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1986: Massillon 7, Canton Glenoak 9

September 19, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

‘Bobby C’ makes history
Tigers nipped 9‑7 by revamped GlenOak gridders

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Darn it, that “Bobby C” always did know how to win a game in Tiger Stadium.

Darned if he didn’t win another one last night. And darned if he didn’t have old friends wearing orange jackets coming up one by one to slap him on the back. Even though that back is now covered with green. Even though this win nudged the foundation of the grand old ball yard just a bit.

Commings shrugged after his GlenOak team beat the Massillon Tigers 9‑7 behind a long scoring drive and a blocked punt for a safety in the first quarter.

“Just another big win,” he said.

But his wry smile said it was more.

Massillon’s high school football team has been taking on Stark County opponents since 1894, and only two of them ‑ McKinley and Alliance had ever managed to beat the Tigers.

Now there are three. And GlenOak is the first one to come from the Federal League, which has been taking swings at the Tigers since 1978, and hadn’t connected until “Bobby C” showed up on a warm September Friday.

Commings, of course, used to stick around after the games. He amassed a coaching record of 43‑6‑2 with the Tigers from 1969‑73, before going to Iowa for a tough major college run that knocked him back to the high school ranks, with GlenOak.

“It’s a thrill when kids play with great courage in a community I dearly love,” Commings said after handing the Tigers their first loss in four games before a crowd of 12,780.

It was a clean win, nothing tricky ‑ witness GlenOak’s 245‑121 advantage in total yards and 12‑4 edge in first downs.

“All the credit goes to GlenOak and to Bob Commings,” Massillon head coach John Maronto said. “They blitzed us early and took it to us.

“We were ripe … a ripe tomato that became rotten.”

Commings knows about those tomatoes. His team sprouted an overgrown preseason reputation and promptly got blown out of the garden by McKinley and North Canton. But the Eagles made some key changes and planted Akron East 40‑3 last week.

There was a new attitude.

“We were getting all the preseason hype and it went to our heads,” said Mike Patt, probably GlenOak’s best lineman. “We finally realized we had to work for anything we got.”

The Eagles played a Massillon theme song, “Eye of the Tiger,” all week in practice.

“We got down to business,” said fullback‑linebacker John McLendon. “And we kept reminding ourselves the Massillon players are good, but they don’t dress in a phone booth.”

McLendon, whose father dressed in the Tiger locker room when he went to high school, was one of the changes. He moved from wingback, where he wasn’t getting loose on the option, to fullback, where he could use his speed and athletic skill to apply direct delivery. The other change was switching Otis Williams, a bigger man than McLendon at 210 pounds, from fullback to tailback.

The combination got a trial run against Akron East and ran like crazy against the Tigers.

McLendon gained 88 yards in 18 carries and was a nuisance all night on defense. Williams rushed for 92 yards on 18 carries.

Both were slowed as the game wore on. But they were deadly on the pivotal opening series.

GlenOak’s Matt McElroy returned the opening kickoff to the 24. Williams ran for six yards, McLendon cut loose for 13 on a misdirection play, then Williams ran for six. McLendon, a 6‑foot, 180‑pound senior, then got the ball on the next five plays, moving the ball from midfield to the Tiger 23‑yard line. Then Williams ran 15 yards for a first and goal.

But on third‑and‑goal from the 8, Williams was stuffed at the 6 and Commings sent in the field goal unit.

The holder was Rob Rastetter, a linebacker who opened the season as GlenOak’s starting quarterback but was beaten out by Jerry Chaney. Rastetter had to uncoil from his kneel to handle a bad snap and had no time to make the spot for placekicker Scott Glosser. In the face of a heavy rush, he flicked a pass to tight end Mike Mottice, who had broken wide open in the right corner of the end zone.

Glosser’s PAT kick made it 7‑0 with 5:00 left in the opening frame.

The Tigers started from their own 19 after the ensuing kickoff but moved only a yard in three plays. GlenOak played for the punt block and it worked. Three Eagles were breathing in Kenny Hawkins’ face as he tried to boot the ball, and one of them, McLendon, got both mitts squarely on the pigskin. The ball caromed 15 yards all the way out of the end zone for a safety, and GlenOak lead swelled to 9‑0 just 1:57 after its initial score.

It stayed that way until a booming Hawkins punt to the GlenOak 9‑yard line on the second play of the fourth quarter ignited the Tigers’ scoring sequence.

GlenOak’s first play was a botched handoff to McLendon that squirted to the 14. Senior linebacker Bob Foster pounced on the ball and the Tigers took over.

As Massillon’s fans rose in their biggest outburst of the night, the fired‑up Tigers opened holes for fullback Mike Norris, who battered three yards then seven yards to the 4. A penalty took the ball to the 2, from where Norris spun around the right side and dove into the end zone.

Lee Hurst’s extra‑point boot made it 9‑7 with 11:30 left in the game.

The Tigers needed a defensive stand. Instead, GlenOak mounted a ball‑control drive. The Eagles traveled from their own 20 to the Tigers’ 30 where it was fourth‑and‑one.

There was still time for a Tiger rally, with five minutes left, but GlenOak was going for the first down and Massillon needed a big play … and got one. A pitch to McLendon was stuffed by three Tigers a half-foot short of the first down and the Tigers took over.

Massillon came very close to winning the game when, on fourth and three with 2:45 left, quarterback John Miller hit tailback Jerome Myricks with a little swing pass that Myricks turned upfield and almost into the clear. The only thing that kept Myricks out of the end zone was a saving bump by McLendon, who nudged Myricks out of bounds near midfield.

On the next play, Miller was sacked for a six‑yard loss by Patt. That was followed by two more incompletions and a sack on fourth‑and‑long by Scott Garcia. The ball went over to GlenOak with 2:21 left and the Tigers called their last timeout.

The Tigers regained possession with 15 seconds left, on their own 40. The game ended on an interception by McElroy at the 20‑yard line.

“We came back in the second half but we did not make the plays we needed to get a victory,” Maronto said. “GlenOak moved the ball on us right away in the first half, but we expected to have problems with them early.

“Our intensity was all right, we just didn’t make the plays. There are no excuses. We got what we deserved.”

The Tigers failed to get a first down on their only three possessions of the first half, when they ran just nine plays to GlenOak’s 33.

Massillon’s first scoring threat followed the second‑half kickoff. A 38‑yard bomb from Miller to split end Bart Letcavits advanced the ball to the GlenOak 31, but on fourth-and‑nine, the Tigers went for it and came up short when McLendon chased Miller into a scramble resulting in a four‑yard loss.

Norris was the Tigers’ top ball carrier with 11 carries for 36 yards. Myricks, a big‑play threat in recent weeks, carried six times, but his total was minus‑one.

The Tigers had tried a total of 12 passes through three games before Friday, but this time Miller went to the airways 15 times, completing five for 90 yards. All but one of the passes came in the second half.

The Tigers will try to rebound next Friday against Barberton, also 3‑1 following a 14‑10 upset loss to Ravenna last night. A week later, the Tiger…

GLENOAK 9
MASSILLON 71

M G
First downs rushing 1 11
First downs passing 3 1
First downs by penalty 0 0
Totals first downs 4 12
Yards gained rushing 46 228
Yards lost rushing 15 15
Net yards rushing 31 213
Net yards passing 90 32
Total yards gained 121 245
Passes attempted 15 7
Passes completed 5 2
Passes int. by 0 2
Punts 5 3
Punting average 30.2 28.0
Punt return yards 18 0
Punts blocked by 0 1
Fumbles 1 2
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 5 6
Yards penalized 35 39
Number of plays 21 41
Time of possession 16:49 31:11
Attendance 12,780

GlenOAK 9 0 0 0 9
MASSILLON 0 0 7 0 7

GLEN ‑ Mottice 5 pass from Rastetter (Glosser kick)
GLEN ‑ Safety, blocked punt bounced out of the end zone
MASS ‑ Norris 2 run (Hurst kick)

1986: Massillon 55, Cincinnati Mt. Healthy 0

September 12, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

Long night for Owls.
Tigers draw lofty praise after 55‑0 larrupin’

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ If you ask the Cincinnati Mount Healthy football players what they think of the “M&M Boys,” Mantle and Maris wouldn’t even cross their minds.

They’d think you were talking about Massillon and Moeller.

They scrimmage Moeller every year. And they got a long look at Massillon last night.

As it turned out, the local half of the “M&M Boys” played long ball, wearing out Mount Healthy 55‑0 before a crowd of 8,497 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I’ve been a football coach for 21 years, and that Massillon team I just saw is the best team I’ve ever coached against,” said Mount Healthy mentor Bill Fridman.

The Tigers simply knocked the cover off Fridman’s ball players.

“John (Maronto, the Massillon coach) started to apologize about the score,” Fridman said. “But I told him they shouldn’t apologize. It could have been 100 to nothing.”

Mount Healthy is not to be confused with Moeller. The Fighting Owls are fighting for their lives, having lost 23 players to academic problems and other starters to injury, including a nose guard who discovered a detached retina this week.

But it wasn’t as if the Tigers didn’t earn that big score.

“In my opinion, most of our better ball players are still on the team,” said Mount Healthy wingback‑defensive end Charles Davenport. We were trying as hard as we could. They just turned out to be, the best team I’ve ever seen … better than Moeller, no question.”

Fridman went along with that.

Game action vs. Cincinnati Mt. Healthy 1986

“They were better than the great Moeller teams I’ve seen,” he said. “They just have everything. I’ve seen teams that were big but not aggressive. I’ve seen teams that would knock the crap out of you but weren’t that big. But I’ve never seen a team that combined aggressiveness and size the way this Massillon team did.”

Yes, the Tigers were purring. After struggling to beat Akron Buchtel 7‑0, then improving in a 21‑0 victory over Akron Garfield, they let it all hang out against the Owls.

Fridman was asked if the Tigers have a weakness.

“Yeah,” he said, his mouth curling into a smile. “They don’t have enough seats in their stadium.”

Maronto said he didn’t know what to make of routing a team that previously lost 14‑0 to Fairfield and 28‑0 to Cincinnati LaSalle.

“It’s flattering to hear what Bill said, and it’s true that our players are to be complimented for doing an excellent job of executing,” he said. “But as far as getting prepared for GlenOak (next Friday’s opponent), I don’t know how much this game will benefit us.”

GlenOak got a much‑needed ego boost last night in a 40‑3 shellacking of Akron East. That took some of the tarnish off the Golden Eagles’ image, which suffered in shutout losses to McKinley and North Canton.

So, Bob Commings’ return to Massillon is looking more attractive.

Commings comes up even without the GlenOak factor. Commings’1971 Massillon team was the last Tiger contingent to open the season with three shutouts.

The last Massillon team to blank four foes to start a season was Paul Brown’s, in 1940.

Post Game action vs. Cincinnati Mt. Healthy 1986

But Friday was a night for the offense, starting from the game’s first play from scrimmage, on which fullback Mike Norris popped through a big center‑guard hole on the right side and roared 61 yards for a touchdown.

“They bottled up our cornerbacks, and the next thing I know, there’s this truck heading for the end zone,” Fridman said.

That triggered a night of big‑play touchdowns.

There was a 63‑yard pass from junior quarterback John Miller to Jerome Myricks, a 50‑yard run by Miller himself and a 45‑yard blast by Vernon Riley, who had been mentioned as the possible fullback starter instead of Norris.

Myricks wound up with two other TDs on short runs to ice a night on which he carried nine times for 59 yards.

Riley also scored on a short touchdown run as part of a 13‑carry, 137-yard rushing explosion.

Norris wound up with just two carries for 62 yards.

You got the feeling this wasn’t ‘going to be a game early on.

Two plays after Norris scored, Tiger defender Mike Wilson, who later scored a TD on offense, recovered a fumble that led to a short, easy scoring drive. Myricks’ 1‑yard plunge and Lee Hurst’s PAT boot made it 14‑0 with 7:57 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers established a pattern of scoring within seconds of getting their hands on the ball.

On the first play following an Owl punt, Miller unloaded his scoring bomb to Myricks. The pass erased any doubt about the strength of his arm. The kid has a gun. The play was a straight fly pattern to Myricks, and Miller’s pass looked like something Dwight Gooden might throw. It traveled 60 yards in the air and got to Myricks in a hurry at the 8‑yard line, from where he eased into the end zone.

On the first play after the next Owl punt, Miller kept the ball on an option run. He broke through a big hole over the right side but got into heavy traffic around the 20. How he got through it, only the game films know, but he wound up in the end zone on a see‑it‑to‑believe‑it run.

“I get excited about John Miller,” Maronto has been saying.

The fans are starting to catch on, even though the Tigers still are passing at the rate of one a quarter ‑ Miller and Erik White combined to complete two of four passes for 72 yards, bringing the number of aerials that have been thrown this fall to an even dozen.

Miller’s run made it 28‑0 with 9:56 left in the first half.

The Tigers got their scoring out of the way when Riley went in from a yard out with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.

Maronto said he’s concerned that the first‑stringers didn’t get enough work to keep them sharp for upcoming games against rugged foes like GlenOak, Austintown‑ Fitch and Cleveland St. Joseph.

“But there’s another side to that,” he said. “We got to play a lot of people tonight, and the players who came in were very aggressive and did a great job. The fact so many people got to play means a lot to our team.”

The Tiger offense wound up generating 415 yards. Mount Healthy racked up 141.

The Owls were hoping their slippery little option quarterback, Deon Smith, could keep them in the game. The Tigers’ defensive surge was so fierce that Smith never had a chance.

That’s the way it can go when you’re “pitching” against the “M&M Boys.”

MASSILLON 55
Mt. HEALTHY 0

M O
First downs rushing 15 3
First downs passing 1 6
First downs by penalty 0 4
Totals first downs 16 13
Yards gained rushing 352 72
Yards lost rushing 9 40
Net yards rushing 343 32
Net yards passing 72 109
Total yards gained 415 141
Passes attempted 4 21
Passes completed 2 8
Passes int. by 1 0
Times kicked off 9 1
Kickoff average 50.6 31.0
Kickoff return yards 10 101
Punts 2 7
Punting average 47.5 31.3
Punt return yards 50 0
Fumbles 1 2
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 8 8
Yards penalized 75 58
Number of plays 39 51
Time of possession 20:10 27:50
Attendance 8,497

Mt. HEALTHY 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 20 22 13 0 55

MAS ‑ Norris 61 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Myricks 3 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Myricks 63 pass from Miller (kick failed)
MAS ‑ Miller 50 run (Wilson pass from Hurst)
MAS ‑ Wilson 3 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Myricks 5 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Riley 45 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Riley 1 run (kick failed)

1986: Massillon 21, Akron Garfield 0

September 5, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers rout Rams 21‑0

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ The Tigers won a triangular last night.

Their foes were Akron Garfield and Popular Opinion.

They battered the Rams 21‑0. And they routed the rumors.

“We shut down a lot of rumors tonight,” said Bart Letcavits, one of five Tiger football captains. “We showed we can pass. We showed we can move the ball. We showed we can put points on the board.”

Three completions in five attempts won’t start any talk about “Air Maronto.” And 21 points are hardly unusual for the home team in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

But the 34‑yard gainer to Letcavits that set up Massillon’s second touchdown was a rifle shot that showed junior quarterback John Miller just might have a gun.

And the 21 points weren’t scored on any Tom, Dick or Harry. Try Bill. Bill McGee’s Garfield team had won in its last three trips to P.B.’s Big House.

“We enjoyed what we’ve had here,” McGee said afterward. “Tonight, it was pretty clear cut. We got beat by a better team.”

Of John Maronto’s even dozen games as head coach of the fabled orange and black, this was clearly his brightest hour.

“The good news is, we’re just starting to get better,” Maronto said.

“We showed we’re capable of being very good in all facets of the game. We were able to play the type of football Massillon must play to beat a great team.”

In the end, it was Massillon’s night in every way.

But the Tigers had to get past a scary beginning.

On its first possession, Garfield made it look easy as in marching the ball to the 1‑yard line.

Massillon nose guard Andre Horner, who went on to play an outstanding game, was on the sidelines at the time.

“I said a little prayer…’God, pull us through this,’ “Homer said.

On second down, junior running back Harold Mitchell was separated from the ball and Massillon linebacker Kevin Spicer recovered at the 3.

Four plays later came one of the more spectacular runs of Massillon’s last 10 years. On third‑and‑four from the 21, junior running back Jerome Myricks took the pigskin over the right side of the Tiger line.

“I saw a lot of defenders, so I just cut it back the other way,” Myricks said.

Guard Tony Lambert threw a good block that helped Myricks get to the outside. Then he showed his back to the Rams. He had one man to beat, returning starter Frank Washington, a cornerback, who had a clean angle to make a tackle at about the 20. But Myricks’ speed and a block by Miller opened the gates to the end zone.

The crowd of 10,320 roared. Myricks had scored on a 79‑yard run. Lee Hurst’s PAT kick made it 7‑0 with 1:54 left in the first quarter.

What had seemed to be a certain 7‑0 Garfield lead instead went the opposite way.

“Even though Myricks ran the ball only once (for 12 yards in a 7‑0 win over Akron Buchtel) last week, we knew he was quite a threat,” McGee said. “We scouted him in scrimmages. You can tell just by the way he runs pass patterns what kind of skills he has.”

Myricks wound up with five carries for 96 yards. In two games, he has gained 108 yards in six totes. That’s an average of 18 yards a carry. That’s not bad.

“We weren’t just an offense with Mike Norris,” Maronto said.

Just so. The quarterback Miller also made five carries, picking up 57 yards. The fullback Norris, who rushed for 130 of Massillon’s 178 yards last week, gained 64 yards in
20 trips.

“Mike Wilson (held to two yards in four carries) is a great asset to our offense, too,” Maronto said. “If they gets revved up, we’ll have all the tools.”

Miller wound up completing three of his five passes for 44 yards. They were his first completions of the year.

Many of the Tigers’ fans came to the ball park itching to see a more wide open offense than the one that hadn’t scored on Buchtel until the fourth quarter.

The first completion of the year was a 5‑yard strike to Letcavits with 3:17 left in the first half. Many of the fans on the roof side rose in a standing ovation.

Asked to assess the passing game, Maronto said, “John Miller needs more opportunities, and he’ll get there as the season goes along.

“We’ll concentrate on building a strong running game, but we have good receivers and we can pass the ball.

“We shouldn’t forget that the Buchtel team we beat last week was a very good, a very fast, team. The football we’ve played the last two weeks might not be what some people consider good football. But it’s good football.”

It took good football to contain Garfield’s resourceful junior quarterback, Todd Johnson. And that’s what the Tigers got in limiting Garfield to 176 yards. Fifty‑five of those yards came on the final series of the game, a play‑for‑pride drive on which the Rams drove to the 15 before the Tigers sealed their second straight shutout.

The Tigers wound up with 263 yards on the night.

“Massillon is basically just a big, strong, good team,” said McGee, whose team was bothered by losing three fumbles, just as it was plagued by losing four fumbles in a 20‑0 loss to Lakewood St. Edward a week earlier.

Myricks’ touchdown held up for a 7‑0 halftime lead.

Garfield received the second‑half kickoff and started out in a pro set instead of its usual T‑formation ‑ a come‑from‑behind strategy.

Halfback Brent Williams burst through the line on the first play from scrimmage and was on his way to a 12‑yard gain when the ball was jarred loose and squirted wildly upfield. Tiger tackle C.J. Harris won the race and recovered at the Garfield 40‑yard line.

The Tigers’ first play of the second half became the long pass to Letcavits.

“I was in motion from the left side and Mark Kester ran a post pattern to the middle,” said Letcavits. “That attracted a crowd to him and left me pretty wide open. I don’t really remember what happened after that, except that it was exciting to catch the ball.”

The next play was a trap up the middle. The offensive line of center Todd Feemster, tackles Hostetler ‑ and John Schilling and guards Lambert and John Woodlock did its thing. Norris waltzed through a hole up the middle from six yards out. The PAT kick sailed wide right and the Tigers led 13‑0 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.

That pretty much wiped out memories of 1985, when the Tigers led 6‑0 at halftime but went on to lose 14‑6.

The ghost of ’85 was totally blown away by an 86‑yard drive ending midway through the fourth quarter.

The big play was a “naked bootleg” in which the Tigers faked a run to the left side and sent Miller around the right side for a 39‑yard gain.

Norris eventually scored on a 3‑yard run, then tacked on a two‑point conversion.

Garfield’s only scoring threats were on the Rams’ first and last possessions.

The only statistic in which Garfield held a clear edge was time of possession. It was 25:10 for the Rams and 22:50 for the Tigers.

None of that kept the Tigers from having a hot time in the old town last night.

MASSILLON 21
GARFIELD 0
M G
First downs rushing 6 6
First downs passing 1 3
First downs by penalty 0 0
Totals first downs 7 9
Yards gained rushing 228 142
Yards lost rushing 9 27
Net yards rushing 219 115
Net yards passing 44 61
Total yards gained 263 176
Passes attempted 5 7
Passes completed 3 4
Passes int. by 0 0
Times kicked off 4 1
Kickoff average 46.8 45.0
Kickoff return yards 13 36
Punts 6 5
Punting average 34.3 37.6
Punt return yards 12 00
Fumbles 0 3
Fumbles lost 0 3
Penalties 5 1
Yards penalized 58 5
Number of plays 38 44
Time of possession 22:50 25:10
Attendance 10,320

GARFIELD 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 7 0 6 8 21

Mas ‑ Myricks 79 run (Hurst kick)
Mas ‑ Norris 6 run (kick failed)
Mas ‑ Norris 3 run (Norris run)

1986: Massillon 7, Akron Buchtel 0

August 29, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tiger defense ‘de‑masks’ Buchtel ‘7‑0
Massillon stops Griffin option attack

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ The Akron Garfield ‑ oops, make that Buchtel Griffins were “de‑masked” by the Massillon Tigers Friday night.

But for a while the Buchtel boys played a swell game of charades before bowing to the Tigers 7‑0 in the season football opener for both teams. A crowd of 10,128 ‑ possibly the biggest in Ohio ‑ watched in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“They didn’t run their offense. They ran Garfield’s offense,” said John Maronto, who is now 2‑0 in season openers as Washington High’s pigskin pilot.

It wasn’t a bad idea. Garfield’s option attack, loaded with potentially confusing counter plays, caused enough trouble to spell defeat for Maronto’s 1985 Tigers.

And Buchtel’s impersonation was starting to look like the real thing when, on their second possession, the Griffins drove 55 yards in eight rushing plays to the Tigers’ 3‑yard line.

That threat ended when Massillon senior Matt Swank shot in from the left side to block Marvin Bright’s 21‑yard field goal attempt.

Stopping that drive opened the door for Massillon’s “bowling ball” to strike.

Mike Norris, a wide‑body of a fullback at 5‑10, 212, gave the Tigers 124 rushing yards in 30 carries and smashed through the line for the yards that set up the game’s only score.

Junior quarterback John Miller sneaked in from a yard out with 8:40 left in the game, and freshman place‑kicker Lee Hurst nailed the PAT kick that cemented the final score at 7‑0.

The game‑winning drive began after a Buchtel punt plopped dead at the Tiger 6‑yard line early in the third quarter. Massillon marched 94 yards in 18 plays (all runs), gobbling up 9:06 of the game clock.

Norris got 10 of the carries for 38 yards during the drive.

“I could feel them (the Griffin defenders) starting to slack off later in the game,” said Norris, whose running mate was Mike Wilson in the absence of injured returning starter Mike Harris. “They started missing a few assignments, letting things open up a little.

There was no doubt in my mind we were gonna win. They were gettin’ tired and it was just a matter of time.”

You’d get tired, too, if a 240‑pound muscleman was beating up on you all night. That was Buchtel’s plight when the Massillon offensive line, anchored by senior captain Lance Hostetler (6‑4, 240) started puttin’ on the hits.

“The line blocked real well, no question about that,” Norris said. “I think I owe them a pop, or something.”

A win is a win is a win, but this win wasn’t an overwhelming one for a Tiger team ranked eighth in the nation in the USA Today that hit the streets several hours before the game.

The Tiger defense was solid in the end, limiting a Buchtel team that is no patsy to 136 total yards. But the Massillon offense piled up just 178 yards.

Maronto sees a need for improvement before next week’s game, against the real thing, Akron Garfield.

“We beat a good team with a lot of talent, but Garfield is at least two touchdowns better,” the Tiger coach said.

Friday night, Buchtel was the better team for a half. The Griffins outgained the Tigers 112 yards to 55 over the first two quarters.

“The offense sputtered at first,” Maronto said. “We tried to be diversified too soon.”

After a while, Maronto said the players started talking about “just running the ball, and that’s what we did.

“We have a lot of confidence in areas of our team that didn’t look that good on the field today,” Maronto said. “But I’ll tell you one thing, I like the character of this team. That was a great scoring drive. And the defense played extremely well in the second half.”

Tim Flossie, starting his fifth year at Buchtel, was proud of his team’s outing.

“We had a chance to score 10 points and came out with nothing. Massillon had one drive and cashed in, and that was the story,” Flossie said. “We should have won, but they’re a good team. Physically, they hurt us. They’re a strong team.

“We had a hard time handling that No. 34 (Norris). And if they get their other horse (Harris, who is due to return in two weeks) with him, they’ll be hard to handle.”

If this game had been a food, it’s name would have been ground chuck. Of the Tigers’ 53 plays, three became pass attempts ‑ with no completions. Of Buchtel’s 36 plays, six were passes ‑ there was one completion for six yards and one interception which Tiger linebacker Jerrod Vance returned 33 yards.

Buchtel’s wishbone got rolling just after the Griffins took the opening kickoff. Junior running back Marcus Jennings gained 13 yards on a counter, and another junior back, Tim Andrews, bit off 16 yards on the next play.

The Griffins made it to the Massillon 39 before stalling, but the Tigers’ first possession started on their own 6 after a punt.

On second‑and‑11 from the 15, things got hairy. Miller lost the handle on the ball and it squirted toward the goal line. Norris won a chase for the ball and fell on it inside the 1. On the next play, Norris’ 11‑yard run gave Ken Hawkins plenty of room to punt.

Hawkins got off a line drive that turned into a 46‑yard boot, but Buchtel launched another drive. An 11‑yard run by quarterback Ron Shannon, a move‑in who supplanted a QB who had started since his freshman year, put the ball at the Tiger 11 on first down. Then Andrews ran another counter play that put the pigskin at the 3.

But the Tigers held Buchtel to minus‑one yard on the next two plays, forcing a field goal attempt. Swank sprinted in from the outside and made a clean block with his hands to keep the Griffins off the board.

The moment he made the block, Swank sprang to his feet, clapped his hands and tackled place‑kicker Bright at the 20 on the second play of the second quarter.

The Tigers made their first strong move on offense, driving to the Buchtel 35. But on fourth‑and‑eight, a Norris run was stopped for a yard gain, and Buchtel took over.

Flossie referred to “10 points” he thought his team should have scored. The first three became the blocked field goal. The other seven were lost one play after Norris was stopped for that yard gain.

On first down, Buchtel went to the bomb, and it was open, but sophomore Lester Carney couldn’t hold onto the ball as it hit him in the hands while he was in full stride, five yards ahead of two Tiger defenders.

Five plays later, Shannon tried another pass, but this time Vance picked it off and returned it to the Buchtel 32‑yard line. A facemask call gave the Tigers a first down on the 12‑yard line.

But as it turned out, Buchtel wasn’t the only team to misfire on a scoring chance. The Tigers got backed up to the 21 and lost the ball on a fourth‑and‑long incompletion on the next‑to‑last play of the first half.

The Tigers took the second‑half kickoff but were forced to punt. Buchtel got good field position at its own 41 and moved to the Tiger 44 before Massillon linebacker Hoagy Pfisterer served up a big play, sacking Shannon for a 10‑yard loss that led to a punt.

The punt pinned the Tigers deep in their own territory, at the 6, but they blasted their way up field on the runs by Norris, with help from rushers Wilson, Miller and Vernon Riley.

The offensive line of Hostetler, guards Tony Lambert and John Woodlock, tackle John Schilling and center Todd Feemster ‑ averaging around 250 pounds ‑ began working well together, the gains during the drive were as follows: 4, 6, 6, 3, 12, 3, 0, 5, 6, 7, 0 (third quarter ends), 6, 5, 7, 3, 6, 1, 1.

Neither team kept the ball longer than a few plays the rest of the way.

In one tense moment for the Tigers, Shannon threw another bomb on which a Massillon defender brushed against the intended receiver on a play that had the Buchtel bench screaming for an interference call. But back judge Henry Armsted, who worked in the Rose Bowl in January, opted not to pull his yellow flag.

On fourth‑and‑one from the Buchtel 44, Tigers Jerry Gruno, Vance and Pfisterer swarmed over Jennings and the ball went over to Massillon on downs.

The next two plays resulted in turnovers. Norris fumbled the ball away to the Griffins on the first one.

The second one was spectacular. The Buchtel quarterback delivered a short pass over the middle on a naked screen that was caught by Andrews, who absorbed a nuclear hit from Perdue that popped the ball loose and sent it more than five yards to where Tiger linebacker Bob Foster picked it out of the air with two minutes left in the game.

Buchtel regained possession with two seconds left but failed to get off a play.

The speedy Andrews finished with 63 yards in 11 carries, while Jennings got loose for 45 yards in six totes. For the Tigers, Wilson gained 26 yards in seven carries, while Jerome Myricks gained 12 yards on his only rushing attempt.

MASSILLON 7
BUCHTEL 0

M O
First downs rushing 10 8
First downs passing 0 0
First downs by penalty 3 0
Totals first downs 13 8
Yards gained rushing 201 151
Yards lost rushing 23 15
Net yards rushing 178 136
Net yards passing 0 4
Total yards gained 178 140
Passes attempted 3 6
Passes completed 0 1
Passes int. by 1 0
Yardage on pass int. 33 00
Times kicked off 2 1
Kickoff average 47.0 46.0
Kickoff return yards 0 20
Punts 3 3
Punting average 24.3 30.0
Pont return yards 0 0
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 3 1
Fumbles lost 1 1
Penalties 6 5
Yards penalized 40 37
Touchdowns rushing 1 0
Number of plays 53 37
Time of possession 29.26 18.34
Attendance 10,128

BUCHTEL 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 0 0 0 7 7

MASS ‑ Miller 1 run (Hurst kick)

Extra muscle a big hit
with Tiger LB Perdue

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON – Forty pounds later, Todd Perdue is impressed.

The Massillon Tigers’ senior linebacker is a believer in what an off-season conditioning program can mean now that he’s been through another season opener, in this case a 7-0 Massillon win over Akron Buchtel last night.

“That hit was the difference between a 220-pound hit and a 180-pound hit,” Perdue said.

It cam in the fourth quarter at a time Buchtel was trying to make a last-ditch drive to overhaul the Tigers’ 7-0 lead. Buchtel quarterback Ron Shannon delivered a short strike over the middle to Tim Andrews. A split second after Andrews began running with the catch, Perdue ran into him like a ton of bricks.

The ball literally was blasted loose, traveling more than five yards to where Perdue’s teammate Bob Foster picked it out of the cool air.

Perdue played inside linebacker at about 180 pounds in 1985. This year, his 6‑1 frame is packed with 220 pounds of muscle.

Perdue and other Massillon players obviously appreciate the strength they added in the weight room. A regular scene last night had Tiger players embracing Tiger strength coach Steve Studer on the sidelines after a good play.

The Tigers looked stronger as Friday’s game progressed. In the first half, they had been outgained 112 yards to 55. In the second half, they limited Buchtel to 39 yards.

“We were shaky at first, but C.J. Harris, Jerry Gruno and James Bullock (the defensive front wall) started closing things down, and that made it easier for me and Jerrod (Vance, the other inside linebacker).

“If we’d played the whole game like we played the second half, well … I think you’ll see us get better each week,” Perdue said.

John Miller, the junior who got his first varsity start at quarterback, said he agrees.

“We’ll get better,” the 6‑1, 191‑pounder said.

Asked if he had opening‑game jitters, Miller nodded his head in the affirmative.

Asked if he had fun, Miller said, “I loved it. The jitters are gone. Now let’s play some more ball.”

Miller said his thoughts were positive even when things weren’t going well for the Tigers.

“In the second half we just came out and got it done,” he said. “I knew we’d get it in there.”

Mike Norris, the senior fullback who gained 124 yards in 30 carries, said others on the team felt the same way.

“There was no doubt in my mind that we were‑gonna win,” he said.

1985: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 21

November 2, 1985November 10, 2021
by Eric Smith

Defeat can’t hide Tiger pride
Pups end Massillon season

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ They’ve pulled the plug on the football season, and it’s quiet around here all right.

No football playoffs to get crazy about … heck, not even a scrimmage against Akron East.

Maybe the calendar says “Nov. 4,” but its winter, baby.

You can say this, though. As the sports soul of Tigertown sighs and enters hibernation, it can be tucked in with a blanket of pride.

Here’s a nut and bolts way to took at it: the Tigers got a 21‑6 spanking from the playoff‑bound McKinley Bulldogs Saturday before 20,174 fans in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium to close their season with a 7‑3 record under first‑year head coach John Maronto.

Here’s another way: the Bulldogs were heavy favorites but got a pretty good scare.

If you want to get at the soul of this 91st game, which left the Tigers with a 50‑36‑5 lead in the fabled series, climb on down off the scoreboard.

How close was this game?

With 8:39 left, Mike Norris was digging for yardage round the 2‑yard line, needing to get inside the 1 for a first down and into the end zone for a chance for the Tigers to turn a 14‑6 deficit into a 14‑14 tie – Norris was stopped right there at the 2 on fourth down.

How close?

With fire minutes left, the Tiger defense stuffed the Pups, and Massillon got the ball on a punt in A‑1 field position near midfield.

Here was another chance to gun for a touchdown, a two-point conversion, and some dancin’ in the streets.

On the first play after they took over, the Tigers lost the ball on an interception, McKinley got a quick score on a bomb, and that was that.

How close.

Dead even, almost. In the end, McKinley had 211 total yards to 199 for the Tigers.

Of course, “close” only cuts so much ice. Plenty of Tigers shed plenty of tears after the clock froze at 0:00.

McKinley was going to the play offs, against GlenOak Saturday night in Fawcett Stadium as it turns out, with a 9‑1 record.

The Tigers were going home.

After the bus wheeled into Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and the players met for it quiet team meeting, Duane Crenshaw found his locker and removed his pads slowly.

He was sad and proud all at once.

”Everybody said they would blow us out,” said the senior defensive tackle. “They sure didn’t blow us out.”

Crenshaw’s locker was near that of Cornell Jackson. By now Jackson had removed his No. 8 for the last time, having gone out in splendid fashion.

His 83 yards in 18 rushing attempts made him the most visibly consistent offensive player in the game. Late in the contest, he turned the intangible of “determination” into something that could be seen with the naked eye.

On the late drive that set up the Tigers with their fourth and short from the 3, trailing by 8, Jackson got good blocking and shed many tacklers as he plunged ahead for 38 yards in seven memorable carries.

“It dawned on me at about that time that within a number of minutes my high school career would be over,” said Jackson, who was in his third game of a comeback after arthrosopic knee surgery. “I wanted to go out with my best effort. I’m just upset that we fell short.”

Maronto was upset, too. His marathon vigils in the film room, which produced a game plan laced with short passes and helped the Tigers stay in the game, were not enough to overcome a McKinley team seen by many as a solid state championship contender.

Maronto fought to get out the words as he spoke with reporters in the Tiger Stadium locker room after delivering the season‑ending address to his troops.

“It’s hard to feel anything good about losing to McKinley,” said the man who arrived from Detroit De La Salle High in mid‑June. “But maybe I have to look at it more maturely. I can say this. The kids just spilled their guts.”

The game’s first four possessions developed with the Tigers and the Bulldogs imitating each other.

McKinley received the opening kickoff and had to punt after three plays.

Then the Tigers had to punt after three plays.

Then McKinley scored on a long march. Then the Tigers scored on a longer march.

McKinley’s scoring drive began in Massillon territory after Chris Clax returned a punt 15 yards to the 48. Using Brian Chaney‑to‑Jerome Perrin passes and runs by fullback Percy Snow and the tailback Clax, the Bulldogs marched on six plays to the 6, where it was first down.

From there, Snow found a gaping hole on a left‑side trap play and literally trotted into the end zone for a McKinley score with 5:38 left in the first quarter. Mark Smith’s kick made it 7‑0, Bulldogs.

The Tigers started from their 34 after the kickoff. Behind senior Paul Fabianich’s sharpest quarterbacking of the season, the Tigers maneuvered downfield against McKinley’s vaunted angle defense.

Highlights included a 12‑yard pass to Bart Letcavits, a 16‑yard Fabianich scramble (his longest of the season), a 10‑yard strike to Wes Siegenthaler and a 17 yard, third and 10 completion to tight end Derick Newman to the 9.

Had later events favored the Tigers, the completion to Newman would have emerged as one of the most interesting developments in the game.

On the play, Fabianich nimbly darted away from the Bulldog linebacker Perrin. A year ago, Perrin was making tackles in that kind of situation, as his big‑play tackles sparked McKinley to a 17‑6 win and led to a first‑team, All‑Ohio berth for Perrin.

But this time, Fabianich stole the moment and zipped a completion to Newman … who had been a fullback all season.

“We wanted to use Derick as a tight end from the start, but injuries didn’t let us go that way,” Maronto said.

Norris, a junior fullback, plowed six yards up the middle to the 3. On second and goal, Fabianich flicked a quick pass over the right side of the line that barely zipped over the linebacker Snow’s hand and nestled into Newman’s grasp for a touchdown.

Norris changed shoes and lined up for the PAT attempt, but his kick sailed low and wide right, and the score stayed at 7‑6 with 1:31 left in the first quarter.

The game of copycat continued through the rest of the half, which was colored by excellent defense from both sides.

McKinley punted, Massillon punted. Then the Bulldogs punted again, then the Tigers punted again … but this time Ken Hawkins’ boot was partially blocked.

McKinley took over on its 46 with three minutes left in the half. The Bulldogs could get no farther than the Tiger 35, where they ran out of downs when a Chaney pass sailed over Perrin’s head.

The Tigers couldn’t budge, and the half ran out shortly after they punted with McKinley leading 7‑6.

The defenses dominated the third quarter, too, with McKinley shifting its alignment to take away Massillon’s short passing game, and Massillon playing “stuff the run,” as the Bulldogs put Chaney’s arm in seclusion and unsuccessfully tried to operate a power attack.

In their first five possessions of the third period, the teams combined for just five first downs on drives that all ended with punts.

The fifth of the punts sank the Tigers.

The boot, a low-flying 41-yarder off the foot of Hawkins, was taken by Clax at the McKinley 38. Clax started for the middle and found an opening to the outside. He broke to the left sideline and then back toward the middle of the field, outracing two Tigers and arriving in the end one at the end of a 62‑yard jaunt.

Smith’s PAT kick made it 14‑6, McKinley, with 1:55 left in the third quarter.

There was still fight left in the Tigers.

The Tigers took over on the kickoff at their 29 and, with the help of a 15‑yard pass interference penalty, used the running of Jackson and Norris to hammer out a length‑of‑the field drive.

On the eighth play of the march, which now was in the fourth quarter, Jackson exploded through the line on a trap play and exploded for 15 yards, almost breaking away for a touchdown but getting dragged down just outside the 10.

Jackson then went around the left side but slipped and fell at the 8. Norris bulled straight ahead for five yards, but on third and about two from the 3, Jackson tried the right side and was stopped for no gain.

Now it was fourth and two.

Do you go for the field goal and make it 14‑9 with about eight minutes left? Or do you go for the touchdown and two‑point conversion to tie?

“We needed a touchdown,” Maronto said, who mapped out strategy during a timeout called by McKinley.

The Bulldogs might be looking for Jackson to come around one of the ends, as he had on two of the previous three plays, Maronto figured.

The Tigers would try to pop Norris through the line.

“It was an inside belly play,” Maronto said. We felt we had enough force to make that play work. Norris is a strong runner.”

Norris lined up close to Fabianich. Fabianich handed him the ball an instant after the snap and Norris charged into the left side of the line. McKinley nose guard Cary Brown lid directly into Norris’ path and made the hit as other players arrived. Norris went down in a pile at the 2. It was McKinley’s ball.

McKinley’s poor field position loomed as a possible silver lining for the Tigers, but that went away when Snow ran eight yards to the 10 on the next play.

Still, the Tigers were alive and kicking when they forced the Bulldogs to punt from their 22. Massillon took over on its 44 with five minutes left in the game, but Smith’s interception killed a would‑be drive before the orange army in the north stands could get worked up.

Five plays after the interception, Smith struck again, racing behind two Tiger defensive backs and hauling in a perfect strike from Chaney on a 41-yard TD play. Smith’s kick gave the Bulldogs a 21‑6 lead with 2:30 left, and the seats cleared out early.

Fabianich finished with a season high of 21 passing attempts. He completed nine throws for 75 yards, two interceptions and the touchdown, the only aerial TD the Tigers achieved in 1985.

Chaney completed eight of 13 passes for 62 yards.

Snow led McKinley’s rushing attack with 64 yards in 15 carries. Clax, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 1984, was held under 600 yards for 1985 as a result of gaining just 20 yards in nine carries Saturday.

Back to Ringling Bros.
Tiger football season ends for Obie XVI, seniors

MASSILLON Ed Annen looked a bit sad. But then, he was about to lose a friend.

“It’s back to Ringling Brothers for her now,” Annen sighed as he looked at the friend, who lives in a cage and answers to Obie XVI.

With help from some loiterers, Annen wheeled the cage of Obie XVI out of a pickup truck and into her fall home at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The football season was over for another year, and so were Annen’s special duties: caretaker of the live tiger that is part of what makes game days in Massillon different than game days in other towns.

The echo of the final gun was still so fresh that the players were in a team meeting within growling distance of Obie’s cage.

In an unplanned moment, the locker room door cracked open and revealed the meeting scene … a silent room filled with bowed heads.

Forget about Obie. Nobody who wears the orange and black feels much in a circus mood after losing to McKinley, as these Tigers had by a 21‑6 score in Fawcett Stadium on this Saturday.

“I thought we played pretty well against McKinley, but we could have played better … we could have beat ‘em,” said Jerrod Vance, a junior linebacker. “Next year we’re going to have a super team. I’m going to try my best to make sure of that.

The meeting broke up, and folks moved quietly amid the benches,

The seniors said their good byes to the locker room in which legends have been born. The juniors talked about setting things straight next year.

“I thought we played pretty well against McKinley, but we could have played better … we could have beat ‘am,” said Jetted Vance, a junior linebacker. ”Next year we’re going to have a super team. I’m going to try my best to make sure of that.

“I thought we should have done better this year. But we came a long way,”

Another junior linebacker who will go some more of the way with

1985: Massillon 13, Massillon Perry 3

October 25, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tiger kamikazes help sink Perry

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Sometimes, the kamikazes live to fight other wars.

Such is the case with the unknown soldiers who strap on their goggles and plummet ahead like so many cruise missiles. The guys who sacrifice their bodies more than any other unit had plenty to do with the Massillon Tigers’ 13‑3 victory over the Perry Panthers before 15,638 fans in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday night.

“The guys on the special teams can win a game or lose a game,” noted Tiger kamikaze member Bob Foster. Friday, he helped win one.

In the first quarter, the Tigers were stopped on their first series and had to punt. Panther return man Todd Sabin lost the ball as he was hit by Rod Patt, Howard Evans dove on the ball, and the Tigers got a field goal.

In the third quarter, with the score tied 3‑3, the Panthers again stalled the Massillon offense, forcing a punt. Sabin again lost the ball and Foster flew in for the recovery. The Tigers drove 33 yards for the touchdown that shaped the rest of the game.

“I was running down field and saw the ball pop out and I dove for it,” Foster said. “I was just doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

He’ll try to do it again next Saturday in Canton, where the Tigers will take on McKinley for the 91st time.

As if the Tigers needed something to fuel their jets to get psyched for McKinley, they’ll be playing with the knowledge a win or a loss will be the difference between making the playoffs and going back to the weight room.

Beating the Panthers should vault the Tigers into the top four in Region 2 of Division 1. Three teams ahead of them ‑ Jackson, Brunswick and of course, Perry ‑ lost Friday night.

The loss left the Panthers with a 6‑3 record and kayoed their playoff chances. Perry closes the season against Louisville, whose 4 5 record will not provide enough computer points to offer the Panthers any hopes for a mathematical miracle.

However, if the Panthers beat Louisville, they will clinch at least a share of the Federal League championship ‑ more than just a consolation prize.

Neither Massillon nor Perry was thinking about next week between 8 and 10 Friday night.

Both wanted desperately to win the last game in the Panther‑Tiger series for who knows how long.

“We did what we wanted to do,” said Tiger head coach John Maronto. “We closed out the chapter with things 100 percent in Massillon’s favor.”

The Tigers lead the series 8‑0, with the last two games’ 10‑point margins representing the closest contests.

“Our kids fought real hard,” said Perry pilot Keith Wakefield. “I thought these guys fought harder than any group I’ve brought over.

“When you play four games like our last four (North Canton, GlenOak, Midpark, Massillon) … maybe that caught up with us. But hey, we can share the Federal League title.”

Aside from the big plays by the special teams, the Tigers won with defense. They held Perry’s superb wing‑T running attack to a net of 78 yards. Their defense apparently is ready to deal with McKinley.

“Our defense played outstanding football as a team and I was especially proud of the front seven’s play,” Maronto said.

Perry’s defense played well, too – Massillon led in the total yardage war by a 206‑131 margin.

But it was the Tigers’ best defensive game of the autumn.

“It was the last home game for the seniors,” said defensive tackle Duane Crenshaw, who returned in a big way after sitting out a week with a leg injury. “We wanted to go out like this. Perry’s players were talking about this game since the season started. We wanted to prove we were the better team.”

Four plays into the game, the miscue that plagued Perry nearly nagged the Tigers. Bart Letcavits dropped a Perry punt but picked it up on the bounce, and the Tigers had the ball on their 33.

But the Panthers stopped the Tigers on three plays, setting up the punt that resulted in Evans’ fumble recovery.

The turnover gave the Tigers the ball on the Perry 31. Six running plays resulted in a fourth and three from the 10. After a timeout, Mike Norris boomed a 27‑yard field goal and Massillon led 3‑0 with 4:22 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers enjoyed their finest moments after Tom Ross, performing in front of his uncle Mark Ross, a former Massillon mayor, returned the kickoff 29 yards to the Perry 41.

Perry elected to run and run some more, and it worked, with halfback Archie Herring, fullback Rick Phillips and quarterback Tracy Seery plowing to the Tiger 15 on second and five.

The drive stalled when a Seery‑to‑Herring pass was stopped at the 15 on fourth down, three yards short.

The Tigers took over, but not for long. On third and six from the 19, Sabin made up for his miscue, stepping in front of Chris Aegerter and intercepting a Paul Fabianich pass at the 38 and streaking down the left sideline to the 10.

A motion penalty nullified a second down Panther run to the 1‑yard line, and on fourth and goal from the 3, Joel Kessel was summoned to try a 20-yard field goal, which he drilled over the right part of the crossbar.

With 6:23 left in the first half, the score was tied at 3.

Late in the half, a Kessel punt rolled dead at the 1 with 1:11 left in the half, and the Panthers had a chance to brew up some trouble.

But Cornell Jackson blasted 11 yards on first down, and on the next play Fabianich uncorked a bomb that was hauled in by Wes Siegenhalter on the right sideline. Siegenthaler tumbled to the ground and was ruled down in bounds at the Perry 43, which kept the clock running at the end of the 45‑yard gain.

Only nine seconds remained in the half by the time the Tigers ran another play and called a timeout.

Fabianich then threw a 19‑yard strike to Letcavits over the middle, and another timeout was called with two seconds left. A 42‑yard field goal attempt by Norris was five yards short of sneaking over the crossbar, falling short and right.

The Panthers had a chance to seize momentum at the start of the second half when they kicked off and held the Tigers to three yards in three plays.

But the ensuing Punt resulted in Foster’s fumble recovery, giving the Tigers possession on the Perry 33.

Now it as Massillon’s turn to unleash a threesome of rushers. Michael Harris, Derick Newman and Jackson bulled the ball to the 3, where it was fourth and goal.

Norris came onto the field, but not dressed in a kicking shoe. A handoff went to Harris, who cut over the left side and ran through a big hole opened partially by a Norris block for a touchdown.

Norris’ PAT made it 10‑3 with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty helped the Panthers drive with their ensuing possession near midfield, where they arrived at fourth and four.

The Panthers gambled.

With Kessel in punting formation, the snap was whipped short to Herring, who was stopped by C.J. Harris and Mark Harder two yards short of a first down.

The Tigers took over at their own 49, moved to the 20 with the help of a late hit call, but faced a fourth and three.

Norris has had some trouble finding a kicking groove, but Maronto told him to put on his kicking shoe.

“Mike Norris kept his belief in the team and himself, and we kept our faith in him,” ‘Maronto said.

Norris responded with a picturesque boot that rose from the left hash mark and traveled high and far over the crossbar to give the Tigers a 13‑3 bulge with 8:39 left in the game.

“The field goal was a big play,” Wakefield said.

When Ross slipped on the 11 while fielding the ensuing kickoff, and the Tiger defense stopped the Panthers right there, Perry had to punt.

Massillon controlled the rest of the game, running out of downs at the 3 with just 36 seconds left.

The game ended with some shouting and shoving in an incident growing out of the final play (see related information in today’s sports column).

The outburst ended quickly, and the players from both sides formed a long line and shook hands.

The game was billed as a game, which would be won by the team that played the best defense, and it turned out that way. Other than their scoring drive, the Panthers couldn’t get anything going.

The Tigers moved with only slightly more regularity.

The Tigers led 158‑89 in rushing yardage but gained only 2.6 yards per run.

Fabianich connected on four of eight passes for 80 yards. Seery connected on five of 12 throws far 53 yards.

Sabin and Herring combined to catch four passes for 46 yards.

Jackson was the game’s rushing leader with 48 yards in 16 carries, which isn’t overwhelming, except many of his carries were important in keeping drives alive, and in the Tigers’ lead in time of possession, 28:51 to 19:09.

Phillips led the Panthers with nine carries for 36 yards. Herring was held to 27 yards in 10 carries, leaving him 125 yards short of a 1,000‑yard season.

MASSILLON 13
PERRY 3
M P
First downs rushing 8 4
First downs passing 2 2
First downs by penalty 2 1
Total first downs 12 7
Yards gained rushing 158 89
Yards lost rushing 32 11
Net yards rushing 126 78
Net yards passing 80 53
Total yards gained 206 131
Passes attempted 8 12
Passes completed 4 5
Passes int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 4 2
Kickoff average 49.0 40.0
Kick off return yards 19 63
Punts 3 4
Punting average 39.0 31.8
Punt return yards 2 11
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 2 3
Fumble lost 0 2
Penalties 5 4
Yards penalized 46 34
Touchdowns rushing 2 0
Touchdowns passing 0 0
Number of plays 60 40
Time of possession 28:51 19:09
Attendance 15,638

PERRY 0 3 0 0 3
MASSILLON 3 0 7 3 13

M ‑ FG Harris 27
P ‑ FG Kessel 20
M ‑ Harris 3 run (Norris kick)
M ‑ FG Norris 37

1985: Massillon 13, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 3

October 18, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers finish street fight on top 13-3

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ It was a street fight with white lines instead of double yellow, the Massillon Tigers’ 13‑3 victory over Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary Friday night.

“If you ever saw a good fighter get up after he was knocked down…” John. Maronto’s clause had punch enough to render a sentence unnecessary.

The Fighting Irish ‑ just the right nickname ‑ were knocked down all right 2‑4 coming in.

The game, which left the Tigers at 6‑2 going out, left no hearts stopped. The non-allure of a team with a losing record produced a season‑low crowd of 9,243.

But inside the binoculars, and down at ringside, there was plenty of Ali‑Frazier in this.

“There was some serious hitting,” said Tiger linebacker Jerrod Vance, who was doing his slugging for the Irish a year ago, then decided to transfer to Massillon.

“I don’t think they were as good as some of the other teams we’ve played. But they were more pumped up. Part of it was because of me, I guess.

“I was getting weird feelings from those guys, with all the hitting and all the talk down there. But that’s the way it had to be.”

In the end, the Tiger, took the best punch the Irish could muster, and knocked them out before it could go the distance.

“In the end, you could tell they were getting up slow,” Vance said.

The Tigers must make their celebration fast. They now must prepare for an invasion by the 6‑2 Perry Panthers, who are stinging from an overtime loss to Midpark.

Massillon heroes abounded Friday. The defense, wearing down the Irish by keeping fresh linemen in the game, had its knees buckled but punched mightily off the ropes.

The special teams were just that.

The offense did just enough, and The Union, alias the offensive line, got a chance to fine tune its touchdown dance.

The Tigers have been living on the edge ever since losing to Austintown‑Fitch three Fridays ago. One more loss and they’re out of the playoff off race, and you know what that’s like around here.

The edge is where they were living in the fourth quarter Friday.

They were nursing a 6‑3 lead based on Mike Norris’ 26‑yard touchdown run, but the Irish were driving near midfield.

On second and eight from the 48, eight fullback Ken Wayman dropped a pitch, and the ball bounced the funny way footballs do, out of his line of flight and into the arms of streaking Tiger linebacker Todd Perdue.

The Tigers got the ball on the Irish 41. On fourth and goal from the 1, Cornell Jackson plowed over the left side, putting six points on the board and the game out of reach with 4:18 left. Norris’ PAT cemented the final score.

The win wasn’t as easy as a shallow view might have foreseen ‑ the Irish were 2‑4, weren’t they.

But outlasting a team that beat Akron Garfield and should have defeated Cincinnati Moeller means never having to say you’re sorry.

“I want to tell yon something,” said Maronto, the Tigers’ head coach, “I’m proud of this team. We’ve been through three tough game in succession, There comes a time when you’re not as concerned with how big you win as with showing the determination to get the job done … and we got it done.”

An early knockout looked like a good possibility when Wes Siegenthaler returned the opening kickoff 41 yards to the Tigers’ 49‑yard line.

A six‑yard sideline completion from Paul Fabianich to Siegenthaler on the left, a 16‑yard sideline completion to Siegenthaler on the right and a three‑yard ran by Derick Newman put the ball on the 26.

On second and seven, Norris lined up in a one‑back set and ran on a trap play into the right side of the line, which became a Union Gap. Norris ran downfield five yards then cut to the right sidelines, outrunning two Irish defenders on his 26‑yard TD bolt.

“Joe Luckring, Tony Lambert and Lance Hostetler (Union members) drew their guys off the line real well, and I did my best to try to get to the end zone,” Norris said.

Norris changed shoes but missed the PAT kick, and the Tigers led 6‑0 just one minute and 18 seconds into the game.

Little was seen of the Tigers’ offense the rest of the half.

St. Vincent‑St. Mary drove to the Massillon 25 and stalled when safety Bart Letcavits knocked away a would‑be TD pass on fourth down.

On their next possession, the Irish plowed to the Massillon 31 but were stymied by Hoagy Pfisterer’s diving interception.

The next time they had the ball the Irish made it to the Tiger 37 before a Mike Wilson hit forced fourth‑and‑long and a punt.

The punt, which died at the 3, enabled the Irish to break the ice. The Tigers wound up punting from deep in their own territory, giving St. Vincent field position that led to a 28‑yard field goal by Vince Lobelle with 2:41 left in the half.

With two minutes left in the half, Ken Hawkins nailed a 47‑yard punt that landed at the 3, but the Irish made a first down and survived the half without further damage.

The Tiger Swing Band had the field as long as the Tiger offense. At the intermission, the Irish led 169‑91 in offensive yardage and 15:15 to 8:45 in time of possession.

The defenses controlled the third quarter, in which the offenses mustered 82 yards.

A key play was mad by Tiger nose guard C.J. Harris, who stuffed quarterback Rick Davis for no gain on fourth and one at the Tiger 40 with 1:45 left in the third quarter.

The Irish made their last run at a win early in the fourth quarter.

Taking over on a punt on their own 20, they pushed to near midfield on a facemask penalty.

Perdue made his big fumble recovery two plays later.

Now the Tigers had a chance to put the game away.

They did, behind three big plays. On fourth and two from the 34, Cornell Jackson dropped a pitch but picked it up on the bounce and ran seven yards for a first down.

But Jackson then lost three yards, and it was second and 13.

“They were playing their corners tight, and their linebackers were playing the sweep,” Maronto said.

“He sent Letcavits outside the cornerbacks, down the left sideline. Letcavits cut back toward the hashmarks as he reached the 15 and was open as he gathered in a nicely thrown Fabianich pass for a 27‑yard gain to the eight.

Jackson’ a fourth‑down TD run was the big play that iced the game.

Injuries shaded the look of both teams. The Tigers’ were without defensive tackle Duane Crenshaw for the first time this season, one factor in St. Vincent’s gaining 203 rushing yards, at 4.5 a carry.

The Irish didn’t have Carl McDougal, an outstanding back nursing an ankle injury and made sophomore Rich Sparhawk their workhorse, giving him his first carries of the season … but also his last.

After gaining 62 yards in 11 totes, Sparhawk suffered a broken collarbone near the end of the first half.

With several running backs having fallen victim to injury, the Irish found themselves using Davis, the quarterback, at halfback an several plays.

The Tigers used Siegenthaler at quarterback on several plays for the second straight week, but the Irish handled the switch better than Cleveland St. Joseph had the week before, limiting Siegenthaler to four yards in four rushes and one pass completion, an 11‑yarder to Letcavits.

The Irish passing attack was contained by the Tigers. Davis and Mark Lenz combined for six completions in 19 attempts for 85 yards.

Fabianich completed five of nine tosses far 61 yards.

Norris gained 61 of the Tigers’ 121 rushing yard,, in just six carries.

Jackson, in his second game coming off knee surgery, carried nine times for 42 yards.

Newman was held to 12 yards in 10 carries.

Even though his defense did a decent job of containing them, St. Vincent coach John Cistone cited the Tigers’ offensive backs as the strength of the team.

“Massillon’s a good team, and I thought we did well against ’em,” the 26th‑year Irish boss said. “We played hard. It’s just a matter of us running out of backs we can use.

“And it seems like every time we came down here we have trouble in the first quarter.”

That early trouble set the tone for the game. But after that … hey, it was a streetfight.

1985: Massillon 28, Cleveland St. Joseph 14

October 11, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers pull switch in beating St. Joe
St. Joseph’s husky lumberjacks were wide as they were tall, but a question dogged the Cleveland boys, which Tiger has the ball?

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON – Enter, please, a new cliche in The World Book of Wonderful Sports Quotations.

He who lives by the game film dies by the game film.

The Massillon Tigers who were studied all week by the Cleveland St. Joseph Vikings weren’t the same Tigers who ambushed them 28‑14 Friday night before a season‑high crowd of 11,482 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“The new stuff they did hurt us,” said St. Joseph linebacker Ralph Godic. “There were a lot of tricky things they did which we didn’t see on the films.”

Oh, how the films can lie.

“Their backs were a lot quicker in person than they appeared on film,” noted St. Joseph head coach Bill Gutbrod. “My, they have the backs.”

It was a marvelous Massillon defensive effort, really, that was at the heart of the victory that sent St. Joseph to its second defeat versus five victories.

But it was an exotic offense that set P.B.’s Big House a buzzing as the Tigers improved to 5‑2 and got back in the playoff hunt.

The two most prominent scenes not played on Gutbrod’s game films were Cornell Jackson running the football and Wes Siegenthaler playing quarterback.

Jackson, a surprise starter who had missed five games with a knee injury, brought 6 feet, 3 inches and 205 pounds of fast‑lane excitement to the Tiger offense. He ended the night with 10 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown.

The numbers weren’t overwhelming, but as Tiger head coach John Marrow noted, “Cornell Jackson is a force.”

“I can’t describe how great it felt to play again,” Jackson said, “I was as excited as I was when I was a sophomore.”

Scene No. 2 was a delicious variation of the old switcheroo.

On the eighth play of the game, after Paul Fabianich had taken all seven snaps at quarterback, with Siegenthaler playing split end, Fabianich came out of the huddle and lined up at wide out, with Siegenthaler lining up over center.

Siegenthaler kept the ball and got buried for a two‑yard loss, but the St. Joseph defense started wandering.

The Tigers pulled the switcheroo more times, with Siegenthaler running the QB keeper on seven occasions for 64 yards.

Sometimes the game films don’ lie.

“In the films, we saw that a lot of yardage was gained against St. Joseph on the option,” said Fabianich. “Wes, of course, is a very good runner. When we pulled the switch, I heard their coaches saying a couple of times, ‘Watch for the double pass.’ But the situation was designed for Wes to run the ball. I think we crossed them up.”

Sometimes the game films lie.

Sophomore Jerome Myricks, who is listed incorrectly in the program as a junior, doesn’t show up as a ball carrier in any of the Tiger game records. But the speedy Myricks hit St. Joseph for a 15‑yard gain on the Tigers’ third‑play of the game and finished with five carries.

Junior tailback Michael Harris, a star of the game films and the Tigers’ leading rusher coming in, surprisingly didn’t play ‑ he was slightly injured but was available if needed.

In another twist, junior Jerry Gruno saw his first extensive action on defense, playing most of the game at left tackle.

In short, Game No. 7 was full of surprises.

About the only thing it lacked was high suspense.

The Tigers grabbed an early lead, got a late challenge from the Vikings, then staged a clutch drive on which Mike Norris scored his third touchdown of the night.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers stalled early in the second period and sent in Ken Hawkins to punt.

Hawkins got off a beautiful boomer that backed up St. Joseph deep man Andre Smith to the 15. Smith’s back peddling left him off balance and caused him to drop the ball, which squirted to the nine, where the Tigers’ Todd Perdue pounced on it.

0n second and goal from the 4, Jackson swept right and high stepped into the end zone. Norris’ PAT kick was flat but went through and the Tigers led 7‑0 with 8:34 left in the half.

St. Joseph drove 57 yards to the Tiger 30 after taking the ensuing kickoff, but on fourth and one Lance Hostetler’s tackle stopped Godic, who plays fullback in addition to linebacker, and the Tigers took over at the 29.

After an eight‑yard loss, Siegenthaler and Fabianich pulled one of their switches, with Siegenthaler keeping for a 25‑yard gain to the Viking 41.

Two plays later, it was back to the exotic, as Fabianich pitched to Norris, who pitched to Siegenthaler, who gunned the ball to a wide-open Bart Letcavits. Letcavits caught the ball and crashed to earth at the 1 for a 38‑yard gain.

Norris then hit the middle three times, going over the left side for score on third and goal from the 1.

The PAT kick failed at the 1:28 mark, and the Tigers settled for a 13-0 halftime lead.

The Tigers took the second‑half kickoff but stalled at midfield.

Then the Massillon defense, which yielded just 107 yards in the first half, buried the Vikings deep in their own territory, forcing a fourth‑and‑12 punt train the nine.

Siegenthaler fielded the punt near midfield and danced his way to another of his spectacular returns, getting the bull to the 15. But for the third time this season, a long Siegenthaler return was negated by a clipping call, which, for the record, “de‑finitely wasn’t clipping,” according to Siegenthaler.

The Tigers started from their own 41 and scored anyway, using Norris’ power running and a 13‑yard burst by Jackson to get the ball to the 4 on first and goal. Norris went over the right side and scored easily from there, and fullback Derick Newman tacked on a two‑point conversion run to make the score 21‑0 with 1:11 left in the third quarter.

Than the Vikings made it interesting, starting on their own 28 after the kickoff and rampaging 72 yards in just five plays, with split end Dale Pratt breaking wide open along the right sideline and hauling in a 30‑yard TD toss from quarterback Bob Duffy. Smith’s two‑point run made it 21‑8 with one second left in the third quarter.

Siegenthaler streaked 48 yards with the kickoff, but the Tigers ran out of downs on the Vikings 16. St. Joseph drove to midfield but had to punt, but the Tigers stalled and had to punt from deep in their own territory.

Another good boot by Hawkins forced the Vikings to start on their own 46. From there, they marched 54 yards in seven plays, with Smith racing in from 11 yards out. The PAT kick failed, but St. Joseph now had a chance, trailing 21‑14 with 2:55 left in the game.

The key to the game became St. Joseph’s ability to recover an onside kick. The squibber traveled 11 yards to Massillon’s Bob Foster, who smothered the ball at the Tiger 49.

The Tigers’ offensive line and Newman took over from there. On first down, Newman exploded over the right side for 33 yards to the 18. Six plays later, Norris swept left to score from three yards out. Norris’ kick made it 28‑14 with 30 seconds left.

In the end, the game looked even on paper, with the Tigers holding a 303‑301 edge in total yards. But the Tiger defense played extremely well while the Tigers was all but putting the game out of reach during the first three quarters.

“St. Joseph was as big an offensive team as we’ve seen, but we have great defensive quickness and tonight we played as a team,” said Perdue, a junior linebacker. “If we’d played this well last week, we could have beaten Austintown Fitch.”

“We just had to watch them up the middle,” added Tiger tackle Duane Crenshaw. “We reduced our mistakes and played good team ball tonight.”

When the defense began to give ground in the second half, Newman counterpunched an offense. The 206‑pound senior gained just three yards in three first‑half carries but surged for 69 yards in nine second‑half lugs.

St. Joseph’s wishbone backfield spread the carries among Al Forney (seven for 73), Godic (12 for 73) and Smith (10 for 57). Norris gave the Tigers 53 yards in 15 trips.

Duffy completed 10 of 24 passes for 115 yards. Fabianich connected on just one of eight tosses for four yards, but Maronto created him with doing “a good job of running the offense.”

St. Joe’s defense just didn’t
Have Siegenthaler’s number

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Wes Siegenthaler is a split end, wingback, quarterback, kickoff returner, punt returner and cornerback.

Maybe it was only fitting that a guy who wears so many hats wore more than one number Friday night in the Massillon Tigers’ 28‑14 high school football victory over Cleveland St. Joseph.

Siegenthaler wore No. 87 in warm-ups and No. 20 during Friday’s first half. At the start of the second half, No. 1 was on his back.

Actually, it wasn’t fitting. No. 20, which used to belong to Robert Cooley – he transferred to Tuslaw ‑ is one size smaller than Siegenthaler’s regular jersey No. 1.

“He forgot his jersey, that’s all,” said Tiger head coach John Maronto.

But that’s not all there was to it in the mind of Bill Gutbrod, the St. Joseph head coach. The start of the second half was delayed several minutes while Siegenthaler’s jersey change was debated.

Ohio high school rules prohibit such a jersey switch, unless there are extenuating circumstances.

The second half began only after Siegenthaler’s ripped No. 20 was presented to Gutbrod on the St. Joseph sideline.

“The jersey had a little tear in it – I think they tore it. It was about that big,” said Gutbrod, holding his thumb and index finger two inches apart.

Gutbrod, who at age 60 and with 36 years under his belt at St. Joseph is one of the nation’s veteran high school coaches, wasn’t happy about the incident but cut the jersey talk short.

“It had nothing to do with the game,” he said. “They did a good job. Give them credit.”

1985: Massillon 19, Austintown Fitch 21

October 4, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Fitch flattens Tigers 21-19
Ex-Tiger Hartman: “Words can’t describe the way I feel”

BY STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASS ILLON – The magic that was a win over Barberton get flattened by a Fitch fist Friday night.

Austintown‑Fitch, whose lumberjack linemen have to grunt to squeeze into jerseys marked “extra‑large,” had a tight squeeze on the scoreboard, trimming the Massillon Tigers 21‑19. But this was no cheapie, Fitch led 333‑182 in total yards.

The Tigers, who overcome a 20‑9 halftime deficit and beat Barberton 30‑20 last Saturday, went flat in the second half against Fitch, losing a 12‑7 edge at the intermission, falling to 4-2 on the season and going on the critical list of playoff contenders.

Fitch improved to 5‑1, winning its third straight since a 21‑12 loss to McKinley.

“Words can’t describe the way I feel about winning here,” said Fitch head coach David Hartman, who was a senior on the unbeaten 1964 Massillon team.

Words came hard to the conquered coach, the Tigers’ John Maronto.

“We had a chance to win, even as poorly as we played at times, but we didn’t rally when we had to,” Maronto said. “They probably deserved to win. That was the best football team we’ve played. And their quarterback is one excellent athlete.”

The quarterback was Dave Phillips. Maybe he has something to do with Phillips 66. He was slippery enough.

Late in the third quarter, with the Tigers nursing their 12‑7 lead, Fitch had the ball with a fourth‑and‑inches 15 yards away from the Massillon endzone. While many among the throng of 10,988 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium followed fullback Leo Hawkins as be leaped into the middle, presumably with the ball, Phillips kept and sprinted 15 yards around right end to a score.

He also ran for a two‑point conversion, and Fitch led 15‑12 with 10 seconds left in period three.

Hartman decided to go for the jugular, ordering an onside kick.

The move backfired royally. Massillon’s Tim Carpenter pounced on the high‑bouncing squibber, and the Tigers marched 53 yards to regain the lead. A 23‑yard ran by Michael Harris on a fake‑reverse and a 20‑yard pass play to tight end Daimon Richardson were the big plays that set up a one‑yard TD blast by Norris.

Norris’ kick made it 19‑15 with 9:56 left in the game.

In defense of the onside kick, Hartman said, “The defense was playing extremely well, and we’d rehearsed that play a lot, I thought we had a 50-50 chance. We just didn’t get a good kick.”

Instead, Fitch got a kick in the pants. But the Falcons got back up and started slugging away with their ground game again.

Norris ‘ kickoff was high, but short, giving Fitch premium field position eight yards short of midfield. Using the same factor, deception, that resulted in the previous Fitch touchdown, the Falcons turned a pair of fourth‑and‑one situations into big plays that set up the winning touchdown.

Wingback Pat Starch went 17 yards on a dive option on fourth‑and‑inch from the 48. Tailback Fred Smith picked up 11 yards on fourth‑and‑one from the 35.

But Fitch still needed to get into the endzone, trailing by four, and things were looking up far the Tigers when Smith was stopped for no gain at the 19.

The Falcons were looking at a third‑and‑five, but a late hit was called on the play, an unusual flag considering the critical time in the game and the apparent lack flagrant contact.

The ball was marched half the distance, to the 9. Hawkins was stuffed for only a yard gain, but Phillips then took matters into his own hands, keeping and wriggling through the right side for eight yards and a score.

Mike Wilson made a big play when he blocked the PAT kick, keeping the score at 21‑ 19 with 5:05 left.

The kickoff went to the man the Tigers hoped would get the ball, but Wes Siegenthaler could negotiate his way only to the 24 on the slippery turf.

On first down, Michael Harris gained five yards, but on second down quarterback Paul Fabianich fired the ball toward Smrek, but Wilson sniffed out the play, stepped in front of the receiver and picked off the ball. He raced 40 yards up the right sideline, picked up a good block that knocked Phillips out of the way, cut to the middle and streaked into the end zone on an electrifying 85‑yard touchdown trek.

The PAT run failed, but the Tigers had seized the lead and the momentum one minute before halftime.

Hartman thought his team could shake loose Smrek for a touchdown on the play that backfired. The Tigers, he explained, had been lining up Wilson as a monster back to the strong side of their formation.

Now it was fourth‑and‑seven with 45 second left. Fabianich’s pass to the right sideline was complete, but fell far short of the first down.

Fitch took over with 40 second, left, and the game was history.

“Passing hasn’t been an integral part of Massillon’s offense,” noted Hartman. “We got hem into a position where they had to beat us by passing, and that’s not what they do best.”

Nor is it what Fitch does best.

The Falcons were in position to take firm control of the game, leading 7-6 and moving the ball effectively they arrived at a third‑and‑three on the Massillon 21.

Phillips dropped back to pass and bobbled the snap, and the Tigers were fortunate to recover his fumble.

Now it was third‑and‑five. The Tigers gambled on the big play, sending Jerome Myricks down the right sideline on a fly pattern. Fabianich’s bomb was out of his reach at the 40.

With just under four minutes left, Ken Hawkins punted to the Fitch 41. Fitch stalled on three plays, and the Tigers regained possession on a punt at their own 31 with 1:27 left.

The situation dictated pass, Maronto hoped to cross up the Falcons with a couple of runs, but Harris gained only a yard on first down, and Norris was stopped after two yards on a second‑down draw play.

The Tigers gambled with the bomb again on third down, but Bart Letcavits couldn’t catch up to Fabianich’s missile.

“They crossed us up when the monster wound up playing the weak side when we threw that pass,” Hartman said. “It was either a fortunate accident by them or a very good guess.”

The game began with both teams moving the ball well. Fitch’s initial drive stalled on the Tigers’ 31, and Massillon’s first possession ended with Norris kicking a low line drive on a 32‑yard field goal attempt. Norris was handling the place‑kicking as a result of Todd Manion having been injured when he was hit by a practice kick during pregame warmups.

Fitch turned its second possession into a score, driving 80 yards in 10 plays, with Smith going the final 10 yards on a sprint draw. Chris Berni’s PAT boot made it 7‑0 with 8:02 left in the first half.

Harris made a sparkling return on the ensuing kickoff, and the Tigers set up on their own 44. Four nice runs by Harris and a 20‑yard Fabianich‑to‑Siegenthaler completion to the 11 led to a two‑yard TD burst by Norris. Norris hit the PAT kick badly, and the score stayed at 7‑6 with 4:29 left in the half.

A short kickoff triggered another Fitch drive, but Wilson’s interception intervened.

Manion’s loss was not a clear blow initially. Norris has shown great promise as a kicker.

“I was kicking the ball well before the game,” Norris said. “It wound up being just one of those nighs.”
I
Fitch wound up with a 225‑132 lead in rushing yards, a statistic under-scored by Fitch’s lead of 29:47 to 18:13 edge in time of possession. Hawkins led the way with 91 yards in 19 carries.

Harris led he Tiger ground game with 96 yards in 19 trips, but the other Massillon backs were held in check.

Phillips completed six of 14 passes for 108 yards, Fabianich four of eight tosses for 50 yards.

“Phillips was a great quarterback,” said Tiger defensive tackle Duane Crenshaw. “They made some good plays. We made some good plays. It was one of those games where it looks like the last team that has the ball will win.

“Now we’ve got to regroup. We’ll come back.”

The Tiger’ remaining games are against Cleveland St. Joseph (4‑1), Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary (2‑3), Perry (5‑1) and McKinley (5‑1).

The comeback won’t be easy.

FITCH 21
MASSILLON 19

M F
First downs rushing 8 13
First downs passing 2 5
First downs by penalty 1 1
Total first downs 11 19
Yards gained rushing 139 246
Yards lost rushng 7 21
Net yards rushing 132 225
Net yards passing 50 108
Total yards gained 182 333
Passes completed 4 6
Passes int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 4 4
Kickoff average 40.5 42.5
Kickoff return yards 59 57
Punts 3 2
Punting average 38.3 34.0
Punt return yards 1 3
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 1 1
Fumbles lost 0 0
Penalties 5 10
Yards penalized 52 73
Touchdowns rushing 2 3
Touchdowns passing 0 0
Miscellaneous touchdowns 0 0
Number of plays 43 63
Time of possession 18:13 29:47
Attendance 10,998

FITCH 0 7 8 6 21
MASSILLON 0 12 0 7 19

1985: Massillon 30, Barberton 20

September 28, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Fabianich: “We’re a team”
Tigers bounce back in Rubber Bowl vs. Magics

BY STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

AKRON ‑ Maybe Saturday night’s 30‑20 victory over the Barberton Magics doesn’t mean it’s time for fans of the Massillon Tigers to get carried away.

Or maybe it does.

“I can feel McKinley week coming on,” tailback Michael Harris said in the locker room at the Rubber Bowl, where the gleeful Tigers were bouncing off the walls.

“This is the kind of game that gets you psyched,” said fullback Derick Newman, who scored three touchdowns and hammered out 123 rushing yards.

“This is the greatest feeling,” said quarterback Paul Fabianich, who engineered the Tigers’ march to a 4‑1 record, the same mark with which Barberton was left. “We’re a team. We’ve finally come together.”

Just when it looked as though the season was falling apart.

The first half had the orange army in the east stands feeling blue. Barberton scored touchdowns with 31 seconds and 14 seconds left in the half to take a 20‑9 lead.

The pleasant autumn evening which drew 12,500 to the Rubber Bowl seemed to belong to the Barberton offense.

A rerun of 1981 was developing. That season, Barberton handed the Tigers their second loss, putting the season on the skids.

In the bowels of the Rubber Bowl, Tiger head coach John Maronto did a “gut check” while the bands blared away on the artificial rug outside.

“Coach told us to keep our heads up, and we had ‘em up,” Newtown said.

“We worked to hard all summer to be down,” added Wes Siegenthaler. “We knew at halftime that we had to come together and beat somebody’s butts as a team.”

The road back took most of the third quarter to bear fruit. With 3:41 left in the period, Fabianich sneaked in on first and goal from the one. Newman took a quick handoff and went straight up the middle on a two point conversion run.

Now it was 20‑17.

Barberton wasn’t dead.

A 40‑yard kickoff return set up the Magics in good field position. They made a first down as they crossed midfield. But on first down, Tiger tackle Duane Crenshaw sacked Magic quarterback Joe Underation, setting up a Barberton punt.

The boot pinned the Tigers at their own 15 with the third quarter running out.

Things didn’t look good when tailback Mike Norris was thrown for a yard loss. But the Tigers came right back to Norris on a pitch left, and he broke into the clear for a 55‑yard gain that may have been the game’s biggest play.

Norris’ run served as a comment on the Tigers’ depth at running back. Norris was in the game because Harris had suffered a hand injury on the previous series. Harris started the game because Cornell Jackson remained sidelined while recovering from knee surgery.

The 55‑yard gain was followed by a no‑gain play to Crenshaw.

The second and 10 pickle spawned another big play.

Fabianich rolled right and looked for split end Bart Letcavits, who broke wide open on a flag pattern near the right corner of the end zone. A well thrown ball and a lunging catch resulted in a 30‑yard gain and a first down at the 1.

Crenshaw flew into the end zone on the next play. The PAT kick failed, but the Tigers led 23-20 with 10:39 left in the game.

Massillon got the ball back two plays later on Ettore Scassa’s fumble recovery at the Barberton 41. The Tigers stalled and had to punt, setting up Barberton’s chance for a last hurrah.

The Magics took over on Massillon only punt of the night at their own 17 with 5:40 left. They needed three to send the game into overtime and a TD for the win.

Pat Boone, a speedball tailback, immediately rushed 13 yards to the 30. But then Boone was stuffed for no gain, and Underation threw incomplete.

On third and 10, Underation bee-lined a strike to Charlie Ries over the middle, but the ball hit Ries in the chest and bounced away incomplete at the 45.

The Magics had to punt, and that’s bad news just about any time Siegenthaler is on the receiving end.

Siegenthaler turned what looked like nothing into a 26‑yard punt return, and the Tigers set up camp on the Barberton 36 with four minutes left.

Tigers bounce back, win

Newman plowed for two short gains before taking a third‑and‑five pitch over the right side for 31 yards and a touchdown.

Todd Manion’s kick made it 30‑20 at the 2:34 mark, and those wearing purple jackets started a mass exodus.

They missed out on some mass confusion. With less than half a minute left, Siegenthaler was roughed up after carrying for a yard. He came up, swinging, touching off a wild brawl that carried on for three minutes.

“They were taking their shots, and one guy chopped me in the throat and kicked me in the stomach after the tackle had been made,” Siegenthaler explained. “I got up, and people were coming from everywhere.”

When the smoke cleared, the officials wisely elected to end the game even though there were 10 seconds left.

In the end, there was no love lost between the teams. The players were ushered off the field, but some of the coaches stuck around to shake hands. When two Barberton coaches refused to shake hands with two Massillon coaches, angry words exchanged by the rival brain trusts.

“It was an unfortunate way for the game to end,” said Barberton head coach Jack Foltz. “But these two teams have been meeting for a long time. Feelings can run pretty hot.”

The brawl seemed to heighten the ball the Tigers had in the locker room.

The noise was deafening.

“We made a couple of bad mistakes in the first half,” Moronic said. “But we stuck with the game plan. We never compromised, and we got some tremendous efforts.

“I knew that if we were going to be a good football team we’d have to show a lot of maturity, and we showed that tonight.”

Barberton lived up to advance bill as an outstanding offensive team early, driving 71 yards in eight plays for a score after taking the opening kickoff. A fake kick backfired, and the missed PAT left the score at 6-0.

Bart Letcavits’ interception set up a 56‑yard Massillon march that produced a 23‑yard field goal by Manion on the final play of the first quarter. The score stood at 6‑3.

The Magics then started on their own 20 but were stuffed and had to punt from the 10. Siegenthaler’s 16‑yard return gave the Tigers the ball on the Magics 32. Seven runs by Newman and Harris punched the ball into the end zone, Newman going in from the one. Manion’s PAT kick was wide right, but the Tigers led 9‑6 with 7:36 left in the half.

The Magics then launched an impressive, 77‑yard drive that took 16 plays and ended with a five‑yard TD pass from Underation to Boone. Underation’s kick made it 13‑9 Barberton with just 31 seconds left in the half.

Disaster struck as Siegenthaler fumbled while returning the kickoff, giving Barberton the ball at the 21. On the first play, Underation zipped a perfect pass to Ries in the end zone.

Underation’s PAT boot gave Barberton a stunning 20‑9 lead with 14 seconds left in the half.

The Tigers dominated the statistics, leading 314‑210 in total yards, 13‑9 in first downs and 284‑97 in rushing yards.

The rushing total was a reflection of the Tigers’ offensive line playing its best rest game.

The beneficiaries were Newman, who gained his 118 yards in 23 carries, Harris, who rambled 78 yards in 14 carries, and Norris, who traveled 75 yards in seven trips.

Boone picked up 69 yards in 16 carries and fullback Roy Ferguson added 50 yards in 12 totes for Barberton.

And now, the schedule gets interesting.

The Tigers face a four‑game home stretch against Austintown‑Fitch, Cleveland St. Joseph, Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary and Perry, then head to Fawcett Stadium to take on McKinley.

The win over Barberton was electrifying.

But the Tigers will need to produce some magic of their own to keep their loss total at “l” when McKinley week arrives.

Massillon beats Barberton

Massillon outscored Barberton 21‑0 in the second half to gain a come‑from‑behind, 30‑20 non‑league victory in high school football Saturday night at the Rubber Bowl.

The Magics, ranked third in the Beacon Journal’s Division I‑II poll, suffered their first loss of the season after four victories. Massillon, ranked 10th in the poll, is also 4-1.

Barberton took the opening kickoff and drove 63 yards touchdown on a 4‑yard run by Pat Boone.

The Tigers came back for a 9-6 lead on a 23‑yard field goal by Todd Manion and a 1‑yard touchdown ran by Derick Newman.

Barberton regained the lead when quarterback Joe Underation threw a 5‑yard touchdown pass to Boone with 39 seconds left in the first half. The Tigers fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Barberton’s Jeff Graves recovered at Massillon’s 21‑yard line.

The Magics capitalized the next play with a 21‑yard touchdown pass from Underation to Charlie Ries with 14 seconds left, giving Barberton a 20-9 halftime lead.

However, Massillon took control of the game in the second half. Tigers quarterback Paul Fabianich scored on a 1‑yard run in the third quarter, and Newman rushed for two TDs in the fourth quarter. Newman rushed for a game‑high 118 yards on 23 carries.

Category: <span>History</span>