Massillon v. McKinley Archives - Page 5 of 14

1989: Massillon 24, Canton McKinley 7

October 28, 1989August 21, 2017
by Eric Smith

Massillon shuts down McKinley 24‑7

By MARK CRAIG
Repository sports writer

Most of the pre game know‑it‑alls had Saturday’s 95th McKinley‑Massillon high school football game figured out before the 21,000 fans filed into Fawcett Stadium.

They said McKinley’s ground game was too quick for Massillon’s defense. They also said Massillon’s offense was good, but not good enough to outplay McKinley’s quick defenders.

Boy, were they wrong.

Final score: Massillon 24, McKinley 7.

The victory gives Massillon an 8‑2 record, a 52‑38‑5 advantage in the McKinley‑Massillon series and a berth in the state playoffs for the first time since 1982. Massillon held its top spot in Region 3, while McKinley (7‑3) fell from the fourth and final playoff spot.

The Tigers, by virtue of their top spot in Region 3, most likely will host either Akron Garfield or Walsh Jesuit in Saturday’s opening round of the Division I playoffs. The final computer standings and the opening round pairings will be released by the Ohio High School Athletic Association tonight.

Massillon proved the know‑it‑alls wrong by doing what few thought they could. The Tigers held the Bulldogs to 45 yards rushing and 179 total yards.

The McKinley running game, which has featured 13 backs this season, was field to a 2.3‑yards‑per‑carry average on 20 carries and four first downs. The Bulldogs’ leading ground‑gainer on the season, Darnell Clark, had nine yards on 10 carries.

“This is the best defense we’ve played all season, especially against the run,” said Massillon defensive coordinator Dan Boarman. ‘We didn’t do anything difference as far as design. We just played a lot harder and were able to shut down their running game.”

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Massillon led 14‑0 before McKinley’s offense was brought onto the field.

After kick returner Donnie Blake returned the opening kickoff 39 yards to the McKinley 47, the Tigers drove the rest of the way on seven plays and scored on a six‑yard run by Ryan Sparkman. Gary Miller added the first of three extra‑point kicks to give Massillon a 7‑0 lead with 9:39 left in the first quarter.

McKinley’s offense had to stay on the sideline when kick returner Kirk Moore fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Massillon’s David Whitfield recovered at the McKinley 18. The turnover was the first of four for McKinley.

Six plays later, Sparkman followed tackles Torn Menches and Ray Kovacsiss over the right side of the line for a two‑yard TD to put Massillon two TDs ahead with 7:20 left in tire first quarter.

When McKinley finally got the ball, the Bulldogs seemed to abandon the run, calling four straight pass plays and six in their first seven snaps.

“I think our offense took a lot of heat off our defense by scoring those two quick touchdowns,” Boarman said. “I think maybe we changed their game plan somewhat.”

McKinley head coach Thom McDaniels insisted the Bulldogs didn’t stray from their original game plan.

“We planned to come out and throw like we did,” McDaniels said. “(The touchdowns) did not change that. The situation was not out of hand at that point, by any means.”

McKinley climbed back into the game following a 29‑yard punt to the Massillon 49. The Bulldogs, with the help of a pass interference call on third‑and‑10 that put the ball on the Massillon 32, scored with 1:30 left in the quarter.

Three plays after the interference, junior quarterback Ryan Henry (9‑of‑23, 134 yards) fooled the entire Massillon defense into thinking he was going to run after scrambling away from Mike Martin’s rush. Instead, Henry threw a 32‑yard TD pass to Ron Szerokman who was wide open in the end zone.

Massillon, however, put McKinley in a huge hole when quarterback Lee Hurst lofted a perfectly thrown 12‑yard TD pass to senior Rameir Martin with four seconds left in the half. Martin used every inch of his 6‑4 frame as he leaped between two defenders, bobbled the ball and tucked it away before falling just inbounds.

“That probably was the play of the game,” said Massillon head coach Lee Owens. “Rameir is such a talented kid. And Lee is a gutsy kid for tossing the ball in there like he did.”

Hurst became Massillon’s record‑holder in single‑season pass completions and passing yards with a first half that saw him complete 12‑of‑20 passes for 166 yards. With his final statistics reading 12‑of‑ 22 for 166 yards, Hurst finished the regular season with 111 completions in 208 attempts for 1,485 yards and 10 TDs.

Martin caught all nine of his passes in the first half for 110 yards.

With the lead in hand, Massillon turned the ball over to senior running backs Ryan Sparkman and. Lamonte Dixon. The two combined for 117 yards rushing in the second half, and set up a 27‑yard field goal by Miller late in the third quarter.

Sparkman ended with a game high 105 yards on 25 carries.

Overall, Massillon rolled up 335 total yards and 20 first downs. The Tigers’ offense also didn’t turn the ball over.

“It was a case of its playing good defense and errorless football in the first half, and then wearing out McKinley in the second half,” Owens said. “I think it’s safe to say we pretty much controlled the game the entire way.”

Which is something the know‑it‑alls never would have guessed.
*****
Massillon offensive line coach Nick Vrotsos was coaching in his 33rd McKinley‑Massillon game, not his 31st as was reported Thursday.

Overlooked were the 14‑6 victory over McKinley in the 1980 playoffs and the Tigers’ first victory over McKinley in 1963 (the teams played twice that year because McKinley was suspended from play in 1962). Vrotsos is 22‑11 vs. McKinley.

Massillon 14 7 3 0 24
McKinley 7 0 0 0 7

Mass ‑ Sparkman 6 run (G Miller kick)
Mass ‑ Sparkman 2 run (G. Miller kick)
McK ‑ Szerokman 32 as, iron, Her,, (Woj kick)
Mass ‑ Martin 12 pass from Hurst (G. Miller kick)
Mass ‑ FG G. Miller 27

Att – 21.000

Mass Mck
Furs, downs 20 11
Rushes – yards 50-169 20-45
Passing 166 134
Return Yards 35 0
Comp‑Att‑Int 12-23‑0 9-23‑2
Punts 5‑31 6‑37
Fumbles‑Lost 1‑0 3‑2
Penalties‑Yards 3‑31 3‑22
Time of Possession 30:29 17:31

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Massilltm: Sparkman 25‑105, Dixon 13‑50, Ashcraft 5‑23 Hurst 7‑(‑9);
McKinley: Irvin 4‑25, Henry 4‑10, Clark 10‑9, Richards 2‑1.

PASSING
Massillon: Hurst 12‑22‑0 166, Manion 0-1‑0 0;
McKinley: Henry 9-23-2 134.

RECEIVING
Massillon: Martin 9‑110, Harig 1‑32, Manion 1‑16, Dixon 1-8.
McKinley: Moore 4‑52, Gardner 2‑30, Szerokman 1-32, Katusin 1‑15, Irvin 1-5.

‘Dogs down;
Tigers stalk Walsh
Owens: Massillon’s back, you can’t keep us down

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

It’s a something old, something new, something borrowed kind of Monday for the Massillon Tigers.

* The old (even ancient) ‑ The Tigers beat up the McKinley Bulldogs 24‑7 Saturday at Fawcett Stadium to take a 52‑38‑5 lead in a series that started six years before the Canton school’s namesake became a U.S. president in 1900.

* The new ‑ Massillon and Walsh Jesuit have never played each other. They will collide at 7 p.m. Saturday in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in a first‑round Division I playoff game.

* The borrowed ‑ Sonny Spielman, whose son Chris was a junior the last time the Tigers made the playoffs, in 1982, declared, “The title will ride on Tiger pride.” Didn’t somebody say that somewhere along the line?

It all adds up to this: Sun’s up in Tigertown after a second straight victory over the Dastardly ‘Dogs.

What’s it all mean?

“The focus,” said 33‑year‑old Massillon head coach Lee Owens, who is 2‑0 against McKinley and 15-5 as the top Tiger, “is Massillon.

“I was proud of our school. I was proud of our city. I was proud of our players. I was proud of our coaches.

“Massillon is back. You can’t keep us down. The first year we were eligible to be back in the playoffs, we made it back.

“We aren’t satisfied with just being back in the playoffs, either. As hard as it is to get emotionally up for another game after beating McKinley, we will find a way to do that. We will find a way to establish the consistency needed to advance in the playoffs.”

Who’s going to argue with the man?

His team founds way to dominate potent Austintown‑Fitch a week after losing 41‑7 to Cincinnati Moeller (which, incidentally, will take on unbeaten Cincinnati Elder in another Saturday playoff battle). It found a way to dominate favored – just ask 90 percent of the out‑of‑town media – McKinley a week after a stunning defeat to Cleveland St. Joseph.

Saturday’s game, played on an August‑meets‑October afternoon with temperatures in the 70s, came at the end of a hair‑raising week.

Lose and the Tigers’ season would end bitterly. Win and they would make the playoffs.

The Tigers struck early and let their thousands of followers let their hair bang down.

Massillon led 14‑0 with less than five minutes gone in the game. They stormed into the fourth quarter on top by the 24‑7 final score.

Midway through the fourth quarter, with half the Massillon crowd chanting “T‑I‑G” and the other half roaring back “E‑R‑S,” red rivers of Bulldog boosters streamed toward the exits.

Massillon got it done with a complete package: offense, defense, special teams and crowd support.

The offense scored on the game’s first series and amassed 335 yards against a ballyhooed defense.

The defense was both lucky (McKinley dropped several passes) and good, making numerous crunching hits and keeping the Bulldogs from getting outside. McKinley finished with just 179 total yards.

The special teams got along kick return from Donnie Blake to start the game and a big fumble recovery by David Whitfield minutes later.

The coaching staff came up with an offensive blocking scheme that took McKinley by surprise.

The crowd was large enough and loud enough to negate McKinley’s home‑field advantage ‑ an estimated 8,000 of the crowd of 20,000 ‑ official figure remained unavailable this morning ‑ rooted for the Tigers.

The offense used an unbalanced line in which the two biggest Tigers, Tom Menches and Ray Kovacsiss, lined up side by side.

”We recognized it as coaches,” said McKinley mentor Thom McDaniels. “But coaches recognizing it and adjusting to it and players doing so can be two different things.

They hadn’t done that in anything we’d seen in scouting them.”

Owens said his staff agreed the unbalanced look would throw McKinley’s angle defense off stride.

“We’ve used it during the season in goal‑line situations, but not all over the field as we did today,” he said.

Added Tiger tackle Tom Menches, “I think we had McKinley fooled.”

Senior running back Ryan Sparkman benefited from the well executed plan. He scored two touchdowns and rushed 25 times for 105 yards.

Quarterback Lee Hurst and split end Rameir Martin also had particularly outstanding games.

Hurst completed 12 of 22 passes for 166 yards. Martin caught six passes for 110 yards, including a leaping 12-yard touchdown catch with four seconds left in the first half in which he outwrestled three McKinley defenders for position and landed on his back clutching the ball.

The hard‑hitting contest left the physical status of a few Tigers in doubt heading into the Walsh Jesuit game.

Senior lineman Tom Menches suffered a badly sprained left ankle during a third‑quarter drive in which the Tigers scored the only points of the second half on a field goal.

Senior defensive back Eddie Williams suffered a knee injury in the first half. Stacy said the injury probably won’t require immediate surgery but that Williams won’t play Saturday.

Sparkman aggravated a hamstring injury that has cost him playing time this season but he probably will play Saturday, Stacy said.

Defensive lineman Mark McGeorge, bothered by nagging injuries late in the year, had to be helped off the field during the McKinley game. His status is uncertain.

MASSILLON 24
McKINLEY 7

Me Mc
HALFTIME TOTALS
First downs rushing 3 2
First downs passing 7 2
First downs penalty 1 1
Total first down 11 5
Net Yards rushing 39 30
Net Yards Passing 166 52
Total net Yards 205 82
Passes attempted 21 12
Passes completed 12 3
Passes intercepted 0 0
Fumbles/lost 0‑0 1‑1
Punts 3 4
Punting average 30.7 36.3
Penalties 3 3
Yards penalized 31 22

FINAL TOTALS
First downs rushing 12 4
First downs passing 7 6
First downs penalty 1 1
Total first 20 11
Net Yards rushing 169 45
Net Yards passing 166 134
Total net yards 335 179
Passes attempted 23 23
Passes completed 72 9
Passes intercepted 0 2
Fumbles/lost 1‑0 3‑2
Punts 5 6
Punting average 31.0 36.7
Penalties 3 3
Yards penalized 31 22

Individual Statistics
Rushing
(Mas) Sparkman 25‑1 5, Dixon 13‑ 50, Ashcraft 5‑23, Hurst 7‑minus 9.
(McK) Clark rMj19, Irvin 4‑25, Henry 4‑10, Richards 2‑1.

Passing
(Mas) Hurst 12‑22‑0 166, Manion 0‑1‑0 0. 1.
(McK) Henry 9‑23‑2 134.

Receiving
(Mas) Martin 9‑110, Harig 1.32, Manion 1‑ 6, Dixon 1‑8.
(McK) Moore are 4‑52, Gardner 2‑3 Szerokman 1‑32, Katusin 1‑15, Irvin 1‑5.

Kickoff returns ‑ (Mas) Blake 1‑40, Dixon 1‑13.
(McK) ‑ Moore 2‑47, Clark 2‑18.

Punt returns ‑ (Mas) Manion 3‑8, Blake 2‑13.
(McK) ‑ Codispoti 1.0.

Massillon 14 7 3 0 24
McKinley 7 0 0 0 7

Ma ‑ Sparkman 6 run. Miller kick
Ma ‑ Sparkman 2 run. Miller kick
Mc ‑ Szerokman 32 pass from Henry. Wojcik kick
Ma ‑ Martin 12 pass from Hurst. Miller kick
Ma ‑ Miller 27 field goal.

Here is a drive‑by‑drive account of Saturday’s Massillon-McKinley game, won 24‑7 by the Tigers.
MAS ‑ Donnie Blake returns opening kickoff 37 yards to McKinley 47 Ryan Sparkman scores on 7‑yard run on seventh play, Key play: 16‑yard Lee Hurst to Troy Manion completion to 32 on first down. Gary Miller’s P.A.T. kick good at 9:39 of first quarter.
Tigers 7, McKinley
***
McK ‑ Kirk Moore fumbles during kickoff return. David Whitfield, recovers for Massillon.
MAS ‑ Start on McKinley 18. Score in six plays on 2‑yard run by Sparkman. Key play: 7‑yard Hurst to Rameir Martin pass to 11 on first down. Miller P.A.T. kick good at 7:20 of first quarter.
Tigers 14, McKinley 0
***
McK ‑ Start on own 20 after touchback. Drive to Tiger 49. Punt.
MAS ‑ Start on own 16. Three plays. Punt.
McK ‑ Start on Tiger 49. Score on third play, a 32‑yard pass from Ryan Henry to Ron Szerokman. Wojcik kick good at 1:38 of first quarter.
Tigers 14, McKinley 7
***
MAS ‑ Start on own 23 after kickoff. Drive nine plays to 20 Hurst’s 38‑yard field goal attempt wide right at 9:42 of second quarter. Key play: 36‑yard Hurst to Martin sideline pass.
McK ‑ Start on own 20. Four plays to 37. Punt.
MAS ‑ Start on own 11. Six plays to own 48, including 30‑yard sideline pass to Doug Harig. Punt.
Mck ‑Start on own 25 with 3:13 left in first half. Three plays. Punt.,
MAS ‑ Start on own 36 with 2:00 left in half. Drive 64 yards in 10 plays for TD, 12‑yard pass from Hurst to Martin in left corner of end zone. Key plays: 9‑yard run to 45 by Sparkman on first down; 8‑yard reception by Martin followed by late hit penalty to 12. Miller’s P.A.T. kick good at 0:04 of first half.
First half expires on ensuing kickoff return.
Tigers 21, McKinley 7
***
McK ‑ Start on own 6 after bobble of kickoff return. Three plays. Punt.
MAS ‑ Start on McKinley 40. Six plays to 12. Hurst’s 38‑yard field goal attempt wide right at 6:36 of third quarter.
McK ‑ Start on own 20, Three plays. Punt.
MAS ‑ Start on own 47. Seven plays to 8‑yard line. 27‑yard field goal by Miller good at 1:27 of third quarter.
Tigers 24, McKinley 7

McK ‑ Start on own 45 after kickoff return. Seven plays to Tiger 3. Keith Rabbitt rips ball away from Bulldog pass receiver Dorey Irven
MAS ‑ Start on own 3. Seven plays to 43. Punt.
McK‑ Start on own 25 with 5:53 left in game. Drive inside Massillon territory but lose ball on interception by Chad Buckland that virtually ends game.

Rameir Martin

1987: Massillon 15, Canton McKinley 18

November 7, 1987August 17, 2017
by Eric Smith

On paper, call it even
Tigers have better offense, Dogs have the ‘D

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

You want to play the Massillon McKinley football game on paper?

Since we have to wait until 2 p.m. Saturday to see it on the field, why not ?

OK, then.

On paper, Massillon has a slight edge on offense. McKinley has a clear edge on defense.

Between the lines, Massillon’s edge on offense might be greater and McKinley’s advantage on defense might be slighter since the Tigers have played a tougher schedule.

Massillon’s offense has amassed 2,570 yards in 418 plays for an average of 6.15 yards a play. McKinley’s offense has netted 2,309 yards in 414 plays for a 5.6 average.

The teams have comparable rushing numbers: Massillon’s 1,630 Yards at 5.7 a carry versus McKinley’s 1,766 at 5.6 a pop.

Massillon has a whopping advantage in the passing game. The Tigers have completed 61 of 127 passes for 940 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions, while the Bulldogs have connected on 38 of 95 for 543 yards, two touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Massillon quarterback Erik White has completed 60 of 122 passes for 883 yards, seven TDs and six interceptions. McKinley quarterback Pat Lyon, who has started all but two games, has completed 26 of 71 for 384 yards, two touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Six Tiger receivers ‑ Myricks (10 for 228), Wrentie Martin (12 for 223), Mark Kester (11 for 153), Jason Stafford (9 for 127), Craig York (9 for 87) and Gerald Pope (5 for 64) ‑ have caught at least five passes.

Keith Smith (7 for 177) and Mike Hedrick (7 for 96) are the only Bulldogs with more than five receptions.

So that’s the offense.

What about the defense?

McKinley’s has been better.

The Tiger defense has allowed 2,121 yards against its nine opponents. McKinley foes have gained only 1,399 yards.

Massillon’s running defense has surrendered 1,409 yards at 4.3 a carry. McKinley’s rushing defense has yielded 862 yards at under 3.5 a tote.

Opponents have passed for 712 yards against Massillon and 537 yards against McKinley.

Elsewhere on the statistical charts, there are some uncanny similarities between the teams.

Both squads have fumbled 27 times. The Tigers have lost 14 of the bobbles. The Bulldogs have lost 11.

Both teams have intercepted 12 passes. McKinley’s Mark Hedrick has picked off four errant throws. Massillon’s Mark Kester has made three interceptions.

The Tigers’ top ground gainer is Jerome Myricks with 989 yards in 155 carries at 6.4 a carry. The Bulldogs’ top rusher is Jeff Richardson with 145 carries for 970 yards at 6.7 a pop.

Massillon’s No. 2 ground gainer Jason Stafford with 357 yards at 6.6 a carry, has out rushed McKinley’s No. 2 man, Derrick Gordon with 259, yards at 6.8 per attempt.

But Massillon has no one else over 100 yards, while McKinley has DeVon Torrence with 156 yards in 17 carries, Kevin Campbell with 132 yards in 26 carries, and Lamuel Flowers with 116 yards in 28 carries.

Other Massillon rushers have included Shawn Ashcraft (8 for 57), David Ledwell (12 for 56), John Miller (11 for 55) and Vernon Riley (14 for 47).

Myricks leads the Tigers in scoring with 108 points. Richardson is McKinley’s top dog with 68 points. Richardson is behind the pace of his junior season in rushing yards. He needs 200 yards on the nose Saturday to match his 1986 total of 1,170 rushing yards for 10 games.

Those are the numbers. That’s how it looks on paper.

Add it all up and this looks like a dead‑even match up.

Pups edge Tigers
Key play in first half ‘was about an inch short of the goal line…

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

It still means everything to the McKinley Bulldogs to play the Massillon Tigers.

There’s some solace in that for the Massillon team that got beat 18‑15 by McKinley Saturday.

It was true that McKinley fans were rubbing it in that their Bulldogs had beaten the Tigers four straight times for the first time since before radio was invented.

It was true that many Massillon fans were wondering when their beloved men of orange will ever defeat the crimson‑clad team from Canton again.

It was also true that the McKinley coach, Thom McDaniels, had cried with his team after what had been a brutal slugfest was over.

You don’t look like McDaniels looked ‑ like a man whose emotions had spent a week in a ringer washer unless the game means everything.

That is what Saturday’s game meant to him. As such, it meant that Massillon still has McKinley’s complete respect, if not its number.

‘We experienced a lot of things this year,” said McDaniels, talking about the tumultuous things that accompany a less‑than‑perfect season in either the Canton or Massillon football communities.

McDaniels has been McKinley’s head coach since 1982, the year after Terry Forbes steered the Bulldogs to the only big‑school state championship a Stark County team has ever won since the advent of the playoff era.

Such was the tumult of 1987 that his status at McKinley for 1988 is clouded.

McDaniels’ team finished ’87 with a 7‑3 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since his ’84 team went 7‑3.

Saturday’s setback gave Massillon a 1987 record of 6‑4, A pattern that has haunted John Maronto in his three years as Massillon’s head coach ‑ playing tough, but failing just short against the elite teams ‑ held true again.

Both Maronto and McDaniels are saying their futures at their respective schools are up in the air.

The Tigers stunned McKinley on the ground. After the Bulldogs stalled in three plays following the opening kickoff, Massillon set up at midfield.
From time to time under Maronto, the Tigers’ first play has been a bomb. McKinley knows that and may have been sucked in when Tiger quarterback Erik White dropped back for an apparent pass. However, the was a sprint draw, with Myricks taking a handoff and going through a gaping hole up the middle.

“We wanted to get Jerome one‑on‑one with a defensive back on that play,” Maronto said. “It was very well blocked by our players.”

Myricks is a hard man to catch in the open field. This time, nobody caught him. He shifted smoothly to the left sideline and out ran McKinley’s defense into the end zone for a 50‑yard touchdown run.

“We ran that play successfully the whole game,” Maronto said. “Most of our blocking schemes were effective, especially behind John Woodlock and John Schilling. There were a lot of exciting plays and Jerome came very close to breaking the long one on several others.”

But while the Tigers were coming close to the big play, McKinley was making it. The Bulldogs used a running attack that netted 283 yards to score the game’s next three touchdowns.

A 93‑yard drive capped by Bulldog quarterback Pat Lyon’s 8‑yard pass to a wide‑open tight end, 6‑1 senior Dan Roshong, cut Massillon’s lead to 7‑6 with 34 seconds left in the first quarter. The extra‑point kick was wide left.

McKinley got great field position on its next possession following a 19‑yard loss on which Tiger fullback Jason Stafford was caught on a reverse. A short punt enabled the Bulldogs to set up on the Tiger 38, and they scored three plays later when tailback Jeff Richardson took a pitch left and motored 24 yards for a touchdown.

McKinley pulled out to an 18‑7 lead by driving 63 yards for a TD on its first possession of the second half. Richardson went over the right side to score from four yards out.

The Tigers turned it into a thriller when White got hot late in the third quarter, launching a mostly passing, 72‑yard drive capped by Myricks’ 6‑yard blast up the middle with 8:36 left in the game.

Since McKinley had failed on all three of its extra point tries, the Tigers had a chance to pull within a field goal of a tie by making a two‑point conversion. Jerome got the job done by running over Schilling and Woodlock on the right side, and it was 18‑15.

The Tigers, however, got the ball only once more, setting up on their own 18 after a punt and moving to the 30 on a diving 12‑yard reception by senior split end Craig York. Bulldog linebacker Scott Herrington sacked White for an 11‑yard loss to set up a punt, and the Bulldogs ran out the clock.

Save for a few inches, perhaps less, the game might have been drastically different.

The Tigers came up just short of the end zone when fullback John Miller, a secret weapon who had played the season primarily at inside linebacker, was stopped on fourth and goal from the 3 with 1:38 left in the first half.

Miller was so close to the goal line that White, the quarterback, signaled a touchdown.

“I was about an inch, maybe two, short of the goal line,” Miller said.

“The films show it couldn’t have been more than a couple inches,” Maronto said. “The play was blocked successfully at the point of attack. (Defensive tackle) Robert Copenny came from nowhere to get just enough of John’s legs to slow him down.”

The drive had begun at the McKinley 31 on the kickoff following McKinley’s go‑ahead touchdown. In fact, is was one of the more dramatic marches of the season.

McKINLEY 18
MASSILLON 15

MAS McK
First downs rushing 7 12
First downs passing 7 5
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 14 18
Yards gained rushing 190 306
Yards lost rushing 52 23
Net yards rushing 138 283
Net yards passing 90 67
Total yards gained 228 350
Passes attempted 14 8
Passes completed 9 5
Passes int. by 0 0
Times kicked off 3 4
Kickoff average 49.0 41.8
Kickoff return yards 63 46
Punts 5 3
Punting average 26.4 32.3
Punt return yards 0 13
Fumbles 0 2
Fumbles lost 0 0
Penalties 3 5
Yards penalized 26 25
Number of plays 60 51
Time of possession 22:54 25:06
Attendance 17,500

MASSILLON 7 0 0 8 15
McKINLEY 6 6 6 0 18

Grid war lives up to reputation
Tigers fall short against Bulldogs

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

The good fight has been fought. And now the war between the cities is over.

“I did a lot of thinking about the game today,” Massillon Tiger co-captain John Miller said Sunday night, more than 24 hours after his football team fell 18‑15 to the McKinley Bulldogs. “Now I’ll just try to forget about it. It’s time to move on.”

The Tigers scored on their first play from scrimmage Saturday when Jerome Myricks cut loose for a 50‑yard touchdown run. McKinley, however, used a ground assault that netted 283 yards to score a touchdown in each of the first three periods on their way to the win.

“It’s a very tough loss for our football team and our program,” Tiger head coach John Maronto said. “A lot of energy was expended to come up a couple of inches short. But the thing you have to understand is that our young men gave everything they had … and a little bit more. It was one of the best high school football games I’ve ever been involved in … certainly one of the hardest hitting.”

Maronto, who has been under fire since last year’s 23‑6 loss to McKinley, has a 20‑10 record in his three years at the Massillon helm. He has been haunted by a series of close defeats against powerful teams. The coach’s three‑year contract expires at the end of this school year, and there has been speculation he will not be offered a new pact.

As to his future in Massillon, Maronto said, “That remains to be seen.” He said his thoughts are focused on other areas right now. “I’m more concerned with looking out for the best interests of the graduating seniors,” he said. “I want to make sure everyone has things in the right perspective in terms of next season. I’m most concerned with dealing with the team.

“This is the most successful 6‑4 team you could ever be involved with,” Maronto added. “People have to agree that these players played the toughest Massillon schedule possible ever. They weren’t more than an inch here or an inch there from being 9‑1. I’m pretty proud of the way this team played, the class they showed and the adversity it fought to overcome.”

Miller, a surprise starter at fullback Saturday, and fellow co-captain Erik Moledor wound down Sunday by going to the movie “Hellraiser” at Lincoln Theater.

“It was kind of dumb,” Miller admitted. Saturday’s game had been kind of sensational. But in the Tigers’ eyes, it had a “dumb ending,” what with McKinley on top.

“There was some serious hitting going on,” said Miller, who played inside linebacker in addition to fullback. “I mean serious. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I’m a little sore today, but nothing major.”

The Tigers finished their 1987 grid campaign with a 6‑4 record. It was only the sixth time since Paul Brown left town in 1940 that the team has endured as many as four losses in a season.

It also was the fourth straight setback to McKinley, marking the second longest losing streak in the history of the series, which Massillon still leads 50‑38‑5. The Canton team won the first 11 games in the series, which began in 1894.

“We didn’t have as good a season as we thought we would,” Miller said. “We expected to go pretty far. I’m still glad I played on this team. I liked everybody on the squad. It was a great bunch.”

Moledor, a senior defensive back, was keeping a stiff upper lip Sunday but remained in obvious disappointment.

“I thought we gave it everything we had,” said Moledor. “McKinley was pretty tough. Give ’em credit.”
“We really worked hard together this year. I think that’s the best thing we did … worked hard. Saturday was tough. But I don’t think there are any regrets.”

1986: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 23

November 1, 1986August 17, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers come up ‘half empty’
Massillon rules early but’ Bulldogs shift gears late

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ They could have opened a Burger King in McKinley territory at halftime. The Massillon Tigers were having it their way.

But the second half was one big McDLT ‑McKinley’s defense led to touchdowns.

In the end, the McKinley players were saying, “Hot Dog!” and hoping for extra mustard in the playoffs. The Tigers were left holding an empty bun.

A 6‑0 Tiger lead at halftime dissolved into a 23‑6 McKinley win Saturday before 18,091 fans in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

In the history of the series that started in 1894, there may never have been two halves so distinctly different.

So what happened?

“It wasn’t a matter of making a lot of changes,” McKinley head coach Thom McDaniels said. “Basically, we just played better football.”

Maybe there were a few changes.

“In the first half, they were basically trying to power us out of there,” said Massillon senior Lance Hostetler, who played linebacker for the first time since junior high because Jerrod Vance was out with a knee injury.

“In the second half, they were giving our linebackers fake keys, trying to mess us up.”

Something clicked.

A McKinley offense that was stuffed by the Tigers for zilch in the first half had to be photographed with a zoom lens in the second.

In that first half, the Bulldogs gained 28 yards. On the first offensive series of the second half, McKinley gained 40 yards in its first six plays.

That drive ended when C.J. Harris recovered a fumble for the Tigers. But the mood had changed.

It might have changed back had the Tigers moved after recovering the fumble. Mike Harris rushed for three yards, then Mike Norris bulled ahead for seven. But Jerome Myricks was stopped for losses on consecutive plays, and it was third and 15 from the Massillon 41.

Then came a pivotal play now hidden deep in the game films. Quarterback John Miller dropped back to pass. Under heavy pressure, he dumped a short pass toward the fullback Norris. First glance suggested ‑ and films confirmed ‑ that Norris was knocked away from the ball by an overeager defender who was guilty of pass ‘interference.

The pass fell incomplete (Norris would have had to run a long way for a first down, incidentally). No flag was thrown.

Instead of 15 yards and a Massillon first down on the McKinley 44, the Bulldogs got the ball back on a punt.

“That was a key point in the game,” Massillon head coach John Maronto said.

Nobody will ever know how things would have gone had the interference call been made. What is known is that McKinley played its best football of the season in the time that was left.

Ken Hawkins’ punt sailed to the McKinley 22. Junior tailback Jeff Richardson gained 11 yards on first down. On second down, he took a handoff, made a slight cut to a big hole on the left side of the line, shook loose from a diving Bart Letcavits 10 yards downfield and sprinted away from the pack for a 67‑yard touchdown run.

“We emphasized all week that we needed to stop Richardson from making the big play,” John Maronto said.

Talking about it is one thing. Doing it has been another, and not just for the Tigers. Richardson’s 141 yards in 19 carries Saturday gave him 960 yards on the season.

Richardson, a 5‑10, 183‑pounder, only needs a sliver of daylight. His presence left the Tigers in a jam, since their chemistry was thrown off by late‑season knee injuries to linebacker Jerrod Vance and defensive back Steve Siegenthaler.

Maronto emphatically didn’t want anybody knocking his team’s defensive effort.

“Lance Hostetler stepped in and looked like he’d been playing linebacker all his life,” Maronto said. “And it wasn’t like we were playing chopped liver. We were playing the best team in Ohio.”

Richardson’s long run and Mark Smith’s PAT kick still left the Tigers with just a 7‑6 deficit with 3:04 left in the third quarter.

But moments later, Tiger back Mike Harris ‑ another tough‑luck senior whose season was marred by a knee injury ‑ was stripped of the ball. McKinley’s Dave Kiesling recovered the fumble at the 14. Four plays later, Richardson scored easily from a yard out.

Even at that, the Tigers weren’t in bad shape. Smith missed the PAT kick, and McKinley’s lead was 13‑6 with one quarter and 44 seconds left to play.

But the Tigers needed to get back some of the offensive punch they had shown in pounding out a 134‑28 lead in first‑half yardage.

Smith’s kickoff left the Tigers with good field position at their own 41, but they stalled in three plays and had to punt.

McKinley took over on its own 28 and put the game away with an 11‑play 72‑yard scoring drive. The touchdown came on third and nine from the 12. Smith, the quarterback, rolled right off a good play‑action fake and found tight end Dan Grimsley wide open in the end zone.

Smith’s kick made it 20‑6 with 4:48 left.

Sophomore nose guard Lamuel Flowers set up a 35‑yard field goal by Smith with a subsequent interception.

All the suspense and much of the crowd was gone at that point.

The first half had been so different.

The Tigers took the opening kickoff and started at their own 34. On second and seven, junior quarterback John Miller hooked up with senior split end Shannon Dryden on an 11‑yard completion. That seemed to ignite the offense, which then went on to complete an 11‑play, 66‑yard march that wound up on the McKinley 11 when Miller hit the tight end Hawkins on a nine‑yard completion.

That made it fourth and almost three. Maronto elected to send freshman Lee Hurst on for a 28‑yard field goal try. Hurst connected and it was 3‑0 with 4:44 left in the first quarter.

Midway through the drive, Maronto called timeout after Miller scrambled to recover a mishandled snap, then took a blow to the head. Miller was clearly shaken up, and staggered as Maronto yelled to officials that a penalty should have been called.

But Miller kept playing, and moments later threw a pass which Letcavits turned into a 10‑yard reception.

The Massillon crowd got very loud after Norris boomed the ensuing kickoff to the back stripe of the end zone for a touchback. An incomplete pass, a run for no gain by Richardson, a nine‑yard completion and a punt gave Massillon the ball back on its own 32.

The next three series ended in punts, two of which were snapped over the punters’ heads. But both booters recovered and got off kicks that saved disaster for their teams.

McKinley punter Pat Lyons had to chase 10 yards after the ball snapped over his head. But he managed to kick it away to the Massillon 23 midway through the second quarter.

From there, the Tigers drove 77 yards in 10 plays, with Harris setting the tone on a nine‑yard gain. A 17‑yard pass from Miller to Myricks and a 12‑yard run by Miller put the ball on the 17 on first down. But Norris was stopped for no gain, and two passes fell incomplete. The call went again to Hurst. The freshman sent a picturesque boot into a slight breeze that sailed far over the uprights for a 33‑yard field goal.

It gave the Tigers a 6‑0 lead with 2:32 left in the half.

But the second half was another story.

It ended with McKinley’s record at 9‑1, good for first place in Region 2 of Division I. The Tigers came in at 7‑3.

The loss saddened the Tigers. But Hostetler, a three‑year starter and captain, advised his teammates to leave on an upbeat note.

“It’s been a great time for me at Massillon,” he said. “No other team plays under these great conditions. I have the greatest coaches in the world. They really helped prepare me for college. And the greatest teammates in the world.”

MCKINLEY 23
MASSILLON 7

M McK
First downs rushing 6 8
First downs passing 4 3
First downs by penalty 1 0
Totals first downs 11 11
Yards gained rushing 112 205
Yards lost rushing 20 14
Net yards rushing 92 191
Net yards passing 59 57
Total yards gained 151 248
Passes attempted 18 10
Passes completed 8 6
Passes int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 3 5
Kickoff average 56.3 48.4
Kickoff return yards 87 27
Punts 4 4
Punting average 33.0 42.3
Punt return yards 7 0
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 2 1
Fumbles lost 1 1
Penalties 0 3
Yards penalized 0 25
Touchdowns rushing 0 2
Touchdowns passing 0 1
Miscellaneous touchdowns 0 0
Number of plays 52 46
Time of possession 26:37 21:23
Attendance 18,091

MCKINLEY 0 0 13 10 23
MASSILLON 3 3 0 0 6

MAS ‑ Lee Hurst 28 FG
MAS ‑ Hurst 33 FG
McK ‑ Jeff Richardson 67 run (Mark Smith kick)
McK ‑Richardson 1 run (kick failed)
McK ‑ Dan Grimsley 4 pass from Smith (Smith kick)
McK ‑ Smith 35 FG
*****
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Massillon: Norris, 12‑39; Miller 9‑27; Harris 8‑26; Myriscks, 3‑0.
McKinley: Richardson, 19‑141; Kendall 5‑12; Copenny, 1‑6; Gordon, 2‑ 15; Flowers 2‑15.

PASSING
Massillon: Miller, 8‑17‑0, 59 yards; White, 0‑1‑1.
McKinley: Smith, 6‑10‑0, 57 yards.

RECEIVING
Massillon: Myricks, 2 24; Letcavits, 1‑11; Dryden, 1‑9; Hawkins, 1‑8; Wilson, 3‑7.
McKinley: Richardson, 2‑20; Grimsley, 2‑13; Kendall, 1‑10; Smith, 1‑14.

Rivalry grand,
no matter what the score reads

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ You could have won $20 million in the Lotto and not been able to buy a better autumn afternoon for Saturday’s Massillon‑McKinley football game.

The lovely leaves and the Indian summer breeze would have made Scrooge himself a cheery gent. The housewife sick to death of her old man’s sports would have gazed with childish wonder at the sight of the orange sea of spectators rolling against a red sea of the same.

One‑hundred yards of lime‑striped sod and 200 helmeted teen‑agers were washed with a delightful noise that made it all a merry mix, indeed, when Mark Smith of McKinley kicked off to Jerome Myricks of Massillon at a couple of minutes past 2.

Maybe there have been other opening scenes at other Massillon-McKinley games that were as wonderful. If so, they were merely as perfect.

The ending of the 92nd Massillon‑Canton battle was far from a perfect story for the hamlet of Massillon. The final score was McKinley 23, Tigers 6.

But the moral of the story, though stinging with the hurt of defeat to the arch‑rival, was that Massillon people still so desperately want a great team to cheer for.

They had their moments Saturday.

The Tigers charged out of their corner at the opening bell and won the early rounds in a one‑sided mugging.

In one half, junior quarterback John Miller threw twice as many passes as he had thrown in a typical game the previous nine weeks.

In that same half, the lumberjacks on the Massillon line muscled out places for fullback Mike Norris to punch out the yards.

The Massillon defense, despite missing a linebacker who is a candidate for Stark County player of the year, coldcocked the offense of their backyard rivals.

Freshman kicker Lee Hurst delivered like a grizzled veteran.

As the bands marched, Massillon stats man Tom Persell played a tune on his computer, and what came out was 134 yards for the home team, and just 28 yards ‑ and no first downs ‑ for the Canton club.

But the score was only 6‑0, Massillon, and you didn’t need a computer to know the game would be won in the second half.

McKinley won it in a hurry.

Flash: A 67‑yard sprint over the left side by Bulldog tailback Jeff Richardson.

Flash: A Massillon fumble seconds later, in the badlands, and a 14‑yard McKinley mini‑march for a second touchdown.

The second McKinley score, a one‑yard run by Richardson with 44 seconds left in the third quarter, was followed by Mark Smith’s missed PAT kick.

That kept the score at 13‑6. But the Tigers never threatened again. McKinley scored 10 points in the final five minutes, and Canton had a third straight win over Massillon for the first time since 1934, Paul Brown’s third year as the Tigers’ head coach.

The game, witnessed by 18,091 in the stadium named after Brown, closed McKinley’s deficit in the series to 50‑37‑5.

It also closed the Tigers’ season with a second consecutive 7‑3 record.

McKinley is 9‑1 and headed for a Division I playoff game. The Bulldogs will face 9‑1 Groveport Madison at 8 p.m. Saturday in Fawcett Stadium.

Among the many constants in the Massillon‑McKinley game seems to be the fact a Grimsley is always playing for McKinley. This year’s Grimsley, junior tight end Dan, says beating the Tigers reinforces the Bulldogs’ confidence.

“We went a little bit dead in our only loss (against Youngstown South),” said Grimsley, whose brother John plays for the Houston Oilers. “It was the middle of the season and we’d just won some big games. But we’re back up now. There’s no doubt in my mind we can win it all.”

Thirty‑three seniors on the Massillon team were in a different mood. Their time as Tiger players had run out.

“You can’t say too much,” Norris said as he walked away in street clothes. “We knew we could have beat ’em. We were playing our game for a while. But it got away.”

“There’s not much to say,” echoed senior co‑captain Bart Letcavits, who spent part of the season sick in the hospital but returned for Saturday’s game. “They’ve been a comeback team all year. They outplayed us in the second half. They deserved to win.”

“We played as hard as we could,” said senior co‑captain Lance Hostetler. “Nobody let up. Ever.”

John Maronto, the Tigers’ second‑year head coach, said Hostetler was right about the effort.

“I’m proud of our football team,” Maronto said. “We were almost able to come up with the victory. But it was not to be.”

Thom McDaniels is in his fifth year as the “tough‑act‑to‑follow” successor of Terry Forbes, the head coach of McKinley’s only playoff championship winner, the 1981 team. McDaniels praised his troops for having the guts to win another game with a comeback. The he praised the Tigers.

“They’re as good and as tough and as well coached ‑ and you can put that all in capital letters ‑ as any team we’ve played,” McDaniels said.

And you can put this in bold face:

No matter who wins, this is still America’s grandest high school football game.

Will Maronto come back?

We move now, to Lesson No. 2 in the Professor Commings School of Rumorintology.

Please sit erect in your chairs. Volunteers to dust the erasers will be taken later.

Lesson No. 1, on which the papers are being graded, was presented last week.

We learned then that the volume of a rumor often is not in direct proportion to the truth contained therein.

It was noted that a particular rumor ‑ “Bob Commings has forfeited his claim to the title The Bald Eagle, and resigned as GlenOak High’s football coach” was all over town and half way to Hawaii.

It was further noted that Commings emphatically stated he has not resigned.

Commings, as it happens, is believed to be the father of “rumorintology,” apparently having coined the word last month.

The subject of Lesson No., 2 is another football coach, John Maronto.

The fates of Commings and Maronto are indirectly intertwined, insofar as the former was a head football coach in Massillon, and the latter is.

Today’s theme actually is a question. How many people must wish a rumor to come true before it becomes a fact?

We have no answers. We can only offer present facts.

Fact is, Coach Maronto is not the most popular man in Massillon today.

His team went 7‑3, and we needn’t get into a long discussion of what that means in Tigertown. The team lost to the arch‑rival the other day. You know them. And, his offense was judged too conservative for the tastes of many of the paying customers.

It didn’t help that a loss to Commings’ GlenOak team was among the three losses, either.

People are talking. You know how it is.

They’re talking a lot about THE rumor.

“Did’ja hear? Maronto’s going to Michigan to be with Bo!”

Yes, that’s the big one. It’s all over town, and halfway to Hong Kong.

Refer, now, to lesson No. 1.

The volume of a rumor may not be in direct proportion to any truth therein.

“I’ve just never thought there were any two ways about it,” Maronto said this morning. “We’re already getting ready for next season. We’ll be in the weight room today. We have a team meeting schedule. We’re preparing for next season and beginning to take care of the seniors’ needs.”

Maronto has heard the rumors. He says he shrugs them off.

”I’ve never put any thought processes into rumors,” he said. “My energy is going into preparing for next season.”

Maronto, who has completed two years in the stormy wake of Mike Currence’s ouster, sounds optimistic.

“I really believe we’ll be back,” he said. “I believe we learned some great lessons. The younger players coming in may not be able to exceed the ability of this year’s seniors, but I believe they’ll have smoother roads ahead.

“It’ll be important to make the pieces fit in to form a chemistry. It’ll be real interesting to watch. I know everybody coming in is 100 percent completely aware of what our system is all about, what needs to be done to be a Massillon Tiger. There’ll be a lot of continuity.”

Sounds like John Maronto plans to fulfill the third year of his contract.

If he does, let’s give him some room.

Another buyout is the last thing the town needs now.

If he wants to stay, let him work in peace. Disagree all you want I think the coach needs to loosen up his offense, too.

But be aware he works as hard as anybody in Ohio to make his team win. Be aware he’s good with kids.

If it’s time for him to go after the contract runs out, so be it.
And think about next week’s Lesson No. 3. Beating a rumor turns it ugly.

1985: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 21

November 2, 1985November 10, 2021
by Eric Smith

Defeat can’t hide Tiger pride
Pups end Massillon season

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How close was this game?

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

How close?

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

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

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

How close.

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

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

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

The Tigers were going home.

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

He was sad and proud all at once.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then the Tigers had to punt after three plays.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The fifth of the punts sank the Tigers.

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

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

There was still fight left in the Tigers.

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

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

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

Now it was fourth and two.

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

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

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

The Tigers would try to pop Norris through the line.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chaney completed eight of 13 passes for 62 yards.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1984: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 17

November 3, 1984August 13, 2017
by Eric Smith

Determined Tigers beaten back by Bulldogs

By STEVE DUNGJEN
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Decals, magic potion and a lucky penny weren’t enough.

McKinley’s Bulldogs were simply too much for Massillon Saturday afternoon before 17,926 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Not even record setting performances by Massillon’s Bruce Spicer and Mike Scott were enough to stave off a determined bunch of “Mad Dogs.”

When the final gun went off the scoreboard read: McKinley 17, Massillon 6.

And it wasn’t a game that could’ve gone either way. Massillon’s lone score occurred with a scant 32 seconds remaining, the Tigers’ fate already sealed.

Although the Bulldogs (7‑3) finished with a slight 296‑284 edge in net yards, the Tigers (6‑4) led in just about every other statistical category.

Statistics, though, are among the greatest half‑truths in the universe.

Massillon held a 20‑12 edge in first downs. The Tigers possessed the ball longer, and ran off a whopping 21 more offensive plays.

But the Bulldogs led in the two area, that counted the most ‑ big plays and total points. In both categories the Tigers lacked.

“That’s what wins big games for you,” Massillon defensive tackle John Kroah said. “We couldn’t stop theirs, and they didn’t make any mistakes. Maybe we just underestimated them.

“Personally, don’t think there was the same kind of intensity that we had for the Perry game.”

The strike‑it‑rich‑quick preference by the Bulldogs paid off handsomely to the tune of 17 points. Here’s the reasons why:

‑ Flanker Jeff Smith catches a 28‑yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left in the first half;
‑ Smith, also a safety, intercepts a Scott pass in the endzone to thwart a Massillon score;
– Tailback Chris Clax bursts 80 yards for a TD 36 seconds into the second half;
– Sophomore Mark Smith, with the wind at his back, drills home a 45‑yard fourth‑quarter field goal at the 7:55 mark to give the Dogs a 17‑0 lead.

Truly, McKinley was a rags to riches story this season. They were 1‑3 at one point. They unearthed their biggest treasure with Saturday’s win.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers had a chance to draw first blood. But Todd Manion’s wind-aided 54‑yard field goal attempt fell well short of the intended mark.

Before setting up for the three-point try the Tigers used two time outs. That would come back to haunt them later in the period.

Taking over at their own 20, the Bulldogs went 80 yards in eight plays behind the throwing of junior quarterback Brian Chaney.

Chaney hit six of seven passes in the drive for 78 yards, the finale being a 28‑yard strike to Smith over the middle. Smith’s point‑after was good, and McKinley held a 7-0 lead with 59 seconds remaining in the half.

Massillon, with no time outs left, promptly took the ball from its own 34 following the kickoff and marched to McKinley’s 9‑yard line behind Scott’s pin‑point passing, Scott hit Derrick Newman for 19 yards, Cornell Jackson for 23 and Spicer for 14 more.

Faced with a first down from the Bulldog 9, Scott sought Newman in the end zone. The pass was intercepted by Smith instead.

Mr. Momentum remained in the Bulldog locker room at halftime, joining the team minutes later on the field of play when Clax burst 80 yards to paydirt just 36 seconds into the half.

In the span of 95 seconds, the Bulldogs had pulled off three big plays. Three more than the Tigers had all game.

Twice in the third period the Tigers, who had pour field position for the bulk of the game, were within striking distance. Both times, though, they were denied entry into the end zone.

Massillon had the ball once at its own 45, but had to punt three plays later. The same fate befell them on their next possession, taking the ball at McKinley’s 47 and punting three plays later again.

McKinley threatened to break the ballgame wide open on its ensuing set of downs, driving to the Tiger 27 where they were faced with a fourth‑and‑2. Clax took off with the ball to his right, but Massillon defensive end Chris Slinger put the stopper to him short of the yard stick.

With the distinct possibility of being shut out for the first time in the series since 1973, the Tigers got the ball back for the final time at their own 13 with 3:19 remaining.

Scott, who had a sterling first half, was off to a retched second‑half showing, completing just four‑of‑19 passes before the final drive.

But the senior dug down and went work. He hit Spicer for a pair of 11‑yard gains. Irwin Hastings for nine more, and Spicer again for eight. Wes Siegenthaler then caught a pass for 12 yards and Spicer another eight yarder.

Hastings was found open once again, this time for a 14‑yard gain to McKinley’s 14. Two straight passes then fell incomplete when Scott connected with Siegenthaler for a first down at the Bulldog 2.

On the ensuing play, Hastings swept the left side for a long‑awaited but way too little TD. Only 32 seconds showed, and the subsequent onside kick attempt was recovered by the red and black.

On this sunny day not even the decals that equipment manager Keith Herring purchased and then applied to the front of each player’s helmet worked.

Not even the “win potion” of assistant coach Butch Hose could do it’s thing.

And not even the “lucky penny” assistant coach Keith Dewitz found outside the coach’s door nine days earlier could come through.

It just wasn’t meant to be.

It’s back to the
drawing board
for Currence, staff

By STEVE DUNGJEN
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON There will be no grace period for Mike Currence this year. Canton McKinley saw to that Saturday afternoon.

In front of 17,926 spectators at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, the Bulldogs gave Thom McDaniels his first win in three outings against Massillon with a 17‑6 decision.

“I won’t be celebrating (this) week,” Currence, Massillon’s head coach of nine years, said. “I’ll be working. We’ll start a week early on next year’s game.”

“The big run killed us,” Currence said of Chris Clax’s 80‑yard run to paydirt on the first play from scrimmage to open the second half. “That put us down two, and now we really had to start playing catch up.

“I don’t know how many they had,” he said of the Bulldogs’ big plays, “three, four, five, six, seven or eight. They made a lot of them, and we didn’t get any big plays.

“I think we were up, but I don’t think we played as well as we could’ve. We had them several times, but we just didn’t cash them in.

“We used a few different formations and alignments, but it didn’t bother them. The formations and plays didn’t stop them from winning.”

Currence admitted his club aired the ball much more than they wanted to against McKinley’s seasoned secondary. The Tigers put the ball in the air a team record 49 times.

Although the Tigers dropped to 6‑4 with the loss, Currence wasn’t totally dismayed.

“We started out with a very young team,” he noted. “We have a lot to be proud of. We certainly aren’t proud of losing the last one, though.

“The senior never gave up, and I’m certainly proud of them.”

Massillon got off to one of its worst starts, saddled with a 1‑3 record after just four weeks. Then the Tigers started to put things together, stringing five consecutive wins before Saturday’s swan song.

And how does McKinley rate with Massillon’s other nine opponents this season?

“I think they are the best team we’ve played,” Currence said.

But there will be little time for reflection.

On Friday, the head coach received some bad news. His father-in‑law had passed away. Today Currence and his wife Joan are in Maryland, where funeral arrangements were taking place.

Tiger‑Bulldog gridstick

MCKINLEY 00
MASSILLON 00

McK M
First downs rushing 5 4
First downs passing 7 15
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 12 20
Yards gained rushing 213 63
Yards lost tasting 18 29
Net yards rushing 195 34
Net yards passing 101 250
Total yards gained 296 284
Passes attempted 14 49
Passes completed 8 23
Passes int. by 2 0
Times kicked off 4 2
Kickoff average 46.5 32.2
Kickoff return yards 16 1
Punts 4 6
Punting average 30.3 32.2
Punt return yards 23 15
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 1 0
Fumbles lost 0 0
Penalties 1 2
Yards penalized 13 20
Touchdowns rushing 1 1
Touchdowns passing 1 0
Miscellaneous touchdowns 0 0
Number of plays 51 72
Time of possession 23:31 24:29
Attendance 17,926

MCKINLEY 0 7 7 3 17
MASSILLON 0 0 0 6 6

Mck ‑ Jeff Smith 28 pass from Brian Chancy (Mark Smith kick)
Mck ‑ Chris Clax 80 run (M. Smith kick)
Mck ‑ M. Smith 45 FG
M ‑ Irwin Hastings 2 run (pass failed)

Scott, Spicer stand out
For Tigers
in face of defeat

By STEVE DUNGJEN
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Personal accomplishments lose their shine in the face of defeat.

Bruce Spicer and Mike Scott know that all too well.

In the aftermath of Saturday’s disheartening 17‑6 loss to Canton McKinley at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Massillon’s S & S combination was, needless to say, distraught.

Spicer, a senior wide receiver, set three Tiger pass receiving records. Scott, a senior quarterback, established two passing standards.

Entering the McKinley game, Spicer already owned the single game receiving mark with nine. He bettered that by two with his 11 receptions for 104 yards.

On the first play from scrimmage, Spicer caught a 10-yard pass that gave him the regular‑season reception mark with 46. Marty Guzzetta had held the record with 45.

Guzzetta’s all‑time single season record of 50 catches was knocked down a notch. Spicer finished the year with 56 receptions.

In his career Spicer caught 66 passes, which rank him third on the all time list behind Curtis Strawder (68) and Guzzetta (69).

Those 56 catches by Spicer netted him 583 Yards, putting him in second place behind Guzzetta’s 706 total in 11 games.

“I got a pretty good end, don’t I?” Tiger head coach Mike Currence said of Spicer.

“The records didn’t mean a lot because we didn’t win the game,” a subdued Spicer said. “I think we hurt ourselves. We made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of letdowns here and there.

“The win over McKinley is what everybody wanted.”

Spicer said the 80‑yard touchdown run by McKinley’s Chris Clax to open the second half took the wind out of the Tigers’ sail.

“It was like the bottom fell out,” he said. “It was something that happened that you didn’t think could happen.”

Scott bounced back from a preseason back injury to certify himself as one of the all‑time top Tiger passers.

Despite missing nearly four full games, Scott pushed his name into third place in the single-season attempts chart. His 178 throws this year trailed only Brian DeWitz (181) and Brent Offenbecher (182).

Scott also ranks fourth on the career most attempts list with 190. His 1,208 passing yards this year rank him sixth on the all‑time career chart, and his 244 yards passing against McKinley put him fourth in the single‑game books.

Against McKinley, Scott heaved a yeoman‑like 48 passes to surpass his own record of 32 set earlier this year against Stow. The senior signal caller also completed 23 attempts to better his standard of 19, also set against Stow.

“I knew we had to get the ball down there some way and score, but I didn’t do it,” Scott said about his abundance of aerial attempts. “After a big score like that (Clax’s 80‑ yard run) everybody is down on themselves and we knew we’d have to come back and score.

“We were trying to get a good (big play) touchdown for ourselves in order to get back in the game. They were jumping most of our primary receivers and we had to go to our secondaries.”

There was nothing secondary about the performances turned in by the S & S duo. Though it will take some time for their deeds to sink in, they can hold their heads high.

Mike Scott and Bruce Spicer will long be remembered as two of Massillon’s finest.

1983: Massillon 18, Canton McKinley 7

November 5, 1983August 13, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers capture 89th classic 18-7

Bulldogs fall in misty Fawcett

By BOB STEWART
Repository Sports Editor

In the 89 games the Bulldogs and the Tigers have battled on the high school football field since 1894, there have been numerous surprises and upsets.

But it was not to be Saturday, as the favored Massillon Tigers mugged the feisty but overmatched McKinley Senior Bulldogs 18-7 before 21,232 fans in a freezing mist at Fawcett Stadium.

It was the 50th victory for the Tigers in this scholastic gridiron granddaddy, increasing the edge over the Bulldogs, who have won 34 times and tied five others.

To be sure, this 1983 band of Bulldogs fought the valiant fight, played perhaps as well as they have played this disappointing season. But it was not enough this dreary afternoon.

The Massillons had too many guns. The outcome was never really in doubt.

Massillon was favored by 10 points, according to the odds fellows. The Tigers won by 11.

It could have been worse, embarrassingly much worse.

Massillon’s first scoring threat misfired when Bronc Pfisterer missed on a 34-yard attempt for a field goal.

Game Action 1983 Massillon vs. Canton McKinley

The Tigers also missed a TD near the end of the half when McKinley’s Pierre Taylor intercepted a Brian Dewitz pass in the end zone, a bizarre play on which the officials almost mistakenly awarded the Tigers a safety (see Stewart on Sports column, Page 43).

In addition after the longest drive of the day, Massillon fumbled the ball away on the McKinley 1-yard line in the fourth period, and after that had an apparent interception taken away for roughing the Pups’ passer.

The Tigers’ rushing game was perhaps short of awesome, but certainly more than effective. Massillon’s ball carriers netted 260 yards on the ground, an average of 5.1 per carry, and it allowed the Tigers possession for 61 percent of the clock time.

The victory salvaged respectability for the Tigers, who with a 9-1 record will watch from the sidelines as the OHSAA grid playoffs begin this weekend.

It is expected to be announced today that Alliance (10-0) and Akron Garfield (9-0), the team which tamed the Tigers 14-10 in the second game of the season will play for the Region 3 championship in Division 1.

If Alliance is the No. 1 team in the computer ratings for the region, the playoff game probably will be in Fawcett, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

McKinley finished 6-4, it’s worst record since 1976, the first year of consolidation from four Canton high schools to two.

But McKinley coach Thom McDaniels said his players had nothing to be ashamed about Saturday.

“I’m proud of the way they (the Bulldogs) attempted to win the football game,” he said.

“The Ursuline and Elder games (two of the losses) left a bad taste in the mouth. Against Moeller, (the other loss) we weren’t ashamed of ourselves, either,” said the coach who completed his second season as the head man at McKinley, and his fourth at the school.

”I didn’t have any heart attacks in the first half,” Massillon Coach Mike Currence was to say afterward. “But I had about five in the second half.”

“McKinley didn’t quit, and they played a good game. McDaniels is a great coach, and he did not have the best material this season.”

“I don’t think this was a great McKinley team, when compared to some of the ones in the recent past, but they played tough.”

Tigers trip Bulldogs

The swift senior tailback, Craig Johnson, who carried only once for a loss of three yards in the Tigers first possession that ended in the aborted field goal, finished with a flourish, running for 138 yards in 20 carries, putting him at 1,008 yards for the 1983 season.

On their second possession, the Tigers zipped 52 yards in only four plays, the finale a
one-yard touchdown plunge by All-Ohioan Chris Spielman, who not only gained 55 yards on 15 carries and scored both Tiger touchdowns, but also led a swarming defense from his linebacker position which stifled McKinley’s running game.

Dewitz sparked the TD drive with a 19-yard rollout romp on the first play, and then was hit late by a Bulldog. The 15-yard penalty put the Tigers on the Pups’ 18, from where Johnson got eight and Spielman nine to set up the touchdown.

Spielman’s 33-yard punt return on the last play of the first period set up the second Tigers’ score.

Even though the Bulldogs’ defense held Massillon to 13 yards over the first six plays of the second quarter, Pfisterer drilled a 36-yard field goal to put the visitors up 10-0 with 9:20 left in the half.

The Bulldogs’ junior Jeff Angione sparked his team with a 42-yard return of the ensuing kickoff, and McKinley marched to the Tigers’ 28, before a dropped pass on fourth down turned the ball over.

But three plays later, Anthony McCullough pounced on a Dewitz fumble and the Pups were back in business at the Tigers’ 47, from where they scored in eight plays.

McKinley quarterback Kevin Parrish, who completed six of 21 passes for 82 yards before being injured late in the fourth period, hit Jeff Smith in the end zone with a 15-yard scoring strike 55 seconds before the band show. Anthony Taylor’s placement pulled the Pups to within three at 10-7.

After Spielman returned the kickoff to his own 43, Dewitz flipped a screen pass to the fleet Johnson, and he turned the play into a 41-yarder, putting the ball at the Bulldogs’ 16.

Then came Pierre Taylor’s interception in the end zone with seven seconds left.

After the lengthy discussion by the officials, who finally made the right ruling of a touchback, Parrish fell on the ball to end the half.

What may well have been the final turning point came midway in the third period.

McKinley couldn’t move with the third quarter kickoff, and Massillon marched from its own 14 to the McKinley 12, thanks to a 38-yard scamper by Johnson and runs of 17 and 13 by Dewitz, who was the Tigers second leading rusher with 62 yards on 11 carries.

But Dewitz fumbled and McKinley middle guard Bob Gilmore covered the ball, only to have the Bulldogs’ offense fumble it right back on the first play.

Four plays later, Johnson ran in from four yards out to make it 16-7.

The PAT took a while.

Finally, from 13½ inches away, Spielman plunged for the two-pointer to conclude the day’s – and the season’s – scoring, with 4:29 remaining in the third period.

McKinley came back to the Tigers’ 18, thanks mostly to a 25-yard pass from Parrish to junior end Rafe Lazar, the Pups’ longest gainer of the day.

The Tigers, with 2:12 left in the third, then took final control of the game. They managed to come up with the key plays, just when the Pups thought they had them stopped, and moved the ball 81 yards in 14 plays to the McKinley 1, where, with a second-and-goal, Dewitz fumbled the snap again, and the ball wound up in the end zone where McKinley’s Jeff Smith covered it for another touchback.

A pass interference penalty and a 22-yard Parrish to Pierre Taylor aerial putt he ball on the Tigers 40, from where Parrish threw a pass that was picked off by Massillon’s Derrick Dave. But the Tigers’ were flagged for roughing Parrish, and the Pups had a first down at the Tiger 25…but without Parrish, who left the game with a knee injury. Reports indicate he was treated and released at Timken-Mercy Medical Center after the game.

Brian Worstell, a 5-11 junior, came on, but he could fare no better, and the Pups gave up the ball at the 19.

Troy Jenkins, McKinley’s premier runner who had gained 1,101 yards in his first nine games, picked up 72 yards in 15 carries.

Pup-Tiger
Statistics

Massillon……………….. 7 3 8 0 – 18
McKinley Senior……….. 0 7 0 0 – 7

Mas – Spielman 6 run (Pfisterer kick)
Mas – FG Pfisterer 36
McK – Smith 15 pass from Parrish (A. Taylor kick)
Mas – Johnson 4 run (Spielman run)
A – 21,232.

TEAM STATISTICS
Mass. McK.
First downs rushing 15 3
First downs passing 3 6
First downs penalties 2 2
Totals first downs 20 11
Rushes – yards 51-260 23-82
Passing yards 78 97
Total Net yards 338 179
Return yards 75 92
Passes 4-11-1 8-29-1
Punts-avg. 2-27 4-36.5
Punt return yards 48 2
Kickoff-avg. 4-45.5 2-35.2
Kickoff return yards 25 96
Fumbles lost 4-3 2-1
Penalties-yards 6-51 4-39
Third down conversions 4-11 5-13
Total plays 64 52
Time of possession 29:11 18.49

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing – Massillon: Johnson 20-138, Dewitz 11-62,
Spielman 15-55, Gruno 2-3, Hastings 1-2,
Sampsel 2-0.
McKinley Senior: Jenkins 15-72, Parrish 3-4,
Calhoun 2-3, Smith 2-3, Lytle 1-0.

Passing – Massillon: Dewitz 4-11-1-78.
McKinley Senior: Parrish 6-21-0-82,
Worstell 2-8-15-1.

Pass Receiving – Massillon: Johnson 2-57, Spielman 1-13,
Crenshaw 1-8,
McKinley Senior: Jenkins 3-17, Lazar 2-32,
p. Taylor 1-21, Draper 1-12, Smith 1-15.

Missed field goals – Massillon: Pfisterer 34.

Massillon celebrates
Golden Anniversary

By STEVEN DUNGJEN
Independent Sports Editor

CANTON – Massillon football celebrated a Golden Anniversary of sorts Saturday afternoon at Fawcett Stadium – 50 wins over McKinley.

The Tigers (9-1) posted an 18-7 victory over the Bulldogs (6-4) in the 89th meeting between the two before a packed house. With the win Massillon upped its series lead to 50-34 with five ties.

Massillon held the statistical edge in nearly every category of importance: first downs (19 to 11), rushing (227 yards to 79) and total yards (332 to 175).

It was one of those kind of days where everything went wrong, but nothing did.

Although the Tigers scored two touchdowns and a field goal, head coach Mike Currence’s squad squandered away more golden opportunities than it wanted to.

In the first quarter alone the Tigers had a first down at the McKinley 18 and came away empty-handed when a 34-yard field goal went astray.

Massillon was knocking on the door again late in the second quarter, with a first down at the Bulldog 16. This time an interception halted the drive.

Another time, this in the third period, the Tigers had a first down at the McKinley 12. A lost fumble again stymied Massillon.

And if three blown opportunities weren’t enough, the Tigers continued their version of give-away in the final period when another fumble at the McKinley one stopped yet another golden chance.

“We made some mistakes,” Currence admitted, citing the fumble in the end zone in the fourth quarter as a prime example. “That was terrible.”

Through it all, though, the Tigers still prevailed. That’s because a stingy defense made it happen.

Forced to go to its passing game in the second half, McKinley finished with just 79 yards rushing on 23 carries. The Bulldogs’ lone TD occurred following a Massillon fumble.

In the air the Bulldogs picked up 96 yards, but quarterbacks Kevin Parrish and Brian Worstell combined to complete just eight-of-29 attempts.

Only two of McKinley’s 10 possessions began inside Massillon territory. More often than not the Bulldogs were pinned back inside their own turf, especially in the opening stanza when the hosts netted a total of nine yards.

Massillon appeared well on its way to a score on the game’s opening set of downs, marching to the McKinley 18 with a first down. Two straight runs lost five yards when quarterback Brian Dewitz ran for six yards.

On fourth down Pfisterer, who holds career and single-season field goal kicking school records, missed on a 34-yard attempt.

A roughing the punter call on McKinley during the drive kept the Tiger hopes alive.

After holding McKinley on its second possession, the Tigers were back in action with the ball at their own 48.

Dewitz scampered 19 yards on a bootleg, but McKinley was called for spearing on the play. With the ball now on the 18 stellar running back Johnson, who finished with 133 yards rushing, gained nine yards.

Then Spielman got into the act, gaining eight yards to the one and adding the final yard for the TD at the 4:14 mark. Pfisterer added the extra-point and the Tigers led 7-0.

McKinley was stopped in its tracks once again on its next series, but Spielman broke off a 33-yard punt return to give Massillon good field position at the Bulldog 32.

Johnson picked up eight yards on the first play from scrimmage and Spielman added three more for a first down. Dewitz was then sacked for a six-yard loss when the Tigers were then called for illegal motion.

A Dewitz pass fell incomplete before Johnson broke off a 13-yard scamper to the McKinley 19 to put Pfisterer within field goal range. The senior booter responded with a 36-yard field goal, giving Massillon a 10-0 lead at 9:30.

McKinley mounted its first serious threat on the next series with tailback Troy Jenkins running four yards on a fake punt for a first down. However, the drive stalled on Massillon’s 28 when a Parrish pass bounced off the hands of Leon Draper.

Three plays later and the Tigers gave the ball right back when Dewitz lost the handle on the center exchange. McKinley’s Anthony McCullough recovering at the 47.

Eight plays later and Parrish found Jeff Smith on a slant over the middle for a score with 51 seconds left in the half.

With time running out in the half Massillon reached the Bulldog 16 when Johnson ran 41 yards down the right sidelines on a screen pass. Dewitz then threw a pass over the middle which was intercepted by Pierre Taylor.

Taylor, who caught the ball in the end zone, then ran out of the end zone. Currence was quick on the field, asking for a safety.

After some deliberation by the game’s officials the Tigers were awarded a two-point safety. Now, it was McKinley head coach Thom McDaniels’ turn to “discuss” the play.

Again the game’s officials conferred. When they broke huddle they reversed their earlier decision and took the two points off Massillon’s side of the scoreboard.

“The McKinley coaches out coached me on that one,” Currence said tongue-in-cheek. “They showed me the ruling. It doesn’t seem right to intentionally take a safety.”

The two teams swapped turnovers in the third quarter, Dewitz losing a fumble to Bob Gilmore and Massillon’s Tim Sampsel recovering a Bulldog bobble one play later.

Four plays after Sampsel’s fumble recovery gave the Tigers excellent field position at the McKinley 19, Johnson ran four yards to pay dirt behind a good block by Tom Gruno at the 4:29 mark.

On the conversion, McKinley was called three straight times for encroachment. With the ball resting inside the one, Spielman carried in the two-pointer for a 18-7 Tiger lead.

McKinley then drove to a first down at the Massillon 23 following a 25-yard pass play, but three straight passes fell incomplete to stop the drive.

Massillon then chewed up over eight minutes of time on its next possession, but came away with nothing to show for it when the center snap was bobbled at the McKinley one with Smith recovering in the end zone.

The Bulldogs put together their last threat on the ensuing series, marching from their own 20 to Massillon’s 21 thanks in large part to a pair of 15-yard penalties, one for pass interference and another for roughing the quarterback.

But the drive stalled when a fourth down pass failed to gain the necessary yardage.

On last McKinley hope was thwarted by a Pat Spicer interception with less than a minute left.

Tiger ‘D’ turned
Pups into kittens

By NORM WEBER
Independent Sports Writer

CANTON – While the Massillon offense surprised McKinley with some new wrinkles Saturday in Fawcett Stadium, the Tiger defense was its reliable self in the 18-7 victory.

The Bulldogs did get one touchdown off the tight Tiger defense, but the score was set up by a Tiger fumble.

Other than that drive, the Tiger defense didn’t yield much. In the first quarter McKinley’s offense ran nine plays for nine yards.

Tackle Tom Gruno and nose guard John Franke incessantly applied pressure to Bulldog quarterback Kevin Parrish. The defense up front also showed strong pursuit on flushing out McKinley’s screen passes.

“I was getting a little concerned in the third quarter when they started driving,” Franke said. But then when we stopped them on our 18-yard line, I knew they weren’t going to score on us any more.”

Gruno admitted that Saturday’s game was the most exhausting of his career, but well worth it.

“With eight minutes left in the game I felt like dropping; I could hardly breathe,” said Gruno, who doubled at fullback. “Usually we’re ahead 44-0 in the fourth quarter and I’ll get a rest. This is by far my most tiring game.”

“I’d go to the sidelines when Timmy Sampsel would replace me at fullback. Every time I kept saying to the rest of the defensive players, ‘We’ve got to stop them.’ Nothing stood in our way. I knew it after we stopped them three consecutive times at getting a first down in the first quarter.”

“McKinley has some big tackles. But we were able to out-quick them. That was all we could do. We got so fired up every time I went to the sidelines on my offensive breaks. Beating McKinley is great.”

HUMBLE HERO – Tailback Craig Johnson was the first Tiger to go over the 1,000-yard mark rushing this season. His 133 yards against McKinley give him 1,003 on the season.

“How many yards to I have for the season?” a humble Johnson asked in the locker room after the game.

Johnson went over the magic number with a 13-yard gain in the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t know it then,” Johnson answered. “Which play was it?”

SPIELMAN’S VOW – When McKinley stopped the Tigers two years ago at Fawcett Stadium to earn a trip to the playoffs and eventually win the state championship, Chris Spielman vowed that the Tigers would never lose at Fawcett while he was playing.

“After we lost two years ago I said our team – and you can underline team, would not be beaten on this field again,” said Spielman. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. I’d like to thank Massillon for everything.”

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN – The Tigers may not be going to the playoffs, but based on Saturday’s performance, could be the best team in the state.

“If we played Akron Garfield next week we’d beat them by four touchdowns,” said Gruno. “This is a much improved team. I’ve been sitting in bed, listening to the radio and praying that Alliance or Garfield would lose. But we can’t control that.”

Neither Alliance nor Garfield, which beat Massillon 14-10 on Sept. 9, have lost. They’ll meet in the first round of the playoffs Saturday.

Topics of discussion such as the great Garfield debate are what keep the off-season fires burning.

1982: Massillon 7, Canton McKinley 0

November 6, 1982August 10, 2017
by Eric Smith

Playoff game here Saturday night
Sandusky next as Tigers nip Pups

By MIKE HUDAK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON – Victory whoops echoed throughout a locker room where passage was difficult because of wall-to-wall well wishers wanting to reach out and congratulate the players who were an extension of their own lives.

But Ty Beadle, the Tigers’ 6-foot-2, 265 pound senior tackle was not smiling. The young giant was drained mentally and physically and his eyes seemed to peer through the floor he was staring at.

It was a helluva game, he understated.

Teammate Charles Calhoun, the Gladiator like Tiger guard, brought the twinkle back to Beadle’s eye. “We showed them the line could run today, too, he quipped.

Early in the third quarter, Calhoun had provided the only levity in what wasn’t a laughing matter, picking up a fumbled snap and carrying the ball six yards before being pulled down by the swarming Pup defense.

“That was the famous Clydsdale right play,” quipped Calhoun and Beadle laughed.

Beadle deserved to laugh, the Tigers had won, a perfect regular season had been completed and a home date in the playoffs assured. Unemployment may have hit the highest mark in Massillon since the 1930s but there was no “Depression” in Tigertown on Saturday, Nov. 6, 1982.

According to Tiger statistician Tom Persell, the talk around town after the game was that the Tigers were “flat”, that they had heard so often how they were supposed to overwhelm the Bulldogs that they were lulled by the publicity.

Not so. The first time the Tigers touched the ball following the opening kickoff they held the ball 18 plays, moving down to the Bulldog 15 before a penalty and a devastating McKinley pass rush moved them back to the 34 where a fake punt and a run by quarterback Brian DeWitz fell short of the first down.

This initial stand buoyed the Pups confidence. McKinley from that moment on played to its maximum defensive potential – known to be quite good before the game even began. It was the McKinley offense that was suspect and despite moments of glory, it remained the Pups ‘Achilles Heel’ as they failed to score for the first time in the annual classic since 1979.

After the Tigers initial drive, neither team threatened again the remainder of the half. Massillon fans were contemplative at halftime; typical reactions when friends spotted each other were raised eyebrows or shrugged shoulders when would the vaunted Tiger offense roll into gear?

Again, the Tigers first possession of the half, after forcing McKinley to punt, appeared to be the opening of the flood gates.

Beginning possession on the McKinley 42, halfback Chris Spielman, who enjoyed a spectacular day and garnered more page one press than perhaps any junior in journalistic history, picked up chunks of turf in eight-yard chunks as the Tigers drove to the Pup three.

But a flag for clipping on the run that set up first and goal turned the drive around. Moments later, it was fourth and goal from the 17.

Bronc Pfisterer rushed onto the turf for a field goal attempt. But at the last second, he rushed off and Tim Sampsel rushed on, barely avoiding a delay of game flag and attempted a kick that was wide left.

Tiger head coach Mike Currence explained the apparent confusion.

1981: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 9

November 7, 1981August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Massillon outplays McKinley, but losses 9‑7
Pups’ big plays waste fine Tiger effort

By ROLLIE DREUSSI
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tiger lockerroom was ripe with the stunned silence of a team that had just played its heart out, outplayed its opponent and lost.

Amid the hanging heads and wet eyes stood Tiger coach Mike Currence. The hurt he felt in his heart for his team showed on his face. “They’re all different,” he said.

True to form, Saturday’s 87th Massillon‑McKinley game was different from all the rest. The Bulldogs’ 9‑6 victory before 22,828 fans in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium gave them their first perfect season since 1956 and puts them into the computer playoffs‑for the second year in a row.

Yet, except for one play, it was a game that seemed to belong to the Massillon Tigers.

That one play, however, was a big one. An 81‑yard pass from Bulldog quarterback Rick Worstell to end Nick Faulkner that wiped out a 6‑3 Tiger lead and proved to be the margin of victory.

It was just about the only defensive mistake the Tigers made all day. However, several offensive mistakes left the Bulldogs off the hook.

The Tigers won a decisive victory in the battle of the statistics, but the only stat that really counts is the one in lights on the scoreboard.

Massillon had 14 first downs to five for McKinley, and held the Pups to 55 yards rushing in 31 carries. McKinley gained only six yards rushing the first half, and didn’t get a first down rushing until just before the end of the third period.

The Tigers piled up 265 yards to 163 for McKinley. Take away the one pass play, and the Bulldogs had only 82 yards total offense.

“It’s a tough one to lose, especially when you play as well as we played and control the ball the way we did,” Currence said.

“But we had some turnovers that caused us bad field position. That stopped us from working our whole offense, which stopped us from scoring more.

“I thought we moved the ball real well and I was never worried when our defense was on the field. I thought we would score in the second half,” he added.

But two fumbles and an interception haunted the Tigers in the second half, and the superior McKinley kicking game probably was the overall difference.

Nick Xides had a school record 44‑yard field goal in the first half. The boot was a low line drive that was literally carried just over the crossbar by a strong wind.

However, Massillon’s Tim Manion had the wind at his “back when he got too far under a 30‑yard attempt and it fell short with 4:28 to go in the third quarter.

A short punt by Manion into the wind also helped set up field goal.

While Manion had his problems kicking, he played an outstanding defensive game, moving from linebacker to end and causing the Pup offense trouble all day.

He helped stop McKinley’s only – other serious – scoring threat late in the third quarter when he tipped a pass at the goal line that was intercepted in the end zone by Matt Hickey.

Perhaps the most crucial event of the game came with 1:53 left to play and the Tigers driving for what their fans hoped would be the winning score.

Starting at their own 15 after a clipping penalty on a punt return, the Tigers were grinding it out on the ground.

Greg Grimsley gained four yards, George Roknich bolted for 10 and a first down, then Grimsley carried for 15 and another first down.

Roknich carried for five more, Larry Newman for two and Grimsley was stopped for a two‑yard gain on third-and‑three at the Bulldog 47.

On fourth‑and‑one, Tiger quarterback Rick Spielman lost control of the ball after the snap and McKinley middle guard Stan Jackson fell on it, ending the Tiger threat and insuring his team of a 10‑0 season.

Tiger tans were stunned. Their team had outplayed the Bulldogs all day and they were certain this drive would be the clincher.

It was ironic that Spielman would be victimized by the fumble. He had put the Tigers in the lead with a brilliant 21‑yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Facing a fourth‑and‑15 at the Pup 21, he dropped back to pass. He was almost; sacked in the pocket, but broke free and scrambled to the left. He broke another tackle and cut back across the middle of the field. He slipped through the grasp of another Bulldog tackler at the 15 and scooted around the right side all the way for a score. The Tiger offensive line also did a great job of blocking off the pursuit on the play.

The score, which came at 9:42 of the second quarter, gave the Tigers a 6‑0 lead.

But Xides booted his field goal at 3:45 and a Ross Rankin interception (his first of two for the day) stopped another Tiger drive at the Bulldog 19, and two plays later, Worstell and Faulkner hooked up on their game winning play.

“Faulkner came up with the key play,” Bulldog coach Terry Forbes said afterwards in a joyous McKinley lockerroom. “We went deep a couple of times and that was the only time we connected all day.”

Forbes said the Pups made some minor adjustments at halftime to counteract the Tiger air attack, which had accounted counted for 81 yards in the first half. Massillon didn’t complete a pass in the second half, with Rankin picking off Spielman’s only pass in the third period, and the Tiger senior quarterback going 0‑for‑4 in the final period.

But Currence said the Tigers hadn’t planned to pass much in the second half anyway. He and his coaches felt they could move the ball on the ground against the McKinley defense.

They were doing just that prior to the fumble on their final series.

Spielman ended the day with seven completions in 20 attempts for 81 yards while Worstell had five completions in 14 attempts for 108 yards.

Leading receivers for the Tigers were Roknich with two catches for 38 yards, Robert Oliver with three for 23 yards and Newman with three for 20 yards.

The Tigers totaled 184 yards rushing, with Grimsley gaining 80 yards on 14 carries and Roknich picking up 41 yards on six carries to lead the way.

Forbes had praise for the Tigers’ effort, though he wouldn’t say they were the best team his Bulldogs played all year.
“We’ve played some fine football teams and Massillon ranks right up there with the best.”

Except for a few plays on this sunny November Saturday, no comparisons would have been necessary.

Winter arrives early
for Tiger grid faithfull
By ROLLIE DREUSSI
Independent Sports Editor
The air was warm and the sun shone brightly as it set on the first day of winter Saturday afternoon in Massillon.

Forget the calendar, winter started with the sounding of the gun which ended the annual season finale between the Massillon Tigers and the McKinley Bulldogs in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium.

You see, the score stood at nine points for the Bulldogs and but six for the Tigers.

So, for the first time since 1975, winter in Massillon has started a month and a half early.

And for the first time in his six seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, Mike Currence won’t have the glow of victory over McKinley to warm his football thoughts until spring.

For most of the early afternoon on Saturday it had appeared otherwise. The Tigers, undaunted by the Bulldogs’ 9‑0 record, had come to play.

And play they did. Even McKinley fans agreed afterwards that the Tigers had played the better game.

But luck was on the side of the Bulldogs this day, and they made the big plays the Tigers couldn’t.

Except for an 81‑yard touchdown pass from quarterback Rick Worstell to end Nick Faulkner, in which Tiger defensive backs Grady Robinson and Rodney Hill missed tackles, the Tigers controlled the game.
Even despite the pass, the Tigers could have won had they not turned the ball over four times.

Indeed, Currence played down the Bulldogs’ big play.

“Those things happen sometimes,” he said of the Tigers misreading the coverage and then missing the tackle. He said he felt the four turnovers were what hurt the most. That and bad field position. The Tigers were able to roll up a lot of yards, but produce only six points. They needed 10.

The game was hard fought, and the 22,828 fans in the stands received more than their money’s worth. It was anybody’s ball game right to the end, when the Bulldogs’ Stan Jackson recovered a fumble at his own 49 to kill the Tigers’ final threat.

It was sweet revenge for Bulldog fans. The Pups had lost four straight to Mike Currence coached teams until last season, when they won 16‑7. That didn’t last long, however, as the Tigers turned around and upset McKinley 14‑6 the following weekend in a quarter‑final playoff game. The Tigers went on to finish second in the state, the Bulldogs stayed home and prepared for the sudden winter.

There will be no rematch this time. The Bulldogs will play Parma Normandy Saturday night in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium in the playoff quarter‑final match.

After Saturday’s game had ended, McKinley coach Terry Forbes paid a visit to the Tiger lockerroom to congratulate Currence on the fine game his team played.

The coaches exchanged compliments and shook hands.

“Good luck in the playoffs,” Currence said. “Our people will be here next week rooting for you. Beat Moeller.”

And so ended the Tigers’ season. The 7‑3 record marks the first time the Tigers lost more‑than twice under Currence. It also means the Bulldogs, after four straight losses, have won two of the last three from the Tigers.

It was a disappointing season, but for awhile on Saturday afternoon it looked like it was going to have a happy ending.

As it turned out, Tiger fans found themselves muttering those four words they had almost forgotten: wait until next year.

1980: Massillon 14, Canton McKinley 6

November 7, 1980August 10, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers beat McKinley 14-6 for first state playoff win

By ROLLIE DREUSSI
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers had the last words Friday night before an overflow crowd in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium.

“Massillon Tigers No. 1! Massillon Tigers No. 1!” Players and coaches shouted it out over and over in the jubilant Massillon lockerroom after the Tigers won their first playoff game in history by defeating the McKinley Bulldogs 14‑6.

“I couldn’t believe our defense,” said Tiger Coach Mike Currence, who brought his team back from the ashes of last Saturday’s 16‑7 loss to these same Bulldogs in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1980 – Playoffs

“I don’t know what the difference is,” he said, referring to the way the Tiger defense halted the Bulldogs on all five of their second‑half possessions, four of which carried into Massillon territory. Last Saturday, the Tigers’ defense yielded over 300 yards and allowed McKinley to control the ball game.

Friday night it was a slightly different defense, and a whole new story.

“We just wanted the ball game more than they did,” Currence said. “It was unbelievable.”

Currence said the win, which gives the Tigers the Division I, Region 3 championship and advances them to the state playoff semifinals, was his most important in five years as the Tigers’ coach.

“This is the biggest one,” he said. “because we did something no other Massillon team ever did: we won a playoff game. And beating McKinley made it doubly nice.”

The Tigers’ next opponent in the playoffs will probably be Willoughby South which defeated Cleveland St Joseph 14‑3 Friday night. There’s also a good chance the game will be played Saturday night in the Akron Rubber Bowl. The semifinal games were supposed to be played on Friday night but the Akron City Series game was already scheduled for that night in the Rubber Bowl.

The final decisions on who Massillon will play, and when and where will be made Sunday by Ohio High School Athletic Association officials.

Back in the Tiger lockerroom Currence continued his praise of the defense.

“I thought our offense was going to give it away there. Thank God the defense wanted it.”

He revealed that two starting defensive players suffered injuries in last week’s game and were unable to play, Linebacker John Mayles broke his hand, and defensive end Bob Dodd tore ligaments in his knee.

“We had to go with some more quickness in there. It was a combination of the injuries and putting quicker kids in,” Currence explained. “But we didn’t know if the younger kids could do the job.”

They did.

William Askew took Dodd’s place at defensive end, and Rick Spielman took over Mayles’ linebacker spot. Mark Haubert also played some linebacker. All are juniors.

The Bulldogs still managed to run the bill effectively – except on fourth down attempts ‑ but their passing game just wasn’t the same as it was last week.

“We put a little more pressure on (Rick) Worstell,” Currence said, “and we had better coverage by our secondary. Paul Turner did a great job on Todd Fisher, and clinic tip with the big interception.”

A big play by linebacker Tim Manion set up the Tigers’ first touchdown in the second quarter.

McKinley had driven into Massillon territory, when Mike Lynch was hit by middle guard Jeff Grove and fumbled the football at the 41. Manion scooped the ball up and raced 40 yards to the McKinley 19.

Quarterback Dave Eberhart hit Mike Feller with a 12‑yard pass for a first down at the seven. Two plays later a pass interference penalty gave the Tigers a first down at the three. An offside penalty against Massillon moved the ball back to the eight, and Eberhart ran a keeper to the left on the next play. He was hit at the three yard line and fumbled the ball into the end zone where fullback Don Fulton pounced on it for a touchdown with 9:31 to play in the half. Eberhart booted the conversion for a 7‑0 lead.

The Bulldogs came right back with a 74‑yard drive that took 15 plays and consumed 7:51 on the clock. Worstell scored from a yard out with 1:40 left in the half, but a pass for the extra points failed and the Tigers took a 7‑6 lead into the lockerroom at halftime.

The Tigers took the kickoff to open the second half, and drove 80 yards ‑ with the help of three Bulldog penalties ‑ for the game’s final touchdown.

Eberhart hit Mike Reese with a pass over the middle from the Pups’ 12 yard line. The senior wide receiver caught the ball at the three, sliced past a defender and fell over the goal line with 7:19 to play. Eberhart added the extra point for a 14‑6 Tiger lead.

The drive was aided several times by the penalties against McKinley.

On second‑and‑10 from his own 20, Eberhart hit halfback Mike Jones with a 16‑yard pass for a first down. Fifteen more yards were added on when a Bulldogs player was called for a personal foul, putting the ball on the McKinley 49.

Two plays later, the Bulldogs were called for pass interference, giving Massillon first down at the 36. The Dogs were also called for an offside penalty later in the drive, and for another personal foul on the touchdown play, with the yardage being assessed on the kickoff.

The Bulldogs then took the ensuing kickoff and started driving again, Their drive started with 7:19 to go in the third quarter, and they had the ball at Massillon’s 15 yard line on fourth‑and‑two when the period ended.

The Bulldogs’ first play of the final period set the tone for the rest of the game, when Grove and Spielman stopped the Pups’ Mike Simms for only a one‑yard gain, with Massillon taking over on downs at their own 14.

Eberhart wasted no time in going straight to the air, but his first two passes were batted down (by Gary Pounds and Troy Sanders), and one was almost intercepted.

On third down, Scott Dixon sacked Eberhart back at his own four yard line. Eberhart then punted the ball out to the 41.

Again McKinley mounted a drive. This time, on fourth‑and‑one at the 14. Spielman and defensive end Paul Spinden stopped Lynch for no gain and the Tigers took over.

But on third down, Eberhart was intercepted at his own 24 yard line by Chris Wade. Following an incomplete pass Grove sacked Worstell for a four‑yard loss. On third down, Worstell hit Fisher, but the play netted only four yards. On fourth‑and‑10, Worstell passed to Sidney Lewis coming out of the backfield, but defensive back Mike Loretto knocked him out of bounds two yards short of the first down at the Tiger 16.

The Tigers couldn’t move the ball again, and this time Eberhart punt went off the side of his foot and out of bounds 26 yards downfield at the 44.

On first down, Worstell’s pass was intercepted at the 40 by Turner, who returned it to the McKinley 30. A clipping penalty brought the ball back to the Tiger 41, and with just 2:42 left to play the Tigers looked like they had it in the bag.

However, on fourth down from midfield, Eberhart’s punt was blocked by Wade, and the Bulldogs had life at their own 49 with 1:03 to play,

The Tiger secondary was ready for the final challenge, and Worstell threw three straight incompletions.. He had a man open out of the backfield on second down, but good pressure by Askew forced a bad pass.

On fourth down, Spielman sacked Worstell when he couldn’t find an open receiver and that was the ball game.

We tried hard and we played very bad a downcast Terry Forbes said of his team’s effort. “You have to hand it to Massillon’s defense for hanging in there,” the Pup coach added.

So it won’t be a long, cold winter for Tiger fans after all. It may have been a miserable six days, but it’s like the sign – the one on the hoop the Tigers ran through before the game ‑ said: “ Win the One That Counts.”

They did, and that’s why the Tigers will be playing in the playoff semifinals next weekend while the Bulldogs will be staying home.

Tigers trip
Bulldogs 14‑6
Massillon turns the tables
by capitalizing on big turnover
By BOB STEWART
Repository Sports Editor
The mighty Massillon High Tigers, calling on three‑quarters of a century of football tradition ‑ and a quick thank you for the miscues – knocked the McKinley Senior High Bulldogs out of the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs 14‑6 Friday night.

The sellout Crowd of some 20,000 at Fawcett Stadium watched the 86th meeting of the Bulldogs and Tigers since 1894, and the second in six days. Saturday, McKinley spanked the Tigers 16‑7 in Massillon’s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium before 21,745.

Friday night’s win in what was the Division I quarter‑final game for Region No. 3, puts Massillon in the semifinals next week. The Tigers apparently will play Eastlake Willoughby South, a victor last night over Cleveland St. Joseph, next Saturday night in Akron’s Rubber Bowl.

The official pairings will not be made until Sunday in the OHSAA Offices in Columbus. Massillon tickets will be put on sale at Tiger Stadium Tuesday and Wednesday.

“This is the biggest game since I’ve been here,” said an emotion‑racked Mike Currence, who as coach of the Tigers has won five out‑of six battles with the Bulldogs in his five seasons.

McKinley’s first‑year Coach Terry Forbes, hailed as the conquerering hero last week, found the words hard to come by. “It was very frustrating,” Forbes said, referring particularly to the final period when Massillon looked as though it was trying to give it away, and McKinley couldn’t grasp the brass ring.

McKinley had the ball five times in the fourth quarter ‑ four times in Massillon territory ‑ and three of those times inside the Tiger’s 20‑yard line, but came away empty.

The Tiger defense rose to the occasion in spite of its sputtering offense in the final canto.

McKinley opened the fourth period with a fourth‑and‑three on the Tigers’ 15, and Mike Simms was stopped after a yard gain and the Tigers took over on their own 14 with all but four seconds remaining in the final stanza.

Currence then shocked his followers as Massillon quarterback Dave Eberhart put the ball in the air two straight times, one batted down, the other missed, and both nearly intercepted. The third down play looked like another pass, but McKinley’s Scott Dixon smashed through from his defensive end post to sack Eberhart clear back at the 4.

Eberhart punted out, and McKinley’s Bob Davie returned it 10 yards to give the Pups position at the Tiger 41.

Bulldogs lose rematch

McKinley quarterback Rick Worstell moved his club to the 14, but on a fourth‑and‑one there, Mike Lynch was nailed by the center of the Tiger line and Massillon again took it over at the 14, with 8:12 remaining.

Massillon ran twice, but with third‑and‑seven at the 17, Eberhart put it up, and McKinley’s Chris Wade took the aerial away from intended receiver Mike Feller.

In business with 6:38 left at the Tiger 24, Worstell missed on a pass to Sid Lewis, and then Tiger linebacker Jeff Grove sacked Worstell for a 4‑yard loss. The Pups’ junior quarterback got it back with a 4-yarder to Todd Fisher, and on fourth‑and 10, Worstell hit Lewis over the middle, but the speedster couldn’t get loose and picked up only 8 of the needed 10 yards.

Massillon took over on its 16 with 4:53 left.

Eberhart punted out of bounds at the Tiger 44 four plays later, and the Bulldogs started with 2:42 left.

This time disaster struck early.

On first down, Paul Turner picked off Worstell’s aerial on his own 39, and returned it all the way to the McKinley 30. A clipping penalty put the ball back to the Tiger 41, but Massillon had the ball with 2:30 left.

When the Tigers got nine yards in three plays, Eberhart went back to punt again, but this time McKinley’s Wade blocked the kick, and teammate Tony Parsons fell on it at the Bulldogs’ 48.

There was 1:08 remaining. Worstell threw three times, two of them deep, all incomplete. On fourth down with only 43 seconds left. he couldn’t find a receiver, and was sacked, ironically, by Rick Spielman, the son of former Timken Coach Sonny Spielman, who played for Timken last year and moved to Massillon when his dad was named an assistant there this summer.

Ahead 7‑6 at halftime, Massillon took the second‑half kickoff 80 yards in 10 plays, aided by two 15‑yard penalties against the Pups. The final TD was a 12‑yard pass from Eberhart to senior end Mike Reese, who caught the ball at the two and dove over the goal line.

McKinley took the ensuing kickoff and rolled from its own 20 to the Tigers’ 15 when the quarter ended, and started the fourth period with the ill‑fated fourth‑down play. The 15‑play drive consumed the final 7:19 of the third period.

McKinley never was ahead in the game, but threatened in the first period when Eberhart missed a 29-yard field goal attempt.

Tim Manion’s 44‑yard return of a Mike Lynch fumble set up the fist Massillon score, putting the ball on the Pups’ 19, from where Eberhart passed to Feller for 12 yards, and then after Bob Oliver ran for a yard, McKinley was called for pass interference, giving the Tigers an automatic first down at the 3.

After a motion penalty put the Tigers back to the 8, Eberhart rolled to his left and got to the 3, where he was hit by several McKinley defenders and coughed up the ball, which squirted into the end zone to be covered by Massillon’s Don Fulton for the touchdown 9:31 before the band show.

McKinley brought its followers to life as the Pups showed the offensive punch of last week, marching 74 yards in 15 plays with Worstell hammering in from the 1 on a quarterback sneak with 1:40 left in the half. The drive was aided by a 15‑yard personal foul penalty on the Tigers, but the Pups also got a 14‑yard jaunt from Mike Simms during the march, and an 18‑yard Worstell‑to‑Fisher pass put the ball at the 1. Fullback Dwayne Randle hit the Tigers twice in the middle without success before Worstell sneaked it in.

Then came a big play. Down 7‑6, Forbes elected to go for two, and Worstell’s pass was on the mark to Lewis at the goal line, but he couldn’t hold it.

It was as close as the Pups would get this season.

While McKinley had an edge in some of the statistics, the Pups came far from the domination they showed over the Tigers last week.

McKinley outrushed the Tigers Friday night 142‑64, but Massillon had a slight edge in passing yards, 72‑69, even though Eberhart hit 6 of 8 and Worstell 8 of 16.

McKinley had the edge in time of possession, 26 minutes to 22, and McKinley converted 5 of 9 third down situations (3 of 4 in the first half), while the Tigers converted only 2 of 5 in the first half and none in four second half tries.

Flags flew frequently, as each team drew eight penalties, McKinley for 83 yards, Massillon for 70.

Simms was the game’s leading rusher with 86 yards, Fisher the top receiver with four catches for 44 yards.

But the “game, set and match” went to Massillon, and it kept several streaks alive.

For example, despite the fact Massillon was in the playoffs for the third time, and McKinley for the second time, the winner of the regular season McKinley‑Massillon game has yet to win the playoff game the following week.

It also means McKinley still has never beaten Massillon at night. The last time the two teams played under the lights, in 1963, Massillon won, and went on to also win the second meeting that year, in daylight.

This was the 10th time the two teams have meet twice in the same season, but McKinley has not won both since 1909.

The end of the game was marked by several altercations, mostly outside of the stadium.

Police Lt. Wayne Arnold said two arrests were made during the game and about three or four after the game. Suspects were charged with either disorderly conduct or assault, Arnold said.

Police didn’t have details of the arrests Friday night, but Arnold said there was “a lot of commotion” in the Fawcett Stadium area.

There certainly was.

Massillon 0 7 7 0 ‑ 14
McKinley Senior 0 6 0 0 ‑ 6

Mas ‑ Don Futton covered fumble in end zone (Dave Eberhart kick)
McK ‑ Rick Worstell 1 run (Pass failed)
Mas ‑ Mike Reese 12 pass from Dave Eberhart (Dave Eberhart kick)

Att ‑ 20,000 (est.)

Mass McK
First downs rushing 3 11
First downs passing 5 2
First downs penalty 3 1
Total first downs 11 14
Rushes‑yards 32‑64 44‑142
Passing-yards 72 69
Return yards 66 33
Passes 6‑8‑1 8‑16‑2
Punts 2‑37 1-34
Fumbles‑lost 1‑0 2‑1
Penalties‑yards B‑70 8‑83

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING ‑ Massillon, Oliver 9‑29, Fulton 6‑17, Jones 5‑7, Eberhart 9‑7, Huth 3‑4.
McKinley, Simms 16‑86, Randle 11‑34, Lynch 5‑20, Snell 1‑6, Worstell 8‑minus‑2, Lewis 3‑minus‑2.

PASSING ‑ Massillon, Dave Eberhart 6‑8‑1‑72
McKinley, Worstell 8‑16‑2‑69.

RECIEVING ‑ Massillon, Jones 3‑32, Feller 2‑28, Reese 1‑12.
McKinley, Fisher 4‑44, Lewis 2‑15, Giavasis, 1‑9, Dixon 1‑11.

Tiger pride comes
alive in playoff win
McKinley 14‑6 victim
in regional title game
By ROLLIE DREUSSI
Independent Sports Editor
“This is what it’s all about,” Doug Eberhart screamed above the happy mayhem in the Massillon Tigers’ lockerroom.

The senior center was holding up a T‑shirt with lettering that read “MASSILLON TIGERS” across it. And in between was the word “PRIDE.”

That’s what produced the Tigers’ 14‑6 win over the Canton McKinley Bulldogs before over 20,000 fans in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium Friday night.

The Tigers were still smarting from last Saturday’s 16‑7 spanking at the hands of the Pups, but they had the desire it took to change the outcome this time.

It was a gutsy performance. One earned more on emotion and desire than on talent and execution.

The Tigers’ defense, embarrassed last weekend in the loss to the Bulldogs, turned in a simply incredible performance.

Five times in the second half they turned back the Bulldogs. Twice on fourth down and short yardage inside their own 20 yard line.

“Unbelievable,” Tiger Coach Mike Currence said.

He could offer no explanation for his defense’s dramatic turnaround, except to say his players simply wanted it more than the Bulldogs.

“We made a few changes on defense, but determination was the key factor,” Tiger middle guard Jeff Grove said.

“We wanted this game so bad. We wanted to go out and win the ball game, and that’s what we did,” he added.

One of the unlikely defensive heroes was junior Rick Spielman. He was a starting linebacker last year for the Timken, Trojans, but this year he was the team’s backup quarterback. When John Mayles broke his hand in last week’s game, Spielman started practicing at linebacker again.

“I was real excited about getting to play,” said Spielman, whose father, Sonny, is the Tigers’ quarterback and wide receiver coach.

“I played linebacker last year and after a couple of plays it all came back to me,” he explained.

Spielman was in on the tackle both times that the Tigers stopped the Bulldogs on fourth down and short yardage, He also sacked McKinley quarterback Worstell to end the Pups’ final chance with less than a minute to play.

“Ah, great,” Spielman said when asked how he felt after that sack.

That was the same reply defensive halfback Paul Turner gave when asked about his interception that thwarted a fourth‑quarter drive by the Bulldogs.

That “as a big play, since it came immediately following a poor punt that gave the Bulldogs possession at the Tiger 44 yard line.

Turner had a big job ‑ covering McKinley’s Todd Fisher, a big, fast wide receiver who gave the Tigers fits last week. Currence credited Turner with doing ‘a great job” covering Fisher.

Junior William Askew also did a fine job stepping into the breach. Defensive end Bob Dodd tore knee ligaments in last week’s game, and Askew helped defensive tackle Ed Newman hold down the right side of the Tigers’ defensive line.

And senior defensive tackle Bob James, who had a rough time last week, called on his pride to help Paul Spinden anchor the left side of the defensive line.

Then there was Tim Manion, a junior who was too talented to sit the bench as a backup quarterback and was moved to linebacker in the pre‑season. He came through in fine style.

Manion picked up a tumble caused by middle guard Jeff Grove and returned it 40 yards to set up the team’s first touchdown.

Turner’s mates in the secondary, Mike :Spicer, Mike Loretto and Dwayne Boss, improved their coverage to help upset the McKinley passing game.

And the Tigers’ offense, while almost blowing the game in the second half, still managed to put enough points on the board. And more importantly, managed to control the ball for at least almost as long as the Bulldogs.

The Tigers’ came out throwing, and the difference this time was that the offensive line gave quarterback Dave Eberhart time to pass. His 12-yard toss to Mike Reese in the third quarter was the clinching touchdown.

All in all, it was a team effort. From the players and coaching staff right down to the fans.

Currence had special praise for the Tiger fans, who started raising a ruckus before the game started and were still carrying on into the wee hours of the morning.

When told that some of the McKinley fans started leaving the game with four‑and‑a‑half minutes still to play, Currence said: “Their fans don’t compare to our fans. Our fans stay with us to the bitter end. That’s the difference between a Bulldog and a Tiger.

“We didn’t get one bad remark from anyone last week,” Currence pointed out. “They had confidence we’d come back.”

The win now gives the Tigers a 48-33-5 edge in the storied rivalry, and gives Currence a 5‑1 record against the Bulldogs.

Also, for the first time in their history, the Tigers won a playoff game. They had suffered losses in 1972 and 1979 in their only other playoff appearances.

Now they will advance to the Division I playoff semifinals, and will probably play Willoughby South, a 14‑3 winner over Cleveland St. Joseph Friday night.

It was as a Friday night no Tiger fan will ever forget. And a Tiger team Massillon will always be proud of.

TIGER GRIDSTICK

First downs 3 11
First downs passing 5 2
Total first downs 12 15
Yards gained rushing 85 156
Yards lost rushing 19 17
Net yards gained rushing 66 139
Net yards gained passing 72 70
Total yards gained 138 209
Passes attempted 10 16
Passes completed 6 8
Passes intercepted by 2 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 1 0
Times kicked off 3 2
Kickoff average 50.0 50.0
Kickoff return yardage 27 22
Punts 3 1
Punting average 25.3 33.0
Punt return yardage 0 15
Punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 1 3
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 8 9
Yards penalized 70 83
Touchdowns rushing 0 1
Touchdowns passing 1 0
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous touchdowns 1 0
Total number of plays 42 58
Total time of possession 21.11 25.49
Attendance 20,550

MASSILLON 0 7 7 0 ‑ 14
McKINLEY 0 6 0 0 ‑ 6

MASS – Don Fulton recovered fumble in end zone (Dave Everhart kick)
McK ‑ Rick Worstell one yard run (pass failed)
MASS ‑ Mike Reese 12‑yard pass from Eberhart (Eberhart kick)

Player ‘knew’ Tigers could do it
By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Big victories never fit into small locker rooms.

Following their 14‑6 Division I football playoff victory Friday over McKinley Senior High, the Massillon Tigers crammed into Fawcett Stadium dressing quarters like so many 190‑pound sardines ‑ lively ones at that.

The room or the Tigers ‑ it was hard to tell which ‑ jumped. Young men and grown men did nasty numbers on their voice boxes in conveying the idea the program Paul Brown built is numero uno.

There had been talk last Saturday following McKinley’s 16‑7 regular season win over these Tigers that Bulldogs’ coach Terry Forbes is Canton’s Moses.

“Moses only saw the promised land. He didn’t get in it,” Massillon assistant Nick Vrotsos said with a wink.

Center Doug Eberhart who helped give his twin brother Dave, Massillon’s quarterback., protection he lacked last week, expressed himself with wailing instead of wit

“I knew we could do it!” he shouted repeatedly at the top of his lungs.

If the Tigers are to reach their promised land, they must “do it”.

Tigers jubilant over victory

“We may wind up playing Moeller,” Massillon head coach Mike Currence said with a peculiar smile.

Cincinnati Moeller won its first round playoff contest 28‑3 over Cincinnati Princeton Friday. Moeller and Massillon will clash if both teams win semifinal games next weekend.

Lots of heroes helped the Tigers stay alive in the chase for a state crown.

Senior defensive back Paul Turner was one.

Turner provided good single coverage on star McKinley end Todd Fisher. With Massillon leading 14-6 at the 2:30 mark of the final period, he picked off a pass that all but put the decision on ice.

“A defensive end was putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback” Turner said. “I knew I’d have a good chance of getting to the ball. Man, that was a good feeling.”

Putting Turner on Fisher was one of several changes made in the Massillon defense since last week when McKinley, racked up a 313‑96 edge in total offense. Some of the changes resulted from injuries Currence admitted he “kept quiet.” A knee injury sidelined senior defensive end Bob Dodd. Senior linebacker John Mayles was out with a broken hand.

“We used a quarterback Rick Spielman, at linebacker, and a tackle, Bill Askew, at end,” Currence said. “They played well.”

Currence said he assigned Turner to single coverage on the dangerous Fisher because “he was our only guy fast enough to do the job.”

Like Turner, Tim Manion stood tall.

Manion, expected to battle Spielman next year for the quarterback job, scooped up a Mike Lynch fumble in the second quarter and ran 37 yards to the McKinley 19-yard line to set up the game’s first touchdown.

“Jeff Grove hit him (Lynch), and the ball came loose. I picked it up and knew what to do with it,” Manion said.

Manion thought pressuring Pup quarterback Rick Worstell kept McKinley from repeating last weed’s performance, although the Tigers’ play against the run enabled them to shut off three fourth-quarter McKinley penetrations inside the 20-yard line.

“Rush their quarterback and you shut them down,” echoed senior tackle Ed Newman. “We played better. Coming off a loss, we had to.”

Dave Eberhart hit rough sledding in the 16‑7 loss but bounced back to complete six tosses for 72 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown strike to Mike Reese that capped an 80-yard march beginning when the Tigers received the second‑half kickoff.

“That throw to Mike was a new pass play we used for this game,” Eberhart said. “A couple of new plays helped us throw them off balance.

“We had to go all out for this game and not be conservative.”

The let‑it‑all‑hang‑out approach was evident in the late stages when Eberhart kept throwing despite the fact Massillon was deep in its own territory and clinging to the 8-point lead. Two of his passes were batted and nearly picked off by McKinley linemen during one fourth‑period possession.

“I probably should have been shot for putting pressure on Dave like that,” smiled Currence. “We have a lot of confidence in him.”

Currence was ecstatic.

“I’ve finally done something no other coach has done at Massillon, won a playoff game,” he said in reference to the fact the Tigers lost their only other playoff games, in 1972 and 1979.

Currence reserved special praise for the assistant coaches who installed a “50″ defense in place of the “4‑4” used last weekend. They include Jim Letcavits, Dale Walterhouse, Gary Wells and LaVerne Hose.

“The new look helped us get a better pass rush and contain their outside running game,” Currence said.

He praised his players for “being so fired up. ‑ 1

“McKinley beat us up last week,” he said. “I think we had something to prove.”

Words come hard for Pups’ pilot
Splendid season ends
in frustrating loss

By BILL LILLEY
The stroll from the south side team bench at Fawcett Stadium to the McKinley Senior lockerroorn is about 60 yards.

Friday night, however, the trudge must have felt more like 60 miles to McKinley Senior Coach Terry Forbes afte the Bulldogs’ 14‑6 loss, to Massillon in a Division I quarterfinal playoff game.

Losing doesn’t come naturally to most, and to Forbes during his eight year career losing has been an infrequent incident as attested by his 60‑13-2 record entering the rematch with Massillon.

This loss was the toughest one to swallow for Forbes and left the veteran coach nearly speechless as he groped to find the right words for both his players and the media.

“I just don’t know what to say.” I’m proud of the character displayed by our young men, both in the victory over Massillon last Saturday and in this game.

“We played to win and that’s just the way it goes.”

For Forbes and the Bulldogs it was a tough way to go, especially after last Saturday’s 16‑7 win over Massillon at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. It not only ended a four‑year winning streak by the Tigers in the 86‑year classic, but catapulted the Bulldogs into first place in the Region 3 computer standings.

What made it tougher was the manner in which the Bulldogs’ eight‑game winning streak ended.

Although McKinley didn’t dominate as it had last week when the Bulldogs out gained Massillon 313‑96 in total offense, they still held a convincing 211‑136 advantage. Senior was 8 of 16 for 69 yards.

It didn’t seem to bother McKinley Senior that Massillon held a 7‑6 halftime edge. After all, that had been the standing a week ago and, ironically the Tigers’ touchdowns in both instances had been set up by an outstanding defensive play.

And even though Massillon tacked on another touchdown on its first possession of the second half, something else frustrated Forbes more.

The Bulldogs picked the most inopportune time of an otherwise great season to have trouble finding their way into the end zone. Three times in the crucial fourth quarter McKinley Senior cracked the Massillon 20-yard line only to come away empty‑handed as the Tiger defense proved to bendable but unbreakable.

The initial frustration came on the yard line, but Mike Lynch was stopped cold on a fourth-and-three run.

The Bulldogs’ defense forced Massillon to punt three plays later. Tiger punter Dave Eberhart hit a 47-yard punt that was returned 10 yards by Bob Davie to give McKinley possession on the Tiger 41-yard line.

This time the Bulldogs drove to the Massillon 14 from where Lynch was again gang‑tackled for no gain on fourth‑and‑one with 8:12 left.

McKinley Senior linebacker Chris Wade gave the Bulldogs the ball on the Massillon 24 three plays later when the senior picked off an Eberhart aerial.

The Bulldogs went to air this series, but were shot down by the Tiger pass defense. Worstell’s fourth‑and‑10 pass to Sidney Lewis came up two yards short and Massillon had the ball on its own 16 with 4:53 remaining.

The Bulldogs’ defense wouldn’t budge and again gave its offense excellent field position. Eberhart, whose booming 65‑yard punt had helped set up Massillon’s lone score in the first encounter, shanked a 27‑yarder out of bounds at the Massillon 44 with 2:42 to play.

This time, however, there was no heart stopping drive as Tiger back Paul Turner picked off a Worstell pass at the Massillon 39 on the next play.

And when Eberhart’s final punt was blocked by Wade with 1:08 left to give the Bulldogs the ball near midfield, Forbes knew his team had squandered its real opportunities to win the game.

“We played very badly at some critical times,” said Forbes, whose team closes its season with a 9‑2 mark.

“But, you also have to hand it to Massillon’s defense for hanging in there. That was the game.”

And to Forbes and his Bulldogs it must have been a very frustrating game, indeed.

1980: Massillon 7, Canton McKinley 16

November 1, 1980August 10, 2017
by Eric Smith

Meet McKinley in playoffs
Tigers will get another Chance Friday

By ROLLIE DREUSSI
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers won’t have to wait a whole year to gain revenge for the 16‑7 loss the McKinley Bulldogs inflicted on them Saturday afternoon in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers will be going to the playoffs for the second straight year, but not on the basis of their performance on Saturday.

The Bulldogs simply outplayed the Tigers both offensively and defensively to raise their record to 9‑1 and grab first place in the Division I, Region 3 computer rankings.

The Tigers’ 8‑1‑1 record still produced enough points to net them second place, thanks to Lakewood St. Edward ‘s loss to Cleveland St. Joseph Saturday night.

So now, we’ll do it all over again when the Tigers travel to Canton’s Fawcett Stadium for the Region 3 championship game Friday at 7:30 p.m.

That may be the end of the road for the Tigers, however, unless they dramatically improve upon the kind of performance they turned in Saturday before the 21,754 fans who packed Tiger Stadium to see the 85th meeting between the two schools,

The Bulldogs unleashed a bevy of fast, hard‑running backs who totaled 221 yards rushing against the Tiger defense. That running attack was complemented by the eight of 12 passing of quarterback Rick Worstell, which accounted for another 92 yards.

This balanced attack proved too much for the Tiger defense. The Bulldogs controlled the ball and kept the Tiger offense off the field. McKinley had the ball for 32:46 compared to just 15:14 for the Tigers.

And when Massillon did get the ball, they did little with it. The Tigers netted only 96 yards ‑ 42 rushing and 54 passing ‑‑ and lost the ball twice on interceptions and once on a fumble.

Whether the Tiger’s simply had a bad day, or were just plain outmanned, will be determined Friday.

“You have to hand it all to our kids.” a happy Terry Forbes said about his team’s victory in his first game against Massillon as the McKinley coach.

“They wanted the game so much. We were able to concentrate and do the things we wanted to do. One thing stood out: our character and togetherness, and our ability to come from behind.”

Currence, in the quiet atmosphere of the Tiger lockerroom, also touched on togetherness ‑ or the lack of it ‑ his team displayed.

“We didn’t play well today. We didn’t hit good and we didn’t have any togetherness or unity. We knew we would have to come up with the big play, but they got them. You can’t make mistakes and beat them.

“I’ve already cried, and now I’m ready to go on. We have a great football program here, and if things work, we’ll get another shot at them Friday. I’d like to go back after them.”

While much ado was made of the speed of the McKinley backs, Currence indicated his team lost the game in the trenches, where the Bulldog lines were bigger and more physical than the Tigers.

“We’ve played quick teams before and won,” Currence said. “They have great quickness and we knew their speed was going to hurt us. We knew they’d score because they have a great offensive team. But they controlled the ball on us.

“We can take their fast backs, but (wide receiver Todd) Fisher is the guy we didn’t do the job on. They got their passing attack going, and when that happens you’ve got to give up ground to the running attack. They have better balance than they’ve had in the past.”

Despite the Pups’ offensive performance, Currence said the turning point of the game was an unusual conversion pass by the Bulldogs, and a safety against the Tigers.

The Bulldogs took a 14‑7 lead in the third quarter when Paul Giavasis rolled right after a fake kick attempt and passed into the end zone. The ball was batted away by Tiger defensive back Dwayne Boss in the back of the end zone, but fell into the unsuspecting hands of Fisher, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The safety then gave the Bulldogs a 16‑7 lead and meant the Tigers would have to score twice to win the game.

“Psychologically, the safety hurt us,” Currence explained, “because we were down by two scores. Take those two plays away and we’re back in the ball game.”

The Tigers started off in trouble on the opening kickoff, when it was fumbled ‑ but recovered ‑ by Rick Boerner at his own 14 yard line.

The Tigers punted, and the Bulldogs took over in good position at the Massillon 47. Their drive stalled at the 28, however, and the Tigers took over.

With the help of a pass interference call and an 11 yard run by halfback Robert Oliver, the Tigers eventually moved to the McKinley 47. On second‑and‑eight, McKinley’s Mike Freeman intercepted a tipped pass and the Pups took over at their own 46.

A clipping penalty on the first play pushed them back to the 29, but on third‑and‑21 Worstell hit Fisher with a 22‑yard pass and a first‑down at the Tiger 43.

Six plays later Sidney Lewis swept 11 yards around left end for the score. The kick failed, and McKinley led 6‑0 with 1:32 left in the quarter.

The Tigers couldn’t move the ball, but a tremendous 65‑yard punt by Dave Eberhart ‑ which spiraled over the Bulldog returners’ heads ‑ settled on the McKinley one yard line and the Tigers had the Pups in the whole

From the nine, Ed Grimsley shanked a 22‑yard punt and Massillon had the ball at the Bulldog 31. Seven plays later, Eberhart sneaked over from the one, and booted the extra point to put the Tigers out front 7‑6 with 6:05 to go in the half.

The Bulldogs received the kickoff to open the second half, and promptly marched 80 yards in 15 plays with Lewis taking it in from four yards out. The drive was highlighted by three Worstell completions ‑ two to Fisher ‑ all for first downs.

The Bulldogs then faked the kick and Giavasis’ batted pass was caught by Fisher for a 14‑7 Bulldog lead with 5:06 to go in the quarter.

Massillon immediately turned the ball back over to the Bulldogs when Eberhart dropped back to pass, was hit and literally had the ball taken out of his hands by McKinley’s Scott Dixon.

Dixon had clear sailing the final 30 yards to the end zone, but he tumbled the ball. Bob Harsh alertly recovered for McKinley.

The bulldogs then drove to the Massillon six, but on third‑and‑goal Mike Spicer intercepted Worstell’s pass in the back of the end zone. He mistakenly tried to run the ball out, however, and was tackled at the three.

On the first play, halfback Mike Jones was nailed in the end zone for a safety, and the momentum suddenly shifted back to the Bulldogs. The safety gave the Pups, a 16‑7 lead with 26 seconds left in the third quarter.

That third quarter was the Tigers’ undoing, as McKinley scored 10 points while the Tigers had the ball for only two offensive plays ‑ a fumble and a safety.

McKinley mounted another drive following the kickoff after the safety, but Spicer again intercepted Worstell, this time at his own eight.

The Tigers then drove to the McKinley 14, but that drive was killed when Harsh intercepted Eberhart’s pass at the nine, ending the Tigers’ comeback hopes.

So Saturday was one day the Tigers will have to forget, And nothing would erase the bad memory of a loss to McKinley more than a victory one week later.

Thanks to the expanded playoff system, the Tigers will get that chance.

TIGER GRIDSTICK
MASS OPP
First downs rushing 3 12
First downs passing 2 5
First downs by penalty 2 0
Total first downs 7 17
Yards gained rushing 66 225
Yards lost rushing 24 4
Net yards gained rushing 42 221
Net yards gained passing 54 92
Total yards gained 96 313
Passes attempted 17 12
Passes completed 5 8
Passes intercepted by 2 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 3 3
Times kicked off 3 3
Kickoff average 59.0 47.0
Kickoff return yardage 38 18
Punts 4 3
Punting average 43.0 23.7
Punt return yardage 3 1
Punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 1 1
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 3 7
Yards penalized 15 73
Touchdowns rushing 1 2
Touchdowns passing 0 0
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous touchdowns 0 0
Total number of plays 38 61
Total time of possession 15:14 32:46
Attendance 21,754

McKinley 6 0 10 0 ‑ 16
MASSILLON 0 7 0 0 ‑ 7

McK ‑ Sidney Lewis 11‑yard run (kick failed)
MASS ‑ Dave Eberhart 1‑yard run (Eberhart kick)
McK ‑ Lewis 4‑yard run (Todd Fisher pass from Paul Giavasis)
McK – safety

McKinley’s backs
end Stark Debate
Bulldogs end
Massillon’s unbeaten streak
By Milan Zban
Beacon Journal staff writer

Nobody bothered to ask Amy Carter about Canton McKinley’s proliferation of running backs.

But Stark County’s version of the great debate is over. McKinley settled the issue on the football field on a chilly but sun‑splashed Saturday at Massillon’s Paul Brown Stadium.

Amy would have agreed with 21,754 that it was the running of four Bulldog backs who applied so much pressure on Massillon’s defense that it cracked, tottered and finally fell, 16‑7. And with it went Massillon’s unbeaten, but once tied, streak through nine games.

Terry Forbes, McKinley’s first year coach, also ended Massillon’s four‑year domination of the 85‑yeard‑old classic on his first try.

He sent Dwayne Randle, Sid Lewis, Mike Simms and Mike Lynch pounding off the tackles and sweeping the ends for 221 yards on the ground.

And when they were temporarily stalled, the call went to quarterback Rick Worstell, who will be around for another classic next year. Worstell threw a dozen times, completing eight for 92 additional yards.

THE VICTORY pushed McKinley atop the Division I, Region 3 state computer ratings, giving it a shot at the state playoff quarterfinals, next week.

Massillon, the pre‑game leader over McKinley, 147.75‑to‑133.37 in computer points, may still win a berth in the playoffs as third‑place Lakewood St. Edward lost a 21‑6 decision to Cleveland St. Joseph Saturday night.

Massillon probably will wind up second and behind McKinley. If that happens, the teams will be rematched Friday night at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium.

While the McKinley offense was doing it’s job, rolling up 313 yards, the Bulldogs’ defense also was quite effective. It almost completely shut down dangerous Dave Eberhart, Massillon’s gifted quarterback who has passed for 1000 yards.
McKinley breaks Massillon streak
Eberhart was only five‑for‑17 for 54 yards with two interceptions.

“IT WASN’T so much McKinley’s secondary that took away our passing game, but Mckinley’s rush,” Eberhart said. “They came at me in that slanting defense which we couldn’t pick up and I didn’t get much of a chance to set up and throw.

“Maybe we’ll play them again next week,” he said hopefully, “but I’d rather had beaten them this week.

“Their defense did a great job. They only gave us the ball inside the 50 one time and we took that in for a score.”

Eberhart got Massillon’s only points, sneaking 1 yard for a touchdown, then booting the extra point for a 7‑6 Massillon lead in the second quarter.

It was Eberhart’s booming 65‑yard punt to the McKinley 1‑yard line which set up the score. In the exchange of punts, McKinley’s Ed Grimsley shanked the hall and it traveled only 23 yards to the McKinley 32. Seven plays later with 6:05 left in the half, the Tigers had taken the lead.

McKinley’s Lewis, who hadn’t scored a touchdown all season, got his first of two Saturday when he raced 11 yards to culminate a 72‑yard drive ignited by Mike Freeman’s interception of an Eberhart pass at his 29.

Lewis was almost caught at the 3‑yard line but stiffarmed Massillon defender Dwayne Boss and darted into the end zone.

With 1:32 left in the opening quarter, and following a Mckinley offside penalty, Nick Faulkner’s conversion kick was wide left.

Faulkner’s miss left the door ajar for Massillon to lead at the hall.

McKinley wasted little time in the second half. It dominated the third quarter, allowing the Tigers only two possessions and each of those lasted only one play.

The Bulldogs marched 80 yards to regain the lead on a 4‑yard sprint by Lewis and an amazing two‑point conversion catch by Todd Fisher on a batted pass from Paul Giavasis at the 5:06 mark.

ON MASSILLON’S first possession of the second half, Eberhart’s arm was hit as he attempted to pass and end Scott Dixon scooped up the loose ball at the Massillon 37. After running to the 23, he fumbled, but teammate Bob Harsh was there to fall on the ball.

However, the Bulldogs’ opportunity was thwarted by an end zone interception by Massillon’s Mike Spicer who unwisely attempted to run out of the end zone and was nailed at the 3‑yard line.

On the ensuing play, Massillon running back Mike Jones was smothered in the end zone by the left side of McKinley’s line for a safety which boosted McKinley into a 16‑7 lead with only 26 seconds left in the quarter.

McKinley threatened again early in the fourth quarter, reaching the Massillon 19, but, with 8:40 remaining, Spicer again intercepted Worstell at the 7.

Massillon, with the help of a pass interference call on McKinley’s Rob Dine, reached the Bulldog 14 with 2:24 remaining but Harsh picked off an Eberhart pass to turn back the Tigers once more.

“THE GUY who killed us was Fisher,” said Massillon coach Mike Currence. “I thought we did all right against McKinley’s ground game, but Fisher came up with the big catch time and again.”

Fisher, who had four catches for 52 yards, grabbed a 20-yarder on third and two, caught one for eight yards on third and six and had another eight‑yard pickup on second and six.

Randle was the game’s leading rusher with 110 yards in 18 tries. Sims had 56 in 11 carries, Lewis 37 in seven attempts and Lynch 30 yards in 10 tries.

Category: <span>Massillon v. McKinley</span>

Massillon shuts down McKinley 24‑7

Tigers capture 89th classic 18-7

Bulldogs fall in misty Fawcett