Booster Club If you are a Tiger fan and have a newborn in your family and you did not receive a miniature football, the Booster Club would be glad to make sure your newborn gets an official Tiger Football.
Your newborn can receive a football from the Booster Club by contacting this year’s President, Ben Lieberman, at 330-564-6265. Or you can email him at benxrow2002@yahoo.com. He will see that you get a football from the Booster Club.
Proud of our Traditions! Go Tigers!
History Tigers run wild, run past GlenOak23 hours ago
Chris Easterling – The Independent
PLAIN TWP. It was one of those nights at Bob Commings Field on Friday night.
It was a night where almost everything went right for Massillon, and everything went wrong for GlenOak. When it was all said and done, it was a night where the Tigers posted their biggest margin of victory since Week 5 of the 2016 season in rolling to a 49-0 win over the Golden Eagles.
“(Massillon’s) a good football team,” said GlenOak coach Scott Garcia, whose team lost starting quarterback Kindel Richardson to a first-quarter injury. “They took it to us. They have it all. They’ve got an offensive line, the back – (Jamir) Thomas — is as good as they come, and they can spread you out at the same time. They present you a lot of problems.”
Massillon, 2-0 for the first time since 2014, had all of it on display in its biggest win since a 75-7 beating of Toledo Bowsher. The Tigers ran it, they threw it and they stifled GlenOak at every turn.
And that was just in opening up a 35-0 halftime lead.
“They showed that they’re focused,” Massillon coach Nate Moore said. “They showed they’re disciplined. They showed they play hard and really care about this season.”
The Tigers’ big night started with their big running back Thomas powering his way to 170 yards on 11 rushing attempts. All of those were in the first half, as he also ran for three touchdowns of 35, 53 and 49 yards.
The first two came on Massillon’s second and third possessions, giving it a 14-0 lead. The third came on the first play of the Tigers’ fifth drive, making it 21-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter.
“A really great night tonight,” Moore said of Thomas, who has 278 rushing yards in two games. “He really showed some flashes of some breakaway speed, which didn’t happen much last year. Glad to see that out of him.”
Thomas was just part of the Tigers’ rushing tandem that gained 254 yards in the first half and finished with 343 yards for the game. Zion Phifer, while he wasn’t able to get into the end zone, added 106 yards on eight carries.
Meanwhile, Aidan Longwell added four more touchdown passes, giving him seven on the season. He hit Aydrik Ford on scoring strikes of 35 and 46 yards, while tossing 18- and 17-yard scores to Jayden Ballard.
The final one to Ballard came on Longwell’s last pass of the night, giving the Tigers a 42-0 third-quarter lead. Longwell finished 8-of-13 for 151 yards with the four scores, but two other interceptions in the end zone.
Listen to Longwell’s TD pass to Ballard
“He’s our field general,” Moore said of Longwell. “He’s our quarterback. He’s the one who makes everything work. A couple picks tonight that we certainly don’t want but, he’ll bounce back.”
Longwell’s TD pass to Murphy
GlenOak, which suffered its worst loss since a similar 49-0 setback at McKinley in Week 4 of the 2005 season, is hoping to bounce back from consecutive tough Friday nights against potentially two of the best teams in the state. The Golden Eagles are 0-2 for the second consecutive season after setbacks to first Toledo Whitmer and now to Massillon.
It was a bit of injury thrown on top of insult, however, on this night with the loss of Richardson. The dynamic junior quarterback suffered what appeared to be a leg injury on GlenOak’s third series of the game after being sacked.
After Richardson was taken off the field on a stretcher, J.T. Cooke came in to play quarterback the rest of the way. Regardless of who the quarterback was, GlenOak finished the night with 76 total yards, 65 of those on the ground,
“We’ve to learn from it and move on,” said Garcia, whose team plays host to Royal Imperial Collegiate (Ont.) next Friday. “We have a lot of season left. Obviously, it’s going to be tough without our quarterback. I thought J.T. stepped up and did some decent things. We just have to get better. Right now, we’re playing with a JV football team.”
Reach Chris at 330-775-1128 or chris.easterling@indeonline.com.
On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE
History John McVay always wanted to be a football coach. You see, he was drawn to the profession when he saw first-hand the stability provided by some great leaders in the sport, specifically Massillon head coach Chuck Mather and Miami of Ohio coaches Woody Hayes and Ara Parseghian. But eventually he would become much more than that. Not only did McVay coach in the high school, college and professional arenas, he also served as general manager at the highest level, enjoying tremendous success in the process. Here is his story.
John McVay was born on January 5, 1951, in Bellaire, Ohio, and moved shortly afterward to Massillon. It was there in Tigertown that he received his first exposure to organized football. His first two years of varsity play were under Coach Bud Houghton. But his senior season saw a change in leadership when Chuck Mather arrived in town. Mather’s tutelage provided the spark that would eventually launch McVay’s long career in football.
During McVay’s first season, which was his final year in high school, Mather fashioned a 9-1 record and a first place finish in the Associated Press state poll, ahead of Canton McKinley, which also finished 9-1. John McVay was instrumental in this success and was named for his efforts as 2nd Team All-Ohio at the center position. But McVay was also a good student at Massillon, as he was accepted into the National Honor Society.
College found him at Miami of Ohio, where he played his first two years under Woody Hayes. Hayes finished 9-1 during his second year and then departed for Ohio State. In came Ara Parseghian who, during McVay’s final two years there, recorded 15 wins in 19 starts. Again McVay was right in the mix. A 2-time MVP for Miami, McVay was also selected as All-Mid-American Conference center and served during his senior year as team captain. With an education degree under his belt, he would later earn a Master’s Degree in School Administration at Kent State.
Now it was time for his dream job; i.e., coaching football. After serving as an assistant at Lancaster High School for three years, McVay landed his first head coaching assignment at Franklin High School in 1956. Although his team struggled during his only year there, he was able to return home the following year to assume the head reigns at Canton Central Catholic, a position he held for five years. While there, McVay fashioned a fine record of 41-7, including a 9-1 mark in 1959, when his team finished 7th in the state. When he departed, he was the winningest coach ever at Central. Today, McVay is honored with a scholarship in his name.
McVay’s success at Central was notable and he was able to jump then to college. His first stop was Michigan State University, where he served under legendary coach Duffy Daugherty. Three years later, in 1965, he was hired as head coach at the University of Dayton. During his eight years there, he recorded a record of 37-41-3, finishing 8-2 in 1962, which was one of the best marks in the Flyers’ history.
The World Football League, a short-lived venture started in 1974, called on McVay to coach Memphis. He immediately signed three standout athletes from the Miami Dolphins that were nearing the ends of their playing careers in order to bolster attendance. They included Paul Warfield, Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick (two are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame). At Memphis, McVay finished a respectable 24-7, good enough to be named head coach of the New York Giants the following year. He coached there for three seasons, which were his final years as a coach. Following a 20-year span of head coaching assignments, McVay had won 117 games against 85 losses and 6 ties.
But he wasn’t done with football just yet. In 1979, McVay was hired by the San Francisco 49ers to become Vice President and General Manager, a position he held for 18 years. Under his leadership, McVay stocked the team with some outstanding players, including Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Charles Haley and Fred Dean. In all, he brought in some 50 players who were later selected as All-Pro. But his crowning achievement was the five Super Bowl Championships captured by the 49ers during his tenure. Coach Bill Walsh once said, “It’s quite possible that the 49ers would not have won five Super Bowls had it not been for John McVay.”
And the beat goes on. His grandson, Sean McVay, is the current head coach of the Los Angeles Rams.
McVay has been inducted into the following halls of fame:
John died on November 1, 2022, in Granite Bay, California.
Can the Pro Football Hall of Fame be far off for John McVay?
Mike Riordan provided the materials for this story.
Booster Club President Ben Leiberman called the meeting to order.
Booster Club Officers for 2018 are Bruce Gallagher (Vice President), Eric Smith (Vice President), Rick Dalsky (Secretary), Vince Pedro (Treasurer), Bob Marks (Associate Treasurer), Gary Vogt (Historian), Brock Herring (Touchdown Club Chairman), Phil Elum (Orangemen Chairman), Mark Fair (Sideliners Co-Chairman), Anthony Repp (Sideliners Co-Chairman), Ron Prunty (Videographer) and Bob Hollender (Obie Crew Chairman). Steve Berecek is the outgoing Booster Club President.
Every Massillon football team recorded a victory last weekend:
Game schedule for this week:
Per Bill Brown, buses will be available for the Louisville game for the cost of $20. This does not include the game ticket. Bus tickets can be purchased at Keller’s Office Furniture.
A big thank you to Bill Dorman for leading the effort to secure a new scoreboard. Definitely has the “wow” factor.
The Booster Club Website (massillontigers.com) set a new record last Friday for page views in a single day with 9,600. The Tiger Facebook page numbers are in the thousands. It is unknown at this time how many people viewed last Friday’s game online, but it believed to be a significant number.
The Booster Club is raffling off 2 club seat tickets to the Cleveland Browns game on September 20, 2018 vs. the New York Jets at First Energy Stadium – kickoff at 8:20 PM. Raffle tickets are $5 each or 5 tickets for $20.Tickets will be available at the weekly Booster Club meeting, Touchdown Club luncheons and Sideliner dinners. The winning ticket will be drawn at the September 17th Booster Club meeting.
The Booster Club is collecting Bonanza coupons, which can be cut out from Friday’s Independent or Repository. The winning school receives $2,000 for its booster club. Last year Massillon was victorious in this effort and needs your support to repeat.
The canned food drive contest between Massillon and Canton McKinley is well underway. Monetary donations are also accepted and are factored in at 7 lbs. for a dollar.
Kyshad Mack, Tyree Broyles and Tre’van Morgan were the guest co-captains. Each spoke about the St. Vincent game and this week’s opponent, Canton GlenOak.
The guest coach was Jason Jarvis. He noted that the special teams played very well, especially during the kickoff return by Broyles for a touchdown. The return is something he anticipated based on the Irish scouting report. Jarvis applauded Magnus Haines for his directional punts.
Jarvis summed up the defensive effort by saying the players were “fast, physical and hungry.”
Head Coach Nate Moore stated that “last Friday’s game was a “good victory against a good opponent. But this week we’re starting over. I’m proud of the kids. The kids played hard. It was a good performance.”
Following the film review, Coach Jarvis mentioned that the Massillon defense is the same as last year. Only this year the players are more disciplined. Everybody is where they need to be when they need to be. “Our kids are experienced,” he said. The defense played so well that St. Vincent’s star running back, Terrence Keyes, who gained 198 yards last year, was held to just 10 yards in 11 carries, the longest run being just four yards.
Coach Moore gave the scouting report for GlenOak, this week’s opponent. He said that quarterback, Kindel Richardson is their best player. Although considered an average passer, he is very dangerous running the ball. They have a couple of good receivers with speed, who will get their opportunities in this big-play offense. Look for lots of empty set formations. The defense has converted from a 3-4 underfront to odd stack 3-3. Seven players go both ways and up to eight sophomores see action.
News It was a great start to the 2018 season as Massillon scored big wins over Akron St. Vincent’s varsity, junior varsity and freshmen squads.
The varsity team bested the Irish 35-7, turning in one of the best defensive performances by a Tiger team in many years. This coming against a state-ranked opponent that returned a boatload of starters from the previous year. Stellar running back Terrence Keyes, who rushed for 202 last year, was held to just 10 yards on 11 carries.
The junior varsity team defeated St. V, 35-13. Sophomore quarterback Zach Catrone connected on four touchdown passes, two to Andrew Wilson-Lamp and one each to Heath Manson and TJ Williams. Eric Thurman punctuated the scoring by returning a punt for a touchdown.
The freshmen team defeated the Irish, 19-13.
TIG!!!
History Tigers defense steals show in stifling St. V-M
MASSILLON The storyline going into Friday night’s season opener between Massillon and St. Vincent-St. Mary was simple. It would be the Tigers’ talent-laden offense against the Irish experienced and strong defense.
Turns out, someone forgot to tell the Massillon defense it was going to have to take second billing.
The Tigers forced four St.Vincent-St. Mary turnovers, while stifling the Irish offense most of the night, to help key a 35-7 victory at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
“I thought we really controlled the line of scrimmage,” Massillon coach Nate Moore said. “I thought our front seven played really well. I thought they did a good job of reading their keys. A lot of mid-direction stuff and jet-sweep stuff and they did a really good job with that.”
The key to the Tiger defensive effort, as much as the takeaways, was the way they did not allow the Irish to get their running game established. At least, not with highly-regarded tailback Terrance Keyes Jr.
A year after rushing for 198 yards against Massillon in a 13-10 Irish win in Week 9, Keyes was held to just 10 yards on 11 carries. As a team, St. Vincent-St. Mary had just 85 rushing yards on 32 carries, including just 20 yards on 14 second-half carries.
“I think we definitely had trouble establishing the run,” said Irish coach Bobby Nickol, who was making his head-coaching debut. “There was a couple of small things we wanted to do, get the p
assing game going (because) we thought there was a couple of holes we were going to be able to take advantage of. We knew they were athletic; we knew that blocking-scheme-wise, we had to do a couple of different things up front to keep their blitzing off-base.”
The Tigers, though, made sure that even when St. Vincent-St. Mary was able to get things going, it didn’t go far. Of the four takeaways Massillon had, three of those came in its territory.
The first, a fumble recovery by Deon Williams a the Tiger 45 on the Irish’s first possession, set up Massillon’s first score. Aidan Longwell hit Aydrik Ford on a 24-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-seven play to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter.
It was one of three touchdown passes by Longwell, who was 14-of-21 for 150 yards. He added second-half scoring tosses to Tre’Von Morgan and Dean Clark, which helped to blow open what had been a 21-7 game at the half.
“We were efficient in the passing game at times,” said Moore, whose team ran for 177 yards, including 109 yards and a score by senior Jamir Thomas. “There’s some things we have to sharpen up.”
The Irish helped to turn the relatively close game at the break into a lopsided one with giveaways on three of its first four second-half possessions. Ben Krichbaum recovered a pair of fumbles on strip sacks for Massillon, while also intercepting a pass at the Tiger 15.
It was more than just turnovers which helped the Tigers turn away the Irish. They also managed to swing momentum to their side almost instantaneously after St. Vincent-St. Mary appeared to get it going its way.
The Irish capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive when Luke Lindsay hit Joshua Jones on a 19-yard fade route to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:53 remaining in the first half. Massillon, though, turned the subsequent kickoff into an 88-yard Tyree Broyles touchdown for a 14-7 lead which it would never relinquish.
“It was freaking huge,” Nickol said of Broyles’ return. “It was absolutely huge. It’s 7-7, we have a lot of momentum going and things are kind of pushing our way. … As soon as he brings that back, it just kind of took the wind out of our sails.”
Reach Chris at 330-775-1128 or chris.easterling@indeonline.com.
On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE
Facilities Story by Gary Vogt
On September 15, 1939, Tommy “Red” James scored the first touchdown in the inaugural game played at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. His Tigers were victorious that evening as they went on to defeat Cleveland Cathedral Latin by a score of 40-13.
On Wednesday, August 22, eighth grade running back William Marshall duplicated James’ feat by scoring the first touchdown in the newly opened Massillon Middle School Athletic Complex. He scored from eight yards out to give the young Tigers a 6-0 lead. Like the 1939 squad, Marshall’s 8th grade team, coached by Bo Grunder, went on to defeat Mansfield by a score of 36-16.
The Massillon Middle School Complex is impressive to say the least. As a football facility it out-classes many high schools. The surface is Field Turf, there are light for night games, a score board equipped with a sound system, handicap accessible bleachers, a flag pole and a locker room facility complete with a team room meeting area. In addition, it is a multi-sport facility. Obviously, it is a great football venue as it is also equipped to handle soccer and when completed will be the best track and field facility around.
Do yourself a favor and take in a game. Support our future Tigers and see for yourself what a fine complex this is. Middle school schedules are listed on this site under “Game Schedules.”
News 
Coaches Bob Seaman, former head coach of the Massillon Tigers, died on August 13 at the age of 86. Seaman led the team from 1966 through 1968 and also taught mathematics at WHS.
During his three years at the helm, Seaman compiled a record of 20 wins, 9 losses and one tie, having had the dubious honor of succeeding Coach Earl Bruce. While both heralded from Sandusky and had good success there, it was Bruce who went 20-0 at Massillon and captured a pair of state titles, whereas Seaman suffered through an initial 4-5-1 mark. It was the first time the Tigers posted a losing record since 1931, something that didn’t sit too well with the fans. The season started off well enough with a pair of wins, in spite of the Tigers losing their best running back between Games 1 and 2 due to a motorcycle accident. But a 0-0 tie against Mansfield in Week 3 broke a 30-game winning streak and then a 20-12 loss to Niles two weeks later ended a 32-game unbeaten streak. In the Niles game, Massillon led 12-0 entering the fourth quarter, only to see the Red Dragons score 20 unanswered points and grab the win. Recall that it was the Tigers that broke Niles’ 48- game winning streak just two years before. Three more close losses followed and the Tigers were now 3-4-1 with the state’s No. 1 team Steubenville coming to town. It seemed like it couldn’t get any worse.
The game started an hour and a half late due to a blown transformer, but that didn’t keep the Tigers from engineering one of their biggest upsets in history. Not only did they beat the Big Red 12-0, they also held them to just 39 yards of offense, 11 on the ground and 28 in the air. Two long Massillon drives that culminated in touchdowns by halfback back Tom James and quarterback Craig Maurer were all that was needed. Unfortunately, the Tigers couldn’t repeat the feat the following week against an under-performing McKinley eleven, and the losing record was assured.
Seaman semi-redeemed himself the following year by going 9-1 and finishing as A.P. state runner-up. Only a 7-6 loss to eventual state champ Upper Arlington kept Massillon from the top spot. Nevertheless, a 7-3 finish the following year, including a 26-6 loss to McKinley, the 2nd in three years, was enough for the fans to cry and the Massillon Board to eventually seek a new coach. That coach turned out to be the very successful Bob Commings.
After Massillon, Seaman landed in Wichita State as an assistant, but an unfortunate event the following year thrust him into the head role. Two planes left for a game against Utah State, but the one carrying the first team failed to make it safely, with 37 players, coaches and support staff lost. Seaman was promoted to head coach and he remained there for four years, earning a winning season only during the last one. But it wasn’t good enough, so he was out once again. After some collegiate assistant roles he eventually landed at Worthington High School, where he was the head coach for the final nine years of his career.
Later, Seaman was inducted into the Halls of Fame for both Sandusky High School and the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association. He was also a two-time head coach of the Ohio North-South All-Star Game, once for the North and once for the South. The final honor was recognition by Worthington High School for his contributions to the football program.
Bob is survived by his wife, Jean, three daughters and a number of grandchildren an great grandchildren. He was also a veteran of the U.S.Army.
News In 2017, a youthful Massillon squad faced off against a powerful Lakewood St. Edward team in the final scrimmage and was pasted quite handily in one half of football, 31-0. This year however these same Tigers, now older and loaded with talent and experience, returned to the field against the Eagles and came away a 21-14 winner. What a difference a year makes. Throughout the scrimmage, Massillon was able to effectively go toe-to-toe with St. Eds and looked at least on par with a team that is considered as a contender for the Division 1 state title.
Both offenses came out ready to showcase their explosive offensives and they didn’t disappoint. On the first play from scrimmage, the Eagle running back broke through the Tiger line and raced 65 yards to the Massillon five. From there, St. Eds scored on a 3rd down 5-yard pass that just crossed goal line, going up 7-0.
But the Tigers came right back, driving 70 yards for their initial score using a combination of Jamir Thomas runs and short-to-mid range passes from Aidan Longwell to a variety of receivers. It all culminated in a leaping catch in the end zone by Tre’von Morgan, which covered 11 yards and knotted the score at seven apiece.
St. Edward’s next drive was stopped on fourth down at the Massillon five, in spite of a 38-yard run on the first play of the series. However, Massillon failed to score and punted from the 14. The Eagles then drove rapidly down field, but a Tyree Broyles interception in the end zone of a 32-yard pass brought an early termination the threat. Unfortunately, the Tigers gave it right back after a pass bounced high off the hands of Aydrik Ford, with the defender timing the hit perfectly, which resulted in an interception. It took just a couple of plays for the Eagles to cross the end zone, making the score 14-7 in their favor.
The Tigers, however, came right back and moved 70 yards for the tying score, coming on an 18-yard pass from Longwell to Morgan. Tre’von ran a very good post pattern and was hit right on the numbers at the goal line in front of several defenders.
After both teams punted twice, Kyshad Mack came up with one of the biggest plays of the game, picking off a pass at the 25 and racing untouched into the end zone. That made the final score 21-14, to the delight of the couple hundred Tiger fans in attendance. The score came with just 24 seconds left on the clock.
After the break, both first units played one more series each, with Massillon gaining 25 yards and St. Edward failing to move the ball. Overall, during first team action, Massillon led in total yards 204 to 186.
Then the backups took over, during which the Zach Catrone tossed a 21-yard pass to Andrew Wilson-Lamp and another TD pass to Darien Williams.
Offensively, Massillon showed a balanced attack with several players making key plays throughout. The entire offense seems to have picked up where it left off at the end of last year. Thomas ran harder and looked quicker than last year. Longwell is bigger and stronger and has improved his accuracy. Particularly effective was the bubble-screen to Ford, who has a knack for juking out the first potential tackler and gaining at least ten yards aided by a serious block from Morgan before being stopped. In fact, all of the receivers showed that this group is a very dangerous lot.
Defensively, the long runs were the result of over-pursuit, something that was corrected by the second quarter. In fact, the defense look stronger as the scrimmage progressed to the point where they were completely shutting down the Eagle offense near the. In fact, during the last four series, the Tigers surrendered just 28 yards. This is a unit that is much quicker and more physical than last year.
Massillon will open the season next Friday as they host Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary. Lake St. Edward will face Mentor.