The Massillon Tigers have lost exactly two McKinley tuneups since 1932.
It was obvious by 8:15 p.m. Saturday that the 1988 get‑ready game Would follow the old pattern.
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Informed of the Tigers’ amazing record in pre‑McKinley games, head coach Lee Owens smiled wryly and said, “That doesn’t have anything to do with scheduling, does it?” Well, it just might.
The Woodson High team from Washington, D.C., that fell to the Tigers 46‑12 was stocked with talented players.
“We could put eight or nine of them to good use,” one Massillon coach said on the sideline while watching the carnage.
Talent not withstanding, Woodson lacked numerous aspects of the Massillon machine that have made football here what it is ‑ which is pretty darned good, even if it’s not what it once was.
“I’ve been coaching for 26 years, and that’s probably one of the best teams I’ve ever seen,” Woodson head coach Bob Headen said.
The Tigers led 40‑6 at halftime, by which time junior running back Lamont Dixon had done most of his damage in a night that included 104 rushing yards in only seven carries, with touchdown runs of 10, 29 and 53 yards. Senior fullback Jason Stafford rushed 12 times for 97 yards, giving him 875 yards on the year. He scored two touchdowns.
Stafford said he is at “95 percent” in his recovery from a pulled hamstring.
Quarterbacks Lee Hurst and Jamie Slutz combined to complete 10 of 13 passes for 90 yards.
The Tiger defense almost could have passed for an offense, based on the amount of time it spent in the Woodson backfield. Warrior players were thrown for 56 yards in losses.
Both teams ran 46 plays. Therein the similarities ended.
The Tigers pronounced themselves fully tuned for Saturday’s 2 p.m. game against McKinley at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The fans are ready, too. Hundreds of them were lined up outside the Tiger Stadium ticket office this morning at 7, 30 minutes before the window opened. Tickets were to be sold through 4 p.m. today.
The Tigers and Bulldogs both enter Saturday’s showdown (the Tigers lead the series that started in 1894 50‑38‑5) with identical 6‑3 records. This is the result of McKinley having been stunned 9‑6 Saturday night at Fawcett Stadium by Central Catholic.
Jeff Mayle, a lineman who helped open gaping holes for Dixon and Stafford Saturday, didn’t know and seemed not to care what impact McKinley’s loss would have on the Bulldogs.
“I wouldn’t say we ever root for McKinley,” Mayle said. “I just want to help us beat them. The key will be for us to block their speed. Their nose guard, (Lamuel) Flowers, is really quick.”
Mayle didn’t know that Flowers, who made the Stark County coaches’ all‑county team last year as a junior, missed Saturday’s game because of a disciplinary suspension. Whether he will play this week is uncertain, although fans and coaches from Massillon are presuming Flowers will suit up.
Tiger senior Shawn Ashcraft was surprised by the McKinley score.
“I was hoping we’d both win so we’d both come into the game on a bubble, and we could burst theirs,” he said.
Bob Dunwiddie, Massillon’s senior defensive tackle/bull offense running back, figures the Bulldogs can worry about themselves.
“I don’t think we could be any more ready after beating St. Joseph and killing these guys (Woodson),” he said.
The mood among the Massillon coaches was tense in the locker room after the Woodson game.
Everyone was laughing heartily the previous week, when the Tigers drilled Cleveland St. Joseph 33‑8. Now it was different. It was time to think about McKinley, which has defeated Massillon four straight times.
“There’s only one thought running through my mind,” Owens said. “There’s been only one thought running through my mind all week. I kept getting messed up in practice and I had to catch myself.”
The thought, of course, was beating McKinley.
“That thought has dominated since day one,” Owens said.
The 32‑year‑old, first‑year Massillon coach said he had hoped Woodson would give the Tigers a greater challenge in Game Nine.
On the plus side, Owens said, “We were able to play an opponent where it didn’t make as much a difference if we looked ahead. We were running things designed for McKinley all week.”
Anticipation for the game seems to be at the same level as it has been in past years when both teams entered with superior records.
Owens shares that impression, citing “McKinley’s streak, a new head coach in Massillon, and the fact both teams have been outstanding somewhere along the line this year.”
Behind the scenes is another factor. Owens and Thom McDaniels, the seventh‑year head coach at McKinley, are not the best of friends. McDaniels is miffed that Owens said during the pre‑season that he would not participate in a film exchange between the teams.
As for Massillon‑Woodson, it was not the best of games, although it did feature some entertaining moments before most of the fans began clearing out in the third quarter.
The Tigers drove 41 yards on six plays with their first possession, scoring on a 10‑yard counter play blocked so well Dixon could have jogged into the end zone.
A snap far over the Woodson punter’s head set up the Tigers at the 4‑yard line moments later. Stafford scored from 2 yards out and it was 13‑0.
Woodson quickly had to punt, and the Tigers quickly drove to score 57 yards in three plays, the last of which was a 29‑yard blast by Dixon.
It was 20‑6 after one quarter, the result of Woodson benefiting from a tipped ball that became a 40‑yard scoring pass.
The Tigers added touchdowns from Dixon (his 53‑yard explosion), Stafford (on a 4‑yard Hurst Pass), Hurst (on a 2‑yard run) and Desmond Carpenter (on a 3‑yard pass from Slutz).
Running back Kyen Hill was a bright spot for Woodson with 97 rushing yards in 20 carries. Hill, who says he runs a 4.3 40 and is strongly considering playing at Ohio State, enjoyed the trip to Tigertown.
“The hospitality of the people in town was fantastic,” he said. “We didn’t do well in the game, but they were just ready for us.
“I liked their players. No. 81 (Monte McGuire) … tell him I’d like to meet him again some day. I’d like to shake his hand.”
If they meet again, McGuire wants to be able to say, “Hey, Kyen, remember when we played you guys the week before we beat McKinley…”
M W First downs rushing 12 6 First downs passing 5 3 First downs by penalty 2 0 Totals first downs 19 9 Yards gained rushing 280 157 Yards lost rushing 11 56 Net yards rushing 269 101 Net yards passing 90 93 Total yards gained 359 194 Passes attempted 13 9 Passes completed 10 3 Passes Int. by 1 0 Times kicked off 8 3 Kickoff average 55.6 43.3 Kickoff return yards 65 83 Punts 0 5 Punting average 00.0 27.8 Punt return yards 0 0 Fumbles 2 1 Fumbles lost 1 0 Penalties 4 6 Yards penalized 31 60 Number of plays 46 46 Time of possession 21.07 26.53 Attendance 8,378
EUCLID ‑ Brother, did the Massillon Tigers need a win.
And, boy, did they ever get one, against one of The Big Brothers of Ohio high school football, Cleveland St. Joseph.
”This heals a lot of wounds,” Massillon tight end Doug Harig said on the muddy sidelines as Tiger fans stomped their feet in the background toward the end of Saturday night’s stunning 33‑8 victory at Euclid Panther Stadium.
Harig and his brother Doug both had a hand in what head coach Lee Owens called “as good a first half as I’ve ever seen played.”
Another Lee ‑ Hurst ‑ the quarterback, said Jeff’s younger brother Doug had been bugging him for weeks.
“Why don’t you throw me a pass,” Jeff wanted to know.
He got one, from 5 yards away in the corner of the end zone, for as Massillon’s second touchdown. Brother Doug snared a conversion pass for 14‑0 Tiger lead with the game not yet nine minutes old.
A minute into the second quarter, Jeff Harig caught a 4‑yard Hurst pass for another touchdown.
Six minutes later, fullback Bob Dunwiddie plowed an inch or two for another touchdown.
Incredibly, a Tiger team that had lost three straight games led 26‑0 at halftime.
And there was no way St. Joseph, a ball‑control team, was going to come back.
“We didn’t seem flat,” said Bill Gutbrod, who is 255‑97‑17 as the only head coach St. Joseph has had. “You’ve gotta give them credit. They just killed us. I can’t figure out how they lost three ball games.”
This was the same St. Joseph team that beat Akron Garfield, Youngstown Cardinal Mooney and Toledo Whitmer in succession before losing back‑to‑back to McKinley and Cleveland St. Ignatius. The Vikings made a huge statement by beating what is supposed to be an awesome Mooney team 14‑0. The same Mooney team socked it to a solid Cincinnati Xavier squad 37‑0 Saturday.
“I’d say right now that they’re superior to anyone we’ve played,” Gutbrod said.
This was easily the most dazzling Massillon win over a powerful team since an 18‑7 victory over McKinley in 1983.
It couldn’t have come at a better time. Not only had the Tigers lost consecutively to Fitch, St. Vincent-St. Mary and Warren Harding, but they were 4‑6 dating back to last year’s 8‑0 defeat in a brutal mud bath against St. Joseph.
“Not counting our loss to McKinley, last year’s St. Joseph game was the worst loss I’ve been through,” said Trace Liggett, a defensive tackle who helped the Tigers limit St. Joseph to one first down in the first half.
“They were not a passing team and we forced them to pass. I thought the defense played well. Mostly, though, we were just sick of losing.”
Liggett said Saturday’s field conditions were nowhere close to as bad as the ones that greeted the team in Euclid last year.
Still, strong winds and freezing rain pelted players’ faces as the game began. Mounting a steady offense seemed unlikely.
Surprisingly, the Tigers passed on the first play. Hurst’s attempt was incomplete, but the Tigers had made a statement.
“Passing is always in our game plan and the coaches had decided we were going to pass no matter what the field conditions,” Hurst said.
Passing drifted to the background, though, when the Tigers ran wild right off the bat.
On the game’s second play, fullback Jason Stafford, who finished with 105 yards, streaked for 13. On the next play, Stafford ran for 11.
“The offensive line was blowing them 5 yards off the ball,” Stafford said. “Basically, everybody was real fired up,”
An overlooked factor during the losing streak was Stafford’s health. He was playing, but with a right leg hampered by a hamstring pull. If you’ve ever had one of those, you know they can be nasty and slow to heal.
“To be honest, I’m still not 100 percent. Stafford said. “But I’m feeling better. I’m getting there.”
THE BIG FIRST HALF
MAS CSJ First downs rushing 10 0 First downs passing 0 0 First downs by penalty 1 0 Totals first downs 11 0 Yards gained rushing 157 38 Yards lost rushing 7 12 Net yards rushing 150 26 Net yards passing 32 0 Total yards gained 182 26 Passes attempted 7 0 Passes completed 6 0 Times kicked off 4 2 Kickoff average 53.8 48.0 Punts 0 3 Punting average xx.x 26.3 Punt return yards 0 0 Fumbles 1 1 Fumbles lost 1 1 Penalties 0 3 Yards penalized 0 25 Number of plays 37 14 Time of possession 15.53 8.07
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING (Mas) Stafford 11‑50, Hurst 6-47, Dixon 5‑41, Sparkman 4-8, Dunwiddie 4‑4. (Joe) Miller 5‑21, Woodfolk 6‑9, Clark 2‑1.
PASSING (Mas) Hurst 6‑7‑0 32, 2 TDs. (Joe) no attemts.
Hurst and A‑back Lamont Dixon were the other key men in Massillon’s gaining 150 rushing yards in the first half.
“After those three losses, everybody said all week in practice that we’ve got to do something,” Dixon said.
Dixon’s “something” was 41 rip roaring yards in five first‑half carries. Hurst had his best night of the year on the bootleg run, rushing 47 yards in the first half on six carries. Hurst turned over the chores to Jamie Slutz after the Tigers built a’ 33‑0 lead.
“That quarterback impressed the hell out of me,” Gutbrod said.
Gutbrod had to be at least as awed by Massillon’s first‑half defense. The Tigers sat in a 6‑2 (six linemen, two linebackers), same as, they had against the other sock‑it‑to‑you team on their schedule, Fairfield. St. Joseph amassed only 26yards in the first half, all on the ground, and arrived at their final figure of 195 with lots of yards with the outcome long‑earlier decided.
“We wanted it,” said Tiger defensive end Monte McGuire. “The last few weeks have been tough. Real tough. We hardly talked about the games. We’ll talk about this one.”
The Tigers took the opening kickoff and drove 76 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown. Short passes to Jeff Harig and Troy Manion kept St. Joseph off balance and aided the running game.
On first and goal from the 6, “bull offense” backs Liggett and Dunwiddie checked in, but the Vikings stopped two runs for 2 total yards. The “bull” checked out, and Stafford took a lightning‑quick handoff on third down, zooming the 4 yards for a touchdown. Hurst’s kick was wide and the Tigers led 6‑0 with 7:02 left in the first quarter.
Dunwiddie, now playing defensive tackle, pounced on a Sam Clark fumble three plays later and Massillon was in business at the Viking 30. Dixon’s 15‑yard run keyed a TD mini‑march capped by Hurst’s 5yard pass to Doug Harig on third down. Jeff Harig’s conversion catch made it 14‑0 with 3:27 left in the quarter.
Again, the defense made an impact, with David Ledwell and Dunwiddie combining for a sack that set up a St. Joseph punt.
Massillon took over 2 yards short of midfield and ran toughshod to the 4. Stafford, Dixon and Hurst each made key runs, setting up the 4 yard touchdown toss on first and goal to Jeff Harig. Hurst’s kick misfired but the Tigers led 20‑0 with 10:49 left in the second period.
Yet another strong defensive stand forced a three‑and‑out for the Vikings. This time, a short punt plopped dead on the St. Joseph 37. An 8‑yard pass to Desmond Carpenter fueled a 37‑yard drive that ended with the bull offense back on the field and Dunwiddie carrying it in on fourth‑and‑inches.
The conversion pass failed and the Tigers settled for a 26‑0 lead with 4:06 left in the half.
Stafford galloped 50 yards around the left side for an insurance touchdown, looking quite like his old self, at 6:28 of the third quarter. Hurst, still struggling with his placekicking but saying his injured leg is feeling better, drilled the P.A.T. this time to create the 33‑0 lead.
“Making that one was important to me,” he said.
The Vikings drove 55 yards for their touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
When it was over, the Massillon players frolicked in the mud. Many of their fans hung around outside the locker room and chanted gleefully.
“You’ve got to say something about our fans,” Owens said. “To drive all this way in the rain and sit in the cold … we felt such a responsibility to them.”
Nobody dressed in orange was heard asking for a refund.
MASSILLON 33 ST. JOSEPH 8 M J First downs rushing 13 6 First downs passing 0 4 First downs by penalty 1 0 Totals first downs 13 6 Yards gained rushing 246 142 Yards lost rushing 15 22 Net yards rushing 231 120 Not yards passing 49 75 Total yards gained 280 195 Passes attempted 10 12 Passes completed 8 5 Passes int. by 1 0 Times kicked off 6 2 Kickoff average 55.7 35.5 Kickoff return yards 12 27 Punts 2 5 Punting average 31.0 22.6 Punt return yards., 0 9 Fumbles 2 1 Fumbles lost 0 1 Penalties 2 5 Yards penalized 17 51 Number of plays 56 44 Time of possession 25.56 22.04
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING (Mas) Stafford 15‑105, Hurst 6‑47, Dixon 9‑39, Slutz 3‑16, Dunwiddie 5‑5. (Joe) Woodfolk 13‑56, Miller 12‑59, Moore 2‑6.
RECEIVING (Mas) J. Harig 3‑17, D. Harig 1‑5, Manion 1‑3, Carpenter 1‑8, Stafford 1‑11. (Joe) Gardner 3‑47, Robertson 1‑25.
MASSILLON 14 12 7 G 33 ST. JOSEPH 0 0 0 8 8
M ‑ Sparkman 4 run (kick failed) M ‑ D. Harig 5 pass from Hurst (J. Harig pass from Hurst) M ‑ D. Harig 4 pass from Hurst (kick failed) M ‑ Dunwiddie 1 run (pass failed) M ‑ Stafford 50 run (Hurst kick) J ‑ Gardner 3 run (Miller run)
WHS-Warren rivalry may be over Coach Owens enraged at referees as Tigers fall 25-22
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
WARREN: Today is Sweetest Day for lovers.
Friday was Bitterest Day for Tigers.
The Tigers’ high school football series with Warren Harding has lived long and prospered. It may have died Friday night at Mollenkopf Stadium, when the Black Panthers were awarded a controversial touchdown with 30 seconds left that gave them a 25‑22 victory.
If it is dead, the coffin will be draped with a giant yellow flag.
Massillon head coach Lee Owens believed the Tigers were, to put it bluntly, homered.
“It’s not fair to our kids to have happen what happened here tonight,” said Owens, referring to the officiating. “As long as I’m the head coach in Massillon, we’ll never schedule them again.”
Owens was enraged by the volume of penalties against his team ‑ 12 for 149 yards ‑ and the timing.
Two yellow hankies bothered him the most.
One was a 15‑yard personal foul against fullback Jason Stafford, who leaped out of a pile thinking he had scored, but was informed he had been stopped short of the goal line.
Stafford, who had rushed for 120 yards to that point in the fourth quarter, was ejected from the game with the Tigers trailing 19‑14 and facing second and goal from the 16 ‑ after the penalty ‑ with 4:55 left in the game.
After a five‑yard encroachment penalty against Warren, quarterback Lee Hurst rolled right and threw left to tight end Jeff Harig, who caught the ball in the end zone.
Surprise, no flags. Touchdown.
Defensive tackle Bob Dunwiddie, suddenly a running back in a Tiger surprise called the “Bull Offense,” carried for the two‑point conversion and Massillon led 22‑19 with 4:29 left.
Several Clayton Waite completions, a pass interference panelty and a personal foul infraction later, Warren had the ball a few inches short of the goal stripe on fourth down.
Warren head coach Frank Thomas, a former Massillon assistant, called for a quarterback sneak during a timeout. Waite drove over center into a huge Massillon, pile and bedlam ensured while the 6,000 fans waited for the official call. After a five‑second delay, the referee’s hands went up. Touchdown.
Interestingly, Massillon lineman T.R. Rivera had the ball when the touchdown was signaled. “Half my body was over the goal line,” Waite said. “I’m sure it was a touchdown. The Massillon camp disagreed.
“I talked to our players and 11 guys told me it wasn’t a touchdown,” Owens said. “Waite hit the pile and was stopped. When he realized he was stopped he reached ahead and while he did that the ball came loose. T.R. recovered the fumble.”
The Tigers have not been a heavily penalized team this year. They were averaging 48 penalty yards against them per game heading into Friday.
Did they suddenly turn into a team of Jack Tatums‑gone-berserk? Or was there another explanation? Namely, that Warren’s reputation as a homer palace has been built on actual hose jobs?
Thomas, whose team was penalized eight times for 71 yards, rejected the “homer” theory.
“I have to believe the officials are ‑ there because they like athletes and they like kids,” Thomas said. “Whether you’re talking about Warren, Steubenville or Massillon, I don’t believe high school officials purposely try to take a game away from a team. I feel strongly about that.”
Informed of Thomas’ comment, Owens said, “I disagree.
“I’ve never complained to a newspaper about the officiating,” he said. “But I have to say something tonight. I’ve never seen anything like this as long as I’ve been coaching. If beating Massillon is so important that circumstances like this are created, I can’t accept that.
There is no question beating Massillon was important to the Black Panthers.
“I didn’t care if we went 1‑9 this season as long as we beat Massillon,” said Waite, a 6‑foot‑3 senior who completed 19 of 36 passes for 195 yards, rushed seven times for 28 yards, and intercepted three passes, two coming one play after clipping penalties against Massillon.
“We never beat Massillon, and that goes all the way back through my junior high days. This isn’t just at the top. It’s at the tippy top.”
Gerald Simpson, a 6‑foot‑4 senior who missed most of the season with a broken arm, was a big factor Friday, catching seven passes for 92 yards and running 33 yards for a touchdown.
He credited the victory, however, to Waite.
“In my opinion, Clayton is the best quarterback in the country,” Simpson said of Waite, who says he will play college football at Michigan or South Carolina.
The victory pushed Harding’s record to 5‑2 and reduced Massillon’s lead in the all‑time series to 44‑17‑3. The Panthers, however, owns a 7‑6-2 lead in games played at Mollenkopf since 1960.
Owens, whose team dropped to 4-3 with its third straight loss, was not sure if there is a contract to play Warren next year in Massillon, but he talked about the possibility of voiding it if there is.
Warren and Massillon first faced each other in 1921.
The first time the Tigers touched the ball Friday, they moved to midfield but were stalled when Hurst was sacked for a three‑yard loss, followed by a five‑yard encroachment penalty and a 15‑yard clipping foul.
Three punts later Massillon had the ball at its own 45 but quickly lost it right there on a fumble. Harding overcame a 10‑yard holding penalty against a Panther linemen that set up a second and 20. Waite scrambled 16 yards and, on third down, passed for 17 yards to Simpson. Moments later, Simpson made a leaping catch in the end zone on a 10 yard scoring play. The P.A.T. kick gave the Panthers a 7‑0 lead with 1:29 left in the first quarter.
Massillon struck back quickly. Lamont Dixon’s 49‑yard kickoff return put the ball at the Warren 41. Two plays later the Tigers were hit with another clipping penalty but that was negated two plays later still by a personal foul against Harding. On first down from the 17, Hurst took off around left end on a bootleg run and maneuvered his way through traffic for a touchdown as the first quarter expired. The point‑after kick failed and the Harding kept the lead,,7‑6.
Warren took over at its 27 after the kickoff and, on second‑and‑10, moved to the 42 on a pass interference call. Two Waite completions advanced the ball to the 33, where on third and two Simpson swept right and seemed to be caught in the backfield. He bounced off the pack, however, and sprinted left, breaking into the clear and scoring. The kick failed, and Warren led 13‑6 with 8:56 left in the second quarter.
Massillon drove 57 yards to the Warren 15 before running out of downs on its next possession but soon got the ball back on an 11‑yard punt that rolled dead on the Harding 31. A 19‑yard sideline pass to Jeff Harig put the ball at the 12, and three runs by Stafford setup fourth-and‑two at the 4.
That’s when the Tigers sent in their “bull offense,” featuring Dunwiddie (6‑3, 225) and his fellow defensive lineman Trace Liggett (6‑3, 268) in the offensive backfield.
Liggett and Dunwiddie had run through the pre‑game hoop together and with more than the usual gusto, so one might have guessed they were up to something.
Their presence made an impact the first time the “bull offense” hit the field, with Liggett throwing a block that helped spring Dunwiddie for a three‑yard touchdown run. Hurst passed to Stafford for a two‑point conversion and the Tigers led 13‑12 with 1: 39 left in the half.
The Panthers, however, struck quickly and scored an important touchdown with seven seconds left in the half. A 70‑yard drive featured a 22‑yard scramble by Waite, two completions for 25 yards, and a third‑down run of five yards for the touchdown. The conversion run attempt failed and Warren settled for a 19‑14 halftime lead.
The Tigers spent most of the second half in scoring range. Tom Mattox’s interception on the second play of the third quarter gave Massillon possession at the Warren 33, but on second and eight from the 12, another clipping penalty put the Tigers in a hole. Waite’s intercepted Hurst on the next play.
Waite put Warren on the move again but Massillon linebacker David Ledwell intercepted him at the Massillon 41.
This time, Warren’s defense stopped the Tigers, who ran out of downs at the Panthers 31. Warren eventually punted and Massillon threatened again when Hurst, fooling the Panthers on third‑and‑one, found Harig all alone deep. The play might have gone for more than 39 yards but Hurst had to throw with a Harding defender tugging at his leg and Harig had to come back for the ball. Stafford ran five yards to the 20, then an apparent Tiger touchdown run on the next play was called back by still another clipping penalty. Again, Waite intercepted Hurst on the next play, with 10:34 left in the game.
Again, the Tigers forced a punt, getting the ball at midfield. They drove to the 12, where it was fourth and five, and they lined up to go for it. This time, it was Massillon helped by a penalty, as Warren lined up offsides, giving the Tigers a first‑and‑goal at the 7.
The “bull offense” re‑appeared, but this time Dunwiddie lined up at fullback, Liggett was beside him at wingback, and Stafford was the tailback. Stafford followed the big bulls for six yards to the 1, and followed them again to what he thought was a touchdown, but at that point found out his carry was not ruled a score, and was subsequently ejected for his reaction.
The ball was marched 15 yards backward, and then five yards ahead when Warren encroached on the next play. Hurst then hit Harig with the go‑ahead TD, and Dunwiddie, again lining up in the “bull,” carried for the two‑point conversion.
Massillon led 22‑19 with 4:29 left.
Warren had trouble with the kickoff and set up on its own 7. Waite passed the Panthers to the 20 but faced second and 10. He passed again, long down the right sideline. the ball was nearly intercepted by safety Joe Pierce but pass interference was ruled and Warren had another first down. Waite clicked for big passes of 27 and 17 yards to Keith Jordan, with the latter play having a half‑the‑distance penalty tacked on when Chad Buckland, was ruled for leading a tackle with his helmet ‑ another call that upset Owens greatly.
“That play never gets called … and to call it there,” Owens said.
Eventually, it was fourth and inches, and Waite was ruled in for the touchdown.
The Tigers now must try to rally for a battle next Saturday at Cleveland St. Joseph, which fell to 5‑2 Friday by losing to Cleveland St. Ignatius.
WARREN 25 MASSILLON 22 W M First downs rushing 7 6 First downs passing 6 11 First downs by penalty 3 3 Totals first downs 16 20 Yards gained rushing 192 136 Yards lost rushing 12 15 Net yards rushing 180 121 Net yards passing 158 195 Total yards gained 338 316 Passes attempted 26 36 Passes completed 13 19 Passes int. by 2 3 Times kicked off 4 5 Kickoff average 47.0 40.4 Kickoff return yards 77 49 Punts 2 5 Punting average 22.0 25.6 Punt return yards -2 0 Fumbles 2 0 Fumbles lost 1 0 Penalties 12 8 Yards penalized 149 71 Number of plays 60 63 Time of possession 21.51 26.09 Attendance 6,000
Was it that the opponent was that hot? Or were the Massillon Tigers simply cold?
At any rate, you thought maybe Jamie Slutz would have been cold as he went in for his first work of the season at quarterback.
“I wasn’t cold,” Slutz said. “I was ready to play.
“The coach told me to do my best. He said, ‘Score some touchdowns.’”
The senior delivered. He fired two fourth‑quarter touchdown passes to junior Troy Manion. He did his best.
Program Cover
It wasn’t enough. Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary did so much in the first three quarters ‑ holding the Tigers without a first down in the first two ‑ that the carryover was a 17‑12 high school football victory.
“We attacked and played as a team,” said linebacker Steve Nagy, who helped the Fighting Irish improve to 6‑0. “1 wasn’t surprised. We’ve shut down good offenses this season. We’ve done this before.”
If Nagy wasn’t surprised, the Tigers, 4‑2, were. Their next blockbuster game was supposed to be against Cleveland St. Joseph. As it turns out, they have lost two straight heading into next Friday’s game at Warren Harding (4‑2), a 14‑6 winner over Niles Friday.
“We were flat,” Massillon head coach Lee Owens said, using a word on many lips in the grandstand.
“It was,” the coach added, “a nightmare.”
It didn’t have to be that way. The Tigers recovered a fumble deep in Irish territory on the game’s first play from scrimmage. But they couldn’t score. The Irish set the tone with defense. Then their offense plowed 78 yards before settling for a field goal.
The Tigers’ confidence, Owens said, eroded as the drive proceeded.
It may have started as overconfidence.
The Tigers may have recalled that the Irish went peacefully in Massillon last year, losing 28‑14. Too, there was the perception that the Irish opponents in ’88 had been more a “who’s he?” than a “who’s who. ”
One score that stuck out was St. V’s 9‑8 win over Cleveland West Tech. Everyone knows good teams destroy Cleveland public schools teams, right?
“West Tech surprised us,” explained David Houston, the Irish quarterback whose father, Jim, started for the Cleveland Browns 1964 NFL championship team after a high school career in Massillon. “They used a shotgun formation the whole night, which they hadn’t done before. We weren’t ready for it.”
They were more than ready for the Tigers.
The Irish had reasons aplenty to be in fighting trim. For starters, they think they can challenge Youngstown Cardinal Mooney and others for the Division III state title (Mooney and St. V collide next week in Youngstown). For clinchers, they have never defeated Massillon.
“I was a junior at St. Vincent when we lost to them in 1947,” said 25th‑year Irish head coach John Cistone. “Before this, we were 0‑9 against them all‑time.”
Cistone’s teams won state playoff titles in 1972, ’81 and ’82.
“I’d put this win right up there with those,” Cistone said.
Every half second or so, the night air around Cistone was pierced with an Irish player screaming at the top of his lungs. The players, obviously, felt as their coach did.
The celebration might have wound up in the other locker room.
The score was 17‑0 and Massillon had launched a drive late in the third quarter when Slutz was sent in to replace junior Lee Hurst.
One reason Slutz wasn’t cold was the fact he was the starting quarterback in the Tigers’ practice Wednesday, when Hurst was home with the flu. Hurst practiced Thursday, but he was still not himself by game time. His physical problems were compounded by a pulled right hamstring muscle he has battled for a couple of weeks. He spent the postgame in the trainers’ room with an ice pack on his right leg.
Owens said the quarterback switch was a combination of physical condition and performance.
“We needed to do something,” he said.
‘The coaches will “take a serious look at both quarterbacks” before deciding who will start at Warren,
Owens added.
Slutz’s first work ended with the Tigers running out of downs on the 5.
The Irish kept their 17‑0 lead but got a scare when running back Peter Gori appeared to fumble at the 2. The play, however, had been blown dead at the 11:00 mark of the fourth quarter. That became critical because, even though the Tigers forced a short punt moments later and proceeded to drive 23 yards for a touchdown, there was only 7:50 left in the game when they scored.
On second down from the 11, Slutz zipped a pass to the 3, where Manion grabbed it, spun away from two defenders. and scored. A two‑point conversion pass failed.
A holding penalty on St. V’s next possession helped the Tigers get the ball back quickly with a punt. They took over at their own 32 with 6:15 left and advanced 15 yards on a personal foul and another 15 on a roughing‑the‑passer call.
Slutz then zipped a pass 10 yards downfield to Marlon Smith, who wheeled and pitched to the trailing Stafford. Stafford raced from the 30 to the 9, and the Massillon grandstand was jumping.
On the next play, Slutz whistled a pass toward the left corner of the end zone to Manion, who outleaped Rob Wallace at the goal line and went in for another touchdown. A conversion pass attempt again failed, but the Tigers had closed to 17‑12 with 5: 13 left.
Two touchdowns in less than three minutes. It was a ball game again.
But the defense had to hold. The game boiled down to an Irish third-and‑five from the Massillon 20, set up by a nuclear hit on second‑and-five by Massillon linebacker David Ledwell. The Irish called a quick trap to running back Chris Littler. It worked, Littler gaining 10 yards.
The Tigers did get the ball back with 52 seconds left, but instead of setting up at the 30, as it appeared they would because an Irish punt was angled toward the sideline away from the return man, the ball took a right‑angle bounce and rolled all the way to 3. From there the Tigers ran out of downs.
The Irish ruled the first half. Few Massillon teams have ever been dominated so thoroughly for two quarters.
The Irish led 150‑15 in total yards at halftime. They ran 38 plays to the Tigers’ 14 and possessed the ball for 18:18, compared to the host’s 5:42.
Yet, the Tigers trailed only 10‑0.
A 78‑yard march yielded only a 31‑yard field goal by Mike Barbetta with 2:14 left in the first quarter.
And it was a break, not a drive, that netted a touchdown. Late in the first half, Tiger punt returner Mark Owens couldn’t field the ball, and the Irish recovered on the Massillon 15. Pete Gori’s 2‑yard run provided the TD and Barbetta’s kick made it 10‑0 with 3:52 left in the half.
Another turnover, this time an interception, set up the second Irish touchdown. Thanks to the pickoff, the Irish had to travel only 26 yards in six plays, with Gori again going in from the 2 and Barbetta adding the PAT kick to make it 17‑0 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
The 6‑1, 205‑pound Littler finished with 121 rushing yards in 21 carries. The Tigers tried to spring their ace, Stafford, but St. V’s ferocious defense showed few openings, and held him to 28 yards in 13 carries.’
The Irish have a new offensive coordinator, Dan Pappano, who gives the team a new look. The team ran out of the T‑formation on its first scoring drive but showed several different looks after that. One that was effective sent two wide receivers to either side of the ball, with one back.
“We hadn’t done that yet this year,” Cistone said. “We saved a few things for this game.”
The Tigers now must “try to get the wheels back on,” Owens said.
“It’s easy to panic, but a lot of times when your inclination is to panic you find that you’re not that faraway,” the coach said. “If there was anything positive, it was that the guys fought right to the end. But we stopped making progress. We made tremendous progress the first four weeks of the season. Then it stopped. We have to get it back.”
ST VINCENT 17 MASSILLON 12 M SV First downs rushing 3 11 First downs passing 4 2 First downs by penalty 2 0 Totals first downs 9 13 Yards gained rushing 74 195 Yards lost rushing 15 29 Net yards rushing 59 166 Net yards passing 98 56 Total yards gained 157 222 Passes attempted 25 9 Passes completed 9 4 Passes int. by 1 1 Times kicked off 3 4 Kickoff average 39.7 48.0 Kickoff return yards 81 18 Punts 4 6 Punting average 29.8 37.8 Punt return yards 12 12 Fumbles 1 1 Fumbles lost 1 1 Penalties 3 9 Yards penalized 14 86 Number of plays 48 63 Time of possession 16.16 31.44 Attendance 10,058
St. V ‑ FG Barbetta 31 St. V ‑ Gori 2 run (Barbetta kick) St. V ‑ Gori 2 run (Barbetta kick) Mas ‑ Manion 11 pass from Slutz (pass failed) Mas ‑ Manion 9 pass from Slutz (pass failed)
AUSTINTOWN ‑ Defeat came like a knuckle sandwich for the Massillon Tigers Friday night.
Two thin slices of bread ‑ the first play of the game and the last ‑ were enough to smother a middle that belonged to Massillon. Enough to put Austintown‑Fitch in the money with a 20‑19 high school football victory.
The end came as time expired on a 43‑yard field goal by Fitch junior Jeff Wilkins, who said he was “scared to death.”
“It was like the life was taken out of all of us,” Massillon head coach Lee Owens said. “That’s the toughest loss I’ve ever been through … and the players, too.”
The Tiger locker room, caked with mud, sweat and tears, was anger and dejection.
As the players showered, dressed and walked out, though, they were greeted by a scene that touched Owens.
Massillon fans lined up to form a tunnel at the door, cheering and applauding the Tigers as they headed to the bus.
“I worked my tail off to get the players back up in the ‘locker room,” Owens said. “Those fans did a lot better job than I could have.”
Fitch got the ball back on a punt with 1:57 left and drove 50 yards in 12 plays. Quarterback Derick Fletcher scrambled for what proved to be three had‑to‑have‑’em yards to the Massillon 26. He went out of bounds with three seconds left.
Forty‑three yards is a helluva distance for a high school place‑kicker. You see NFL kickers miss from there every Sunday. But Massillon fans had watched Wilkins boom two kickoffs into the end zone twice after he was penalized five yards for kicking off out of bounds.
There was an eerie sense that he had a chance.
The Fitch head coach, former Massillon player David Hartman, was not optimistic. He had hoped the play on which Fletcher scrambled for three would net 12 on a sideline pass.
He watched Wilkins get off the kick from the left hash mark.
“I couldn’t tell if it was good,” he said. “It was crazy. I just waited for the signal.”
This reporter stood five yards behind the goal post as the ball boomed high into the night air. The line was perfect. But would it have enough juice?
It did. Barely, clearing the crossbar by no more than six inches. The referee’s hands shot skyward. Fitch had won.
“How often is a high school kicker going to make a 43‑yarder under that kind of pressure?” Owens said.
Minutes later, a victory bell rang in the distance. It had the sound of a funeral knell as orange‑clad fans filed out of what had been a packed visitors’ grandstand.
For those who had seen Massillon play at Fitch two years earlier, the ring carried a haunting echo.
Then, as on this night, the Tigers entered the fourth quarter seeming to have victory put away. But on that night, Fitch scored twice in the closing minutes, including on a short run by Leo Hawkins on the last play from scrimmage for the win.
The outcome left both teams with 4‑1 records.
It left the two camps in quite different moods.
Owens was fighting tears and could barely speak.
“We had opportunities to win and we didn’t win,” the coach said quietly. “We needed to make a couple of first downs the last time we had the ball and we didn’t. We gave the opponent an opportunity to make a great kick.”
The Tigers overcame a shocking start. On the first play from scrimmage, 5‑foot‑8 junior halfback Chuck Wesson broke through the left side of the line on a counter play and raced 80 yards for a touchdown.
By the start of the fourth quarter, though, Massillon seemed in command, having just pushed a 12‑10 halftime lead to 19‑10.
Wesson had outrun Tiger safety Joe Pierce on that 80‑yard play. But late in the third quarter, Wesson fumbled after fielding a punt, and, Pierce recovered at the Fitch 35. On fourth‑and‑two from the 7, quarterback Lee Hurst scored on a bootleg run and kicked the extra point to create the 19‑10 score with 11 seconds left in the third quarter.
Fitch, however, drove 61 yards for a touchdown on its next possession, thanks largely to a 40‑yard Fletcher‑to‑Wesson pass on third-and‑long. Matt Zokle scored from six yards out, Wilkins’ kick was good, and the Tiger lead shrank to 19‑17 with 7:51 left.
The Tigers didn’t “go conservative.” On fourth‑and‑inches from his own 30, Owens gambled big with a “go‑for‑it” call. But then, giving Fitch the ball back would have been a gamble, too, because the Falcons had looked good on that 61‑yard drive.
Hurst sneaked for two yards and, the first down.
On third‑and‑nine, the Tigers gambled again with a pass. This time it didn’t work. Fitch safety Chuck Campbell intercepted and the Falcons had the ball at the Tiger 41.
The Tigers staged a big defensive stand, highlighted by T.R. Rivera’s sack of Fletcher that set up fourth-and‑nine. This time, it was Fitch going for it on fourth down … but failing to make it. An incomplete pass returned the ball to Massillon on the Tiger 33 with 3:18 left.
“I thought it might be over,” Fletcher said.
The Tigers rushed three times for six yards and elected to punt. Hurst’s boot sailed 22 yards and went out of bounds at the Fitch 33 with 1:48 remaining.
Fletcher went to work. He completed a 13‑yard pass at 1:42, escaped what seemed to be a sure interception at 1:20 and completed a nine‑yard toss to set up fourth-and‑one at 0:44. Wesson rammed for four yards and a first down at 0:23, when Hartman used his final timeout.
At 0:12, Rob Tofil went out of bounds after catching a 12‑yard pass from Fletcher. At 0:08, Fletcher took off on the scramble that set up the winning field goal.
“We had the desire to win,” Fletcher said. “Some of us went both ways the whole game (Fletcher among them ‑ he even played on kickoff teams), but we’re in excellent shape. I wasn’t ever tired, really.”
The Tigers would have been in better shape had they converted their extra points.
The sting of Wesson’s 80‑yard TD trek was erased quickly enough. On the Tigers’ second play from scrimmage, fullback Jason Stafford grabbed a short rollout pass from Hurst, streaked down the left sideline, amazingly broke out of a box of tacklers, and sprinted home on a 69‑yard touchdown play. Hurst’s booming PAT attempt, however, was called wide right.
The Massillon defense put on good stands in Fitch’s next three series. After the third one, Mark Owens returned a punt 20 yards to the Fitch 32.
On fourth‑and‑four from the 26, Stafford slanted over the right side for a first down, hurdled over the safety Fletcher like Edwin Moses in his prime, and exploded into the end zone on a 26‑yard run.
The Tigers went for two and moved to within 1 1/2 yards of the goal stripe after a pass interference call against Fitch. A run up the middle failed, and what would have been two valuable points were nixed.
Fitch then drove 66 yards in 16 plays to where Wilkins made a 25-yard field goal nine seconds before the band show. Fletcher’s mastery at running the wing‑T offense was as much a factor as anything. He was the same sort of elusive quarterback as Barberton’s Butch Momchilov proved to be against the Tigers on Sept. 16.
Fletcher’s value went beyond his statistics ‑ 40 yards rushing and 117 yards passing.
The Tigers did a good job bottling up hard‑running fullback Matt Mrakovich (20 yards in eight carries), although Mrakovich managed three pass receptions for 30 yards on bootleg plays. After Wesson’s 80‑yarder, he added 38 yards in 11 carries for 108 yards on the night.
Stafford rushed 78 yards in 13 carries and caught two passes for 82 yards, giving him 160 combined yards. Hurst completed six of 11 passes for 128 yards and two interceptions.
Fitch wound up with a 325‑278 edge in total yardage.
Hartman now owns a 3‑1 record against his alma mater.
“I’m just so proud of the team,” the Fitch coach said. “Last year, it seemed a number of times we were destined to lose some tough ball games. Maybe the way we won tonight is a sign something else is destined for us this year. Maybe this is our year.”
Massillon’s year isn’t over, the Tigers’ head coach said.
“There’s not much time for feeling sorry for ourselves,” he said. “We’ll come back. I promise that.”
FITCH 20 MASSILLON 19 M F First downs rushing 8 9 First downs passing 3 6 First downs by penalty 0 0 Total first downs 11 15 Yards gained rushing 162 208 Yards lost rushing 12 6 Net yards rushing 150 208 Net yards passing 128 117 Total yards gained 278 325 Passes attempted 11 17 Passes completed 6 9 Passes intercepted 2 0 Times kicked off 4 4 Kickoff average 53.8 52.0 Kickoff return yards 36 81 Punts 3 3 Punting average 30.7 38.0 Punt return yards 48 0 Fumbles 2 1 Fumbles lost 0 1 Penalties 4 6 Yards penalized 43 35 Number of plays 41 62 Time of possession 17:06 30:54 Attendance 8,500
F – Wesson 80 run (Wilkins kick) M ‑ Stafford 69 pass from Hurst (kick failed) M ‑ Stafford 26 run (run failed) F ‑ FG Wilkins 25 M ‑ Hurst 7 run (Hurst kick) F ‑ Zokle 6 run (Wilkins kick) F ‑ FG Wilkins 43
Massillon packaged a musical postcard for southwestern Ohio Saturday night.
Splashed on the front was a collage of band members who were playing when Paul Brown was coaching, a few thousand balloons, fireworks, and a Massillon football player smashing a ball carrier backward.
The inscription on the back of the postcard read: “Massillon 14, Fairfield 6. You guys got anything like this down there?”
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The overwhelming display may or may not have had something to do with Fairfield’s quarterback on one play lining up to take a snap from the guard.
If not, the answer to the question was still clear, Southwestern Ohio may have teams as good as the one up here. But the overall show doesn’t compare.
“There are too many distractions here,” said Ben Hubbard, the nine-year head coach at Fairfield. “Of course, that’s the way it’s planned.”
“It’s way different playing up here,” said Fairfield running back Mike Ritzie, who was a sophomore starter on the 1986 Indian team that won the Division I state title.
A game in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium is always unusual by high school football standards. But a few things were added Saturday to the end of puttin’ on the ritz.
Most notable was the band show. A halftime blockbuster featured nearly 300 members of Tiger Swing Bands past and present in a 50th anniversary bash. Almost every year of the band’s history, 1938‑88, was represented by somebody tooting “Tiger Rag.”
Fireworks exploded. White birthday balloons filled the sky on this crisp, clear September night.
The home folks responded with a spontaneous, spine‑tingling roar.
For the first two 1988 home games, paid attendance figures were the ones announced. This time, a decision was made to punctuate the message to southwestern Ohio. The total, in‑house crowd was announced ‑ an impressive 12.869.
It is important to note that by halftime the score was 14‑0, Massillon.
An old Massillon guy, Jim Place, now the head coach at Fairfield’s Greater Miami Conference rival Middletown, sensed that the kill had already been made.
“If you want to win in Massillon,” said Place, here to scout Fairfield, “something good has to happen for you early. If it doesn’t, and you don’t set the tone, the kids start to wonder. They start looking at the crowd.”
The outcome left the Tigers with a 4‑0 record and in position to move from No. 5 to No. 4 in the statewide Associated Press poll, since No. 4 Boardman lost to McKinley Friday.
The Tigers will play at Austintown‑Fitch Friday.
Fairfield, 3‑1, probably will lose its No. 7 state ranking, although there will be a quick chance for recovery, since the Indians take on No. 1 Princeton ‑ their next‑door neighbor ‑ on Friday.
“We lost the fourth game in 1986 and won the state title,” said Ritzie. “Now we’ve lost the fourth game in 1988. I hope there’s a connection.
“We just lost to a good team tonight. We’ve played two very tough teams already this year (Oak Hills and Purcell‑Marian). Each of them had one thing they didn’t do real well. Massillon is more balanced. Everything they do, they do well.”
Something good did happen early, but for the Tigers, not the Indians
On the sixth play of the game, Tiger linebacker David Ledwell intercepted a Briany Noster pass over the middle and returned it 39 yards to the 6‑yard line.
“Our guys put their hats on their quarterback and he couldn’t see where he was throwing,” Ledwell said. “It was a pretty easy interception.”
The Tigers set up their offense for the first time this season without tailback Jason Stafford, who couldn’t get sharp in practice after suffering a hamstring pull the previous week against Barberton. Stafford played later, but juniors Lamont Dixon and Ryan Sparkman were the running backs most of the night.
It was Dixon who blasted 11 yards for a touchdown, going over left tackle and following Sparkman’s block, after the Tigers were backed up by a procedure penalty. Lee Hurst’s kick made it 7‑0 with 7:49 left in the first quarter.
Something else good happened three plays later: Again, it was something good for the Tigers.
Ballyhooed Fairfield running back Oliver Whyte, was nailed after a short gain and fumbled the ball away to Tiger safety Joe Pierce at the Indians’ 38‑yard line.
The Tigers nickeled and dimed into scoring position, running for gains of 4, 1, 2, 5, 4 and 1 yards and passing for 4, 9, 4 and 4 yards. On fourth‑and‑two from the five, Dixon plowed four yards to the 1. Two plays later, Hurst sneaked in for a touchdown, added the point‑after kick, and the Tigers stunningly led 14‑0 with only 10:51 gone in the game.
Another Ledwell interception set up the Tigers at the Fairfield 27 late in the first half. Massillon head coach Lee Owens elected to go for a touchdown and the kill instead of a field goal when the Tigers had fourth and goal from the 2. Stafford was stopped at the line of scrimmage on a sweep left with 1:43 left in the half.
“We wound up scoring a touchdown after going for it on fourth down earlier,” Owens said. “After debating both sides for a while, we thought we could get the yards.”
The Tigers didn’t, and the score stayed 14‑0 at halftime.
Early in the fourth quarter it was looking like three extra points would’ve come in handy. Fairfield, which got the ball on an interception at the Tiger 26, now had first-and‑goal at the 3. Ledwell and T.R. Rivera ‑ part of what was at times a 10‑man front on the Tiger defensive line ‑ stuffed Fairfield’s T-formation attack on first down. Fairfield again gained nothing on second down, then Keith Warstler racked Whyte for a two‑yard loss on third down. A fourth‑down pass was incomplete and the Tigers had their second big goal‑line stand of the year, the first having come at Altoona.
It was part of a great night for the defense, which held Fairfield to 16l yards prior to a meaningless 54. yard scoring drive that ended with a 34‑yard TD pass on the last play of the game.
“Last week, the offense carried us,” said Tiger defensive tackle Bob Dunwiddie. ”This week, we carried them.”
“Fairfield kind of had a down night, maybe because we were so up,” Rivera said. “They’re not a passing team. We had a lot of guys on the line and we stuffed them pretty good.”
Stafford came in to the game having rushed 52 times for 450 yards. He was held to six yards in seven carries.
“I wanted to start but the coaches decided that I shouldn’t,” he said. “Maybe that was just as well. Maybe I couldn’t have helped the team. I’ll be 100 percent for the next game.
Owens said the offense had an off night but the defense was superb.
“Give (defensive coordinator) Jim Letcavits and the defensive guys a lot of credit,” Owens said. “We had 10 guys on the line at times and dared them to pass. When they did, they didn’t do it very well. In a way, it was a gambling defense. But it was a calculated gamble.”
MASSILLON 14 FAIRFIELD 6 M F First downs rushing 10 8 First downs passing 2 6 First downs by penalty 2 2 Totals first downs 14 16 Yards gained rushing 136 125 Yards lost rushing 37 26 Net yards rushing 99 99 Net yards passing 76 116 Total yards gained 175 215 Passes attempted 16 24 Passes completed 10 9 Passes Int. by 2 1 Times kicked off 3 1 Kickoff average 49.7 42.0 Kickoff return yards 14 47 Punts 3 2 Punting average 29.0 35.5 Fumbles 2 1 Fumbles lost 2 1 Penalties 7 6 Yards penalized 53 23 Number of plays 57 59 Time of possession 23.59 24.01 Attendance 12,869
Individual statistics
Rushing (Mas) Sparkman 10‑20, Dixon 16‑89, Stafford 7‑6, Hurst 7 for minus‑15, Owens 1 for minus‑1. (Fair) Ritzie 5‑35, Whyte 12‑18, Noster 8‑15, Roberts 9‑22, Eppard 1‑9.
Tom Persell, a magician by avocation, was at a loss to explain the trick the Massillon Tigers pulled on the Barberton Magics Friday.
“This time of possession is unbelievable,” said Persell, also a statistician, as he stared at a facts sheet fresh out of his computer in the pressbox at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
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A paid crowd of 11,548 had just watched‑the Massillon Tigers beat the Barberton Magics 34‑21. What the crowd didn’t know was that the Tigers pulled all of those points out of a hat they wore for only 13 minutes and 45 seconds. The Magics, meanwhile, hogged the stage on offense for 34 minutes, 15 seconds.
“You could do some serious research and I doubt you’d find a Massillon team that scored 34 points with a time of possession like that,” said Persell.
Actually, there was a simple explanation.
When you score on an 85‑yard run, as Jason Stafford did in the second quarter while showing off his 4.38 speed in the 40 (times two), the offense is in and out.
Ditto when you score on a 74‑yard run, as quarterback Lee Hurst did one play after Barberton closed the cap to 14‑7 in the third quarter.
Same with Lamont Dixon’s 50yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
The offense scored and sat, and it was “bring on the D.”
“Sometimes,” head coach Lee Owens was saying, “maybe we do score a little too quickly.”
Not that Owens plans to tell the ball carriers, “Fellas, run for 20 and take a dive.” It’s just that those take‑your‑breath‑away plays don’t give the defense any breathers.
The way Barberton’s bite‑sized quarterback, third‑year starter Butch Momchilov, was running the option, there was no time for deep breaths.
While the Tiger offense big played Barberton to death, Battlin’ Butch was whipping up volatile Momchilov Cocktails.
The Tigers met their quota on offense. Their goal is 350‑400 yards a game. They made it a third week in a row, with 400 on the nose.
The defense has a quota, too. Hold the foes under 200 yards. It hasn’t happened yet, but Barberton was the first team to really break the bank, collecting 347 yards.
Massillon’s defense made big plays when it had to, but was still concerned about Barberton’s ability to move the ball.
“I don’t want to be too critical of us,” Owens said. “Give Barberton some compliments. They were like a boxer. We’d knock them down, and they’d get right back up.”
The Tigers missed a lot of tackles, true. They will have to start connecting more frequently if they are to beat next week’s foe, Fairfield, which returns 19 of 22 starters from the only team to beat Cincinnati Princeton last year (Fairfield improved to 3‑0 by edging Cincinnati Purcell‑Marian 7‑0 last night).
It is also true that Momchilov is the kind of option QB who makes tacklers miss. He proved to be a wizard at the fakes and pitches essential to making an option offense work.
When he wasn’t faking or pitching, he was keeping and squirting out yards on his own.
”They played pretty good offense,” said gritty Tiger defensive back Brian Bach, who stands about 5‑feet‑8, and noted Momchilov is “about an inch shorter than me.
“He can cut real good,” Bach added. ”But we still need to play better on defense. I think we need more enthusiasm.”
Enthusiasm is building in town now that the team has improved to 3‑0 by beating a team that came in at 2‑0. It is tempered by a question many exiting fans were asking: “Can the Tigers stop Fairfield, or will they have to try to win a shootout?”
“The players aren’t happy with where we are on defense and I know the coaches are disappointed,” Owens said. “Right now, I’m baffled.”
But then, Fairfield, whose head coach Ben Hubbard led a scouting contingent to the Tigers’ game in Altoona last week, faces its own baffling question. How does one contain (forget about stopping) Jason Stafford?
The senior fullback rushed for 156 yards in 10 carries Friday, pushing him over 450 yards for three games. The only thing that stopped him was a pulled hamstring muscle he suffered with less than a minute left in the third quarter. He sat out the final period.
“It happened when I was running downfield throwing a block,” he said while standing on the sidelines, keeping an eye on the action. Just then, his teammate Dixon broke loose for the 50‑yard touchdown run that created the final score. He began running toward Dixon, making a “No. 1” signal with his index finger.
The play on which Stafford was injured was Hurst’s 74‑yard bootleg run.
Earlier, Stafford had run 85 yards on a play the team calls “inside ice.”
I fake to the inside then cut to the outside,” he said.
Barberton apparently had a good scouting report on Stafford. After Momchilov, who also plays safety, dove at Stafford and missed, he buried his faceguard in the turf. He knew no one would catch the blazing fullback. By the time Stafford reached the goal line, his closest pursuers were 15 yards behind.
After the game, the “inside ice” was on Stafford’s left hamstring in the training room.
“It’s not too bad,” he said. “I’ll I be ready to play.”
Stafford’s touchdown may have .been the key play in the game.
The Tigers had scored. early, parlaying Steve Snodgrass’ fumble recovery into a 38‑yard drive capped by Ryan Sparkman’s 1‑yard plunge at the 7:18 mark of the first quarter.
But Barberton tied the score at 7‑all with its next possession, driving 79 yards in 13 plays, including an 18‑yard completion to the Tiger 13 on fourth‑and‑three. Big fullback Pat Robertson, who finished with 99 yards in 19 rushes, went the final yard.
Barberton further asserted itself by forcing the Tigers to punt on their next possession. The Tigers in turn came, up with an important defensive stand and forced the Magics to punt.
Earlier, a clipping penalty that infuriated the Massillon coaches brought back what would have been a 60‑yard TD blast by Stafford. The clipping flags came out again on the punt, and the Tigers were backed up to their own 15.
Stafford solved the field position problem in a hurry by breaking loose on first down for the 85yarder.
Barberton head coach Don Ault was thinking about plays like that when he said, “That’s genes … there’s not much we could do about some of their big plays. They just out‑manned us.”
After the touchdown, Hurst ‑ not changing to a special kicking shoe for ‑the first time this year ‑ kicked his second extra point and the Tigers led 14‑7 with 4:08 left in the half.
Momchilov optioned Barberton to where it missed a 38‑yard field goal attempt with two seconds left in the half,
At halftime, Barberton led 171-169 in total offense and 17:23‑6:37 in time of possession.
The Tiger defense, following a pattern of doing something positive when it had to, kept the Magics at bay by forcing a punt on the first possession of the second half.
The Massillon offense then threatened to put away the game by driving 60 yards in nine plays for a score. The touchdown came on an excellent adjustment. On third-and‑one from the nine, Barberton’s defense shifted during the snap count so that most of its men were clogging the middle. The handoff went to Sparkman, who bounced off left tackle to the outside. He had clear sailing into the right comer of the end zone. Hurst’s kick was wide but the Tigers led 20-7 with 6:08 left in the third quarter.
The Magics didn’t disappear. The kickoff stuck them at their own 23 but Robertson quickly bulled for gains of 11 and 10. The drive kept moving and wound up consuming 77 yards in nine plays. Momchilov fired a seven‑yard pass to Steve Cuckler for a touchdown, and the kick made it 20‑14 with 57 seconds left in the half.
The Tigers faced the same sort of crises a week ago, when Altoona scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut a Massillon lead to 6 points. The Tigers then drove for a clinching touchdown on a mostly running drive described by Owens as “slug‑nose football.”
This time, the Tigers went back to kicking butt with the boot. On first down, Hurst, on the bootleg keep, sprinted around the right side, where he found an uncommon volume of running room.
“It was just a normal boot,” Hurst said. “I wasn’t really surprised I had that much room. Their linemen are aggressive and they jump inside. We had good blocking going on the play, too.”
“The play went the way the night went for us,” said center Don Gerber. “We came together and played as a team. On that play, everybody executed his block.”
Hurst showed good speed in turning the corner and outrunning three Barberton pursuers on the 74‑yard burst.
Late in the game, Barberton recovered a Tiger fumble near midfield and drove again. Momchilov passed seven yards to Dan Dimick for a touchdown. The kick was good and suddenly Barberton trailed 28-21 and was within an onside kick of making real trouble. The same sort of thing happened in last year’s Barberton game, when the Tigers sweated out a 34-26 victory in the Rubber Bowl.
As in 1987, the Tigers recovered the onside kick ‑ this time, Mark Owens did the honors. Dixon’s 50-yard TD burst came with 47 seconds left in the game.
“Everything is coming together,” concluded Tiger tight end Jeff Harig, who caught two passes for 35 yards. “The line is hitting hard and getting it done.”
Speaking for the defense, end Monte McGuire said, “We played hard, but we’ve just got to get a little more aggressive. Put it in the books. We’re going to beat Fairfield. ”
Another word from the defense, by defensive back Shawn Ashcraft: “I thought we played well at times. We missed a few tackles. We can do better. Next week, we have to make no mistakes.”
“Barberton was good,” said Owens. “But Fairfield will be better.
M B First downs rushing 9 12 First downs passing 3 6 First downs by penalty 0 2 Totals first downs 12 20 Yards gained rushing 351 226 Yards lost rushing 8 40 Net yards rushing 343 186 Not yards passing 57 161 Total yards gained 400 347 Passes attempted 9 23 Passes completed 5 13 Passes int. 1 0 Times kicked off 6 4 Kickoff average 55.5 35.3 Kickoff return yards 31 91 Punts 2 3 Punting average 41.0 33.0 Punt return yards 18 0 Fumbles 2 1 Fumbles 1 2 Penalties 6 5 Yards penalized 68 24 Number of plays 38 71 Tlme of possession 13:45 34:15 Third‑down conv. 4‑6 8‑15 Attendance 11,548
BARBERTON 0 7 7 7 21 MASSILLON 7 7 14 6 34
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter M ‑ Sparkman 1 run (Hurst kick) 718 Second quarter B ‑ Robertson 1 run (Horvath kick) 11:57 M ‑ Stafford 85 run (Hurst kick) 4:26
Third quarter M ‑ Sparkman 9 run (kick failed) 6:08 B ‑ Cuckler 7 pass from Momchilov (Horvath kick) 0:57 M ‑ Hurst 74 run (Hurst run) 0:32
Fourth quarter B ‑ Dimick 7 pass from Momchilov (Horvath kick) 1:41 M ‑ Dixon 50 run (kick failed) 0:47
Barberton coach Don Ault knew the best way to try and stop the high powered Massillon offensive attack was to keep the ball out of the hands of multi‑dimensional quarterback Lee Hurst and swift tailback Jason Stafford.
Barberton’s offense followed the game plan almost perfectly Friday night. The Magics dominated possession of the ball as they hogged it for more than 34 minutes and ran 60 plays to the Tigers’ 38.
The only problem was that when the Tigers did have the ball, they were the epitome of efficiency.
Massillon scored on five of its 38 plays, including three touchdown runs of 50‑plus yards, to record a 34‑21 victory over the previously unbeaten Magics before a crowd of 11,548 at Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
“Barberton had the ball all night, but we had the points and that’s all that mattered,” said Hurst.
“It seemed like our defense was on the field all night, but when we did have a chance we usually made the most of it.”
Hurst was a key factor, but on this night it was his feet rather than arm that helped decide the game with a key third‑quarter run.
The Tigers (3‑0) had broken a 7‑7 second‑quarter tie when Stafford raced 85 yards to give Massillon the lead for good.
The Tigers upped their advantage to 20‑7 midway through the third quarter when junior fullback Ryan Sparkman ran 9 yards to cap a 60‑yard scoring drive.
The Magics, however, weren’t done,
Shifty senior quarterback Butch Momchilov led a typical Barberton drive ‑ 9 plays, 77 yards, 5:11 consumed ‑ and hit Steve Cuckler with a 9‑yard TD pass.
That cut the Magics’ deficit to 20‑14 with 57 seconds left in the third quarter,
Masillon defeats Magics
But on the first play following the kickoff, Hurst faked a sweep to left to Stafford and the Magics’ defense collapsed on the senior tailback, who had 156 yards on 10 carries at that point. Stafford, in fact, carried out the fake so intensely that he pulled a hamstring muscle and. was sidelined the rest of the game.
Hurst, meanwhile, bootlegged around the right side and raced 74 yards for a touchdown.
“It was bootleg keeper all the way,” said Hurst, who rushed 10 times and gained 98 of Massillon’s 343 rushing yards.
“All I have to do is read the blocks out front by (tight end) Jeff Harig and (guard) Tom Menches. They did a great job and I couldn’t believe how alone I was.”
Neither could Ault.
“We knew they had the bootleg and we knew we had to stop Hurst, but when you’ve also got a great back out there like Stafford you’re naturally more worried about him,” said Ault.
“We were keying on Stafford and Massillon did a great job executing.
“I thought we did a great job of ball‑control all game, but you can’t keep it away from them forever.
“And when they did get it they did a very good job ‑ that’s why I’d have to say they are a state power.”
The Magics made it interesting when Momchilov threw another TD pass with 1:41 to play to trim Massillon’s lead to 28‑21.
Massillon’s Mark Owens covered the ensuing onside kickoff attempt and two plays later junior fullback Lamont Dixon busted a 50‑yard TD run to clinch the game with 47 seconds left.
“Our offense did a great job, maybe too good a job because our defense was worn out by the end of the game,” said Massillon coach Lee Owens, whose squad faces Fairfield next Saturday.
“Maybe we need to take a little more time putting it in the end zone to give our defense a break.
“But in all seriousness, you have to give Coach Ault and the Barberton team a lot of credit. They did a great job controlling the ball and never gave up.”
Fan-tastic! Massillon supporters fill local motels
By Kay Stephens Staff Writer (Altoona Mirror Sept 10, 1988)
When the high school football team from Massillon, Ohio, comes to Altoona today, at least 2,000 fans are expected to follow.
And because the Massillon vs. Altoona game is at night, local motels and hotels are booked solid.
Each of those fans will probably spend an average of $70 to $75 each for room, meals and other expenses, James Caporuscio of the Altoona‑Blair County Chamber of Commerce estimated. So the mass of fans from Massillon should be pumping an additional $150,000 into local businesses.
Those Massillon fans who come early or leave late are likely to help make the Keystone Country Festival at Lakemont Park a success. Some fans are expected to stop at the festival today before the 7:30 p.m. game or on Sunday before they go home.
The Sheraton Altoona set aside 35 rooms for the team and about 35 for the fans. In addition to a convention and some rooms for the Keystone Country Festival vendors, the 226 room facility is sold out.
Other Altoona motels like Days Inn, Knights Inn and Holiday Inn, in addition to smaller motels like the Wye Motor Lodge and Rogers Motel, have no rooms for tonight.
Some motel clerks said they were referring room requests to motels in nearby towns.
Some Massillon fans are expected to come by camper, Caporuscio added. A group called last summer and was referred to the Sanderbeck Campgrounds near Duncansville where they’re expected to spend the night.
While the motels and hotels are sold out, Mansion Park is not.
As of Friday, the high school athletic office estimated attendance at 4,400 to 4,500, but more tickets will be sold tonight. If the weather is good, attendance is expected to be higher, Mansion Park seats 10,471.
As of Friday, 2,600 Altoona were expected to show up for the game. There are 700 season ticket holders and the athletic office sold 1,900 game tickets.
Fans who did not buy tickets by Friday can purchase them tonight at Mansion Park. The gates open at 6 p.m,
This is the second year of a two year contract that the Altoona Area School District struck up with Massillon School District for a football game between the two teams which used to face off regularly in the 1960s when fans traveled by trains to the games,
Massillon is bringing its band to the game, just as Altoona had to take its band last year to Massillon.
Altoona lost last year’s game, 34‑3.
When the Tigers travel, so do the fans
Altoona amazed by sea of orange
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
ALTOONA, Pa. ‑ A lost member of the “Trekkers from Tigertown,” fresh down the mountain that contains “world famous” Horseshoe Curve, needed directions to the stadium here Saturday evening.
A man standing in his front yard was hailed.
“You folks from Massillon?” the Altoona resident deadpanned. “Well, you, ‘just go right up there and keep going for about 10 miles.”
The man pointed to a remote peak in the wilderness. Then he laughed and gave the real directions to Mansion Park, seven blocks from his mail box.
When he was finished he said, “I usually go to the games, but not tonight. You guys will kill us.”
Three hours later, a maroon army of fans on the Altoona High side of Mansion Park was whooping ‘it up. A little split end named Dave “Whitey” Berardinelli was dancing in the end zone, having just caught a touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Altoona was not exactly getting killed. The Mountain Lions had seized control of the action and, when the extra‑point boot sailed through, trailed the Massillon Tigers by just a 12‑7 margin.
In downtown Altoona, across the street from the old Penn‑Alto Hotel where some visitors from Massillon spent the weekend, stands a restaurant called Frank n’ Joe’s.
“Breakfast is our specialty” is what the sign outside the greasy spoon says.
The restaurant can’t live on breakfast, though, so it stays open 24 hours.
“Passing is our specialty” is a sign one might hang on the 1988 Tigers, but they play the survival game, too. And Saturday night, they departed from their specialty to survive.
The possession after the Altoona touchdown loomed as the life‑or-death moment in this game.
“It was time to put the finesse stuff on the shelf,” said Massillon head coach Lee Owens.
It was time, Owens said, to play “slug nose football.”
Some noses got flattened, all’ right. The Tigers marched for a touchdown in 11 plays. Nine of them were running plays. The offensive line fired out, and the running backs ran over defenders.
Owens’ ballyhooed “run and boot” offense did, however, make a cameo appearance during the march.
“The touchdown run was a boot‑leg,” Owens smiled, referring to quarterback Lee Hurst’s 8‑yard scoring roll around the right side.
Now the score was 18‑7, and would stay that way. Now it was time for the Orange Army on the visitors’ side to erupt.
The crowd at Mansion Park was about 9,000. The visitors’ grand stand was stocked to about 85 per cent of its capacity, and about percent of its inhabitants we wearing something that screamed “I’m a Tiger fan.”
More than 2,000 Trekkers from Tigertown made the trip, which, took four to 5 1/2 hours, depending on the weight of each driver’s foot.
Altoona residents marveled at the Massillon turnout.
“Why do they do it?” The question kept coming up.
They are what makes Massillon unique.” That was as good an answer as any.
The parking lot at Mansion Park was wall‑to‑wall Winnebagos, campers and vans ‑ all decorated with something orange ‑ by 6:30 pm., an hour before kickoff.
Just before kickoff, members of the Reese’s Raiders club descended to the field to wave huge orange flags. The 100‑plus team members who bussed to Altoona then ran through a hoop that blared the message, “Massillon, Ohio … where everyone is a Tiger.”
At halftime, the man introducing the Massillon Tiger Swing Band – naturally, the band was there ‑ declared, “and from Massillon, Ohio, the high school football capital of the world …”
Most of the Trekkers from Tigertown, it seemed, stayed the night.
An hour after the game ended became rush hour at Altoona’s fast food parlors.
“Lord, you people from Massillon eat a lot of pizza,” said a harried worker from Domino’s Pizza.
Altoona people weren’t the only ones marveling over the Trekkers from Tigertown. Coach Owens, eating pizza and watching the Notre Dame Michigan game at the Sheraton, called the size of the Massillon contingent “amazing.”
“Would you get something like this from any town but Massillon?” Owens said.
He didn’t really need an answer.
‘Weak Two’ is tough Week two
Tigers have tough time knocking out Altoona, await rampaging Magics
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
ALTOONA, Pa. ‑ Forget that preseason about the Massillon Tigers not having their La‑Z‑Boy Recliners until the week of the high school football.
Tigers had to fight their way out of a op before winning in Week Two. They led the Altoona Mountain Lions 18‑7 before a crowd of 9,000 here Saturday night. Four, as you probably know because preseason hype, will send the Tigers Fairfield.
Fairfield, a next‑door neighbor of Cincinnati Princeton, beat eventual state champion Solon last year and, in 1986, claimed the crown for itself. If you’re looking ahead, Fairfield is 2‑0 after beating Cincinnati Oak -21 in a track meet Friday.
Don’t look ahead.
Tigers had trouble digesting ‘Toona Saturday. And Week Three will pit the orange and black against a knuckle sandwich named Barberton Friday in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
The Magics are back from scholastic football under old timer Don Ault, a former college head coach who came to the Magic City last year. They, too, are 2‑0. And they got there not by bullying habitual bunglers. Their resounding 30‑12 victory Friday came against Walsh Jesuit, hardly a parochial pipsqueak.
Walsh, usually a playoff contender, was tenderized by what veteran Massillon assistant coach Eric Schumacher, speaking from the Altoona Sheraton late Saturday, called “the best Barberton team I’ve seen.”
“It’ll be a big ball game,” added Lee Owens, the Tigers head coach.
Some Barberton folks in the over‑40 crowd still hold a big grudge over something that happened in 1959. Namely, a 90‑0 Massillon victory over the Magics.
You can bet the gross annual income of the Altoona Sheraton that this year’s Massillon-Barberton game won’t be a 90‑0 job.
Meanwhile, you might have had a few takers on a 90‑0 score in Saturday’s Massillon-Altoona game.
The Tigers grabbed a 12‑0 lead by the time the game was 17 plays old.
Pro‑rating the score over four quarters ‑ slightly less than half of the first quarter was gone when the Tigers scored their second TD ‑‑ you were looking at a 96‑0 final.
And that’s how outmanned Altoona looked.
But something strange happened as the twilight disappeared and darkness swallowed the mountains behind Mansion Park.
‘Toona made like a shark and bit back .
The Mountain Lions played the Tigers on no less than even terms for the better portion of three periods.
And, when Altoona’s short passing game, by then clicking on eight cylinders, produced a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Lions trailed by only 12‑7.
“We got behind, but we were never afraid of them,” said Dave Berardinelli, the Altoona split end who caught the touchdown pass.
“I can’t say it was the same last year when we got beat pretty bad in Massillon. We were a slightly intimidated by the mystique. I remember that their booster club gave us gifts in the hotel and I was thinking, ‘Gee, this must be some football town.’
“We just looked at them as another team this time.”
Yet, maybe there’s something to the mystique after all.
Just as mysteriously as the Tigers went flat and stayed that way for three quarters, they discovered their roar again after Altoona closed to 12‑7.
The Tigers drove 76 yards in 11 plays for a clinching touchdown.
Whereas the short passing game had clicked during the 12‑0 getaway, the running game now became the force of the offense.
“It was time to put the finesse stuff on the shelf,” Owens said. “It was time to play slug nose football.”
Senior fullback Jason Stafford fired haymakers.
The 5‑foot‑9, 183‑pound speedster turned beat up would‑be tacklers in a series that became the jewel of one of the biggest night’s any Tiger rusher has ever had.
Stafford’s final, official totals were 24 carries for 182 yards and two touchdowns. The Massillon football press guide shows that Bill Harmon, Art Hastings, Tom Hannon, Mike Mauger and Mark McDew all exceeded 200 rushing yards in a game for the Tigers. Stafford’s outing is believed to rank in the top 10 all time.
The entire offense looked to be running on nitro during the critical drive.
“I looked in their eyes and knew they were ready to go,” Owens said.
The Tigers took over on their own 24 and quickly got a tough 13 yards from “A‑back” Ryan Sparkman. Quarterback Lee Hurst passed six yards to Robert Spencer, then Stafford crossed midfield on an 11‑yard blast.
Hurst bootlegged for 12 yards, then Stafford ground out 5 more to bash the Tigers inside the 30. Sparkman was stopped for no gain, but Hurst connected with tight end Jeff Harig for five yards that turned into a first down after a measurement.
Then Stafford rumbled 8 yards to the 16. It was Stafford again for 4 brutal yards for a first down to the 12.
Sparkman churned out 4 more to the 8. Then, on third and a short 2, Hurst took off on a bootleg around right end. By now, Altoona’s defenders were wondering whether it would be Stafford or Sparkman steamrollering inside, and the boot became a perfect call. Hurst scored easily.
The extra point failed, but the Tigers led 18‑7 with 8:06 remaining. They had the game on ice.
“As disappointed as I am in some things about the game, we still gained more than 400 yards (403), and the defense did some good things, including a very important goal‑line stand,” Owens said.
“We were ready at the start of the game then we scored twice and kind of lost it. We didn’t smell the blood and put ’em away. It takes a team a while to get to that point. We haven’t arrived yet. But we’re getting close.”
They looked more than close in the early going.
The Tigers received the opening kickoff then drove 73 yards in only eight plays for a touchdown. After an incomplete pass, Massillon plays covered 11, 4, 5, 9, 16, 9 and 19 yards. The last play was a draw to Stafford that turned into a touchdown. Hurst’s kick was wide and the Tigers led 6‑0 with 9:45 left in the first quarter.
The Tiger defense started as dominantly as the offense, forcing a punt after three nonproductive plays.
Massillon proceeded to cover 77 yards in only five plays ‑ a 7‑yard run by Stafford, a 5‑yard pass to Harig, a 7‑yard pass to Troy Manion, a 25‑yard bootleg run by Hurst and a 33‑yard touchdown sprint by Stafford, who broke a tackle and easily outran the secondary to the right corner of the end zone.
The two‑point conversion try failed and the Tigers led 12‑0 with 6:41 left in the first period.
The Tigers got the ball back quickly on an interception by Chad Buckland. That’s when the offense seemed to go flat, although Altoona head coach John Franco saw it another way.
“They have great athletes and they hit us with tremendous execution on their first two series,” Franco said. “We made an adjustment, bringing our coverage people in closer to the receivers, and it seemed to work.”
The Mountain Lions took over on downs at their own 32 late in the first quarter then used a mix of sideline passes and shots to the tight end over the middle to drive to the Tiger 1‑yard line on first and goal.
Massillon used its up‑against‑the wall unit to stage one of its great goal‑line stands of recent years. With T.R. Rivera leading the charge of the front wall, the stubborn Tigers stopped two running plays for no gain at the 1, then sniffed out a quarterback bootleg and tackled QB Jon Ruff for a 5‑yard loss. Berardinelli couldn’t catch up to a fourth‑down pass and the Tigers took over on downs.
“My Lord, if we score down there, it’s a different ball game,” said Franco.
As the defense ran off the field, end Monte McGuire was greeted by a hearty hand slap from assistant coach Curt Strawder.
Strawder once gave defenses fits as a Massillon receiver. He is in third place on the Tigers’ all‑time list for catches in a single game (eight). He now shares that position with Harig, whose outstanding night included eight catches for 73 yards.
Hurst completed 13 of 23 passes for 103 yards and was credited with 52 rushing yards in 11 carries.
For Altoona, Ruff completed 13 of 23 passes for 177 yards before leaving with a knee injury. He twisted the knee on the last play of Altoona’s touchdown drive and did not return.
The injury did not have a big impact on the game since the Tigers scored the first time they had the ball after the Altoona TD.
The Massillon defense came through its second straight week of shutting out an opponent in the first half. The defense has allowed only one second‑half touchdown in each of the season’s first two weeks.
Just as the offense rose up after the Altoona touchdown, the defense upgraded its play down the stretch.
After the Tigers’ final touchdown, Altoona still had eight minutes to get something going. The Tigers, however, stuffed the Mountain Lions by putting heavy pressure on backup quarterback T.J. Keith.
MASSILLON 18 ALTOONA 7 M A First downs rushing 17 3 First downs passing 7 8 First downs by penalty 0 1 Totals first downs 24 12 Yards gained rushing 292 33 Yards lost rushing 13 42 Net yards rushing 279 -9 Net yards passing 124 214 Total yards gained 403 205 Passes attempted 24 34 Passes completed 14 16 Passes int. by 1 0 Punts 3 5 Punting average 33.0 35.4 Fumbles 2 3 Fumbles lost 1 0 Penalties 6 2 Yards penalized 63 20 Number of plays 68 59 Time of possession 24.01 23.59 Attendance 9,000
The Massillon Tigers ran and booted and made the crowd’s heart race.
Quarterback Lee Hurst’s heart was racing before he put on his boots.
Coach Lee Owens’ creative concoction ‑ the run‑and‑boot offense ‑ lived up to advance bill Friday night when the Massillon Tigers outslugged and outran the Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers 28‑6 in a high school football season opener seen by a paid house of 10,724 in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
Hurst, a junior starting his first varsity game, didn’t let it show, but he was “sluggish” according to Owens, and for a very specific reason.
“He’s under medication and he may have had a little too much of the medication tonight,” Owens said of the man who had just completed 13 of 20 passes for 138 yards.
He didn’t have the energy he normally would have.”
Program Cover
“I’ve had a problem with a racing heart,” Hurst explained. “The medication is for that. They’ve made it stronger for football season. I may have had too much of it.”
Massillon had too much of everything for Falls.
“I thought we did really well on offense,” Hurst said. “The backs ran well and the linemen did a super job blocking.”
Fullback Jason Stafford did a lot of the outrunning and outslugging. The 5‑foot‑9, 165‑pound speed burner rushed 18 times for 103 yards.
He never quite could get his 4.39 second 40‑yard dash speed out in the open, but, as he put it, “I was close to breaking it all the way on every play.”
Hurst and Stafford were well known names last year. Lamont Dixon was not. Dixon opened a few eyes, though, when he rushed six times for 98 yards out of the “A-back” position, as Owens calls it.
Ryan Sparkman, who played despite an upper‑leg injury, had been ticketed for starting duty at the “Aback” spot. Dixon played as though he would like the job, running over anything that was in his way.
Speaking of surprises, the Tigers set the tempo for the evening by pulling off a big one.
On the sixth play of the game, facing fourth‑and‑three from the Falls 46‑yard line, the Tigers lined up to punt.
Three Tigers lined up five yards behind center. The man on the right was senior Jamie Slutz, who spent training camp battling for the starting quarterback job.
“The coach told me to check outside to see if Joe (Pierce) was covered,” Slutz said. “When I saw that he wasn’t, I called for the snap to come to me.”
It did. Slutz rolled out, “just looking to get the ball to somebody.” He saw a linebacker pop in front of the streaking Pierce. Pierce broke behind the linebacker and Slutz fired a strike.
The 16‑yard completion gave the Tigers a first down at the 30. The inspired Tigers gained 6, 5, 7, 5 and 5 yards to set up a 1‑yard plunge into the end zone by Sparkman.
The point‑after kick failed, but the gamble had succeeded.
“With all the buildup about our offense, it would have been hard for us to punt there,” said Owens who has said frequently that he looks at punt as “a dirty word.”
The Tigers sputtered at times the rest of the way but managed to make their offense look like they have an Indy car to tune up the rest of the season.
They led 28-0 before Falls scored on a bomb with 55 seconds left in the game.
“There were a lot of times when we out‑athleted ”em,” said Owens, smiling at the word he invented.
“I’m disappointed in a lot of things. We’ll have to be a lot better tomorrow. But I don’t want to take away from the victory earned by the players and the coaching staff. it was a great one.”
Falls is not among the top names on the Massillon schedule. The Black Tigers loomed as a team that might improve on last year’s 7‑3 campaign before a car crash last winter killed two boys, paralyzed two others and led another to transfer from Falls to another school district. All would have been starters this year, including one of the boys who was killed, 6‑7 quarterback Kevin Humble.
“I know a couple of Falls guys and I know they dedicated the whole season to the guys in that crash,” said Massillon middle guard Bob Dunwiddie. “They came in on a bubble. After a couple of hard hits, they came back to earth.”
Dunwiddie was pleased with the Massillon defense, which allowed only 131 yards until Falls beefed the total up to 208 on its last possession.
“We pulled together as a team instead of being individuals ” he said
Coach Bill Humble was not at all displeased with his team, which leads one to believe he sees Massillon as a powerhouse.
“Our kids played hard,” he said. “I thought we played pretty good football.”
Massillon’s early success on the faked punt “really hurt us,” Humble said. “That was a real key play.
There would be others.
Midway through the second quarter, Dixon exploded for 49 yards on a play that highlighted an‑84‑yard scoring drive.
“It was the old Redskin play, a counter gap,” said Owens. “I thought it worked well tonight.”
Dixon’s run was sandwiched between two Hurst‑to‑Marlon Smith completions. The touchdown came on a 6‑yard run by Stafford, who swept left, was caught at the three, spun away and reached the football barely over the goal line as he hit the turf.
Hurst’s point‑after kick boomed through and Massillon led 13‑0 with five minutes left in the half.
Falls went three‑and‑punt and Massillon got the ball back on the Black Tigers’ 45. A 12‑yard reception by Smith put the ball on the 20. On the next play tight end Jeff Harig ran a post pattern and Hurst led him with a high‑arcing pass to the back of the end zone. Harig dove and snagged the ball with his fingertips, pulling it in and hanging on as he crashed to the ground with a touchdown.
Harig did it again on the point after try, grabbing a tipped ball for a two‑pointer that gave the Tigers a 21‑0 halftime lead.
Falls staged a mild threat late in the third quarter. With the score still at 21‑0, the Black Tigers drove to the Massillon 22 where it was second‑and‑six. Pierce flew from his free safety position to break up what briefly appeared to be a touchdown pass on second down. Monte McGuire, playing with an air cast on his left ankle, stuffed 205‑pound fullback Jim Kearns for no gain on third down. A fourth‑down pass fell incomplete and the threat was over.
The Tigers drove 78 yards in 10 plays for an insurance touchdown. Sparkman went over left tackle and exploded for an 8‑yard touchdown run with 11:06 left in the game. Hurst’s kick made it 28‑0.
Falls’ touchdown drive was capped by a 41‑yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jim Ballard to junior split end Jim Otis.
The Tigers were disappointed that the shutout got away. As the defense returned to the bench, Owens said, “Keep your heads up.”
The heads were up in the locker room afterward.
“We could have been a little more intense, but we did pretty well,” Pierce said.
GlenOak had riddled the Tigers for 14 completions in 20 attempts in a scrimmage the previous Friday. The Tiger linebackers’ timing was off that night, as they were not making the drops that would take away passes over the middle.
“The linebackers did a real good job tonight,” Pierce said. “They helped out the defensive backs a lot.”
Pierce said losing the shutout was a disappointment. McGuire agreed, but he didn’t look very disappointed.
“I feel good,” he said. “A win is a win.”
MASSILLON 28 CUY.FALLS 6 M CF First downs rushing 13 5 First downs passing 7 3 First downs by penalty 0 1 Totals first downs 20 9 Yards gained rushing 237 102 Yards lost rushing 17 11 Net yards rushing 220 91 Net yards passing 154 117 Total yards gained 374 208 Passes attempted 211 19 Passes completed 14 12 Passes int. by 1 0 Times kicked off 5 3 Kickoff average 55.8 30.31 Kickoff return yards 44 184 Punts 2 6 Punting average 32.5 30.3 Punt return yards 47 14 Fumbles 0 1 Fumbles lost 0 0 Penalties 5 3 Yards penalized 77 15 Number of plays 57 47 Time of possession 21.20 26.40
MAS ‑ Sparkman 1 run (kick failed) MAS ‑ Stafford 6 run (Hurst kick) MAS ‑ Harig 20 pass from Hurst (Harig pass from Hurst) MAS ‑ Sparkman 8 run (Hurst kick) CF ‑ Otis 41 pass from Ballard (pass failed)
On paper, call it even Tigers have better offense, Dogs have the ‘D
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
You want to play the Massillon McKinley football game on paper?
Since we have to wait until 2 p.m. Saturday to see it on the field, why not ?
OK, then.
On paper, Massillon has a slight edge on offense. McKinley has a clear edge on defense.
Between the lines, Massillon’s edge on offense might be greater and McKinley’s advantage on defense might be slighter since the Tigers have played a tougher schedule.
Massillon’s offense has amassed 2,570 yards in 418 plays for an average of 6.15 yards a play. McKinley’s offense has netted 2,309 yards in 414 plays for a 5.6 average.
The teams have comparable rushing numbers: Massillon’s 1,630 Yards at 5.7 a carry versus McKinley’s 1,766 at 5.6 a pop.
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987
Massillon has a whopping advantage in the passing game. The Tigers have completed 61 of 127 passes for 940 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions, while the Bulldogs have connected on 38 of 95 for 543 yards, two touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Massillon quarterback Erik White has completed 60 of 122 passes for 883 yards, seven TDs and six interceptions. McKinley quarterback Pat Lyon, who has started all but two games, has completed 26 of 71 for 384 yards, two touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Six Tiger receivers ‑ Myricks (10 for 228), Wrentie Martin (12 for 223), Mark Kester (11 for 153), Jason Stafford (9 for 127), Craig York (9 for 87) and Gerald Pope (5 for 64) ‑ have caught at least five passes.
Keith Smith (7 for 177) and Mike Hedrick (7 for 96) are the only Bulldogs with more than five receptions.
So that’s the offense.
What about the defense?
McKinley’s has been better.
The Tiger defense has allowed 2,121 yards against its nine opponents. McKinley foes have gained only 1,399 yards.
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987
Massillon’s running defense has surrendered 1,409 yards at 4.3 a carry. McKinley’s rushing defense has yielded 862 yards at under 3.5 a tote.
Opponents have passed for 712 yards against Massillon and 537 yards against McKinley.
Elsewhere on the statistical charts, there are some uncanny similarities between the teams.
Both squads have fumbled 27 times. The Tigers have lost 14 of the bobbles. The Bulldogs have lost 11.
Both teams have intercepted 12 passes. McKinley’s Mark Hedrick has picked off four errant throws. Massillon’s Mark Kester has made three interceptions.
The Tigers’ top ground gainer is Jerome Myricks with 989 yards in 155 carries at 6.4 a carry. The Bulldogs’ top rusher is Jeff Richardson with 145 carries for 970 yards at 6.7 a pop.
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987
Massillon’s No. 2 ground gainer Jason Stafford with 357 yards at 6.6 a carry, has out rushed McKinley’s No. 2 man, Derrick Gordon with 259, yards at 6.8 per attempt.
But Massillon has no one else over 100 yards, while McKinley has DeVon Torrence with 156 yards in 17 carries, Kevin Campbell with 132 yards in 26 carries, and Lamuel Flowers with 116 yards in 28 carries.
Other Massillon rushers have included Shawn Ashcraft (8 for 57), David Ledwell (12 for 56), John Miller (11 for 55) and Vernon Riley (14 for 47).
Myricks leads the Tigers in scoring with 108 points. Richardson is McKinley’s top dog with 68 points. Richardson is behind the pace of his junior season in rushing yards. He needs 200 yards on the nose Saturday to match his 1986 total of 1,170 rushing yards for 10 games.
Those are the numbers. That’s how it looks on paper.
Add it all up and this looks like a dead‑even match up.
Pups edge Tigers Key play in first half ‘was about an inch short of the goal line…
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
It still means everything to the McKinley Bulldogs to play the Massillon Tigers.
There’s some solace in that for the Massillon team that got beat 18‑15 by McKinley Saturday.
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987
It was true that McKinley fans were rubbing it in that their Bulldogs had beaten the Tigers four straight times for the first time since before radio was invented.
It was true that many Massillon fans were wondering when their beloved men of orange will ever defeat the crimson‑clad team from Canton again.
It was also true that the McKinley coach, Thom McDaniels, had cried with his team after what had been a brutal slugfest was over.
You don’t look like McDaniels looked ‑ like a man whose emotions had spent a week in a ringer washer unless the game means everything.
That is what Saturday’s game meant to him. As such, it meant that Massillon still has McKinley’s complete respect, if not its number.
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987
‘We experienced a lot of things this year,” said McDaniels, talking about the tumultuous things that accompany a less‑than‑perfect season in either the Canton or Massillon football communities.
McDaniels has been McKinley’s head coach since 1982, the year after Terry Forbes steered the Bulldogs to the only big‑school state championship a Stark County team has ever won since the advent of the playoff era.
Such was the tumult of 1987 that his status at McKinley for 1988 is clouded.
McDaniels’ team finished ’87 with a 7‑3 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since his ’84 team went 7‑3.
Saturday’s setback gave Massillon a 1987 record of 6‑4, A pattern that has haunted John Maronto in his three years as Massillon’s head coach ‑ playing tough, but failing just short against the elite teams ‑ held true again.
Both Maronto and McDaniels are saying their futures at their respective schools are up in the air.
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987
The Tigers stunned McKinley on the ground. After the Bulldogs stalled in three plays following the opening kickoff, Massillon set up at midfield. From time to time under Maronto, the Tigers’ first play has been a bomb. McKinley knows that and may have been sucked in when Tiger quarterback Erik White dropped back for an apparent pass. However, the was a sprint draw, with Myricks taking a handoff and going through a gaping hole up the middle.
“We wanted to get Jerome one‑on‑one with a defensive back on that play,” Maronto said. “It was very well blocked by our players.”
Myricks is a hard man to catch in the open field. This time, nobody caught him. He shifted smoothly to the left sideline and out ran McKinley’s defense into the end zone for a 50‑yard touchdown run.
“We ran that play successfully the whole game,” Maronto said. “Most of our blocking schemes were effective, especially behind John Woodlock and John Schilling. There were a lot of exciting plays and Jerome came very close to breaking the long one on several others.”
Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1987
But while the Tigers were coming close to the big play, McKinley was making it. The Bulldogs used a running attack that netted 283 yards to score the game’s next three touchdowns.
A 93‑yard drive capped by Bulldog quarterback Pat Lyon’s 8‑yard pass to a wide‑open tight end, 6‑1 senior Dan Roshong, cut Massillon’s lead to 7‑6 with 34 seconds left in the first quarter. The extra‑point kick was wide left.
McKinley got great field position on its next possession following a 19‑yard loss on which Tiger fullback Jason Stafford was caught on a reverse. A short punt enabled the Bulldogs to set up on the Tiger 38, and they scored three plays later when tailback Jeff Richardson took a pitch left and motored 24 yards for a touchdown.
McKinley pulled out to an 18‑7 lead by driving 63 yards for a TD on its first possession of the second half. Richardson went over the right side to score from four yards out.
The Tigers turned it into a thriller when White got hot late in the third quarter, launching a mostly passing, 72‑yard drive capped by Myricks’ 6‑yard blast up the middle with 8:36 left in the game.
Since McKinley had failed on all three of its extra point tries, the Tigers had a chance to pull within a field goal of a tie by making a two‑point conversion. Jerome got the job done by running over Schilling and Woodlock on the right side, and it was 18‑15.
The Tigers, however, got the ball only once more, setting up on their own 18 after a punt and moving to the 30 on a diving 12‑yard reception by senior split end Craig York. Bulldog linebacker Scott Herrington sacked White for an 11‑yard loss to set up a punt, and the Bulldogs ran out the clock.
Save for a few inches, perhaps less, the game might have been drastically different.
The Tigers came up just short of the end zone when fullback John Miller, a secret weapon who had played the season primarily at inside linebacker, was stopped on fourth and goal from the 3 with 1:38 left in the first half.
Miller was so close to the goal line that White, the quarterback, signaled a touchdown.
“I was about an inch, maybe two, short of the goal line,” Miller said.
“The films show it couldn’t have been more than a couple inches,” Maronto said. “The play was blocked successfully at the point of attack. (Defensive tackle) Robert Copenny came from nowhere to get just enough of John’s legs to slow him down.”
The drive had begun at the McKinley 31 on the kickoff following McKinley’s go‑ahead touchdown. In fact, is was one of the more dramatic marches of the season.
McKINLEY 18 MASSILLON 15
MAS McK First downs rushing 7 12 First downs passing 7 5 First downs by penalty 0 1 Totals first downs 14 18 Yards gained rushing 190 306 Yards lost rushing 52 23 Net yards rushing 138 283 Net yards passing 90 67 Total yards gained 228 350 Passes attempted 14 8 Passes completed 9 5 Passes int. by 0 0 Times kicked off 3 4 Kickoff average 49.0 41.8 Kickoff return yards 63 46 Punts 5 3 Punting average 26.4 32.3 Punt return yards 0 13 Fumbles 0 2 Fumbles lost 0 0 Penalties 3 5 Yards penalized 26 25 Number of plays 60 51 Time of possession 22:54 25:06 Attendance 17,500
MASSILLON 7 0 0 8 15 McKINLEY 6 6 6 0 18
Grid war lives up to reputation Tigers fall short against Bulldogs
By STEVE DOERSCHUK Independent Sports Editor
The good fight has been fought. And now the war between the cities is over.
“I did a lot of thinking about the game today,” Massillon Tiger co-captain John Miller said Sunday night, more than 24 hours after his football team fell 18‑15 to the McKinley Bulldogs. “Now I’ll just try to forget about it. It’s time to move on.”
The Tigers scored on their first play from scrimmage Saturday when Jerome Myricks cut loose for a 50‑yard touchdown run. McKinley, however, used a ground assault that netted 283 yards to score a touchdown in each of the first three periods on their way to the win.
“It’s a very tough loss for our football team and our program,” Tiger head coach John Maronto said. “A lot of energy was expended to come up a couple of inches short. But the thing you have to understand is that our young men gave everything they had … and a little bit more. It was one of the best high school football games I’ve ever been involved in … certainly one of the hardest hitting.”
Maronto, who has been under fire since last year’s 23‑6 loss to McKinley, has a 20‑10 record in his three years at the Massillon helm. He has been haunted by a series of close defeats against powerful teams. The coach’s three‑year contract expires at the end of this school year, and there has been speculation he will not be offered a new pact.
As to his future in Massillon, Maronto said, “That remains to be seen.” He said his thoughts are focused on other areas right now. “I’m more concerned with looking out for the best interests of the graduating seniors,” he said. “I want to make sure everyone has things in the right perspective in terms of next season. I’m most concerned with dealing with the team.
“This is the most successful 6‑4 team you could ever be involved with,” Maronto added. “People have to agree that these players played the toughest Massillon schedule possible ever. They weren’t more than an inch here or an inch there from being 9‑1. I’m pretty proud of the way this team played, the class they showed and the adversity it fought to overcome.”
Miller, a surprise starter at fullback Saturday, and fellow co-captain Erik Moledor wound down Sunday by going to the movie “Hellraiser” at Lincoln Theater.
“It was kind of dumb,” Miller admitted. Saturday’s game had been kind of sensational. But in the Tigers’ eyes, it had a “dumb ending,” what with McKinley on top.
“There was some serious hitting going on,” said Miller, who played inside linebacker in addition to fullback. “I mean serious. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I’m a little sore today, but nothing major.”
The Tigers finished their 1987 grid campaign with a 6‑4 record. It was only the sixth time since Paul Brown left town in 1940 that the team has endured as many as four losses in a season.
It also was the fourth straight setback to McKinley, marking the second longest losing streak in the history of the series, which Massillon still leads 50‑38‑5. The Canton team won the first 11 games in the series, which began in 1894.
“We didn’t have as good a season as we thought we would,” Miller said. “We expected to go pretty far. I’m still glad I played on this team. I liked everybody on the squad. It was a great bunch.”
Moledor, a senior defensive back, was keeping a stiff upper lip Sunday but remained in obvious disappointment.
“I thought we gave it everything we had,” said Moledor. “McKinley was pretty tough. Give ’em credit.” “We really worked hard together this year. I think that’s the best thing we did … worked hard. Saturday was tough. But I don’t think there are any regrets.”
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