Category: <span>News</span>

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2021 Booster Club Report – Week 6

Massillon came from behind to defeat Austintown Fitch (3-2), 31-21 to improve their record to 4-2.  Next up is a home game against Euclid (0-6).

  • 7th Grade (6-0): Defeated Austintown, 30-16.  This week’s game against Akron Jennings has been canceled.
  • 8th Grade (5-1): Defeated Austintown, 52-38.  Plays at Canton Central Catholic Wednesday, September 29, at 5:00 pm.
  • 9th Grade (5-1): Defeated Austintown, 54-8.  This week’s game against Euclid has been canceled.
  • JV (5-2): Defeated Woodridge, 20-0.  Plays at Euclid on Saturday, October 2, at 10:00 am.

The Tigers fell behind 14-0 early in the contest against Fitch.  But once the young replacement players settled in, they outscored the Falcons 31-7 the rest of the way.  Due to injuries and some off-field issues, Massillon was without several players who normally factor into first team action.  “We were down 7-8 starters and the game didn’t start out well,” said Head Coach Nate Moore.  “The kids settled down and started playing.”

Following a Massillon punt to the one yard line, Austintown drove 99 yards to take a 7-0 lead.  Then, after intercepting the ball at the Tiger 42, they scored again.  The catalyst was stellar quarterback David Sherwood, Fitch’s all-time leading passer.  On this night he completed 21 of 43 passes for 398 yards and a touchdown, the most passing yards Massillon has ever given up a game.  Sherwood also ran for another 42, after taking away 53 yards in losses from five Massillon sacks.  In fact, Sherwood either ran or threw on 66 of the Falcons’ 77 plays, accounting for 440 yards, while the rest of the team lost 24.

Meanwhile, after those first two scores, the Tigers were able to keep the QB  at bay by adjusting their blitz to contain his scrambles.  For once outside the pocket, Sherwood was extremely dangerous with his legs.  In addition, the Tiger passing game got into gear to the degree that Massillon was able to take a 17-14 lead into the locker room.  After forcing a fumble at the Fitch 13, freshmen quarterback Jalen Slaughter connected with Ardell Banks on a fade route for the first score.  That was followed by a 42-yard field goal from Shane Rue.  Then, the Tigers drove 80 yards and converted on a 30-yard pass to Banks, who just got a foot down in the end zone.  The margin was helped by Ryan Zentkovich, who chased down a Fitch receiver and stripped him of the ball at the five, with the pigskin rolling through the end zone for a touchback.  In the second half, Massillon started to take over the game and gave up just a single score, while adding a Cam Beasley 4-yard run and a 7-yard pass reception by Riley Campbell for touchdowns.

“It was a whale of a game,” said Moore.  “We were facing tremendous adversity personnel-wise.  It’s fun to win a game like that.  We played a good quarterback, probably the best quarterback we’ve played.  Their defense loaded the box with extra guys that we can’t block.  But we were able to throw out of it.”

Player stats:

  • Jalen Slaughter – 11-21 passing for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns
  • Camden Beasley – 25 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown
  • Austin Brawley – 6 receptions for 142 yards; 2 blocked field goals (7 career blocks; 1st all-time); 3 kickoff returns for 72 yards
  • Ardell Banks – 3 receptions for 48 yards and 2 touchdowns
  • Nathan Depuy – 9.5 (8-3) tackle points; 1 tackle for loss; fumble recovery
  • Riley Campbell – 8.5 (7-3) tackle points; 3 sacks
  • Nate Watkins – 6.0 (6-0) tackle points; 2 sacks
  • Maverick Clark – 4.0 tackle points (3-2); pass interception

Guest players were wide receiver / defensive lineman / outside linebacker Riley Campbell, outside linebacker Nate Watkins, captain / quarterback Darrius McElroy and running back Willtrell Hartson.

Notes:

  • The younger players really stepped up.
  • 5 blocked kicks by Brawley this year.
  • Ty Broyles stood out on special teams.
  • Zentkovich’s punch out was huge, keeping Fitch from taking an insurmountable lead.
  • Ressieo Kirksey’s move from inside linebacker to defensive line paid dividends with his speed at the position.
  • The blitz, especially off both edges, was a big factor in holding Fitch to seven points in the second half.
  • Fitch couldn’t run on Massillon and abandoned that part of the offense early on.
  • Banks is turning into an exceptional receiver.
  • Brawley once again had a huge game.
  • Slaughter came through at quarterback and played well above his freshman grade.
  • Fitch was loading the box on defense; but once Massillon started to pass on them the defense became overly pass cautious, which then opened up the run.

Euclid comes into Paul Brown Tiger Stadium with an uncharacteristic 0-6 record, having faced several highly-ranked teams.  This is the first time Massillon has faced Euclid.  Scores so far:

  • Aurora (6-0): 21-63 L
  • Hudson (6-0): 34-40 L
  • Cleveland Heights (5-1): 14-46 L
  • Cleveland St. Ignatius (4-2): 14-44 L
  • Brunswick (4-2): 18-38 L
  • Medina (6-0): 0-40 L

Moore calls them talented and dangerous.  They have some very good players, several of whom can take it to the house if the defense makes a mistake.

Offensively, they operate out of the spread.  The quarterback, while not scrambler, throws a good ball to some very talented receivers.  The running back is really good, fast, quick and hard to bring down.

On defense, look for a 3-3 stack with cover-3 and some cover-1.  The strength of this unit is the defensive line, especially the nose tackle,  but all three are pretty good.  Expect to see something resembling a 3-5 alignment designed to stop the run.  This will be a hard group to block and the Tigers may once again need to rely on the passing game to move the ball.

Coach Moore asked the Massillon fans to bring more energy and fan noise to the games, since these young players feed off of this and play better.

Nick Pribich drew the Booster Club members to a website that is offering a cash prize of $500 to the school that clicks their site the most.  The link is c1cu.com.  Nick encouraged everyone to visit the site everyday throughout the rest of the season.

Go Tigers!

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2021: Massillon 31, Austintown Fitch 21

Austin Brawley, freshman QB, others help Massillon Tigers rally to win at Austintown Fitch

AUSTINTOWN — The outside focus was on the players not in uniform for Massillon on Friday night. That focus, though, failed to take into account the players who still wore Tiger uniforms.

And those players made sure that they were accounted for in a big way in a 31-21 come-from-behind win at Austintown Fitch.

Massillon had multiple key players out due to an OHSAA suspension. It also was down another starter, quarterback Darrius McElroy, because of an injury sustained a week ago.

Then, on top of all of that, the Tigers fell into a 14-0 hole one play into the second quarter, and a 21-17 deficit going into the fourth quarter. All of that would’ve been enough to seal the fate of most teams.

Most teams, but not Massillon.

“Great win against a really good team,” Tigers coach Nate Moore said after his team improved to 4-2 on the season. “Austintown Fitch played hard and those guys hit. We played hard and we hit. You’ve got to make some plays in there when you have two good teams going at it.”

There were a multitude of players who made plays for Massillon — starting with Austin Brawley, be it on offense or in special teams.

Brawley finished with a team-high 142 yards on six catches. He also averaged 24 yards on three kickoff returns, while blocking two Fitch field goal tries.

“A lot of people are a little soft,” said Brawley, who has blocked five kicks this season. “As soon as I just see that ball flinch, I go. It’s really big. They have to chase points after I block those kicks.”

It was Brawley’s 45-yard catch with just under 10 minutes remaining that helped set up the Tigers’ go-ahead score. It moved Massillon to the Fitch 10, and two plays later, Cam Beasley ran it in from the 4 for a 24-21 lead with 8:36 remaining.

Beasley, filling in for the absent Willtrell Hartson, finished with 85 yards on 25 carries.

Brawley and Beasley shared the spotlight with a variety of teammates. That includes Jalen Slaughter, who was just the second freshman quarterback to start in Tiger history.

Slaughter shook off a pair of interceptions — one of which set up Fitch to take a 14-0 lead — to complete 11 of 21 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. He threw a pair of TD passes in the first half to Ardell Banks, the second one giving Massillon a 17-14 lead.

A huge defensive play by Ryan Zentkovich set up that score. After Tyler Evans raced 70 yards on a reception, Zentkovich knocked the ball out of Evans’ hands shy of the goal line, and it rolled out of the back of the end zone for a touchback to give Massillon the football.

That was one of three turnovers for Fitch. All three led to Tiger touchdowns, including a Nathan Depuy fumble recovery and a Maverick Clark tip-and-grab interception.

Slaughter’s final scoring strike, a 7-yarder to Riley Campbell, gave the Tigers a 31-21 lead with 7:44 remaining.

“I think that the first pick really shook him, but then he did what good young quarterbacks do,” Fitch coach T.J. Parker said of Slaughter. “He kept throwing the ball outside and giving his receivers a chance. He didn’t necessarily put it on him. He looked for one-on-one situations and gave his receivers a chance and those guys came through for him on 50-50 contested balls.”

For all of the offensive standouts for Massillon, it took some big defensive plays to help it emerge with the win. That was especially true considering the way Fitch quarterback Devin Sherwood made plays throughout the night.

Sherwood finished the game 21-of-44 for 398 yards passing, including a 26-yard TD to Evans to give the Falcons a 21-17 lead with 8:25 left in the third. Sherwood also ran it 23 times for 42 yards, 20 of those coming on a TD run to put Fitch in front 14-0 on the first play of the second quarter.

However, Sherwood also had the interception and a fumbled an handoff exchange in the second quarter to set up Massillon’s first TD. He was also sacked five times, three by Campbell and two others by Nate Watkins.

“It’s next man up,” Moore said. “We were facing a great quarterback, who’s as good as they come. He played a whale of a game. We needed to keep him in the pocket a little bit better, and we did a better job of that in the second half, especially as the game began to wind down.”

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

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2021 Booster Club Report – Week 5

Massillon dropped a hard fought game against Lakewood St. Edward (5-0), 35-18.  Next up is a road game against Austintown Fitch (3-1).

  • 7th Grade (5-0): Defeated Akron Kenmore-Garfield, 48-26.  Plays Austintown at home on Tuesday, September 21, at 6:00 pm.
  • 8th Grade (4-1): Lost to Akron Buchtel, 22-20.  Plays Austintown away on Wednesday, September 22, at 6:00 pm.
  • 9th Grade (4-1): Lost to Lakewood St. Edward, 28-12.  Plays Austintown Fitch at home on Thursday, September 23 at 6:00 pm.
  • JV (4-2): Lost to Lakewood St. Edward, 35-0.  Plays Austintown Fitch at home on Saturday, September 25 at 11:00 am.

Lakewood St. Edward, the No. 37 team in the nation according calpreps.com, came into Brown Brown Tiger Stadium with a balanced offense and stingy defense and showed why they are a serious contender this year to capture the Division 1 state title.  But Massillon fought hard for four quarters, in  spite of missing several players due to injury, and were actually in the game until the Eagles scored the clinching touchdown with 4:41 remaining in the contest.

“I’m really proud of the kids and how we played,” said Head Coach Nate Moore at the weekly Booster Club meeting.  “Our kids fought their tails off.  The defense played as good as expected.  We played well enough to to win, defensively.  We need more things offensively.  But we got it going in the second half.”

St.  Eds opened up a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter, helped by pass completions of 40 yards and 42 yards.  But the Tiger offense was stymied until freshman substitute kicker Nolan Hendricks, connected on a 28-yard field goal last in the first half.  The key play was a 72-yard run by 3rd string running back Ressieo Kirksey in which he first tried the right side of the line, reversed field, broke a few tackles and then sped for the end zone, just getting caught at the 8 yard line.  It was an “unbelievable play” according to Moore.

In the second half, backup quarterback Jalen Slaughter entered the game for the injured Darrius McElroy and completed a pretty 43-yard pass to Austin Brawley in the end zone for a score, with the Eagle defender draped all over him.  In the next possession Slaughter hooked up with Ardell Banks on a fade route for another.   “At 28-18 we had an onside kick,” said Moore.  “To be in that position at that time of the game was a good thing.”

Late in the fourth quarter, Slaughter just overthrew a wide-open Riley Campbell for what would have been a third TD.  Not a bad outing for the freshman.

Meanwhile, St. Edward quarterback Christian Ramos was the catalyst that keyed the Eagle attack.  He completed 15 of 20 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 46.

Guest players were quarterback Darrius McElroy and outside linebacker Nate Watkins.

Coach Moore thought Watkins did a great job at his position filling in for Camden Beasley.  He also singled out the play of freshmen nose tackle Michael Wright Jr., defensive lineman Marcus Moore, Brawley and Banks.  “I thought he was the best payer on the field,” said Moore of Brawley.  He noted that all of the freshmen stepped up and played well.  In fact, Massillon fielded as many as twenty underclass players throughout the game on either offense or defense, which bodes well for the future.

Player stats:

  • Darrius McElroy – 4 of 4 passing for 16 yards
  • Jalen Slaughter – 9 of 22 passing for 137 yards and 2 touchdowns
  • Ressieo Kirksey – 11 carries for 78 yards, including a long of 72 yards
  • Austin Brawley – 5 receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown; 60-yard kickoff return; 8.0 (7-2) tackle points
  • Ardell Banks – 5 receptions for 50 yards and a touchdown
  • Nolan Hendricks – 24-yard field goal
  • Riley Campbell – 7.0 (4-6) tackle points
  • Ryan Zentkovich – 6.5 (5-3) tackle points

This week Massillon will face Austintown Fitch (3-1).  Their results are as follows:

  • Youngstown Chaney (2-3): 27-0
  • Canton McKinley (3-2): 42-28
  • Canton GlenOak (0-4): canceled
  • Youngstown Ursuline (4-1): 47-48 L
  • Youngtown Cardinal Mooney (0-5): 42-7

Massillon’s owns an 18-8-0 series mark against the Falcons, including wins in the last four games.  In games played at Austintown, Massillon owns a 7-6 edge.

Fitch operates out of the spread offense, with the quarterback in the gun and a single running back.  Some tight end.  Some empty sets.  Lots of outside zone blocking.  The offensive line is considered by Moore to be athletic and they play well as a group.  Engineering the attack is senior quarterback Devin Sherwood (5′-11″, 185), who last week became their all-time leading passer.  While he’s more of a thrower, he will run some.  “He may be the best quarterback we’ve played this year,” Moore added.  The “go-to” receiver is Tyler Evans (5′-10″, 180).  Evans also plays safety.

The defense aligns in a 3-3 stack with some 4-down, and cover 1 with some cover 3.  The line is the strength on that side of the ball, led by senior Aaron Hivley (6′-3″, 225).  The linebackers are pretty good, with senior AJ Byrd (5′-11, 245) manning the middle.

Fitch averages 40 points a game and hasn’t had to punt much this year.  So this one could turn into a high-scoring affair.  It all depends on how well  the Tigers control the play of the Falcon quarterback.  Then again, Fitch is also battling the injury bug.  Finally, expect 2-3 trick plays, particularly on kickoffs.

See you in Austintown.

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2021: Lakewood St. Edward 35, Massillon 18

Chris Easterling, The Independent

St. Edward football stays unbeaten, eventually puts away injury-riddled Massillon Tigers

MASSILLON — Massillon had multiple starters out from the very start Friday. Its star running back lasted only two drives. Its starting quarterback had to leave the game midway through the second quarter.

Still, with half of the fourth quarter to go, Massillon found itself only down 10 to St. Edward on Friday night. Those absences, among others, ultimately proved too much to handle on top of the undefeated Eagles, who emerged from Paul Brown Tiger Stadium with a 35-18 win over the Tigers.

“Our kids absolutely played their butts off from start to finish,” Massillon coach Nate Moore said after his team fell to 3-2. “We’re not happy with the outcome. We’re really happy with the effort we got out of them, especially considering we didn’t have a great draw from the deck tonight.”

The Tigers lost Wiltrell Hartson, who entered Friday with a Stark County-best 736 rushing yards through the four games, on their second possession to what appeared to be an ankle injury. Then, senior quarterback Darrius McElroy left the game with an undisclosed injury on Massillon’s second possession of the second quarter.

Moore declined to speak on either injury specifically. Massillon plays next Friday night at Austintown Fitch, which is 3-1.

That left the running game in the hands of Reesieo Kirksey and sophomore Ta’Shaun Smith. Those two combined for 88 yards on 16 carries in Hartson’s place.

McElroy’s injury, which came after he completed his first four passes for 16 yards, opened the door for freshman Jalen Slaughter. Slaughter completed just one of his first five passes, including an interception.

However, after that pick midway through the third quarter, the freshman started to settle down a bit. He completed six of his next seven passes for 94 yards and not one, but two touchdown passes.

The first was a 43-yarder to Austin Brawley, who made a diving grab in the end zone with a St. Edward defender draped on him to pull Massillon within 21-10 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. The second was a perfectly-placed 14-yard corner route to Ardell Banks with 8:49 remaining to help make it a 28-18 game.

“He operated really well,” Moore said. “He hit some big throws for us. Made some plays like we’ve seen him do the last couple of years where he’s staying alive in the pocket with his feet and he’s able to see receivers downfield and make an off-balanced, unorthodox throw and hit the guy in stride.”

Slaughter finished the game 9-of-22 for 137 yards passing. He did throw a second interception in the fourth quarter on a ball that deflected off the hands of a receiver.

At the time Slaughter entered the game, St. Edward had opened up a 14-0 lead with just over six minutes left in the first half. The Eagles scored on the first of three Danny Enovitch TD runs, a 2-yarder with 3:58 left in the first quarter, then came back with a 42-yard Christian Ramos-to-Rayshawn Manning Jr. score with 6:11 left in the half.

Enovitch, who rushed for 146 yards on 25 carries, added two more rushing TDs in the second half. The first, a 3-yarder, made it 21-3 Eagles in the third quarter, followed by a 13-yarder in the fourth to make it 28-10.

Ramos threw a second TD in the fourth quarter, a 14-yarder to Ryan Micklich to provide the final margin with 4:41 remaining. Ramos completed 15 of 20 passes for 233 yards, with an interception late in the first half.

“I don’t think it was our cleanest victory, but it was a victory,” said Eagles coach Tom Lombardo, whose team improved to 5-0 while holding Massillon to 252 total yards. “We made some stops when we needed to. We stopped the running game really well. We were surprised a little bit … by how well he (Slaughter) could perform under pressure.”

Massillon’s first points came from another freshman, kicker Nolan Hendricks. Hendricks knocked through a 24-yard field goal with 4:22 remaining to pull the Tigers within 14-3.

Slaughter and Hendricks were two of three different freshman to play meaningful snaps on Friday for Massillon. Mike Wright started at defensive tackle for the Tigers and finished with three solo and two assisted tackles.

Wright was part of a defense that bent a lot during the game, but didn’t necessarily break. While 11 of St. Edward’s 12 drives reached Massillon territory, only five resulted in points.

“A lot of great stuff out of our defense, especially early when we weren’t able to get them much help with field position,” Moore said.

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

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2021 Booster Club Report – Week 4

Massillon held off high-scoring Warren Harding and departed Mollenkopf Stadium with a 49-46 victory, improving its record to 3-1.  Next up is a home game against Lakewood St. Edward (4-0).

  • 7th Grade (4-0): Defeated Warren, 20-8.  Plays Akron Kenmore at home on Tuesday, September 14, at 6:00 pm.
  • 8th Grade (4-0): Defeated Warren, 56-20. Plays Akron Buchtel at home on Wednesday, September 15, at 6:00 pm.
  • 9th Grade (4-0): Defeated Warren Harding, 28-0.  Plays Lakewood St. Edward away on Thursday, September 16 at 6:00 pm.
  • JV (4-1): Defeated Warren Harding, 32-0.  Plays Lakewood St. Edward away on Saturday, September 18 at 11:00 am.

At last week’s Booster Club meeting, the players offered that they had a goal in the Warren game of starting early and then taking care of business.  Last Friday they did both.  First they opened up a 28-7 lead halfway through the second quarter and then they held off Warren’s “in the zone” passing attack to secure the victory.  The Tigers ended up scoring seven touchdowns.  And it could have been two more, save for a fumble and a dropped pass deep in Warren territory.

Austin Brawley kick-started the affair with an 89-yard return of the opening kickoff for a touchdown.  Then Willtrell Hartson went to work, rushing 10 times for 75 yards as Massillon rang up three unanswered touchdowns to lead 28-7.  By game’s end, Hartson had accumulated 287 yards on the ground, placing him third all-time in the single-game rushing column, behind his own record of 324 yards in last year’s Westerville South game and Travis McGuire’s 302 yards against Canton McKinley in the 1991 contest.

Credit the offensive line for opening up holes all night long using a variety of interior blocking schemes.  They were so efficient that the Tigers only punted twice, once in each half.  It also enable Hartson to run for more than ten yards on 13 of his 35 carries.

Sandwiched in there was a 35-yard touchdown pass from Darrius McElroy to Ardell Banks, who caught it around the 25 and then outraced the defense to the end zone.  McElroy, who is getting more and more comfortable in the pocket as the season goes along, may have finally found that “go-to” receiver.

“What a ballgame,” beamed Head Coach Nate Moore.  “I’m proud of the guys.  The offense played well.  The offensive line took over the game.  The quarterback had his best game.  Banks had a huge game.  There were a lot of really good things.”

But Warren, in the second half, was able to respond each time Massillon scored and eventually lost by extra points, thanks to a pair of PAT blocks by Austin Brawley.  In the first three games this year the Syracuse-bound Dom Foster was playing quarterback after being used last season solely as a wide receiver.  Occasionally, Dalys Jett, a late transfer from Indiana, was inserted at QB because he was considered the better passer.  But in this game, Jett was the quarterback all the way.

Apparently, Head Coach Steve Arnold knew his team could not run on the Tigers, as the Raiders’ 23 carries for 94 yards could attest.  So he went pass all the way with Jett, a move apparently unexpected by the Massillon coaching staff, who were perhaps gaming for the running prowess of the swift Dom Foster.  But the junior Jett responded with a career day, completing 21 of 34 passes for 358 yards and six touchdowns, which was the 4th most yards ever thrown against a Massillon team.  Included in that were completions of 29, 38, 33, 65, 33, 33 and 26 yards, six of which went for scores.

The Tigers tried several defensive schemes throughout the game to stop the attack.  They tried blitzing, but the players were not “getting home.”  They tried double-covering Foster, who caught five passes for 100 yards.  But that gave more opportunities to the speedy Tyriq Ivory, who ended up with ten receptions for 182 yards and three touchdowns.  But Jett kept extending plays with his scrambling ability, converting passes mostly when the coverage would break down.   IMG Academy would be envious of the speed and athletic ability of this passing combination.

“We were pretty dominant early and we had a chance to put it away,” said Moore.  “But you have to give Warren credit.  They played really hard.  We didn’t have much film on the quarterback.  He threw the ball really well and they had two great receivers.  We need to play better when the ball is in the air, especially on the long balls.  We need to get better there.”

Guest players were McElroy, Brawley and Nate Watkins.   Their comments, along with some of Moore’s, were as follows:

  • It was a dog fight the whole game.  But we came away with the win.
  • We started off fast.  The game is slowing down and we’re coming together as a team.
  • We almost recovered a pooch kick with the 28-7 lead.  It would have sealed the game.
  • The PAT blocks were huge.  Now they’re chasing points.
  • It’s hard to hold onto the receiver when the quarterback is scrambling and receivers have left the intended routes.

Player Stats:

  • Willtrell Hartson – 35 carries for 287 yards and 4 touchdowns
  • Darrius McElroy – 10 of 16 passing for 114 yards and a touchdown; 1 rushing TD
  • Ardell Banks – 4 receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown
  • Ryan Zentkovich – 7.5 tackle points (6-3)
  • Austin Brawley – 6.5 tackle points (6-1); 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown; two blocked extra points
  • Camden Beasley – pass interception

This week Massillon will face Lakewood St. Edward, which owns the following wins:

  • Toledo Central Catholic (2-2): 33-10
  • Rock Creek Christian, MD (1-1): 56-18
  • Mentor (2-2): 47-7
  • Cincinnati Elder (2-2): 48-14

It will be a tall task for the Tigers to come away with a victory, as the Eagles seem to have outstanding athletes at every position.

Offensively, St. Ed’s uses the spread.  The best player is quarterback Christian Ramos (6’-2”, 200).  Last year against the Tigers he rushed 14 times for 49 yards and completed 4 of 12 passes for 35 yards.  But he is much improved this year and is the catalyst for their offense.  Moore says that he is an outstanding runner and possesses great speed.

The offensive lie is not huge, with most players around 275 lbs., but they play extremely well as a unit.  They come off the ball and have good feet.  The wide receivers are all good players.  So far this season, the Eagles have only punted twice.

Defensively, they use four down lineman, two inside linebackers and five defensive backs, with one high.  They also favor the blitz on nearly every play, featuring any number of defensive backs providing the pressure.

The defensive line is really good, similar to Pickerington Central.  They are very active, have good speed, come off the ball well and use their hands well.  The linebackers are active and play downhill.  The safeties are all good in coverage.

“I like our game plan,” said Moore.  “Our kids will play really hard, but we’ll need to make some plays.  We can’t beat ourselves.  We may also need a break or two.”

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2021: Massillon 49, Warren Harding 46

Chris Easterling, The Independent

Austin Brawley’s return, Willtrell Hartson running help Massillon football top Warren

WARREN — It started with Massillon returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. It ended with the Tigers recovering an onside kick.

In between, Friday night’s game between Massillon and Warren Harding at Mollenkopf Stadium alternated between potential rout and possible big comeback. In the end, it settled in to what ultimately became a 49-46 Tiger victory.

Austin Brawley got it all started for Massillon when he took the opening kickoff back 89 yards for a touchdown. That was actually the second attempt at the opening kick, as the initial one went out of bounds.

It’s the third consecutive game the Tigers returned a kick or punt for a score. It’s also the third game in a row Brawley has had a return of some sort for a touchdown, having brought back a punt in Week 2 and an interception in Week 3.

“It was a great way to start the game,” said Massillon coach Nate Moore, whose team takes a 3-1 record and a three-game win streak into next week’s home game against St. Edward. “Proud of Austin. He saw the seam and hit it. We blocked up front for it.”

What Brawley started, Willtrell Hartson finished. Actually, Hartson had a hand both in starting and finishing it, as the junior ran for 287 yards and four touchdowns on 35 carries.

It’s Hartson’s second consecutive 200-plus-yard game, having run for 223 yards in the previous week’s win over Reynoldsburg. He’s the first Tiger running back to post back-to-back games of more than 220 yards.

“Well, my line’s picking it up,” said Hartson, who carried the ball on 10 of the final 11 Tiger plays before their game-ending kneel-down. “From the first game to this game, everything’s starting to budge. We’re all getting ready. They’re helping me out by opening up the holes for me to run through.”

Hartson had 177 yards on 21 second-half carries against Warren, his third consecutive 100-plus-yard second half. Three of his four touchdown came in the second half, too.

Hartson’s first TD put Massillon in front 28-7 with 6;19 remaining in the first half. His second-half scoring runs provided leads of 35-19, 42-25 and, finally, 49-33.

The final TD run, a 24-yard scamper, came with 5:56 remaining. That was part of a 13-carry, 93-yard fourth quarter for Hartson.

“To say he gets better as the game goes on, I think that’s kind of a hindsight thing,” Moore said. “I think what you’re seeing is our offensive line is just hammering away and hammering away and hammering away. The seams get a little bigger over the course of the game. I love Willtrell; he runs his tail off. What you’re seeing, as much as it’s Willtrell running hard, it’s our offensive line really grinding on those guys.”

Massillon was grinding, but it still couldn’t quite put away Warren. That’s because, while the Tigers were owning the rushing yards, the Panthers, as they were going by on this night to honor their 1971 state championship team, owned the air.

Junior quarterback Dalys Jett completed 21-of-35 passes for 358 yards and six TDs. Jett started his night out with a 29-yard TD pass to Dom Foster to cut it to 14-7 in the first quarter, then ended his night with a 26-yarder to Foster with 24 seconds remaining to make it 49-46.

In between, Jett also found Tyriq Ivory for three TD catches. He also hit Konyae Redd for a 33-yard score with just over four minutes left to make it 49-39.

“I can’t question our kids’ effort,” said Warren coach Steve Arnold, whose team’s final score was set up by a fumble return, which initially went for a score but was negated by a block in the back penalty. “Did we make some mental mistakes that maybe came back to bite us? I think this game shows what we’re capable of from an offensive point of view.”

Ivory finished with 182 yards on 10 catches. Foster, who also played quarterback for a series in the second quarter, added 100 yards on five catches. Jett also rushed for a 28-yard TD in the third quarter.

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

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2021 Booster Club Report – Week 3

The Tigers survived the potent offense of Reynoldsburg with a 41-22 victory.  Next up is a road trip to Warren Harding for a 7:00 pm contest.

  • 7th Grade (3-0): Defeated Akron East 8th Grade, 18-14.  Plays Warren away on Wednesday, September 8, at 6:00 pm.
  • 8th Grade (3-0): Defeated Oakwood, 40-6. Plays Warren at home (MAC) on Wednesday, September 8, at 6:00 pm.
  • 9th Grade (3-0): Defeated Louisville, 34-6.  Plays Warren Harding at home (PBTS) on Thursday, September 9 at 6:00 pm.
  • JV (3-1): “B” team defeated Louisville, 10-0.  “A” team defeated Canton McKinley, 28-0.  Plays Warren Harding at home on Saturday, September 11 at 10:00 am.

Reynoldsburg is all about the offense, not to take anything away from a very good defense.  At quarterback was Dijon Jennings, who put up some of the best numbers against Massillon in their long history.  He also ran for 65 yards and scored two touchdowns.  Jennings completed 28 of 45 passes for 270 yards, with the first two numbers 2nd all-time for a Massillon opponent and the third 4th all-time.  But the Tigers’ defensive game plan of keeping the receivers in front of the secondary paid off in the long run, holding the passing game to just under ten yards per reception and a single 29-yard touchdown pass.  The two other scores came when Jennings broke free of heavy blitzes and scrambled to the end zone.

Not to be outshadowed by Jennings was the performance of Massillon running back Willtrell Hartson, who exploded for 223 yards on 28 carries (8.0 yds/att.) plus a pair of touchdowns.  Most of the yardage came in the second half thanks to an offense line that pounded the Reynoldsburg defense into submission.  Superior conditioning was undoubtedly a big factor in the Massillon win.

After the Tigers took a 9-3 lead into the locker at halftime, Reynoldsburg came out in the 3rd quarter and engineered an 8-play, 80-yard drive to score and go ahead 10-9.  But Camden Beasley came up big and returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown.  It literally broke Reynoldsburg’s back and it was all Massillon after that as they outscored the visitors the rest of the way, 17-6.

Joining the Booster Club members in their weekly meeting were a pair of squad leaders: defensive back / wide receiver / return specialist Austin Brawley and defensive back / wide receiver Kurtis Miller.  Their thoughts and that of Head Coach Nate Moore are as follows:

  • Massillon got the stops they needed to secure the victory.
  • Defense was the key at the start of the season and they played lights out.
  • The offense started out slow, but picked it up in the second half, with the line blocking better.
  • Our conditioning is the best in Ohio.
  • Reynoldsburg had a really good defense.
  • With the offense stymied early, the coach changed for awhile to a 2-tight end, which aided the power run game.
  • The quarterback draw has become a good play.

If you were wondering about the two penalties on the kickoff, here’s the reason.  Players on the kickoff team must now start outside of the 35 yard line.  Once the referee signals the ball in play, no player can step inside the 35.  Unfortunately, two sophomore players did just that.  And that’s the reason.

Player stats:

  • Willtrell Hartson – 28 carries for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns
  • Darrius McElr0y – 4 carries for 25 yards
  • Austin Brawley – 9.0 tackle points (7-4); 39 yard pass interception return for a touchdown; blocked field goal
  • Ryan Zentkovich – 6.0 tackle points (5-2)
  • Jaden Welch – 6.0 tackle points (5-2)
  • Camden Beasley – 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown

This week Massillon will face Warren Harding for the 86th time.  This is the second longest series for the the Tigers, who hold a 57-25-3 in the series, including wins in the last five games.

The strength of the Harding team is the defense, which boasts several good players.  The defense aligns in a 4-2 box with a lot of cover 3. The line is anchored by a pair of outstanding defense ends in junior Jaden Hudson (6′-2″, 210) and Kincaid Tyson (6′-1″, 220).  Tyson, a 2-year returning starter,  is fast, tough and comes off the ball well. These guys will be a challenge for our tackles fullbacks.

At linebacker look for senior Davontae McElroy (6′-1″, 195), a 2-year returning starter.  Both cornerbacks are good cover guys.  senior Brysen Powell (6′-5. 155″) is really aggressive.  The edge guys in the cover-3 are both solid players.  The group is led by senior Anthony Dukes (5′-9″, 175).

Offensively, Warren’s formations will look a lot like Massillon’s; i.e., quarterback in the shotgun, a single running back, a fullback near the line and three wide receivers.  They run similar plays with a lot of zone blocking.  Not much power blocking.  The main difference is that the key to their success lies with senior Dom Foster (6′-2″, 170), who started at wide receiver last year and will be headed to Syracuse next year.  A very athletic player, his forte is more in the run game than the passing game.  At times, junior Dalys Jett (5′-9″, 160) will replace him in passing situations, with Foster moving to wide receiver.

The best lineman is senior Davelle Trimble (6′-0″, 275), a 2-year returning starter, who Moore calls a really good player. The running back is senior Brysen Powell (5′-7″, 155).  He is speedy and more of a scatback.  Likes to get to the outside. The wide receivers are a good group, led by senior Tyriq Ivory (6′-2″, 170).

See you in Warren.  Go Tigers!

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2021: Massillon 41, Reynoldsburg 22

Chris Easterling, The Independent

Ohio State football coach watches Willtrell Hartson key Massillon in win over Reynoldsburg

MASSILLON – Massillon has gotten good at being a second-half team.

A week ago against GlenOak, the Tigers took a two-score game at the half and turned it into a 34-point win. On Friday night, they decided to unleash a little more of that post-intermission magic to turn an even closer game into a second consecutive rout.

Massillon scored 32 second-half points to run away from visiting Reynoldsburg 41-22 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Over the last two weeks now, the Tigers have outscored their opponents 53-19 in the second half.

“I think ever since our freshman year, we’ve been a second-half team,” said senior Cam Beasley, whose 81-yard kickoff return with 7:08 left in the third quarter helped give Massillon the lead for good at 17-10. “Teams have scored on us, but when it comes to the second half, we just take off. That’s when we get our most energy. We get fired up.”Beasley was the spark to start the Tigers’ fire, both before and after the intermission. His only carry of the game, a 7-yard touchdown run with 47 seconds left in the first half, provided a 9-3 halftime lead.

Then, after Dijon Jennings’ 19-yard TD run provided Reynoldsburg with the lead, Beasley fielded a short kickoff, got out of the grasp of one defender and raced virtually untouched to the end zone for the go-ahead score. Darrius McElroy provided the two-point conversion for a seven-point lead.

“We weren’t supposed to kick it where we kicked it, but we did,” said Reynoldsburg coach Buddy White, whose 0-3 team also held a 3-0 lead after one quarter. “The guy broke the tackle and there was nobody there. They took the momentum right back and they weren’t going to let it go.”

That’s because Massillon had two things to help it slam the door shut. One was running back Willtrell Hartson, and the other was its defense.

With Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford in attendance, Hartson once again put on his own second-half showcase. The junior ran 151 of his 223 yards in the second half, including TD runs of 9 and 44 yards.

It’s the second week in a row Hartson has posted a big second half. Against GlenOak last week, he ran for 100 of his 167 yards after the break.

“It’s all those 110s (strength coach Dan) Studer had those guys run every Friday this summer,” said Massillon coach Nate Moore, whose 2-1 team heads to Warren Harding next Friday. “That’s what that comes down to.”

The 223 rushing yards for Hartson is his second-best total as a Tiger. He set the single-game school record with 324 yards in a regional-semifinal win over another Columbus-area school, Westerville South, last year.

What Beasley and Hartson started, Massillon’s defense finished off. While Jennings was able to throw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Markez Gillum and run for a 17-yard score in the fourth quarter, neither of those were able to put much of a dent in the Tigers’ second-half burst.

In between those two scores, Massillon put up 17 consecutive points. That was capped by Austin Brawley’s 39-yard interception return for a score with 7:44 remaining.

“Our kids played their tails off,” said Moore, whose team gave up 270 passing yards to Jennings, who was 28-of-45 throwing the ball. “We have a great defensive staff. … Our kids trust our coaching staff and play hard for them and we try to do the very best that we can to put them in great positions. We’ve got a lot of good things going.”

That’s especially true once the game gets into the second half.

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

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2021 Booster Club Report – Week 2

Massillon picked up its first win of the season and evened the slate at 1-1 with a 34-0 thumping of Canton GlenOak.  Next up is home game against Reynoldsburg, with the kickoff slated for 7:30 pm.

  • 7th Grade (2-0): Defeated Warren, 28-16.  Plays Akron East 8th Grade at home (PBTS) on Wednesday, September 1, at 6:00 pm (schedule change)
  • 8th Grade (2-0): Defeated Cleveland Heights Roxboro, 40-6.  Plays Oakwood away on Wednesday, September 1 a6 6:00 pm (schedule change)
  • 9th Grade (2-0): Defeated Canton GlenOak, 18-14.  Plays Louisville away on Thursday, September 2 at 6:00 pm.
  • JV (1-1): Defeated Canton GlenOak, 47-0.  The “A” team plays Canton McKinley at home on Monday, September 6 at noon; the “B” team plays  Louisville at home on Saturday, September 4 at 10:00 am.

GlenOak (1-1), under new / returning head coach Scott Garcia, is in the process of putting the program back together and they provided a good test for Massillon’s  young offense.  The Tigers netted just one touchdown and a pair field goals to take a slim 13-0 lead into the lockeroom and needed to execute the 2-minute drill perfectly in order to grab the lone TD.  Fortunately, Massillon was able to break it open in the second half with three scores, one coming via a punt return.  Meanwhile, the Eagle offense struggled to move the ball against a stout Tiger defense and finished the game with just 66 yards of total offense, 48 on the ground and 18 in the air on 3 of 13 completions.  In fact, GlenOak never passed midfield throughout the game.

‘It was a great day to be a Tiger,” said Head Coach Nate Moore about the victory over GlenOak.  “The offense got it going from the last drive of the first half.  They had a nice plan against us defensively; 11 guys playing the run.”  But in the second half, as quarterback Darrius McElroy began to fine the range, the Eagles were forced to respect the pass a bit more and that provided additional opportunities for the Massillon run game.  “Our defense played really well for the second week in a row,” Moore added.  “We feel really good the way we’re going.”

Moore also talked about several players emerging from the sophomore group that were able to contribute at the varsity level, this from a class that was thought not to be exceptionally talented.  “We’re playing a lot of young kids and they’re going to get better and better,” he said.

Four unit leaders were on hand, including senior running back / outside linebacker Camden Beasley, senior inside linebacker Nathan DePuy, senior wide receiver / safety Austin Brawley  and senior wide receiver / cornerback Kurtis Miller.  The four addressed several questions from the Booster Club members and noted the following:

  • The defense played “lights out.”
  • They met the challenge of holding GlenOak under 100 yards.
  • Reynoldsburg is really fast.
  • The offense needs to get rolling early.

Player stats:

  • Willtrell Hartson: 21 carries for 167 yards and a touchdown.
  • Darrius McElroy: 8 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown; 12 for 21 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown.
  • Kurtis Miller: 6 receptions for 35 yards.
  • Zach Liebler: 4 receptions for 30 yards.
  • Camden Beasley: 6.0 tackle points (5-2)
  • Austin Brawley: 5 punt returns for 140 yards and a touchdown.

This week’s opponent is Reynoldsburg (0-2), which will be a first-time opponent for the Tigers.  They play in the same league division as Pickerington Central.  In week one the Raiders lost to Upper Arlington 42-41 and last week they dropped a close one to Huber Heights Wayne, 17-15, in a game that was decided in the final minutes.

Expect to see a large number of athletes on the field come Friday, especially on offense, which appears to be their strength.  In fact, according to the Massillon coach, Reynoldsburg has 3 or 4 players that are being sought after by Power-5 colleges.

Offensively, they run out of the spread 90% of the time.  They will also throw in some 2-back and 3-back sets.  The best player is senior quarterback Dijon Jennings (6′-1″, 185), who is a returning starter.  He is adept at scrambling and is effective both running and throwing the ball on the run.  Definitely a play-maker.  Moore said that he is the best QB the Tigers have faced this year.

The running back is senior Zion Jackson-Wilborn (5′-11″, 210).  He handles the position decently and is physical.  The line in front of him is considered average, but senior guard Caleb Turner (6′-1″, 330) is a powerful player.  The wide receivers are all excellent.  The fastest is senior Markez Gillam (5′-5″, 155), who runs a 4.3 forty.

The defensive line, in their 4-3 alignment, is the strength on that side of the ball.  The best player is senior 2-year returning starter Keyshaun Slaughter (6′-2″, 345).  While the linebacker corps is average, it is supported by a very good secondary.  Junior safety Alex Crump-Whitson (6′-0″, 185) is extremely fast and can cover a lot of ground.

“This is a good football team,” said Nate Moore.  Massillon will need to exploit a defense that has shown some vulnerability to the run and minimize the big plays while on the other side of the ball.  Let’s hope this one doesn’t turn into a track meet.

The meeting next week will be at the Eagles 190.

Go Tigers!

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2021: Massillon 34, Canton GlenOak 0

Chris Easterling, The Independent

Darrius McElroy, Willtrell Hartson help Massillon offense come alive to roll past GlenOak

MASSILLON — It sometimes just takes a little two-minute drill to get an offense going.

Massillon had only mustered a pair of field goals over the first 22 minutes of Friday night’s home game against GlenOak. But over the final two minutes of the first half, the Tiger offense came alive, and the Golden Eagles were doomed.

Two touchdowns sandwiched around halftime helped Massillon turn a one-score game into a rout as it rolled to a 34-0 win over GlenOak at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I thought that last drive was very important,” said Tigers senior quarterback Darrius McElroy, whose 1-yard run and 47-yard pass to Ardell Banks turned a 6-0 lead into a 20-0 third-quarter edge. “We needed to do that to start that second half off strong. I felt like that last drive where we scored, we really needed that energy to finish off the game.”

McElroy, in particular, found his rhythm on the last first-half drive, which started with 1:56 remaining. He hit his first five passes of the drive for 37 yards to move the Tigers to the GlenOak 15.

McElroy also ran it eight times for 36 yards on the night. Two of those carries and 15 of those yards, as well as his only score, came on that final first-half possessionWe’re just going to continue to get better,” said Massillon coach Nate Moore, whose 1-1 team hosts Reynoldsburg next Friday. “That’s what happens with a young team and new starters and all that who are playing varsity football for the first time. It was a good job.”

The last drive of the first half also loosened up the GlenOak defense for Massillon. Much like Pickerington Central did a week earlier, the Golden Eagles obviously keyed on Tiger running back Willtrell Hartson until they were certain the passing game was able to hurt them.

Hartson still ran for 67 yards on 10 first-half carries, which helped to set up a pair of Shane Rue field goals. Once McElroy found the rhythm and GlenOak started to come out of the box more, the junior running back took off.

Hartson finished with 167 yards on 21 carries, rushing for an even 100 on 11 second-half carries. He opened the fourth quarter with a 1-yard run for a 27-0 Massillon lead.

“We got outside zone going there a little bit, which is good to see,” said Moore, whose team also got a 78-yard punt return for a score by Austin Brawley in the fourth quarter.. “We were able to hit a little play-action, which was good.”

Up until that final first-half drive, GlenOak had the game at its pace. The only problem for the Golden Eagles was their own inability to get any drive going.

GlenOak had just one first down and 25 net yards in the first half. It finished with four first downs and 66 net yards, and never got any closer to Massillon territory than its own 47 midway through the second quarter.

“I thought our kids played hard in the first half,” said Golden Eagles coach Scott Garcia, whose 1-1 team plays Austintown Fitch next Friday. “In the second half, I was disappointed in our effort. Our effort was awful in the second half. We’ve got to get that fixed.”

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE