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1954: Massillon 18, Mansfield 0

October 15, 1954July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Snarling Tigers Claw Mansfield 18-0
Orange and Black Play Best Game Of Season In Defeating Old Rival

By LUTHER EMERY

The Tiger is snarling again.

It bared its fangs at Mansfield Friday evening and whipped the team to which it was supposed to lose.

The score was 18-0 and a stunned Mansfield crowd couldn’t believe it. Neither could many Massillon fans who traveled the 55 miles to Mansfield fully expecting to see the orange and black lose.

But the Tiger became of age last night, played as it hasn’t at anytime this season and deserves a better rating among the Ohio high schools next week.

A surprising turnout of 12,600 fans attended the game, and unless you are dripping at the neck, running at the nose, feeling the need for a new hair wave, shoe shine or suit press, you can’t appreciate the kind of night it was nor the job turned in by the football team.
* * *
THE MASSILLON gridders gave their all. The linemen charged as they haven’t before this season and to say they ate up the gridiron isn’t speaking figuratively. A look at their faces in the locker room after the game and you would know what we mean.

They were caked with mud as though prepared for a clay massage, except that they had it in their eyes and teeth too. But they were a happy bunch. It’s been a long time since a Massillon team let go with as much enthusiasm after a game as the Tigers did last night. They knew they had accomplished something – something many had said they couldn’t – and had won a big victory. They knew they were now the football team they have been striving to be, and they were happy about it.

No sooner had the last gun been fired until they made a rush for the bench, grabbed their young coach Tom Harp, hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him off the field.

In the dressing room they cheered, whooped it up, congratulated each other and accepted the congratulations of fans who poured in. For a time it was bedlam, and anyone in the dressing room during those minutes came out with a souvenir of the gridiron – badly soiled clothes from brushing against the slimy suits of the players.

The student body, whom we have thought has not been enthusiastic as it should be, warmed up – did it before the team ever left for Mansfield we were told – and went all out in its support of the eleven last night.

Students and band lingered around the stadium after most other fans had left to play and cheer.
* * *
THE FIRST Massillon team to go into a game as underdog in years, the Tigers let it be known quickly that they shouldn’t have been placed there.

They scored the second time they came in possession of the ball with seven minutes and five seconds of the first period remaining to be played when Ron Boekel raced 54 yards down the sidelines for a touchdown, out-running (and we still can’t believe it) the fleet-footed Willie Mack and Wilmer Fowler, the track men of the Mansfield team.

They shoved over another from the two-yard line on the first play of the second quarter when Jerry Yoder carrying the ball after covering Fowler’s fumble on the 14. And the third came with only 30 seconds gone of the fourth quarter when Yoder did some fancy stepping around left end for 13 yards.

Bob Williams’ foot skidded off the ball on three extra point attempts but as it turned out it did not matter save to pull down his own conversion average.

That’s a thumbnail sketch of the TD’s, but what went into them and what preserved them calls for a lot more explaining.

Coach Harp had particular praise for the play of the line after the game was well as the defense and the ball handling of Quarterback Rich Crescenze. While Rich fumbled a few handoffs of the slimy ball, Harp thought he did “excellent all-around work, considering the condition of the pigskin.”
* * *
THE LINE, as we have said before, did play its best, and the defense put on some good
old-fashioned snowball tackling that many times stopped Mansfield players in their tracks, or off their tracks, and resulted in fumbles.

To hold three ball carriers like Mack, Fowler and Fullback Jim Witherspoon to 92 net yards on the ground, is doing a lot of tackling, and that’s what the Tigers did last night.

And the linemen opened enough holes to permit Massillon backs to romp 140 net yards.

The Tigers were opportunists last night. They were alert, recovering all six of their own fumbles and covering four Mansfield fumbles.

Their ball hawking ability stopped Mansfield drives including the latter’s first effort when in two first downs it moved the ball from its 28 to the Massillon 39. There it stopped when linebacker Bob Tracy pounced on a fumble on his own 42. Two plays later, Boekel was on his way to the first touchdown on the game.

Ball hawking by Yoder, who pounced on Fowler’s fumble of a lateral on the 14, set up the second touchdown and Joe Holloway ended another Mansfield effort when he covered a fumble by Fowler on the Tiger 45. A fourth Mansfield fumble of a punt was covered by the Tigers late in the fourth quarter, but by that time players were so daubed alike with mud we couldn’t tell who got on the ball.
* * *
AHEAD 12-0 at the end of the half, the Tigers were the fresher the second half and with victory in sight and their ambition realized, seemed to gain in strength the older the game got. At the end they were driving again, having just made their ninth first down of the game in midfield. Mansfield chalked up six first downs during the night.

Because of the wet conditions of the field and the slippery ball, the Tigers for the most part played close to the cuff. They got reckless a couple of times with laterals, one of which brought a much needed first down on the two-yard line, but they didn’t try a single forward pass. For that matter Mansfield only threw one and completed it for a gain of 24 yards.

In playing it safe, the Tigers for the most part punted on third down and, Tom Stephens the kicker, deserves a pat-on-the-back for the way he booted the muddy ball. He averaged 10 more yards than his Mansfield adversary and he got away one booming kick of 48 yards for the line of scrimmage early in the game.

Mansfield, previously undefeated and conqueror of Warren 42-7 last week, had high hopes of winning the state championship this year. The defeat, its first of the season was particularly disappointing to team and fans, one of whom said, “Massillon just has the Indian sign on us.”

The Tygers have only won one game of the series which began in 1936. That was a 16-12 victory in 1949 when Augie Morningstar, now of Massillon, was coaching the Richland county team.
* * *
AT THE CONCLUSION of the 1953 season Mansfield had said it would play Massillon the week before the Massillon-Canton McKinley game or not at all. This wasn’t to the liking of ex-Coach Chuck Mather last year or Tom Harp this year. After Massillon had filled the usual Mansfield date for 1955 with Toledo Waite, Mansfield had a change of heart and suggested a game with the Tigers for the third week in October. A contract which the local team had planned to send to East Liverpool for that date was held up at Mansfield’s request. After last night’s game it is possible that Mansfield will have another change of heart.

At any rate, Coach Bill Peterson after the game told Harp, “we’ll play you the week before the Canton game or not at all.”

So, maybe last night’s game did break the chain of relations.

It was a cleanly played game and neither tam sustained any serious injuries. In fact, the Tigers had none. That’s what usually happens in football when you hit the other fellow harder than he hits you.

A brief resume of the quarters goes like this:
First Quarter
The Tigers received, bringing the kickoff back to the 36 but were forced to punt. Stephens got off a good boot to the Mansfield 28 and the latter rolled up two first downs before fumbling. Tracy covering on the Tiger 42. Boekel hit for four and then went 54 for a touchdown.

The Tigers kicked off and Mansfield got back to the Massillon 42, before a pitchout lost 15 yards and it was forced to punt. The kick went almost straight up, the Tigers getting the ball on the Mansfield 49. Homer Floyd raced to the 30, almost getting loose, but a 15-yard clipping penalty was slapped on Massillon to end the threat. Stephens was thrown for a
12-yard loss attempting to punt, but he got the next one away to the Mansfield 22. Fowler fumbled the first play and Yoder was on the ball for Massillon on the 14. Boekel hit for four and Yoder got one. Then Floyd on a pitchout went to a first down on the two-yard line and there the quarter ended.
Second Quarter
On the first play of the second period Yoder went over for the T.D.

The Tygers got the kickoff and worked the ball up to the Massillon 47, where they were thrown backward twice in a row with Holloway finally getting the ball for Massillon on a fumble.

The teams exchanged punts with neither threatening anymore in the period.
Third Quarter
Mansfield entered the third period without Fowler and he didn’t play the rest of the game.

The teams exchanged punts to start the period, the Tigers having the better of the exchange and getting the ball on the Mansfield 45. They got down to the 30, only to be penalized back to where they started from for clipping. Floyd went for 20, however, and with Boekel and Yoder helping got down to the 16-yard line as the period ended.
Fourth Quarter
Floyd picked up a first down on the 11 and Yoder went the rest of the way around left end with the help of a beautiful block that set him free.

Mansfield made its only serious scoring threat after that. A 25-yard pass, the only one of the night, Mack to Wilbur Hightower, produced a first down on the 28. The Tygers in three more plays got a first down on the 17 and here Massillon braced, threw back four running plays and took over the ball on the 10. The Tigers just kept it the rest of the game, moving to the Mansfield 46 as the game ended, thanks to recovery of a fumbled punt.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Houston, R. Williams, Canary, Lorch, Francisco.
TACKLES – B. Williams, Hill, Schumacher.
GUARDS – Maier, Holloway, Tracy.
CENTERS – Spicer, morrow.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, James.
HALFBACKS – Floyd, Yoder, Fromholtz, Stephens, Stavroff.
FULLBACKS – Boekel, Cocklin.

MANSFIELD
ENDS – K. Wilson, Franta, Burton, Beabout.
TACKLES – Elmas, Moore, R. Johnson, Cooks.
GUARDS – Komjenovich, Senokoslieff.
CENTERS – Gouge, Orosen.
QUARTERBACK – Earnest.
HALFBACKS – Mack, Fowler, Hightower, Bonner, R. Thompson, Dillon, E. Wilson.
FULLBACKS – Witherspoon, Sherrer.

Score by quarters:
Massillon 6 6 0 6 18

Touchdowns – Yoder 2, Boekel.

Officials
Don Kock (Lima).
George Donges (Ashland).
C.H. Speid (Findlay).
Dave Kocker (Akron).

STATISTICS
Mass. Mansf.
First downs 9 7
Passes attempted 0 1
Passes completed 0 1
Yards gained passing 0 25
Yards gained rushing 167 124
Total yards gained 167 149
Yards lost 27 32
Net yards gained 140 117
Times punted 6 4
Average punt (yards) 33 23
Yards punts returned by 0 26
Times kicked off 4 1
Average kickoff (yards) 25 52
Yards kickoffs returned by 8 38
Times fumbled 6 4
Lost ball on fumble 0 4
Times penalized 6 5
Yards penalized 50 45

1954: Massillon 28, Steubenville 0

October 8, 1954July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tiger Gridders Defeat Big Red 28-0
Orange And Black Seal Verdict By Outplaying Foe In Third Period

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high Tigers completely outclassed Steubenville for five minutes Friday evening and won a 28-0 victory.

That hardly seems possible but that is just about the way it happened.

The smallest crowd of the season, a disappointing 10,420 fans, turned out for the game which ended football relations between the two schools.

The Tigers achieved their goal of winding it up with a victory, but they were hard pressed for a time to do it.

They scored their first touchdown on the last play of the first half as Halfback Homer Floyd raced 75 yards to score. Time expired while he was somewhere en route. Then with a devastating attack, they ripped Steubenville for three touchdowns in the short space of five minutes in the third period, two of them on runs of 84 and 30 yards by Floyd and another on a little buck through center by Quarterback Rich Crescenze.

Bit Bob Williams kicked all four extra points after touchdown from placement and that’s all there was to it.
* * *
BATTLING in their effort to win at least one game of the 18-game series, Steubenville put up quite a scrap against the Tigers, and save for the local team’s one touchdown effort in the first half, had a little the better of the play. Even on that one there was questionable clipping which brought a mild protest from the Steubenville bench, though it in no way figured in the play and occurred nearly 10 yards behind the ball carrier.

The Big Red threatened three times, twice in the first half and once in the last period. Intercepted passes ended two of the threats and a fumble stopped the third. The nearest the visitors got was 10 yards from the goal line.

So the series has been ended by Steubenville without it having won a game in all the years of play since 1937, and the Tigers getting back on the victory road after their loss, first in 26 games last week at Alliance. It was No. 3 in four games for the Tigers and No. 3 in four games in reverse for the Big Red, whose only triumph was a decision over Cleveland East Tech last week.

The Tigers had a considerable margin in yardage thanks to Floyd who totaled 180 of the locals 399 net yards. Steubenville had a net gain of 195 yards.

The revamped Tiger offense didn’t click too well the first half, and Coach Tom Harp wound up by putting his star runner, Homer Floyd back at halfback. He did most of the gaining, though Don Duke and Jerry Yoder, who started at the halfback spot, picked up some yardage the first two periods.
* * *
DISAPPOINTING from a Massillon standpoint was its passing attack which has been practically nil the last two weeks. Nine were thrown and only two completed for seven yards. Steubenville completed five of 12 for 77 yards.

Best pass uncorked by the Tigers all night produced a touchdown that didn’t count because a Massillon player was offside. Sub Quarterback Don Humes threw to Bob Williams who ran to the 20 and tossed a backward pass to End Bob Jones just as he was about to be tackled. Jones went the rest of the distance. The whole play would have been good for 63 yards.

The Tigers won without being sharp. Steubenville stopped them cold inside the tackles in addition to throttling the local’s aerial weapons. Floyd was the difference. It looked like a scoreless first half until he got away for his 75-yarder. Up to that time the Tigers hadn’t gotten closer than the Stubber 40, while the latter knocked twice on the Massillon goal.

Out-charging the Massillon team, the visitors got down to the 15 in the middle of the second period but Dick Fromholtz ended the threat when he pulled down Quarterback White’s pass behind the goal. Then after the Big Red had recovered a Massillon fumble on t he latter’s 44, White whipped a long pass that Don Wilson caught on the 12, but he fumbled when tackled and Tom Stephens covered for the Tigers. Even the Big Red had the local team stopped but jumped offside when Massillon shifted into a punt formation. The five-yard penalty gave the Tigers a first down and two plays later Floyd ambled 75 yards for the first touchdown with time expiring while he was on the loose. That’s just how close it came to being a scoreless first half.
* * *
IT WAS ALTOGETHER different in the third period however. “Between halves we figured out what Steubenville was doing,” said Harp, “made our corrections and things went all right until they changed on us again.”

Things did go all right. The Tigers kicked off but Stavroff got them the ball by intercepting a pass and running back to the Big Red 40. Floyd and Yoder took turns carrying until they reached the two and Crescenze sneaked it over from that point.

The Tigers kicked off, forced Steubenville to punt, the ball rolling dead on the 16. On the first play Floyd went 84 yards for the orange and black’s third T.D.

They kicked off again and Steubenville fumbled the kickoff on the 30. Dick Roan flopped on it and on the first play Floyd again went for the distance.

What looked like a severe rout for the Big Red stopped there and it got funny, when neither team appeared to want the ball, each throwing passes into opponents’ arms.

Steubenville did manage to penetrate to the 10-yard line before another interception by Stavroff stopped the threat. The Tigers’ only effort in the fourth quarter has already been explained, the lateral off a forward that was not allowed because of an offside penalty.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Lorch, R. Williams, Jones, Francisco, Houston.
TACKLES – B. Williams, Hill, Blocher, Schumacher, Graber.
GUARDS – R. Ramier, Holloway, Tracy, Fisher.
CENTERS – Spicer, Roan, Morrow.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, Humes, James.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Yoder, Fromholtz, Stavroff, Stephens.
FULLBACKS – Floyd, Boekel, Cocklin.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – Wilson, Fulton.
TACKLES – Pettresa, Crawford, Ensell.
GUARDS – Goffali, Starr, Jones, Copps, Anathan, Glannamore, Haverfield.
CENTERS – Moncilovich, Giamnrarco.
BACKS – White, Ray, Ross, Morgan, Porter, Jeter, Yates,
Sizemore, Collins, Callas.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 7 21 0 26

Touchdowns – Floyd 3, Crescenze.

Points after touchdowns – Williams 4 (placekicks).

Officials
Referee – Tony Pianowski (Cleveland).
Umpire – Jerry Katherman, Jr. (Cleveland).
Head Linesman – Earl Schreiber (Canton).
Field Judge – W.K. Dunton (Warren).

STATISTICS
Mass. Steub.
First downs 16 10
Passes attempted 9 12
Had passes intercepted 2 4
Passes completed 2 5
Yards gained passing 7 77
Yards gained rushing 422 123
Total yards gained 429 200
Yards lost 30 5
Net yards gained 399 195
Times punted 1 4
Average punt (yards) 33 41
Yard punts returned by 0 0
Times kicked off 5 1
Average kickoff (yards) 48 48
Yards kickoffs returned by 18 84
Times fumbled 6 4
Lost ball on fumbles 3 3
Times penalized 1 3
Yards penalized. 5 15

1954: Massillon 7, Alliance 19

October 1, 1954July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Alliance Ends Tiger Winning Streak
Aviators Triumph 19-7 To Break Massillon’s String of 25 Victories

By LUTHER EMERY

Mel Knowlton was king of Alliance today and his Aviators were flying high.

Before an overflow crowd of 11,000 fans that expected to see anything happen, the Alliance high school gridders cut Massillon’s 25-game winning streak in Mount Union stadium Friday night by handing the Washington high Tigers a 19-7 defeat.

Two well placed bombs did it.

They were thrown by veteran Quarterback Bill Offenbecher to receivers Frank Kracher and Bob Reda, who made virtually impossible catches as they took the ball out of the arms of Massillon defenders and fell inside the five-yard line.
* * *
IT TOOK all the might Alliance could muster from there on to score. Four downs to make one yard for the first one, three downs plus a penalty to the one-yard line to get the second. But it was enough. The Tigers were licked. The third T.D. coming when it did, didn’t matter.

It was an uphill game for Alliance because Massillon scored first on a 69-yard run by Homer Floyd with only five minutes gone in the first period.

And big Bob Williams made the lead 7-0 by kicking the extra point squarely between the uprights.

Alliance struck back with its first scoring effort in the last two minutes of the quarter after Offenbecher had passed 39 yards to Kracher for a first down on the one. Speedy Tom Barnett barely got over on fourth down to end a valiant Massillon goal line stand. Don Slusser, of the Aviators had his try for extra point blocked by End Jim Houston of Massillon.

And there the scored stood at 7-6 until four minutes had expired of the fourth period. Then again Offenbecher pitched and this time Reda caught the ball on the five-yard
line – a 35-yard pass. The Tigers appeared to have the Aviators grounded until they got too eager and drew an offside penalty that gave Alliance a first down on the one-yard line, Barnett went around right end to score, and Slusser kicked the extra point to put his team in front 13-7.

The Tigers couldn’t get past midfield after that and yielded the ball to Alliance on downs on the Massillon 42. The Aviators went all the way this time with Joel Plummer crossing up the local team as he raced 25 yards on a double reverse to score Alliance’s third touchdown.
* * *
THAT WAS IT. There were only four minutes left and everyone knew as they were being ticked off that the Tigers didn’t have a chance to catch up.

The final gun was a signal for one happy man.

He said he was waiting for this one, thought his team played well and thought the turning point of the game came in the early minutes of the third period when Alliance covered a Massillon fumble when the Tigers ahead 7-6, were driving for a second touchdown on the 12-yard line.
* * *
THE MASSILLON dressing room was the quietest it has been since the evening at Warren in 1951 when the Panthers handed the Tigers their last defeat prior to last night. Since then Massillon teams had won 25 games in a row, three at the end of the 1951 season, 10 each in 1952 and 1953 and two this season.

Now Alliance has ended the streak and as Coach Tom Harp told his players, ‘We will have to start all over.”

Harp complimented Alliance for having a good football team and the two pass snatchers, Kracker and Reda, for their efforts. “We had both of them pretty well covered,” he said, “but they came out with the ball. We lost to a good team.”

The Tiger coach didn’t like the fumble call on Floyd when Alliance was given the pigskin on its own 12, thus ending a Massillon scoring threat which had it succeeded might have changed the outcome. He felt the ball was down and that it should not have been ruled a fumble.

It was one of a series of breaks that went against the Tigers last night. They lost the ball four times on fumbles, had a pass intercepted and were penalized a couple of times when it hurt most.

But that is football and is not intended to take anything away from Alliance.

After all, the Tigers had reached the 12-yard line by recovering an Alliance fumble, on the 21, the only one made by the Aviators all night.
* * *
THE GENERAL run of the game was similar to the Alliance victory of 1948 with the Massillon team spurting and sputtering and the Aviators gaining momentum and playing their hearts out when they saw victory in sight.

The defeat was Harp’s first as a Massillon coach and he should not feel too badly about it because a couple of Massillon’s greatest coaches also suffered their first losses to Alliance, Paul Brown in 1932 and Chuck Mather in 1948. After that they became masters of the Aviators and were never beaten by them again.

Save for letting Alliance get away with the two long passes, the Tigers played a pretty good defensive game. They kept the reputable Alliance ball carriers bottled up most of the time and on only a couple of occasions did the Aviators break loose. The Tigers yielded only 67 net yards on the ground but gave away 79 in passing to give Alliance 146-net yards gained. The locals did a little better, largely the result of Floyd’s 69-yard run. They gained 145 net yards on the ground and 14 passing for 159 net yards.

First downs were six to six.

Actually the Tigers threatened but twice, the time they scored and the time they recovered the Alliance fumble and got to the 12 before fumbling themselves. Otherwise they were bottled up for the most part in their own back yard.
* * *
MOST FANS wondered about a Massillon play in the second period when the ball flew high in the air as it was centered. The center thought Alliance offside and passed it to get a five-yard penalty, but the officials thought differently.

Then there was a little rhubarb at the end of the second half when Alliance uncorked a screen pass that took the ball deep into Massillon territory. Time expired as the play was in motion and Massillon was offside on the play. The officials ruled that Alliance could either take the gain of some 50 yards or the five-yard penalty.

However, if it took the gain, the half would be over, but if it took the penalty it would be able to run one more play. So it took the penalty. Knowlton protested that he should have been given another play from the point of the gain.

The local team came out of the game in fairly good condition. Quarterback Rich Crescenze had a pair of black eyes and was ill and there were the usual bruises and bumps. None, however, appeared serious.

The squad ate in Canton on the trip home. Appetites aren’t as big when you lose and the food not as good, the players learned.

Briefly, here is a quick resume of the game:
FIRST QUARTER
Massillon won the toss and received. After an exchange of punts the Tigers got the ball on their 26. Floyd gained five yards and on third down raced 69 yards around his right end to score. Bob Williams kicked the extra point.
Massillon 7, Alliance 8.
Massillon kicked off to Alliance and the Aviators came all the way from their 37, getting a first down on the Massillon 41 and then the Offenbecher to Kracker pass for 39 yards and a first down on the one. Three times the Aviators crashed the Tiger line but were thrown back. On fourth down Barnett got over by inches. Slusser missed the attempted placekick.
Massillon 7, Alliance 6

SECOND QUARTER
After a kickoff and exchange of punts Massillon got into Alliance territory but, with a yard needed for first down, lost the ball on a play mix-up and Alliance took over on its 44. The Aviators w ere forced to punt and Alliance intercepted a Crescenze pass on the Tigers’ 20. The locals stopped the threat and took over on the 11. Neither team threatened anymore in the period.
THIRD PERIOD
Alliance fumbled on the second play after the kickoff and Floyd covered on the 21. In three plays Floyd was on the Alliance 12 when the officials ruled he was not down as he fumbled and Alliance took over. Alliance made one first down before it punted, and the Tigers came back over the midfield stripe with the ball only to lose it on a fumble on the Alliance 44.
FOURTH QUARTER
Alliance gambled for two yards on fourth down and got it on the Massillon 44. Then came the Offenbecher to Reda pass that gained a first on the five. Plummer hit once for a yard, tried again and got another yard but Alliance was offside and penalized back to the nine. Plummer gained three. On the next play the Tigers were offside and Alliance was given the ball on the one. This time Barnett made it around right end. Slusser kicked the extra point and Alliance went to the front 13-7.

Eight minutes remained to be played. The Tigers brought the kickoff back to their 31 and Floyd got up to a first down on his 43. There the attack fizzled as a recovered fumble lost two yards. Boekel failed to gain, a pass was grounded and an attempt to carry on fourth down fell short. Alliance took over on the Massillon 42, worked it to the 25 and Plummer went the rest of the way on a double reverse. Slusser missed the try for point.
Alliance 19, Massillon 7
Massillon made one first down after the kickoff on a screen pass to Floyd that took the ball to the Tiger 38, but a pitch-out went wide and lost eight yards and the locals wound up punting to Alliance. The game ended after one play.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Lorch, Williams, Houston, Jones, Francisco.
TACKLES – R. Williams, Hill, Moore, Schumacher.
GUARDS – Holloway, R. Maier, Tracy, Fisher.
CENTERS – Spicer, Morrow, Roan.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, James.
HALFBACKS – Fromholtz, Floyd, Stavroff, Brown, Duke, Stephens, Yoder.
FULLBACKS – Boekel, Archibald.

STATISTICS
Mass. All.
First downs 6 6
Passes attempted 7 6
Passes completed 1 3
Had passes intercepted 1 0
Yards gained passing 14 79
Yards gained rushing 162 83
Total yards gained 176 162
Yards lost 17 16
Net yards gained 159 146
Times punted 4 4
Average punt (yards) 40 32
Yards punts returned by 0 22
Times kicked off 2 4
Average kickoff (yards) 38 47
Yards kickoffs returned by 62 10
Lost ball on fumbles 4 1
Times penalized 4 5
Times fumbled 5 1
Yards penalized 30 35

1954: Massillon 47, Canton Lincoln 0

September 24, 1954July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Beat Lincoln 47-0 for 25th Straight
Floyd Romps To Three Touchdowns; Lions Fail To Reach 50-Yard Line

By LUTHER EMERY

Scoring twice in every period with the exception of the second, the Washington high school Tigers chalked up their 25th victory in a row Friday night when they defeated Canton Lincoln 47-0 before a crowd of 11,347 fans.

Sparked by Homer Floyd, veteran back, who got all three touchdowns, scored in the first half, the local gridders were masters of Lincoln from the start and whipped them just as badly in the statistical column as on the scoreboard.

Though the offense of the varsity seemed to bog down midway in the third period, the Tigers never-the-less finished with a net gain of 357 yards while the Lions wound up with a net of 47. First downs were 16 to 4.

The small amount of yardage gained by the visiting team stands as a testimony to the Tiger defense which had Lincoln bottled up throughout the night. Not once did the Lions get over the midfield stripe and they were forced to punt five times, one of which was blocked. The Tigers didn’t punt the entire game.
* * *
THE MASSILLON offense flashed at times and sputtered on other occasions; the same for the downfield blocking. A lot of crisp blocks helped turn some of the ball carriers loose, but Jerry Yoder made the fifth touchdown by fighting his way alone for 18 yards.

When the first team slowed down Coach Tom Harp tossed in his second team and the eager beavers put over two touchdowns in the fourth period the last one with only three seconds remaining to be played. It was a 31-yard pass by Don Humes that Bob Williams caught in the end zone.

Floyd was the difference between the teams the first half. He went 32 yards the fist time he carried the ball and raced 51 yards for the Tigers’ third score.

Anchored by Dave Muntean, Lincoln put up a stiffer defense than did Struthers last week which was beaten 68-0 by the Tigers. The big Canton end caused the locals a lot of trouble and tossed Rich Crescenze for a 16-yard loss on the Tigers’ initial touchdown drive.

Crescenze crossed him up two plays later, however, when he handed off to Andy Stavroff on a statue that more than overcame the loss and gave the Tigers a first down on the 18. Ronnie Boekel lugged it to the seven and Floyd shot through tackle for the touchdown to end the drive that had its beginning on the Tiger 27. Two-thirds of the period had expired when the Tigers scored.
* * *
JOE HALLOWAY, a ball hawk, covered Dale Grinstead’s fumble on the Lions’ 28 to get the Tigers set for their second touchdown. A six-yard pass, Crescenze to Ken Lorch coupled with three line plays put the ball on the 12, where Floyd took it over with only seven seconds of the period left to play.

The Tigers scored their next TD on three plays after getting the ball on a punt on their own 35. Dick Fromholtz slipped through for three. Crescenze tossed to Lorch for 11 and a first down on the Massillon 49 and Floyd went the remaining 51 yards for the T.D.

That was all the scoring in the first half though a 31-yard pass. Crescenze to Dave Canary put the ball on the seven as intermission arrived.

The Tigers took the kickoff at the start of the third period and scored quickly. Floyd got it in position with a 53-yard run to the Lincoln nine and Dave Archibald took it over from a yard out.

Big Bob Williams started the locals to rolling for their fifth score. Backing up the line, he intercepted a Lincoln pass and took it back 10 yards to the 27. An eight-yard pass, Crescenze to Lorch helped advance the ball to the 18 from which Yoder made his spectacular run for a touchdown. Most of the Lincoln team had a hand on him at one time or another but he was able to shake himself loose and get over the goal line.
* * *
LINCOLN bristled after that and twice stopped the first team once after it had made a first down on the eight, and again after it had a first down on the 13.

So Harp tossed his second team into the game and the boys, eager for action, went right to work. With Don Duke as the spark plug they started from midfield. They ran the ball to a first on the 36, were thrown back temporarily, but a Humes to Williams pass gained 24 yards and coupled with a penalty leveled on Lincoln for roughing it, gained a first down on the one. Duke went over.

The last TD as already mentioned was scored with but three seconds showing on the clock when the play got under way. Time expired as Humes passed 31 yards to Williams in the end zone.

The Tigers emerged from the game in good condition. Ronald Boekel, fullback was injured early in the third period when temporarily knocked out by a blow on the jaw. He could have gone back into the game, but was kept on the sideline by Coach Harp. Fromholtz was removed with a leg cramp.

The Tigers did not pass as much last night as they did in their opening game. Crescenze and Humes only threw 10 times and completed six for 103 yards. One was intercepted. Lincoln tried 13 passes and completed one for seven. Two were intercepted.

The Lions showed little offensively. They only gained a total of 69 yards and were thrown for 22 yards in losses.

Harp used 35 players in t he game, doing most of his substituting the last period.

Monday he will being preparations for next Friday’s invasion of Alliance, one of the toughest teams on the Massillon schedule, which last night beat Youngstown Ursuline 45-0.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Lorch, Williams, Houston, Francisco, Jones, McConnell.
TACKLES – Williams, Hill, Maier, Graber, Kreiger, Schumacher, Blocher, Moore.
GUARDS – Russ Maier, Holloway, Fisher, Tracy, Barrett.
CENTERS – Spicer, Rohrbaugh, Roan, Morrow.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, James, Humes.
HALFBACKS – Floyd, Fromholtz, Stavroff, Yoder, Duke, Stephens.
FULLBACKS – Boekel, Archibald.

LINCOLN
ENDS – Muntean, Lombardi, Gillespie, Ellison, Alvarez, Pelger.
TACKLES – Sedlock, Mulheim, Bowen.
GUARDS – Grainger, Felton, Ross, Schmidt, Vogelsang.
CENTER – Parks.
QUARTERBACKS – Griffen, Dinkens.
HALFBACKS – Zettler, Grinstead, Care.
FULLBACKS – Worstell.

Score by periods:
Massillon 13 7 13 14 47

Touchdowns – Floyd 3; Archibald; Yoder; Duke; Williams.

Points after touchdown – Williams 5 (placekicks).

Officials
Referee – Tobin (Akron).
Umpire – Bloom (Lorain).
Head Linesman – Shopbell (Canton).
Field Judge – Murphy (Cleveland Heights)

STATISTICS
Mass. Lin.
First downs 16 4
Passes attempted 10 13
Passes completed 6 1
Had passes intercepted 1 2
Yards gained passing 103 7
Yards gained rushing 254 62
Total yards gained 357 68
Yards lost 33 22
Net yards gained 324 47
Times punted 0 5
Had punts blocked 0 1
Average punt (yards) — 33
Yards punts returned by 57 —
Times kicked off 7 1
Average kickoff (yards) 42 45
Yards kickoffs returned 17 88
Times Fumbled 3 1
Lost ball on fumbles 0 1
Times penalized 5 3
Yards penalized 35 32

1954: Massillon 68, Struthers 0

September 17, 1954July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Defeat Struthers 68-0
Massillon Gridders Get Off To Fast Start In Defense Of Title

By LUTHER EMERY

Tom Harp made his debut with the Tiger football symphony Friday evening and 9,593 fans applauded the scoring crescendo that buried Struthers high under an avalanche of points, 68-0.

It was an impressive start for the 27-yard-old coach who is now at the helm of Massillon football after but three years of understudy work at Carrollton high.

He was happy after the game, so were the fans, and more important, the boys who helped start the 1954 season with a bang whose import was being discussed long after the echo of the bombs that were shot off after the 10 touchdowns had faded.

The victory got the Tigers off to a good start in defense of the state title they have won the last six years, and 49 players had a hand in fashioning it. Harp tossed that many into the melee and the more he substituted the more the score grew. The youngsters often looked smoother than the first team that had worn down Struthers during the first two periods.

Harp, in fact kept his first team on the bench after the first few minutes of the third quarter and permitted the second, third, fourth and some of the fifth team to carry on. It prompted the prize remark of the night in the press box when one reporter chirped, “I wouldn’t want to be a member of Massillon’s first team – you don’t get to play.”
* * *
WHILE HARP was pleased after the game and was willing to be quoted so, he also followed his remarks with a note of caution that Struthers wasn’t very strong and that there are a lot tougher teams to be faced in the future, including Canton Lincoln, next Friday’s opponent in Tiger stadium.

He saw plenty of signs of improvement for his team too. He even saw them between halves of the game, when his squad took a quick look at motion pictures of the first quarter which were processed during the second period and made ready for showing when the team trotted into the locker house at intermission.

They probably didn’t contribute much “to last night’s victory because of the one-sided opposition – a Mickey Mouse film would have been just as good – but they did prove that Harold Kiplinger, the team’s photographer can get’em out on time and in a tight game may provide the squeeze that will get the Tigers through.

The locals were most effective on their sweeps and in their passing game. They scored a few gains up the middle, including the first TD, but as Harp says, they can still stand a lot of polishing.
The Tigers got off to a flashy start as though to show fans they know what this game of football is all about.

On the fourth play from scrimmage, stocky Ronald Boekel exploded up the middle for a 78-yard touchdown run, and on the very first play after the Tigers next came into possession of the ball, Homer Floyd went 79 yards to score.
* * *
THAT STARTED the parade which saw still another touchdown scored in the first period, two in the second, three and a safety in the third and two more in the fourth.

To get them the Tigers rolled up the tremendous total of 630 net yards from scrimmage to 83 net yards for Struthers. Thus the one-sided score is carried right on into the statistics. What is more, only once did Struthers get into Massillon territory. A 10-yard screen pass helped to carry the visitors to Massillon’s 38 where they were forced to punt.

Thereafter, Harp’s boys kept them shut up in their own back yard.

Fumbles and intercepted passes also helped throttle what little offense Struthers had to offer. Joe Holloway was a ball hawk as he covered at least three Struthers fumbles, and intercepted a pass.

The Tigers made 17 first downs to Struthers’ four and gained 138 yards through completion of six passes. The visitors completed five of seven passes good for 28 yards.

The Tigers punted but once, Tom Stephens booting the ball over the goal on a short kick. A shift employed for punt formation pulled Struthers offside three times. Twice they were penalized but once got back before the ball was put in play.
* * *
THE FIRST two touchdowns by Boekel and Floyd helped the yardage summary considerably. The third came late in the opening quarter after Holloway had intercepted a pass and got to the Struthers’ 40. A 15-yard clipping penalty set the locals back but Crescenze got off a peg to Floyd who went all the way to the 16. The drive wound up with Boekel ramming through for the last eight yards.

Two passes produced the fourth touchdown of the game. The first, Crescenze to Andy Stavroff was good for 17 and the second – the payoff – Crescenze to Floyd netted 38 yards…and Homer did a swell job of running on it.

A Crescenze to Bob Williams pass produced the fifth TD on a 17-yard gain with only 20 seconds of the half left to play.

Jerry Yoder started the second half of flopping Sam Williams behind his goal on a 10-yard loss for a safety. Struthers kicked off from the 20 and on the first play from scrimmage, substitute Dick Fromholtz went 35 yards with a lateral for the sixth touchdown.

The Tigers started from the Struthers’ 41 for their seventh and had to make up a 15-yard penalty en route. It was slam, band most of the way, and set up by a 25-yard toss from Quarterback Don Humes to Fromholtz. Fromholtz finally knifed over for the score from one yard out.
* * *
BOB TRACY set the locals in motion for their eighth when he hauled in a Struthers pass on the 45 and raced back 30 yards to the 15 before being downed. They boys ground out the rest of the distance. Halfback Don Duke taking it over from the three.

It took a march of 78 yards to get the ninth. Johnny James tossed 13 yards to Bob Jones to start the waltz and Duke finished it up with two long runs, one to the 27 and the next for the rest of the distance.

Time expired while the Tigers were scoring their last touchdown. Jerry Yoder skirting his left end for 33 yards.

Big Bob Williams, who was kicking wide of the goal at first, booted four of the five points he attempted the last half. The one missed point was blocked. He only kicked two of five the first half.

Only player injured last night was Cameron Speck, a linebacker, who was taken to the Massillon city hospital for X-rays. He sustained a contusion on the back. His condition was reported good by the hospital this morning.

The line-ups and summaries:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Lorch, McConnell, Nagle, Francisco, Jones, Houston, Wallace, Bob Williams.
TACKLES – Big Bob Williams, Hill, Schumacher, Graber, Kreiger, Hofacre, Blocher, D. Maier, Moore, D.K. Maier.
GUARDS – R. Maier, Holloway, Tracy, Fisher, Ertle, Kasunich, Barrett.
CENTERS – Spicer, Rohrbaugh, Morrow, Gentzler, Dowd, Roan.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, James, Humes, Speck.
HALFBACKS – Floyd, Stavroff, Yoder, Fromholtz, Duke, Radtke, Copeland, Chengery. Stephens.
FULLBACKS – Boekle, Archibald, Cocklin, Chet Brown.

STRUTHERS
ENDS – Rauch, Nugen, Walters.
TACKLES – Jacubec, Yurko, Johns.
GUARDS – Dodson, Repasky, Dandgraff, Echman, Carlucci.
CENTER – McComish.
QUARTERBACK – Vlosich.
HALFBACKS – Wilson, Williams, Stricklin, Morocco, Smrek, Aey, Sam Williams.
FULLBACK – Pavianansky.

Score by quarters:
Massillon 19 13 23 13 68

Touchdowns – Boekel 2; Floyd 2; Bob Williams; Fromholtz 2; Duke 2; Yoder.

Points after touchdown – Big Bob Williams 6.

Safety – Massillon

Officials
Referee – McPhee (Polant).
Umpire – Dickens (Alliance).
Head Linesman – Less (Youngstown).
Field Judge – Lindsay (Youngstown).

STATISTICS
Mass. Stru’s.
First downs 17 4
Passes attempted 14 7
Passes completed 6 5
Had passes intercepted 1 2
Yards gained passing 138 28
Yards gained rushing 496 87
Total yards gained 634 115
Yards lost 4 32
Net yards gained 630 83
Times punted 1 7
Average punt (yards) 15 24
Yards punts returned by 5 0
Times kicked off 10 1
Average kickoff (yards) 47 39
Yards kickoffs returned by 13 165
Fumbles 1 9
Lost ball on fumbles 0 4
Times penalized 7 8
Yards penalized 95 40

1953: Massillon 48, Canton McKinley 7

November 21, 1953July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Smash Canton McKinley 48-7
MASSILLON AWAITS OUTCOME OF FINAL FOOTBALL POLL
Victory Should Bring Sixth Consecutive Ohio Title To Local School

By LUTHER EMERY

Massillon today awaited the outcome of the final Associated Press poll which is expected to name the Washington high school Tigers state champions for the sixth consecutive year.

Writers among the 16,500 people who saw the Massillon gridders slash Canton McKinley to pieces in the first half of their traditional game in Fawcett stadium Saturday afternoon and win 48-7 are convinced the local team deserves the state crown.

The triumph was the Tigers 23rd in a row and completed two consecutive undefeated seasons. It was the 57th victory for Coach Chuck Mather and his staff since they took charge of Tiger football in 1948. They have lost but three games, one each in the 1948, 1949 and 1951 seasons. They also were undefeated in 1950. The win over McKinley likewise was Massillon’s 28th of the 58-game series that started in 1894. McKinley won 25 and five ended in tie scores.
* * *
THE TIGERS were terrific.

Their first half offense was the most devastating, most perfect we have ever seen.

You have probably heard and read most of the figures by now, but they are worth repeating here.

In the first four plays from scrimmage the Tigers got three touchdowns. It took them six plays to get their fourth, two their fifth and one their sixth. In other words, their remarkable offense produced six touchdowns in 13 plays from scrimmage. Anyone want to dispute their claim to state champions.

They rolled up a 42-0 lead in one and one-half periods, after which Coach Chuck Mather opened the gates of mercy and began giving his senior substitutes as much action as possible in their final high school game.
* * *
McKINLEY recovered a fumble inside the 15-yard line in the last two minutes of the second period and scored in the last second to produce its only points of the game. There wasn’t even time left for a kickoff.

Mather kept a flow of senior subs in his lineup throughout the last half. This and an improved Bulldog defense, coupled with fumbles and three penalties, held the Tigers to one touchdown the last half, that coming on a blocked McKinley punt.

The Tigers devastating play is revealed in their long runs and long passes for touchdowns and a vicious defense that kept Bulldog ball carriers nailed to the turf throughout most of the first half.

Offensively, there was an 80-yard T.D. run by Homer Floyd, three passes, all for touchdowns, (that’s all he threw the first half) by Dick Crescenze and some remarkable catches by Jim Letcavits, Tom Boone and John Traylor, good for 44 yards, 51 yards and 73 yards respectively. We can still see Wade Watts, Canton McKinley coach, bury his head in his hands after the last one that hoisted the score to 42-0.
* * *
IT TOOK just 32 seconds to get the first T.D. and perhaps we had better take time out right here to account for the six in 13 feature.

Massillon fans were the most surprised lot in the place to see the Tigers win the toss and then elect to kickoff. They always receive when they win the toss. But Saturday at Canton it was different. Coach Chuck Mather informed his Co-Captains, John Traylor and Bruce Schram that if they won the toss they should kickoff because he figured McKinley was better defensively than offensively and he would rather meet them in their weakest department.

It was the right decision.

Ron Boekel gave the ball its hardest boot of the season right into the hands of Nat Harris, the Bulldogs’ ball carrying ace. But Nat was hit so viciously he fumbled and Traylor pounced on the ball on the four. McKinley jumped offside before a play could get under way from scrimmage and the Bulldogs were penalized to the one-yard line. On the first play Crescenze sneaked through from his quarterback spot for six points and Tom Boone kicked the seventh.

The Tigers next got the ball through a punt that rolled dead on the 15. John Francisco put it on the 20 in a slash at right tackle. On the second play of the series, Homer Floyd broke through on a trap play, cut to his right and raced 80 yards down the sideline to score. That made two touchdowns in three plays.
* * *
THE TIGERS kicked off, then took the ball away from the Bulldogs on downs on the Canton 44. On the first play Crescenze shot the leather to Letcavits who made a brilliant catch, almost fell down, but steadied himself with one hand to keep on his feet and race the rest of the distance with Tom Boone removing the first Canton tackler from his path. That made three touchdowns in four plays.

It took a little longer to get the fourth. The Tigers started from their own 25 where they got the ball on a punt.

Traylor made three at left end, and Floyd ran for a first down but a 15-yard penalty was assessed for clipping. Traylor went for 13, Francisco for 10 and Crescenze made it a first down on his 48. Francisco got a yard and Crescenze whipped the ball 51 yards to Boone for the touchdown. That and the point that followed made it 28-0.
Only two plays were needed to get the fifth T.D. Joe Holloway crashed through to block Ken Bandi’s punt and Boone pounced on the ball on the six-yard line. Traylor carried it to the one, going over, but his knee touched a yard short before he laid his arms across the goal. Francisco smashed through with the score and it was 35-0.
* * *
ONE PLAY was needed to get the sixth. A quick kick by Harris rolled to the Tiger 27. Crescenze immediately winged the ball to Traylor who never broke stride as he caught up with it in midfield and raced the rest of the distance to give his team a 42-0 lead.

That just about wraps up the Massillon tale of victory.

In it you have all four backs and the two ends, scoring a touchdown each and with five minutes and 20 seconds of the period still remaining to be played.

Mather began pouring in substitutes, seniors and some juniors. Roy Johnson, a senior, who hasn’t gotten in a whole lot this year, took over the quarterbacking of the team, replacing Crescenze who did not return to the game until the last four minutes of the fourth quarter.

The Tigers fumbled the ball away to the Bulldogs the next time they got it, Canton covering inside the 15. With Sophomore Horace Harris doing most of the running, the Bulldogs marched to the one yard line where Harris went over just was the half ended. John Kompara kicked the extra point and that ended Canton’s scoring for the day.
* * *
THE TIGERS got one more touchdown when Ron Gardner blocked a McKinley punt late in the third period on the 16-yard line. He picked it up and ran across for the six points to end his football career in a blaze of glory. Ronnie has played mostly on defense. The touchdown, the only one he has scored, was just about the biggest thing that could happen to him.

The Tigers had other chances in the third and fourth quarter but penalties, substitutions and an improved Canton defense locked them out.

They were well on their way the first time they got the ball in the third period when McKinley covered a fumble on second down on the 14-yard line. They had what would have been a first down on the 15 had not the ball been called back because of a clipping penalty called against the Tigers and a personal foul against McKinley. The two nullified each other. Then Traylor ran to a first down on the five, but back came the ball again and another 15-yard penalty for clipping that necessitated the only Massillon punt of the afternoon.
* * *
THE TIGERS lost the ball to the Bulldogs on a fumble on the 38 early in the fourth quarter to end another drive. Then again they drove to what would have been third down on the four-yard line with a yard to go for a first down, but the ball was called back and a five-yard penalty slapped on for offside. That put it on the 18 and they lost it on downs on the eight. It was their last effort, for Canton held the pigskin the rest of the way.

So you can see where penalties and fumbles helped throttle the Tiger offense the last half.

The Tigers were just as impressive in the statistics as on the scoreboard. First downs were 13-10 in their favor and they gained 447 net yards to McKinley’s 114 net yards. They completed five of 10 passes for 205 yards. McKinley completed 8 of 13 passes for 49 yards.

The game had its heroes – plenty of them we would say – the 11 offensive starters and those who jumped in for defensive chores – all were in the contest up to their necks. The backfield boys have already been mentioned, but without the line in front of them they could not have shown so brightly. The Tiger forward wall literally tore the Bulldogs to pieces the first half. Give credit to a pair of great ends, Letcavits and Boone; to Bruce Schram and Ronnie Dean, the tackles; to Joe Eaglowski and Russ Maier, who filled in for the injured Ronnie Agnes at guard; and to Tom Fisher, center. And don’t forget Willie Longshore, Gardner, Joe Holloway, Bob Williams, Eddie Fletcher, Chuck Lentz, Ken Lorch, Andy Stavroff, Bill Stone, Carl Porter, Johnson, Jerry Yoder, Ray Byrd, Boekel, Dick Fromholtz, Al Shilling, Jim Woolley, Chuck Hill and Joe Lopez, all of whom had a part in the victory.
* * *
LIGHTS BURNED late in Massillon Saturday night as citizens and students celebrated the victory. The students held a victory dance at the school, citizens celebrated at parties about town and at country clubs.

Everywhere credit was given the team and Coach Mather and his assistants; Carl Schroeder, Paul Schofer, Lauri Wartiainen, Elwood Kammer and Dave Putts.

The questions most asked of them were why they didn’t pour it on; what was the argument over the ball; and was this your best team.

You have Mather’s answer to the first question – he wanted to give all seniors as much action as possible.

His face was red on the second. Crescenze came out of the game shouting, “They are using a rubber ball in there.”

Mather bristled: “They can’t do that,” and shouted to the referee, “Let me see that ball.”

He was shown the ball.

“It was leather,” said Chuck, telling of the incident. “There wasn’t much I could say.”
* * *
WE AGREE with Mather’s answer to the third question that it is difficult to say any team is the best in high school history, but we also agree that this year’s eleven certainly ranks with the greatest on the basis of its 10 straight victories. And we hasten to point out that its opposition has likewise been unusually good as a whole.

It you want to look at it this way, six of Massillon’s opponents only dropped a combined total of five games to teams other than Massillon during the season.

Fremont Ross was beaten only by the Tigers: Warren was beaten only by Massillon and Hamilton; Alliance by Massillon and Youngstown Urusline; Mansfield by Massillon and Warren; Steubenville by Massillon and Warren; and Toledo Waite by Massillon and DeVilbiss. Canton Lincoln lost but two other games in addition to that to Massillon. It was beaten by Alliance and Barberton.

Certainly, the Tiger eleven was one of the most poplar with Massillon fans. The ability of Floyd, Francisco and Traylor to break loose for a touchdown at any moment and the constant threat of Crescenze tossing a touchdown pass provided fireworks every night.

The team is in every sense of the word, a deserving champion.

The line-up and summary:

MASSILLON — 48
ENDS – Letcavits, Boone, Lorch, Lentz, Lopez.
TACKLES – Schram, Dean, Williams, Hill, Woolley.
GUARDS – Eaglowski, Maier, Holloway, Gardner, Shilling.
CENTERS – Fisher, Fletcher.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, Johnson, Porter.
HALFBACKS – Traylor, Francisco, Longshore, Yoder, Stavroff, Fromholtz, Byrd.
FULLBACKS – Floyd, Stone, Boekel.

McKINLEY
ENDS – Roman, Carter, Jackson.
TACKLES – Kompara, Crawford, Cerwinsky.
GUARDS – Wilds, Patrick, Graham.
CENTER – Perdue.
QUARTERBACKS – Dreher, Killians.
HALFBACKS – Bandi, Garman, Matthews, H. Harris
FULLBACKS – N. Harris.

Score by periods:
Massillon 21 21 6 0 48
McKinley 0 7 0 0 7

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Crescenze, Floyd, Letcavits, Boone, Francisco, Traylor, Gardner.
McKinley – H. Harris.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Boone 6 (placekicks).
McKinley – Kompara (placekick).

STATISTICS
Mass. McK.
First downs 13 10
Passes attempted 10 13
Passes completed 5 8
Had passes intercepted 0 0
Yards gained passing 205 49
Yards gained rushing 244 122
Total yards gained 440 171
Yards lost 2 57
Net yards gained 447 114
Times kicked off 9 0
Average kickoff (yards) 42 —
Yards kickoffs returned by — 82
Times punted 1 8
Average punt (yards) 30 30
Yards punts returned by 7 3
Had punts blocked 0 2
Times Fumbled 3 3
Lost ball on fumbles 3 2
Times penalized 5 5
Yards penalized 65 22

1953: Massillon 40, Fremont Ross 7

November 13, 1953July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

15,368 FANS SEE ORANGE AND BLACK COME FROM BEHIND TO WIN
Tiger Gridders Crush Fremont 40-7
Mathermen Overcome Stubborn Resistance To Score Six Touchdowns

By LUTHER EMERY

Little Giants you say?

They were something more than that for two periods here Friday evening before they were beaten down to size by the Washington high Tigers who racked up their ninth victory of the season and their 22nd in a row by a score of 40-7 before a crowd of 15,368 fans.

It was the first defeat of the season for the hard hitting, hard tackling, well drilled crew which had won eight games in a row to rate fifth place in the Associated Press standing of high school teams.

Maybe the loss will knock Ross down in the standings, but it still rates a place in the first 10, and if the ratings were based on sheer courage and determination, we would rate them toward the top.
* * *
SELDOM will a team keep on battling after such a series of disheartening breaks as victimized the Little Giants the first period, but they did just that. They didn’t become discouraged but kept battling back until they were finally worn down by the Massillon team.

Actually there was a lot of heavy breathing in the Tiger stands the first half of the game and rightfully so, for the visitors looked the stronger until they scored. It was not until then that the Tiger became aroused and took command of the game. Up to that time it had been pretty well tamed, and Fremont held an edge of 85 net yards gained to Massillon’s measly 21.

From then on, however the local eleven was in charge. Yards came hard but it drove to touchdowns the next four times it got its hands on the ball, then added two more for good measure. The decisive win over the fifth ranking team should strengthen the Tigers’ hold on first place in the grid poll.

For the greater part of the first half, however, fans were wondering if the Bengals were about to be bumped off the top.
* * *
TO START WITH Fremont worked an onside on the kickoff by covering a Massillon fumble and marched to the one-yard line where Homer Floyd covered Charles Blacks’ fumble. That was break No. 1 for the Tigers, and a bad one for the Little Giants.

Then Freshman Henry Tiller returned a punt 43 yards to the Tiger 16 where Rich Crescenze covered his fumble. That was another break that went against the Little Giants, though had Tiller not fumbled, the ball would have been brought back on a clipping penalty. They lost the leather a third time when Jim Letcavits covered a fumble on the Massillon 33. We hate to think what might have happened had the visitors not handled the ball so loosely the first period.

After three heart-breaking muffs, they still had enough fight to come back, and march 48 yards to score the first points of the game.

The Tigers evened it up with an 88-yard march, and it was still an even game with only 55 seconds of the half remaining to be played. Then Crescenze crossed up the Little Giants who had been pulling their secondary close to the line of scrimmage, and fired a pass that Jim Letcavits caught with no one between him and the Gulf of Mexico that put Massillon in front 13-7, and it was there to stay.
* * *
MASSILLONIANS were pretty confident after that, for it was evident the Bengals were breathing fire again and were poised for the kill.

They only scored once in the third quarter, but were well on their way to another when the period ended – got it on the second play of the fourth and shoved over two more before the last minutes were ticked off.

Fremont, which had been a constant threat the first period and half, was pretty well throttled after its lone touchdown, and never got close to the goal line again.

The spirited Little Giants put out everything they had offensively. They ran from the T, single wing and I formations, and once they spread-eagled the field with players.

They had slick runners in Black, Jim Tiller, Lester Franks, and Ronnie Whitcomb and a couple of fine defensive ends in Henry Tiller and Dick Harter. Ted Houghtaling also did a nice job of passing.
* * *
THE VISITORS lived up to their reputation of having a good defensive team and stopped John Traylor, Tiger ball-carrying ace, almost completely. His only long run was called back on a clipping penalty. John Francisco carved them with slashes in the tackles, and Homer Floyd got loose for a couple of dandy long runs. Homer’s footwork brought three of the Tiger touchdowns. Crescenze scored on a sneak in which not a hand was laid on him, and Jim Letcavits and Tom Boone caught passes for two others.

The Tigers blocked two Fremont punts and tossed Whitcomb for a loss when he bobbled a poor pass in another attempt to punt.

Fremont held the Tigers to 237 yards gained on the ground. The Little Giants gained 128. Total net yards including passes, figured 291 for Massillon and 148 for Fremont. First downs were 13 to 11 in the locals’ favor.

It was a rough, bruising game which resulted in tempers flaring several times. On one occasion the officials tossed out both Chuck Lentz of the Tigers and Jerry Gallagher of Fremont. In the last couple of minutes, Boone was given the brush-off, though he said he was only trying to break up a duel on the ground between Willie Longshore and a Fremont player. They both escaped banishment, but the incident brought players of both teams pouring on to the field with fists cocked for action but which were kept locked in that position by coaches and police. They were quickly herded back to the benches and the game went on to conclusion.
* * *
THE TIGERS sustained a couple of casualties during the course of the contest.

Crescenze received a hard rap when he was tackled while trying to pass that made him dizzy for a time, but was able to leave the dressing room under his own power. Ronnie Agnes, regular guard, sustained a shoulder dislocation that will keep him out of next week’s game with Canton McKinley.

The contest was the Tigers’ last home game of the season, and while it attracted a crowd of more than 15,000 the turnout was not as good as anticipated. Fremont responded well, with at least 3,500 traveling the 100 miles to the game, and the performance of their tam the first half gave them plenty to cheer about.
* * *
THE LITTLE GIANTS earned their touchdown but apparently shot their wad getting it.

They started late in the first period after getting the ball on a punt on the Tigers’ 48, and they went all the way.

Whitcomb and Black hammered for a first on the Tiger 36, and Tiller covered Black’s fumble for a two-yard gain. A 14-yard pass, Houghtaling to Frank Lenhart gained a first on the 20 and Whitcomb wiggled his way around left end to another first on the eight. It took four downs to get the ball over from there, but Franks drove across on his own after being almost bottled up for a loss. Whitcomb’s toe produced the extra point.
* * *
FREMONT successfully worked an onside kick for the second time in the game after the touchdown and gained the ball on the Tiger 48. This time Massillon braced, forced Whitcomb to punt and got the ball on the 12. It was a long way to the opponents’ goal, but with Francisco carrying the ball three out of four times, the locals hammered their way to a first down on the 46.

Enter Floyd into the picture. He swept, around his right flank and headed down the sidelines. Nobody could get close to him after he passed the line of scrimmage and he was over for six points. Boone tied the score at 7-7 with the extra point from placement.

Fremont got one first down on its next series then was stymied by the Massillon line and forced to punt. Floyd made a nice return to his 48, and with only 55 seconds remaining in the half, Crescenze on the next play stepped back and shot the ball to Letcavits who caught it about the 25 and ran for a touchdown. Boone’s kick was wide of the uprights.
* * *
THE LITTLE GIANTS made a slight flurry at the start of the second half when they received the kickoff and made one first down as they worked the ball to the Massillon 44, but Tiger hands got in the way of Whitcomb’s punt and the ball rolled back to the Fremont 25 where the locals took over.

Aided by a five-yard penalty, the locals drove to the four. Francisco gained two yards and Crescenze sneaked for the last two and the Tigers’ third touchdown of the game. Boone kicked the extra point and it was 20-7.

Fremont managed to move for one first down after the next kickoff before the Tigers could force a punt. They got the pigskin on their own 29 and again began their hammering tactics with Francisco doing most of the pounding. They moved to a first down on the Fremont 47 as the quarter ended. On the second play of the fourth period, Floyd was again turned loose around left end and he went the distance. Boone missed the kick.

The locals missed out on their bid the next time they got the ball, but Ronnie Gardner regained the pigskin by blocking one of Whitcomb’s punts that rolled back to the four. Floyd went through tackle for the T.D. on the first play.

Another touchdown was scored in seconds.

Tiller fumbled Ronald Boekel’s kickoff and Joe Lopez flopped on the ball on the 35. On the first play Crescenze fired the leather to Boone who was into the end zone with a few steps to spare. He also kicked the extra point, and that ended the scoring of the evening.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Boone, Letcavits, Lorch, Maier, Lentz, Lopez.
TACKLES – Dean, Schram, Williams, Hill.
GUARDS – Eaglowski, Agnes, Holloway, Gardner.
CENTERS – Fisher, Fletcher, Grant.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, Porter.
HALFBACKS – Francisco, Traylor, Longshore, Stavroff, Fromholtz.
FULLBACKS – Floyd, Boekel, Stone.

FREMONT
ENDS – Lenhart, R. Tiller.
TACKLES – Cooper, Harter, Gallagher, Jones.
GUARDS – Amor, Pelter, White, H. Black.
CENTER – Goodeman.
QUARTERBACK – Houghtaling.
HALFBACKS – Whitcomb, Franks, Sewell, J. Tiller.
FULLBACK – Black

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Floyd 3; Letcavits; Crescenze; Boone.
Fremont – Franks.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Boone 3 (placekicks).
Fremont – Whitcomb (placekick).

Officials
Referee – Pianowski (Cleveland).
Umpire – Pupp (Cuyahoga Falls).
Field Judge – Dunton (Warren).
Head Linesman – Lymper (Mansfield).

STATISTICS
Mass. Fremont
First downs 13 11
Forward passes 7 12
Passes completed 2 5
Had passes intercepted 0 1
Yards gained passing 88 50
Yards gained rushing 237 128
Total yards gained 325 178
Yards lost 34 30
Net yards gained 291 146
Times kicked off 7 2
Average kickoff (yards) 44 18
Yards kickoffs returned by 0 112
Times punted 4 6
Average punts (yards) 36 26
Yards punts returned by 43 62
Fumbles 4 7
Lost ball on fumbles 3 4
Times penalized 3 6
Yards penalized 35 29

1953: Massillon 41, Toledo Waite 2

November 6, 1953July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Defeat Toledo Waite Indians 41-2
Long Runs By Traylor And Homer Floyd Upset Early Charge of Foe

By LUTHER EMERY

A bruised Tiger football team will return to Massillon today after winning a rough and tumble football game played at Toledo Waite Friday evening by a 41-2 score.

It was the roughest game in which the Tigers have participated in years, and there was scarcely one among the 31 participating players who did not display some scars of the scrap.

Linebacker Willie Longshore was released from the hospital after having stitches taken in a face wound. Bruce Schram had a tooth broken and quite a few of the boys displayed split and bruised lips from flying elbows caught during the melee.

It was the kind of game that caused Coach Chuck Mather to remark after the contest, “We have made our last trip to Toledo.”

Mather and most Massillon fans thought the Waite players went out of their way to maul Tiger players, and the last play of the game probably would have resulted in several players of both teams being thrown out for mixing it up had not time expired.
* * *
IT ALL may have been the result of Waite’s attempt to rise to the occasion and drive out the invading Tiger. Certainly the Indians were a spirited lot. They had pointed for the game, held more than the usual amount of pep rallies and were full of the old go get’em when they rushed out of their dressing room with a roar to warm up for the contest.

They carried the fight to the Tigers the first period and throttled the Massillon offense, while doing some ground gaining of their own.

Had they elected to play that type of ball the entire game we feel they would have made a better showing. Instead, once Massillon got to the front, the Indians seemed to concentrate more on personal exploits more common to the wrestling mat and paid less attention to football. The result only ended in more and more Tiger touchdowns. It probably could have ended in a rout had not Mather elected to substitute rather than chance any more injuries to regulars. As a result all 31 boys who made the trip to Toledo, got into the game.
* * *
THE CONTEST was played in near freezing temperatures which seemed doubly cold because of a high wind. The weather cut down the crowd, estimated at 8,000, several thousand short of capacity.

The victory was the Tigers’ eighth of the season and their 21st in a row. It was Waite’s second loss of the season, the Indians having previously been beaten only by Toledo DeVilbiss, 15-14.

The heavier Waite line played havoc with the Tiger forward wall the first quarter, and frequently got into the Massillon backfield to throw ball carriers for losses.

The Tigers just seemed to feel them out, however, and once they found they could ambush the Indians with traps and flank plays, the complexion of the game quickly changed.

As a result, all of the touchdowns were scored by Johnny Traylor and Homer Floyd, each crossing the Waite goal three times, on long runs.
* * *
THE TIGERS scored two others that did not count when the ball was called back because of penalties.

Crisp blocking freed the ball carriers for many long runs and brought words of praise from the Waite fans and newsmen, who liked Massillon’s downfield blocking.

The locals had too much team speed for the heavier Indians.

Waite had a couple of fast runners in Lyle Veler and John Curtis, who gained most of the Indians’ yards. They were principally responsible for the 12 first downs made by Waite to Massillon’s 11.

However, the locals gained 412 yards from scrimmage to Waite’s 200.
* * *
THE TIGERS failed to complete a pass that counted. Every time they had a successful completion a penalty was called. One of them was a peg to Jim Letcavits for a touchdown. They were credited with seven official tries. Waite threw 14, completed one for seven yards, but had three interceptions by the alert Massillon secondary.

The Indians threatened a couple of times during the game but were never able to get the ball over the goal line.

They made a serious bid in the first period by covering a Massillon fumble on the 15. A five-yard penalty for being in motion helped the Tigers stop the Indians who wound up attempting a field goal that was short and wide of its mark.

The local gridders got their first T.D. the first time they took over the ball in the second quarter.

They started from the 20 after Waite’s fruitless field goal attempt and went 80 yards for the marker, even overcoming a 15-yard penalty for illegal use of the hands. A fancy run of 44 yards by Floyd advanced the ball from the 23 to the 33. John Francisco got away for a nice jaunt to the 18 and Traylor broke through left tackle, cut wide and swept down his left side line to score. Tom Boone kicked the extra point.
* * *
A 29-YARD RUN by Traylor from a statue for a first down on the Waite 11 set up the next touchdown. A motion penalty put the ball back on the 16, but Traylor got it all back on a left end sweep for a touchdown.

The half ended with the score 14-0.

The Tigers scored quickly in the third period. They kicked off and stopped the Indians forcing them to punt. The ball went out of bounds on the Massillon 32. Traylor made a yard at left end and Floyd raced 67 yards on a trap play to score. Boone’s extra point boosted the total to 21-0.

The Tigers got the ball on the next kickoff when the ball bounced off the chest of a Waite player and Andy Stavroff covered on the 40. Aided by a 15-yard penalty, the locals got down to the 30 where Floyd on a trap, shot through the middle of the line, then cut to his right and raced 30 yards for the touchdown.

The Indians had a chance to score later in the period but Curtis let a perfect pass from Jim Heider slip through his arms with no one between him and the goal posts.
* * *
THE TIGERS struck from the 40 for their next touchdowns. They got it at that point when a pass from center was bobbled by Heider on fourth down. After a futile attempt by Crescenze to pass, Floyd again trapped his opponents and did a tight rope walk along the sideline to score.

The third period ended 34-0.

Only once in the fourth quarter did the locals cross the Waite goal, largely because of Mather’s flow of substitutions.

Eddie Fletcher got them the ball when he stopped a Waite drive that had reached the
10-yard line by intercepting a pass on the five. Floyd romped for 16 yards and then Traylor cut around his left end for 79 and a touchdown.

The Tigers failed to score again, though Traylor and Boone both let what might have been touchdown passes slip through their arms, while Fletcher was called back after going half the length of the field on an intercepted pass for a touchdown. The officials ruled clipping on the play.

Waite got its only two points while Roy Johnson was quarterbacking the Tiger team. They threw him behind the Massillon goal line.

The game ended the Massillon-Waite series. The teams are not under contract for next year and judging from Mather’s mood after the game, they may not meet again.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Lecavits, Boone, Lorch, Lopez, Maier, Lentz.
TACKLES – Schram, Dean, Williams, Woolley, Hill.
GUARDS – Agnes, Eaglowski, Holloway, Shilling, Gardner.
CENTERS – Fisher, Fletcher, Grant.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, Porter, Johnson.
HALFBACKS – Traylor, Francisco, Longshore, Byrd, Fromholtz, Stavroff, Stone.
FULLBACKS – Floyd, Boekel.

WAITE
ENDS – Turner, Durham, Schlegle, Lynn.
TACKLES – Derr, Veres, Croak, Martin.
GUARDS – Mylnek, Corns, Pounds.
CENTERS – Scott, Hatmaker.
QUARTERBACK – Heider.
HALFBACKS – Veier, Curtis, Thompson.
FULLBACKS – Kneisley, Canty.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 14 20 7 41
Waite 0 0 0 2 2

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Traylor 3; Floyd 3.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Boone 5.

Safety – Waite.

Officials
Referee – Kolopus.
Umpire – Gill.
Head Linesman – Seitz.
Field Judge – Earich.

STATISTICS
Mass. Waite
First downs 11 12
Passes attempted 7 14
Passes completed 0 1
Had passes intercepted 0 3
Yards gained passing 0 7
Yards gained rushing 412 193
Total yards gained 412 200
Yards lost 41 43
Net yards gained 371 157
Times kicked off 8 1
Average kickoff (yards) 34 55
Yards kickoffs returned by 7 67
Times punted 4 8
Average punt (yards) 38 34
Yards punts returned by 51 10
Fumbles 6 5
Lost ball on fumbles 3 1
Times penalized 11 11
Yards penalized 105 100

1953: Massillon 27, Warren Harding 6

October 30, 1953July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

BATTLE FOR FIRST PLACE WON BY WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
Tigers Crush Warren Panthers 27-6

By LUTHER EMERY

A gallant band of Tiger football players took everything Warren had to offer for the better part of two periods Friday evening and then struck back with a devastating attack that produced a 27-6 victory, the 20th triumph in a row for the orange and black.

It was convincing proof for an overflow crowd of 22,000 fans that first place is where the Tigers belong in the Ohio high school football standings.

What a terrific first half it was!

The two teams battled to a scoreless tie until the Tigers passed to their first touchdown with only 34 seconds of the half remaining to be played. It was a great effort by Quarterback Rick Crescenze and a fine bit of running by Halfback Johnny Traylor, who caught the ball on about the 30 and stepped around and about the Warren tacklers for the rest of the distance. The entire play was good for 41 yards.

Up to that time Warren had the better of it, for the scoring pass not only produced the lone touchdown of the first two periods but also put Massillon ahead in the yards gained. Up to that time the statistics were in the Panthers’ favor.

As it turned out the six points and the successful conversion by Tom Boone of the extra point on a placekick, turned the tide of battle in favor of Massillon.

The second half of the duel was overwhelmingly dominated by Massillon – in points and in offense and defense. Where the Tigers only made 158 net yards to Warren’s 131 net yards the first half, they rolled up 230 yards to the Panthers’ 59 the last two periods.

Actually it was the turn about in the Tiger defense that helped to swing the tide to Massillon.

A shifting defense the first half was inadequate to contain the Panthers and they dominated the play, running 32 plays to the Tigers’ 19.

The orange and black met them with a seven-man-line much of the second half and virtually stopped the thrusts of the Warren backs, limiting them to 47 yards on the ground. As a result the visitors were unable to control the ball as they did the first half and the Tigers had more opportunities to get their offense rolling.

It still was anybody’s ball game though until the last minute of the third period when Homer Floyd raced around end for the Tigers second touchdown with 30 seconds left in the frame to lead 14-0.

Nobody gave Warren much of a chance after that, though both teams fought tooth and nail right up to the final whistle.

The Tigers chalked up their third midway in the fourth quarter on a 40-yard run by Traylor and Warren got its lone T.D. on a pass following an interception on the Tiger eight, with a minute and 20 seconds of the game left to be played. The Tigers chalked up another on a pretty 42-yard pass play, Roy Johnson to Jim Letcavits with 39 seconds left of the game.

While Massillon was by far the superior team the second half, the game with a few breaks could have been much closer. Knock off the two touchdowns scored right at the end of the second and fourth periods and you would have the Tigers wining by 13-6 and if you want to make Warren look better yet, take into consideration the Panther fumble the Tigers recovered behind the goal line that might have led to another Warren touchdown had it not been for the muff.

Of course the local gridders had their bad breaks too. Warren never would have scored had not the orange and black, in possession of a safe 20-0 lead, gambled on a forward pass deep in their own territory with a minute and a half to go. Bob Maniatis intercepted it and ran back to the eight-yard line before being tackled. On the next play Quarterback Dave Preston passed to End John Smith for the Panther touchdown.
* * *
OUT-OF-TOWN writers in the press box were virtually all agreed that the Tiger team was considerably better than the Panthers over the four periods of play. Perhaps the happiest man in the press box was Bill Levy, sports editor of the International News Service, who had been criticized quite severely in Trumbull County the past week for having Warren far down the line in his football poll. He thought the Tigers’ 27-6 victory vindicated his judgment.

The game was the fastest played contest of the year. But one penalty was stepped off – a five-yarder against the Tigers. The locals refused a motion penalty against Warren and the latter refused a penalty against the Tigers.

A minimum of incompleted passes also hastened things along and there were few timeouts for injuries.

The Tigers had the best of the statistics. They made 15 first downs to Warren’s 12, completed half of their eight passes for 115 yards while Warren completed four of 10 for 37 yards, and gained 278 yards rushing to Warren’s 166. Net yardage, rushing and passing was 381 to 190 in the local teams’ favor.

Even in punting Traylor had the edge, averaging 48.5 yards on his two boots to 41 yards for Warren.
* * *
FIRED by a week of intensive preparations and pep meetings and buoyed by the confidence of some 7,000 fans who followed them to Massillon, the Panthers were keyed up for the contest and put up their best game of the season.

They made it uneasy for every Massillonian the first half and well through the third period, or until the Tigers put over their second touchdown.

“They tackled hard,” the Massillon boys said after the game and the coaches agreed it was a rough go.

Coach Mather took a brief moment to pay compliments to the performance of his team but was quick to say “right now I’m worrying about Toledo Waite. They’re the biggest team our scouts have ever seen in high school uniforms and what worries us most is that everyone is talking about Fremont Ross, and nobody is thinking of Waite. I believe Waite can beat Ross.”

At this stage the conversation someone rushed in to state he had just heard over the radio that Waite had beaten Toledo Central 61-13.

“See, that’s what I mean,” said Mather. “Waite has a ball team. It has lost one game – by a point – and to a team that is still undefeated. We can’t have any letdown this week – or the next – or the next.”

But Mather’s comments were almost drowned out with the hum of talk and rejoicing of fans over the conquest of Warren.
* * *
ALL FOUR of Massillon’s touchdowns came outside the 10-yard line and three of them were for 40 yards or more.

That’s the kind of team the local eleven has been all season – apt to go for the distance at anytime.

Every touchdown had a bit of the razzle dazzle, in it, Traylor’s run for the first, has already been described. It was a pretty piece of footwork on his part. The second made by Floyd was a 12-yard flanker following a pitchout. The third and Traylor’s second was the same perfect play that he worked against Mansfield a week ago, when he ran parallel to his line and then cut around the end to go for the works. Prettiest part of the run was when he took a shoulder away from the only Warren tackler to threaten him.

The last T.D. came out of a clear sky as Johnson went in as substitute and fired the ball to Letcavits who caught it on about the 10 and hastened over the goal. The boys in the dressing room afterward were kidding the bespectacled and smiling Roy as to what kind of jet propulsion he had behind the thrust.
* * *
THE MASSILLON fans booed the officials several times for what they thought were errors of judgment.

They didn’t like the five-yard penalty inflicted after a sucker shift which gave the visitors a first down. Mather thought it illegal. The officials ruled contact had been made by a Massillon player who had jumped offside; hence the penalty.

A boo went up when no penalty was inflicted after Traylor had been knocked down while punting. The officials considered it unavoidable…another when a visitor roughed up Traylor near the north end of the field late in the game.

Considering the stakes – first place in the state standings – the game was played hard and for the most part it was clean.
* * *
WARREN FANS had plenty of opportunities to cheer and rightfully so for their eleven. It undoubtedly gave the Tigers their hardest game of the season and despite the defeat the Panthers still deserve a high spot in the standings. We believe the Panthers could trim most of the 10 leaders in the poll and shall cast our vote accordingly.

Warren has a rugged line and a particularly hard runner in Jim Rogers. He battered the Tigers hard early in the game.

The first quarter was over before most fans got settled in their seats. Each team had the ball twice during the period. Warren kicked off to the Tigers who after making one first down were forced to punt from their 48 to Rogers who was downed on his 17. The visitors reeled off three first downs and got down to the Tiger 39 where they fumbled, Willie Longshore covering for Massillon on the locals’ 47. The Tigers largely on Francisco’s
14-yard effort went to Warren 33, where Traylor fumbled a handoff and Warren recovered on its 35. The visitors made a first down and were back to the Massillon 46 as the quarter ended.
* * *
THE TIGERS held for three downs and with fourth and four coming up, Warren pulled the sucker shift previously referred to that drew the Tigers offside. The five-yard penalty gave the visitors a first down on Massillon’s 37. Incidentally, Warren writers said it was the first time this season the Panthers had used the sucker shift.

Warren moved to a first on the 25 and executed a fine fake handoff to send Giles around right end to a first down on the six. But on the next play Rogers fumbled on the goal line while being tackled and Eddie Fletcher pounced on the ball for a touchback.

A 47-yard run by Francisco helped take the ball to the 19 where Warren braced and held for downs. The visitors struck back with three consecutive first downs that moved the ball to the Massillon 37, where Ron Gardner, Tiger linebacker, intercepted a pass of Preston’s on third down.

That got the Tigers going. Crescenze tossed to Boone for a first on the Warren 47 and Floyd ground out six through the middle of the line.

With the seconds rapidly ticking away, Crescenze faded back, ran far to his right, pursued by two Warren tacklers and just got the ball away in time to Traylor who had planted himself between the visitors’ secondary. Johnny had to do some fancy running to elude Panther tacklers and aided by a couple of superb blocks, went over for the first T.D. with 34 seconds to spare. Boone kicked the extra point.
* * *
THE TIGERS scored the first time they got the ball in the third period – the only time they had it. They first had to stop Warren after the kickoff and force the visitors to punt, Preston getting off a good boot to the Massillon 18. It took nine plays to get the ball to the Warren 12. Homer Floyd got off two dandy runs en route including one of 28 and Crescenze hit Letcavits with a 14-yard pass that put the ball on the 12. A pitchout to Floyd produced the touchdown. Warren was able to run but one play after the following kickoff before the end of the period.

The team exchanged punts in the third quarter and Warren was forced to boot the ball a second time to the Tigers, Floyd running the leather back to his 37. A 22-yard effort by Traylor put the ball on the 40 from which spot he took off for the rest of the distance. Porter tried to run the extra point across but didn’t quite make it and the score stood at
20-0.

The Tigers kicked off and again forced Warren to punt. Crescenze tried to pass from his own 24 but Maniatis got in front of the ball, intercepted and ran back to the eight before he was knocked out of bounds. On the next play Preston passed to John Smith for the Warren points.

The Tigers took the kickoff and moved rapidly. Ronnie Agnes brought it back to his 42 and Traylor ran to a first down on the Warren 48. Floyd on a pitch out went out of bounds on the 42 and Johnson was sent in to throw for the Tigers. Throw he did and completed his first peg to Letcavits for the last touchdown of the game. Boone kicked this extra point too.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Boone, Letcavits, Lentz.
TACKLES – Dean, Schram, Williams, Hill.
GUARDS – Eaglowski, Agnes, Gardner, Maier, Shilling.
CENTERS – Fisher, Fletcher.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, Johnson, Porter.
HALFBACKS – Francisco, Traylor, Longshore, Fromholtz.
FULLBACKS – Floyd, Stoner, Boekel.

WARREN
ENDS – Sibera, Kelley, Smith, Trice.
TACKLES – Nagy, Riffle, Begalla.
GUARDS – Aurand, Simmons, Mosholder.
CENTER – Principi.
QUARTERBACK – Preston.
HALFBACKS – Rogers, Giles, Venetta, Angelo, Maniatis, Dowell.
FULLBACK – Hilles.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 7 7 13 27
Warren 0 0 0 6 6

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Traylor 2; Floyd; Letcavits.
Warren – Smith.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Boone 3 (placekicks).

Officials
Referee – McPhee (Poland).
Umpire – Russ (Youngstown).
Head Linesman – Zimmerman (Cuyahoga Falls).
Field Judge – Lobach (Akron).

STATISTICS
Mass. Warren
First downs 15 12
Passes attempted 8 10
Passes completed 4 4
Had passes intercepted 1 2
Yards gained passing 115 37
Yards gained rushing 278 166
Total yards gained 393 203
Yards lost 12 13
Net yards gained 381 190
Times kicked off 5 2
Average kickoff (yards) 47 30
Times punted 2 4
Average punt (yards) 48.5 41
Yards kickoffs returned by 20 71
Yards punts returned by 16 19
Times fumbled 1 3
Lost ball on fumbles 1 2
Times penalized 1 0
Yards penalized 5 0

1953: Massillon 41, Mansfield 7

October 23, 1953July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tiger Gridders Smash Mansfield 41-7
Massillon Team Turns On Steam To Whip Old Rival For 19th In Row

By LUTHER EMERY

Unleashing its most devastating attack of the season, the Washington high school football team surprised its strongest supporters Friday evening as it turned back Mansfield high 41-7 before the largest crowd to attend a football gathering here this season – 16,496 fans.

It was the Tigers’ 19th victory in a row and their 14th over Mansfield in the series of 18 games played since the teams opened modern relations in 1936. Mansfield has won one game (1949) and has tied the Tigers three times.

The victory likewise set the stage for next week’s high school battle of the year here between powerful and undefeated Warren high which last night smashed Cleveland Benedictine’s long undefeated streak of 21 games by a score of 34-13.

The Tigers were terrific last night.

Playing a team that had lost only to Warren and that game by the slim margin of a point, they did everything right, were sharp and we hope will be able to take off against Warren next week where they left off when Coach Chuck Mather yanked them out of the game in the third quarter.
* * *
CHUCK didn’t want the team to get stale nor sustain any injuries for next week’s contest.

Some bruises were showing up on players after the game, but none appeared to be serious.

The victory got the second half of the schedule off it a rip-roaring start.

Mansfield was supposed to have tested the Tigers. It poured out what looked to be a better team than the score indicated. Some of the 3,500 visiting fans seemed to think their team suffered from stage fright, caused by the big crowd – and was playing in the shadow of the lopsided record Massillon holds over Mansfield teams.

Bet that as it may Mansfield also ran into the best performance put up by the Massillon team this year. The Tigers were a threat every time they carried the ball as evidenced by their long runs and passes for touchdowns, and the mountain of yardage they piled up during the game.

Johnny Francisco went 93 yards for one and 15 for another. Homer Floyd raced 20 for one and 54 for another, while Johnny Traylor went 42 yards for one and caught a pass from Roy Johnson for 29 and another.

The Tigers gained 607 yards, 131 by passing, while holding Mansfield to 240 yards, 90 by passing.

Most of the visitors’ yardage was made when Massillon second and third stringers were in the game.

In fact, we were fearful of what the score would have been had not Mather substituted so freely the last two periods.

First downs were 21 to 11.
* * *
THE RUNNING of Floyd was one of the big features of the evening. He legged it well through the visiting team, which appeared unaware of his ability.

The Tigers started off by sweeping the Mansfield flanks with wide end runs, particularly deep pitch-outs. Floyd had the speed to get around and was supported by some fine blocking.

Best blocking of the evening, however, was that turned in by the left side of the Massillon line on Traylor’s 42-yard T.D. The boys just pinned the visitors to the ground while Traylor legged it fast around his left, into the open and was gone like a jack rabbit.

Jack rabbit did we say? We should have saved that term for the 93-yard flight of Francisco. He did a lot of nifty dodging as he came out of the pack and was away with a couple of Mansfield players pursuing him to the end. All were out of wind including Francisco by the time pay dirt was reached.

When the big three of the Tiger backfield retired, Billy Stone took over. He got away for some good jaunts even though he had second and third stringers in front of him.
* * *
MANSFIELD had its backs too. Jim Thompson, Ed Avery, Wilmer Fowler and Willie Mack showed they had the speed, but their line was neither strong nor fast enough to get them into the open very often. They had few long gains.

Mansfield fans we talked to had words of praise for the Tigers. Most of them figured they would get beat but not by as heavy a margin.

Coach Bill Peterson was complimentary to the Tigers and told Mather he had a very fine team.

The Tigers broke the visitors’ spirit quickly.

They stopped Mansfield after the opening kickoff and got the ball for the first time in a punt on their 49-yard line. They never stopped until they had seven points.

It was Francisco 11 yards in two attempts, Floyd 20 on a pitchout to the left and 20 more and a touchdown on a pitchout to the right – just like that, with Tom Boone kicking the extra point.

They fizzled out on their second ball carrying series but when they got to a third time they drove into pay dirt again. They started from their own 46 with Floyd racing for 13. Francisco added a yard, and Floyd, running on that pitchout again, flew 25 yards to the Mansfield 15. Francisco went around his right end for the touchdown and again Boone booted the extra point.
* * *
THAT ENDED the scoring for the first quarter. Mansfield worked the ball into Tiger territory early in the second period but was forced to punt. Floyd took the ball on a handoff after the punt from behind his goal and only because of his speed and some fine chopping of tacklers by teammates was he able to avoid a safety and get out to his three. Traylor moved the ball up four yards and Francisco busted out of nowhere for his brilliant 93-yard run. Boone again kicked the extra point and it was 21-0.

The fourth touchdown came quickly. Stopped on the kickoff the visitors punted to the 40. Floyd lost two when he slipped on a pitchout but Traylor tore around his left end to score. Boone missed the kick.

Mansfield struck back with its best attack of the half. Starting with the kickoff on their own 41 the visiting Tygers began tossing short passes with Pudge Henkel doing the pitching. He hit Avery for 11 yards, Fowler for three, Mack for eight, and Morton for three. With some runs mixed in the visitors got down to the one yard line and had three chances to put it over. Fowler first tried to dent the Tiger wall and failed. Then Henkel tried a keep play and was thrown back. Lastly Thompson was hurled at the line and he too was stopped, so the Tigers took over.
* * *
THE LOCALS scored quickly in the second half. Getting the ball on the 32, Traylor and Francisco moved it up to their 46. There Floyd was sent up the alley on a quick opener and he came through as though shot out of a cannon to go all the way, 54 yards and a touchdown. Boone kicked this point too.

Mansfield was stopped after the following kickoff and forced to punt, the Tigers getting the ball on their 25.

Francisco in two plays went to his 44, but a 15-yard penalty after a completed pass to Chuck Lentz didn’t help matters any. Carl Porter then whipped a 42-yard beauty to Francisco who got all the way to the 29, Johnson went in to throw one and throw it he did, a perfectly timed ball that Traylor took over his shoulder in the end zone while on the dead run.

This time the boys muffed the ball on the try for point, so Porter picked it up and ran it over for a counter. It turned out to be the Tigers’ last points of the game but only because the Tigers lost the ball on a fumble on the one-yard line. After that Mather filled his ranks with rookies.

Mansfield got its only T.D. in the fourth quarter after getting a Tiger punt on the latter’s 38. Mack on a deep reverse picked up 11 and went to a first on the 13 only to be penalized 15 on a personal foul. A well-aimed pass, Henkel to Avery, made up for the penalty loss and brought a first down on the two-yard line. Thompson shot around right end for the T.D. and Jerry Lorenz kicked the extra point.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Boone, Letcavits, Lorch, Lentz, Canary.
TACKLES – Schram, Dean, Williams, Woolley, Hill.
GUARDS – Agnes, Eaglowski, Shilling, Gardner, Fletcher, Holloway, Maier.
CENTERS – Fisher, Grant.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, Porter, Johnson.
HALFBACKS – Francisco, Traylor, Byrd, Stavroff, Fromholtz, Yoder, Longshore, Duke.
FULLBACKS – Floyd, Stone, Boekel.

MANSFIELD
ENDS – Groves, Morton, Shoylaya, Smith, Yoha, Philpot.
TACKLES – Cook, Elliot, Fisher, Neston.
GUARDS – Elmas, Moore, G. Yoakam, Senohozlieff, Komjanovich.
CENTERS – Armstrong, Danals.
QUARTERBACK – Henkel.
HALFBACKS – Mack, Fowler, Avery, Bair, Jones, Wilson.
FULLBACK – Thompson.

Score by periods:
MASSILLON 14 13 14 0 41
MANSFIELD 0 0 0 7 7

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Floyd 2; Francisco 2; Traylor 2.
Mansfield – Thompson.

Point after touchdowns:
Massillon – Boone 4 (placekicks). Porter (carried).
Mansfield – Lorentz (placekick).

Officials
Referee – Smith (Elyria).
Umpire – Walker (Columbus).
Head Linesman – Machock (Wooster).
Field Judge – Moore (Wooster).

STATISTICS
Mass. Mansf.
First downs 21 11
Passes attempted 9 24
Passes completed 3 8
Had passes intercepted 0 2
Yards gained passing 131 90
Yards gained rushing 476 150
Total yards gained 607 240
Yards lost 24 17
Net yards gained 583 223
Times kicked off 7 2
Average kickoffs (yards) 41 48
Yards kickoffs returned by 31 96
Times punted 3 6
Average punt (yards) 28 37
Yards punts returned by 9 21
Times fumbled 5 1
Lost ball on fumbles 3 1
Times penalized 5 5
Yards penalized 45 55

Category: <span>History</span>