Referendum on Changes to Competitive Balance Formula Approved by…

The OHSAA announced today (May 17) that all 24 referendums recently presented for vote by its member schools have passed.  Included was a change to the Competitive Balance formula, which is currently used by the OHSAA to classify schools for the post-season playoffs in various sports.  But don’t expect the change as it relates to football to result in moving large numbers of teams up or down a division.

Background

Competitive Balance was introduced by the OHSAA a few years ago in response to (1) public school allegations of recruiting being performed by several parochial schools and (2) perceived advantages in sports that parochial schools enjoy over their public school counterparts .  As a compromise measure to avoid separating the playoffs, the OHSAA elected to introduce a formula that would adjust the base enrollment of a given school to account for both the number and types of transfer students that play a selected sport.  The adjusted enrollments would then be used to determine in which division each school then competes in the post-season.  Note that different formulas are used for public and parochial schools.

For public schools, the base enrollment would be adjusted upward by “1” for each student that open-enrolled in the school district prior to the 7th grade.  This is defined as Tier 1.  In addition, the enrollment would  be adjusted upward by “2” for each student that open enrolled in the school district in the 7th grade or after.  This is defined as Tier 2.

For parochial schools, Tier 1 is for students that attended a parochial grade school since the 7th grade, but not the one designated as the high school’s “feeder school.”  Tier 2 is for students that did not attend a parochial grade school or enrolled in a parochial grade school after the 7th grade.

The Change

Previously, a school was required to submit the roster of players across all grades 9-12 for the effective sports season.  The roster would then be used to calculated the Tier 1 and Tier 2 adders.  Now, incoming freshmen are not to be included on the roster, unless they participated on the varsity team during the previous year as an 8th grader.  Also, the adder for Tier 2 has been increased from “2” to “3.”

In spite of the increase in the value of the Tier 2 adder from “2” to “3”, don’t expect much change in the adjusted enrollment.  For example: assume that a school currently has 20 open enrollment students across four grades.  Previously, the total adder for Tier 2 would be 20 x 2 or 40.  With freshmen now omitted, the proportioned number of open enrollment students would now be 15.  Thus, the total adder for Tier 2 is 15 x 3 or 45.  No changes would be made to the Tier 1 part of the formula, the total of which would actually decrease proportionally as noted above.  As you can see, not much of a change.

So chalk this one up to an appeasement to the coaches, whose lives just got a little easier when it comes time to report rosters.  But it still does nothing to fix the imbalances that exist in several of the divisions, especially Division 1.

Football Booster Club Kicks off 2019 Season with Spring…

The 2019 Massillon football season was officially launched off on Friday at the Massillon Eagles with the annual Spring Kickoff Event in front of a capacity crowd of Tiger faithful.  Following social time and a steak dinner, head Coach Nate Moore spoke at length about all of the good things happening with the football program and his prognosis for the upcoming season.  He was preceded by guest speaker Mike Leach, head coach of Washington State, which happens to be the next stop for Jamir Thomas, the Tigers’ sensational running back.  Thomas set career records last year for rushing yards, rushing attempts and points scored.  Earlier in the evening Leach was featured at a “meet-and-greet” at Kozmos.

Mike Leach has been at Washington State for seven years following a successful tenure at Texas Tech, compiling an overall record of 133-83.  Twice he was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year.  Last season the Cougars finished 11-2, including a 28-26 victory against Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl.

Coach Leach utilizes the “Air Raid” offense as his primary scheme, speaking at length about its benefits in the college game and its recent influence at both the high school and professional levels.  Originally derived from the “Wish-Bone,” distribution is the key, he said.  Lots of players touch the ball.  The goal is to create space with the passing game and get the ball to the open receiver, whether it be to a wide receiver or a running back.  It’s not unusual to see the running back become the leading receiver.

The play book is not large, but every play is extensively practiced each day.  Then it’s just a matter of selecting the optimum plays to run against each opponent.  “It’s always been a game of execution,” he said.  “It’s always better to have too little than too much.”

Then it was Coach Moore’s turn, fresh off a Division II state final appearance with his 14-1 team.  The very successful Massillon coach Moore covered a lot of ground in his speech and the highlights are presented below:

• The team goals this year are fairly simple: beat Canton McKinley and win the state title.
• The Tigers return all of their coordinators, including John Mazur and Jarett Troxler on the offensive side of the ball and Craig McConnell and Spencer Leno on the defensive side.  Other returning assistant coaches include Cale Miller (wide receivers), Eric Copeland (running backs), Dan Hackenbracht (safeties), Jason Jarvis (cornerbacks and special teams), J.P. Simon (defensive tackles), Dave Weber (defensive ends) and Danny Studer (strength and conditioning).  New to the program are Mike Stone (fullbacks and tight ends) and Josh Garvin (offensive line).
• Seven full-time starters and several part-time starters from among a group of 26 lettermen return from last year.  Six players have already landed athletic scholarship offers.
• The annual Lift-a-thon was held last week and the participants lifted a combined weight exceeding 53,000 pounds.  Moore said the players did a tremendous job.
• The College Showcase was held last Wednesday and nearly 70 coaches from all levels of college football were in attendance.  “It was a tremendous day for all of our players,” said Moore.  “Several kids got offers.  Lots of video was taken.  There will be more offers.”  Jayden Ballard ran a 4.43 40-yard dash and Andrew Wilson-Lamp ran a 4.45.  Several players were between 4.5 and 4.6.  “We’re strong and we’re fast,” summed up the coach.  “This is a highly dedicated group.  They work really hard.”  Next, the team will focus on skill development.
• A busy summer is planned for the summer in preparation for August 1^st official start of practice.  7-on-7s are scheduled for the University of Akron, Ohio State University and Pittsburgh University.  Camps are on tap at Kent State, Cincinnati, Ohio State and Akron.
• The team GPA for the 3^rd quarter was 3.05, a bit shy of the goal of 3.3.  The coach expects improvement in the 4^th quarter.
• Becca Moore, wife of the coach, will again provide preparatory work for ACT testing.
• The Golf Outing is scheduled for August 6.

Coach Moore then gave a rundown on each of the opponents on this year’s schedule, which comprises six home games:

• Akron St. Vincent – They were young last year and should be good this year.  They have a 4-year starter at quarterback.  Terrance Keyes returns at running back for a third season.
• GlenOak – New coach Bo Balderson will try to get the Eagles back on track.  The quarterback, Kindel Richardson, returns.
• At Warren Harding – They always have great skill.  This will be a tough matchup.
• Penn-Trafford, PA – They went 9-3 last year and have a Division 1 running back.
• Akron Firestone – Same old.
• At Austintown Fitch – Expect another great game.
• Gateway, PA.  They went 11-2 last year and have a Division 1 running back.  They are similar to East St. Louis, a national-power the Tigers faced last year.
• At Barberton – The Magics are 28-2 in the regular season during the past three years and have a stellar running back returning.
• Louisville – The final game in the series, as the contract will not be renewed following a 41-0 blowout last year.  The quarterback returns.
• Canton McKinley – “This is the greatest high school rivalry in the country,” said Moore.  They have a new coach in Marcus Wattley, formerly of Akron St. Vincent and University of Akron (Dan Reardon has moved on to a former coaching stop, Youngstown Ursuline).  The Bulldogs return several key players.

OHSAA Proposes Changes to Competitive Balance – Revised

Revised March 26, 2019

Traditionally, high school football teams were assigned to specific divisions based on the overall school enrollment.  That is, the largest schools were classified as Division 1, the next largest as Division 2 and so on, with the schools distributed evenly among the selected number of regions as determined by the OHSAA.

Recently, several superintendents were disgruntled with the domination of state championships by the private schools and proposed that the OHSAA separate the playoffs.  Given that the OHSAA would not support this, a compromise solution was developed and then implemented for the 2017 season.  In essence, an adjustment would be made to each school’s counted enrollment based on the number of football players that did not live in the school’s district.

Each roster player, freshman through senior, would be assigned a classification of Tier 0, Tier 1 or Tier 2.  For public schools, a Tier 1 player is an open enrollment student that enrolled in the school district prior to the 7^th Grade.   A Tier 2 player is an open enrollment student that entered the district in the 7^th Grade or after.  All other students are presumed to be residents of the school district’s geographic boundary and would be classified as Tier 0.

For private schools, A Tier 0 player is a student that attended a private grade school that was designated by the high school as their preferred parish.  A Tier 1 player is one that attended a private grade school since the beginning of the 7^th Grade.  All other players are classified as Tier 2.

For 2017, the amount added to the school’s counted enrollment was “0” for Tier 0 players, “1” for Tier 1 players and “2” for Tier 2 players.  In that most private schools were significantly affected by this new rule, several moved up one or two divisions.  For example, Akron Hoban moved up from Division 3 to Division 2 and Toledo Central moved up from Division 4 to Division 2.

On February 14 of this year, the OHSAA released a number of referendum items that were approved by the administrators and will be voted upon by the school superintendents later this year.  Included among these is Issue 2B – Change in Additional Roster Count Makeup – Bylaw 2-2-2, 2-2-6.  This issue modifies the Competitive Balance formula in two ways.  First, the adder for Tier 2 players increases from “2” to “3.”  Second, freshman players are not considered in the calculation, unless they participated in a varsity football game the prior year.  The adder for many other sports was also changed, such as for baseball and basketball, which increased from “5” to “7.”  An exception to the private school classifications was included whereby if the school has a defined enrollment boundary, then all students that reside within the boundary would become Tier 0 if enrolled in one of the district’s private schools from the beginning of the 7^th Grade and Tier 1 of enrolled after.

The OHSAA stated that these changes are being proposed based on feedback from the various schools.  For one, freshmen do not necessarily have much impact on tournament games.  Secondly, coaches may exclude transfer students from their freshman teams to massage the adjusted number downward.  Also, schools may elect not to field freshman teams.

The original release of this story, lacking specific Tier numbers for each school, assumed that for all schools 30% of the affected players would be Tier 1 and the remaining 70% would be Tier 2.  However, additional research was conducted using roster sizes for specific schools and back-calculating the competitive advantage numbers.  The belief is now that this assumption was incorrect, particularly for the private schools.  A better assumption would be as follows:

• Public Schools: 70% Tier 0, 10% Tier 1, 20% Tier 2
• Private Schools: 10% Tier 0, 60% Tier 1, 30% Tier 2

These numbers work well for most private schools.  However, a few have Tier 2 percentages are significantly higher, including Toledo Central and Akron St. Vincent.  With the new adder Central would remain in Division 2, while St. V could move up from D3 to D2.

Surprisingly, and by using this new assumption, the school assignments for both Divisions 1 and 2 would remain virtually unchanged.  Note: The effect on the lower divisions was not evaluated.

Mike Leach to Speak at Spring Kickoff Event

Likened to an annual rite of passage, several hundred Tiger fans gather each spring to revel in another upcoming Massillon football season and eagerly take in the words of the head coach as he offers his prognosis for future success.  The event this year will be held on May 3rd at the Massillon Eagles and will highlight guest speaker Mike Leach, the head coach of Washington State University.  Leach’s presence comes on the heels of Alabama Coach Nick Saban and former Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer, who addressed the Tiger faithful during the previous two years.

Mike Leach is entering his eighth season as head coach of the Cougars and sports an overall record there of 49-40.  However, most of his success has been over the past four years, where he compiled a mark of 37-15 (26-10 in the PAC-12) and finished in the Top 3 of its conference division each year.  Having split four bowl games during this time period, last year he defeated Matt Campbell’s Iowa State University team, 28-26, and finished 10^th in the country, while setting a new school benchmark for total wins in a season (11).  Coach Leach last year also recruited Jamir Thomas, Massillon’s all-time leading rusher and scorer.  Prior to coming to WSU, Leach was the head coach of Texas Tech, leaving with an impressive 84-43 record through ten years and participating in a bowl game each season.

Nate Moore returns to coach Massillon for a fifth time, fresh off a Division 2 state finals appearance, where the Tigers lost a close game to Akron Hoban.  Following a 4-6 start in Massillon, Moore has since compiled a win-loss record of 32-8, including three trips to the playoffs, two regional championships and the aforementioned state runner-up.  Expectations are high again in Tigertown as a fine nucleus returns from last year’s 14-1 squad, including a 2-year starter at both quarterback and inside linebacker and a wealth of talent manning the skill positions.  Massillon will open the 2019 season on Friday, August 30 against state-power Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.  Last year the Tigers defeated the Irish 35-7 enroute to an undefeated regular season.

See you at the Eagles.

2019 Scrimmage Schedule Released

Massillon, the 2018 Division 2 state runner-up, will play the same scrimmage foes this year as they did last year, only the sites have been reversed.  The teams are Avon, Berea Midpark and Lakewood St. Edward.

Friday, August 9, 7:30 pm – at Avon.  Last year the Eagles, a Division 2 school from Region 6, finished with a record of 12-2 and were tournament regional champs.  They were eventually ousted by Akron Hoban in the state semifinals, 42-7.  The Tigers hosted Avon in the first scrimmage of 2018 and had their way, outscoring the Eagles 4-1 in down-and-distance play and 4-0 in overtime simulation.

Friday, August 16, 7:30 pm – home to Berea Midpark.  The Titans are a Division 1 team that finished 5-5 in 2018.  In last year’s spirited scrimmage they were manhandled by Massillon, 6-2, in a contest that was shortened when the referees walked off the field following some brief skirmishes between the players.  They ended the season in a high-scoring affair, losing 77-47 to Avon.

Thursday, August 22, 7:30 pm – home to Lakewood St. Edward.  The Eagles were Division 1 state champions last year, defeating Cincinnati Colerain in the finals, 24-10, and finishing with an 11-3 season record.  Nationally, they were rated 10th by Calpreps.com.  Massillon and St. Eds faced each other in a final 2018 scrimmage, with play for the most part being fairly even.  For those keeping score, the Tigers broke a 14-14 tie when Kyshad Mack intercepted a pass and returned it 25 yards for the deciding score.

In other news:

The Nike Football Program is scheduled for March 30 at the indoor facility.  The event is open to all football players from 8th grade through senior high school.

The annual Lift-a-thon  is scheduled for April 20 at WHS.

The Ohio North-South All-Star Football Game returns to Massillon’s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium this year on April 27 starting at noon.  Two games are on tap, first for the lower division players and then for those from the upper divisions.

The Massillon Tiger players will participate in a clinic attended by various college coaches on May 1 at the indoor facility.

May 18 is the date for the Gold Card sale.

The Gareon Conley Youth Camp will be held on June 12 at indoor facility.  Start time is 3:00 pm.

Look for the Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club booth on June 15 at the Cruise-On-In and Dance Party held in downtown Massillon.

The Tigers will participate in three 7-on-7 scrimmages: June 15 at University of Akron, June 17 at Ohio State University and June 22 at Pittsburgh University.

The Massillon Tiger Golf Outing is tentatively scheduled for August 11 at the Elms Country Club.

2019 Massillon Football Schedule Finalized

According to a recent article published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Massillon will play Gateway High School from Monroeville, Pennsylvania, in Week No. 7.  Gateway joins league rival Penn-Trafford on the Tiger schedule, with both games slated for Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and Penn-Trafford playing in Week No. 4.  Barberton, which is also new to the schedule, will play Massillon in Week No. 8.  The remaining opponents are holdovers from last year.  The Tigers will have six home games and four road games.

Both PA teams fell into open dates after one of their Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League members opted to compete independently starting in 2019.  Gateway is classified as a AAAAA school, which is equivalent to a Division 2 Ohio program.  Last year they finished 12-1 and were ranked as the 12th best team in Pennsylvania according to CalPreps.com.  Penn-Trafford is also AAAAA.  They finished 9-3 last year and were ranked No. 53 by CalPreps.com.  Gateway got the better of Penn-Trafford in last year’s match, 27-7.

Here is the complete schedule:

Tiger Stadium Celebrates 80 Years

In 2019 Paul Brown Tiger Stadium will celebrate its 80-year anniversary.  Constructed in 1938-39 during the coaching tenure of the great Paul Brown, it has hosted hundreds of high school football games in front of over 3 million fans.  It has also been used for state football playoff and all-star games,  fireworks displays, high school graduations and band reviews.  Below is an article that appeared in the game program for the Massillon vs. Cleveland Cathedral Latin contest, dated September 15, 1939, in conjunction with the opening of Tiger Stadium.   The publication describes the thought process, funding and construction that made Tiger Stadium a reality.

Tiger Stadium is one of ten units in an $860,000 school building program being carried out in Massillon this year with the assistance of the Public Works Administration (PWA).

Of that $860,000, Massillon citizens will pay $473,000 and the federal government will contribute the remaining $387,000.

Tiger Stadium is the first of these units to be dedicated.  It is situated in a 57-acre tract of land the city park commission purchased in 1930 from the late City Board of Trade, and which was improved for park purposes by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) at a cost of $160,000.

When the Board of Education found it impractical to expand its athletic facilities at Massillon Field, it turned elsewhere for a stadium site, and finding the new park land suitable, offered to trade Massillon Field to the City Park Commission for five acres of land.

The commission agreed, the exchange was completed and today this section of South Sippo Park is being turned into a playground for Massillon school children.  It will be known as Massillon School Field and will have facilities for football, baseball, football practice, a band drill field, tennis courts, archery courts and parking space for 5,000 autos.

Tiger Stadium, which stands at the northeast corner of Massillon School Field, is a monument to the glories attained by Massillon’s sons on the professional as well as the scholastic gridiron.  For here, professional football was born, nurtured and made one of America’s leading sports; and when professional football outgrew Massillon, the city’s high school carried on the Tiger championship gridiron tradition.

Both the PWA and the WPA participated in the construction of Tiger Stadium.  The spacious steel and brick tile stands on the west side of the field and the fence surrounding it was designed by Albrecht and Wilhelm, local architects, and built by the Warren Hoffman Co. of Canton at a cost of $118,000.  The grading of the field, construction of tile drains and seeding was financed by the Board of Education.  The stands on the east were taken down, moved from Massillon Field and erected by the WPA, which also set the curbing for the running track and constructed storm and sanitary sewers.

The WPA likewise is widening roads leading to Massillon School Field, as well as driveways in the athletic grounds, constructing gutters, tennis courts, a baseball diamond, a band drill field, a practice field for football, archery courts and parking grounds for autos.

When completed, Massillon School Field with its Tiger Stadium will represent a $225,000 project.  Of this entire project, the Federal Government has contributed $136,000, Massillon citizens $89,000.

The actual cost to the taxpayer is twelve and one-half cents per year for each thousand dollars worth of real estate he owns.  The cost of financing the stadium project is nine cents per $1,000, while that of the recreation field is three and one-half cents per $1,000.

Tiger Stadium has 12,000 permanent seats.  The stands on the west side will comfortably seat 7,650 patrons and that on the east side 4,250.  The seats at the south end of the field are portable and will accommodate 2,000.  It is probable that at the close of the football season they will be taken down, stored and erected next spring on the baseball diamond.

The overall height of the steel and brick tile stands is 60 feet while the last of the 40 rows of seats is 42 feet above the playing field.  Two hundred and seventy-seven tons of structural steel support the stands.  Seven hundred and fifty cubic yards of concrete were used in the structure.

The stadium contains 10,000 square feet of floor space, with accommodations for home team, visiting team, officials, ticket and faculty managers, concessions, public and private lavatories, storage space and a band room.  These rooms are heated with two complete units, one for the visiting team and one for the home team’s headquarters.

Topping the stands is a 72-foot press box, one of the finest in the state, enclosed with glass, with radio compartment and telephone connections.  The electric scoreboard at the south end of the field is operated from the press box.

The playing field, used as a baseball diamond for South Sippo Park, was re-graded for football, requiring the moving of 2,500 cubic yards of soil.  Six thousand feet of drain tile were placed beneath the surface.  A ton of fertilizer and 600 pounds of grass seed made possible the fine sod.  This field will be illuminated with 135,000 watts of light flowing from 80 reflectors mounted on eight 60-foot poles.  The reflectors are of latest design, each equipped with a lens.

A running track encircles the playing field.  Twenty-five car loads of ashes were required to fill it.

The entire stadium is encircled by 2,200 feet of fence, 10 feet in height with an additional foot of barbed wire strands.

Though Tiger Stadium, and particularly Massillon School Field, are not entirely completed, the progress has been amazing, considering that ground was not broken until the first week of April.

The PWA share of the project has given 33,000 hours of work to men in Massillon and vicinity, while the WPA portion of the program will provide jobs for 250 men for six months.

Website Passes the Million Page View Milestone

The Massillontigers.com website continues to grow in size and attract football fans from around the country.  In fact, its popularity has swelled so much that the page view count, i.e., the total number of pages that are opened by viewers over a specified period of time, has recently eclipsed the 1 million mark in just 18 months of operation.  So, for anyone interested in high school football and Massillon in particular, this is the place to go.

As of the first of the year, the user data shows the following:

• 205,000 sessions
• 112,000 unique users
• 1,008,000 page views

Activity exploded during the past football season with a large number of users visiting the site, while peaking on game days.  In fact, on the day of the Massillon-Akron Hoban playoff game, the site drew over 19,000 page views, which was an all-time single-day record for the site.  It didn’t hurt that Massillon was making a serious bid for a state championship at the time.

A product of the Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club, the website was rolled out with a new design platform in July 2017.  This new format is a step ahead of the old one in that it presents information in a cleaner way and features a triple combination of sports magazine, seasonal data and media guide.  High school football fans would be hard pressed to find a high school football site as all-inclusive as this one.

On at least a weekly basis a new story goes up on the main page covering anything from Booster Club announcements to the current football season and looks back into Tiger football history.  Currently, there is a series on the Massillon Wall of Champions, recently featuring Ben Bradley, John McVay, Harry Stuhldreher, Art Hastings, Bob Glass, Homer Floyd and Dennis Franklin.

Seasonal data is active throughout the football season and focuses on the players and coaches, and anything related game performance.  In the players and coaches section there is a complete set of photos for coaches, players and staff, and rosters of the varsity and freshmen teams.  The schedule section covers varsity, JV, freshmen and middle school.  There is also information related to the playoffs and the future Massillon schedule.

The most comprehensive section on the website is that of history, with over 3,000 pages of information, divided into four major categories as follows:

• Past Seasons: The largest of the four categories, this one features an informational page for each year, going back to 1891 when the football program got its start. Next to each game score there is a link to the respective newspaper story.  And starting in 1938, statistics are included for each game and rolled up into season totals.  There are also team and player records throughout the 123 years of Massillon Tiger football history.  It’s all topped off with opponent series records, playoff history and championships.
• Past Players: This category focuses on the individuals, with the main topic that of documenting each player that achieved All-Ohio status, collegiate All-American, a hall of fame or other important award. There are also timelines of head coaches and team captains.
• Historical Accounts: This category includes narratives on Massillon football history and the All-American Conference that existed in the 1960s and 1970s.
• Massillon vs. McKinley: Everything a fan wants to know about the Tigers and Bulldogs is contained in this category, from a comprehensive history of the storied rivalry to the score of each game to the Victory Bell.

Just to be complete, there are sections on the outstanding football facilities and the many support organizations.

So be sure to visit often and Go Tigers.

Jamir Thomas Receives Touchdown Club Hardnose Award

At the end of each season, the Touchdown Club honors one of the players with the “Bob Commings Memorial Hardnose Award.”  That player would have received the most votes from among weekly tallies taken by the club members.  Past players honored include John Mulbach (Ohio State), David Whitfield (Ohio State), Chris Spielman (Ohio State), Shawn Crable (Michigan) and Brian Gamble (Illinois/Ashland).

Bob Commings was a very successful coach for the Tigers from 1969 to 1973, compiling a record of 43-6-2, including Massillon’s last state championship (1970) and qualification for Ohio’s first ever state playoff games (1972).  Commings departed following the 1973 season to become head coach of the University of Iowa and later coached at GlenOak High School, for which their field was later named.

This year’s hardnose award winner was Jamir Thomas, the record-setting running back that led his team to a 14-1 record and runner-up finish in the state tournament.  A repeat winner from last year, Jamir received the award from Bob Commings, Jr., son of the coach for which the accolade is named.  Thomas holds several Massillon career records, including rushing attempts, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, all-purpose yards, points scored and total touchdowns.  This year he rushed 261 times for 1,918 yards (7.3 yards per carry) and scored 24 touchdowns.  He also played a little defense!  Congratulations to Jamir Thomas.  Enjoy the photos of the event.

Booster Club Report – Season Wrapup

The final Booster Club meeting of the year was held at the WHS library in front of a large supporting audience.  Head Coach Nate Moore and several players were in attendance and received a standing ovation for their effort this year in fashioning a 14-1 record and runner-up finish in the state playoffs.  Booster Club President Ben Lieberman opened the meeting by reading a list of some 35 records set by the Tigers this year.  Some of the more prominent ones are:

• Most wins in a season (14)
• Most points scored (670)
• Most touchdowns scored (93)
• Most offensive yards (6,244)

There were also several new season and career records set by various players, including by Jamir Thomas, who set new benchmarks for career yards and points scored.  “It was a wonderfuj season for a lot of reasons and not just a 14-1 record.” said Moore.  The coach then thanked the Booster Club for their support throughout the year.

Last Thursday’s game against Akron Hoban was the fourth time that Massillon had advanced in the state playoffs to the final game, only to lose each time.  But that didn’t diminish the praise Coach Moore heaped upon the program.  “We have an unbelievable coaching staff that really works hard,” he said.  “They’re experts in what they do.  It’s the best coaching staff around.  Our kids were unbelievable.  (When out in public) people couldn’t believe how polite our guys are.  It’s been a great year because of the people we get to be around.”

The guest players were Aiden Longwell (quarterback), Justin Gaddis (center), Dean Clark (defensive back / wide receiver) and Jory Mattox (lineman).  “It’s a season I’ll never forget,” said Longwell.  “I want to thank you guys.”  “You guys have a big impact on whatever we do,” added Clark.  “We wanted to win the football game to make you happy.”

The coach then showed clips of the 42-28 loss to Hoban and responded to questions as they arose.  “It (the loss) was hard to swallow because we put so much effort into it,” he said.  “There were a lot of plays where we did a really good job.  We just didn’t have enough of them.  I couldn’t be prouder of our kids.  We dug quite a hole.  But the way we came out and won the second half, we played like Tigers.”

Massillon opened the game by marching down the field and putting themselves into position to post the first points of the game.  But a couple of miscues stalled the drive.  “We came out and really ran the ball down the field, said Moore.  “We couldn’t quite get the last 20 yards.  It really could have changed the complexion of the first half.”

A critical moment in the game came late In the fourth quarter with Hoban clinging to a 34-28 lead.  The Knights were facing a fourth down and three at midfield and converted the first down off a fake punt with a run up the middle.  “It was the biggest regret I had,” said the coach.  “We should have left our defense on the field.”

The Tigers will now take the month of December off and resume activities in the weight room in January in preparation for the 2019 season opener against Akron  St. Vincent.  But those five extra weeks of practice throughout the playoff series was incredibly invaluable according to Moore.  “It was like having spring practice.”  Moore is excited about next year, beaming that Massillon has a really good group coming up.  It will be built around several returning starters from this year’s varsity team and stocked with players from a junior varsity squad that finished 9-0 with wins over Cleveland St. Ignatius and Lakewood St. Edward.

Go Tigers!