Posts - Page 102 of 185 - MassillonTigers.com

1986: Massillon 10, Austintown Fitch 14

October 3, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

Mud, guts and defeat at Fitch
Tigers fall 14‑10 on touchdown with six seconds left in‑game

STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

AUSTINTOWN ‑ One minute the Massillon Tigers were singin’ in the rain. The next minute this game was mud.

Now there were seven minutes left, and the Tigers had the ball with a 10‑0 lead. Now it was fourth‑and‑goal from the 2‑inch line, and Leo Hawkins was diving into the end zone with six seconds left to give Austintown‑Fitch a 14‑10 high school football victory Friday night before 5,000 waterlogged fans.

It ended so quickly. And it hurt so bad.

It left the Massillon camp in shock.

Hoagy Pfisterer, the senior linebacker, slumped on a bench, helmet off. His face was a mask of mud from a field spoiled by a vicious rain that lasted through the first half.

Andre Horner, the senior nose guard, clutched his helmet and slammed it three times to the squishy turf. He spun around deliriously. He could not accept what had just happened.

What happened was the greatest win in Fitch football history, all things considered. And one of the bitterest Massillon defeats.

“Everybody played all out,” said Jerrod Vance, the senior linebacker, after it had all sunk in. “It just didn’t work out. It was a tough one to lose.”

The loss sank the Tigers to 4‑2, their record a year ago after Fitch’s 21‑19 victory in Massillon. Fitch climbed to 6‑0 and chanted, “Mooney, Mooney, Mooney” ‑ next week’s opponent ‑ in the locker room.

Smiling widely in that room was David Hartman, a backup center for Earle Bruce’s Massillon Tigers in 1964. He lives in Austintown now, and coaches the Fitch team.

“It was a big thing to beat them down there last year,” Hartman said, standing amid a mud‑slimed celebration that may not get cleaned up by Thanksgiving. “But this may have been more special. Nobody up here thought we could win. And sure, it means something to me personally, because of where I’m from.”

It was a tough loss for John Maronto, the Massillon coach whose Michigan offense hasn’t had numerous Tiger fans warming up to it. But he believes in it steadfastly. And he believed it would win his team this game.

“The kids played their guts out, what else can you say?” the second year Massillon mentor said.

Anticipating reactions to the conservative game plan the Tigers used on offense after getting the 10‑0 lead, Maronto said, “When you have bad weather, and you’re backed up into the field position we had, you’ve got to play it the way we played it. Unfortunately, they were able to take advantage of some things.”

It was the Tigers who seized the advantages in the first half.

On the first play of Massillon’s second offensive series, center Todd Feemster, guard John Woodlock and tackle Lance Hostetler parted the brown sea on the right side of the line for tailback Jerome Myricks, who stormed out of the I, hit the big hole, and simply outran the safety for a 61‑yard touchdown run in a pouring rain. Lee Hurst’s kick made it 7‑0 with 6:34 left in the first quarter.

Later, several Fitch players would say they thought the Falcons moved the ball well in the first half, that it was only “a matter of time.” Such was not the case. The Tiger defense stuffed the Falcons in the first two quarters, holding them to 41 total yards in the half.

Massillon, meanwhile, amassed 146 first‑half yards, 39 of them on a double‑reverse gallop by wingback ‑Mike Wilson. That led to a fourth‑and‑one from the 10 with 43 seconds left in the half.

Maronto called a timeout and sent in the field goal unit. Fitch called its own timeout, but freshman Lee Hurst stayed calm and kicked a 27‑yard field goal straight down the middle.

That gave the Tigers a 10‑0 halftime lead.

The rain, utterly miserable at times and omnipresent in the first, quit while the Tiger Swing “Band was on the field at intermission.

“That may have worked to our advantage,” Hartman said.

That was not apparent in the third quarter, when both teams stuck to the ground and neither budged much.

The same pattern held into the middle of the fourth quarter. But things changed when a Tiger fumble gave Fitch the ball near midfield and kept the Falcons from spending the rest of the night in bad field position.

Although Fitch failed to advance on that possession, the Tigers got the ball back in poor field position after a punt, and couldn’t move themselves. Now they had to punt.

Hartman huddled with his special team.

“We told our guys to go for the return,” he said. “We’d been going for the block all night, and it hadn’t keen working.”

Ken Hawkins’ 35‑yard punt sailed to Hawkins, a 189‑pound senior who leads the Steel Valley Conference in rushing. The return strategy worked. He followed a wall of blockers for a 25‑yard return that took the ball to the Massillon 33‑yard line.

On the next play, Hawkins slipped out of the backfield and capitalized on an old football dictum ‑ on a wet field, the receiver has a greater advantage, because he knows where he’s going and the defender doesn’t.

The problem with the dictum is the quarterback is at a disadvantage. A muddy football is the proverbial greased pig. But senior quarterback Eric Luckage managed to get off a pass that landed softly in Hawkins’ hands as he broke across the 15. His trip into the end zone was uncontested. Chris Berni’s PAT kick was good, making it 10‑7 with 5:41 left.

It was hard to get a grip on the ball,” Luckage said. “But I got it away, and Leo made a super catch.”

The Tigers were still in control when they started from their own 25 after taking the kickoff. One first down would wipe out enough of the clock to kill Fitch, considering field conditions.

On second and nine, Mike Norris went off right tackle for no gain. On third and nine, Myricks tried right end. Again no gain.

With 3:20 left, Ken Hawkins had to punt. Leo Hawkins made a short return to midfield.

On second and eight, Hartman sent in the same play that resulted in the touchdown pass. Hawkins was open again, this time catching Luckage’s pass for a gain to the 30. Tiger linebacker Todd Perdue came in a half‑second late on a backup hit. The game films should show that Perdue was a bit late. Under the circumstances, the late‑hit call against him, and subsequent 15‑yard penalty seemed too harsh.

Now it was first‑and‑10 from the 15 with 2:20 left.

Hawkins battered the ball to the goal fine in four carries and went around the left side for a score with six seconds left. Berni’s kick made it 14‑10. The Fitch players mobbed each other, rolling happily in the slop.

The ensuing kickoff was a squib job. Vance picked it up, but there was nowhere to run, and no one to lateral to. He was bowled over on the Massillon 40 after the clock had already hit 0:00.

While the Tigers ruled the first half statistics, Fitch dominated in the second half, leading 104‑41 in yards amassed in the third and fourth quarters.

Hawkins finished with 60 yards in 19 carries. Myricks was the game’s rushing leader with 90 yards in 12 attempts. Norris added 51 yards in 13 carries.

“They were a very good team,” concluded Hartman. “But tonight , we were better.”

MASSILLON 10
FITCH 14

M O
First downs rushing 4 4
First downs passing 0 2
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 4 7
Yards gained rushing 194 98
Yards lost rushing 70 80
Net yards rushing 187 90
Net yards passing 0 55
Total yards gained 187 145
Passes attempted 1 6
Passes completed 0 3
Passes int. by 0 0
Yardage on pass int. 0 0
Times kicked off 0 0
Punts 7 8
Punting average 33.4 31.9
Punt return yards 0 26
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 4 0
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 4 3
Yards penalized 30 14
Time of possession 19.39 28,21
Attendance 5,000

FITCH 0 0 0 14 14
MASSILLON 7 3 0 0 16

MASS ‑ Myricks 61 run (Hurst kick)
MASS ‑ Hurst 27 field goal
FITCH ‑ Hawkins 33 pass from Luckage (Berni kick)
FITCH ‑ Hawkins 1 run (Beni kick)

History

1986: Massillon 56, Barberton 0

September 26, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

A blowout … a washout
Tigers’ 56‑0 win called early in fourth quarter

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Gotta hand it to ya’, Koontzie. That was better than Art Modell’s postgame fireworks stuff.

Hey, this one was during the game, such as it was, a 56‑0 Massillon Tiger tirade against Barberton that was mercifully waved off Friday after three quarters and some small change and a lot of Bart Letcavits.

“Weatherman Mark Koontz,” P.A. announcer Walt Bronczek was saying along about the time a wind that would have seared the bloomers off Auntie Em kicked up, “tells us dangerous lightning and heavy rains are heading this way from the north.”

At that point midway through the third quarter, most folks among a crowd of 8,621 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium did a fly pattern to the parking lot. The crowd included weather sleuth Koontz, a ’65 Washington High grad and currently Dick Goddard’s No. 1 caddy at Channel 8, up north.

The rains and the lightning came, as predicted, but long after Barberton’s chances had vamoosed.

It was 42‑0 at halftime, and even though Barberton claims the nickname Magics, Houdini himself wouldn’t have had a prayer in the second half. As lightning cracked and rain poured crazily down, referee Dick Szink called head coaches John Maronto of Massillon and Jack Foltz of Barberton to midfield, where all parties agreed to call it a night with 10: 08 left in the fourth quarter.

“It was a good decision,” said Foltz, whose team was outgained 339‑10 in total yardage, numbers you wouldn’t have expected in a battle of teams that entered with 3‑1 records.

“We‑weren’t doing anything, and we weren’t about to put the ball up. It was over. We just crapped down our legs.”

As for Maronto, it was a night for singin’ in the rain. Well, humming, maybe.

“We can’t spend too much time praising ourselves,” the Tiger tutor said, “We play at Fitch next week, and they’re a very tough team.

“We only got to play three quarters tonight, and really, who would have expected this? Never in a million years…”

Well, never in a few years, anyway. The Tigers have a history of burying Barberton (43‑0 in 1982, 46‑0 in 1971, 90‑0 in 1959). But the Magics often play Massillon tough (they beat the Tigers 26‑24 in 1981 and 9‑7 in 1977) and the Tigers were coming off a wrenching 9‑7 loss to GlenOak.

As it worked out, the orange and black washed that loss right out of their hair.

The game was called shortly after Shannon Dryden plowed into the end zone from three yards out to make it 53‑0 at the 10:43 mark of the fourth quarter, amid thundershowers.

“We like the rain,” Dryden said. “It was kinda fun playing in that. Something new.”

Letcavits had his fun in the first half.

Early in the first quarter, he ran a “waggle pattern” right past speedy cornerback Jim Ferguson. Junior quarterback John Miller delivered a strike to a wide‑open Letcavits in the right corner of the end zone for a 33‑yard touchdown play.

That capped the game’s opening series, in which the Tigers got Barberton “thinking run” with seven straight rushes.

Moments later, Letcavits hustled under a short punt at the 40 and returned it 23 yards to the Barberton 17. That set up a 4‑yard touchdown run by tailback Jerome Myricks, who finished the half ‑ and the game ‑ with 87 yards in 11 carries and two touchdowns.

The sky was dry, but the floodgates were open ‑ the Tigers went on to outgain the Magics 243 to minus‑two in first‑half yardage.

The next touchdown was set up by Myricks’ 44‑yard run around the right side. That put the ball on the 7, from where Myricks took it over the left side on the next play for a TD. The PAT kick sailed wide and it was 20‑0 with 8:26 left in the half.

The Magics stalled on three plays and were hit with a safety when the long snap sailed high over punter Brian James’ head, and he had to smother the ball in the end zone. It was 22‑0 at the 6:22 mark.

Barberton then punted to Letcavits, who made a nice return to midfield. A rushing play netted nothing, then Miller uncorked another bomb to Letcavits, who had streaked open over the middle. The pass looked too long, but the 5‑11 senior made a spectacular fingertip catch while doing a belly‑smacker at the 1. Letcavits drew a spontaneous standing ovation as he left the field. Miller scored on a quarterback sneak on the next play and Lee Hurst’s kick made it 29‑0 at the 5:13 mark.

It took the Tigers 28 seconds to score again … when senior cornerback Matt Swank bolted in front of Barberton tight end Dan Cuckler, stole sophomore quarterback, Butch Momilov’s short pass and raced 48 yards down easy street for a TD. Hurst’s kick made it 36‑0.

Barberton went nowhere again and had to punt. It appeared the half would run out with no more damage to the Magics when Miller was under a heavy rush with time running out in the half. However, he scrambled out of trouble and took off over the middle … but lost the ball at the 23‑yard line. Letcavits was in the neighborhood, picked up the pigskin and raced in for another TD that beat the halftime gun by 13 seconds.

It wasn’t the first big night for a Letcavits in Tiger Stadium. Bart’s father, Jim, a veteran Tiger coach, was an All‑Ohio end at Massillon in 1953.

But what a night.

“It doesn’t hit me that heavy right now,” Letcavits said. “Really, it just seemed like another game. The main thing is that the team came out and executed the plays on offense and defense.”

It was a big night for Swank, too.

“I came here from GlenOak after my sophomore year, and it crushed me ‑ it crushed everybody on the team ‑ to lose to GlenOak last week,” Swank said. “This was a great way to come back. Our defense came in and right off the bat we intimidated them. Early in the game, after some of our plays were working pretty well, you could tell by looking in their eyes that they didn’t want to play us any more.”

Dryden said the Tigers quit thinking about GlenOak early in the week.

“When we came back to practice Monday everybody was quiet in the locker room,” Dryden said. “Coach Maronto came in and told us we just had to drop our feelings about GlenOak and get on with things. He was right. We’d put so much effort into this season that there was no point in letting one loss bother us any more.”

In‑the end, the Tigers led 339-10 in total yardage. Barberton had the ball for only 14 minutes, 31 seconds. Other than a first half series that followed a Barberton fumble recovery near midfield, the Magics never got the ball past their own 26‑yard line.

The Tigers so completely dominated the game that it’s hard to imagine what the 90‑0 contest in 1959 must have been like.

But one thing bothered Maronto. The Tigers fumbled five times, losing the ball once, all before it rained.

“There’s no excuse for that,” Maronto said. “If we fumble it five times against Fitch, we’ll get our butts blown out.

“We just need to perform with consistency no matter who our opponent is. Our opponent should be ‘X.’ Our job is to execute our plays. We’ve done that four weeks out of five.”

As top individual statistics, nine different Tigers carried the ball. Fullback Mike Norris traveled 75 yards in nine carries and scored a third‑quarter touchdown. Miller picked up 40 yards in four totes.

Miller completed three passes in five attempts for 91 yards. Senior Ken Hawkins, a 6‑8 tight end, got his first catch of the season. Backup quarterback Erik White started the second half. He tried only one pass, though.

Ferguson, Barberton’s speedy running back, gained 20 yards in 13 carries. Momchilov completed two of 15 passes for three yards. Plays that lost yardage were the reason the Magics wound up with just to total yards.

MASSILLON 56
BARBERTON 0

M B
First downs rushing 9 2
First downs passing 3 0
First downs by penalty 2 0
Totals first downs 14 2
Yards gained rushing 256 36
Yards lost rushing 8 29
Net yards rushing 248 7
Net yards passing 91 3
Total yards gained 339 10
Passes attempted 6 17
Passes completed 3 2
Passes int. by 1 0
Times kicked off 8 1
Pickoff average 44.0 46.0
Kickoff return yards 39 70
Punts 1 6
Punting average 39.0 32.8
Punt return yards 31 0
Fumbles 5 1
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 3 4
Yards penalized 35 41
Number of plays 45 34
Time of possession 33:29 14:31
Attendance 8,621

BARBERTON 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 14 28 7 7 56

MASS ‑ Letcavits 33 pass from Miller (Hurst kick)
MASS ‑ Myricks 4 run (Hurst kick)
MASS ‑ Myricks 7 run (kick failed)
MASS ‑ SAFETY, punt snap sailed into end zone
MASS ‑ Swank 48 interception return (Hurst kick)
MASS ‑ Letcavits 23 advance of fumble recovery (kick failed)
MASS ‑ Norris 50 run (Hurst kick)
MASS ‑ Dryden 3 run (Hurst kick)

History

1986: Massillon 7, Canton Glenoak 9

September 19, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

‘Bobby C’ makes history
Tigers nipped 9‑7 by revamped GlenOak gridders

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Darn it, that “Bobby C” always did know how to win a game in Tiger Stadium.

Darned if he didn’t win another one last night. And darned if he didn’t have old friends wearing orange jackets coming up one by one to slap him on the back. Even though that back is now covered with green. Even though this win nudged the foundation of the grand old ball yard just a bit.

Commings shrugged after his GlenOak team beat the Massillon Tigers 9‑7 behind a long scoring drive and a blocked punt for a safety in the first quarter.

“Just another big win,” he said.

But his wry smile said it was more.

Massillon’s high school football team has been taking on Stark County opponents since 1894, and only two of them ‑ McKinley and Alliance had ever managed to beat the Tigers.

Now there are three. And GlenOak is the first one to come from the Federal League, which has been taking swings at the Tigers since 1978, and hadn’t connected until “Bobby C” showed up on a warm September Friday.

Commings, of course, used to stick around after the games. He amassed a coaching record of 43‑6‑2 with the Tigers from 1969‑73, before going to Iowa for a tough major college run that knocked him back to the high school ranks, with GlenOak.

“It’s a thrill when kids play with great courage in a community I dearly love,” Commings said after handing the Tigers their first loss in four games before a crowd of 12,780.

It was a clean win, nothing tricky ‑ witness GlenOak’s 245‑121 advantage in total yards and 12‑4 edge in first downs.

“All the credit goes to GlenOak and to Bob Commings,” Massillon head coach John Maronto said. “They blitzed us early and took it to us.

“We were ripe … a ripe tomato that became rotten.”

Commings knows about those tomatoes. His team sprouted an overgrown preseason reputation and promptly got blown out of the garden by McKinley and North Canton. But the Eagles made some key changes and planted Akron East 40‑3 last week.

There was a new attitude.

“We were getting all the preseason hype and it went to our heads,” said Mike Patt, probably GlenOak’s best lineman. “We finally realized we had to work for anything we got.”

The Eagles played a Massillon theme song, “Eye of the Tiger,” all week in practice.

“We got down to business,” said fullback‑linebacker John McLendon. “And we kept reminding ourselves the Massillon players are good, but they don’t dress in a phone booth.”

McLendon, whose father dressed in the Tiger locker room when he went to high school, was one of the changes. He moved from wingback, where he wasn’t getting loose on the option, to fullback, where he could use his speed and athletic skill to apply direct delivery. The other change was switching Otis Williams, a bigger man than McLendon at 210 pounds, from fullback to tailback.

The combination got a trial run against Akron East and ran like crazy against the Tigers.

McLendon gained 88 yards in 18 carries and was a nuisance all night on defense. Williams rushed for 92 yards on 18 carries.

Both were slowed as the game wore on. But they were deadly on the pivotal opening series.

GlenOak’s Matt McElroy returned the opening kickoff to the 24. Williams ran for six yards, McLendon cut loose for 13 on a misdirection play, then Williams ran for six. McLendon, a 6‑foot, 180‑pound senior, then got the ball on the next five plays, moving the ball from midfield to the Tiger 23‑yard line. Then Williams ran 15 yards for a first and goal.

But on third‑and‑goal from the 8, Williams was stuffed at the 6 and Commings sent in the field goal unit.

The holder was Rob Rastetter, a linebacker who opened the season as GlenOak’s starting quarterback but was beaten out by Jerry Chaney. Rastetter had to uncoil from his kneel to handle a bad snap and had no time to make the spot for placekicker Scott Glosser. In the face of a heavy rush, he flicked a pass to tight end Mike Mottice, who had broken wide open in the right corner of the end zone.

Glosser’s PAT kick made it 7‑0 with 5:00 left in the opening frame.

The Tigers started from their own 19 after the ensuing kickoff but moved only a yard in three plays. GlenOak played for the punt block and it worked. Three Eagles were breathing in Kenny Hawkins’ face as he tried to boot the ball, and one of them, McLendon, got both mitts squarely on the pigskin. The ball caromed 15 yards all the way out of the end zone for a safety, and GlenOak lead swelled to 9‑0 just 1:57 after its initial score.

It stayed that way until a booming Hawkins punt to the GlenOak 9‑yard line on the second play of the fourth quarter ignited the Tigers’ scoring sequence.

GlenOak’s first play was a botched handoff to McLendon that squirted to the 14. Senior linebacker Bob Foster pounced on the ball and the Tigers took over.

As Massillon’s fans rose in their biggest outburst of the night, the fired‑up Tigers opened holes for fullback Mike Norris, who battered three yards then seven yards to the 4. A penalty took the ball to the 2, from where Norris spun around the right side and dove into the end zone.

Lee Hurst’s extra‑point boot made it 9‑7 with 11:30 left in the game.

The Tigers needed a defensive stand. Instead, GlenOak mounted a ball‑control drive. The Eagles traveled from their own 20 to the Tigers’ 30 where it was fourth‑and‑one.

There was still time for a Tiger rally, with five minutes left, but GlenOak was going for the first down and Massillon needed a big play … and got one. A pitch to McLendon was stuffed by three Tigers a half-foot short of the first down and the Tigers took over.

Massillon came very close to winning the game when, on fourth and three with 2:45 left, quarterback John Miller hit tailback Jerome Myricks with a little swing pass that Myricks turned upfield and almost into the clear. The only thing that kept Myricks out of the end zone was a saving bump by McLendon, who nudged Myricks out of bounds near midfield.

On the next play, Miller was sacked for a six‑yard loss by Patt. That was followed by two more incompletions and a sack on fourth‑and‑long by Scott Garcia. The ball went over to GlenOak with 2:21 left and the Tigers called their last timeout.

The Tigers regained possession with 15 seconds left, on their own 40. The game ended on an interception by McElroy at the 20‑yard line.

“We came back in the second half but we did not make the plays we needed to get a victory,” Maronto said. “GlenOak moved the ball on us right away in the first half, but we expected to have problems with them early.

“Our intensity was all right, we just didn’t make the plays. There are no excuses. We got what we deserved.”

The Tigers failed to get a first down on their only three possessions of the first half, when they ran just nine plays to GlenOak’s 33.

Massillon’s first scoring threat followed the second‑half kickoff. A 38‑yard bomb from Miller to split end Bart Letcavits advanced the ball to the GlenOak 31, but on fourth-and‑nine, the Tigers went for it and came up short when McLendon chased Miller into a scramble resulting in a four‑yard loss.

Norris was the Tigers’ top ball carrier with 11 carries for 36 yards. Myricks, a big‑play threat in recent weeks, carried six times, but his total was minus‑one.

The Tigers had tried a total of 12 passes through three games before Friday, but this time Miller went to the airways 15 times, completing five for 90 yards. All but one of the passes came in the second half.

The Tigers will try to rebound next Friday against Barberton, also 3‑1 following a 14‑10 upset loss to Ravenna last night. A week later, the Tiger…

GLENOAK 9
MASSILLON 71

M G
First downs rushing 1 11
First downs passing 3 1
First downs by penalty 0 0
Totals first downs 4 12
Yards gained rushing 46 228
Yards lost rushing 15 15
Net yards rushing 31 213
Net yards passing 90 32
Total yards gained 121 245
Passes attempted 15 7
Passes completed 5 2
Passes int. by 0 2
Punts 5 3
Punting average 30.2 28.0
Punt return yards 18 0
Punts blocked by 0 1
Fumbles 1 2
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 5 6
Yards penalized 35 39
Number of plays 21 41
Time of possession 16:49 31:11
Attendance 12,780

GlenOAK 9 0 0 0 9
MASSILLON 0 0 7 0 7

GLEN ‑ Mottice 5 pass from Rastetter (Glosser kick)
GLEN ‑ Safety, blocked punt bounced out of the end zone
MASS ‑ Norris 2 run (Hurst kick)

History

1986: Massillon 55, Cincinnati Mt. Healthy 0

September 12, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

Long night for Owls.
Tigers draw lofty praise after 55‑0 larrupin’

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ If you ask the Cincinnati Mount Healthy football players what they think of the “M&M Boys,” Mantle and Maris wouldn’t even cross their minds.

They’d think you were talking about Massillon and Moeller.

They scrimmage Moeller every year. And they got a long look at Massillon last night.

As it turned out, the local half of the “M&M Boys” played long ball, wearing out Mount Healthy 55‑0 before a crowd of 8,497 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I’ve been a football coach for 21 years, and that Massillon team I just saw is the best team I’ve ever coached against,” said Mount Healthy mentor Bill Fridman.

The Tigers simply knocked the cover off Fridman’s ball players.

“John (Maronto, the Massillon coach) started to apologize about the score,” Fridman said. “But I told him they shouldn’t apologize. It could have been 100 to nothing.”

Mount Healthy is not to be confused with Moeller. The Fighting Owls are fighting for their lives, having lost 23 players to academic problems and other starters to injury, including a nose guard who discovered a detached retina this week.

But it wasn’t as if the Tigers didn’t earn that big score.

“In my opinion, most of our better ball players are still on the team,” said Mount Healthy wingback‑defensive end Charles Davenport. We were trying as hard as we could. They just turned out to be, the best team I’ve ever seen … better than Moeller, no question.”

Fridman went along with that.

Game action vs. Cincinnati Mt. Healthy 1986

“They were better than the great Moeller teams I’ve seen,” he said. “They just have everything. I’ve seen teams that were big but not aggressive. I’ve seen teams that would knock the crap out of you but weren’t that big. But I’ve never seen a team that combined aggressiveness and size the way this Massillon team did.”

Yes, the Tigers were purring. After struggling to beat Akron Buchtel 7‑0, then improving in a 21‑0 victory over Akron Garfield, they let it all hang out against the Owls.

Fridman was asked if the Tigers have a weakness.

“Yeah,” he said, his mouth curling into a smile. “They don’t have enough seats in their stadium.”

Maronto said he didn’t know what to make of routing a team that previously lost 14‑0 to Fairfield and 28‑0 to Cincinnati LaSalle.

“It’s flattering to hear what Bill said, and it’s true that our players are to be complimented for doing an excellent job of executing,” he said. “But as far as getting prepared for GlenOak (next Friday’s opponent), I don’t know how much this game will benefit us.”

GlenOak got a much‑needed ego boost last night in a 40‑3 shellacking of Akron East. That took some of the tarnish off the Golden Eagles’ image, which suffered in shutout losses to McKinley and North Canton.

So, Bob Commings’ return to Massillon is looking more attractive.

Commings comes up even without the GlenOak factor. Commings’1971 Massillon team was the last Tiger contingent to open the season with three shutouts.

The last Massillon team to blank four foes to start a season was Paul Brown’s, in 1940.

Post Game action vs. Cincinnati Mt. Healthy 1986

But Friday was a night for the offense, starting from the game’s first play from scrimmage, on which fullback Mike Norris popped through a big center‑guard hole on the right side and roared 61 yards for a touchdown.

“They bottled up our cornerbacks, and the next thing I know, there’s this truck heading for the end zone,” Fridman said.

That triggered a night of big‑play touchdowns.

There was a 63‑yard pass from junior quarterback John Miller to Jerome Myricks, a 50‑yard run by Miller himself and a 45‑yard blast by Vernon Riley, who had been mentioned as the possible fullback starter instead of Norris.

Myricks wound up with two other TDs on short runs to ice a night on which he carried nine times for 59 yards.

Riley also scored on a short touchdown run as part of a 13‑carry, 137-yard rushing explosion.

Norris wound up with just two carries for 62 yards.

You got the feeling this wasn’t ‘going to be a game early on.

Two plays after Norris scored, Tiger defender Mike Wilson, who later scored a TD on offense, recovered a fumble that led to a short, easy scoring drive. Myricks’ 1‑yard plunge and Lee Hurst’s PAT boot made it 14‑0 with 7:57 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers established a pattern of scoring within seconds of getting their hands on the ball.

On the first play following an Owl punt, Miller unloaded his scoring bomb to Myricks. The pass erased any doubt about the strength of his arm. The kid has a gun. The play was a straight fly pattern to Myricks, and Miller’s pass looked like something Dwight Gooden might throw. It traveled 60 yards in the air and got to Myricks in a hurry at the 8‑yard line, from where he eased into the end zone.

On the first play after the next Owl punt, Miller kept the ball on an option run. He broke through a big hole over the right side but got into heavy traffic around the 20. How he got through it, only the game films know, but he wound up in the end zone on a see‑it‑to‑believe‑it run.

“I get excited about John Miller,” Maronto has been saying.

The fans are starting to catch on, even though the Tigers still are passing at the rate of one a quarter ‑ Miller and Erik White combined to complete two of four passes for 72 yards, bringing the number of aerials that have been thrown this fall to an even dozen.

Miller’s run made it 28‑0 with 9:56 left in the first half.

The Tigers got their scoring out of the way when Riley went in from a yard out with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.

Maronto said he’s concerned that the first‑stringers didn’t get enough work to keep them sharp for upcoming games against rugged foes like GlenOak, Austintown‑ Fitch and Cleveland St. Joseph.

“But there’s another side to that,” he said. “We got to play a lot of people tonight, and the players who came in were very aggressive and did a great job. The fact so many people got to play means a lot to our team.”

The Tiger offense wound up generating 415 yards. Mount Healthy racked up 141.

The Owls were hoping their slippery little option quarterback, Deon Smith, could keep them in the game. The Tigers’ defensive surge was so fierce that Smith never had a chance.

That’s the way it can go when you’re “pitching” against the “M&M Boys.”

MASSILLON 55
Mt. HEALTHY 0

M O
First downs rushing 15 3
First downs passing 1 6
First downs by penalty 0 4
Totals first downs 16 13
Yards gained rushing 352 72
Yards lost rushing 9 40
Net yards rushing 343 32
Net yards passing 72 109
Total yards gained 415 141
Passes attempted 4 21
Passes completed 2 8
Passes int. by 1 0
Times kicked off 9 1
Kickoff average 50.6 31.0
Kickoff return yards 10 101
Punts 2 7
Punting average 47.5 31.3
Punt return yards 50 0
Fumbles 1 2
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 8 8
Yards penalized 75 58
Number of plays 39 51
Time of possession 20:10 27:50
Attendance 8,497

Mt. HEALTHY 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 20 22 13 0 55

MAS ‑ Norris 61 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Myricks 3 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Myricks 63 pass from Miller (kick failed)
MAS ‑ Miller 50 run (Wilson pass from Hurst)
MAS ‑ Wilson 3 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Myricks 5 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Riley 45 run (Hurst kick)
MAS ‑ Riley 1 run (kick failed)

History

1986: Massillon 21, Akron Garfield 0

September 5, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers rout Rams 21‑0

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ The Tigers won a triangular last night.

Their foes were Akron Garfield and Popular Opinion.

They battered the Rams 21‑0. And they routed the rumors.

“We shut down a lot of rumors tonight,” said Bart Letcavits, one of five Tiger football captains. “We showed we can pass. We showed we can move the ball. We showed we can put points on the board.”

Three completions in five attempts won’t start any talk about “Air Maronto.” And 21 points are hardly unusual for the home team in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

But the 34‑yard gainer to Letcavits that set up Massillon’s second touchdown was a rifle shot that showed junior quarterback John Miller just might have a gun.

And the 21 points weren’t scored on any Tom, Dick or Harry. Try Bill. Bill McGee’s Garfield team had won in its last three trips to P.B.’s Big House.

“We enjoyed what we’ve had here,” McGee said afterward. “Tonight, it was pretty clear cut. We got beat by a better team.”

Of John Maronto’s even dozen games as head coach of the fabled orange and black, this was clearly his brightest hour.

“The good news is, we’re just starting to get better,” Maronto said.

“We showed we’re capable of being very good in all facets of the game. We were able to play the type of football Massillon must play to beat a great team.”

In the end, it was Massillon’s night in every way.

But the Tigers had to get past a scary beginning.

On its first possession, Garfield made it look easy as in marching the ball to the 1‑yard line.

Massillon nose guard Andre Horner, who went on to play an outstanding game, was on the sidelines at the time.

“I said a little prayer…’God, pull us through this,’ “Homer said.

On second down, junior running back Harold Mitchell was separated from the ball and Massillon linebacker Kevin Spicer recovered at the 3.

Four plays later came one of the more spectacular runs of Massillon’s last 10 years. On third‑and‑four from the 21, junior running back Jerome Myricks took the pigskin over the right side of the Tiger line.

“I saw a lot of defenders, so I just cut it back the other way,” Myricks said.

Guard Tony Lambert threw a good block that helped Myricks get to the outside. Then he showed his back to the Rams. He had one man to beat, returning starter Frank Washington, a cornerback, who had a clean angle to make a tackle at about the 20. But Myricks’ speed and a block by Miller opened the gates to the end zone.

The crowd of 10,320 roared. Myricks had scored on a 79‑yard run. Lee Hurst’s PAT kick made it 7‑0 with 1:54 left in the first quarter.

What had seemed to be a certain 7‑0 Garfield lead instead went the opposite way.

“Even though Myricks ran the ball only once (for 12 yards in a 7‑0 win over Akron Buchtel) last week, we knew he was quite a threat,” McGee said. “We scouted him in scrimmages. You can tell just by the way he runs pass patterns what kind of skills he has.”

Myricks wound up with five carries for 96 yards. In two games, he has gained 108 yards in six totes. That’s an average of 18 yards a carry. That’s not bad.

“We weren’t just an offense with Mike Norris,” Maronto said.

Just so. The quarterback Miller also made five carries, picking up 57 yards. The fullback Norris, who rushed for 130 of Massillon’s 178 yards last week, gained 64 yards in
20 trips.

“Mike Wilson (held to two yards in four carries) is a great asset to our offense, too,” Maronto said. “If they gets revved up, we’ll have all the tools.”

Miller wound up completing three of his five passes for 44 yards. They were his first completions of the year.

Many of the Tigers’ fans came to the ball park itching to see a more wide open offense than the one that hadn’t scored on Buchtel until the fourth quarter.

The first completion of the year was a 5‑yard strike to Letcavits with 3:17 left in the first half. Many of the fans on the roof side rose in a standing ovation.

Asked to assess the passing game, Maronto said, “John Miller needs more opportunities, and he’ll get there as the season goes along.

“We’ll concentrate on building a strong running game, but we have good receivers and we can pass the ball.

“We shouldn’t forget that the Buchtel team we beat last week was a very good, a very fast, team. The football we’ve played the last two weeks might not be what some people consider good football. But it’s good football.”

It took good football to contain Garfield’s resourceful junior quarterback, Todd Johnson. And that’s what the Tigers got in limiting Garfield to 176 yards. Fifty‑five of those yards came on the final series of the game, a play‑for‑pride drive on which the Rams drove to the 15 before the Tigers sealed their second straight shutout.

The Tigers wound up with 263 yards on the night.

“Massillon is basically just a big, strong, good team,” said McGee, whose team was bothered by losing three fumbles, just as it was plagued by losing four fumbles in a 20‑0 loss to Lakewood St. Edward a week earlier.

Myricks’ touchdown held up for a 7‑0 halftime lead.

Garfield received the second‑half kickoff and started out in a pro set instead of its usual T‑formation ‑ a come‑from‑behind strategy.

Halfback Brent Williams burst through the line on the first play from scrimmage and was on his way to a 12‑yard gain when the ball was jarred loose and squirted wildly upfield. Tiger tackle C.J. Harris won the race and recovered at the Garfield 40‑yard line.

The Tigers’ first play of the second half became the long pass to Letcavits.

“I was in motion from the left side and Mark Kester ran a post pattern to the middle,” said Letcavits. “That attracted a crowd to him and left me pretty wide open. I don’t really remember what happened after that, except that it was exciting to catch the ball.”

The next play was a trap up the middle. The offensive line of center Todd Feemster, tackles Hostetler ‑ and John Schilling and guards Lambert and John Woodlock did its thing. Norris waltzed through a hole up the middle from six yards out. The PAT kick sailed wide right and the Tigers led 13‑0 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.

That pretty much wiped out memories of 1985, when the Tigers led 6‑0 at halftime but went on to lose 14‑6.

The ghost of ’85 was totally blown away by an 86‑yard drive ending midway through the fourth quarter.

The big play was a “naked bootleg” in which the Tigers faked a run to the left side and sent Miller around the right side for a 39‑yard gain.

Norris eventually scored on a 3‑yard run, then tacked on a two‑point conversion.

Garfield’s only scoring threats were on the Rams’ first and last possessions.

The only statistic in which Garfield held a clear edge was time of possession. It was 25:10 for the Rams and 22:50 for the Tigers.

None of that kept the Tigers from having a hot time in the old town last night.

MASSILLON 21
GARFIELD 0
M G
First downs rushing 6 6
First downs passing 1 3
First downs by penalty 0 0
Totals first downs 7 9
Yards gained rushing 228 142
Yards lost rushing 9 27
Net yards rushing 219 115
Net yards passing 44 61
Total yards gained 263 176
Passes attempted 5 7
Passes completed 3 4
Passes int. by 0 0
Times kicked off 4 1
Kickoff average 46.8 45.0
Kickoff return yards 13 36
Punts 6 5
Punting average 34.3 37.6
Punt return yards 12 00
Fumbles 0 3
Fumbles lost 0 3
Penalties 5 1
Yards penalized 58 5
Number of plays 38 44
Time of possession 22:50 25:10
Attendance 10,320

GARFIELD 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 7 0 6 8 21

Mas ‑ Myricks 79 run (Hurst kick)
Mas ‑ Norris 6 run (kick failed)
Mas ‑ Norris 3 run (Norris run)

History

1986: Massillon 7, Akron Buchtel 0

August 29, 1986August 16, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tiger defense ‘de‑masks’ Buchtel ‘7‑0
Massillon stops Griffin option attack

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ The Akron Garfield ‑ oops, make that Buchtel Griffins were “de‑masked” by the Massillon Tigers Friday night.

But for a while the Buchtel boys played a swell game of charades before bowing to the Tigers 7‑0 in the season football opener for both teams. A crowd of 10,128 ‑ possibly the biggest in Ohio ‑ watched in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“They didn’t run their offense. They ran Garfield’s offense,” said John Maronto, who is now 2‑0 in season openers as Washington High’s pigskin pilot.

It wasn’t a bad idea. Garfield’s option attack, loaded with potentially confusing counter plays, caused enough trouble to spell defeat for Maronto’s 1985 Tigers.

And Buchtel’s impersonation was starting to look like the real thing when, on their second possession, the Griffins drove 55 yards in eight rushing plays to the Tigers’ 3‑yard line.

That threat ended when Massillon senior Matt Swank shot in from the left side to block Marvin Bright’s 21‑yard field goal attempt.

Stopping that drive opened the door for Massillon’s “bowling ball” to strike.

Mike Norris, a wide‑body of a fullback at 5‑10, 212, gave the Tigers 124 rushing yards in 30 carries and smashed through the line for the yards that set up the game’s only score.

Junior quarterback John Miller sneaked in from a yard out with 8:40 left in the game, and freshman place‑kicker Lee Hurst nailed the PAT kick that cemented the final score at 7‑0.

The game‑winning drive began after a Buchtel punt plopped dead at the Tiger 6‑yard line early in the third quarter. Massillon marched 94 yards in 18 plays (all runs), gobbling up 9:06 of the game clock.

Norris got 10 of the carries for 38 yards during the drive.

“I could feel them (the Griffin defenders) starting to slack off later in the game,” said Norris, whose running mate was Mike Wilson in the absence of injured returning starter Mike Harris. “They started missing a few assignments, letting things open up a little.

There was no doubt in my mind we were gonna win. They were gettin’ tired and it was just a matter of time.”

You’d get tired, too, if a 240‑pound muscleman was beating up on you all night. That was Buchtel’s plight when the Massillon offensive line, anchored by senior captain Lance Hostetler (6‑4, 240) started puttin’ on the hits.

“The line blocked real well, no question about that,” Norris said. “I think I owe them a pop, or something.”

A win is a win is a win, but this win wasn’t an overwhelming one for a Tiger team ranked eighth in the nation in the USA Today that hit the streets several hours before the game.

The Tiger defense was solid in the end, limiting a Buchtel team that is no patsy to 136 total yards. But the Massillon offense piled up just 178 yards.

Maronto sees a need for improvement before next week’s game, against the real thing, Akron Garfield.

“We beat a good team with a lot of talent, but Garfield is at least two touchdowns better,” the Tiger coach said.

Friday night, Buchtel was the better team for a half. The Griffins outgained the Tigers 112 yards to 55 over the first two quarters.

“The offense sputtered at first,” Maronto said. “We tried to be diversified too soon.”

After a while, Maronto said the players started talking about “just running the ball, and that’s what we did.

“We have a lot of confidence in areas of our team that didn’t look that good on the field today,” Maronto said. “But I’ll tell you one thing, I like the character of this team. That was a great scoring drive. And the defense played extremely well in the second half.”

Tim Flossie, starting his fifth year at Buchtel, was proud of his team’s outing.

“We had a chance to score 10 points and came out with nothing. Massillon had one drive and cashed in, and that was the story,” Flossie said. “We should have won, but they’re a good team. Physically, they hurt us. They’re a strong team.

“We had a hard time handling that No. 34 (Norris). And if they get their other horse (Harris, who is due to return in two weeks) with him, they’ll be hard to handle.”

If this game had been a food, it’s name would have been ground chuck. Of the Tigers’ 53 plays, three became pass attempts ‑ with no completions. Of Buchtel’s 36 plays, six were passes ‑ there was one completion for six yards and one interception which Tiger linebacker Jerrod Vance returned 33 yards.

Buchtel’s wishbone got rolling just after the Griffins took the opening kickoff. Junior running back Marcus Jennings gained 13 yards on a counter, and another junior back, Tim Andrews, bit off 16 yards on the next play.

The Griffins made it to the Massillon 39 before stalling, but the Tigers’ first possession started on their own 6 after a punt.

On second‑and‑11 from the 15, things got hairy. Miller lost the handle on the ball and it squirted toward the goal line. Norris won a chase for the ball and fell on it inside the 1. On the next play, Norris’ 11‑yard run gave Ken Hawkins plenty of room to punt.

Hawkins got off a line drive that turned into a 46‑yard boot, but Buchtel launched another drive. An 11‑yard run by quarterback Ron Shannon, a move‑in who supplanted a QB who had started since his freshman year, put the ball at the Tiger 11 on first down. Then Andrews ran another counter play that put the pigskin at the 3.

But the Tigers held Buchtel to minus‑one yard on the next two plays, forcing a field goal attempt. Swank sprinted in from the outside and made a clean block with his hands to keep the Griffins off the board.

The moment he made the block, Swank sprang to his feet, clapped his hands and tackled place‑kicker Bright at the 20 on the second play of the second quarter.

The Tigers made their first strong move on offense, driving to the Buchtel 35. But on fourth‑and‑eight, a Norris run was stopped for a yard gain, and Buchtel took over.

Flossie referred to “10 points” he thought his team should have scored. The first three became the blocked field goal. The other seven were lost one play after Norris was stopped for that yard gain.

On first down, Buchtel went to the bomb, and it was open, but sophomore Lester Carney couldn’t hold onto the ball as it hit him in the hands while he was in full stride, five yards ahead of two Tiger defenders.

Five plays later, Shannon tried another pass, but this time Vance picked it off and returned it to the Buchtel 32‑yard line. A facemask call gave the Tigers a first down on the 12‑yard line.

But as it turned out, Buchtel wasn’t the only team to misfire on a scoring chance. The Tigers got backed up to the 21 and lost the ball on a fourth‑and‑long incompletion on the next‑to‑last play of the first half.

The Tigers took the second‑half kickoff but were forced to punt. Buchtel got good field position at its own 41 and moved to the Tiger 44 before Massillon linebacker Hoagy Pfisterer served up a big play, sacking Shannon for a 10‑yard loss that led to a punt.

The punt pinned the Tigers deep in their own territory, at the 6, but they blasted their way up field on the runs by Norris, with help from rushers Wilson, Miller and Vernon Riley.

The offensive line of Hostetler, guards Tony Lambert and John Woodlock, tackle John Schilling and center Todd Feemster ‑ averaging around 250 pounds ‑ began working well together, the gains during the drive were as follows: 4, 6, 6, 3, 12, 3, 0, 5, 6, 7, 0 (third quarter ends), 6, 5, 7, 3, 6, 1, 1.

Neither team kept the ball longer than a few plays the rest of the way.

In one tense moment for the Tigers, Shannon threw another bomb on which a Massillon defender brushed against the intended receiver on a play that had the Buchtel bench screaming for an interference call. But back judge Henry Armsted, who worked in the Rose Bowl in January, opted not to pull his yellow flag.

On fourth‑and‑one from the Buchtel 44, Tigers Jerry Gruno, Vance and Pfisterer swarmed over Jennings and the ball went over to Massillon on downs.

The next two plays resulted in turnovers. Norris fumbled the ball away to the Griffins on the first one.

The second one was spectacular. The Buchtel quarterback delivered a short pass over the middle on a naked screen that was caught by Andrews, who absorbed a nuclear hit from Perdue that popped the ball loose and sent it more than five yards to where Tiger linebacker Bob Foster picked it out of the air with two minutes left in the game.

Buchtel regained possession with two seconds left but failed to get off a play.

The speedy Andrews finished with 63 yards in 11 carries, while Jennings got loose for 45 yards in six totes. For the Tigers, Wilson gained 26 yards in seven carries, while Jerome Myricks gained 12 yards on his only rushing attempt.

MASSILLON 7
BUCHTEL 0

M O
First downs rushing 10 8
First downs passing 0 0
First downs by penalty 3 0
Totals first downs 13 8
Yards gained rushing 201 151
Yards lost rushing 23 15
Net yards rushing 178 136
Net yards passing 0 4
Total yards gained 178 140
Passes attempted 3 6
Passes completed 0 1
Passes int. by 1 0
Yardage on pass int. 33 00
Times kicked off 2 1
Kickoff average 47.0 46.0
Kickoff return yards 0 20
Punts 3 3
Punting average 24.3 30.0
Pont return yards 0 0
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 3 1
Fumbles lost 1 1
Penalties 6 5
Yards penalized 40 37
Touchdowns rushing 1 0
Number of plays 53 37
Time of possession 29.26 18.34
Attendance 10,128

BUCHTEL 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 0 0 0 7 7

MASS ‑ Miller 1 run (Hurst kick)

Extra muscle a big hit
with Tiger LB Perdue

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON – Forty pounds later, Todd Perdue is impressed.

The Massillon Tigers’ senior linebacker is a believer in what an off-season conditioning program can mean now that he’s been through another season opener, in this case a 7-0 Massillon win over Akron Buchtel last night.

“That hit was the difference between a 220-pound hit and a 180-pound hit,” Perdue said.

It cam in the fourth quarter at a time Buchtel was trying to make a last-ditch drive to overhaul the Tigers’ 7-0 lead. Buchtel quarterback Ron Shannon delivered a short strike over the middle to Tim Andrews. A split second after Andrews began running with the catch, Perdue ran into him like a ton of bricks.

The ball literally was blasted loose, traveling more than five yards to where Perdue’s teammate Bob Foster picked it out of the cool air.

Perdue played inside linebacker at about 180 pounds in 1985. This year, his 6‑1 frame is packed with 220 pounds of muscle.

Perdue and other Massillon players obviously appreciate the strength they added in the weight room. A regular scene last night had Tiger players embracing Tiger strength coach Steve Studer on the sidelines after a good play.

The Tigers looked stronger as Friday’s game progressed. In the first half, they had been outgained 112 yards to 55. In the second half, they limited Buchtel to 39 yards.

“We were shaky at first, but C.J. Harris, Jerry Gruno and James Bullock (the defensive front wall) started closing things down, and that made it easier for me and Jerrod (Vance, the other inside linebacker).

“If we’d played the whole game like we played the second half, well … I think you’ll see us get better each week,” Perdue said.

John Miller, the junior who got his first varsity start at quarterback, said he agrees.

“We’ll get better,” the 6‑1, 191‑pounder said.

Asked if he had opening‑game jitters, Miller nodded his head in the affirmative.

Asked if he had fun, Miller said, “I loved it. The jitters are gone. Now let’s play some more ball.”

Miller said his thoughts were positive even when things weren’t going well for the Tigers.

“In the second half we just came out and got it done,” he said. “I knew we’d get it in there.”

Mike Norris, the senior fullback who gained 124 yards in 30 carries, said others on the team felt the same way.

“There was no doubt in my mind that we were‑gonna win,” he said.

History

1985: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 21

November 2, 1985November 10, 2021
by Eric Smith

Defeat can’t hide Tiger pride
Pups end Massillon season

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ They’ve pulled the plug on the football season, and it’s quiet around here all right.

No football playoffs to get crazy about … heck, not even a scrimmage against Akron East.

Maybe the calendar says “Nov. 4,” but its winter, baby.

You can say this, though. As the sports soul of Tigertown sighs and enters hibernation, it can be tucked in with a blanket of pride.

Here’s a nut and bolts way to took at it: the Tigers got a 21‑6 spanking from the playoff‑bound McKinley Bulldogs Saturday before 20,174 fans in Canton’s Fawcett Stadium to close their season with a 7‑3 record under first‑year head coach John Maronto.

Here’s another way: the Bulldogs were heavy favorites but got a pretty good scare.

If you want to get at the soul of this 91st game, which left the Tigers with a 50‑36‑5 lead in the fabled series, climb on down off the scoreboard.

How close was this game?

With 8:39 left, Mike Norris was digging for yardage round the 2‑yard line, needing to get inside the 1 for a first down and into the end zone for a chance for the Tigers to turn a 14‑6 deficit into a 14‑14 tie – Norris was stopped right there at the 2 on fourth down.

How close?

With fire minutes left, the Tiger defense stuffed the Pups, and Massillon got the ball on a punt in A‑1 field position near midfield.

Here was another chance to gun for a touchdown, a two-point conversion, and some dancin’ in the streets.

On the first play after they took over, the Tigers lost the ball on an interception, McKinley got a quick score on a bomb, and that was that.

How close.

Dead even, almost. In the end, McKinley had 211 total yards to 199 for the Tigers.

Of course, “close” only cuts so much ice. Plenty of Tigers shed plenty of tears after the clock froze at 0:00.

McKinley was going to the play offs, against GlenOak Saturday night in Fawcett Stadium as it turns out, with a 9‑1 record.

The Tigers were going home.

After the bus wheeled into Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and the players met for it quiet team meeting, Duane Crenshaw found his locker and removed his pads slowly.

He was sad and proud all at once.

”Everybody said they would blow us out,” said the senior defensive tackle. “They sure didn’t blow us out.”

Crenshaw’s locker was near that of Cornell Jackson. By now Jackson had removed his No. 8 for the last time, having gone out in splendid fashion.

His 83 yards in 18 rushing attempts made him the most visibly consistent offensive player in the game. Late in the contest, he turned the intangible of “determination” into something that could be seen with the naked eye.

On the late drive that set up the Tigers with their fourth and short from the 3, trailing by 8, Jackson got good blocking and shed many tacklers as he plunged ahead for 38 yards in seven memorable carries.

“It dawned on me at about that time that within a number of minutes my high school career would be over,” said Jackson, who was in his third game of a comeback after arthrosopic knee surgery. “I wanted to go out with my best effort. I’m just upset that we fell short.”

Maronto was upset, too. His marathon vigils in the film room, which produced a game plan laced with short passes and helped the Tigers stay in the game, were not enough to overcome a McKinley team seen by many as a solid state championship contender.

Maronto fought to get out the words as he spoke with reporters in the Tiger Stadium locker room after delivering the season‑ending address to his troops.

“It’s hard to feel anything good about losing to McKinley,” said the man who arrived from Detroit De La Salle High in mid‑June. “But maybe I have to look at it more maturely. I can say this. The kids just spilled their guts.”

The game’s first four possessions developed with the Tigers and the Bulldogs imitating each other.

McKinley received the opening kickoff and had to punt after three plays.

Then the Tigers had to punt after three plays.

Then McKinley scored on a long march. Then the Tigers scored on a longer march.

McKinley’s scoring drive began in Massillon territory after Chris Clax returned a punt 15 yards to the 48. Using Brian Chaney‑to‑Jerome Perrin passes and runs by fullback Percy Snow and the tailback Clax, the Bulldogs marched on six plays to the 6, where it was first down.

From there, Snow found a gaping hole on a left‑side trap play and literally trotted into the end zone for a McKinley score with 5:38 left in the first quarter. Mark Smith’s kick made it 7‑0, Bulldogs.

The Tigers started from their 34 after the kickoff. Behind senior Paul Fabianich’s sharpest quarterbacking of the season, the Tigers maneuvered downfield against McKinley’s vaunted angle defense.

Highlights included a 12‑yard pass to Bart Letcavits, a 16‑yard Fabianich scramble (his longest of the season), a 10‑yard strike to Wes Siegenthaler and a 17 yard, third and 10 completion to tight end Derick Newman to the 9.

Had later events favored the Tigers, the completion to Newman would have emerged as one of the most interesting developments in the game.

On the play, Fabianich nimbly darted away from the Bulldog linebacker Perrin. A year ago, Perrin was making tackles in that kind of situation, as his big‑play tackles sparked McKinley to a 17‑6 win and led to a first‑team, All‑Ohio berth for Perrin.

But this time, Fabianich stole the moment and zipped a completion to Newman … who had been a fullback all season.

“We wanted to use Derick as a tight end from the start, but injuries didn’t let us go that way,” Maronto said.

Norris, a junior fullback, plowed six yards up the middle to the 3. On second and goal, Fabianich flicked a quick pass over the right side of the line that barely zipped over the linebacker Snow’s hand and nestled into Newman’s grasp for a touchdown.

Norris changed shoes and lined up for the PAT attempt, but his kick sailed low and wide right, and the score stayed at 7‑6 with 1:31 left in the first quarter.

The game of copycat continued through the rest of the half, which was colored by excellent defense from both sides.

McKinley punted, Massillon punted. Then the Bulldogs punted again, then the Tigers punted again … but this time Ken Hawkins’ boot was partially blocked.

McKinley took over on its 46 with three minutes left in the half. The Bulldogs could get no farther than the Tiger 35, where they ran out of downs when a Chaney pass sailed over Perrin’s head.

The Tigers couldn’t budge, and the half ran out shortly after they punted with McKinley leading 7‑6.

The defenses dominated the third quarter, too, with McKinley shifting its alignment to take away Massillon’s short passing game, and Massillon playing “stuff the run,” as the Bulldogs put Chaney’s arm in seclusion and unsuccessfully tried to operate a power attack.

In their first five possessions of the third period, the teams combined for just five first downs on drives that all ended with punts.

The fifth of the punts sank the Tigers.

The boot, a low-flying 41-yarder off the foot of Hawkins, was taken by Clax at the McKinley 38. Clax started for the middle and found an opening to the outside. He broke to the left sideline and then back toward the middle of the field, outracing two Tigers and arriving in the end one at the end of a 62‑yard jaunt.

Smith’s PAT kick made it 14‑6, McKinley, with 1:55 left in the third quarter.

There was still fight left in the Tigers.

The Tigers took over on the kickoff at their 29 and, with the help of a 15‑yard pass interference penalty, used the running of Jackson and Norris to hammer out a length‑of‑the field drive.

On the eighth play of the march, which now was in the fourth quarter, Jackson exploded through the line on a trap play and exploded for 15 yards, almost breaking away for a touchdown but getting dragged down just outside the 10.

Jackson then went around the left side but slipped and fell at the 8. Norris bulled straight ahead for five yards, but on third and about two from the 3, Jackson tried the right side and was stopped for no gain.

Now it was fourth and two.

Do you go for the field goal and make it 14‑9 with about eight minutes left? Or do you go for the touchdown and two‑point conversion to tie?

“We needed a touchdown,” Maronto said, who mapped out strategy during a timeout called by McKinley.

The Bulldogs might be looking for Jackson to come around one of the ends, as he had on two of the previous three plays, Maronto figured.

The Tigers would try to pop Norris through the line.

“It was an inside belly play,” Maronto said. We felt we had enough force to make that play work. Norris is a strong runner.”

Norris lined up close to Fabianich. Fabianich handed him the ball an instant after the snap and Norris charged into the left side of the line. McKinley nose guard Cary Brown lid directly into Norris’ path and made the hit as other players arrived. Norris went down in a pile at the 2. It was McKinley’s ball.

McKinley’s poor field position loomed as a possible silver lining for the Tigers, but that went away when Snow ran eight yards to the 10 on the next play.

Still, the Tigers were alive and kicking when they forced the Bulldogs to punt from their 22. Massillon took over on its 44 with five minutes left in the game, but Smith’s interception killed a would‑be drive before the orange army in the north stands could get worked up.

Five plays after the interception, Smith struck again, racing behind two Tiger defensive backs and hauling in a perfect strike from Chaney on a 41-yard TD play. Smith’s kick gave the Bulldogs a 21‑6 lead with 2:30 left, and the seats cleared out early.

Fabianich finished with a season high of 21 passing attempts. He completed nine throws for 75 yards, two interceptions and the touchdown, the only aerial TD the Tigers achieved in 1985.

Chaney completed eight of 13 passes for 62 yards.

Snow led McKinley’s rushing attack with 64 yards in 15 carries. Clax, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 1984, was held under 600 yards for 1985 as a result of gaining just 20 yards in nine carries Saturday.

Back to Ringling Bros.
Tiger football season ends for Obie XVI, seniors

MASSILLON Ed Annen looked a bit sad. But then, he was about to lose a friend.

“It’s back to Ringling Brothers for her now,” Annen sighed as he looked at the friend, who lives in a cage and answers to Obie XVI.

With help from some loiterers, Annen wheeled the cage of Obie XVI out of a pickup truck and into her fall home at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The football season was over for another year, and so were Annen’s special duties: caretaker of the live tiger that is part of what makes game days in Massillon different than game days in other towns.

The echo of the final gun was still so fresh that the players were in a team meeting within growling distance of Obie’s cage.

In an unplanned moment, the locker room door cracked open and revealed the meeting scene … a silent room filled with bowed heads.

Forget about Obie. Nobody who wears the orange and black feels much in a circus mood after losing to McKinley, as these Tigers had by a 21‑6 score in Fawcett Stadium on this Saturday.

“I thought we played pretty well against McKinley, but we could have played better … we could have beat ‘em,” said Jerrod Vance, a junior linebacker. “Next year we’re going to have a super team. I’m going to try my best to make sure of that.

The meeting broke up, and folks moved quietly amid the benches,

The seniors said their good byes to the locker room in which legends have been born. The juniors talked about setting things straight next year.

“I thought we played pretty well against McKinley, but we could have played better … we could have beat ‘am,” said Jetted Vance, a junior linebacker. ”Next year we’re going to have a super team. I’m going to try my best to make sure of that.

“I thought we should have done better this year. But we came a long way,”

Another junior linebacker who will go some more of the way with

History

1985: Massillon 13, Massillon Perry 3

October 25, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tiger kamikazes help sink Perry

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Sometimes, the kamikazes live to fight other wars.

Such is the case with the unknown soldiers who strap on their goggles and plummet ahead like so many cruise missiles. The guys who sacrifice their bodies more than any other unit had plenty to do with the Massillon Tigers’ 13‑3 victory over the Perry Panthers before 15,638 fans in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday night.

“The guys on the special teams can win a game or lose a game,” noted Tiger kamikaze member Bob Foster. Friday, he helped win one.

In the first quarter, the Tigers were stopped on their first series and had to punt. Panther return man Todd Sabin lost the ball as he was hit by Rod Patt, Howard Evans dove on the ball, and the Tigers got a field goal.

In the third quarter, with the score tied 3‑3, the Panthers again stalled the Massillon offense, forcing a punt. Sabin again lost the ball and Foster flew in for the recovery. The Tigers drove 33 yards for the touchdown that shaped the rest of the game.

“I was running down field and saw the ball pop out and I dove for it,” Foster said. “I was just doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

He’ll try to do it again next Saturday in Canton, where the Tigers will take on McKinley for the 91st time.

As if the Tigers needed something to fuel their jets to get psyched for McKinley, they’ll be playing with the knowledge a win or a loss will be the difference between making the playoffs and going back to the weight room.

Beating the Panthers should vault the Tigers into the top four in Region 2 of Division 1. Three teams ahead of them ‑ Jackson, Brunswick and of course, Perry ‑ lost Friday night.

The loss left the Panthers with a 6‑3 record and kayoed their playoff chances. Perry closes the season against Louisville, whose 4 5 record will not provide enough computer points to offer the Panthers any hopes for a mathematical miracle.

However, if the Panthers beat Louisville, they will clinch at least a share of the Federal League championship ‑ more than just a consolation prize.

Neither Massillon nor Perry was thinking about next week between 8 and 10 Friday night.

Both wanted desperately to win the last game in the Panther‑Tiger series for who knows how long.

“We did what we wanted to do,” said Tiger head coach John Maronto. “We closed out the chapter with things 100 percent in Massillon’s favor.”

The Tigers lead the series 8‑0, with the last two games’ 10‑point margins representing the closest contests.

“Our kids fought real hard,” said Perry pilot Keith Wakefield. “I thought these guys fought harder than any group I’ve brought over.

“When you play four games like our last four (North Canton, GlenOak, Midpark, Massillon) … maybe that caught up with us. But hey, we can share the Federal League title.”

Aside from the big plays by the special teams, the Tigers won with defense. They held Perry’s superb wing‑T running attack to a net of 78 yards. Their defense apparently is ready to deal with McKinley.

“Our defense played outstanding football as a team and I was especially proud of the front seven’s play,” Maronto said.

Perry’s defense played well, too – Massillon led in the total yardage war by a 206‑131 margin.

But it was the Tigers’ best defensive game of the autumn.

“It was the last home game for the seniors,” said defensive tackle Duane Crenshaw, who returned in a big way after sitting out a week with a leg injury. “We wanted to go out like this. Perry’s players were talking about this game since the season started. We wanted to prove we were the better team.”

Four plays into the game, the miscue that plagued Perry nearly nagged the Tigers. Bart Letcavits dropped a Perry punt but picked it up on the bounce, and the Tigers had the ball on their 33.

But the Panthers stopped the Tigers on three plays, setting up the punt that resulted in Evans’ fumble recovery.

The turnover gave the Tigers the ball on the Perry 31. Six running plays resulted in a fourth and three from the 10. After a timeout, Mike Norris boomed a 27‑yard field goal and Massillon led 3‑0 with 4:22 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers enjoyed their finest moments after Tom Ross, performing in front of his uncle Mark Ross, a former Massillon mayor, returned the kickoff 29 yards to the Perry 41.

Perry elected to run and run some more, and it worked, with halfback Archie Herring, fullback Rick Phillips and quarterback Tracy Seery plowing to the Tiger 15 on second and five.

The drive stalled when a Seery‑to‑Herring pass was stopped at the 15 on fourth down, three yards short.

The Tigers took over, but not for long. On third and six from the 19, Sabin made up for his miscue, stepping in front of Chris Aegerter and intercepting a Paul Fabianich pass at the 38 and streaking down the left sideline to the 10.

A motion penalty nullified a second down Panther run to the 1‑yard line, and on fourth and goal from the 3, Joel Kessel was summoned to try a 20-yard field goal, which he drilled over the right part of the crossbar.

With 6:23 left in the first half, the score was tied at 3.

Late in the half, a Kessel punt rolled dead at the 1 with 1:11 left in the half, and the Panthers had a chance to brew up some trouble.

But Cornell Jackson blasted 11 yards on first down, and on the next play Fabianich uncorked a bomb that was hauled in by Wes Siegenhalter on the right sideline. Siegenthaler tumbled to the ground and was ruled down in bounds at the Perry 43, which kept the clock running at the end of the 45‑yard gain.

Only nine seconds remained in the half by the time the Tigers ran another play and called a timeout.

Fabianich then threw a 19‑yard strike to Letcavits over the middle, and another timeout was called with two seconds left. A 42‑yard field goal attempt by Norris was five yards short of sneaking over the crossbar, falling short and right.

The Panthers had a chance to seize momentum at the start of the second half when they kicked off and held the Tigers to three yards in three plays.

But the ensuing Punt resulted in Foster’s fumble recovery, giving the Tigers possession on the Perry 33.

Now it as Massillon’s turn to unleash a threesome of rushers. Michael Harris, Derick Newman and Jackson bulled the ball to the 3, where it was fourth and goal.

Norris came onto the field, but not dressed in a kicking shoe. A handoff went to Harris, who cut over the left side and ran through a big hole opened partially by a Norris block for a touchdown.

Norris’ PAT made it 10‑3 with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty helped the Panthers drive with their ensuing possession near midfield, where they arrived at fourth and four.

The Panthers gambled.

With Kessel in punting formation, the snap was whipped short to Herring, who was stopped by C.J. Harris and Mark Harder two yards short of a first down.

The Tigers took over at their own 49, moved to the 20 with the help of a late hit call, but faced a fourth and three.

Norris has had some trouble finding a kicking groove, but Maronto told him to put on his kicking shoe.

“Mike Norris kept his belief in the team and himself, and we kept our faith in him,” ‘Maronto said.

Norris responded with a picturesque boot that rose from the left hash mark and traveled high and far over the crossbar to give the Tigers a 13‑3 bulge with 8:39 left in the game.

“The field goal was a big play,” Wakefield said.

When Ross slipped on the 11 while fielding the ensuing kickoff, and the Tiger defense stopped the Panthers right there, Perry had to punt.

Massillon controlled the rest of the game, running out of downs at the 3 with just 36 seconds left.

The game ended with some shouting and shoving in an incident growing out of the final play (see related information in today’s sports column).

The outburst ended quickly, and the players from both sides formed a long line and shook hands.

The game was billed as a game, which would be won by the team that played the best defense, and it turned out that way. Other than their scoring drive, the Panthers couldn’t get anything going.

The Tigers moved with only slightly more regularity.

The Tigers led 158‑89 in rushing yardage but gained only 2.6 yards per run.

Fabianich connected on four of eight passes for 80 yards. Seery connected on five of 12 throws far 53 yards.

Sabin and Herring combined to catch four passes for 46 yards.

Jackson was the game’s rushing leader with 48 yards in 16 carries, which isn’t overwhelming, except many of his carries were important in keeping drives alive, and in the Tigers’ lead in time of possession, 28:51 to 19:09.

Phillips led the Panthers with nine carries for 36 yards. Herring was held to 27 yards in 10 carries, leaving him 125 yards short of a 1,000‑yard season.

MASSILLON 13
PERRY 3
M P
First downs rushing 8 4
First downs passing 2 2
First downs by penalty 2 1
Total first downs 12 7
Yards gained rushing 158 89
Yards lost rushing 32 11
Net yards rushing 126 78
Net yards passing 80 53
Total yards gained 206 131
Passes attempted 8 12
Passes completed 4 5
Passes int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 4 2
Kickoff average 49.0 40.0
Kick off return yards 19 63
Punts 3 4
Punting average 39.0 31.8
Punt return yards 2 11
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 2 3
Fumble lost 0 2
Penalties 5 4
Yards penalized 46 34
Touchdowns rushing 2 0
Touchdowns passing 0 0
Number of plays 60 40
Time of possession 28:51 19:09
Attendance 15,638

PERRY 0 3 0 0 3
MASSILLON 3 0 7 3 13

M ‑ FG Harris 27
P ‑ FG Kessel 20
M ‑ Harris 3 run (Norris kick)
M ‑ FG Norris 37

History

1985: Massillon 13, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 3

October 18, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers finish street fight on top 13-3

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ It was a street fight with white lines instead of double yellow, the Massillon Tigers’ 13‑3 victory over Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary Friday night.

“If you ever saw a good fighter get up after he was knocked down…” John. Maronto’s clause had punch enough to render a sentence unnecessary.

The Fighting Irish ‑ just the right nickname ‑ were knocked down all right 2‑4 coming in.

The game, which left the Tigers at 6‑2 going out, left no hearts stopped. The non-allure of a team with a losing record produced a season‑low crowd of 9,243.

But inside the binoculars, and down at ringside, there was plenty of Ali‑Frazier in this.

“There was some serious hitting,” said Tiger linebacker Jerrod Vance, who was doing his slugging for the Irish a year ago, then decided to transfer to Massillon.

“I don’t think they were as good as some of the other teams we’ve played. But they were more pumped up. Part of it was because of me, I guess.

“I was getting weird feelings from those guys, with all the hitting and all the talk down there. But that’s the way it had to be.”

In the end, the Tiger, took the best punch the Irish could muster, and knocked them out before it could go the distance.

“In the end, you could tell they were getting up slow,” Vance said.

The Tigers must make their celebration fast. They now must prepare for an invasion by the 6‑2 Perry Panthers, who are stinging from an overtime loss to Midpark.

Massillon heroes abounded Friday. The defense, wearing down the Irish by keeping fresh linemen in the game, had its knees buckled but punched mightily off the ropes.

The special teams were just that.

The offense did just enough, and The Union, alias the offensive line, got a chance to fine tune its touchdown dance.

The Tigers have been living on the edge ever since losing to Austintown‑Fitch three Fridays ago. One more loss and they’re out of the playoff off race, and you know what that’s like around here.

The edge is where they were living in the fourth quarter Friday.

They were nursing a 6‑3 lead based on Mike Norris’ 26‑yard touchdown run, but the Irish were driving near midfield.

On second and eight from the 48, eight fullback Ken Wayman dropped a pitch, and the ball bounced the funny way footballs do, out of his line of flight and into the arms of streaking Tiger linebacker Todd Perdue.

The Tigers got the ball on the Irish 41. On fourth and goal from the 1, Cornell Jackson plowed over the left side, putting six points on the board and the game out of reach with 4:18 left. Norris’ PAT cemented the final score.

The win wasn’t as easy as a shallow view might have foreseen ‑ the Irish were 2‑4, weren’t they.

But outlasting a team that beat Akron Garfield and should have defeated Cincinnati Moeller means never having to say you’re sorry.

“I want to tell yon something,” said Maronto, the Tigers’ head coach, “I’m proud of this team. We’ve been through three tough game in succession, There comes a time when you’re not as concerned with how big you win as with showing the determination to get the job done … and we got it done.”

An early knockout looked like a good possibility when Wes Siegenthaler returned the opening kickoff 41 yards to the Tigers’ 49‑yard line.

A six‑yard sideline completion from Paul Fabianich to Siegenthaler on the left, a 16‑yard sideline completion to Siegenthaler on the right and a three‑yard ran by Derick Newman put the ball on the 26.

On second and seven, Norris lined up in a one‑back set and ran on a trap play into the right side of the line, which became a Union Gap. Norris ran downfield five yards then cut to the right sidelines, outrunning two Irish defenders on his 26‑yard TD bolt.

“Joe Luckring, Tony Lambert and Lance Hostetler (Union members) drew their guys off the line real well, and I did my best to try to get to the end zone,” Norris said.

Norris changed shoes but missed the PAT kick, and the Tigers led 6‑0 just one minute and 18 seconds into the game.

Little was seen of the Tigers’ offense the rest of the half.

St. Vincent‑St. Mary drove to the Massillon 25 and stalled when safety Bart Letcavits knocked away a would‑be TD pass on fourth down.

On their next possession, the Irish plowed to the Massillon 31 but were stymied by Hoagy Pfisterer’s diving interception.

The next time they had the ball the Irish made it to the Tiger 37 before a Mike Wilson hit forced fourth‑and‑long and a punt.

The punt, which died at the 3, enabled the Irish to break the ice. The Tigers wound up punting from deep in their own territory, giving St. Vincent field position that led to a 28‑yard field goal by Vince Lobelle with 2:41 left in the half.

With two minutes left in the half, Ken Hawkins nailed a 47‑yard punt that landed at the 3, but the Irish made a first down and survived the half without further damage.

The Tiger Swing Band had the field as long as the Tiger offense. At the intermission, the Irish led 169‑91 in offensive yardage and 15:15 to 8:45 in time of possession.

The defenses controlled the third quarter, in which the offenses mustered 82 yards.

A key play was mad by Tiger nose guard C.J. Harris, who stuffed quarterback Rick Davis for no gain on fourth and one at the Tiger 40 with 1:45 left in the third quarter.

The Irish made their last run at a win early in the fourth quarter.

Taking over on a punt on their own 20, they pushed to near midfield on a facemask penalty.

Perdue made his big fumble recovery two plays later.

Now the Tigers had a chance to put the game away.

They did, behind three big plays. On fourth and two from the 34, Cornell Jackson dropped a pitch but picked it up on the bounce and ran seven yards for a first down.

But Jackson then lost three yards, and it was second and 13.

“They were playing their corners tight, and their linebackers were playing the sweep,” Maronto said.

“He sent Letcavits outside the cornerbacks, down the left sideline. Letcavits cut back toward the hashmarks as he reached the 15 and was open as he gathered in a nicely thrown Fabianich pass for a 27‑yard gain to the eight.

Jackson’ a fourth‑down TD run was the big play that iced the game.

Injuries shaded the look of both teams. The Tigers’ were without defensive tackle Duane Crenshaw for the first time this season, one factor in St. Vincent’s gaining 203 rushing yards, at 4.5 a carry.

The Irish didn’t have Carl McDougal, an outstanding back nursing an ankle injury and made sophomore Rich Sparhawk their workhorse, giving him his first carries of the season … but also his last.

After gaining 62 yards in 11 totes, Sparhawk suffered a broken collarbone near the end of the first half.

With several running backs having fallen victim to injury, the Irish found themselves using Davis, the quarterback, at halfback an several plays.

The Tigers used Siegenthaler at quarterback on several plays for the second straight week, but the Irish handled the switch better than Cleveland St. Joseph had the week before, limiting Siegenthaler to four yards in four rushes and one pass completion, an 11‑yarder to Letcavits.

The Irish passing attack was contained by the Tigers. Davis and Mark Lenz combined for six completions in 19 attempts for 85 yards.

Fabianich completed five of nine tosses far 61 yards.

Norris gained 61 of the Tigers’ 121 rushing yard,, in just six carries.

Jackson, in his second game coming off knee surgery, carried nine times for 42 yards.

Newman was held to 12 yards in 10 carries.

Even though his defense did a decent job of containing them, St. Vincent coach John Cistone cited the Tigers’ offensive backs as the strength of the team.

“Massillon’s a good team, and I thought we did well against ’em,” the 26th‑year Irish boss said. “We played hard. It’s just a matter of us running out of backs we can use.

“And it seems like every time we came down here we have trouble in the first quarter.”

That early trouble set the tone for the game. But after that … hey, it was a streetfight.

History

1985: Massillon 28, Cleveland St. Joseph 14

October 11, 1985August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers pull switch in beating St. Joe
St. Joseph’s husky lumberjacks were wide as they were tall, but a question dogged the Cleveland boys, which Tiger has the ball?

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON – Enter, please, a new cliche in The World Book of Wonderful Sports Quotations.

He who lives by the game film dies by the game film.

The Massillon Tigers who were studied all week by the Cleveland St. Joseph Vikings weren’t the same Tigers who ambushed them 28‑14 Friday night before a season‑high crowd of 11,482 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“The new stuff they did hurt us,” said St. Joseph linebacker Ralph Godic. “There were a lot of tricky things they did which we didn’t see on the films.”

Oh, how the films can lie.

“Their backs were a lot quicker in person than they appeared on film,” noted St. Joseph head coach Bill Gutbrod. “My, they have the backs.”

It was a marvelous Massillon defensive effort, really, that was at the heart of the victory that sent St. Joseph to its second defeat versus five victories.

But it was an exotic offense that set P.B.’s Big House a buzzing as the Tigers improved to 5‑2 and got back in the playoff hunt.

The two most prominent scenes not played on Gutbrod’s game films were Cornell Jackson running the football and Wes Siegenthaler playing quarterback.

Jackson, a surprise starter who had missed five games with a knee injury, brought 6 feet, 3 inches and 205 pounds of fast‑lane excitement to the Tiger offense. He ended the night with 10 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown.

The numbers weren’t overwhelming, but as Tiger head coach John Marrow noted, “Cornell Jackson is a force.”

“I can’t describe how great it felt to play again,” Jackson said, “I was as excited as I was when I was a sophomore.”

Scene No. 2 was a delicious variation of the old switcheroo.

On the eighth play of the game, after Paul Fabianich had taken all seven snaps at quarterback, with Siegenthaler playing split end, Fabianich came out of the huddle and lined up at wide out, with Siegenthaler lining up over center.

Siegenthaler kept the ball and got buried for a two‑yard loss, but the St. Joseph defense started wandering.

The Tigers pulled the switcheroo more times, with Siegenthaler running the QB keeper on seven occasions for 64 yards.

Sometimes the game films don’ lie.

“In the films, we saw that a lot of yardage was gained against St. Joseph on the option,” said Fabianich. “Wes, of course, is a very good runner. When we pulled the switch, I heard their coaches saying a couple of times, ‘Watch for the double pass.’ But the situation was designed for Wes to run the ball. I think we crossed them up.”

Sometimes the game films lie.

Sophomore Jerome Myricks, who is listed incorrectly in the program as a junior, doesn’t show up as a ball carrier in any of the Tiger game records. But the speedy Myricks hit St. Joseph for a 15‑yard gain on the Tigers’ third‑play of the game and finished with five carries.

Junior tailback Michael Harris, a star of the game films and the Tigers’ leading rusher coming in, surprisingly didn’t play ‑ he was slightly injured but was available if needed.

In another twist, junior Jerry Gruno saw his first extensive action on defense, playing most of the game at left tackle.

In short, Game No. 7 was full of surprises.

About the only thing it lacked was high suspense.

The Tigers grabbed an early lead, got a late challenge from the Vikings, then staged a clutch drive on which Mike Norris scored his third touchdown of the night.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers stalled early in the second period and sent in Ken Hawkins to punt.

Hawkins got off a beautiful boomer that backed up St. Joseph deep man Andre Smith to the 15. Smith’s back peddling left him off balance and caused him to drop the ball, which squirted to the nine, where the Tigers’ Todd Perdue pounced on it.

0n second and goal from the 4, Jackson swept right and high stepped into the end zone. Norris’ PAT kick was flat but went through and the Tigers led 7‑0 with 8:34 left in the half.

St. Joseph drove 57 yards to the Tiger 30 after taking the ensuing kickoff, but on fourth and one Lance Hostetler’s tackle stopped Godic, who plays fullback in addition to linebacker, and the Tigers took over at the 29.

After an eight‑yard loss, Siegenthaler and Fabianich pulled one of their switches, with Siegenthaler keeping for a 25‑yard gain to the Viking 41.

Two plays later, it was back to the exotic, as Fabianich pitched to Norris, who pitched to Siegenthaler, who gunned the ball to a wide-open Bart Letcavits. Letcavits caught the ball and crashed to earth at the 1 for a 38‑yard gain.

Norris then hit the middle three times, going over the left side for score on third and goal from the 1.

The PAT kick failed at the 1:28 mark, and the Tigers settled for a 13-0 halftime lead.

The Tigers took the second‑half kickoff but stalled at midfield.

Then the Massillon defense, which yielded just 107 yards in the first half, buried the Vikings deep in their own territory, forcing a fourth‑and‑12 punt train the nine.

Siegenthaler fielded the punt near midfield and danced his way to another of his spectacular returns, getting the bull to the 15. But for the third time this season, a long Siegenthaler return was negated by a clipping call, which, for the record, “de‑finitely wasn’t clipping,” according to Siegenthaler.

The Tigers started from their own 41 and scored anyway, using Norris’ power running and a 13‑yard burst by Jackson to get the ball to the 4 on first and goal. Norris went over the right side and scored easily from there, and fullback Derick Newman tacked on a two‑point conversion run to make the score 21‑0 with 1:11 left in the third quarter.

Than the Vikings made it interesting, starting on their own 28 after the kickoff and rampaging 72 yards in just five plays, with split end Dale Pratt breaking wide open along the right sideline and hauling in a 30‑yard TD toss from quarterback Bob Duffy. Smith’s two‑point run made it 21‑8 with one second left in the third quarter.

Siegenthaler streaked 48 yards with the kickoff, but the Tigers ran out of downs on the Vikings 16. St. Joseph drove to midfield but had to punt, but the Tigers stalled and had to punt from deep in their own territory.

Another good boot by Hawkins forced the Vikings to start on their own 46. From there, they marched 54 yards in seven plays, with Smith racing in from 11 yards out. The PAT kick failed, but St. Joseph now had a chance, trailing 21‑14 with 2:55 left in the game.

The key to the game became St. Joseph’s ability to recover an onside kick. The squibber traveled 11 yards to Massillon’s Bob Foster, who smothered the ball at the Tiger 49.

The Tigers’ offensive line and Newman took over from there. On first down, Newman exploded over the right side for 33 yards to the 18. Six plays later, Norris swept left to score from three yards out. Norris’ kick made it 28‑14 with 30 seconds left.

In the end, the game looked even on paper, with the Tigers holding a 303‑301 edge in total yards. But the Tiger defense played extremely well while the Tigers was all but putting the game out of reach during the first three quarters.

“St. Joseph was as big an offensive team as we’ve seen, but we have great defensive quickness and tonight we played as a team,” said Perdue, a junior linebacker. “If we’d played this well last week, we could have beaten Austintown Fitch.”

“We just had to watch them up the middle,” added Tiger tackle Duane Crenshaw. “We reduced our mistakes and played good team ball tonight.”

When the defense began to give ground in the second half, Newman counterpunched an offense. The 206‑pound senior gained just three yards in three first‑half carries but surged for 69 yards in nine second‑half lugs.

St. Joseph’s wishbone backfield spread the carries among Al Forney (seven for 73), Godic (12 for 73) and Smith (10 for 57). Norris gave the Tigers 53 yards in 15 trips.

Duffy completed 10 of 24 passes for 115 yards. Fabianich connected on just one of eight tosses for four yards, but Maronto created him with doing “a good job of running the offense.”

St. Joe’s defense just didn’t
Have Siegenthaler’s number

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

MASSILLON ‑ Wes Siegenthaler is a split end, wingback, quarterback, kickoff returner, punt returner and cornerback.

Maybe it was only fitting that a guy who wears so many hats wore more than one number Friday night in the Massillon Tigers’ 28‑14 high school football victory over Cleveland St. Joseph.

Siegenthaler wore No. 87 in warm-ups and No. 20 during Friday’s first half. At the start of the second half, No. 1 was on his back.

Actually, it wasn’t fitting. No. 20, which used to belong to Robert Cooley – he transferred to Tuslaw ‑ is one size smaller than Siegenthaler’s regular jersey No. 1.

“He forgot his jersey, that’s all,” said Tiger head coach John Maronto.

But that’s not all there was to it in the mind of Bill Gutbrod, the St. Joseph head coach. The start of the second half was delayed several minutes while Siegenthaler’s jersey change was debated.

Ohio high school rules prohibit such a jersey switch, unless there are extenuating circumstances.

The second half began only after Siegenthaler’s ripped No. 20 was presented to Gutbrod on the St. Joseph sideline.

“The jersey had a little tear in it – I think they tore it. It was about that big,” said Gutbrod, holding his thumb and index finger two inches apart.

Gutbrod, who at age 60 and with 36 years under his belt at St. Joseph is one of the nation’s veteran high school coaches, wasn’t happy about the incident but cut the jersey talk short.

“It had nothing to do with the game,” he said. “They did a good job. Give them credit.”

Blog Posts