 14-0.
Schott nailed a 28-yard field goal in the last minute of the half to put Massillon up 17-0 at the break.
The Tigers removed all question about the outcome by taking the second half kickoff and covering 79 yards to paydirt in just two plays. The first was a 21-yard Huth laser to junior wideout Trey Miller. The score then came on a short completion to Gamble in the right flat that the 6-foot, 190-pound tailback turned into a 54-yard touchdown jaunt.
Schott’s conversion kick made it Massillon 24, Hoover 0 at 11:21 of the third quarter.
The Massillon defense put up a score on Hoover’s next possession when senior linebacker Robert Morris shot a gap and tipped a Josh Nettleton pass into the hands of senior lineman Lorenzo Grizzard, who carried the ball 58 yards to the end zone. Schott’s kick made it 31-0 at 8:14 of the third period, and all doubt had been removed.
“Our kids came out and played mad and we wanted them to,” Stacy said. “If you’re really a competitor you’ll do that and our kids did a nice job of that tonight.
“A lot of it is we just have a bunch of kids who really love to play the game. It makes it a lot easier to get them ready when they have the innate desire to play the game.”
Hoover head coach Don Hertler Jr., who endured a 1-9 campaign in 2004 but has had his Vikings in the playoffs eight out of the last nine years, was philosophical afterward.
“Massillon is a better team than us,” he said. “Our kids had a great comeback season. I’m real proud that they handled themselves with class. We just got beat by a better team.
“The Tigers are a good team and that’s why they won nine games. They played good competition all year. They’re strong. They’re athletic. They’re well coached. They’re about what we thought they were. They beat us in every phase and they did a good job.”
The Massillon Tigers undoubtedly hope their next encounter with a Federal League team ends up much better than the last.
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Massillon qualified for the Division I, Region 2 playoffs with a 9-1 record, but it was that lone blemish – a 38-8 mauling at the hands of archrival and Federal League champ McKinley Saturday in front of 24,242 fans at Fawcett Stadium – that left the Tigers smarting.
They don’t have long to recover, though, as the Tigers will host North Canton Hoover this Saturday at 7 p.m. in a regional quarterfinal matchup. The Vikings finished in a tie for second in the Fed and qualified for the playoffs by virtue of last week’s 10-7 win over Jackson.
Massillon will have to regroup this week after the Bulldogs manhandled them in virtually every conceivable area.
“McKinley outcoached us, they outplayed us and give them all the credit,’ Massillon coach Tom Stacy said. “We knew they were good and they certainly showed it today.”
McKinley got a standout effort from junior tailback Morgan Williams, who rushed for 234 yards and four touchdowns. The 5-foot-11, 187-pounder broke off a 47-yard run – his longest of the afternoon – on McKinley’s second possession to help set the tone for the day. The play, on which McKinley caught Massillon in a blitz, took the ball to the Tigers’ 7. Williams scored on a 2-yard dive three plays later to give the Pups a lead they would never relinquish.
“We just happened to catch them in a blitz with that draw call,” McKinley coach Brian Cross said after his team wrapped up a 10-0 season. “That wasn’t really planning, it was more luck. It wasn’t like we saw something there and called it. We were just lucky. We called it at the right time and we’ve got a great tailback to give it to.”
Massillon’s offense, which entered the game averaging more than 38 points a game, was stuck in neutral most of the first half against a swarming McKinley defense. The Tigers went three-and-out on their first three series and didn’t record their initial first down until 5:33 remained in the opening half. By that time McKinley led 14-0 after quarterback Dan Grimsley hit Mark Jackson on a 21-yard scoring toss over the middle. Jackson made a splendid one-handed diving catch and landed in the end zone.
“That was a beautiful grab and we’d been trying to set that up before by cracking on the safety,” Grimsley said. “We ran a new play that we put in this week and Mark got open in the middle. He just went up and made a great play.”
The Bulldogs took the 14-0 lead into the locker room, as Williams piled up 192 of his yards in the first two quarters.
“Our line did a nice job, especially in the first half,” Cross said. ‘We kind of had Massillon guessing up front and our line really came off the ball well. Our running back was running the ball hard.”
A 32-yard punt return by Joe Morgan set up McKinley’s third score of the day, which came when Williams took a toss and found the end zone from 6 yards out to make it 21-0 McKinley with 8:40 left in the third quarter. Zach Campbell, who made all five of his extra points, nailed a 38-yard field goal three minutes later extend McKinley’s lead to 24-0.
The only offense Massillon got all afternoon came courtesy of its defense. Cornerback Troy Ellis picked off a McKinley pass and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown with just 24 seconds left in the third. A two-point run by Brian Gamble brought Massillon to within 24-8, but the Tigers would get no closer.
“I don’t think there was a key point necessarily,’ Stacy said. “McKinley just controlled things early on and we could never get into a rhythm offensively. We didn’t throw the ball well, we weren’t consistent in our running game. We just didn’t play well.”
Williams added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown runs, from 14 and 4 yards out, to wrap up the scoring.
Massillon was outgained 339-124, as the Bulldogs ran 70 plays to the Tigers’ 47. The Tigers were intercepted four times and turned the ball over five times in all. Gamble found yards tough to come by and finished with just 47 yards on 15 carries. Quarterback Bobby Huth was 8-of-18 passing for 61 yards.
“We didn’t just try to take Gamble out, we had to defend their entire offense because Massillon has a lot of weapons,” Cross said. “We just played a good, sound game, got a little bit of a lead on them. Maybe that took them out of what they wanted to do and we were able to convert.”
In his first season at the Tigers’ helm, Stacy put the responsibility for his team’s first loss squarely on his shoulders.
“We just were outplayed and out coached today,” he said. “I don’t think it had anything to do with physical toughness. I just didn’t have our guys prepared. That’s pretty obvious … I’m the head coach and that’s my responsibility and we were not ready to play for whatever reason.”
With the annual season-ending rivalry game with McKinley looming one week from today, Massillon Tiger coach Tom Stacy didn’t want any slip-ups against underdog Eastlake North Friday night at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
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Stacy was adamant that his players focus on Eastlake, so much so that early in the week he banned them from addressing McKinley.
“We had a gag order on talking about McKinley,” Stacy said. “We did. We said don’t mention the name. Don’t talk about it.
“This program has had some slip-ups in Week Nine. I was part of a couple of those.”
Despite a steady drizzle for the first half of the game, the Tigers didn’t slip or slide or otherwise screw up their perfect record. Instead they blew Eastlake away 49-14 in front of 6,936 fans to improve to 9-0.
“I’ve coached in a lot of places and I’ve seen some very good football teams,” said Eastlake North head coach Nick Toth. “One of the things that makes Massillon a good team is they’re really well coached from top to bottom.
“I watched nine films on them and I only saw one thing I thought we could take advantage of that they were a little bit structurally weak. This is a well-coached football team. That guy is doing a very, very nice job over there.”
Eastlake North finished with 211 total yards but most came after the Tiger starters were out of the game.
“Our starters really got after them,” Stacy said. “That’s good to see. We told them they better go out and play hard. I thought our starters did a good job with that.”
Bobby Huth had a superb game at quarterback, connecting on 9 of 13 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Stacy wanted to get his junior signal caller in a groove for the showdown next weekend.
“We wanted to get him in a rhythm and get a little bit more balance in our offense tonight,” said Stacy, noting the Tigers had 300 yards rushing and 274 yards passing. “If the weather had been better we’d have thrown a little bit more.”
The Tigers broke on top without the benefit of an offensive snap as senior cornerback Troy Ellis picked off a Mitch Weisbarth aerial at the Eastlake North 42 and ran it all the way back for a touchdown at 10:31 of the first quarter. Steve Schott’s point after was good and Massillon was up 7-0.
“If he hadn’t picked off that pass and ran it back, we’d have lost 42-14 instead of 49-14,” Toth quipped.
Massillon’s first offensive possession ended in a fumble but the next time the Tigers touched the ball there would be no such relief for Eastlake.
Huth hit Zack Vanryzin for seven yards along the right sideline on first down. Then senior running back Lanale Robinson ripped off 16 yards around right end and tacked on 22 more on a similar play to reach the end zone. Schott’s kick was true and the Tigers were up 14-0 with almost four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Another three-play drive the next time Massillon had the ball yielded yet another touchdown. The possession began with a flea flicker play as Huth stood in the face of the North pass rush and found Vanryzin wide open at midfield. The senior wideout caught the ball and then weaved his way through the Ranger secondary down to the North 15.
Two plays later Robinson went over his right guard, ran through at tackle at the 5-yard line and scored the Tigers third touchdown of the evening. Schott’s conversion boot made it 21-0 with just under a minute to play in the opening stanza.
Massillon’s only sustained drive of the first half began at its 31. Eight plays later – six of which were runs by Gamble – Huth found senior tight end Brett Huffman all by himself at the North 14. Huffman snatched the ball out of the air and ambled in for the touchdown.
“I went up the line and I saw there was nobody around me and I was hoping Bob saw it too,” Huffman said. “He did and he got it to me. It was perfect pass. Good throw, good catch, good touchdown.”
Schott’s conversion was on target and Massillon’s lead grew to 28-0 at 4:06 of the first half.
Gamble made an incredible diving catch to key the Tigers final first-half possession. The drive began at the Massillon 20 with a 23-yard Huth to Gamble hook-up.
Two plays later Huth wound up and let fly in Gamble’s direction down the right hash. The ball looked to be overthrown but Gamble dove and – with his body parallel to the ground – latched onto the ball for a 30-yard gain to the North 26.
“That was a heck of a catch,” Stacy said. “I didn’t think he was going to get to it. I didn’t think there was any way.
“It gets to the point where you kind of take him for granted some times. He is a great player.”
Five plays later Huth lofted the ball into the end zone and Trey Miller pulled it in for Massillon’s fifth touchdown of the first half. Schott was accurate with his conversion kick and the Tigers carried a 35-0 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Tiger defense was relentless, limiting North to 82 total yards in the first two quarters and only 16 yards rushing.
Massillon sacked Weisbarth three times, with Lorenzo Grizzard, Dirk Dickerhoof and Paris McCall doing the honors for the Tigers.
Robert Morris opened the second half scoring with a 16-yard burst into the end zone, capping a drive that got started with a 59-yard Shawn Weisend to Vanryzin aerial. Schott’s kick pushed the tiger lead to 42-0 midway through the third quarter.
Massillon’s final touchdown came on an electrifying 80-yard run by Robinson on the second play of the fourth quarter.
Robinson finished with a career high 169 yards rushing on just 11 carries.
The Massillon Tigers were not about to take the 2-5 Warren Harding Raiders lightly in front of an estimated 10,000 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday night.
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After all, Warren had won all four meetings with Massillon since this heated gridiron rivalry was renewed back in 2002.
The undefeated and No. 3 ranked Tigers got on the scoreboard first by turning a blocked punt into a touchdown and played with verve and direction until the final whistle in gaining a 13-0 victory over the Trumbull County entry.
‘This Massillon team plays with so much heart and so much passion and so much effort,” said Warren coach Thom McDaniels. “We played talented teams before and this Massillon team has its share of talent.”
“I love the way this Tiger football team plays. I LOVE the way they play. You’re supposed the play the game like that and they do that.”
The first half was close-to-the-vest football as both teams seemed to be waiting for the other to make a game-changing mistake.
Warren was the first to blink.
When a 48-yard field goal attempt by Massillon was short, the Raiders began on their own 20 after the touchback.
Twice during the series, Tiger outside linebacker Quentin Paulik made huge plays. On first down, Paulik swooped in and took Warren running back Danny Herron down for a five-yard loss on a toss sweep.
One play later, Warren tried a similar play and again Paulik was there to corral Herron for a yard loss, forcing the Raiders to punt.
Herron, who handles the punting chores for Warren, took the snap in the end zone but Tiger junior Andrew Dailey came from the left side of the Massillon line to block the kick. Brian Gamble recovered at the 3-yard line and stepped into the end zone for a Massillon touchdown.
Steve Schott drilled the point after and the Tigers led 7-0 at 5:31 of the second quarter.
Massillon returned the favor, or at least nearly so, just over four minutes later when the Tigers threw an interception near midfield. Warren’s Chris Rucker made the pick then picked his way down to the Massillon 9-yard line.
But the Massillon defense sensed the urgency of the situation and stopped two Herron running plays and a short pass to Herron for a total of six yards. An 18-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-goal from the 3 was no good when it hit the left upright and Massillon carried a 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Massillon, so productive on offensive early in the game in its first seven contests this season, was held to just 46 total yards in the first half.
Warren didn’t do much better, piling up 71 total yards in the first half, 66 of which were by Herron. The Raiders dominated time of possession the first two quarters, 16:31-7:29.
Paulik came up huge in the second half as well. With Massillon leading 13-0 in the fourth quarter, Warren had to score to get back in the game. The Raiders drove from their 32 to the Tiger 9. On second-and-6, Warren quarterback Sidney Glover handed the ball to speedy wideout Jay Provitt on a reverse.
There was one Tiger between Provitt and a potential touchdown. It was Paulik and the senior outside linebacker made the tackle for an 11-yard loss that essentially derailed the Warren scoring drive.
“I saw the whole play happen,” Paulik said. “I saw the fake to the tailback and I just saw (Provitt) coming around and I just stayed home.”
“The defense played good and the offense knows we’ve got their back when they don’t perform as well as they can.”
McDaniels says he got what he wanted on the play.
“We got the ball in the hands of the kid who finished sixth in the state of Ohio in the 100-yard dash,” he said. “We got the wide side of the field and we’re going to ask our guy to make a play. (Paulik) made a better one than our kid did.”
That, says Tiger coach Tom Stacy, is because Paulik is finally getting over a badly injured shoulder suffered in Week Two.
“He’s a good athlete and he is finally used to a new position,” Stacy said. “Quentin played a great football game. That was his best game of the year and we needed it. With their perimeter run game we needed our outside backers to play well.”
Massillon’s second touchdown of the game was keyed by a perfectly executed slip screen from Bobby Huth to Gamble. The play covered 31 yards, moving the ball to the Warren 17.
“You got to think about players, not plays, in critical situations,” McDaniels said. “They got the ball to a big-play guy in a good situation. They executed it well and got them a big chunk of yardage on that drive.”
The Tiger junior tailback carried it in from eight yards out two plays later with 9:51 to go in the game.
Warren would threaten again but the Massillon defense, keyed by Paulik’s fine play, kept the Raiders out of the end zone and secured win No. 8 for the Tigers.
“Make no mistake, we knew it was going to be a grudge match,” Stacy said. “We prepared our kids for it. We got what we expected.”
Massillon quarterback Shawn Weisend and his Tiger teammates picked up where they left off after last week’s monumental victory against St. Ignatius. Weisend, making his first career start, threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Trey Miller on the first play from scrimmage as the Tigers rolled to a 54-0 victory against Youngstown Woodrow Wilson Friday in front of 6,631 people at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
“I knew coming in that was the play call,” Weisend said. “I had to think about it all last night and all day today. It was our plan to hit the long ball early.”
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Weisend, who scored the winning touchdown with less than 10 seconds remaining against St. Ignatius, had a productive first start, completing 10-for-17 passes for 148 yards and three touchdowns. He added 38 yards on two carries.
“I think (connecting on the long touchdown) built Shawn’s confidence,” said Miller. “It got the team’s confidence up and we rolled from there.”
The No. 4 state-ranked Tigers (7-0) rolled off 15 fourth quarter points to come back to defeat the Wildcats 29-26. This week, a comeback wasn’t necessary. Massillon struck for 35 first-half points, gained a total of 478 yards on offense and held to Redmen to 65 total yards.
But it wasn’t a flawless victory. The Tigers had several dropped passes and also committed eight penalties for 70 yards.
“Without a doubt we made some mistakes”, said senior tight end Brett Huffman. “We had a lack of focus after that big first play. We knew we were going to win, but there was a lack of focus. We have to iron that out before next week.”
Three of the penalties came on third down after it appeared the Tigers had stopped the Redmen, only to give them new life.
Massillon head coach Tom Stacy said the Tigers can’t afford mistakes like that against a struggling, but still dangerous Warren Harding team next Friday.
“That’s a part of focusing,” Stacy said. “A lot of those penalties were silly mistakes. We have to play much better next week or we are going to get killed.”
But the good outshined the bad Friday.
The Tigers forced a three-and-out on the Redmen’s first possession and proceeded to drive 60 yards on eight plays. Weisend showed he can also run with the ball. He faked an inside hand-off and scrambled around the end for 21 yards down to the Redmen 19-yard line. Three plays later, junior running back Brian Gamble took a handoff around the right end – gained a full head of steam – and ran over the Redmen defensive back Rashad Robinson at the 6-yard line before finally being tripped up at the one. Fullback Quentin Nicholson plunged into the end zone on the next play, making it 14-0.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to punch in another touchdown. This time after forcing a three-and-out, junior Andrew Dailey came off the left end and blocked Allen Vazquez’s punt at the Redmen 10-yard line. The balled rolled back to the 7-yard line where defensive back Neil James pounced on it. Gamble scored two plays later on a 4-yard run.
Gamble, who finished with 123 yards rushing, capped a 13-play, 90-yard drive in the second quarter with a 13-yard touchdown run. Gamble rushed for 35 yards on three carries on the drive.
Weisend capped the first half with a 14-yard touchdown strike to fullback Robert Morris with 46 seconds remaining.
It only took one possession – and one more Weisend touchdown pass – in the third quarter before Stacy decided it was time to pull the starters.
Weisend capped a 4-play, 51-yard drive by connecting with senior tight end Brett Huffman on a 16-yard touchdown throw with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter. Steve Schott’s extra point was blocked and the Tigers led 41-0.
“It think I could’ve done better tonight,” said Weisend. “But I gave my best effort. I had a couple high throws, but I tried to make up for it on other plays.”
Stacy agreed.
“He was hot and cold,” the first-year head coach said. “He missed some routine passes. But I’m just glad this one is over with. I don’t like to coach these types of games.”
Senior running back Lanale Robinson scored on a 21-yard touchdown run later in the third and sophomore K.J. Herring scored from 1-yard out to cap the scoring for Massillon.
The Massillon Tigers felt as if they didn’t play a full game in their biggest win of the season, a harrowing 35-31 victory over Cincinnati Elder in Week Two. They gave up three fourth-quarter touchdowns in that one to turn a laugher into a nail biter.
The Tigers were determined that wouldn’t be the case on Saturday night at Byers Field in Parma with nemesis St. Ignatius providing the opposition.Trailing 9-0 after one quarter, 19-7 at halftime and 26-14 after three stops, the Tigers mounted a fourth-quarter rally that won’t soon be forgotten in Massillon to bring home a 29-26 win that at once exorcised a host of demons and touched off a celebration usually reserved for the end of a world war.
“We never gave up,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy. “We established before the game started we were playing four quarters. We weren’t going to do what we did down at Elder when we went up big and they came back in the fourth quarter. It was our time to play four quarters and we did it.”
Massillon made a habit of jumping to big early leads in its first five games this season. On Saturday, it went the other way as St. Ignatius established field position early to set up a three-play 31-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter. The Wildcats then capitalized on a fumbled kickoff to get a safety and a 9-0 edge after one quarter.
But the Tigers were undeterred.
“We got off to a terrible start,” said Stacy. “Give them credit, they did a good job in the kicking game. That really cost us and I really felt if we could get back into it before the end of the first half that we’d have a chance.”
The Tiger comeback officially began with 8:03 showing on the second quarter game clock and the ball at the Massillon 11 following a St. Ignatius punt. Three plays later they were set to punt but an errant snap forced Shawn Weisend to improvise and when he finally stopped running the Tigers had a first down at the 27.
Junior quarterback Bobby Huth then found Zack Vanryzin for 14 yards and a first down, and the Tigers kept working their way downfield. A holding penalty set Massillon back to the St. Ignatius 28 but Huth hit Brian Gamble in stride along the right sideline and the junior running back had no trouble locating the end zone for six. Steve Schott’s point after made it St. Ignatius 9, Massillon 7 with 2:48 until halftime.
But St. Ignatius countered with a three-play 76-yard touchdown sprint that took all of 1:20 and followed with a 50-yard field goal at the break that seemed to swing the momentum away from Massillon.
“Our kids at halftime, they were just ticked off,” Stacy said. “They said ‘We’re going to get back into it.’”
And they did, taking the second half kickoff and moving from the Massillon 22 to the St. Ignatius end zone in 14 plays. A 20-yard Huth to Gamble pass play over the middle helped get the ball rolling on the second snap of the march. Then a bubble screen to Gamble four plays later moved it to the Iggy 42.
From there, Gamble carried the ball three times as did junior fullback Quentin Nicholson, who covered the final yard for the touchdown. Schott’s point after made it 19-14 Ignatius midway through the third period.
St. Ignatius did what all great teams do, returning the favor with a seven-play scoring drive, highlighted by a 61-yard Rudy Kirbus to Nick Secue screen pass. Secue scored from a yard out with 3:54 left in the third and the conversion made it St. Ignatius 26, Massillon 14.
Back came the Tigers, this time with a 90-yard drive. Huth and Vanryzin meshed for a 23-yard gainer along the right sideline on the second play of the march. An unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Wildcats on a third down play gave the Massillon drive new life and a fake punt yielded a 10-yard pass completion to Andrew Dailey for another first down.
Huth threaded the needle to Brett Huffman for 25 yards to the St. Ignatius 2. Two plays later the Massillon offensive line blew the Ignatius front into the end zone and Gamble walked in for the touchdown.
It was St. Ignatius 26, Massillon 21 with most of the fourth quarter still to be played..
St. Ignatius moved from its 20 to its 37 on the ensuing possession but on third-and-four from that point tragedy struck the Wildcats. Kirbus dropped back and hit Parris with a pass, only to see the ball dislodged on a thunderous hit by Gamble that left the Ignatius All-Ohio wideout sprawled prone on the Byers Field playing surface.
Coach Chuck Kyle and a trainer rushed to Parris’ side but he had to be removed from the game via ambulance with an ugly looking lower leg injury.
“We were moving the ball but Robby’s hurt,” Kyle said. “He’s hurt. It’s not good. It’s bad.”
Massillon got the ball back on the punt and moved from its 28 to the St. Ignatius 38 when a fourth-and-one bootleg run resulted in a 4-yard loss, giving the ball back to the Wildcats with just 4:00 to play.
The Tiger defense had no margin for error and it came through, forcing a St. Ignatius punt after just three plays.
“Third-and-three, third-and-four,” Kyle said. “We didn’t convert a couple of those and that hurts. That hurts. You have to make a play at that point. They did. We didn’t.”
Beginning at their own 29, the Tigers got a big play as Gamble broke free for 19 yards on an option pitch around left end. Then senior running back Lanale Robinson picked up 10 more on a counter play to the Iggy 37.
On an incomplete pass, however, Huth was dinged and wobbled off the field with the aid of trainers. That brought in Weisend, who – two snaps later – was faced with a fourth-and-15 situation.
“Shawn Weisend never batted an eye, never batted an eye,” Stacy said. “He looked at me and said ‘Coach, I’m going to get it done,’ and he did.”The unflappable senior hit Vanryzin across the middle on a broken play for a 26-yard gain to the host’s 17-yard line.
“It was a busted play, I had to scramble,” Weisend recalled. “He wasn’t open at first. I was scrambling and I saw him going across the middle and I threw him the best ball I could.”
On second down Weisend threw a quick slant to Vanryzin who didn’t stop churning his legs until the ball was at the 4.
A pass interference call on St. Ignatius set up first and goal from the 2. After a loss of three yards on first down, Weisend took the shotgun snap, sprinted left, saw an opening and dashed for the pylon and the game-winning touchdown with just :10 on the clock.
“Their offense started doing some nice things, counters, hitting those little passes, just to keep us off balance,” Kyle said. “Hey, they’re on a roll. Tom’s doing a great job. They got the momentum going. You’ve got to give them credit.
“They were still running the counter and started finding a seam through there. And then rolling out, they were getting outside the contain. And even on the touchdown, we thought we were in a good call. We were coming from way outside and coming in. I have to see why the guy didn’t pin him in because we were coming from way outside and coming in.”
“What a great high school football game,” Stacy said. “That’s a big win for us.
“We’re a good football team. I think we’ll learn a lot about our team on tape. But we beat a really good football team. I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
Stacy admitted the Tigers got a monkey off their back by finally getting past St. Ignatius for the first time in nine games.
“Our kids believed they could do it,” he said. “If that hadn’t been the case, there was no way they could come back from 11 down at halftime. We couldn’t have done it. But our kids believed all week they could do and you can see the end result.
“The thing that impressed me was how hard both teams played and our resolve. Our resolve to get it done was unbelievable. I haven’t been around that kind of resolve probably since the Galion state championship game in 1985. Our guys wouldn’t back down.”
Massillon limited St. Ignatius to just 83 total yards in the second half to make the comeback possible.
“(Defensive coordinator) Steve Kovacs made some great adjustments at halftime,” Stacy said. “He kept his cool and made some great adjustments and I’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”
Backup QB proves big
By JOE SHAHEEN Joe.Shaheen@IndeOnline.Com
In the long and storied history of Massillon Tiger football, Shawn Weisend has written his number into a chapter all to himself.
The senior back-up quarterback came off the bench with less than two minutes to play after an injury to starter Bobby Huth and completed the game-winning drive that carried Massillon to an improbable 29-26 victory over St. Ignatius on Saturday at Byers Field in Parma.
The Tiger win snapped an eight-game losing streak to St. Ignatius and lifted a weight off the program’s back that had reached crushing proportions in the last several years.
With tears of elation streaming down his face after scoring the game-winning touchdown, Weisend tried to express his emotions.
“I can’t explain how it feels,” he said amidst a joyous on-field celebration. “They called my number and I did the best I could. They all had faith in me and faith in the offense.
“Before I was in, Bobby was in, there was 7:10 left and I said ‘It’s going to come down to seconds. Let’s take this game home.’ We did it.”
Trailing 26-21 and facing a fourth down-and-15 from near midfield, Weisend received a critical block from tackle Brendon Smith to elude a fierce pass rush and threw a strike to senior wideout Zack Vanryzin for 25 yards – and a first down – to the St. Ignatius 17.
On the next play, Weisend hit Vanryzin on a quick slant at the 10 and Vanryzin scratched and clawed his way to the 4-yard line.
Four plays later, from the St. Ignatius 5, Weisend rolled left, dove into the left corner of the end zone and victory was Massillon’s.
What was going through Weisend’s head minutes earlier when he was summoned into such a huge game with the outcome hanging in the balance?
“I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “I was more focused than I ever was in my life. I knew I had to do it and I did it.”
Say this for Troy Ellis. The young man has a flair for the dramatic.
Massillon’s senior cornerback came up with an interception in the shadow of the Tiger end zone to quell a Mentor drive midway through the third quarter, just when it looked like the Cardinals were going to make a game of it.
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The Tigers then embarked on a nine-play, 70-yard scoring drive that put Mentor away as Massillon stayed undefeated with a 31-10 victory in front of 8,578 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday.
“That’s huge. That’s huge,” Tiger quarterback Bobby Huth said of Ellis’ pick. “We count on our defense. We know they’re going to make a play. Troy is great. What can I say?”
It was Ellis’ seventh interception this season and it came with Massillon leading 17-3 but Mentor clearly owning the second-half momentum. The turnover couldn’t have come at a better time for Tiger head coach Tom Stacy.
“Oh, it was big,” Stacy said. “It was big. Troy Ellis is a heck of a football player.
“I felt like our defense played really well. They had the one drive but they’re going to get that. They scored 35 on St. Ignatius. They’re a good offensive football team.”
Massillon was up 17-0 at halftime but Mentor got on the scoreboard with a field goal that capped a 14-play drive that opened the third quarter.
The Tigers were forced to punt after three snaps on their first second-half possession and Mentor was on the march again, moving from its 40 to the Tiger 9. On second-and-eight, Mentor quarterback Kellen Oleksak threw it to the right flat for Brand James but Ellis came up with the football and returned it 26 yards to break the visitors’ hearts.
“We were in a cover three,” Ellis said. “They were trying the flat all night and I saw it coming out and I was reading it. The ball was just thrown over his head and I just grabbed it.
“We saw it on tape and they were pounding the flats on us all night. We were trying to get to it and I finally got one. We definitely needed (a turnover). I didn’t know it was coming my way but I felt like the defense was going to get one.”
Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno called Ellis’ play the turning point.
“That hurt,” Trivisonno said. “That would have made it 17-10 at that point. That’s the whole ball game. We told them, “Let’s go into the fourth quarter 17-10.” That’s where we needed to be. But they got that turnover.”
After the pick, Massillon embarked on a nine-play, 70 yard drive – keyed by a 42-yard Huth to Zack Vanryzin bomb – to put the game out of reach. The drive bridged the third and fourth quarters and was capped by Brian Gamble’s one-yard burst into the end zone. The touchdown and Steve Schott’s conversion kick gave Massillon a 24-3 lead at 10:27 of the fourth quarter.
Massillon added a score when Huth completed a fade route to Ricardo Wells from 14 yards out to make it 31-3 with just over five minutes to play.
“Offensively we just weren’t in the normal synch,” Stacy said afterward. “I give Mentor credit. They played hard and took away a couple things we like to do and game-planned us pretty well.”
As has been the case in their first four games this season, the Tigers jumped out first with two Huth-to-Vanryzin aerials covering 71 yards. The first came on the opening play from scrimmage as the junior quarterback rolled right and dropped a pass over the shoulder of the Mentor defender and into Vanryzn’s hands for a 39-yard gain to the Mentor 41.
After Gamble picked up eight yards on a run up the middle, Huth dropped back and found Vanryzin open on a post pattern. The 5-8, 170-pound senior hauled it in at the 3 and stepped into the end zone. Steve Schott’s point after was true and Massillon led 7-0 at 10:58 of the first quarter.
“It’s kind of scary when you think about it,” Stacy said. “We talk about that all the time and we were able to do it again and then we stalled a little bit.”
The Massillon defense forced Mentor into four consecutive punts in the first half. The fourth one set up the Tigers’ second score of the night when a shank by the Cardinal punter gave Massillon the ball at midfield.
The drive began innocently enough and looked to be dead after three plays failed to net a first down. But on fourth-and-2 at the Mentor 41, Gamble went over his right tackle and wouldn’t be denied until he’d picked up the first down at the Mentor 37.
Two plays later, Robert Morris rumbled for eight yards to the 23 for another Tiger first down.
“I can’t say enough about how hard our running backs are running for us,” Stacy said. “They’re physical and finishing runs and holding onto the football. That’s really good to see.’
On second-and-eight, Huth faked a handoff, rolled to his right and hit Trey Miller at the 3-yard line. Miller did the rest and Schott’s conversion placement put the Tigers up 14-0 at 3:09 of the second quarter.
Mentor’s fifth punt of the first half gave the Tigers the ball at their own 43 after Troy Ellis’ eight-yard return.
Huth was sacked for an eight yard loss on first down but Gamble erased that with a 38-yard burst around the right end to the Mentor 27.
Two Tiger penalties set them back 10 yards but Huth hooked up with Brett Huffman on a short pass and the senior tight end carried the ball 20 yards to the 17.
Schott closed the first half scoring by drilling a 34-yard field goal with :04 until intermission to put Massillon up 17-0 at the break.
“I think the field goal right at the end of half was really big,” Stacy said. “You could see it lifted our kids back up offensively. It’s a good way to finish the half. It was a real key for us.”
Tigers blitz Chardon early, roll to fourth straight
By JOE SHAHEEN Joe.Shaheen@lndeOnline.com
It’s shaping up as a very special season of Massillon football.
The Tigers amassed over 500 yards of total offense and scored a school record 35 first quarter points in dealing the Chardon Hilltoppers a 49‑7 setback in front of 8,495 yards at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday.
For Jim DiPofi, Chardon’s sixth‑year head coach, it was his worst nightmare. Hoping to get into a ball control battle in which his Wing‑T offense could eat up the game clock, DiPofi watched in horror as the Tigers scored on their first five possessions to make it a rout early.
“That,” said DiPofi, “is a great football team. They hit us square on the chin early.
“They have a quarterback who was throwing darts to receivers with great hands. When you start chasing them that opens up a lot of gaps. Then they have that speed that just slices you. It’s like a three‑headed monster.”
Tiger head coach Tom Stacy was aiming to land a knockout punch early and that’s how things transpired.
“We got some big plays,” Stacy said. “In this stadium that’s what you’ve got to do to teams. We’ve got some guys who can make some big plays. We wanted to establish some domination early and we were able to do that.”
Massillon opened the game with a nine‑play, 90‑yard drive that took 4:12 off the clock and was culminated by a 12‑yard Bobby Huth to Brett Huffman touchdown pass.
Huth opened the march with a 26‑yard pass completion to Brian Gamble. Five plays later, Huth rolled to his left and with pressure in his face found Huffman running free over the middle. The senior tight end juggled the ball momentarily, regained control and left the Tigers in the red zone when he finally went down at the Chardon 14.
“We started off throwing the ball a lot more tonight,” Huffman said. “Bobby threw one my way and I went up and got it for him.
“It was great getting into the end zone for the first time this year. I forget what it felt like. It was great. I was happy to get back there.”
Stacy was thrilled at that development also.
“As good as player as Brett is we haven’t used him quite as much as we should,” Stacy said. “It was nice to see him get involved more.”
Chardon went three‑and-out on its initial possession and the Hilltoppers punt left the Tigers with first down at their own 45.
Huth dropped back and quickly found Gamble open at the Chardon 35. The junior running back cut to his right and was off to the races for a 55‑yard scoring play. Schott’s kick put Massillon up 14‑0 at 5:58 of the opening stanza.
It was another three‑and-out for Chardon on its second possession and again the Hilltopper punt gave Massillon possession at its own 45.
Once again Tiger lightning struck the Chardon defense but this time there was a little trickery involved. Backup quarterback Shawn Weisend snuck into the game at a wideout position and took a pitch from Huth on what appeared to be an end around. But Weisend pulled up and~ threw a strike to Trey Miller at the Chardon 28. Miller was in the clear and easily raced, to the end zone. Schott did the honors again and the Tigers were running away and hiding at 21‑0 with 3:56 to play in the first quarter.
“We’ve got to keep people off balance and that play gives people something they have to prepare for in the future,” Stacy said of Weisend’s strike to Miller. “We talked about that this week as a coaching staff, that we have to do some more of those wrinkles to give people something else to prepare for.”
Chardon only ran two plays on its ensuing possession, fumbling on second down. Tiger cornerback Neil James recovered at the Hilltopper 28.
Lanale Robinson opened the possession for Massillon with a 12‑yard burst up the middle. One play later Robinson took a handoff and again attacked the middle of the Chardon defense. He broke through the line to the 12, bounced to the outside and raced to the corner of the end zone for Massillon’s, fourth touchdown in less than 10 minutes of play. Schott’s point after kick made it 28‑0 at 2:53 of the first.
The Hilltoppers fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Mike Porrini recovered for Massillon at the Hilltopper 15.
“You don’t want to give them the ball inside the 15 yard line,” DiPofi said. “They don’t need any help. That’s great football team. You can’t give them the ball inside the 15.”
Massillon fullback Robert Morris gained nine yard around right end on first down, and Robinson traversed the final six yards to the end zone ‑ again around tight end ‑ and Massillon was up 34‑0 on Schott’s conversion boot.
Massillon’s final first half touchdown capped off an eight‑play, 71‑yard drive. Gamble covered the final 3 yards on an innocent looking run off left tackle. He was cornered at the 20‑yard line by a Chardon defender but ran through the tackle and didn’t stop sprinting until he reached pay dirt. Again Schott obliged and the Tigers carried a 42‑0 bulge into the locker room at halftime.
“You have to give credit where it’s due,” DiPofi said. “That’s a great football team. It is very well coached. We played our hearts our but it, wasn’t anywhere near enough. , “Tom is doing the right thing with these kids. He has them playing no‑nonsense downhill football. He has them executing.”
Huth’s final statistics were Roethlisberger‑like. He completed 9 of 11 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns.
“Bobby is playing with a lot of confidence,” Stacy said. “He is making great decisions. He made a couple of great plays with his feet tonight to get balls to receivers in tough situations. He continues to improve and impress. With the teams we play in the future, he needs to get better. We all do.”
The Massillon Tigers didn’t have a letdown a week after defeating Greater Catholic League power Elder. The Tigers rolled up 465 total yards Friday, defeating the Mansfield Tygers 55-0 at Arlin Stadium to improve to 3-0.
Like a week ago, when the Tigers intercepted the Elder quarterback six times, the defense had sticky fingers. The Tigers picked off three passes against the Tygers (1-2), all of which eventually led to touchdowns.
First-year Massillon head coach Tom Stacy said he has never coached a team that intercepted nine passes in a two-game stretch.
“We have a good secondary,” said Stacy. “We’re also going to see some good quarterbacks. Ignatius has a real good quarterback, and I’m sure Mentor’s is going to be a good challenge. But our secondary is solid. We were able to see that in the 7-on-7’s this summer.”
Senior defensive back Neil James started the interception party by picking off a Justin Greene pass at the Tigers’ 24-yard line on the opening possession of the game. The Tigers then marched 76 yards on eight plays, scoring on a six-yard pass from quarterback Bobby Huth to senior receiver Trey Miller on a quick slant. Kicker Steve Schott’s extra point made it 7-0 with 6:09 remaining in the opening period.
“There are a couple of guys who are playmakers I look to,” said Huth, who finished 11-for-14 for 140 yards and two touchdowns. “(Brett) Huffman, (Zack) Vanryzin and those guys. You get them the ball, and they can make things happen.”
The Tigers’ Troy Ellis kept the party going by intercepting Greene’s next pass attempt at the Tygers’ 25 yard line. Ellis returned it to the 3-yard line, setting up a Lanale Robinson one-yard touchdown run with 5:54 remaining in the first quarter.
Ellis, however, was forced to leave the game in the third quarter with an apparent leg injury, but Stacy said he doesn’t believe it is serious. The biggest interception, however, came just before the half.
With the Tigers holding on to a commanding 24-0 lead with less than three minutes to go in the half, senior defensive end Antonio James nailed Greene just as he was about to release the ball. It floated into the arms of Emery Saunders at the Tygers’ 45-yard line, and he returned it for a touchdown to make it 31-0.
The offense, led by Brian Gamble, also hit on all cylinders. Gamble rushed for 109 yards on 11 carries and added three receptions for 60 yards. He also returned a kickoff for 39 yards and scored a 22-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.
“The line was great,” said Gamble, who left the game after the first possession of the third quarter. “They were blocking really well, and I did what I could to see the hole and go through the hole. I haven’t really been catching a lot of passes in games, but in practice I have been. Tonight, I had a couple of catches. It felt really good.”
Gamble played a major part in two of the Tigers’ first-half offensive touchdowns. He carried for 51 yards on four carries in the opening drive.
Gamble also set up another Tigers touchdown by hauling in a 28-yard Huth pass at the Tygers’ 9-yard line.
Two plays later, Huth rolled left and found receiver Vanryzin in the corner of the end zone from seven yards out.
Gamble also set up another Huth touchdown as he hauled in a 28-yard pass on the sideline at the Tygers’ 9-yard line. Two plays later, Huth rolled to his left and connected with a wide-open Vanryzin in the corner of the end zone.
The Tigers finished with 261 total yards in the first half.
It didn’t get much better for the Tygers in the second half. On top of Gamble’s 22-yard touchdown run, the Tigers also scored on an 18-yard run by Robinson and a 47-yard run by K.J. Herring.
If there were any doubts about the legitimacy of the Tigers, both Huth and Gamble believe those were answered. Both believe the Tigers are back to the level they are used to playing at.
“The tradition is definitely back,” said Gamble. “It was a good win. It was good to finish somebody after letting Elder get back in the game.”
“We’re back for sure,” Huth added. “We believe we are a great team. We can go a long way if we stay focused.”
