The Ohio High School Athletic Association has adjusted its divisional assignments for the 2019 football season following updated competitive balance numbers. However, regional assignments have yet to be made. Here are the changes based on last year’s regions:
Region 5 – Copley moves to Division 3
Region 6 – Perrysburg and Toledo Bowsher move to Division 1
Region7 – New Albany moves to Division 1; Ashland, Dover and Tri-Valley move to Division 3
Region 8 – Dayton Belmont moves to Division 3
Several teams have been relocated to Division 2 to fill the vacancies created by those that have left, including:
From Division 1 – Austintown Fitcn, Cleveland John Marshall and Cleveland Rhodes
From Division 3 – Parma Padua, Alliance, Akron North, Olentangy Berlin, Columbus DeSales, Piqua and West Carrollton
If the new D2 teams are placed geographically based on last year’s regions, then Region 5 would be heavy by a few teams and Region 6 would be short by a few teams. So it appears on the surface that Region 5 would need to surrender some teams to Region 6 in order to create balance. Or, given that none of the Region 5 teams would be considered candidates to move to Region 6, then the OHSAA could opt to move some Region 5 teams to Region 7 and some Region 7 teams to Region 6. The obvious additions to Region 7 would be Akron Ellet, Akron Firestone and Akron Kenmore-Garfield while the logical subtractions would be Barberton, Wadsworth and Medina Highland, all of whom were in Region 6 in 2017.
But regardless of who moves, Massillon, Cincinnati Winton Woods, Akron Hoban, Toledo Central and Cincinnati LaSalle will remain as the teams to beat in Division 2, It should be noted that Massillon and Winton Woods have the highest competitive advantage number for a public school in the division. Toledo Central and Akron Hoban have the highest numbers for a parochial school in D2 (4th and 5th, respectively, among all divisions).
Dale Walterhouse, former Tiger assistant coach and WHS teacher, passed away May 29. As a long-time member of the Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club, Dale was a friend of everyone. But most of all, he was always there to help when a project needed done.
He began his coaching career in Massillon in 1959 as the coach of Jones Junior High, moving onto sophomores the following year. By 1964 he was the sophomore head coach and a varsity assistant under the legendary Earle Bruce, then Bob Seaman, Bob Commings and Mike Currence. Overall, his coaching tenure spanned 24 seasons. His last coached in 1984, which was Currence’s final year at Massillon. John Moronto, Currence’s replacement elected not to renew Walterhouse’s contract. But Dale did not fret, for he said it freed up his time to watch son Kurt play football in college. By the end of his career, Walterhouse had been influential on six state championship teams, two of which were named national champions.
When not coaching, he taught health, physical education and general chemistry at the high school. He also served a short stint as Athletic Director.
Later, he was a Massillon City Councilman and Manager of the Elms Swim Club.
As a member of the Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club, Dale served as vice president in 2001, president in 2002 and treasurer from 2003 to 2011. He was also president of the Sideliners in 1999.
In 2016, Coach Walterhouse was featured on the game program cover for the Akron Firestone game (see photo).
As a reward for his stellar career, Dale was inducted into the Tiger Hall of Fame in 2015. He also received the One Tiger Heritage Award in 2018. According to Managing Director Bob Clendenin, this honor is given to individuals who contribute decades of time and effort toward bettering their community and helping kids.
Dale and wife Jo are the proud parents of children Kathy, Kurt and Steve, 11 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren.
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.
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.
Washington State Head Coach Mike Leach
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 1st 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 3rd quarter was 3.05, a bit shy of the goal of 3.3. The coach expects improvement in the 4th quarter.
Becca Moore, wife of the coach, will again provide preparatory work for ACT testing.
The Golf Outing is scheduled for August 6.
Massillon Head Coach Nate Moore
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.
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 7th Grade. A Tier 2 player is an open enrollment student that entered the district in the 7th 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 7th 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 7th 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:
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.
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.
Massillon Head Coach Nate Moore
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 10th 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.
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.
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:
DAY
DATE
TIME
OPPONENT
LOCATION
SCORE
RESULT
MEDIA
STATS
Fri.
Aug. 22
7:00
Cleveland Glenville
H
Story
Stats
Fri.
Aug. 29
7:00
Canton GlenOak
H
Story
Stats
Fri.
Sep. 5
7:00
Rabun Gap-Nacoochee, Rabun County, GA
H
Story
Stats
Fri.
Sep. 12
7:00
L. J. Bennett, Buffalo, NY
H
Story
Stats
Fri.
Sep. 19
7:00
Lakewood St. Edward
H
Story
Stats
Fri.
Sep. 26
7:00
Cornerstone Christian, San Antonio, TX
H
Story
Stats
Fri.
Oct. 3
7:00
Football North, Clarkson Secondary School, Mississauga, ONT
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.
Sellout Tiger Stadium Crowd for the 1940 Massillon-McKinley game.
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.
He began his coaching career in Massillon in 1959 as the coach of Jones Junior High, moving onto sophomores the following year. By 1964 he was the sophomore head coach and a varsity assistant under the legendary Earle Bruce, then Bob Seaman, Bob Commings and Mike Currence. Overall, his coaching tenure spanned 24 seasons. His last coached in 1984, which was Currence’s final year at Massillon. John Moronto, Currence’s replacement elected not to renew Walterhouse’s contract. But Dale did not fret, for he said it freed up his time to watch son Kurt play football in college. By the end of his career, Walterhouse had been influential on six state championship teams, two of which were named national champions.
