Week 1 – NFL Academy – London – In a unique matchup, the Tigers traveled to Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, to face the NFL Academy-London in Nike’s 3rd annual Football Kickoff Classic and returned home with a 35-20 victory. Quarterback Jalen Slaughter led the way with a monster game, completing 29 of 44 passes for 403 yards. All three marks found their way into the Massillon record book Top tens. Slaughter also threw three touchdown passes: one to Braylyn Toles and two to Jacques Carter. Ja’Meir Gamble also scored a pair of rushing touchdowns.
Week 2 – at Canton GlenOak – Massillon was an overwhelming favorite in this one and the road game played out as such, with the Tigers winning 45-0. Massillon scored on six of its first seven possessions and tacked on a final score with a pass interception return. Running back Ja’Meir Gamble rushed 11 times for 120 yards and scored twice, on runs of two and 18 yards. Quarterback Jalen Slaughter had a another big outing, completing 12 of 20 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns, with four completions going to Braylyn Toles.
Week 3 – Bergen Catholic, NJ – Massillon played what was perhaps the best team to ever enter Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, losing 35-21. Bergen was stocked with twelve players that had offers from Power-5 universities and two others that were considering offers from MAC schools. As such, they had great size size on both lines and tremendous speed across the skilled positions. The Tigers played Bergen even during the first two quarters and by halftime the score was tied at 21 apiece. But in the second half, Bergen switched to a power game on offense and used their large line to control the Tier defense. On the other side of the ball, they rushed a fifth player to pressure both the run game and the pass game as a steady hard rain fell throughout the second part of the game. Bergen is currently ranked nationally in the Top 10 by Calpreps.com.
Week 4 – Canisius, NY – The Tigers took a 35-0 lead into the locker room at halftime and cruised to their third win in four starts, 41-7. The scores were multiple and came in the form of two offensive touchdowns, one via the run and one via the pass, a pass interception return, a fumble return and a punt return. Quarterback Jalen Slaughter completed 10 of 12 passes for 150 yards and one touchdown. Jacques Carter caught four of the passes for 91 yards and one TD. Meanwhile, the first team defense held the Crusaders under 40 yards of total offense throughout the three quarters they were on the field. The entire second half was played under running-clock conditions.
Week 5 – at Lakewood St. Edward – In one of best matchups of the season, the top two teams in the state of Ohio (per national rating service Calpreps.com) battled it out for 48 minutes at Lakewood’s First Federal Stadium, with Massillon coming out on top, 31-21. It was the third straight victory by the Tigers over the Eagles, with the wins coming in consecutive years. The Massillon offensive and defensive lines held the advantage throughout, rushing for 236 yards against 51 yards for St. St. Edward. Running back Ja’Meir Gamble had his best outing of the season, carrying the ball 22 times for 144 yards and scoring two touchdowns. On defense, Ja’Dyn Williams recorded 16 tackles.
Week 6 – DeMatha, MD – In a matchup of two nationally ranked high school football teams, parochial school power DeMatha Catholic (3-1) came out on top of Massillon (4-2) 20-14 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Simply put, although the Tigers played to their capabilities, the Stag were bigger, stronger and faster, and they used those assets to control the game from start to finish. The Stag also took advantage of a short field on three of their four scores. But the Tiger defense never quit and kept the game score under control. Ja’Meir Gamble and Mylen Lenix were held to a season low 84 yards rushing, while quarterback Jalen Slaughter completed 15 of 25 passes for 104 yards.
Week 7 – Football North (Clarkson), ONT – Massillon returned to its winning ways with a 45-6 rout of visiting Football North (Clarkson) (4-2), a team that hails from Toronto suburb Mississauga, Ontario. The Tigers used a balanced attack in scoring early and often and took the game into a running clock situation with their first touchdown of the second half. Massillon rolled up 415 yards of offense, while holding North to just 49 yards on the ground, in spite of going against a 300 lb. offensive line. The 3-headed backfield monster of Ja’Meir Gamble, Mylen Lenix and Peyton Mitchell combined for 146 rushing yards, 46 receiving yards and a touchdown. Even Big Mike Wright Jr. got into the action with 24 rushing yards and a score. In the air, Jalen Slaughter had another great night, completing 8 of 12 passes for a whopping 205 yards and a pair touchdowns. On defense, inside linebacker Ja’Dyn Williams was simply a monster, coming up with seven solo tackles and two assists. In addition, Tyler Hackenbracht was all over the field, as he recorded four solos, three assists and a pass interception.
Week 8 – Legacy School of Sport Sciences – Massillon used a devastating running attack along with a crushing defense to shut down Legacy School of Sport Sciences, 41-0. Ja’Meir Gamble had a career night, rushing 15 times for 290 yards and five touchdowns. His 290 yards is 3rd in the Tiger record book, while his 19.0 yards per carry is second. Meanwhile, the defense held the Titans to just 41 yards rushing and twice turned the opponent away scoreless in the red zone. Tyler Hackenbracht recorded nine tackles, while Mylen Lenix had seven, along with 2.5 quarterback sacks and 4.5 tackles-for-loss. Unfortunately, the game was marred by 25 penalties, fifteen by Massillon and ten by Legacy.
Week – 9 – at Warren Harding – Massillon traveled to Warren Harding and came away with a 45-14 victory. Ja’Meir Gamble led the Tigers by rushing 10 times for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and receiving a pass for a fourth. Massillon scored on four of six first half possessions and took a 24-7 lead into the locker room. Gamble’s 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter sent the game into a running clock situation. Quarterback Jalen Slaughter completed 11 of 19 passes for 177 yards and two scores, with Braylyn Toles catching five aerials and Jacques Carter four. Massillon as a team rolled up 411 yards with just 40 plays. Meanwhile, the Raiders were limited to 74 yards on the ground, while suffering five quarterback sacks.
Week 10 – Canton McKinley – Massillon defeated Canton McKinley 16-7 in the 135th renewal of this great rivalry, with all of the points scored in the first half. The Bulldogs came into the game as an overwhelming underdog, which was uncharacteristic for this event. And it would have played out that way had they not made any adjustments to the defense in order to hamper the well-balanced Tiger attack. So, they elected to load the box to stop the run and take a risk by playing man-to-man against the wide receivers. At times, even the free safeties crept toward the box to aid in the effort, thereby placing up to nine players in that zone. The ploy worked, at least against the run. Massillon never got untracked with their ground game, holding 1,000-yard rusher Ja’Meir Gamble to just 49 yards on 19 carries. Only, Massillon quarterback Jalen Slaughter was on the mark, completing 12 of 17 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He was also named by the Great American Rivalry Series as the Player of the Game. The defense blitzed early and often, putting great pressure on quarterback Kam Montgomery, who was the catalyst of the Bulldog offense. And they held the McKinley rushing attack to almost nothing until near the end of the game. In the second half, the Tigers reverted to the game plan used in last year’s 7-2 state championship victory over Akron Hoban. That is, run the ball to burn up the clock and leave it to the defense to bring it home; i.e., play sound fundamental football against the rush, blitz sparingly and keep the receivers in check. It worked. The Bulldogs had the ball only three times in the second half.
Week PO1 – Licking Heights – Massillon opened defense of their 2023 Division II state title with a 41-6 victory over Licking Heights. The Tiger offense struggled early to take control of the game against a run-focused Heights defensive front, but eventually pulled away in the second half, with a running clock underway for the entire fourth period. Quarterback Jalen Slaughter had another fine outing, completing 13 of 17 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns, one to Jacques Carter and another to Braylyn Toles. Running back Ja’Meir Gamble carried the ball 18 times for 164 yards and two TDs. Meanwhile, the defense completely shut down the Hornet rushing attack and they abandoned it early in favor of the pass.
Week PO2 – Canal Winchester – Massillon advanced to the Region 7 championship game with a 48-14 victory over Teays Valley. It was an odd first half of football as the Tigers ran just four plays offensively and scored three touchdowns, while the special teams returned three kicks for additional scores, to take a 42-7 lead into the locker room. The offensive TDs came on a 7-yard run by Mylen Lenix, a 77-yard pass from quarterback Jalen Slaughter to Braylyn Toles and a 52-yard run by Ja’Meir Gamble. Tyler Hackenbracht tallied all three special team touchdowns on punt returns of 50 and 81 yards, along with a touchdown return of 100 yards. Meanwhile, the defense held Teays Valley to a net zero yards rushing and ten yards passing during the half. The backups played most of the second half with a running clock in effect. Peytton Mitchell led all Massillon rushers with 12 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown. Inside linebacker Ja’Dyn Williams led the team on defense with five tackles and a sack.
Week PO3 – Big Walnut – Massillon was upset 14-7 by Big Walnut in the regional finals, in spite of outgaining the Golden Eagles 378-170 and Ja’Meir Gamble rushing for 184 yards. The Tigers were hampered throughout nearly every offensive drive by false start penalties, 19 in total, which is an unprecedented number for any football game. Whatever was happening on the field seemed to neutralize the effectiveness of the line at the moment the ball was snapped. The penalties also turned many short 3rd down plays into passing situations. The difference in the score was a kickoff return by Big Walnut to start the second half .