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 – Miami Edison –
Week – 9 – at Warren Harding –
Week 10 – Canton McKinley –
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