Category: <span>History</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1950: Massillon 35, Steubenville 12

16,175 See Tigers Beat Steubenville 35-12
Big Red Becomes First Eleven To Cross Goal Line Of Massillon Team

By LUTHER EMERY

Washington high school’s goal line is no longer uncrossed. The Big Red wave from down Ohio River way, rolled over the Massillon zero stripe twice Friday evening but it wasn’t enough to keep the Tigers from chalking up their fourth straight victory by a score of 35-12 before 16,175 fans, largest crowd of the season.

Just as expected, the Tigers ran into tough competition in Steubenville which not only became the first team to cross the Massillon goal this season but which actually out-scored the local team 6-0 in the second period.

The Massillon gridders were not at their best. Usually when a team does not look up to form, the opposition is part of the reason, and such was partially the case last night.

Steubenville gave ground stubbornly during most of the game and first downs came the hard way though the Tigers had an 18-6 advantage in this department.

But with all the spirited play on the part of the Big Red, the local team did not appear sharp. Blocking was not up to par and players did not appear to be on the alert in throwing their bocks, they picked the wrong man to throw the leather at and permitted tacklers to slither through to mess up the maneuver.

“I wasn’t at all pleased with the performance of the boys,” Coach Chuck Mather said after the game. “I didn’t think our blocking was a sharp as it should have been and too many times one or more players got mixed on assignments and blocked out the wrong man.”

The showing of the Steubenville team was no surprise to Mather. He anticipated trouble, found it and his warnings that Perry Jeter, fleet Big Red halfback was dangerous at all times were verified in the third quarter when the speedster ran 74 yards for Steubenville’s second touchdown of the game.
* * *
HONORS for scoring the first touchdown against Massillon this season went to Clarence Lawson, sophomore halfback, who sparked the Big Red touchdown drive of 88 yards in the second period. He went over from the one-yard line, where the ball had been placed as a result of a five-yard penalty on Massillon.

The Big Red showed the Tigers more offense and defense than they had seen all season, though the locals had the edge in this portion of the statistics, gaining 349 net yards, (the least made by the Tigers in a game this season) against Steubenville’s 155 yards.

Perry Jeter and Lawson furnished most of the Big Red’s punch.

The Tigers didn’t have an individual ball carrying star. Bob Grier scored three of the locals’ touchdowns, one from 22 yards out and the others on two and one-yard plays.

The Tigers used a pressing defense that caused many in the stands to wonder why the Big Red did not pass when the Massillon secondary was so near the line of scrimmage. The answer was furnished in the later stages of the game when the Big Red did most of its passing, none coming close to the intended receiver.

The Tigers tried 10 passes and hit on three for 78 yards. Two others were dropped by their receivers.
* * *
FORTUNATELY the locals came out of the game from what appeared to be no serious injuries. “We are thankful for that,” said Mather in the dressing room after a quick check of all players.

Fans groaned when they saw big Cliff Streeter sprawled out on the turf but it only proved to be a severe leg cramp.

Thirty-three players were used in the game but many of them played only a few minutes.
* * *
THE FIRST period was seven minutes old when the Tigers chalked up the first of their five touchdowns. They lost the ball on a fumble on the kickoff but began rolling after an exchange of punts in which they got the ball on the Big Red 47-yard line. Freddie Close on first down hurled a fine 37-yard pass to Cliff Streeter who was nailed on the 10-yard line. Russell banged his way to the two and Bob Howe plunged it over for the score.

A poor punt after the following kickoff gave the locals the ball on the Big Red 40 and placed them in position to drive for another touchdown. Russell, running beautifully from a trap, went 24 yards to the 16. The Big Red dug in and was hard to move from there on. Grier banged for three, Russell four and Howe made it first down on the four. Howe hit again for two and Russell smacked center….. (NEXT LINES ARE UNREADABLE)

….ball most of the second period with its 88-yard touchdown drive. The Big Red got the ball through a punt on their own 12.

With Benny Bunch and Clarence Lawson doing the lugging, the visitors reeled off six first downs, principally on end runs to put the pigskin on the six-yard line. An off side penalty against Massillon advanced the leather to the one-yard line where Lawson went over for the first touchdown against the Tigers this year. Bunch’s attempted kick for the extra point was low. All of Steubenville’s first downs were packed into this one drive.
Score: 14-6.
* * *
THE TIGERS took the kickoff and aided by two passes, Close to Streeter for 16 yards and Close to Bill Stoner for 25, had the ball on the 19-yard line when the half ended.

The first time the local team got the ball in he second half it scored. A Steubenville punt went out of bounds on the Massillon 36, Grier ripped off 29 yards for a first down on the visitors’ 35 and Russell narrowed the distance by 13 more yards. Grier went around end for 22 and the score. Score: 21-6.

Steubenville was forced to punt after the kickoff, Stoner being downed with the ball on a short return on his own 45. It took a lot of hard driving to get to the goal.
* * *
THE TIGERS rammed over their final touchdown with less than a minute left to play in the fourth quarter. The drive started from the Massillon 35 where the local team took the ball on downs. Howe got away for a 37-yard run that moved the pigskin to the Big Red 28. Steubenville was penalized five yards and Freddie Waikem raced to a first down on the 15. Lee Nussbaum picked up six and Howe placed the ball on the four. Ray Lane narrowed the distance to two yards and Grier went over for the final points of the game.
Score: 35-12.

Jerry Krisher kicked all of Massillon’s extra points after touchdown, giving him a string of 13 without a miss. Unofficially it should be 14, since he had to kick one twice because of the Tigers being off side.

Today, 50 members of their teams and their dads were taken by the Tiger Booster club to Columbus to see the Ohio State-Pitt football game. They made the trip in private autos. A chicken dinner at Centerburg was on the schedule.

The line-up and summary:

MASSILLON
ENDS – W. Brenner, Streeter, Woolbert.
TACKLES – Gibson, Grunder, Strobel, Younker, Geiser, Mitchell.
GUARDS – Tunning, Reichenbach, Moyer, J. Howe, Sapia, Gleason, Laps.
CENTERS – Krisher, Dowd.
QUARTERBACK – Close.
HALFBACKS – Grier, Russell, Waikem, Nussbaum, Stoner, Khoenle, Francisco, Lane, Stewart.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – Gilliam, Jones, Fields.
TACKLES – Ruggieri, Linn, Yohn, R. Conkel.
GUARDS – Bodo, Suggs, Churchwell, Morrow.
CENTERS – Wells, Locust.
QUARTERBACKS – Medves, Wickham.
HALFBACKS – P. Jeter, Thompson, L. Jeter, Lawson.
FULLBACK – Bunch.

Score by periods:
Massillon 14 0 14 7 35
Steubenville 0 6 6 0 12

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Howe; Russell; Grier 3.
Steubenville – P. Jeter; Lawson.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Krisher 5 (placekicks).

Referee – Rupp.
Umpire – Brubaker.
Head Linesman – Grubbs.
Field Judge – Jenkins.

Statistics Of The Game
Mass. Steub.
First downs 18 6
Passes attempted 10 8
Passes completed 3 0
Had passes intercepted 7 0
Yards gained passing 78 0
Yards gained rushing 288 192
Total yards gained 366 192
Yards lost 17 37
Net yards gained 340 155
Kickoffs 6 3
Average kickoff (yards) 43.6 33
Yards kickoffs returned by 22 101
Punts 3 8
Average punt (yards) 38.3 25.3
Yards punts returned by 9 15
Times fumbled 4 2
Lost ball on fumble 2 1
Times penalized 6 3
Yards penalized 40 13.5

Jim Reichenbach
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1951: Massillon 54, Akron South 13

Tigers Repel Akron South Invasion 54-13
Sophomore Back Scores Six Touchdowns As Local Team Wins 18th In A Row

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high school Tigers found a new star Friday night as they rolled up their season’s largest score to smash Akron South high school 54-13 before 10,832 fans in Tiger stadium.

The new flash was Johnny Francisco, picked from the sophomore ranks, who raced to six of the eight touchdowns, with a brilliant bit of ball carrying.

His first score was a token one yard effort, but after that he delivered with runs of 22, 23, 8, 25 and 31 yards, to surprise even his sophomore teammates who had helped him dash his way to many touchdowns as a member of their team. He only carried the ball nine times – six touchdowns in nine runs – not bad. He also caught a 14-yard pass from brother Paul.
* * *
HIS PLAY in sophomore games earned him the honor of starting last night and he did so well the coaches just left him fill in for Bobby Grier, the regular left halfback, for most of the game.

Sharing the ball carrying spotlight with Francisco were Lee Nussbaum, fullback, and Tom Straughn. The former also became of age when he went 59 yards for one of the touchdowns and his 111 net yards represented the most made by any Tiger back. Francisco’s net total was 109 and that of Straughn 110.

Just as everyone had predicted and as the Tiger coaching staff had expected, South unleashed an aerial bombardment at the start of the game, that almost had Coach Chuck Mather calling out the civil air patrol to halt the invasion.

Certainly his Tigers had their troubles in a very exciting first half, when South twice led them 7-0 and 13-7. Only a gallant defensive stand kept the visitors from scoring a third touchdown in the second period which ended 27-13, while a fumble stopped them in the fourth quarter just a few yards short of the Tiger goal.

When a team’s passing attack is clicking there isn’t much you can do to stop it as the Tigers learned in the first half. Frequently they had good position on the South receivers, but football coaches will tell you a perfect pass can’t be stopped and that’s what happened.
* * *
THE VISITORS’ air raids were not nearly as effective the last two periods, however, largely because the passer was rushed and didn’t have the time to take the deadly aim with which he had previously hit his receivers.

All in all, however, South in rolling to two touchdowns and almost a couple more, gained 259 yards through the air, by completing 12 of 29 passes.

Fortunately the visitors were not nearly as effective on the ground, gaining but 40 yards in their ball carrying efforts.

It was in this department that the Tigers excelled although they too made use of the forward pass at times. They gained 409 yards carrying the ball and 116 with the pass.
* * *
THE SHARPEST blocking of the season made it easier for the ball carriers to gain around than in past games. Francisco, for instance, seldom had a hand laid on him, a tribute to the blocking and also to his ability to set up his blocks and thread his way through the open field. Nussbaum and Straughn both ran harder and shook off many tacklers in making their yardage.

The Tigers did all of their scoring in the first three periods, seven points in the first, 20 in the second and 27 in the third. They couldn’t get the ball over in the fourth when Coach Mather was filling his ranks with substitutes. He used 40 players in all, as far as we could count, and we may have missed one or two along the way.

The game had its misfortunes. Big Jim Geiser was carried off the field with a bruised back muscle and Willing Longshore sustained what may be a cracked collar bone on the last play of the game.

The victory was the Tigers fourth of the season and their 18th in a row. They were last defeated by Mansfield in the middle of the 1949 season.
* * *
THE TIGERS won without the services of two of their biggest men, Glenn Tunning and Henry Ace Grooms who were hurt in the 13-7 squeeze over Steubenville last week. Grooms got in long enough to toss two passes just before the end of the game. Some friends who drove all the way from Brownsville, Pa., went home disappointed at not having seen him play more.

South didn’t wait long to show the Tigers what a forward pass looked like. On the first play Larry Boyer hit Jerry Ford for a 40-yard pass and a first down on the Tiger 37. Tony Roppolo pegged to Halfback Jess Campbell for another on the 24 and then found Boyer in the flat for a pretty toss that went the rest of the distance. The game was only two minutes and 47 seconds old.

The Tigers lost the ball on a fumble on their first ball carrying efforts but they got it back when Roppolo gambled on fourth down and failed to make yardage on the 35. Then the Tigers struck, the big blow being a 58-yard pass from Paul Francisco to Bruce Brenner who went to the South four before he was caught. Two plays later Johnny Francisco was over the goal and the Tigers had tied it up at 7-7.

The touchdown by no means broke South. The visitors came right back with Jim Gleasten intercepting Paul Francisco’s pass on his 37 and Roppolo tossing a five-yarder to Ford and another in the flat to Jess Campbell who took the ball on the 50 and went the rest of the way. Roppolo kicked the extra point the first time he tried it but South was caught holding and was penalized 15 yards. He missed the second attempt and his Cavaliers led 13-7.
* * *
THE TIGERS’ offense began clicking after this one. They took the kickoff on their 37 and Straughn raced to the South 32.

He overcame a five-yard penalty to lug it to another first down on the 22 and John Francisco hit around his left end for the rest of the distance.

Rubio also missed the kick which left the score tied at 13-13.

Though the half ended 27-13, South gave the Tigers a score toward the end of the period by passing the ball from its own 31 to a first down on the Tiger four. Here the locals dug in and stopped four ball carrying efforts to regain the ball before the end of the half.

The third period was a nightmare of points for the Tigers as they crossed the South goal four times. First it was Nussbaum racing 59 yards to score. Then came Johnny Francisco to wind up a 64-yard march with a 25-yard dash into pay dirt. Next it was Paul Francisco bucking the ball over from the one yard line after Straughn had been denied a 37-yard T.D. jaunt because of a penalty. A 14-yard pass from Paul to John Francisco had put the ball on the one yard for the former to get his points.

The final score was made as the third period closed after Weldon Younkers recovered Boyer’s fumble on the South 22. Two plays lost nine yards but John Francisco more than made up for them as he was shaken loose for 31 yards and six points.

Two Tigers, Chug-Chug Stewart, and Bobby Joe Johnson were not permitted to dress last night for having missed practice without a legitimate excuse.

Today 35 members of the squad were taken to Columbus to attend the Ohio State-Michigan football game.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Corbett, Keen, Gable, Brenner, Shilling, Climo, Sweasey.
TACKLES – Kraus, Youngers, Gibson, Strobel, Takacs, Chapman, Gumpp, Rubio, Geiser.
CENTERS – Roderick, Corral, Fabianich.
GUARDS – Milncek, Sapia, Grunder, Glinage, Moyer, Crone.
QUARTERBACKS – Longshore, P. Francisco, Misere, Dommer.
HALFBACKS – Khoenle, Traylor, J. Francisco, Straughn, Millar, Grier.
FULLBACKS – Vilet, Nussbaum, Grooms, Tasseff.

AKRON SOUTH
ENDS – Ford, Spicker, Johnson, Beesley, McLeod.
TACKLES – Litz, Carson, Vanatta, Skiles.
GUARDS – Robert, Anthony, Hickman, McGardy, Burton, Biettle.
CENTERS – Long, Sues.
QUARTERBACKS – Roppolo, Foster.
HALFBACKS – Boyer, Campbell, Williams, Gleasten, F. Ford, Sellers.
FULLBACKS – Doakes, Slappy, Gukic.

Score by periods:
Massillon 7 20 27 0 54
Akron South 7 6 0 0 13

Touchdowns:
Massillon – J. Francisco 6; Nussbaum; P. Francisco.
Akron South – Boyer, Campbell.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Rubio 6 (placekicks).
Akron South – Roppolo (placekicks).

Officials
Referee – C.W. Rupp.
Umpire – Tony Pianowski.
Head Linesman – Verlin Jenkins.
Field Judge – Joe Morbito.

STATISTICS
Mass. South
First downs 9 15
Passes attempted 13 29
Passes completed 5 12
Had passes intercepted 1 0
Yards gained passing 116 250
Yards gained rushing 409 40
Total yards gained 525 299
Yards lost 30 44
Net yards gained 495 255
Times kicked off 9 3
Average kickoff (yards) 39 40
Times punted 1 5
Average punt (yards) 40 45
Yards kickoffs returned by 20 55
Yards punts returned by 77 5
Times penalized 5 6
Yards penalized 25 60
Times fumbled 4 3
Lost ball on fumbles 2 3

Ace Grooms
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1950: Massillon 62, Cleveland Cathedral Latin 0

Tigers Defeat Cathedral Latin Lions 62-0
Massillon Team Rolls Up Season’s Largest Score To Win Easily

By LUTHER EMERY

The Cathedral Latin Lion, which lost its roar several years ago, and has never been able to get it back, was tamed by a touchdown happy pack of Washington high Tigers here Friday evening to the tune of 62-0.

A crowd of 13,384 fans saw Halfback Ernie Russell plunge over the Latin goal line on the first play of the second period for the first touchdown of the game after the two teams had battled to a scoreless tie the first quarter.

From that T.D. on to the end of the game, it was only a question as to how big the score would be, for the locals gained ground almost at will while stopping practically every Latin attempt to advance the ball.
* * *
THE STATISTICS tell the story better and briefer than all the words of explanation – 18 first downs to Latin’s 3; 545 net yards from scrimmage to Latin’s 53.

And yet with all the apparent one-sided performance, Coach Chuck Mather found plenty of errors in his team’s play and sufficient ragged performance at times to cause him to wobble all the more under the worry of things to come.

For example, had the Tigers been playing Steubenville, Alliance, Barberton or Canton McKinley, last night, they might have taken a licking in the first period from which they could not have recovered. It took them long enough to get their second wind as it was, but once they did, they rolled relentlessly against the Lions.

Forty-three players were used by the Tiger coach, one short of four teams, with a rookie outfit scoring the last two touchdowns and an all sophomore eleven finishing the game.
* * *
THE PERCENTAGE of completed passes was poor, principally because of poor reception. Three touchdown passes were dropped by receivers as well as a couple of others. Only seven of 25 hit their mark to stay, and right here we might add that never was a passer accorded better protection than that given Quarterback Freddie Close last night. He had all the time in the world to chuck the ball.

The Lions last night were the Tigers’ third victim of the season and none of the three has been able to penetrate the locals’ defense for points. Only once did Latin get over the
50-yard line last night and then by only a couple of yards.

With Coach Mather using so many players, it was impossible to pick out an outstanding star or stars on the local team. Bob Howe bore the brunt of the offense and got away to some good gains, but every mother’s son who got into the contest did his part to roll up the victory.
* * *
IT WAS EASIER to select a Latin beacon. The individual was Peter Ghirla, quarterback, who captained the team, ran it, did the passing and punting – and what punting! Several times, while in the shadow of his goal posts, his toe drove the ball back to midfield. That he didn’t complete more than two passes was not his fault. He often hit his receivers who could not hold the ball.

Only once in the entire game did the Tigers punt and then it wasn’t exactly necessary for they had the ball on the 35-yard line with only a yard needed for a first down when they elected to kick the pigskin. They gambled and won on fourth down several times thereafter.

The locals showed improvement over their previous two games. They looked better both offensively and defensively, showed good downfield blocking, and handled the ball with greater confidence and tighter fingers. Fumbles were scarce, each team having a bobble and each losing the ball on it.
* * *
FORTUNATELY, the Tigers came out of the game in good physical shape. Early in the contest they were shaken up in several spots but all of the injured re-entered the game before hitting the showers.

Once again the scoring was well distributed among members of the team. Chuck Vliet and Howe each scored twice, while Bob Grier, Close, Wilfred Brenner, Cliff Streeter and Russell each found their way into the Promised land.

If Jerry Krisher keeps it up, he can earn himself quite a reputation as a place kicker. He booted eight without a miss last night, the one failure after touchdown coming when Close got a high pass from center and got up and tried to run with the ball. He was downed before he could get to the Latin goal.
* * *
WHILE THE TIGERS failed to score in the first quarter they launched a 54-yard march in the closing minutes of the period that put the ball in position for Russell to go over on the first play of the second period. Howe, Grier and Russell did most of the leather lugging in the drive. A 37-yard pass, Howe to W. Brenner who made a great catch and ran another 10 yards, brought in the second score. It was the prettiest catch of the game. Streeter covered a fumbled kickoff to get the locals in position for their third touchdown in little more than four minutes. Close pitched to Russell for 34 yards and a first down on the seven, and Close on third down, plunged through center for the score.

A fourth down run by Howe good for 14 yards, produced the Tigers’ fourth touchdown of the period, and the locals would have had a fifth had Streeter been able to hang on to Close’s pass behind the goal.

The third period was five minutes old when the locals scored again. This time Streeter held Close’s rapid pass of 23 yards and stepped over the goal for a touchdown. The successful pass climaxed a 57-yard drive.
* * *
A 38-YARD RUN on fourth down by Howe produced another touchdown in the third quarter and before the period was over the Tigers had driven another 42 yards for a first down on the nine-yard stripe. Two passes failed and Howe took the ball to the two-yard stripe. Grier plunged for the remaining two.

A nice return of a Latin punt by John Francisco to the Latin 40, got a team of second stringers off to the eighth touchdown of the game. A 10-yard pass to Bruce Brenner and some hard running by Vliet and Lee Nussbaum got the ball down to the 12 where Vliet went over in two attempts.

Ghirla was thrown on fourth down by a fast charging Massillon line when he tried to punt after the following kickoff and the Tiger rookies took over on the six-yard line. Vliet went over on third down on a left end sweep for the final score of the game.

The line-up and summary:

MASSILLON
ENDS – W. B renner, Streeter, Zellers, Murray, B. Brenner, Corbett, Millar, Tasseff, Allison.
TACKLES – Gibson, Grunder, Schumacher, Strobel, Younker, Kraus, Geiser, Rubio.
GUARDS – Tunning, Reichenbach, Gleason, Laps, Moyer, J. Howe, Crone.
CENTERS – Krisher, Dowd, Corral, Shilling, Martin.
QUARTERBACKS – Close, Francisco, Khoenle.
HALFBACKS – Grier, Lane, Russell, Stoner, Mlincek, Nussbaum, Waikem, Stewart, Straughn.
FULLBACKS – Howe, Vliet.

CATHEDRAL LATIN
ENDS – Horvath, Vosmik, B osway, Meglen, Ramsey.
TACKLES – Schwallie, Wright, Voytek, Kant.
GUARDS – Siwniski, Vosmik, Tunnio, Kollin.
CENTERS – Mathias, Walsh.
QUARTERBACKS – Ghirla, Collins.
HALFBACKS – Marko, Cardaman, DeFabio.
FULLBACKS – Engeman, DeFabio.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 27 14 21 62

Touchdowns: Massillon – Russell; W. Brenner; Close; Howe 2;
Streeter; Grier; Vliet 2.

Points after touchdown: Massillon – Krisher eight (placekicks).

Referee – McPhee.
Umpire – Brubaker.
Head Linesman – Schaffer.
Field Judge – Gross.

STATISTICS
Mass. Latin
First downs 18 3
Passes attempted 25 14
Passes completed 7 2
Had passes intercepted 0 3
Yards gained passing 169 27
Yards gained rushing 389 64
Total yards gained 558 91
Yards lost 13 38
Net yards gained 545 53
Times kicked off 10 1
Average kickoff 9yards) 46.6 53
Yards kickoffs returned by 10 114
Times punted 1 8
Average punt (yards) 25 35.7
Yards punts returned by 49 0
Fumbles 1 1
Lost ball on fumbles 1 1
Times penalized 6 5
Yards penalized 60 35

Jim Reichenbach
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1950: Massillon 46, Canton Lincoln 0

15,000 See Tigers Defeat Canton Lincoln 46-0
Sharp Blocking Paves Way For Local Eleven’s Second Win Of Season

By LUTHER EMERY

The supremacy the Washington high Tigers have held over Canton Lincoln in football was maintained Friday evening in Fawcett stadium as the Massillon Bengals clawed their way to a 46-0 victory before 15,000 fans in what was probably the last game to be played between the two teams.

The Tigers have signed Cincinnati Elder in the Lincoln spot for the next two seasons and the Lions have intimated they are satisfied to drop gridiron relations for the time being after eight years of happy competition. The best the Lions could do in the eight years was hold the Tigers to a scoreless tie in 1945. The Massillon team won all of the other seven games.

The Tigers scored in every period last night to win their second game of the season in defense of the state championship they have held the past two seasons.

Touchdowns came somewhat harder, than they did against Akron Central beaten 49-0 in the opening game a week ago, but nevertheless Coach Chuck Mather found it possible to give 41 players an opportunity to get into the melee and three of the substitutes, Bob Grier, Bob Kkoenle and Chuck Vliet were able to score touchdowns against their Canton opponents.
* * *
THE MASSILLON gridders scored three times in the first quarter, once in each of the second and third periods and twice in the fourth. Lincoln never got near the Tiger goal.

The Cantonians put up a scrap, however as shown by the fact they forced the Tigers to punt four times, and both teams took quite a physical beating.

Players were limping out on nearly every play in the fourth quarter, with Lincoln suffering the most damage although the Tigers had a medical list that caused some worry to Coach Mather.

Bill Stoner, aggravated an old foot injury and Fred Waikem had a shoulder bumped. Big Jim Schumacher saw stars and retired to the bench with a headache from coming in contact with a Lion foot. None of the injuries sustained by either team, however, was considered serious.
* * *
THE TIGER offense was smoother last night than it was against Central and the ball was handled with stickier fingers. Quick opening plays and deep reverses proved to be the locals best weapons although two forward passes and one lateral were good for three touchdowns.

Principal ground gainers in the ball carrying department were Bob Howe, Ernie Russell, Ray Lane, Bob Grier and Lee Nussbaum. Waikem’s shoulder injury put him out of the game early so that he had little opportunity to show the Canton folks how he could run.

The Tiger ball carriers were accorded sharp blocking, lending additional backing to the statement of Coach Mather that this is one of the hittingest teams he has ever had.

The Tiger quarterbacks, Fred Close and Bob Khoenle likewise were given excellent protection on forward pass plays and had all the time in the world to pick out their receivers. They completed five of 16 attempts. The same could not be said however, for the protection accorded Capt. Jim Reichenbach on punting plays. He nearly had the ball blocked a couple of times.
* * *
THERE WERE vicious tackles too, but the one that brought the biggest ovation came at the end of the game when Clarence “Chug-Chug” Stewart tossed Vic Schoeppner, Lion ball carrying ace on the 10-yard line after a kickoff. The tackle may earn “Chug-Chug” a place on the eleven when the Tigers kickoff in the future. Built close to the ground, he can’t hit’em anywhere but low and that’s what it takes to stop a player when he has a chance to get up steam on a kickoff.

The Tigers had all the best of the statistics, making 15 first downs to Lincoln’s three and gaining the net total of 421 yards to Lincoln’s 57.

Despite the one-sided score, the Massillon eleven can still stand considerable brushing up and Coach Mather will proceed along these lines as he prepares for next week’s game here with Cathedral Latin which on a basis of performance thus far could prove to be a surprise package.

Lincoln proved its own worst enemy on many occasions last night when players failed to receive passes or muffed chances to intercept passes which all but knocked some of the players down. The Lions were jittery and in addition to the pass muffs they also gave the Tigers the ball three times on fumbles. With more glue on their fingers they could have made a much better game of it.
* * *
THE GAME was five minutes and five seconds old when the Tigers scored their first touchdown in a drive of 59 yards. With Bob Howe leading the attack the locals got to the Lincoln 42 where Howe tore loose and ran to the three-yard line before slipping out of bounds. Grier was stopped inches short but Close put it over on a quarterback sneak and Krisher kicked the extra point.

An intercepted pass by Russell who got back to the Lincoln 20, set the stage for the second score. Grier hit for six yards and Lane went the remaining 14. Krisher missed the extra point.
A 58-yard march produced the third score with only seconds left in the quarter. A deep reverse with Grier carrying, gained a first down on the 16 from which Close hit Cliff Streeter with a perfect pass for the touchdown.

A 42-yard march late in the second period ended with the only touchdown of that quarter, another pass, Fred Close to Streeter for 25 yards, gaining the six points. Krisher added the seventh from placement and the half closed with the Tigers leading 26-0.
* * *
LINCOLN, which kicked-off at the start of the game also booted the ball at the start of the second half and the Tigers never gave it up until they got over the Lion goal. They started from their own 29, used three first downs getting down to the Lion 21, where Grier circled his right end for the touchdown. Krisher booted the 33rd point of the game.

The Tigers got another drive going in the same period but after marching 50 yards with the ball, forfeited on downs on the Lincoln 10.

The Lions fumbled on the first play of the fourth period and substitutes Tom Straughn and Joe Sapia got on the ball for Massillon, on the Lincoln 26-yard line. Another sophomore, Lee Nussbaum ran the leather to the 10 where Khoenle tossed a lateral to Chuck Vliet for the touchdown. Krisher again kicked the extra point to make the score 40-0.
* * *
DICK WOOLBERT covered a Lincoln fumble on the Lion 44 to start the seventh and final drive. With Nussbaum leading the drive the Tigers moved to the two where Khoenle bucked it over. Krisher missed the kick for the extra point and the score remained 46-0.

The game produced one freak play we have never seen before. After the Tigers’ fourth touchdown, Krisher, in kicking off for Massillon barely touched the ball in that it merely trickled from the tee and hardly moved a yard. A Tiger player immediately pounced on the leather, but having failed to move 10 yards, it was not a free ball and went to the opponents at the point where it was touched and made dead by the Tiger player.

Lincoln was eligible to cover the ball or pick it up and run like any ball kicked off. Had neither team touched the ball, the officials said they would have called for another kickoff. Prior to that Krisher had been getting off some terrific kicks.

The line-ups and summaries:
MASSILLON
ENDS – W. Brenner, Streeter, Tasseff, Zellers, Bob Grier, Woolbert, B. Brenner, Murray, Martin, Corbett.
TACKLES – Gibson, Schumacher, Grunder, Geiser, Younker, Mitchell, Strobel.
GUARDS – Tunning, Reichenbach, Moyer, J. Howe, Sapia, Laps.
CENTERS – Krisher, Dowd, Shilling, Corral.
QUARTERBACKS – Close, Khoenle.
HALFBACKS – Waikem, Lane, Russell, Grier, Stoner, Straughn, Mlincek, Crone, Francisco.
FULLBACKS – Howe, Nussbaum, Stewart, Vliet.

LINCOLN
ENDS – Bush, Jarvis, Lombardi, George, Rich.
TACKLES – Groetz, Bleahu, Taylor.
GUARDS – Vega, Dent, Christian, Wilson.
CENTERS – Chismar, Bush.
QUARTERBACKS – Williamson, Hartzell.
HALFBACKS – Toy, Dogoli, Davis, Mottice, Keck.
FULLBACKS – V. Schoeppner, Crawford.

Score by periods:
Massillon 19 7 7 13 46

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Close; Lane 2; Streeter; Grier; Vliet; Khoenle.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Krisher 4 (placekicks)

Referee – Lindsay.
Umpire – Gross.
Head Linesman – Jenkins.
Field Judge – Russ.

Statistics
Mass. Lincoln
First downs 15 3
Passes attempted 16 13
Passes completed 5 2
Had passes intercepted 0 2
Yardsgained passing 68 9
Yards gained rushing 362 79
Total yards gained 430 88
Yards lost 9 31
Net yards gained 421 57
Times punted 4 5
Average punt (yards) 29.7 29.2
Yards punts returned by 12 18
Times kicked off 7 2
Average kickoff (yards) 41.8 30
Yards kickoffs returned by 10 85
Times fumbled 1 3
Lost ball on fumble 0 3
Times penalized 6 1
Yards penalized 50 5

Jim Reichenbach
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1950: Massillon 49, Akron Central 0

Tigers Show Power In Defeating Akron Central 49-0

44 Massillon Players Given Chance To Show In Opening Grid Game

By LUTHER EMERY

Chuck Mather could have named his score and made it Friday evening when the Washington high Tigers defeated Akron Central 49-0, but he chose to substitute freely and thus kept from doubling that figure.

Because of the liberal substitutions, 44 wearers of orange and black had an opportunity to perform before the nose counted crowd of 11,103 fans in the opening game of the 1950 scholastic season here.

A big, rugged line, faster than one would expect for its size, and enjoying a weighty advantage over its Rubber City opponent, blasted holes for the Tiger backs to romp through at will and with safety.
* * *
THE MASSILLON gridders smashed to three touchdowns the first period, and added two more the second quarter to lead 35-0 going into the second half. They grabbed two more T.D.’s in the first three minutes of the third quarter, and from there on in the parade to and from the bench was under way. One had a fairly good idea who was playing the first two periods but after that the changes came so rapid boys were in and out of the game before you awoke to the fact that they were even in uniform.

It is too early to say how good the 1950 edition of Tigertown is, and until a stronger team than Akron Central comes along, it will be hard to judge the potential strength of the eleven, but the squad showed sufficient last night to convince most fans that it will take a lot of football to upset the Bengals this season.
* * *
MATHER tried to brush off the score as “one of those things” but underneath his remarks one could discern that he was pretty well satisfied with the performance.

“We still need a lot of smoothing up,” he said, “But I liked the way some of the boys worked.” He said the game was considerably rougher than it appeared from the stands, and there were quite a few split lips and scratches when the boys hit the showers, and rinsed off the dirt and perspiration. There were no serious injuries however. Leg cramps caused the removal of two players, Ernie Russell and Bob Grier.

Mather used a partial double platoon system, keeping three of his offensive players in the lineup for defense, and sending eight substitutes in to make up the remainder of the team.

The game was uninteresting from a standpoint of a contest for there was no doubt from the opening gun but that the local team would make a run-away of the score.

Some sensational passing and running plays sparked the interest of fans. There was a surprising lateral from Fred Close to Bob Howe followed by the latter’s long pass to Cliff Streeter, good for 53 yards and the first touchdown. There was a 56-yard punt return by Bill Stoner for the second score and a 47-yard jaunt off the trap by Howe for the third set of points. There was a 22-yard run by Fred Waikem in which he threaded his way through a broken field for a touchdown, a 32-yard peg from Close to Streeter for another and a 50-yard run by Ray Lane for still another.

In fact all of the touchdowns came on plays from way out in the ball park with the exception of one which Waikem made from the nine-yard line.

The other points of the game were five scored after touchdowns, four of them by Jerry Krisher and one by Howe and a safety in the last five seconds which resulted from Central’s Lalo Biazeff being tossed behind his goal while attempting to punt.

The Tigers rolled up 499 yards from scrimmage, 345 by rushing and 154 by passing and registered 13 first downs to Central’s five.
* * *
THE VISITORS only once reached the 20-yard line, that in the fourth quarter when Tiger fourth stringers composed most of the local team’s line-up. The youngsters held for downs and then marched back to come within a yard of scoring a touchdown.

The work of Guards Glenn Tunning and Jim Reichenbach stood out for the Tigers offensively, while the play of Chuck Vliet, Jim Geiser and Joe Gleason was something to watch from a defensive point of view.

Jim Schumacher and Frank Gibson did well at the tackles as did Wilfred Brenner and Streeter on the ends.

Lee Nussbaum, sophomore fullback, had some trouble holding on the to ball, but this was a case of first night jitters, and his hard running when he did retain possession gave promise of a good future for him.
* * *
THE TIGERS headed for the oats bin the first time they got the ball, but their drive, which began from the 30 where they brought the kickoff, petered out on a fumble which Central recovered on its 18 to end the threat. This opening burst of offense, however, was sufficient to spell the doom of the visitors because the next time the Tigers got the pigskin, Howe on the first play passed to Streeter who grabbed the sphere and went over. It was a 53-yard gain.

Central was stopped after the following kickoff and when Blazeff punted, Stoner grabbed the ball on his own 46-yard line, headed to his right then suddenly reversed his field and went 56 yards to score. The Tigers’ third score of the opening period came after Blazeff’s punt rolled out of bounds on his 47-yard line. One the next play, Howe was fired through on a trap play for a touchdown. Krisher kicked the extra point after each of the first three touchdowns.

A blocked punt recovered by Paul Martin on the Central 15-yard line started the locals to another score early in the second period. Waikem twice crossed the Central goal, only to have the ball called back and the Tigers penalized for rule infractions. But he tried it again and the third time was legal. Howe booted the extra point to put the Tigers in front 28-0.

Central received the kickoff but on the first series Stoner intercepted Tom Barber’s pass and came back 24 yards before the visitors downed him on their 31. Waikem did a fancy bit of running for the last 22 yards and six points. A high pass from center on the try for the extra point was dropped but Krisher scooped up the ball and bulled his way over for the marker to bring the halftime count to 35-0.
* * *
THE THIRD PERIOD was hardly under way until the Tigers had another touchdown. Blazeff fumbled on the first play after the kickoff and Brenner got on the ball. Close immediately rifled it to Streeter who made a brilliant catch to score his second touchdown of the game. Krisher missed the uprights on his attempted kick for the extra point.

The Tigers scored the next time they came into possession of the leather. They got it on their own 38 and a 12-yard peg. Close to Streeter put the ball in midfield where Lane got loose for a touchdown gallop. Krisher again tried to run the ball over after a high pass from center but this time was thrown before he got to the goal.

Central made its only serious touchdown bid in the last period when it got the ball through a fumble on the Tiger 46. A 10-yard pass, Barber to Dick Ekstedt and a 10-yard run by Mike Shill put the ball on the 25. Three passes failed and on fourth down, Barber’s toss to Ekstedt failed to make the necessary yardage and the Tigers took over on their 20. They were dropped back to their 15 on a five-yard penalty for being off side but launched a march with Nussbaum, Grier, Tom Straugh and Bobby Jo Johnson carrying the ball that got them to the two-yard line where they lost it on downs. They got two points when Blazeff dropped back of his goal line to kick. He never did get the punt away as he was swarmed over by a flock of Tigers who chalked up a safety to hoist their score to 49 points. It was the last play of the game.

The line-ups and summary:

MASSILLON
ENDS – W. Brenner, Streeter, Allison, B. Brenner, Corbett, Murray, Tasseff, Woolbert, Zeller.
TACKLES – Gibson, Schumacher, Geiser, Grunder, Mitchell, Strobel, Younker.
GUARDS – Tunning, Reichenbach, Gleason, J. Howe, Laps, Moyer, Roderick, Sapia.
CENTERS – Krisher, Dowd, Martin.
QUARTERBACKS – Close, Francisco, Khoenle, Sweasey, Misere.
HALFBACKS – Waikem, Lane, Russell, Stoner, Johnson, Milncek, Straughn.
FULLBACKS – Howe, Nussbaum, Stewart, Vliet, Grier.

AKRON CENTRAL
ENDS – Carr, Ekstedt, Seay.
TACKLES – Mathews, Harris, Shill, Boak.
GUARDS – Carter, Dawson, Manos, Mohavics.
CENTERS – McDonald, Bland.
QUARTERBACKS – Barber, Quattrocchi, Lytle.
HALFBACKS – Bennett, Topalu, Hudson, Jeter.
FULLBACK — Blazeff.

Score by periods:
Massillon 21 14 12 2 49

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Streeter 2; Waikem 2; Howe; Stoner; Lane.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Krisher four (3 placekicks, 1 carry); Howe 1, (placekick).

Safety:
Massillon – Blazeff.

Referee – McPhee.
Umpire – Peabody.
Head Linesman – Calhoun.
Field Judge – Lobach.

Statistics
Mass. Akron
First downs 13 5
Passes attempted 11 21
Passes completed 5 5
Had passes intercepted 0 3
Yards gained passing 154 61
Yards gained rushing 345 71
Total yards gained 409 132
Yards lost 25 33
Net yards gained 474 99
Times kicked off 8 1
Average kickoff (yards) 47.5 55
Yards kickoffs returned by 23 134
Times punted 1 8
Average punt (yards) 33 24.6
Yards punts returned by 56 17
Had punt blocked 0 1
Times penalized 7 6
Yards penalized 55 42
Times fumbled 7 3
Lost ball on fumbles 5 1

Jim Reichenbach
Massillon vs. McK - Throwback (Large)

1949: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 0

Tigers Blast Bulldogs 6- And Claim State Title
Massillon Gridders Battle Big Canton Team To Standstill

By LUTHER EMERY

Massillon today hailed the Washington high school champions of Ohio as fans still recounted and praised the deed of the gallant orange and black team in its 6-0 victory over Canton McKinley at Fawcett stadium Saturday afternoon in what was one of the most bitter and hardest fought contests in the 55-year-old series.

Fifty-four games have been played since the schools first met in 1894 and the Tigers’ triumph Saturday whittled the McKinley advantage for the series to one game. Massillon has now won 24, Canton 25, while five ended in tie scores.

Program Cover

“Still champs!” were the words chanted by Tiger supporters as they milled around the stadium after the game and headed for Massillon in what seemed to be an endless horn blowing parade.

The defensive battle – a direct opposite of the offensive duel the teams were expected to wage – was marked by hard play from the opening kickoff until the final gun.

No one was certain of victory until the final gun sounded.

Tiger fans nervously watched the seconds, which seemed like hours, being ticked off by the clock, wondering if the Tigers could preserve the six-point lead they had gained in the third quarter.
* * *
CANTONIANS were under the same tension, only the clock seemed to be moving too fast for them as each second meant less time for their Bulldogs to catch up with the Tigers. The Bulldogs never did, and as hearts pounded like tom-toms in accompaniment to the heat of battle, the gun sounded, ending hostilities and signaling an outburst of enthusiasm such as only a traditional rivalry of this kind can develop.

Fans leaped the walls and made a race for players, hoisting them to their shoulders. Other members of the team grabbed Coach Chuck Mather and carried him out. The parade of victory had started and the locker room rang with enthusiasm as fans swarmed in to extend greetings.

The Tigers deserved all honors heaped upon them for they had just conquered a heavier opponent and had in the eyes of Massillonians and most sports writers present retained the state championship that was voted them after their 21-12 defeat of the Bulldogs in 1948.
* * *
EVERY MEMBER of the squad shared in the glory, but Irvin “Ace” Crable, was given the biggest pat on the back for having scored the only touchdown of the game and for having prevented a Canton McKinley touchdown with a hard driving tackle that caused Louis Mariano, the Bulldog ace, to fumble on the four-yard line where End Don Slicker promptly pounced on the ball for Massillon.

It was the Bulldogs’ only threat of the game, but would have meant a tie score or possibly a Canton victory had Crable not caught the hard running Canton halfback.

In scoring the only touchdown, Crable set some sort of a record for himself for he was the only Tiger to cross the goal line a year ago. He scored all three of Massillon’s touchdowns in the 1948 finale.

Congratulated after the game “Ace” modestly replied, “I couldn’t have done it without the help of the other 10 guys.”

The touchdown came like a bolt out of the blue. Somehow or other Massillon fans felt that sooner or later one of their backs would break through – they had come close so many times, with just a tick by one Canton player stopping what would have been long touchdown runs. But the hopeful fans feared for the worst for there seemed to be one Bulldog always left to get the ball carrier when a runner was on the loose.
* * *
THE PAYOFF came on the 35-yard line with fourth down coming up and three yards needed for a first down. The play was called by Quarterback Don James as the Tigers elected to carry the ball instead of punt. It was handed off to Crable who shot through his left tackle and streaked for the north sideline. Don Slicker threw the key block on Don Killins of McKinley and not a hand was laid on Crable as he raced for pay dirt with the roar of 23,000 fans ringing in his ears.

Then came the try for the extra point. It was won and lost Canton games on occasions in past years and older Massillon fans, remembering these one point decisions, were apprehensive when the wind blew Jerry Krisher’s boot wide of the cross bars. It was a good kick. The ball had started out all right but insufficient allowance had been made for the strong gale.

It was only the middle of the third quarter and few folks had expected the six points to stand, but they got bigger and bigger as the game grew older and stood imposingly on the score board as the second hand completed its last circuit.

The Bulldogs, in fact, never made a serious threat to tie the score. Only once did they get over the 50-yard line, thereafter a fourth period effort moving the ball to the 38 where the Tigers braced, threw them backward and forced them to punt with six and one-half minutes remaining to be played.
* * *
THOSE LAST six and one-half minutes were the ones that seemed like time eternal.

The Tigers took Palumbo’s short punt on their 27 and marched the ball up the field with Don James tossing to Don Slicker for a first down on his 38 and Jacobs fumbling forward and recovering for another first down on his 49. The Tigers charged forth to what would have been another first only Gene Laps was charged with holding and a 15-yard penalty set them backward. Even so Crable nearly got away on a fake kick, the last man again getting him. Jacobs, with a minute and 50 seconds of the game left, was forced to punt. Rogers returned the ball 10 yards to his 25. The Bulldogs moved forward to a first down on their 41, smartly running the ball out of bounds each time to stop the clock.

They had a minute left now. Quarterback John Rogers tried a pass to Killins that Slicker knocked down. Fifty-five seconds remained. The Canton quarterback tossed a screen pass to End Elijah Lipkins that gained three yards and he ran out of bounds to stop the clock with 34 seconds left to play. Rogers threw another pass that Joe Gleason knocked down and the clock showed 30 seconds to play and fourth down coming up.

In another desperation pass, Rogers tried to hit Killins again, but Slicker tipped the ball and Jacobs cutting over, caught it and brought it to midfield. It was all over for McKinley for only 15 seconds were left, and James following out the orders of Coach Mather took the pass from center, held it and kept backing up until the gun sounded, ending the game.
* * *
WHEN THE FIRING was over, the Tigers, much to the surprise of fans, were the stronger team. Canton, heavier and deeper in reserve strength was expected to wear down the Tiger Massillon team, but the Bulldogs were getting up slower than the local boys after fourth period scrimmages, with one or two being injured on almost every play.

None was seriously hurt, however. In fact, Jim Reichenbach, Tiger guard, possibly received the hardest blow of anyone, a rap on the head early in the game. He did not regain his senses until near the end of the contest, sitting out the greater part of the last three periods on the bench and in the locker room.
* * *
WHIILE the Bulldogs only got by the 35-yard line once during the game, the Tigers were playing in Canton territory much of the time. They crossed the midfield stripe twice in the first quarter but didn’t get far. Early in the second quarter, however, they marched to the 19 where Jacobs missed getting a first down by inches and Canton took over.

At this point the Bulldogs launched their only prolonged drive of the day, as they reeled off four first downs in a row before Mariano shook himself loose for the 18-yard jaunt that left only Crable between him and the goal line. His fumble of the ball when tackled viciously by Ace, ended the threat and before the quarter was over the Tigers had again carried the ball over the 50 and were down to the 25-yard line on a first down when a desperation pass with 32 seconds left was intercepted by Don Killins in the end zone.
* * *
THE MASSILLON gridders took the kickoff at the start of the second half and starting from their 25, whereas Jacobs almost got away, marched to the Canton 25 where Crable lost the ball on a fumble with what appeared to be a clear field ahead of him. Petroff covered for Canton.

Jim Schumacher covered a Bulldog fumble on his own 46 that set off the Tigers’ touchdown drive. Johnson toured left end for seven yards and Jacobs made it a first down around right end on the Canton 42. Jacobs went for three and Johnson raced well for a first down only to have the ball called back and the Tigers penalized five for offside. Johnson and Jacobs gained nine yards and with the ball on the 35 and fourth down coming up with three to go, Crable broke through for the touchdown.

The Tigers got into Bulldog territory once in the fourth quarter but were stopped on a
15-yard penalty holding and forced to punt.

But while the Tiger offense was reeling off a net gain of 279 yards the teams’ defense was surprising everyone by holding the Bulldogs in check and limiting them to the net sum of 166 yards, fewer than most of the locals’ opponents registered during the season.

Coach Mather and staff devoted considerable time to their land and air defenses and both proved successful. A big hunk of credit should be given to the three line backers, Dick Shine, Ray Lane and Joe Gleason, who worked behind the forward wall composed mostly of Don Studer, Jerry Krisher, Jim Reichenbach, Jim Schumacher and Clarence Johnson. When Reichenbach was injured in the first half of the contest, Leland Stanford replaced him.

Slicker, teaming in the secondary with Crable and Jacobs, did a good job on pass protection, with the latter two each intercepting a Canton pass to take the ball away from the Bulldogs.
* * *
MATHER USED only a few substitutes. Aside from his usual exchange on defense, Mike Turkal and Glenn Tunning got a shot at defense, and little Gene Laps took over for the injured Reichenbach and did a whale of a job bumping the heavier Bulldogs out of the way.

The locals came up with several new plays, including a flake kick and a delayed trap with Crable carrying the ball, and a pass by Johnson off a reverse, all of which worked for sizeable gains. They only attempted six passes, completed three and had two intercepted.

As shown by the statistics they beat the Bulldogs at almost every turn, making 14 first downs to eight, out gaining them both on the land and in the air, and had a slightly better average for punting, 34 yards to 32 yards, for their two punts. The Bulldogs punted six times.

They held Canton’s two offensive starts, Mariano, and Sam Parks, well in check. Mariano got away to a couple of 18-yard runs but his average for the day was 5.7 while that of Parks was only 2.3.

Leading ground gainer, of course was Crable who averaged 8.5 yards per try and made one beautiful 32-yard return of a punt in which he reversed his field to outrun every Cantonian save Rogers who made the tackle. Crable carried the ball 16 times, while Jacobs had it 19 times and averaged 4.2 yards per try. His best run came on a 34-yard jaunt, the first time he carried the ball. Johnson had a five-yard average for the five times he carried the ball. It would have been much better, except that twice he had good gains called back because of offside penalties. James carried the ball on a quarterback play, the first time it was tried this season, and gained five yards. He also took it on the last play of the game, to finish with an average of two yards.

The start of the game was delayed for several minutes when Coach Mather got into an argument with officials over the coin toss. The officials grabbed off Massillon co-captains and held the toss without Mather’s knowledge. Canton won the toss and chose to receive. The Tiger co-captains forgetting about the high wind, chose to defend the west goal because they considered the east goal their lucky goal line. As a result the Bulldogs had all the advantage at the start, receiving with Massillon kicking into the wind. Krisher saved the day by getting off a booming kick and Mariano helped out by fumbling the ball long enough to enable the Massillon backs to get down and nail him to the turf without a return.

As it turned out, it was all right for the Tigers had the wind to their backs at the end of the game. But Mather still argued the officials were wrong for holding the coin toss without saying anything about it to him or without asking him who was his captain. He naturally would have advised his captains to defend the east goal and kick with the wind.
* * *
THE TIGER victory spoiled another possible undefeated record for McKinley’s coach Bup Rearick but with nine victories and a loss he still has possibly the best record of any high school coach in the state over his period of coaching years.

Bup has only lost one game a year since taking the gridiron helm at McKinley.

Canton missed a possible undefeated season by one tackle and that of Irvin Crable and yet on the same last man tackle basis, the Tigers could just as well have won by three or four touchdowns – considering the number of times local ball carriers were felled by the last Bulldog between the runner and the goal line.

Massillon Tigers proclaimed this year’s Canton team as the toughest aggregation they faced all season. “No doubt about it,” local players commented in the dressing room after the game. The thought Parks and Mariano to be hard runners and were particularly complimentary to the hard play of Henry Palombo, Ernest Ghezzi and Tom Weber, Canton linemen.

Our Champs

MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, GLEANSON, Studer.
TACKLES – KRISHER, SCHUMACHER, Tunning, Stanford.
GUARDS – SHINE, REICHENBACH, Laps.
CENTERS – PATT, Turkal, Vliet.
QUARTERBACK – JAMES.
HALFBACKS – JACOBS, JOHNSON, Lane, Grier.
FULLBACK – CRABLE.

McKINLEY
ENDS –KILLINS, LIPKINS, Mozzacco.
TACKLES –GHEZZI, WEBER.
GUARDS – PALOMBO, JIM KOSTAS, John Kostas, Gelal, Wildes.
CENTER – PETROFF.
QUARTERBACKS – ROGERS.
HALFBACKS – PARKS, MARIANO, Popoff.
FULLBACKS – STOSIC.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 0 6 0 6

Touchdown:
Massillon – Crable.

Referee – Brubaker.
Umpire – Russ.
Field Judge – Lindsay.
Head Linesman – McPhee.

Statistics Of The Game
Mass. McK
First downs 14 8
Passes attempted 6 10
Passes completed 3 4
Had passes intercepted 2 2
Yards gained passing 49 45
Yards gained rushing 274 150
Total yards gained 323 195
Yards lost passing 7 0
Yards lost rushing 28 29
Yards lost punting 9 0
Total yards lost 44 29
Net gain offense 279 166
Times punted 2 6
Average punt (yards) 34 32
Yards punts returned by 49 21
Times kicked off 2 1
Average kickoff 43 57
Yards kickoffs returned by 22 1
Fumbles 4 2
Lost ball on fumbles 2 2
Times penalized 4 5
Yards penalized 30 33

C.J. Johnson
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1949: Massillon 38, Youngstown South 13

Tigers Beat Youngstown South 38-13 Before 11,166
Massillon Gridders sharpen Their Claws For Canton McKinley

By LUTHER EMERY

BEAT McKINLEY!

These words were more important to Massillonians today than the fact that their Washington high school Tigers trimmed Youngstown South 38-13 Friday evening in a not too good an exhibition of football before 11,166 fans.

BEAT McKINLEY!

You will see these words wherever you go the next week as the fuse is ignited to a hysterical bombshell that Massillon citizens will explode in an all out effort to whip the Bulldogs from McKinley high next Saturday afternoon in Canton’s Fawcett stadium.

The BEAT McKINLEY drive began Friday evening just as soon as the whistle ended the Tiger Youngstown South game, as students unfurled BEAT McKINLEY banners before the Massillon band while cheerleaders led the crowd in a pep rally.

Some folks thought the fans wouldn’t stay for it after the game was once over, but they remained and apparently loved it.

But the Tigers must play better ball next Saturday afternoon than they did last night if they hope to BEAT McKINLEY!

They sputtered around too much both offensively and defensively for a team of championship caliber.

Maybe Bulldogs were dancing around in their minds, or maybe they just hadn’t taken South seriously, but whatever it was they were dull compared with a week ago when they whaled Toledo Waite 59-19.

As has been the case so many times this season, they got into a hole at the start and had to come from behind to win as South scored the first touchdown of the game early in the second period.

In fact, even though the Tigers looked the stronger of the two at all times, there were moments in the third quarter after South had scored its second touchdown that had Massillon fans, worrying, lest some fluke upset the applecart.
* * *
ONE CAN readily understand why the local team wasn’t in the proper mental mood, knowing that its Youngstown opponent had lost four games and that the traditional clash with the McKinley Bulldogs was only another week away.

Fortunately, however, the Tigers had touchdowns to spare and came out of the contest as Coach Chuck Mather had hoped, without any serious injuries to first stringers.

One member of the squad, however, Rudy Grunder, sustained a fracture of the right leg on the opening kickoff when blocked as he started down the field after booting the ball. The Massillon city hospital reported his condition as good today.

Break away runs for touchdowns produced most of the Tigers’ points, while forward passes gained most of South’s yardage and placed the ball in position for touchdowns.

In fact the Tigers’ pass defense failed to show a whole lot of improvement as the visitors completed 10 of 20 throws for 162 yards. The local team completed five of 12 for 101 yards.
* * *
SOUTH TWICE was able to drive four-fifths the distance of the field for touchdowns which brings to 12 the number of touchdowns scored against the locals in their last five games.

While the Tigers were outnumbered in first downs 17-11, they on the other hand rolled up 374 yards on the ground to South’s 144.

Yards were hard to get, particularly early in the game when the visitors held the Tigers scoreless the first quarter. The two South ends, Pete Popovich and James Oliver were hard to move, and the latter moved the best target for Tailback Ernest Brantley, who passed from the single wing offense.

Dick Jacobs, Tiger co-captain, had a big night, getting four touchdowns, two on long runs, one on a 36-yard pass and a fourth on a short plunge. Irvin Crable and Fred Grier each scored for the Tigers on some fancy open field running.

Although Mather used 30 players, the first stringers played a major portion of the contest, and not until the Tigers scored their final touchdown were the ranks completely filled with substitutes.

Clarence Johnson and Jerry Krisher, both of whom have been on the injured list, played only a small portion of the game. Johnson tried a few passes and Krisher warmed up for a few plays. Neither aggravated their injuries.
* * *
SOUTH registered its first touchdown on the second play of the second quarter after an
80-yard march. David Delfino took it over from one yard out, but Dyke Hall missed the try for the extra point.

The Tigers tied it up when they took the following kickoff and went over in six plays, a
36-yard pass, Don James to Dick Jacobs, completing the march. Jerry Krisher missed the try for the extra point.

The locals scored twice again in the period, Crable running 54 yards around right end for one, with Dick Shine removing the last obstacle from his path with a pretty block. Jacobs went over from the one-yard line for the other with only 37 seconds of the half remaining to be played after Crable and Joe Gleason had covered a South fumble on the South 33.

Crable brought the second half kickoff back to the 37 and on the first play Jacobs exploded through right tackle and went 63 yards to score. Krisher kicked this point that made it
25-6. It only took 37 seconds to get this touchdown.

The visitors staged another 80-yard march and aided largely by two passes from Brantley to Oliver, one for 29 yards and the other for 28, took the oval to the four yard line where Lingar Humphrey banged it over the goal for six points. Joe Byrdy added another from placement which gave the visitors’ 13.
* * *
JACOBS scored his fourth touchdown of the game in the fourth period after the Tigers had stopped a South offensive flurry on their own 35. It only took two plays to go the 65, Crable carrying on the first one to the visitors’ 40 and Jacobs going the rest of the way.

Ready Freddy Grier came through with the last six points. He and Russell in two nice runs, moved the ball to the visitors’ 25 where Grier wiggled through left tackle to score. This time Krisher kicked the extra point which proved to be the last of the game.

South was still blazing away for a touchdown as the gun sounded and had the ball on a first down on the Tiger 12-yard line.

The victory was Massillon’s eighth in nine games and the defeat was South’s fifth in nine. The 38 points exceeded by 18 the number scored by any other opponent of the Youngstown school.

MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, GLEASON, Studer, W. Brenner, B. Brenner, Houston.
TACKLES – STANFORD, SCHUMACHER, Gibson, Duke, Krisher, Tunning
GUARDS – SHINE, REICHENBACH, Laps, Grunder, Turkal.
CENTERS – PATT, Vliet, Martin.
QUARTERBACKS – JAMES, Francisco.
HALFBACKS – GRIER, JACOBS, Johnson, Waikem, Russell, Lane.
FULLBACKS – CRABLE, Howe.

YOUNGSTOWN SOUTH
ENDS – OLIVER, POPOVICH, McBride.
TACKLES – LAMARCO, GOIST, Nadrich.
GUARDS – CUNNINGHAM, DANESSA, Sobnosky.
CENTER – GEORGE.
QUARTERBACK – STAWARSKI.
HALFBACKS – BRANTLEY, BYRDY, Rosso, Cain, Hall.
FULLBACKS – DELFINO, Humphrey.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 18 7 13 38
South 0 6 7 0 13

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Crable; Jacobs 4; Grier.
South – Delfino; Humphrey.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Krisher 2 (placekicks).
South – Byrdy (placekick).

Referee – Grubbs.
Umpire – Rainsberger.
Head Linesman – Hamill.
Field Judge – Smith.

Statistics Of The Game
Mass. South
First downs 11 17
Passes attempted 12 20
Passes completed 5 10
Had passes intercepted 0 0
Yards gained passing 101 162
Yards gained rushing 374 144
Total yards gained 475 306
Yards lost 28 17
Net yards gained 447 289
Times punted 2 5
Average punt (yards) 37 32
Punts returned by (yards) 10 18
Times kicked off 7 3
Average kickoff (yards) 52 50
Kickoffs returned (yards) 86 84
Fumbles 0 4
Lost ball on fumbles 0 1
Times penalized 9 4
Yards penalized 52 20

C.J. Johnson
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1949: Massillon 59, Toledo Waite 19

Tiger Ball Carriers Race To 59-19 Victory Over Waite

Long Runs Sparked By Good Blocking Blast Visiting Toledo Team

By LUTHER EMERY

Shifting their offense into high gear, the Washington high school Tigers blasted Toledo Waite 59-19 before 12,993 fans in Tiger stadium Friday evening and in so doing.
Scored 19 more points than all of Waite’s previous seven opponents combined could tally and,
Rolled up a record total for the Waite-Massillon six-game series.

The game definitely showed the Tigers were clicking again, for no previous opponent had scored more than 12 points against the Indians’ acclaimed defense, which until last night had yielded but 40 points this season.

Program Cover

Long runs were the rule, rather than the exception, with all of the Tigers’ three
break-away men, Dick Jacobs, Irvin Crable, and Clarence Johnson, going the distance, and substitute Freddie Grier getting in his lick with a 57-yard explosion for the final points of the game.

Having scored nine touchdowns and gained 520 yards from scrimmage the Tigers can crow plenty about their offense. But they can still feel concerned about their defense, which was penetrated by Waite for 19 points, the most the Indians have tallied in five weeks.

The defense was an improvement over last week, but still can stand improvement if it is to stop the hard running of Canton’s Louis Mariano and passing of the Bulldogs’ John Rogers. Waite rolled up 216 yards from scrimmage, 131 by passing and 85 by carrying the ball.

The Massillon ball carriers had a big night and can thank some good work by their line and a lot of fancy downfield blocking for their long touchdown dashes. A pretty block is a fine a piece of football execution to watch as the sidestepping of a hula-hipped ball carrier, and there were plenty of them thrown last night.

In face the downfield blocking was just about the best of the year. The boys were always on the alert for somebody to hit and were able to get position on their opponents most of the time.

Few expected the Tigers to roll up as large a score, particularly in view of the 27-6 walloping handed Alliance by the Indians and the fine showing made by them against Canton McKinley which only defeated the Toledo team 7-0.
* * *
LAST NIGHT, however, the Tigers were definitely ON and were out to convince any skeptics about their ability as a football team.

They did it the hard way, too, spotting Waite a touchdown in the first two minutes of play and coming right back to pour three over the Indians’ goal before the first period expired.

It was just a question of points from there on in and had the Tigers not fooled around with some passes in the second period they probably would have put a couple more TD’s in the cooler.

The 59-19 score, however, avenges the 40-6 whipping handed the local eleven here in 1946, the previous high total of the Tiger-Waite series which now stands 5-1 in Massillon’s favor.

In re-arranging his defense for last night’s contest, Mather moved Dick Shine in from the secondary to back up the line and put Freddie Grier back in the secondary. Dick did a capable piece of work for his first night as a line backer. He’s the type of spirited boy who can do a lot to keep the other boys on their toes.

The Tigers’ strength as in the team’s running attack. Only three of 13 passes were completed and though one of the passes provided one touchdown and paved the way for another, the aerial game as a whole was not effective. Three Massillon passes were intercepted by Waite and the locals showed some improvement in their pass defense by gathering in four of Waite’s throws.

Waite did not use its ace halfback, Bob Owens, who was the team’s sparkplug in early season games. Owens, in fact, is out for the season, according to Coach Pauly who has decided not to chance aggravating an injured leg of Owens.

Last night’s Waite team was new from top to bottom from that which started against the Tigers last year. The Indians have a lot of youngsters in their lineup and will be stronger next season.

Both teams escaped serious injuries. All three of the Tigers ace runners, Johnson, Crable and Jacobs, were touched up, but examination revealed only bruises. Coach Mather used 28 players in the game, most of them coming in during the fourth period.
* * *
EVERYONE in the house was a bit uneasy after the opening kickoff when Waite took the ball on its own 25 and went 75 yards in six plays for a touchdown. A 40-yard toss, Jim Zieroff to Eddie Turner on the first play of the game, took the ball into Tiger territory and a 19-yard peg to Paul Van Camp produced the touchdown. Doug Thompson kicked the extra point and the Indians led 7-0.

Massillon fans breathed easier two minutes later, however when the Tigers required but three plays after the kickoff to move the ball from their 27 to the goal line. A 43-yard run by Dick Jacobs fell 23 yards short of a touchdown but “Ace” Crable took it over on the next play, the first of three touchdowns he scored in the opening period. A 36-yard run produced the second and Crable knifed through for two yards and a third after a 33-yard pass from Don James to Jacobs placed the ball on the two-yard line.
Thus the first quarter ended 21-7 and the second period wasn’t very old until James tossed a 34-yard pass to Jacobs who took the ball out of the arms of a Waite player and scampered for six points.

Waite demonstrated its grit on the next kickoff by marching the ball back from its 16-yard line to the Tiger goal. A Zieroff to Thompson pass good for 34 yards was the longest contribution to the drive and the pair also made up the last seven yards when Thompson took a peg behind the Tiger goal.

It looked as though the half would end 27-13 until Johnson was turned loose around his left end for a 60-yard jaunt in the closing minutes of the second period. That brought the half-time score to 33-13.

The Tigers got off to a bad start in the third period when Van Camp covered Dick Jacobs’ fumble a kickoff on the 28. This time the Indians took the ball over without the use of their missing weapons, Thompson going over standing up from six-yards out.
* * *
THE TIGERS then went to work putting on a 68-yard march of their own that did not end until Johnson went over from the two-yard line for six points. He scored again in the period, going around left end for the last two after a 42-yard march in which a 23-yard run by Crable was the feature play.

Crable came through with the most sensational run of the night on the first play of the fourth quarter when he pulled down Zieroff’s pass on his own 40, headed for the east sideline and then reversed his field to run 60 yards for the points. All told he probably ran at least 100 yards.

The Tigers didn’t score again until the last four minutes of the game when Grier, substitute fullback, exploded through the center of the Waite line and went 57 yards for a touchdown. Rudy Grunder, a substitute was called in to placekick the extra point and got his first mark as a Tiger.

In High Gear
MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, GLEASON, Studer, Grunder, Brenner.
TACKLES – KRISHER, SCHUMACHER, Stanford, Gibson
Tunning, Kalleker.
GUARDS – SHINE, REICHENBACH, Laps, Houston.
CENTERS – PATT, Vliet, Martin.
QUARTERBACKS – JAMES, Close.
HALFBACKS – JACOBS, JOHNSON, Waikem, Lane, Russell, Woolbert.
FULLBACKS – CRABLE, Grier.

TOLEDO WAITE
ENDS – DAVIS, TURNER, Romano, Lasater, Winebrenner.
TACKLES – WALTON, BUMBERA, Pocse, Cummings.
GUARDS – CONTOS, CARNICOM, Ahumada, Carter.
CENTERS – GUNNER, oung, Tschirrett, Raitz.
QUARTERBACKS –STERGER, Lammie.
HALFBACKS – ZIEROFF, VAN CAMP, Hrabovsky, Sutphin.
FULLBACKS – THOMPSON, Knitz.

Score by periods
Massillon 21 12 12 14 59
Waite 7 6 6 0 19

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Crable 4; Johnson 3; Jacobs; Grier.
Waite – Van Camp; Thompson.

Points after touchdowns:
Massillon – Johnson 4; Grunder (placekicks).
Waite – Thompson (placekicks).

Referee – Tehan.
Umpire – Skibbie.
Head Linesman – Russ.
Field Judge – Reinhold.

Statistics
Mass. Waite
First downs 11 11
Passes attempted 13 27
Passes completed 3 12
Had passes intercepted 3 4
Yards gained passing 78 131
Yards gained rushing 442 85
Total yards gained 520 216
Yards lost 15 27
Net yards gained 505 189
Times punted 2 8
Average punt (yards) 36 31
Yards punts returned by 40 15
Times kicked off 10 4
Yards kickoffs returned by 72 144
Fumbles 1 5
Lost ball on fumbles 1 1
Times penalized 13 3
Yards penalized 75 35

C.J. Johnson
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1949: Massillon 35, Warren Harding 19

Tigers Have Rugged Time Beating Inspired Panthers
Trap Plays And Passes Worry Massillon Team, As Panthers Hit Peak

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high school football team struggled through a 35-19 victory over Warren Harding high before 10,000 fans in Warren Friday evening, and Coach Chuck Mather is wondering what has become of his defense.

The Panthers battled the Tigers on even terms the first half which ended 14-12 (Massillon having the two-point margin) and played toe to toe with the locals throughout much of the last two periods.

It was the second week in a row the Tigers had been called upon to face a team that had been keyed up to its highest pitch of the season, and whereas they lost their engagement with Mansfield 16-12 a week ago, they were equal to the occasion last night.

It was an offensive battle from start to finish with Warren scoring more points on the Tigers than it registered in its last five games combined and winning applause from the fans for its efforts. In fact many Warren folk considered the score a moral victory for Warren, though a 35-19 licking is still a bit on the decisive side.

The Tigers’ offense was for the most part, good enough. They gained 498 yards from scrimmage including 121 with the use of the forward pass, and yet Warren, through its own offensive ability was able to control the ball for long periods of the game.

Had the local team’s defense been on a par with its offense there’s no telling how many touchdowns the local backs would have poured over the Warren goal.

As it was, the Tigers were vulnerable to trap plays up the middle and to forward passes, Warren making 15 first downs, and completing 10 of 17 throws for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Ball carriers gained 225 yards which gave the Panthers a total of 319 yards gained. That’s too many for a good defense.
* * *
THE TIGERS had worked considerably on defense too the past week which made the locals’ showing in that department all the more disappointing.

Of course the team’s two heaviest boys, Jim Reichenbach and Glenn Tunning were missing from the forward wall, and they are a couple of pretty hard obstacles for the opposition to move around. Reichenbach was used on a couple of offensive plays, long enough, unfortunately to get his injured ankle touched up a bit, while Tunning was sidelined for the entire game.

The Tiger offense even had difficulty getting going early in the ball game when Warren which had scouted the local team thoroughly, confronted it with what amounted to an eight-man line. Line backers were apt to jump into the five-man forward wall at any spot, throwing up an unorthodox defense when they did and when they didn’t they played off the hips of their buddies. They gambled that their eight forward men could stop the Tigers’ running attack and at the same time break through fast enough to smear Don James before he could get the ball away on pass plays.

It worked for awhile but eventually proved Warren’s undoing for the Tigers wised up to themselves, used a statue of liberty play to discourage the rushing tactics of the Panther ends and tossed some passes that found their mark for long gains. With a bit of the eager beaver taken out of Warren, the locals’ offense began to click and would have gained more points had the Massillon defense been able to stop Warren’s offense more consistently and get the ball for the Tiger backs to play with.
* * *
IT WAS the kind of game that causes fans to fill stadiums during the fall and the Warren spectators in particular were delighted with the spirit of their team which they had seen go down to five previous consecutive defeats after winning its opening game from Collinwood by a point, 14-13.

Though last night’s loss was the sixth in a row for the Panthers their followers were not at all downhearted and along with their coach Chuck Riffle, declared it by far the best showing of the season.

And the Panthers’ play was good enough to make more than one Massillon fan tremble, though some how or other, even when leading by only two points, local spectators as a whole felt the Tigers were superior enough to come through in the second half.

Their feelings were justified for the Massillon gridders shoved over two quick touchdowns to ice the game.

Coach Chuck Mather gave Ray Lane and Don Studer a chance to work with the first offensive team at the start of the game, though Clarence Johnson and Don Slicker whom they succeeded, saw lots of action.
* * *
EVEN though he did lose the ball twice on fumbles, Johnson also exhibited the kind of running he is capable of when he bulled and twisted his way to 78 yards and the Tigers’ last touchdown of the game.

Dick Jacobs scored three times for the local gridders and Irvin Crable once. Dick’s first was a 75-yard sprint for the opening points of the game, and he had one called back even earlier when he went 81 yards after catching a pass from Don James, only to step out of bounds on Warren’s 49-yard line. Crable also got away to one long run, a 50-yard jaunt in which he was tackled from behind on the one-yard line. It went for naught when Johnson lost the ball on a fumble on the next play.

It was evident from the start that the Tigers were not up against any easy mark, as Warren marched the kickoff back for two first downs before punting. On the locals’ first series of plays James tossed to Jacobs who went 81 yards for the distance but got a toe out of bounds on the Warren 49 as he did a tight-wire walk up the sideline.

Warren got the ball back by covering a Massillon fumble on the Tiger 47 and carried it to the 19-yard line where the locals took over on downs. Crable made six but James was thrown for an 11-yard loss trying to pass. It did not discourage him, however, for with the Warren ends crashing, he called for a statue to Jacobs which the latter took and went 75 yards for the first score. Jerry Krisher kicked the extra point as he did all five attempts last night.
* * *
THE GAME changed to an offensive battle as the two teams marched three times to touchdowns on successive kickoffs.

Warren started the first drive after getting the kickoff on its 33. With Paul Smith and Lionel Reed making yardage on trap plays, Dennis Pardee reeled off a deep reverse that took Warren into Tiger territory. The Panthers continued to trap the locals with Smith eventually planting the ball on the 12. Two plays advanced it eight yards from where Reed circled his right end for the six points.

The Tigers roared back with the next kickoff from the 25. Johnson carrying the ball into Warren territory on his first run of the evening. He tried a long pass that was just settling into the finger tips of Don Slicker in the end zone, when the latter staggered and fell. It made no difference, however, for Crable took the ball to the 21 and Jacobs went around the right end for six points.

There were few minutes left when the Tigers kicked off, but enough for Warren to score a touchdown. Reed trapped his way to the 50 when Robison tossed to Smith for nine yards and the latter rammed through to a first on the 30. With seconds left, Robison fired the ball to Ed Zofko, who caught it just as the gun sounded, to bring the score to 14-12 at the half.

The Tigers started off in the third period as though they meant business when Crable broke through to the one-yard line, where Johnson lost the ball on a fumble. But this time the Massillon defense did not have any holes in it and Pardee was forced to punt, the ball rolling out on the Warren 24. It took two plays to get a touchdown, Crable going forward for 11 yards and Jacobs the rest of the distance.
* * *
THE TIGERS covered a Warren fumble on the series that followed the kickoff, Jerry Krisher pouncing on the pigskin on his own 37. On the first play, Crable went to a first down on the Warren 27, Johnson moved it up to the 17 and Jacobs went around right end for the points.

That brought the score to 28-12 and there it stood until with three minutes of the game remaining, Robison fired a pass to Zofko for three yards and the Panthers’ third touchdown. It climaxed a 77-yard march featuring a 13-yard fourth-down screen pass that put the ball on the 20, and another 20-yarder, Robison to Paul Willoughby that put the leather on the five. John George, who had missed his two previous attempts for points, kicked this one to pull Warren within nine points of the Tigers, 28-19.

It didn’t take the locals long to get another of their own. On the second play after the kickoff Johnson on a reverse was turned loose around his left end for 78 yards. He did some good hard running and twisting to free himself and was accorded some good blocking. These were the final points of the game.

The Tigers blocked well last night. Once Ronald Patt knocked himself out and a Warren tackler with a pretty block that set Crable loose on his lone touchdown.

The Tiger tackling was as poor as the blocking was good. There were many good, hard socks, but too many tacklers slid off their opponents.

The lineup and summary:

MASSILLON
ENDS – STUDER, GLEASON, Slicker.
TACKLES – KRISHER, SCHUMACHER, Duke, Gibson, Standford.
GUARDS – LAPS, SHINE, Reichenbach, Houston.
CENTERS – PATT, Vliet.
QUARTERBACK – JAMES.
HALFBACKS – LANE, JACOBS, Johnson, Waikem.
FULLBACKS – CRABLE, Russell, Grier.

WARREN
ENDS – GLOVER, ZOFKO.
TACKLES – ZOBA, BOB JAMES, Hovance.
GUARDS – DE CAPITO, SMUKE, Swoke, Salvato, George.
CENTERS – BILL JAMES, Ylisela.
QUARTERBACK – ROBISON.
HALFBACKS – L. REED, PARDEE, Allard, Willoughby.
FULLBACKS – SMITH, Hooks.

Score by periods:
Massillon 7 7 14 7 35
Warren 0 12 0 7 19

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Jacobs 3; Johnson; Crable.
Warren – Reed; Zofko 2.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Krisher 5 (placekicks).
Warren – George (placekick).

Referee – Lobach.
Umpire – Gross.
Head Linesman – Sweeney.
Field Judge – Lindsay.

C.J. Johnson
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo

1949: Massillon 12, Mansfield 16

Inspired Mansfield Team Upsets Tiger Gridders 16-12
Massillon’s String Of Victories Snapped At 10 Consecutive Games

By LUTHER EMERY

Augie Morningstar was the toast of Mansfield today and rightfully so, for his Mansfield Tygers scored their first victory in 14 years over the Washington high Tigers here Friday evening before a nose counted crowd of 19,773 spectators.

The defeat dashed Massillon’s hopes for an undefeated season, left the state championship up in the air for a wide open scramble, and snapped the local team’s own victory streak at 10 consecutive games.

Program Cover

It does not mean the Tigers are completely out of the championship race. All of the state’s major teams with the exception of Canton McKinley have suffered one setback, and most teams still have four games yet to play.

It does mean that the Massillon gridders to attain any recognition whatsoever, must dig in as they did after their only loss last year to Alliance and clean up on the rest of the slate.

“It does you good to lose once in a while,” said Massillon Coach Chuck Mather after the game, though the look of disappointment on his face told that he wanted to win it the worst kind of way. “Losing makes you appreciate winning, all the more. We will start all over again,” he said.

The Tiger coach had nothing but praise for Morningstar’s Tygers and said they rewarded their fans for the support and spirit accorded them the past week.

That spirit was reflected in the general play of the visiting team, which beat the Tiger line to the charge a greater part of the evening and who did most everything right.

The play of the local eleven was considerably different. It lost the ball three times on fumbles, one placing Mansfield in position for its first touchdown and the other two coming in the clutch in the fourth quarter with Mansfield ahead and only minutes left in play. A 15-yard penalty for clipping when Mansfield was trailing 12-7 which set the locals back to Mansfield’s eight didn’t help matters either.

In fact, this particular play was the turning point of the game, for the next time the visitors got the ball they drove and passed their way to the game winning touchdown.

On the other hand, Mansfield had a good chance to go ahead in the third quarter when a Tyger secondary man dropped a Massillon pass with a clear field ahead of him. The ball was in his hands and he had nothing to do but run but he failed to hang on to it.
* * *
MANSFIELD scored the first points of the game early in the first quarter, when A.C. Jenkins, power running fullback, bulled his way through for the last yard on a 26-yard march that began when Walter Maurer covered Clarence Johnson’s fumble.

The Tigers took the following kickoff, were well on their way to six points when the period ended and got them on the first play of the second quarter when Ace Crable circled his right end for the last 12 yards on a pitch-out. It was a drive of 65 yards.

The locals scored the next time they got the ball too, when Mansfield fumbled in midfield while attempting to punt on fourth down. It took only three plays to go the 50 yards, Crable reeling off 15, Johnson 26 and Jacobs the last nine. Both of Jerry Krisher’s attempted placekicks went wide of the uprights while Mansfield made good on both of its extra points.

Leading by 12-7, at half-time, there were few in the stands but who thought Mansfield would win the game if it could score the next touchdown. It did.
* * *
THE TIGERS made two bids to score before Mansfield struck. Immediately after the kickoff the locals drove to what would have been a first down on the 16-yard line, but a
15-yard penalty for clipping spoiled the effort and they eventually surrendered the ball on the 19. Their next bid took them to the eight but a clipping penalty nullified the gain and put them clear back on their own 31 from which they were forced to punt.

Mansfield saw it was time to strike and strike it did. Getting the ball on their own 37, the visitors opened the fourth period with a devastating passing attack. Don Cline hurled the ball to Jack Bargahiser for 23 yards and a first on the Tiger 40. Esker Jordon gained three and Cline flipped another to Ed Demyan for a first down on the Tiger 22. Tucker made seven yards on two tries and on third down, Cline found his mark in Bargahiser behind the Tiger goal and hit him for six points.

The Tigers took the kickoff and although Crable was stopped without a return, he almost got away on a left end sweep the next play and ran to his 47 before being downed. Mansfield braced and held for downs, however. So did the Tigers and with time fleeting they gained the ball in midfield. Jacobs fumbled on the first play and the alert Maurer pounced on the ball to regain it for Mansfield. Again the Tigers held but when Mansfield punted, Crable fumbled the ball as he attempted to pick it up with the hope of getting away and Demyan covered on the Tiger 14-yard line.

The game was all but over then. Mansfield played it smart, taking as much time as possible on each play while the seconds were ticked away. The Tigers eventually gained the ball on downs on their own seven, but when Don James dropped back behind his goal to hurl one desperate pass, he couldn’t find a receiver and when he tried to run, was swarmed over by Mansfield players and downed behind his goal for a safety and two points.

The Tigers booted the following free kick only four yards with the hope of recovering but Mansfield took over and the gamed ended two plays later.
* * *
THEREIN you have the touchdown plays which led to the Tigers’ first loss of the season and Mansfield’s first victory in 14 years of competition with Massillon teams. The locals have won 10, and three games have ended in tie scores.

It was the third time since 1937 that Mansfield has played the role of spoiler to end Tiger victory streaks, and on two previous occasions, just as last night, came into the game as the underdog.

Russell Murphy’s 1937 team gained a 6-6 tie to end an undefeated string of 21 in a row when Paul Brown was coach here. The 1941 team coached by Paul Snyder put a kink in a chain of 38 straight victories with a 6-6 tie against a team coached by Bud Houghton. Mansfield muffed opportunities by missing the points after touchdown. Last night it did not miss.
* * *
THE TIGERS kept Tucker, Ohio’s fastest high school back pretty well bottled up, but had trouble stopping Jenkins and Jordon who swept through center on a fake lateral that looked much like one introduced by the Forty-Niners in the All-American conference two years ago.

Inability to stop Cline’s passing in the fourth quarter, however, led to the locals’ downfall. Second guessing the Tigers’ offense, it appears that after scoring their second touchdown in the second period they would have done better to have continued carrying the ball instead of tossing passes for they had Mansfield on the run at this stage of the game.

The game was a hard fought contest with players of both teams showing the effects of the contest. Morningstar feared his star guard Tom Weaver may have sustained a fractured hand.

Jacobs, Jim Reichenbach and Crable were shaken up considerably, as was Ronald Patt. Crable, a marked man, played a whale of a game under these conditions. Injuries hampered Jacobs throughout the last half and Reichenbach got in for only a few plays because of an injured leg.

Statistically the teams were about even.

First downs were the same, each, but the Tigers had an edge in net yards gained, 239 to Mansfield’s 197. But they still pay off on points.

One For Augie

MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, GLEASON, Studer.
TACKLES – KRISHER, DUKE, Schumacher, Tunning, Stanford.
GUARDS – SHINE, REICHENBACH, Laps.
CENTERS – PATT, Turkal, Vliet.
QUARTERBACK – JAMES.
HALFBACKS – JACOBS, JOHNSON, Waikem, Lane.
FULLBACKS – CRABLE, Grier.

MANSFIELD
ENDS – DEMYAN, BARGAHISER.
TACKLES – WEAVER, BUSCH, Wise.
GUARDS – MILLER, TIPPER, Lindsay.
CENTER – MAURER.
QUARTERBACKS – CLINE, Marchant.
HALFBACKS — BRICKER, TUCKER, Jordon.
FULLBACK – JENKINS.

Score by periods:
Mansfield 7 0 0 9 16
Massillon 0 12 0 0 12

Touchdowns:
Mansfield – Jenkins; Bargahiser.
Massillon – Crable; Jacobs.

Points after touchdown:
Mansfield – Tipper 2 (placekicks)

Safety – Mansfield

Referee – Lobach.
Umpire – Rupp.
Head Linesman – Shill.
Field Judge – Dunton.

Statistics Of The Game
Mass. Mansf.
First downs 11 11
Passes attempted 10 9
Passes completed 3 4
Had passes intercepted 1 1
Yards gained passing 47 69
Yards gained rushing 205 138
Total yards gained 252 227
Yards lost 13 30
Net yards gained 239 197
Times punted 1 2
Average punt (yards) 30 42
Yards punts returned by 13 0
Kickoffs 4 3
Average kick 29 35
Yards kickoffs returned 22 15
Fumbles 4 1
Lost ball on fumbles 3 0
Times penalized 3 6
Yards penalized 35 50

C.J. Johnson