History 1950: Massillon 62, Cleveland Cathedral Latin 0
Tigers Defeat Cathedral Latin Lions 62-0
Massillon Team Rolls Up Season’s Largest Score To Win Easily
By LUTHER EMERY
The Cathedral Latin Lion, which lost its roar several years ago, and has never been able to get it back, was tamed by a touchdown happy pack of Washington high Tigers here Friday evening to the tune of 62-0.
A crowd of 13,384 fans saw Halfback Ernie Russell plunge over the Latin goal line on the first play of the second period for the first touchdown of the game after the two teams had battled to a scoreless tie the first quarter.
From that T.D. on to the end of the game, it was only a question as to how big the score would be, for the locals gained ground almost at will while stopping practically every Latin attempt to advance the ball.
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THE STATISTICS tell the story better and briefer than all the words of explanation – 18 first downs to Latin’s 3; 545 net yards from scrimmage to Latin’s 53.
And yet with all the apparent one-sided performance, Coach Chuck Mather found plenty of errors in his team’s play and sufficient ragged performance at times to cause him to wobble all the more under the worry of things to come.
For example, had the Tigers been playing Steubenville, Alliance, Barberton or Canton McKinley, last night, they might have taken a licking in the first period from which they could not have recovered. It took them long enough to get their second wind as it was, but once they did, they rolled relentlessly against the Lions.
Forty-three players were used by the Tiger coach, one short of four teams, with a rookie outfit scoring the last two touchdowns and an all sophomore eleven finishing the game.
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THE PERCENTAGE of completed passes was poor, principally because of poor reception. Three touchdown passes were dropped by receivers as well as a couple of others. Only seven of 25 hit their mark to stay, and right here we might add that never was a passer accorded better protection than that given Quarterback Freddie Close last night. He had all the time in the world to chuck the ball.
The Lions last night were the Tigers’ third victim of the season and none of the three has been able to penetrate the locals’ defense for points. Only once did Latin get over the
50-yard line last night and then by only a couple of yards.
With Coach Mather using so many players, it was impossible to pick out an outstanding star or stars on the local team. Bob Howe bore the brunt of the offense and got away to some good gains, but every mother’s son who got into the contest did his part to roll up the victory.
* * *
IT WAS EASIER to select a Latin beacon. The individual was Peter Ghirla, quarterback, who captained the team, ran it, did the passing and punting – and what punting! Several times, while in the shadow of his goal posts, his toe drove the ball back to midfield. That he didn’t complete more than two passes was not his fault. He often hit his receivers who could not hold the ball.
Only once in the entire game did the Tigers punt and then it wasn’t exactly necessary for they had the ball on the 35-yard line with only a yard needed for a first down when they elected to kick the pigskin. They gambled and won on fourth down several times thereafter.
The locals showed improvement over their previous two games. They looked better both offensively and defensively, showed good downfield blocking, and handled the ball with greater confidence and tighter fingers. Fumbles were scarce, each team having a bobble and each losing the ball on it.
* * *
FORTUNATELY, the Tigers came out of the game in good physical shape. Early in the contest they were shaken up in several spots but all of the injured re-entered the game before hitting the showers.
Once again the scoring was well distributed among members of the team. Chuck Vliet and Howe each scored twice, while Bob Grier, Close, Wilfred Brenner, Cliff Streeter and Russell each found their way into the Promised land.
If Jerry Krisher keeps it up, he can earn himself quite a reputation as a place kicker. He booted eight without a miss last night, the one failure after touchdown coming when Close got a high pass from center and got up and tried to run with the ball. He was downed before he could get to the Latin goal.
* * *
WHILE THE TIGERS failed to score in the first quarter they launched a 54-yard march in the closing minutes of the period that put the ball in position for Russell to go over on the first play of the second period. Howe, Grier and Russell did most of the leather lugging in the drive. A 37-yard pass, Howe to W. Brenner who made a great catch and ran another 10 yards, brought in the second score. It was the prettiest catch of the game. Streeter covered a fumbled kickoff to get the locals in position for their third touchdown in little more than four minutes. Close pitched to Russell for 34 yards and a first down on the seven, and Close on third down, plunged through center for the score.
A fourth down run by Howe good for 14 yards, produced the Tigers’ fourth touchdown of the period, and the locals would have had a fifth had Streeter been able to hang on to Close’s pass behind the goal.
The third period was five minutes old when the locals scored again. This time Streeter held Close’s rapid pass of 23 yards and stepped over the goal for a touchdown. The successful pass climaxed a 57-yard drive.
* * *
A 38-YARD RUN on fourth down by Howe produced another touchdown in the third quarter and before the period was over the Tigers had driven another 42 yards for a first down on the nine-yard stripe. Two passes failed and Howe took the ball to the two-yard stripe. Grier plunged for the remaining two.
A nice return of a Latin punt by John Francisco to the Latin 40, got a team of second stringers off to the eighth touchdown of the game. A 10-yard pass to Bruce Brenner and some hard running by Vliet and Lee Nussbaum got the ball down to the 12 where Vliet went over in two attempts.
Ghirla was thrown on fourth down by a fast charging Massillon line when he tried to punt after the following kickoff and the Tiger rookies took over on the six-yard line. Vliet went over on third down on a left end sweep for the final score of the game.
The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – W. B renner, Streeter, Zellers, Murray, B. Brenner, Corbett, Millar, Tasseff, Allison.
TACKLES – Gibson, Grunder, Schumacher, Strobel, Younker, Kraus, Geiser, Rubio.
GUARDS – Tunning, Reichenbach, Gleason, Laps, Moyer, J. Howe, Crone.
CENTERS – Krisher, Dowd, Corral, Shilling, Martin.
QUARTERBACKS – Close, Francisco, Khoenle.
HALFBACKS – Grier, Lane, Russell, Stoner, Mlincek, Nussbaum, Waikem, Stewart, Straughn.
FULLBACKS – Howe, Vliet.
CATHEDRAL LATIN
ENDS – Horvath, Vosmik, B osway, Meglen, Ramsey.
TACKLES – Schwallie, Wright, Voytek, Kant.
GUARDS – Siwniski, Vosmik, Tunnio, Kollin.
CENTERS – Mathias, Walsh.
QUARTERBACKS – Ghirla, Collins.
HALFBACKS – Marko, Cardaman, DeFabio.
FULLBACKS – Engeman, DeFabio.
Score by periods:
Massillon 0 27 14 21 62
Touchdowns: Massillon – Russell; W. Brenner; Close; Howe 2;
Streeter; Grier; Vliet 2.
Points after touchdown: Massillon – Krisher eight (placekicks).
Referee – McPhee.
Umpire – Brubaker.
Head Linesman – Schaffer.
Field Judge – Gross.
STATISTICS
Mass. Latin
First downs 18 3
Passes attempted 25 14
Passes completed 7 2
Had passes intercepted 0 3
Yards gained passing 169 27
Yards gained rushing 389 64
Total yards gained 558 91
Yards lost 13 38
Net yards gained 545 53
Times kicked off 10 1
Average kickoff 9yards) 46.6 53
Yards kickoffs returned by 10 114
Times punted 1 8
Average punt (yards) 25 35.7
Yards punts returned by 49 0
Fumbles 1 1
Lost ball on fumbles 1 1
Times penalized 6 5
Yards penalized 60 35
