Canton McKinley Archives - Page 5 of 9

1976: Massillon 7, Canton McKinley 3

November 13, 1976August 6, 2017
by Eric Smith

Currence not taking Pups lightly

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

“McKinley has five starters back from its defensive team of last year,” Mike Currence said. “The Bulldogs beat the Tigers 21-15.”

So Currence isn’t taking the Bulldogs lightly despite their 4-5 record compared to the Orange and Black’s 7-2 and seven straight wins. The two Stark County teams will clash in the 81st renewal rivalry Saturday at 2 p.m. at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

CURRENCE discussed the upcoming game Monday at noon at the Tiger Touchdown Club’s weekly luncheon which was held at the Massillon Club. During the session TD club members named Jay Harper Hardnose of the Week for his play in last Friday’s contest at Warren.

“McKinley shut out Warren, a good offensive club 6-0 last Friday,” Currence said. “They scored 15 points against us.”

The five McKinley defensive returnees are middle guard Gerald Jackson, monster back Cliff Frazier, halfbacks Melvin Weatherspoon and Ray Ellis and linebacker Mike Beadle.

An injury will probably prevent Beadle from playing, however. Jackson is a two-way player, having replaced the injured Ken Hall at fullback.

Currence will have to deal with two McKinley quarterbacks who will give the Bulldogs different looks, depending on who is playing.

“MIKE BROWN is a real scrambler,” Currence said. “Kent McClellend started at Lehman last year. Brown seems to have taken over.”

Currence said Hall could cause trouble and that McKinley head Coach John Brideweser likes to get the ball to Weatherspoon or Ellis offensively, even designing an end around play where Weatherspoon passes to Ellis.

“These guys are the type who could play four quarter and come back and play in another game,” Currence said.

Currence thinks the outcome of the game will be decided on breaks and if the Tigers get the right one, they’ll win.

“We have to get a hold mentally,” Currence said. “That’s something we didn’t do last week.”

CLUB PRESIDENT Gene Boerner presented Currence with a “Beat McKinley” tie from his sophomore players. Marilyn Wright painted the design.

“The people of Massillon are glad we have Mike Currence as our head coach,” Boerner said. “We will see you next week when we’re 8-0 (eight wins after losses in the opening games).”

Boerner introduced the 1977 club president, John Muhlbach, Jr., saying, “He did a fantastic job. He’s been one of the best we’ve had.”

John introduced Dennis Gibson, the booster’s vice-president and next year’s boss.

The club will present its Hardnose Award for the season at its luncheon next Monday noon.

CURRENCE CONCLUDED by saying he had picked up a $5 bill from the ground outside the stadium after the defeat to Gahanna Lincoln. “I told my coaches then we’re going all the way.”

Booster club rally gets spirit rolling

Game action vs. Canton McKinley (credit: Bowersox)

“Beat the Bulldogs” mania got under way Monday night in the Washington High School auditorium as the Tiger Booster Club had its weekly session three days early.

Not only was the booster session ahead of time this week but the combined rally and meeting got under way 10 minutes early. One reporter had to jump onto a table and sit there to keep from being trampled by the Tiger Swing Pep Band charging down the school’s front corridor and into the auditorium.

THE BAND, led by head majorette Paula Bender and four fellow majorettes, mounted the stage to “Tiger Rag” and “Carry on” and serenaded the estimated 250 people present with several numbers. The majorettes twirled and danced.

Then came the Tiger cheerleaders, led by Captain Christy Frederick and Co-Captain Kathy Walterhouse, some drills to the band music and some cheers. But the real fun didn’t start until Captain Currence appeared on the scene and led the fans in some split cheers such as “Orange and Black” and “Tig-ers.”

(Currence was “Pokey” Converse, dressed in orange hat, black mask, Captain Currence Fan Club T-Shirt and orange cape. Booster officials are afraid he may meet his match in Friday’s “Beat McKinley” rally slated for 2 p.m. in the high school auditorium when he meets “The Fonze.”)

Tiger Booster Club President John Muhlbach, Jr., introduced Tiger skipper Mike Currence and the fans came from their seats as if shot from catapult to cheer him.

“The pep band and cheerleaders did a nice job,” Currence said. “I hope we can carry this on through the week. We’ve been waiting all season for this.”

THEN THE TIGER crew of Wilbur Arnold, Dave James and Don McFarren brought in Obie VII, the live mascot and Currence asked Obie what he plans to do with the Bulldog come Saturday afternoon. There was a slight growl and then the band struck up the fight songs again and marched out of the auditorium.

Currence showed films of last week’s 14-0 win over Alliance, hurrying over the first half films as quickly as possible. All the scoring came in the third quarter.

He reported fullback Jerry Shafrath practiced today (Monday) for the first time after being stricken last week with a kidney infection. Randy Laase is also expected to be ready for fulltime duty, coming back from a pancreas bruise.

Currence reported All-American Conference Commissioned Gaylord ‘Hap” Lillick, former Tiger grid aide, has ruled the Obiemen must wear white uniforms this week. They have worn black togs since starting their seven-game win streak.

Conference rules stipulate the home team must wear white unless the visiting team agrees otherwise.

Captain Currence wasn’t the only one Monday night wearing one of his fan club’s T-shirts. Muhlbach had one on and his two daughters wore special Tiger skin outfits made by their mother Bobbie.

The Booster Club has made arrangements with ex-president Junir Studer to put Beat McKinley letters on white or orange T-shirts for fans. The shirts should be taken to his sign shop at 323 3rd Street N.W. tonight. A small fee will be charged.

CHUCK
‘n’
SPORTS
McKinley game
can be different this time

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

A dejected figure slumped against the brick wall leading to the visitor’s dressing room at Canton Fawcett Stadium.

“Scoop,” Mike Ramsey said quietly to this reporter who was hurrying to a post-game interview with Chuck Shuff, “It’s going to be different next year.”

THE TIGERS had just lost to Canton McKinley 21-15 in 1975 and Ramsey, now a Washington High School senior grid co-captain, along with many others, was not in a happy mood.

The season had ended 6-3-1 after most folks had figured the Tigers would be better than that because they had a host of returnees. I’ve know Mike since his Little League days when he was a pitcher and I was an umpire. He’s not the effervescent type of player but the quiet, determined type. When Mike sets his mind to something, it gets done.

This year Mike and his fellow co-captains – Anthony Grizzard, John Hauser and Mike Lauber – have guided their team to seven straight wins after two opening losses. Thus far is has been difference under Mike Currence than it was in 1975.

Saturday is the time the Tigers can cap everything with a victory over Canton McKinley. But they must not take the Bulldogs lightly. They have had problems putting things together in this year of consolidation, but their offense has been tough, allowing 87 points (fifth best in the All-American Conference). The Tigers have given up 48 points (second to Steubenville’s 38).

WHAT THE Obiemen have to fear is that the McKinley offense will come together Saturday. The Bulldogs have rolled for 136 points, (third best in the league), while the Tigers have collected 114 (fifth best). The WHS team must get on the board
early – something it has not done often this year.

Would you believe that if the Tigers win they’ll make the Canton Repository’s preseason prediction almost perfect? Bob Stewart’s staff called the Tigers an 8-2 team. They were figuring one of those losses to Canton McKinley, whose record was 10-0.

Massillon still has an outside chance to win the Class AAA Region 3 computer poll and make the playoffs. To do this the Tigers must win and hope certain other teams win and other teams lose. A Jackson Memorial victory over North Canton Hoover would help.

If the Tigers win the 81st renewal Saturday at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, it will be No. 44 in the series. McKinley has won 32 times. Five games have ended in ties. The Tigers have scored 1,016 points and the Bulldogs 849.

There have been other times when the Tigers have come into the McKinley game, riding a win streak – but not an unblemished record – and have won. The list is as fellows: 7-6 win in 1917 to complete four-game streak for 7-2 record; 21-0 win in 1919 to complete four-game streak for 8-1 record; 9-0 win 1923 to complete six-game streak for 8-2 record; 6-0 win in 1924 to complete six-game streak for 8-1 record; 19-6 win in 1937 to complete three-game streak for 8-1-1 record; 32-0 win in 1941 to complete four-game streak for 9-0-1 record; 21-12 win in 1948 to complete five-game streak for 9-1 record; 40-0 win in 1951 to complete three-game streak for 9-1 record; 26-6 win 1954 to complete seven-game streak for 9-1 record; 25-7 win in 1957 to complete four-game streak for 8-1 record; 38-16 win in 1958 to complete three-game streak for 8-1-1 record; 22-6 win in 1963 to complete eight-game streak for 9-1 record; 20-13 win in 1967 to complete three-game streak for 9-1 record.

Weather,
Defense
Desire
are keys

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

Weather, defense and desire will be deciding factors in Saturday’s 81st renewal of the Massillon-Canton football series, according to Massillon head Coach Mike Currence.

The Tigers and Canton McKinley Bulldogs will lock horns Saturday at 2 p.m. at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The Orange and Black have won the All-American Conference title with a 4-0 mark and one to go. McKinley needs to up its 1-3 mark and hope for a Warren Harding (1-3) loss Friday night at Warren against Niles McKinley (2-1) in order to get out of the cellar.

ALLIANCE (1-3) will be at Steubenville (2-1) Friday night. The Big Red needs a victory and a Niles loss to claim second place.

“Weather and defense always concerns us,” Currence said. “The weather can affect the offensive play. We hope it’s nice and dry so we can utilize our quickness. They’re quick too but when you get on a bad field, both teams will probably equalize their speed.”

Massillon uses the run and shoot offense, while McKinley utilized the wing-T. Both teams use angle-5 defenses which have been extremely stingy.

“I don’t’ think it will be that wet,” Currence said. “We might get a little snow and that shouldn’t hinder our offense too much. If we have to tighten down a little bit, we can do it and probably run as good as they have out of the “T”.

The Tigers have run the “robust T” successfully and won last week’s game at Alliance 14-0 with it, utilizing the running of left halfback Jay Harper.

“WE DROVE down the field twice and scored and McKinley was unable to do that,” Currence said.

One of the concerns for the Tiger skipper this week has been the condition of fullback Jerry Shafrath. He missed last Friday’s game with a kidney infection but has practiced
this week and will be used when needed in the straight-T.

“He has looked good and has really been enthused,” Currence said.

Currence said all the Tigers should be in good shape physically and mentally.

“We have had the best practices we have had this season,” Currence, who, together with the Tiger Booster Club, has reminded the Obiemen about their 21-15 loss to the Pups at Fawcett Stadium in Canton in 1975.

“THE KIDS told me we didn’t have real good practices after losing to Alliance last year,” Currence reported. “We have cut down practices this week because the weather was cold early in the week and we have wanted them to get the boys off the field by dark
(5:30 p.m.).”
Currence said that the Tiger and Bulldog defenses are about equal on personnel.

“McKinley probably has one of the best secondary’s in the league,” Currence stated. “We’ll outweigh them on the line. Both teams are quick in the secondary, but with Ray Ellis and Mel Weatherspoon back there they are bigger in that department.”

The Tiger boss thinks the Bulldog secondary has been the key to their success.

“If you look at the team, it’s the guys in the secondary who come up and stick you,” Currence said. “They don’t blitz but they react so well that the secondary is on a ball
carrier if he breaks through the line.”

CURRENCE also thinks the McKinley “force unit” (down linemen and linebackers) are very agile.

Talking about the Bulldog offense, Currence said, “They like to use the power pitch inside and outside end. They will probably try to get us to split out so they can open up the middle.”

Because the Bulldogs have had some injuries this season, Currence is not sure who will be the starting fullback. Ken Hall was sidelined for the season, Mike Beadle came on and was hurt and then head Coach John Brideweser used Mark Stevenson and the Bulldogs shifted more to a passing game.

Gerald Jackson is sure to hit the middle because he is a strong runner. Ellis and Stevenson will have the outside assignments.

“Their end-around play is a good one but they also like the screens, draws, delays and boot passes,” Currence explained. “They like to lead with their guards.”

CURRENCE figures Mike Brown will be the starting quarterback rather than Kent McClelland. Both are juniors and Brown has come on strong of late.

“McClelland made an excellent run against Steubenville on which his best two or three guys and Steubenville has a good secondary,” Currence said. “Weatherspoon started at quarterback but is now the Bulldogs’ split end and runs the end-around play. McClelland would be in there if Bridey decides on a passing series.”

How big a part will spirit and desire play in the game? “That will be the whole game,” Currence said. “It’s our turn to win. Bridey’s not supposed to win in even years.

20,000 expected
at game today

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

Spirit was at a height not seen here for several years as the Tigers met the Bulldogs this afternoon in the 81st renewal of the high school grid classic.

Some 20,000 were expected at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

AN AFTERNOON rally at Washington High School Friday, the annual parade through downtown Massillon and the bonfire rally at Agathon Field helped to rev up the spirit.

Onlookers said the spirit among fans and team members reminded them of that before the 1970 game, also played here, which the Tigers won 28-0 at the stadium.

With Jackson Memorial’s 20-16 win Friday night over previously unbeaten North Canton Hoover, ranked No. 1 in the Ohio High School Class AAA computer ratings, to undergrid their optimism, the Tiger faithful were expected to cheer ever louder at today’s 2 p.m. kickoff.

If the Tigers get their eighth straight victory it is still possible for them to win a place in the playoffs which will start next Friday in Dayton against defending champion Cincinnati Moeller. But for that to happen, Youngstown Chaney has to beat or tie unbeaten Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in a game this afternoon in Youngstown.

Friday’s festivities started with the rally in the Washington High School gymnasium. There was no organized cheering, but that was the beauty of the thing. The cheering came spontaneously.

THE TIGER Swing Band was there and the cheerleaders and the Tiger Booster Club put on a skit in which Captain Currence (“Pokey Converse”) met “The Fonze” (Mike Mauger).

Confetti and bathroom tissue rained down on the gymnasium floor. There was so much confetti flying that Tiger football players standing along the gym’s brick wall looked as if they were prematurely gray.

Pep signs urging the Tigers to victory were everywhere.

Those at the rally received the words to a Tiger Booster Club parody of “Happy Days Are Here Again” and sang the song, making the rally sound like the 1932 Democratic National Convention.

Aerial bombs, ordinarily set off on the morning of the Massillon-McKinley game, began to shatter the silence Friday afternoon.

THE TIGER Sideliners hosted the team Friday for dinner at the Massillon Holiday Inn. That meal is ordinarily the final one of the season but, should the team make the playoffs, there will be two more.
The parade Friday night featured about 100 motorized units, including floats, decorated cars, trucks and dune buggies. A color guard from VFW Post 3124 and American Legion Post 221 headed the entourage.

Then came the Tiger Swing Band followed by cars containing Mayor Mark Ross,
Safety-Service Director Blasé Sparma, Washington High School Homecoming Queen Chris Zurcher and her court, Tiger cheerleaders, reserve cheerleaders, coaches, players, trainers and managers.

A special entrant was the Tiger Kazoo Band led by Drum Major Phil Bucci and “majorettes” Dick and Terry Snyder, Richard Reichel, Steve Studer, Joe Matie, Mauger and LeRoy Schumacher.

The parade proceeded to Agathon Field with plenty of fans trailing along behind. There the band and cheerleaders held forth and the team and coaches were placed on a flatbed trailer for all to see.

HEAD COACH Mike Currence said, “I can see now the agony you have been in since losing to McKinley last year. I think Saturday will be our time to win.”

Co-Captains Mike Ramsey, Anthony Grizzard, Mark Lauber and John Hauser assured fans of the same thing.

Second half difference
in Tigers’ 7-3 win

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

Second half . . .

. . . A pair of words which will remain forever entrenched in the memories of the Tiger faithful who followed the 1976 Washington High School football team.

FIVE TIMES during the season, which was completed last Saturday afternoon, the Massillon gridders came from behind or from a tie at halftime to win. Three of those times came in the final games of the season as the Orange and Black kept alive a win streak which ran to eight games.

The Obiemen’s latest turn-around palpitator came last Saturday before 19,528 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and brought the Tigers a 7-3 All-American Conference victory over arch-rival Canton McKinley.

In a twist of irony, the Bulldogs’ defeat was aided by a misfire on a play which had garnered them a lot of yardage during the afternoon. Tiger tackle Tony Matie recovered a fumble off a pitchout intended to start a sweep. The Orange and Black took control on the McKinley 15 and scored four plays later.

On second down from the three, Mike Grove took a pitchout from quarterback Bret Traylor and raced into the end zone unmolested as fullback Jerry Shafrath faked through the middle. The play had been sent to head Coach Mike Currence by the men in the rooftop scout box.

While the Tigers had the ball they survived a delay penalty and picked up a pass interference call on McKinley safety Melvin Weatherspoon on the two when he banged into end Bob Grizzard. The call so infuriated Bulldog head Coach John Brideweser and an assistant that both were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and the ball ended on the four from where Jerry Shafrath took it to the three to set up the score.

THE BULLDOGS came right back on the kickoff and drove to the Massillon 30 where the Tiger defense held McKinley three yards short on a fourth down run. The Obiemen were penalized for a personal four after the ball had been blown dead. Then Traylor fell on the ball on the next two plays.

Traylor brought to an end a contest which saw a quicker, stronger Bulldog team control all the statistics but kickoff averages, kickoff returns and punt averages. The Pups kept the Tigers bottled up in their own territory all afternoon.

Only in the third period did the Tigers move the ball onto McKinley grounds. On that occasion halfback Jay Harper fumbled at the McKinley 37 and linebacker Ken Bailey recovered.

Also in that period Weatherspoon intercepted a Tiger aerial at the Bulldog 20 and halfback Ray Ellis picked off another at the 25. A 15-yard holding penalty also helped to stall Massillon.

But defense had been the Tigers’ suit all season. They had shutouts in three of their previous four games. They had allowed two touchdowns only against Warren and last Saturday they bared their Tiger claw again.

FOUR TIMES in the first half the Bulldogs knocked on the door. Three times they were repulsed. The only other drive came after the Tigers’ fourth period touchdown.

McKinley’s second drive began after a bad fourth down snap. Tiger guard John Hauser picked up the ball and ran to the 25 where he was tackled and the Bulldogs got the ball.

What might have been a late second period drive into Massillon territory was stalled on fourth and one at the Bulldogs’ 46 when the Pups were called for delay and had to punt instead of being able to call timeout and set up strategy to get a first down. Brideweser stormed onto the field at this point, too.

On two of the first half drives the Obiemen got some temporary help from holding penalties but tackle Jesse Toles and linebacker Kurt Walterhouse stopped one invasion at the Massillon four, Walterhouse and tackle Bob Dennison put the brakes to another at the 38 and halfback Bill Henderson intercepted a pass at the 20 to stop the final drive.

The Tigers thought they had stopped earlier the drive on which Henderson intercepted the pass but Walterhouse’s fumble recovery was nullified because the ball had been blown dead.

THE BULLDOGS’ lone score came on a 27-yard field goal by Kelly Darnley with 9:44 left in the first quarter. The tally came off a 21-yard runback of the opening kickoff by Mark Stevenson and a 52-yard run on a pitchout by Ellis off an unbalanced line and the wingback set to the right, which completely surprised the WHSers.

Tiger linebacker Anthony Grizzard knocked Ellis out of bounds at the Massillon 17 to save a touchdown. On McKinley’s next drive Mike Brown ran the kickoff back 50 yards before Van Jones brought him down at the Massillon 25.

“There’s no doubt they outplayed us but they were sitting on three points and hoping it would last,” Tiger head Coach Mike Currence said, “but I knew it wouldn’t.”

Currence paid tribute to the McKinley secondary of Ellis, Weatherspoon and Cliff Frazier as the best he’s seen.

“We didn’t win it impressively, but I don’t really care,” said Currence. “The only thing I do care about is that these seniors proved they were a bunch of winners when everybody said they were a bunch of losers.”

CURRENCE PAID tribute to punter Mark Westover who got off a key 59-yard kick which was downed at the McKinley 10 in the fourth period. The skipper also lauded the work of his coaching staff.

He thought the Tigers’ emotions were too high.

“They were making mistakes where McKinley wasn’t,” Currence said. “McKinley came to play. Our kids came to win.”

Bulldog Coach John Brideweser was bitterly disappointed.

“With no disrespect to the Massillon football team or to Mike Currence, that’s one victory you don’t deserve,” Brideweser said. “I’ve been coaching for 20 years and I’ve never complained. We did get handled. That’s the first time I’ve said that and I’m ashamed. We got handled in more ways than one.”

MASSILLON FINISHED the season undefeated in the All-American Conference at 5-0 with the league title and 8-2 overall. McKinley ended 1-4 in the league and 4-6 overall.

Niles McKinley and Steubenville ended tied for second with 3-1-1 records. Alliance, Warren Harding and Canton McKinley followed with 1-4 records.

McKINLEY – 3
Ends – Weatherspoon, K. Jackson, Latimer, Albright.
Tackles – Adams, Williams, Cole, Hogsett, Hill, Beadle.
Guards – Randazzo, Huntsman.
Center – Mullane, Schoeneman.
Quarterback – Brown.
Halfbacks – Johnson, Ellis, Asberry, Stevenson, Andrews, Brown Truitt.
Fullback – Bowers.
Middle Guard – G. Jackson.
Linebackers – Ramos, Bailey, Latimer, Gaines.
Defensive Halfbacks – Webb, Frazier, Basham.
Kicker – Darnley.
Punter – Zern.

MASSILLON – 7
Ends – Pringle, Chovan, Sweterlitsch, Engler, Clendening, Furnas, B. Grizzard, A. Longshore.
Tackles – Tournay, Daniels, Dennison, Toles, Matie, Stuck, Kovacsiss, Laase.
Guards – Hauser, Lauber, Berquist, Baus.
Centers – Ramsey, Lutz.
Quarterback – Traylor.
Halfbacks – Harper, Grove.
Fullbacks – Cleveland, Shafrath.
Middle Guard – Dorsey.
Linebackers – Walterhouse, Dottavio, Border, Sowards.
Defensive Halfbacks – A. Grizzards, M. Longshore, Jones, Lash, Henderson, Letcavits, Nagle.
Kicker – Hardwick.
Punter – Westover.

McKinley 3 0 0 0 3
Massillon 0 0 0 7 7

SCORING SUMMARY
McK – Kelly Darnley, 27 field goal;
M – Mike Grove, 3 run (Hardwick kick).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Chuck Lorenz.
Umpire – Brenton Kirk.
Linesman – Jack Prettyman.
Field Judge – Nick Costello.
Back Judge – Wilson Murray.

ATTENDANCE – 19,528.

GRIDSTICK
Mass. McK.
First downs rushing 4 8
First downs passing 0 2
First downs penalties 1 0
Total first downs 5 10
Yards gained rushing 102 212
Yards lost rushing 21 16
Net yards gained rushing 81 196
Net yards gained passing 23 34
Total yards gained 104 230
Passes completed 3-9 5-12
Passes intercepted by 1 2
Yardage on passes intercepted 0 3
Kickoff average (yards) 2-52 2-51
Kickoff returns (yards) 61 39
Punt average (yards) 5-37 5-30
Punt returns (yards) 2 67
Had punts blocked 0 0
Lost fumbled ball 1-1 2-3
Yards penalized 5-55 7-66
Touchdowns rushing 1 0
Total number of plays 45 62
Total time of possession 20:23 27:37

INDIVIDUAL SUMMARYS
McKinley
Ellis 4 58 0 58

Massillon
Cleveland 11 42 0 42

Tonight is last
Booster session

The final session of the Tiger Booster Club for this season will be held tonight at 8 in the Washington High School auditorium. Films of last Saturday’s 7-3 win over Canton McKinley will be shown.

Tonight will be the final chance for fans to take pictures of Obie VII, the live Tiger cub, for the mascot will depart for other quarters Tuesday, according to Booster President John Muhlbach, Jr. Pictures may be taken on the auditorium stage either before or after the meeting.

History

1974: Massillon 20, Canton McKinley 15

November 9, 1974August 4, 2017
by Eric Smith

TIGERS STUN BULLDOGS 20-15
Final-Seconds Aerial Blasts Rally by Pups

By BOB STEWART
Repository Sports Editor

MASSILLON – At a few moments past the hour of four o’clock Saturday afternoon, an inflated brown leather ellipsoid floated downward from the sky.

It nestled in the arms of a young man by the name of Edward Bell, an 18-year old who is enrolled at Washington High School here and who just happened to be jogging about in an area of real estate known as Tiger Stadium.

His specific location was a plot known as “The End zone” – an appropriate name, for his simple act of catching the ball “ended” many things.
79th IN CLASSIC SERIES
It was the end of the scoring in this 79th scholastic football classic which has pitted the young warriors of Canton McKinley and Massillon Washington high schools since 1894 (flu scratched a game during World War I), put the 79th episode into the books reading Massillon 20, McKinley 15.

It ended the Canton McKinley undefeated record this season at nine, blasting hopes for the first 10-0 season since 1956.

It ended the McKinley Bulldogs’ dreams of a berth in the Ohio High School Athletic Association championship playoffs. New Philadelphia High will represent Region 3.
COMEBACK FAILS
It ended the dramatic and brilliant McKinley comeback, which saw the Pups’ Roch Hontas kick a 25-yard field goal for a 15-14 lead only 73 seconds before the game clock was due to run out.

It also will mean the end, no doubt, of McKinley’s No. 1 ranking in the wire service polls. The Pups were attempting to win the mythical wire service title for the first time since 1955 and 1956, when they won back-to-back championships with 20 straight wins over two seasons.

Bell was catching the beautiful, crisp, clear, sunny afternoon’s second TD pass thrown by teammate and quarterback Greg Wood, a youngster much maligned but now vindicated.
TIGERS SMELL UPSET
Wood hit halfback Mark Streeter with a 24-yard scoring strike when the game was but nine-and-one-half minutes old, and the Tigertowners smelled an upset.

Massillon’s first score was no fluke, as the Tigers drove the ball 71 yards in 12 plays after stopping McKinley on fourth down and a foot.

The Bulldogs’ Mike Kolbs pounced on a Massillon fumble on the third play of the game, but McKinley couldn’t cash in.

Trailing 7-0 McKinley got on three yards on three plays after the kickoff and Hontas punted to the Tigers’ 36, from where Wood engineered his second scoring drive.
WHIPPING BOY NO MORE
Wood, who was one of the whipping boys for the boo-birds and boosters when Massillon lost three of its first four games this season, again whipped his team down the field and in a dozen plays had used up three minutes, 50 seconds of playing time, covered 63 yards and put another seven points on the board.

Wood himself did the honors, diving the final two yards over the right side.

Hontas got the Pups moving, finally, as he began hitting his aerials.
PUPS SCORE ON PASS
The Pups scored on a 36-yard pass from Hontas to end Ruben Floyd. But when Jonathan Moore, McKinley’s leading rusher and scorer, failed to make the three yards for the
two-point conversion, the Pups were a long eight points behind.

The drive was 77 yards in 13 plays, but was kept alive by a major Massillon mistake, a roughing-the-kicker penalty on a fourth-and-14 Hontas punt at the Bulldogs 19.

Massillon with 237-pound fullback Bill Harmon and slippery scatback Tom Grizzard (both juniors) roaring through massive holes opened by a rejuvenated Tiger offensive forward wall, mounted yet another threat.

The Tigers tidal wave trundled down the turf to the McKinley 28 before ebbing. From there, Dave Dowd, who kicked the two PATs, missed a field goal try from the 35.

But the short chip shot hit like a nine iron on the five yard line and McKinley was 95 yards away from the equalizer and the fourth quarter was two plays old.

Hontas retreated into his own end zone and flipped a screen pass to wingback Bob Armstrong, who got out to the 13, and the McKinley march was on.

Massillon linebacker Dennis Bricker made what looked like a drive-stopping tackle on a screen to Floyd at the Bulldogs own 21, setting up a fourth-and-two situation.
BULLDOGS MARCH 95
But faint heart never won a football game and Moore got eight on a sweep and the march continued for 95 yards in 18 plays, capped by fullback Bob Lombardi’s three-foot blast to pay dirt with 3:37 left in the game.

Hontas’ pass to Lombardi was incomplete and the Tigers still prevailed by a pair, 14-12.

The ensuing on-side kickoff bounced into a mass of Massillon and Canton players and McKinley’s Eric Llewellyn came up with the football and the Pups were born again.

Hontas quickly completed a pair of passes to Tom Grafton and Ray Ellis and Lombardi got nine yards in three tries to set the state for what the Canton backers would love to have settled for.

With Bill Poulos holding, Hontas kicked a 25-yarder right through the middle of the uprights, putting three points on the McKinley side and joy in the hearts of Canton fans.

The clock read 1:13.

Then came the dirge, tolled by the “Bell”.

Wood threw the ball three times and Bell caught all three on down-and-out patterns for 12, 9 and 12-yard gains.

He missed one and then got sacked and the ball was at the McKinley 34 with 13 seconds remaining.

Bell lined up on the right side, blew downfield and started another cut to the outside, but then suddenly flew for the goal.

He was all alone past the goal line when Wood’s toss settled into his arms. The clock showed there were six seconds remaining.

It was Massillon’s 43rd win in the long series against 31 losses. There have been five ties.

It put Warren and McKinley in a tie for the All-American Conference title for the second year in a row. Last year, the two shared it with Massillon also.

The victory gave Massillon a 6-4 season record and today in Tigertown nobody even remembers those four losses that happened such a “long time ago sometime this season.”

Massillon 7 7 0 6 20
McKinley 0 0 6 9 15

SCORING SUMMARY
Mass. – tb Mark Streeter, 24 pass from qb Greg Wood (g Dave Dowd kick).
Mass. – Wood, 2 run (Dowd kick).
Mck. – e Ruben Flloyd 36 pass from qb Roch Hontas (run failed).
Mck. – fb Bob Lombardi, 1 run (pass failed).
Mck. – Hontas, 25 FG.
Mass. – se Eddie Bell, 34 pass from Wood (pass failed).

Tigers Score
On Desperation Pass
Massillon Stuns McKinley

By LARRY BRECKENRIDGE
Beacon Journal Staff Writer

MASSILLON – “If I live to be a 100,” said one veteran sportswriter, “I’ll never see a football game as exciting as that one.”

The gentleman was referring to Saturday’s clash between Massillon and Canton McKinley in which the Tigers scored on a 34-yard touchdown pass with only five seconds remaining to shock the previously undefeated Bulldogs 20-15 before 21,754 at Tiger Stadium.

Massillon ends 6-4 and McKinley 9-1.

The victory was especially disappointing to McKinley because it probably cost the Bulldogs a spot in the Class AAA computer playoffs.

The Bulldogs held a 14-point lead over New Philadelphia in Region 3 of the latest computer poll but the Quakers beat previously undefeated Dover Friday night which should give them enough points to overtake McKinley.

The two players mainly responsible for the Tigers’ victory were quarterback Greg Wood and split end Eddie Bell.

It appeared McKinley had won the game with 1:13 left when the Bulldogs Roch Hontas kicked a 25-yard field goal to put McKinley ahead 15-14.

But following the ensuing kickoff which Massillon returned to its own 35-yard line, Wood and Bell teamed up for three straight pass completions to move the ball to the McKinley 31.

Wood was then dropped for a three-yard loss but on the next play Bell slipped behind the McKinley secondary and Wood lofted a perfect pass which Bell gathered in over his shoulder in the corner of the end zone.

“EDDIE ran a beautiful patter,” Wood said. “I just laid the ball up there. I knew he was going to catch it as soon as I threw it.”

“I heard the McKinley coaches yelling to watch for the deep pass,” Bell explained. “But the McKinley players must not have heard them. That was probably the biggest catch I’ll ever make.”
Late Score Keys Massillon
Massillon coach Chuck Shuff said, “I couldn’t believe it when I saw Bell in the open.” And neither could McKinley’s John Brideweser.

“We were in a prevent defense,” he explained. “And the one thing that is NOT supposed to happen is a deep pass. But those things happen.”

The Tiger defense shut out McKinley’s high scoring offense for the first 24 minutes in limiting the Bulldogs to only four first downs and 84 yards.

Massillon’s ball-control offense, on the other hand, was equally impressive as it scored 14 points in the first half and rolled up 12 first downs and 203 yards.

Massillon, which did not punt once, took a 7-0 lead with 2:35 remaining in the first quarter when Wood hit Mark Streeter with a 24-yard touchdown pass and David Dowd kicked the first of two conversions. The drive covered 71 yards in 12 plays and took almost six minutes.

FOLLOWING a McKinley punt, Massillon drove 67 yards in 11 yards to increase the margin to 14-0 with 9:59 left in the half. Wood got the touchdown on a fourth-and-goal situation from the two.

The Bulldogs pulled to within 14-6 following the second half kickoff by driving 70 yards in 12 plays. The touchdown came on a 36-yard pass from Hontas to Ruben Floyd. The conversion failed when tailback Jonathan Moore was stopped short of the goal.
After stopping a Massillon drive at the Bulldog 13, McKinley fullback Bob Lombardi scored on a one-yard run with 3:53 remaining to cap a 95 yard, 17-play drive. A pass for the conversion failed and Massillon led 14-12.

McKinley followed with an onside kick and the Bulldogs Eric Llewellyn recovered tat the Massillon 46. Eight plays later Hontas kicked the apparent winning field goal.

MASSILLON 7 7 0 6 20
McKINLEY 0 0 6 9 15

MASSILLON – Streeter, 24 pass from Wood (Dowd kick).
MASSILLON – Wood, 2 run (Dowd kick).
McKINLEY – Floyd 36 pass from Hontas (run failed).
McKINLEY – Lombardi, 1 run (pass failed).
McKINLEY – Hontas 25 FG.
MASSILLON – Bell, 34 pass from Wood (pass failed).

Shuff Officially Accepted
in Tigers’ Lair

By MIKE ZEMELKA
Repository Sportswriter

MASSILLON – This proclaimed scholastic football capital of the United States has added another full-blooded Tiger to its lair.

“I’m a Tiger now!” exclaimed a shell-shocked Chuck Shuff when the first-season Massillon Washington coach finally wormed his way into his office – some 30 minutes after his Tigers (6-4), unbelievable 20-15 conquest of arch-rival Canton McKinley (9-1) before a Tiger Stadium throng of 21,754 football fanatics Saturday afternoon.

The storybook finish is unparalleled .

“I JUST COULDN’T believe it when I saw Eddie Bell in the open,” Shuff said of the 34-yard pass the 5-foot-10, 154-pound senior split end caught (in the end zone) from classmate Greg Wood. It came as the Tigers merely were driving for field position to give placekicker Dave Dowd a shot at a field goal attempt.

“I don’t think we could call for another ounce of energy out of any of our boys,” Shuff said of the physically drained coaches and players.

“We stopped their running game as far as the big play and that type of defensive effort took a lot of noise,” he said.

The McKinley loss assured Behling’s 9-0-1 Quakers a berth vs. Upper Arlington in this week-end’s Ohio Class AAA playoff semifinals.

“I thought it was all over,” Behling said of the Hontas field goal, “but that’s the Tiger spirit.”

“Never any worry,” former Massillon and Kent State University coach Leo Strang told Shuff, but it was Strang who appeared worried at half time. He’s the guy who had his fingers crossed as he wandered through the stands to say hello to his Tigertown friends.
– : –
“IT’S THE GREATEST victory I’ve ever been in,” shouted long-time Tiger aide Nick Vrotsos before he and his fellow coaches took what each proclaimed as “the best one (shower) I’ve ever had” when the players escorted their coaches to the drink.

“Hey guys, we don’t have to walk the alleys. We can walk the streets,” Vrotsos shouted to his fellow coaches from the showers.

One-time McKinley standout L.C. Young, the Massillon superintendent of schools, embraced Shuff and said, “Just keep it going.”

“Something good had to happen,” Young said. “We lost the levy (Tuesday) and these boys and coaches just went through hell.”
– : –
AMONG THOSE who probably were in the rocker room were two former Massillon players – Phil Garcia and Nick Pribich – who Friday sent Behling and the Quakers a telegram and assured them: “If you beat Dover (New Philly did, 7-0), we’ll do our part tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and come Monday you’ll be No. 1.”

AND that’s the main reason Behling left the office he once worked in proud as a peacock – and with the Massillon-Upper Arlington game film in his grasp.

It’s ironic how this series has been a thorn in the side of what is supposed to be the favored team.

However, the intense rivalry is what makes this classic so great. It was only 12 months ago the Bulldogs knocked the Tigers out of a play-off berth.

21,754 Fans Jam
Tigers’ Lair For Thrilling Clash of Old Foes

By FREDERICK J. BALL
Repository Staff Writer

MASSILLON – There are rumors the world does not revolve around the annual McKinley-Massillon football game.

That may be true, but you’ll never convince thousands of rabid fans on both sides of the traditional rivalry.

And they were out in force Saturday – 21,754 strong – at Tiger Stadium to watch the Massillon Tigers smash their way past McKinley’s Bulldogs to rack up a final-seconds
20-15 victory.
Like a Movie Thriller
The final Massillon touchdowns – with six seconds showing on the clock – looked like the plot clincher in an old 1940s college football movie.

In fact, the entire game had a certain “scripted” appearance to it.

Weather was perfect for the big climax to both schools’ schedules, with bright sun and temperatures in the low 60s to warm spectators, but just enough breeze to keep players from becoming uncomfortable.

Near Massillon’s city limits, incoming Canton fans traveling bumper-to-bumper found crepe-paper-covered cars along the roadway, their sides and trunks plastered with giant “Beat McKinley” signs.

Such vehicles were greeted by jeers and groans from west-bound autos displaying a different kind of sign – “Beat Massillon.”

Approaching the stadium the noise was the first thing that hit arrivals.

A calliope, blended with honking horns and clanging cowbells, provided an overlying pattern of high-pitched accents, while shouts, cheers and jabber of the crowd produced a back ground buzz that increased in intensity as people filled the stadium.

There were shouts of players – clear and strong during warm-up exercises but lower and harsher as they began to pound each other during the game. Above all was the blare of the loudspeaker.
Hot Dogs and Pizza
There was plenty to keep the other senses busy, too.

The air was filled with the smell of popcorn, hot dogs and pizza. You could smell the aroma of recently rain-moistened earth, too, and there was just a hint of smoke.

The eyes, too, were attracted to splashes of color that dotted the stands, with oranges and reds of the two schools livened by the bright November sun.

There was food and drink to appease taste buds, as well, and as for touch – well, who says the field is the only place at a football game where there is contact?

Saturday, Massillon and McKinley fans were squeezed into Tiger Stadium like a Size-12 foot in a Size-10 shoe. Activity at the concession booths under the grandstand at halftime was really something else, too.

You’d think someone over 6 foot tall who weighs in at 210 pounds could hold his own against a bunch of 10-year-olds at the hot dog stand, wouldnt you?

Well, forget it. Those kids squirm and push their way to the front of the line like first-string fullbacks running through a second-string defensive line.
Game Takes Over
But once the game got underway, no one paid much attention to anything but what was happening on the gridiron.

Less than a minute into the second quarter, with The Tigers only one touchdown ahead, Paul Akers of 425 15th Street NW, president of the McKinley Alumni Booster Club, still was confident.

With the Bulldogs putting on a defensive stand at their own four-yard line, Akers said, “I know the Pups are going to come through for us.”

“C’mon, Bulldogs! You can hold’em!” he shouted, jumping to his feet. The McKinley defensive unit held. It was fourth down and four yards for a touchdown.
The Dream Dies
“We’re going to show Massillon who’s NO. 1. I tell you, we’re going to come back,” Akers declared.

He jumped up again as play resumed and a Massillon ball carrier rammed his way across the goal line. A shout died on Aker’s lips and he stood with his arms at his side, a dejected expression on his face.

A few yards away, Phyllis Kobie of 2855 Thackeray Drive NW, Massillon, was every bit as excited as Akers was upset.

“I think it’s just fantastic! Massillon’s going to win this game!” she shouted over the blare of the nearby McKinley band.

History

1973: Massillon 0, Canton McKinley 21

November 10, 1973August 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

It’s one of Tigers’ bluest Mondays

By Chuck Hess, Independent Sports Editor

This is one of the bluest Mondays in Tiger gridiron history.

Item: Cardinal Mooney High School, from Tiger head coach Bob Commings’ home town of Youngstown, will be in the state playoff at Cincinnati Friday instead of Washington High School.

Item: Last Saturday, Canton McKinley’s Bulldogs, under the direction of John Brideweser—with Bill Michaels as an assistant coach—handed Commings the worst shellacking of his four-year career here manhandling the Tigers 21-0 before 20,148 chilled fans at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium. Both Brideweser and Michaels are former Commings aides.

Item: It was the first time McKinley had shut out the Tigers since a 14-0 affair at Fawcett Stadium in 1947.

Item: The Tiger loss forced the first triple tie for a championship in the 10-year history of the All-American Conference (AAC). Massillon, McKinley and Warren Harding are the kingpins, each with 4-1 records.

Brideweser came to the aid of his former boss.

“I’ve gone through this three times in a row,” Bridey said. “You have one tremendous coach and group of boys over there. Tell those clowns to say off his back.”

HE WAS reminding the Tiger faithful that Commings had guided the Orange and Black to an 8-1-1 record after a miserable start and an unbelievable series of injuries. He was reminding Massillonians that Tiger teams have a habit of picking up the pieces and coming back to greatness.

Statistics tell the story. The Bulldogs rolled up 280 yards to the Tigers’ 79 and 18 first downs to the Tigers’ five, capitalizing on nine third-down and two fourth-down situations. The Bulldog defense, which both coaches said was changed very little for this game, held the Orange and Black to no rushing yards in the first half.

McKinley junior tailback Jonathon Moore, the AAC’s overall rushing leader, netted 78 yards in 24 arrives on the outside. McKinley Senior fullback John Thompson netted 72 in 14 attempts on the inside.

Line blocking by the Pups was superb, especially from center McKinley Smith and guards Herb Greene and Charles Cochran who opened gaping holes.

The Bulldogs had the ball for 69 plays to the Tigers’ 40 with elapsed time being 31:13 to 15:47. The Orange and Black never had a chance to get its offense into high gear.

McKinley was stopped at the Massillon seven in the first quarter when one Tiger end, Rusty Venables, jarred the ball loose from quarterback Garland Burns and another end, Vince DiLoreto recovered. Playing with a broken wrist, DiLoreto grabbed the pigskin, but couldn’t right himself, stumbled to the 27 and fell with a wide-open field ahead of him.

The Tiger defense dug into stop the Pups at the Massillon 34, 33 and 22-yard lines in the third-quarter. The clock ran out in the fourth quarter with the Bulldogs on the Tiger two.

THE BONE rattling Bulldog defense, led by its powerfully charging line of Lee Geiselman, Jerry Debos, Gordon Cook and company, allowed the Tigers out of their own territory only in the second stanza. But on that occasion Geiselman tossed quarterback Greg Wood for a 12-yard loss to the McKinley 45, forcing a punt.

In the third quarter, Cornerback Tim Cook threw Tiger wingback Mark Streeter for a safety with 6:88 remaining, after halfback Fred George had downed a Burns’ punt on the Massillon one.

“They were some football team,” Commings said of McKinley. “Their physical strength, our poor field position and their good field position were the stories. We could never call the game we wanted to call. That’s what football is all about. Make the other guy do something they don’t want to do. They did it to us and we couldn’t do it to them.”

After the Bulldogs had been turned back on the game’s first series, they forced the Tigers to kick and marched 70 yards in 14 plays with Thompson skirting left end of fourth down from one yard out for the score. An 18-yard pass from Rock Hontas to Gordon Cook startled the drive, which ended with 11:58 remaining in the second quarter.

The conversion came on Ken Bush’s kick.

THE BULLDOGS came back 52 yards in nine plays, after forcing a Tiger punt at the end of the next series, and scored with 4:04 left. Thompson ploughed through the center on third down from the two. Dave Pfeiffer knocked down a pass to end Reuben Floyd on the conversion attempt.

The final TD came on a 51-yard, 11-play fourth quarter drive. Halfback Jap Jeter took a pitchout and charged over left tackle on third down with 6:14 reminding in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Tim Gutshall and cornerback Terry Henderson kept Jeter from crossing the goal line for two more points.

“I don’t know what happened,” Brideweser said, when reflecting further on his victory. “All I know it was a total team effort. The kids played as well as they could. I knew they were up and wanted to play. We thought if we could control the ball we could control the game.”

The Bulldogs came back from last week’s 19-7 loss at Warren to make it an 8-2 season.

M McK
First downs rush

First downs pass

First downs penal

Tot. first downs

Yds gained rush

251

Yds lost rushing

Net yds gained rush.

215

Net yds gained pass.

Tot yds gained

280

Passes completed

5-12

3-6

Passes inter by

Yd on passes inter

Kickoff ave (yds)

1-51.0

4-50.2

Kickoff returns (yds)

Punt ave (yds)

6-27.0

2-31.5

Punt returns (yds)

Had punts blocked

Fumbles lost

1-1

Yards penalized

3-31

3-15

TDS rushing

Misc

Tot no of plays

Elapsed Time

15:47

31:13

Massillon—0

Ends—Huffman, T. Gutshall, Matie DiLoreto, Venables.

Tackles—Csonka, Lee. Rich, Chapman

Guards—Schumacher, Fenton, Graber, A. Lemon, White

Center—Studer, Nagle.

Quarterback—Wood, Bickford.

Halfbacks—Danzy, Streeter, Henderson, Herring, D. Gutshall, Mayor, Pifer, Lentz, Dailey, Pfeiffer, T. Lemon.

Fullbacks—Harmon, Waldrop.

Punter—Keller.

McKinley—21

Ends—Bush, Floyd, Hill, G. Cook, Pringle.

Tackles—Dubose, Geiselman, Obrovac, Jenkins.

Guards—Cochran, Greene.

Centers—Smith, Weber, Terrell

Quarterbacks—Burns, Hontas.

Halfbacks—Moore, Jeter, Lewis Bernardo, Taylor, T. Cook, George, Weatherspoon.

McKinley 0 13 2 6 21

McK—John Thompson 1 run (Ken Bush kick); McK Thompson 4 run (pass failed); Mck—Tom Cook tackled Mark Streeter for safety: McK—Jeter 5 run (run failed).

Referee—Chuck Lorenz; Umpire—Bobbie Brown; Head linesman—Herb Nissbaum; Field Judge—Nick Costello; Back judge—Steve Nagy Jr.

History

1972: Massillon 12, Canton McKinley 3

November 11, 1972August 3, 2017
by Eric Smith

TIGERS STOP BULLDOGS 12-3
22,371 Watch Aerials Blast Hopes of Pups

By BOB STEWART
Repository Sports Editor

MASSILLON – Washington High School Tigers used the cool head and hot arm of quarterback Kevin Westover to turn back a fierce band of Canton McKinley Bulldogs 12-3 here Saturday afternoon in the state’s most celebrated scholastic grid rivalry.

The 77th classic was viewed by 22,371 at Tiger Stadium here, the third largest crowd ever in the “House That Paul Brown Built.”

The victory gave Massillon:
ITS 499th TRIUMPH in the school’s long and fabled history.
ITS 42nd WIN of the Canton series, against 30 losses and five ties in the dispute that dates to 1894.
ITS 6th CHAMPIONSHIP in the 10 years of the prestigious All-American Conference one of the best schoolboy loops in the nation and certainly the toughest in the state.
ITS 17th UNDEFEATED and untied team as it closed the regular season with a 10- mark.
ITS 22nd MYTHICAL STATE championship team since 1930 when state titles were recognized officially.
ITS FIRST Class AAA Region 3 title and a berth in the first Ohio High School Athletic Association state championship playoffs.

The Tigers wrapped up state titles in both wire service polls, although the final results won’t be announced until later this week.
13th Title in AP Poll
The Associated Press poll of sportswriters and broadcasters will be released Tuesday and it will mark the 13th AP state title for Massillon since the poll was originated in 1947.

United Press International’s poll of Coaches has been won by Massillon five times.

The official computerized rating will be announced today, but there is no way Massillon will be anywhere but on top of this region’s “AAA” rankings.

The Tigers will play in the semifinals at Ohio State University Saturday at 11 a.m., probably against Cincinnati Princeton. The title game is Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Akron’s Rubber Bowl.
Defeats Piling Up
For the McKinley fans, the loss was another in a series – defeats which are coming with uncomfortable regularity. It marked the 13th time in the past 16 games Massillon has prevailed.

The game can be analyzed with a look at what happened on third downs.

In 11 third-down situations, McKinley got the first down only three times.

Massillon, however, converted seven times on 13 third-down plays. Two of them were game breakers.
McKinley Scores First
McKinley got on the board first, at 3:27 of the first period when Ken Bush booted a
23-yard field goal.

The kick had all the classic style of a Hoyt Wilhelm knuckleball and just got through the lower right corner of the uprights. But it was good and it marked the first time this season Massillon was behind in a football game.

McKinley had taken the opening kickoff and with fullback Chuck Gelal as the main, almost only, runner (he carried the first six plays and on eight of the first nine) moved to the Massillon 26 before the teams traded interceptions.

Pup Pass Intercepted

Massillon’s Danny Gutshall picked off Garland Burns’ first aerial, one of three Pup passes grabbed by the Tiger secondary. But two plays later, McKinley’s John Thompson returned the favor on Westover’s first throw, to set up the only McKinley score.

Led by junior tackle Lee Geiselman and guard Mike Carbone, who went after Massillon runners like hungry lions after unarmed Christians, McKinley’s defense by and large, bottled up the Tiger running game. But Westover’s arm proved too accurate.

The lighting struck five minutes into the second period.

Faced with a third-and-eight on their own 38, the Tigers went for broke…and rolled a “7”.
Bomb Is Unloaded
Westover, with two days and 20 minutes to look around behind the fantastic pass protection blocking of the offensive line, unloaded the bomb to end Greg Sullivan.

McKinley’s defensive back Jon Barnett was playing intercept and got burned as Westover’s wing was true and Sullivan didn’t even break stride as he took the ball over his shoulder at the 30 and cruised to the goal line to complete the 64-yard TD play.

Sullivan does more than catch, though. Two minutes before the half, Sullivan and guard Larry Mayles blasted the key blocks for halfback Tom Hannon, who scampered 25 yards on a sweep in a third-and-two situation to put the ball on the McKinley 31, setting up the other Tiger TD.
Hits on Two More
After Westover hit a couple of 12-yard passes, one each to Chuck Danzy and Terry Edwards and Hannon bulled seven yards to the one, the strawberry-blond quarterback with the bushy mustache to match sneaked into the end zone behind center Todd Cocklin and guard Percy Keller. It was 51 seconds before the band show.

Hannon’s attempted runs for both of the PAT’s were stopped by the Bulldogs.

The victory ran Massillon in victory streak to 12, the last loss coming 8-7 to Warren last season. Since McKinley beat them 14-7 in the last game of the 1969 season, the Tigers have won 28 of their last 30 games, the Warren loss and a 7-6 defeat at the hands of Niles the only blots.

For McKinley, it marked the first time the Bulldogs have failed to score a touchdown in 20 games, since Massillon shut out McKinley 28-0 in 1970.

There’s something
new for the Tigers
They’ll meet Princeton in playoffs
via 12-3 victory over Bulldogs

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

“There is nothing new under the sun,” according to Ecclesiastes, but there sure is for the Massillon Tigers!

They’ve never been in playoffs for the state football championship before, but they’ll be there Saturday at 11 a.m. at Ohio stadium in Columbus as the Ohio High School Athletic association (OHSAA) holds its first such affair.

Opposite the 10-0 Tigers, who will be trying for the school’s 500th win, will be 9-0-1 Cincinnati Princeton. The Vikings, who battled Upper Arlington to a scoreless tie the week after the Tigers beat the Golden Bears 14-0, seldom throw in their attack, preferring the power sweeps and off tackles because Coach Pat Mancuso is an avid disciple of Ohio State’s Woody Hayes.
* * *
THE BIG team from Cincinnati works from the power-I, led by tailback Bill Gales, one of the best 100 backs in the nation, as named in a pre-season selection by a national sports magazine.

Warren Western Reserve (10-0) and Toledo Scott (8-0-1) will vie in the second game of Saturday’s semifinal computer selected Class AAA doubleheader. Game time will be
2 p.m.
Dr. Harold A. Meyer, OHSAA commissioner, Sunday dispelled rumors that the title game, slated for Akron’s Rubber Bowl Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m., would be moved to Kent State university because of the “sea of mud” reported there.

The Tigers got into the playoffs by completing a 10-0 season last Saturday with another of their so-familiar solid team efforts which gave them a 12-3 victory over ferocious arch-rival Canton McKinley before 22,371 at Tiger stadium. It was the second largest crowd over there and third largest in the McKinley rivalry.

McKinley failed to score a TD in a game for the first time since the Tigers held them scoreless in 1970.

Their sixth All-American conference title in 10 years, sure-to-come mythical championships from both wire polls – the 13th by the Associated Press – their 25th state title in all and their 19th undefeated season is not what fans are talking about today.

It’s the playoffs.

TIGER COACH Bob Commings spent Sunday morning with his coaches reviewing the McKinley game film, went to Columbus in the afternoon for playoff instructions and returned Sunday night for another film session with his coaches – this one with Princeton films exchanged Sunday.

Princeton had scouted the Tigers in last Saturday’s game with McKinley but Commings has not scouted Princeton.

Playing on the synthetic turf at Ohio State will be “no factor whatsoever,” according to Commings. “We will not practice on Bladwin-Wallace college’s synthetic turf as some people had thought.”

Commings said the OHSAA has bought “the best shoes money can buy” for use Saturday for what Dr. Meyer has termed a “shoe bank” also for use in future games. All teams will see the shoes and the turf for the first time this weekend.

One of the key factors in the Tigers’ winning their 42nd game over the Bulldogs 30 losses and five ties, including 13 of the last 15, was the aerial show put on by quarterback Kevin Westover, split end Greg Sullivan and right halfback Terry Edwards when the Massillon ground game was put to a stop by McKinley’s great defense led by tackle Lee Geiselman and middle guard Mike Carbone.

Ironically, it was the skyways which weren’t good to the Tigers early in the season, but they began to brighten during the last three games. Last Saturday, Westover passed to Sullivan for a touchdown and hit Sullivan, fullback Charles Danzy and Edwards – again playing with a lot of pain from a leg injury – with key possession passes, helping the Tigers to convert seven of 13 third down situations while the Bulldogs could do it only three of 11 times.

THE TIGERS went into the second quarter finding themselves behind for the first time this season after a 35-yard McKinley drive off the opening kickoff and traded pass interceptions by the Tigers’ Tim Gutshall and the Bulldogs’ John Thompson which left the ball on the Massillon 13.
Three plays later Ken Bush booted one that just went over from 23 yards out with 3:27 left on the clock.

The Tigers went 78 yards in six second quarter plays following a punt, with the big play being Westover’s aerial, thrown with a couple of Bulldogs close on his heels, which soared 34 yards from third down on the Tigers’ 36. Sullivan outran a McKinley defender at the Bulldogs’ 30, grabbed the pigskin and went in for the TD with 6:51 left.

“That was the most important pass of my life,” Westover said. “I had the option of running or throwing deep. I saw Greg had him beaten and I threw it deep.”

“I just outran my guy,” Sullivan grinned. “It was a great pass and that had to be the most important catch I’ve ever made.”
* * *
THE TIGERS held for one series – even though roughing the kicked – and moved 77 yards for their second score in 12 plays with Westover throwing 11 and 12-yard passes to Edwards and combining with Danzy on a 12-yard screen before sneaking one yard for the other score with 51 seconds left in the second stanza.

A 25-yard power-pitch sweep by left half Tom Hannon and a seven-yard sweep up the center were also key yardage grabbers, with the latter putting the ball in position for Westover’s TD. Commings played it smart here by not relying on a lot of ball handling on the scoring play.

Hannon was short on both conversion plays but had another sparkling day running, picking up 97 net yards in 28 carries. He came up 30 yards short of the all-time one-season conference rushing record of 1,266 yards, but ended his regular season performance with one that won’t be forgotten.

The second half was all defense with each team getting out of its own territory only twice. Westover threw 35 yards to Sullivan who added three more to set up a first down on the Bulldogs’ 27 late in the third quarter, but missed by inches on fourth down at the 28 just after the start of the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs had missed by about the same margin at the Tigers’ 31 on the series before the Obiemen’s jaunt which had started when Westover’s sneak on fourth down on the Massillon 40 was also agonizingly short.
* * *
THE ORANGE and Black held again in the goodbye frame when Tim and Dan Gutshall and Dari Edwards smothered Will Grimsley on fourth down at the Bulldogs’ 45 in the fourth, but got nowhere offensively.

The Pups made one last try, with the help of an interference penalty and 19-yard pass from Grimsley to Tom Carver for a first down on the Massillon 38. However, free safety Hannon intercepted the next try on the 20.

McKinley Couldn’t Get the Inches
Ho-Hum, It’s the 17th
Perfect Slate Ever
for Massillon Gang
Tigers Eye Initial Shot At Real Title

By BOB STEWART
Repository Sports Editor

MASSILLON – The winning locker room is the only place to be.

You don’t have to watch what you say, everyone is happy, smiling and willing to talk.

Such as it was under the stands on the north end of the west side of Tiger Stadium here Saturday.

But he revelry was not raucous in the den of the Tigers, who had just downed archrival, Canton McKinley Bulldogs, by 12-3 to wrap up another (ho-hum) unbeaten season – the 17th in the school’s history.

The gladness was there and the super smiles.

But the air was one of the yeoman, the journeyman, the craftsman – who knows his work well, to the point of artistry – and who has just completed what he was assigned to do.

It was like – “was there every any doubt!”

Perhaps, it’s that this year is unique. It’s the first season there will be a “real” Ohio High School football champion crowned.

The first year of the playoffs set up by the OHSAA will see Massillon representing Region 3 (the northeast) in the Class AAA semifinals next week at Ohio State.

The players, coaches and fans know that this was not the climax this season as it has been 76 times in the past.

There are two more games to go before the Tigers, who claim more mythical state titles (22) than anyone else in Buckeyeland, are to be able to stand up and say, “We’re the real champs.”
– : –
For Massillon Coach Bob Commings it was euphoric enthusiasm coupled with a certain sense of relief.

The coaches who won’t say it and the fans who will say it are of the opinion that Canton McKinley is the second best team in the state and was the only real threat to the Tiger title aspirations.
– : –
“Kevin Westover was magnificent,” bubbled Commings.

“His passing was great. Greg Sullivan’s catching was great. The backs ran hard. The defense was superb. And our coach called a great game,” he quipped.

Turing to the serious side, Commings said he was hard pressed to talk about McKinley because he didn’t want to sound insincere.

“It’s really got to sound like all the clichés, but McKinley has a fine football team. I really mean it.”

“Those Bulldogs were tough and they came to play and they hit. They gave it to us for 48 minutes and they have nothing to hang their heads about and I’m as sincere as I can be,” the Bengal boss said, adding it was the toughest McKinley team he’s faced in four years in Tigertown.
– : –
“I’m really proud of our kids. It’s the first time we were ever behind and nobody was pushing any buttons.”

“Yes, we knew Westover was a fine passer and he showed it today. We knew we had him when it counted and he really came through in the clutch.”

“I can’t say who all did great jobs, but I know Westover and Sullivan and Tommy Hannon really gave it all they had.”
– : –
“And how about those Gutshall kids. They really played a game in the secondary,” Commings said.

Commings referred to Danny Gutshall, who intercepted McKinley’s first pass and Tim Gutshall, who intercepted another, almost stole two others and broke up a couple more.

Commings also went on to praise the fourth quarter punting by Westover and Todd Cocklin, the junior center.

“Man, on those punts they knew that everybody was coming and Cocklin really fired that ball back there right on the money.”

Regarding punts, of which Massillon didn’t have any until four minutes into the third period, Commings said it was the first “shaky” punt (for 17 yards) that led him to the decision to go for the first down in a crucial third period situation, which could have turned the game around.

The Tigers had it fourth-and-one on their own 40 and decided to try Westover on a sneak for the first. He missed by inches and it gave McKinley new life with great position and 4y
minutes left in the third period.

But the Bulldogs tried the same thing four plays later and Chuck Gelal missed his fourth-down plunge by inches, also, on the Massillon 31.

It was three minutes into the final canto when McKinley got the ball back on the Massillon 28.

Brideweser went the first three quarters with junior quarterback Garland Burns and at the onset of the fourth, he put in senior Will Grimsley.

The Burns-running vs. Grimsley-passing argument has split the McKinley followers all season long.
– : –
Asked if he instituted adjustments at halftime, Commings smiled and said, “We didn’t change anything, I just yelled a lot.”

Commings said McKinley made some adjustments in its defense for this game “that just shut off completely our sweeps…in fact it about ruined our running game. They did a fine job.”

“We didn’t change anything, no defensive switches, no new plays. We didn’t work on stopping any particular part of their game, we just tried to work on stopping everything,” he said.
– : –
Perhaps no one is more happy, not so much at the outcome of the game, but simply that it’s over, as Sharon Commings, Bob’s lovely and charming wife (sometimes mistaken for his daughter).

Sharon came in the coach’s office and received a well planted kiss and a long, long embrace.

“She’s the one who’s got the ulcer,” said Bob of his wife, who grinned with tears streaming down her face.

“Yes, I’m really glad it’s over, I’m the pessimist in the family, I wasn’t sure we could do it.”

“Yes, the pressure is unbelievable, it’s just tremendous. I’m, glad it’s over,” Sharon said.

Bob must’ve neglected to mention four years ago that coaching at Massillon just isn’t quite like coaching at Struthers…or anywhere else on earth, either!

Hannon, Westover
key Tiger Attack

By ART SCHROCK
Repository Sportswriter

MASSILLON – The Massillon Tigers’ defense was terrific as usual, but the 12-3 winners also attained their edge on the scoreboard with offensive performances from Kevin Westover and Tom Hannon, the All-American Conference leaders in passing and ground gaining.

Westover, the individual singled out for a job well done by McKinley Bulldog Coach John Brideweser, was sharp, completing six of nine passes for 153 big yards.

The rangy Tiger quarterback picked up 102 yards on two passes to end Greg Sullivan. The first, a 64-yard play, put Massillon head to stay and Kevin was 4-for-5 in the deciding second quarter.

Hannon, although scoreless for the second time in three games, was the cog in Massillon’s ball-control game with his hip-shaking runs.
– : –
HE TOTED the ball 28 times for a net 97 yards, pushing his season total to 1,236 yards in 231 carries for an average of 5.3 yards per attempt.

The All-American Conference record in rushing is 1,266 by Rick Gales of Niles McKinley in 1969. Willie Spencer of the Tigers totaled 1,251 yards last year.

Westover overshadowed Garland Burns and Willard Grimsley of McKinley, who combined for 6 of 16 passes for 53 yards.

Grimsley, the Bulldogs’ senior signal caller, entered the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter and took to the air. He was 4-for-11, but his final heave was intercepted by Hannon.
– : –
THE BULLDOGS had three passes intercepted to Massillon’s one.

Massillon led in net yards rushing 140-50. Thirty-seven of McKinley’s ground yards came in the first quarter when fullback Chuck Gelal notched 36 in 11 tries.

Gelal led the Bulldogs’ rushers with a net 50 yards in 17 rushes. Among the other top McKinley runners, Dan Contrucci had only five yards in four carries, Eric Escola was a minus-six yards in two tries and John Barnett failed to gain in his lone tote.

Massillon commanded first downs 12-7. The Tigers were ahead in first downs rushing 7-3 and first downs through the air, McKinley notched a first down on a penalty.
– : –
THE WINNERS were ahead in total yardage 293-103 and offensive plays 62-50. They led with three penalties for 35 yards to McKinley’s one infraction for five yards.

Neither team lost possession of the ball on a fumble although the Bulldogs fumbled twice and the Tigers once.

McKinley’s John Barnett was superior in the punting department, averaging 37 yards for four boots to an average of 26 yards for three Westover kicks. The Bulldogs averaged 57 yards for their two kickoffs and Massillon averaged 43.3 yards for three kickoffs.

Massillon’s tough defense allowed only one touchdown in the final five games of the regular season and that was a third-quarter score in 34-8 conquest of Alliance. The Tigers have given up only 29 points all year.

Statistics
Mass. McK.
First downs-rushing 7 3
First downs-passing 5 3
First downs-penalties 0 1
Total first downs 12 7
Yards gained rushing 157 68
Yards lost rushing 17 18
Net yards gained rushing 140 50
Net yards gained passing 153 53
Total yards gained 293 103
Passes attempted 9 16
Passes completed 6 6
Passes intercepted by 3 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 27 2
Times kicked off 3 2
Kickoff average (yards) 43.3 57.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 17 52
Times punted 3 4
Punt average (yards) 26.0 37.0
Punt returns (yards) 2 14
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 1 2
Lost fumbled ball 0 0
Penalties 3 1
Yards penalized 35 5
Total number of plays 62 50

AAC Standings
FINAL
League All-Games
Team W L Pts. Op. W L Pts. Op.
x-Massillon 5 0 81 17 10 0 180 29
McKinley 4 1 104 51 8 2 238 74
Niles 3 2 91 75 8 2 255 106
Steubenville 2 3 51 75 7 3 193 120
Warren Harding 1 4 50 59 5 5 239 98
Alliance 0 5 57 157 2 8 119 234

x-Champion

History

1970: Massillon 28, Canton McKinley 0

November 14, 1970July 27, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers claw Bulldogs

By MIKE ZEMELKA

A relic stands as a tribute to the dedication and determination of a group of young men in whom Coach Bob Commings has placed faith since the spring of 1969.

Of course, the relic is the “Victory Bell” – a treasured locomotive bell which goes to the winner of the Massillon-Canton McKinley football game.
* * *
COMMINGS HAS insisted this year’s edition of the Tigers – his second – are “quality kids”.

They proved beyond a doubt last Saturday before 22,500 rain soaked football buffs at Tiger stadium they are deserving of Ohio’s No. 1 ranking in the wire services’ Class AAA poll.

It is just a matter of hours before they learn if Saturday’s efforts were enough to maintain the top ranking.

Saturday’s 28-0 conquest of the Bulldogs climaxed a comeback which Commings began here in 1969 with a 7-2-1 club – a team from which many of this year’s Tigers remembered the heart-breaking 14-7 loss to McKinley.

Perfect is perhaps the best adjective to describe the Tigers’ play Saturday – and all season long as the ’70 Washington high gridders provided Massillon football buffs with their 16th unbeaten and untied team – the first since 1965. McKinley ended 8-1-1.

It was almost unbelievable of the Orange and Black’s ability to execute to perfection in the mud and bone-chilling rain Saturday.
* * *
RIB-ROCKING defensive play resulted in the recovery of two Bulldog bobbles and the theft of a McKinley aerial.

Massillon’s defensive unit allowed the Cantonians but a single stick-mover in the first half and just nine for the game.

Because of the efforts of the defensive unit – better known as the “Attack Pack” – McKinley was forced to the air 14 times. On the other hand, Massillon passed just twice.

Massillon gained 258 yards rushing. Tailback Mike Mauger climaxed a brilliant s
eason – his last – with 137 yards in 27 tries. He scored on a pair of four-yard runs and added a bonus run.

Senior Denny Franklin, the all-around quarterback, romped 37 yards for the Tigers’ third six-pointer with the help of a perfect fake by Mauger and a key block by backup tight end Mike McGuire, a junior.
Mauger drove into the line over left tackle. The Pups bought the fake and Franklin sailed around left end as McGuire had cut down the last Bulldog who had the only chance to stop the elusive signal-caller.
* * *
MASSILLON GOT the game’s first break when Larry Harper, the senior wingback established a Massillon-McKinley game record with a 94-yard return of the opening kickoff. Mark McDew set the old standard when he raced 91 yards with the second half kickoff to help the Tigers to a 20-15 win in 1967 – the last time Massillon beat the Bulldogs until Saturday.

Willie Spencer, also playing his last game as a Tiger, climaxed the defense’s outstanding play when he picked off a Jimmy Vance pass and raced 42 yards to the four. His theft set up Mauger’s second TD with 0:18 left.

Mauger now ranks as the third best all-time Massillon scorer, surpassing the 1937 output of 137 points by halfback-fullback Bob Glass.

Saturday’s two six-pointers and the conversion run after Harper’s TD give Mauger 152 points

for the season. His 23 TDs for 1970 ranks second on the all-time Tigers’ list behind Edwin (Dutch) Hill, who tallied 34 TDs in 1922. He now rates as the top scorer of the “Modern Tiger era” – three points better than the 1934 total posted by Heine Krier.

Execution by the line freed Mauger, Franklin, Harper and fullback Cardinal consistently.

Once, however, the Bulldogs did dig in and prohibit the Tigers from scoring. This happened after WHS owned a 16-0 lead.
* * *
MASSILLON HAD moved 66 yards and tried twice to punch the leather over from inside the one. The second attempt was a crack at right tackle by Mauger. He was stopped 0:40 before the bands took the field.

Junior middle guard Larry McLenndon looked like a fifth back in the Bulldogs’ lineup as he continuously was applying pressure.

He forced junior fullback Artis Zachary to fumble once and Cardinal fell on the leather at the Tigers’ 20 to set up the first WHS sustained drive, which extended into the second stanza.

Mauger ended the maneuver when he slashed over right tackle with 9:31 showing.

Key plays in the drive were a 10-yard counter over left tackle by Harper on a third and eight call, a 13-yard pass over the middle to end Steve Luke to the McKinley 36 on a third and 15 try and an 11-yard burst up the middle by Mauger on fourth and two to the visitors’ 25.
* * *
CARDINAL’S recovery of Zachary’s fumble halted McKinley’s most serious threat of the game. The threat covered 34 yards and began when Vance intercepted Franklin’s first pass attempt, which had glanced off Harper’s out-stretched hands.

Massillon drove 73 yards in nine plays to make it 22-0. The TD came 9:08 before the bell was tugged through the mud from the McKinley bench. The maneuver began when Vance twice overshot targets in an attempt to pick up 12 yards the Bulldogs needed for a first down.

Mauger carried six times for 26 yards and Harper aided with a nine-yard dart around left end. Franklin accounted for the remainder, with the TD coming on his fancy footwork. The call came on a fourth and two situation. Franklin hit Spencer for the PATs, but the Tigers were penalized for illegal procedure. Harper was stopped at the three when he tried to run it in from the eight.

McKINLEY 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 8 8 0 12 28

SCORING SUMMARY
M – Harper, 94 return of opening kickoff (Mauger run); Mauger, 4 run (Harper run); Franklin, 37 run (run failed after penalty nullified pass to Harper); Mauger, 4 run (pass failed).

MASSILLON
Ends – Steve Luke, McGuire, Spencer, Stephan, Clary, Perry.
Tackles – Ridgley, Strobel, Weirch.
Guards – Jaskinski, Jellel, Sims, Graber, Groff, John Nussbaumer.
Centers – Studer, Gaddis.
Quarterback – Franklin.
Running backs – Mauger, Cardinal, Harper.
Defensive Backs – Pattinson, Bill Luke, Thompson, Hank Nussbaumer, Wonsick, Fletcher, Sullivan.
Middle Guard – McLenndon.

CANTON McKINLEY
Ends – Turner, Stover.
Tackles – Randle, DeStefano, O’Brovac.
Guards – Gordon, Williams, Cook.
Centers – Clark, Hoon, Fields.
Quarterback – Vance.
Running Backs – Zachary, DeGraffenreid, Cleveland, R. Umbles, Hall, Barnett, Lewis, Kelley.
Middle Guard – Carbone.

ATTENDANCE – 22, 500

THE GRIDSTICK
M C
First downs, rushing 16 6
First downs, passing 0 1
First downs, penalties 1 2
Total first downs 17 9
Yards gained rushing 270 91
Yards lost rushing 12 16
Net gain rushing 258 75
Net gain passing 13 40
Total yards 271 115
Passes attempted 2 14
Passes completed 1 5
Passes intercepted by 1 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 42 5
Times kicked off 5 1
Kickoff average, yards 40.0 54.0
Kickoff returns, yards 94 40
Times punted 1 3
Punt average, yards 34.0 33.3
Punt returns, yards 6 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 0 2
Lost fumbled ball 0 2
Penalties 10 2
Yards penalized 96 20
Touchdowns rushing 3 0
Touchdowns passing 0 0
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous 1 0
Total plays 56

OFFICIALS
Referee – Ted Humphrey.
Field Judge – Hugh Davis.
Head Linesman – Stanley Evaans.
Umpire – Robert Brown.
Back Judge – Robert Reidenbach.

TD on Starting Kickoff
Spurs Win Over Pups

By ROBERT S. STEWART
Repository Sports Editor

MASSILLON – The mighty Massillon Tigers took the field in the rain and mud of Tiger Stadium here Saturday and accomplished just what they set out to do – polish off Canton McKinley’s football team and wrap up another state championship.

The Tigers exploded with a spectacular 93-yard run by fleet halfback Larry Harper to get the 75th annual schoolboy classic under way.

Then Massillon methodically ground out a 28-0 victory over the stubborn Bulldogs from McKinley.

Harper’s dash put the Tigers on top with only 14 seconds gone in the game. Not all of the 22,500 fans who watched the game were even in their seats yet. It looked like the rout many had predicted.
Virtually Clinches Title for Tigers
But McKinley and the mud combined to hold the score to a respectable 16-0 margin at the start of the final quarter.

The win virtually clinches the state title for Massillon, its first in five years and 12th since the inception of the Associated Press poll in 1947.

Although the formality of the final voting must be awaited, certainly the Tigers will remain the No. 1 team in the state, a spot they held for all but one week this season.

It will be interesting to see where McKinley finishes. The Bulldogs have trailed Massillon and second-ranked Upper Arlington (27-6 winner over Marietta, Friday) as the third-rated team the last few weeks.

McKinley finished its season with eight wins, a 7-7 tie with Niles and the loss to Massillon.

It was the 16th time Massillon has been undefeated and untied in the school’s history.

The 1970 edition of the Tigers moves into the eighth spot on the all-time list of high scoring Massillon teams with 412 points. Defensively, this year’s team is tied for 12th with 29 points allowed. McKinley was the Tigers’ sixth shutout victim.

First year coach John Brideweser of McKinley was disappointed, but not disheartened. The Bulldogs were not hanging crepe in their dressing room. No one left with his head down.

Brideweser, who had been an assistant at Massillon last year, said he felt his kids did a great job Saturday and all year long.
The McKinley well-wishers praised the team and noted the 8-1-1 record was much better than expected.

Massillon Wraps Up
State Grid Crown
28-0
Commings Crew ‘Fanstatic’

By KEN SHERER
Repository Sports Writer

MASSILLON – Clang, clang, Clang-clang, clang-clang.

That old railroad bell still is ringing today in Tigertown after the top-rated Massillon Tigers whitewashed the McKinley Bulldogs 28-0 Saturday afternoon and won back the bell after two years of absence from Washington high School.

Carl “Ducky” Schroeder, Tiger tackle coach who has been at Massillon for more than 20 years, summed it up perfectly amidst the delirious post-game celebration in the locker room.

“WE CAME ALL the way back and then some,” said Schroeder, who has helped coach 12 state championship teams in his Massillon tenure and probably will have another Tuesday when the final Associated Press poll is released.

“The kids were just fantastic,” praised Massillon Coach Bob comings as he stood in his dripping wet clothes, fresh from a victory shower.

“We came back the last two years and we’re gonna dominate the state of Ohio again,” said Commings.

“I think we are here for two reasons,” said Commings. “First, I was fortunate to hire the coaches I did and second the kids deserved it because nobody has outworked us this year.”

“WE HAVE QUALITY kids at Massillon High. That’s what we preached two years ago when we first came here. We told them we had to have quality players and we have them now!”

“I think it’s really good because we won. We’re in northeastern Ohio and that’s where the state championship belongs. It’s a matter of pride for the All-American Conference.”
Tigers Were ‘Fantastic’
“It’s inconceivable to me how any kids could have worked any harder than we did. There was not one dummy on the field all season. We worked on people.”

“The people in this town have been great to me personally, last year too. If anyone deserves the state title they do. The booster club president (Wilbur Arnold, Jr.) even took two vacations to see that everything came off okay.”

“We played 96 minutes (two games, McKinley and Warren) in the mud this year,” continued the former Mahoning County detective, “and we didn’t have one fumble. That’s a tribute to our coaches since we didn’t have any blows in those games.”

McKINLEY played their game and didn’t make any changes. We played our game and didn’t change.”

“We ran the ball well and our defense looked strong despite the condition of the field.”

“Willie Spencer (two-way end) played a heckuva game today. They all did.”

“Justice was done this year,” Commings concluded.

EMOTION RAN through the Tiger locker room after the game. Players were chanting, “We’re No. 1, We’re No. 1,” from their perches atop the lockers and nearly everywhere else. It was like putting three cans of sardines into one can.

The victory bell seldom stopped ringing.

Tiger assistant coach Nick Vrotsos said, “We’ll have a winner! We won’t have to walk in the alleys this year.” The former Tiger cage mentor looked like a proud poppa as he passed out victory cigars to fellow coaches and friends.

Tiger aide Dale Walterhouse said, “We’re claiming the best linebackers in the state. Steve Luke and Tom Cardinal can move and hit. McKinley has been claiming to have the best linebackers in the state. I guess we proved it today.”

“Luke and Cardinal have been leaders on and off the field. They’re hitters on the field and gentlemen off the field,” said Walterhouse about the Tiger co-captains.

McKinley 28-0 Loser

‘Perfect’ Ending For Massillon

By JOHN SEABURN

MASSILLON – The Massillon Tigers gave the Bulldogs of Canton McKinley a good bit more than they bargained for when the teams clashed before 22,500 here in rain-drenched Tiger Stadium Saturday.

When wingback Larry Harper returned the opening kickoff 93 yards to score, the state’s No. 1 ranked Class AAA team was off to a 28-0 victory in the final game of the year for both teams.

Massillon, relying on the charges of tailback Mike Mauger and the fine leadership of quarterback Dennis Franklin and able to move over a slippery turf while the visiting Bulldogs could not.

The Tigers moved to their 10th victory of the season without defeat, wrested the
All-American Conference title from defending champion McKinley, ended the Bulldogs two-year domination of the traditional rivalry and rounded the series off to 40 Massillon wins, 30 triumphs for McKinley (8-1-1) and five ties in the 75th game between the two schools.

Mauger, a 6-1, 200-pound senior, set a school rushing yardage record for its “modern era” (since 1932) by carrying 27 times to gain 137 yards.

He scored twice on runs of four yards, the first time in the second period to help the Tigers to a 16-0 halftime lead and the second time when the Orange and Black seized an opportunity to score in the final 18 seconds of play.

History

1969: Massillon 7, Canton McKinley 14

November 8, 1969July 27, 2017
by Eric Smith

Pride is still the word in Tigertown

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor.

Pride has been a key word with Bob Commings all season.

Over and over again the Tiger football coach has told his charges that individual pride is what makes a great player. When 11 players have individual pride, a team has pride and becomes great.
* * *
TODAY THE Washington high gridders are a proud team and their pride has swelled into Tigertown pride – a pride that will probably manifest itself in the biggest crowd to ever turn out for the annual football banquet come Nov. 29 at the WHS cafeteria

The Orange and Black lost the season finale 14-7 to arch-rival Canton McKinley in the 74th renewal of the ancient grid classic before 22,200 fans Saturday afternoon at Fawcett stadium in Canton. They also lost the All-American conference title to the Bulldogs, but the Tigers became great in the eyes of their fans.

It took the Bulldogs 47 minutes and 43 seconds to get their win and a 9-1 record while the WHSers ended 7-2-1, but the Pups knew they were in a game. The Tigers hit hard and ran hard the whole afternoon. They played better football and practically stopped the Bulldogs cold.

But for a senior quarterback named Joe Babics, some finesse at key moments, a couple of penalties and a great break made by the Bulldogs, it might have been a different story.

Bulldog fullback Rocco Rich, tailback Rich Brown and wingback Ed Floyd got almost nowhere. Admittedly Brown, who had been injured a couple of weeks ago, was not in the best of condition, operating on a gimpy ankle.

“We won the real warfare,” a tired Tiger game Co-Captain Darnell Streeter said afterwards. He referred to the statistical column where the Orange and Black amassed 15 first downs to McKinley’s 11 and 255 total yards to the Bulldogs’ 172.
* * *
STREETER PICKED up 72 yards in 16 carries and Autrey 74 in 17.

Both of McKinley’s touchdown drives featured outstanding outside running by Babics, dictated by a great inside Tiger defense. Fifteen-yard face mask penalties and an interception by Rich on the second drive also helped.

Outside of the two TD jaunts and a long pass to the Massillon 30 at the end of the first half,

McKinley failed to get out of its own territory.
Rich’s pilfer came after the Tigers had forced a punt and had taken over on their 47 with 2:06 left in the game. Quarterback Gary Herring found wingback Larry Harper down the middle on the McKinley 43, but Harper was hit hard, the ball bounced into the air, Rich grabbed it and got back to the Orange and Black’s 47.

Commings could have settled for a tie but to his credit, he went after a win.

Eight plays later sub quarterback Joe Shimek, off play action and a sprint out, tossed to Floyd who made a diving catch for the winning TD with 17 seconds left. Shimek followed with his second conversion boot.

Babics executed two key runs off fake action to turn the end, one on first down from the Tiger 47 to the 41with the face mask penalty added. Then on fourth and one on the 14 he sprinted to the two.
* * *
BABICS WAS injured when thrown out of bounds. Shimek came in, handed off twice into the line and then threw the winning pass.

“The proudest guy around has got to be Mr. Shimek and I can’t blame him,” Bulldog Coach Ron Chismar said. “He was our No. 2 quarterback all year and he had the guts to come in when we needed him. And that was a beautiful catch by Floyd!”

Chismar acknowledged that the Bulldogs had gotten a big break via Rich’s interception.

“It takes breaks to win,” he said. “We gave a few away and got some.”

Shortly before the fateful drive the Tigers had punted on fourth and four from the Bulldog 43.

“It worked out the way we wanted it to,” Commings said. “We got the ball back with two minutes to go.”
* * *
McKINLEY’S OTHER scoring jaunt came after the Tigers’ only TD and featured eight plays and 75 yards after a 20-yard kickoff runback by Tom Clifford.

Another deceptive 11-yard end run by Babics with a face mask penalty thrown in and a
31-yard pass to Mark Brown, which put the ball on the Tiger 16, were the highlights.

Babics carried on three of the next five plays and when the Orange and Black stacked its linebackers behind its tackles and left a gap in the center, Babics rammed through from the three on third down with 8:09 left in the second stanza. Shimek booted the PAT.

The Tigers’ score came off a 42-yard drive and a 13-yard interception runback by Don Lewis. The Commingmen’s effort featured eight plays, an 11-yard run by Streeter, who carried seven times, and a 19-yard pass from Herring to Harper who made a brilliant catch just inside the boundary line for a first down at the nine. Autrey scored over guard on fourth down from the one with 11:52 left in the second stanza. Mike Mauger kicked the conversion.

The Tigers ran out of downs after a 27-yard drive to the 32 in the first quarter – following a 39-yard jaunt to the 38 in the third quarter and lost the ball again on downs after Doug Miller had intercepted a pass near the sideline on the McKinley 21 in the third canto. The Orange and Black moved the ball only four more yards.

They had the ball for 21 plays compared to McKinley’s 8 in the third quarter and for 68 compared to the Pups’ 47 over-all, giving the home-standers a good dose of their own ball control medicine.

“Massillon did a fantastic job of defensing us,” Chismar stated.

“We did a fantastic job of hitting them,” Commings opined. “They’re a great team. They fooled us a couple of times but we controlled the ball on them. I couldn’t ask for any better effort than our boys gave.

MASSILLON – 7
Ends – Robinson, Lewis, Byelene, McConnaughead, Maxhimer.
Tackles – Benson, Dorman, Bingle, Celik, Reinerts, Ridgley, Strobel.
Guards, Hout, Midgley, McLin.
Centers – S. Luke, Brand.
Quarterbacks – Streeter, Harper, Mauger, Sheaters, Miller, Ammond.
Fullbacks – Autrey, Cardinal.

McKINLEY – 14
Ends – Turner, M. Brown, J. Martin, Clayton, DiMarzio, Birl, Roman.
Tackles – Ford, Obrovac, R. Martin, Gardner.
Guards – Nemeth, Cook, Hayworth.
Centers – Clark, Pimpas.
Quarterbacks – Babics, Shimek, Stranan.
Halfbacks – Walker, Floyd, R. Brown, Clifford.
Fullback – Rich.

Massillon 0 7 0 0 – 7
McKinley 0 7 0 7 – 14

SCORING SUMMARY
M – FB Mike Autrey, one-yard run, TB Mike Mauger PAT (kick)
McK – QB Joe Babics, throw-run, QB Joe Shimek PAT (kick)
Mck – WB Ed Floyd, throw-pass from Shimek, Shimek PAT (kick)

OFFICIALS
Referee – John Cseh.
Umpire – Chuck Lorenz.
Head Linesman – Milo Lukity.
Field Judge – Ruggiero.
Back Judge – Tonn.

THE GRIDSTICK
M McK
First downs – rushing 9 5
First downs – passing 5 4
First downs –penalties 1 2
Total first downs 15 11
Yards gained rushing 159 95
Yards lost rushing 12 10
Net yards gained rushing 147 85
Net yards gained passing 108 87
Total yards gained 255 172
Passes completed 9-23 7-12
Yardage on passes intercepted 2-18 1-10
Kickoff average (yards) 2-51.0 4-48.3
Kickoff returns (yards) 0 19
Punt average yards 4-33.5 5-38
Punt returns (yards) 5 7
Had punts blocked 0 0
Lost fumbled ball 1-4 0-2
Yards penalized 6-57 2-10
Touchdowns rushing 1 1
Touchdowns passing 0 1
Total number of plays 68 47

A salute to the Tigers
The scoreboard read Canton McKinley 14, Massillon 7, but the Massillon Washington high school football team stood high in the eyes of Massillon fans.

Entering the Saturday afternoon game played in Canton’s Fawcett stadium an underdog by two touchdowns, the Tigers played admirable football for 48 minutes. They lost the game to Canton but won the admiration of Massillon fans for their spirited play. They won the battle of statistics, first downs, yards gained from passing and rushing, but lost on the scoreboard which showed 17 seconds remaining when Canton scored the winning touchdown.

Seldom has a Massillon team played any better football and still lost the game. We salute Coach Robert Commings, his staff and the Massillon Tigers for a job well done.

We congratulate Canton McKinley. The Bulldogs hung on tenaciously, capitalized on opportunity when victory had all but eluded them and scored their winning points on a truly great catch by halfback Eddie Floyd, thrown by substitute Quarterback Joe Shimek.

The McKinley team, one of the greatest in Bulldog history, should be voted state champion on the basis of its schedule, but will probably finish second to Upper Arlington whose opponents were not of the same caliber as those played by McKinley.

History

1966: Massillon 16, Canton McKinley 25

November 12, 1966July 18, 2017
by Eric Smith

Seaman Says ‘Wait Until Next Year’
McKinley Wins; Bengals Have Losing Mark

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

Fans of the old Brooklyn baseball Dodgers had the right idea at a time like this: “Wait until next year.”

Washington high Coach Bob Seaman had his own version: “We’ll be back next year and should have a heck of a team.”

The error-pocked and anguish-filled 1966-football season is history. The final chapter was penned Saturday in a bruising 25-16 Tiger stadium loss to Canton McKinley in the 71st annual inter-city classic.

For the first time since 1931 the Bengals ended below .500 with a 4-5-1 record. There have been only 4 other seasons of 8 or more games since 1894, which have ended below the
Break-even point.

The only consolation for Seaman was that he has a lot of company among first-year coaches who have lost to McKinley. Seven other mentors, including Paul Brown, either lost to or were tied by the Bulldogs in the first or only year those coaches were here.

McKinley ended a 9-year famine in wining and assured itself of a winning season under Ron Chismar with a 6-4 record. The Bulldogs also dropped the defending champion Tigers into a cellar tie in the All-American High School football league at a 1-3 ending.

Niles won the title with a 3-0 record, Steubenville finished 2-1, Warren 2-2.

Massillon’s play, at times Saturday, resembled the zany Dodgers referred to above. Maladies, which have plagued them all-season burst out in full bloom – inability’s to handle kicks and fumbles. Three McKinley touchdowns happened because of miscues on handling kicks. The fourth resulted from an inability to stop a punt return.
* * *

SOME SAY the Pups didn’t deserve the win but they were a good enough team to capitalize on the breaks and reverse the script of the past 2 seasons when the Tigers bounced back to win after half time deficits.
The contest started as if it were to be a high-scoring affair with both teams scoring in the first one minute, 54 seconds of play. McKinley went over on the first play from scrimmage after Bengal sophomore Marc Malinowski attempted unsuccessfully to return George Fronimo’s stocking footed, soccer-style kickoff which rolled pass Malinowski to the 5-yard line. End Henry Lewis recovered a fly ball fumble on the 9.

Quarterback Milford Lucius passed to halfback Leroy Wilder, who was to score twice more, on the 5 with Wilder carrying the rest of the way. Fronimo’s boot made it 7-0 with 11:32 remaining.

Halfback Tommy James got the Obiemen to their 38 with a 29-yard runback of the next kickoff. On second and 4 from the 44, fullback Will Foster cut through the center and back to the right for the Tigertowners’ longest run from scrimmage this season at 11:26. Quarterback Craig Maurer hit James in the right corner of the end zone to make it 8-7 in Massillon’s favor.

Massillon scored again in the first quarter but not before squandering a first and 10 at the Bulldog 18 after a pass interception by Foster with a fumble by James recovered by halfback Ted Bowersox.
* * *

LINEBACKER Hoyt Skelton pilfered again on the Pups’ 40. Four plays later, Maurer took off from 26 yards out on first and 10 and scampered into pay dirt on a counter keeper to the left at 3:55. He hit James with another right corner end zone pass for a 16-7 score that was the Bengal fans’ last cause for joy.

McKinley missed an opportunity after Jim Krenzer’s punt was blocked by one of his own men at the beginning of the second stanza. George Austin recovered on the Massillon 25.

On third down Clayton grabbed a pass on the 25, ran to the 17, was pushed out of bounds and into the east track seats. A 15-yard personal foul infraction was called during the melee and Chismar rushed onto the field to engage in a violent argument with head linesman Joe Romano.

McKinley was set back to the 30. Linebacker Ron Ertle intercepted a pass on the next play to halt the drive.

Massillon was forced to hold on again later in the period when Bulldog linebacker Jerry Hontas recovered Foster’s fumble on the Tigers’ 24.

Fronimo’s bad-snap punt following the first Bulldog series of the second half grazed Tiger junior Trevor Young; subbing for James, who was injured earelier. Pete Coleman’s recovery gave the Bulldogs a life on the Tigers 34.
* * *
EIGHT PLAYS after a 12-yard run by Lucius and an 11-yard scamper by fullback Larry Clayton, who broke tackles numerous times during the afternoon, Wilder scored around the left side on a pitchout at 4:21. Lucius was halted short of conversion territory as the scoreboard showed Massillon with a 16-13 lead.

Massillon got the ball but once in the third quarter going nowhere.

With Fronimo punting on the second play of the final stanza, junior Tiger safetyman Kevin Henderson fumbled on the 5. Coleman recovered again – this time on the half-yard line.
Lucius sneaked through the center at 11:28 for the score. Fronimo tried to run the conversion after a bad snap, fumbled after a tackle. Bowersox recovered and ran over but the ball was ruled dead, giving McKinley a 19-16 lead.

Fronimo kept the Tigers in the hole with long punts in the second half and the Bulldog defense kept the Orange and Black there. On one of these frustrating occasions Krenzer punted to Wilder on the McKinley 42. A touchdown runback along the west-side line resulted at 4:21 with the help of a block by Paul Robinson at the 3.
* * *

FRONIMO MISSED on the PAT. McKinley led 26-15 but the Tigers weren’t dead even though many fans started to exit.

The Bengals got back to the McKinley 4 after the kickoff to 8 and 20-yard passes to sophomore halfback Mark McDew and senior tight end Keith Griffin and 7-yard runs by Foster and Maurer. But the Tigers ran out of downs.

In the last minute of play, Maurer hit McDew for an 8-yarder and interference was called on a 24-yarder. It took several minutes to clear fans off the field in order to run the final play after the penalty, which had occurred as time lapsed. A pass into the end zone was incomplete.

Seaman agreed that the Tigers had been placed behind the 8-ball too many times by errors. “Each week we’ve done something wrong,” he said. “This time the specialty team hurt us.” Then he mused, “McKinley got a negative 3 yards in the last quarter and 3 touchdowns. We evened the battle of statistics.”

Chismar said, ‘It was a real great game. Our linebackers Hontas and John Patterson did as much as anybody to shut off their defense. But it was a team effort.”

The much-hearlded battle of fullbacks was a standoff. Clayton, who left the contest in the final quarter with torn ankle ligaments had 83 yards in 19 tries. Foster had 85 in 14.

McKINLEY – 25
Ends – Snell, H. Lewis, Iams.
Tackles – Austin, Adamski, Rushe.
Guards – Robinson, Sweat, Shimek.
Centers – Dowing, Coleman.
Quarterbacks – Lucius, Bowersox, Hontas.
Halfbacks – Wilder, B. Lewis, LeFlore, Fronimo.
Fullbacks – Clayton, Patterson.

MASSILLON – 16
Ends – Griffin, Moyer, Smith, Sterling, Richards, Liggett, Gallion.
Tackles – Houser, Campbell, Neago, Sherrett, Ricker.
Guards – Porrini, Russell, White, Hauenstein, Beiter, Ertle.
Centers – Senften, Kraft, Skelton.
Quarterbacks – Maurer, Henderson, Malinowski, Young.
Halfbacks – James, Simon, McDew, Fenton, Hannon, Staples,
McFadden, Muhlbach.
Fullbacks – Foster, Moore.

McKinley 7 0 6 12 25
Massillon 16 0 0 0 16

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Foster (58-yard run); Maurer (27-yard run).
McKinley – Wilder 3 (9-yard pass run from Lucius, 3-yard run, 58-yard punt return);
Lucius (half-yard run).

Extra points:
Massillon – James 4 (passes from Maurer).
McKinley – Fronimo 1 (kick).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Tony Pianowski.
Umpire – Harold Rolph.
Head Linesman – Joe Romano.
Field Judge – Brenton Kirk.

Attendance: 20,140

THE GRIDSTICK
Massillon Opp.
First downs – rushing 5 5
First downs – passing 1 0
First downs – penalties 2 1
Total first downs 8 6
Yards gained rushing 168 124
Yards lost rushing 32 22
Net yards gained rushing 136 102
Net yards gained passing 35 19
Total yards gained 171 121
Passes attempted 11 9
Passes completed 4 2
Passes intercepted by 3 0
Yardage on passes intercepted 24 0
Times kicked off 3 5
Kickoff average (yards) 52.3 51.6
Kickoff returns (yards) 94 63
Times punted 6 5
Punt average (yards) 25.3 36.8
Punt return (yards) 0 85
Had punts blocked 1 0
Fumbles 8 3
Lost fumbled ball 5 1
Penalties 3 3
Yards penalized 32 35
Touchdowns rushing 2 2
Touchdowns passing 0 1
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous 0 1
Total number of plays 50 53

History

1965: Massillon 18, Canton McKinley 14

November 13, 1965July 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tiger Rally Repels Bulldogs 18-14
Real Champs Fight Back!

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

“That’s the mark of a real champion!”

Those words might have been uttered by a Massillon football fan. They might have been pronounced by a Washington high school coach. They might have been written by this reporter.

But they weren’t. That’s why they mean so much more today to one of the most terrific bunch of boys ever to wear the famous orange and black garb of the Tigers.

Following the Bengals’ 18-14 come-from-behind victory over Canton McKinley Saturday at Fawcett stadium in Canton before a standing-room only crowd of 22,326. Jim Smith, coach at Lake high school in Hartville, uttered the words which lead off this story. He paid the supreme compliment to the Obiemen through veteran assistant Carl (Ducky) Schroeder.

* * * * *
THE TIGERS convinced one outsider that they deserve to wear the Ohio high school crown. And maybe they convinced more around the state. Whether they did or not cannot be known until Tuesday when the final wire service polls come out.

But the Brucemen convinced all the Tiger fans watching at Fawcett that they deserved to wear a second straight crown. Any team which can be down 14 points at half time to a fired-up, superbly coached, hard-hitting team like McKinley and come back to win -–for the third time this season—certainly deserves to be called a champion.

The other 2 times the Orange and Black turned the tide was against equally tough Steubenville and Warren teams. This trio of feats will be etched in the memories of the Tiger faithful forever.

The 1965 season truly saw a superb team effort on the part of the players. Each did his part. Each came to the fore time and again during a 10-game slate, which had more pressure-packed moments than an old-time movie serial.

The win Saturday gave Massillon an undefeated season in 10 games, 28 consecutive victories, 9 in a row over McKinley and a third straight title in the All-American high school football league. The Bengals have not lost a league contest since the circuit’s inception in 1963.

For Coach Earle Bruce it was a 43rd straight unbeaten game, counting the August all-star game. He now has a 3-1 record at Fawcett, having split 2 games there with Canton Timken while at Salem.
* * * * *
FOR THE thousands of fans who watched via television Saturday, it must have been like seeing a replay of an old movie on the late-late show for this year’s game came close to being a carbon copy of last year’s. The Tigers beat McKinley 20-14 at Tiger stadium in 1964.

This time, however, the WHS eleven started its comeback earlier, not waiting for the last quarter to roll around. Quarterback Dave Sheegog, playing in his final high school game, got his mates started with a 24-yard run-back of the second half kickoff to his 34-yard line.

The Tigers moved in for a score in 11 plays, finally getting their deadly, ground-gobbling, time-consuming offense into high gear. “Sweet Walter” Lemon, another senior, picked up 16 yards in 5 plays on the drive with Sheegog and junior Tommy James also in on the effort.

The touchdown came after a first down procedure penalty had set Massillon back to the McKinley 39. Sheegog handed to James on the trip up the middle and “the Scooter” was “Gone With the Wind.” He cut back to his left and scurried for payoff territory, arriving with 6:05 left in the third period. A fumble nullified the conversion attempt.

With almost 6 precious minutes chopped off the clock in the scoring soiree, McKinley attempted to get a drive going following the kickoff. But 3 plays later it was “TJ for the TD” again.

Bulldog quarterback Larry Haines attempted a pass with second down on his 33. James intercepted on the 40, went down the left sideline and scored with 5:14 remaining in the period. Another fumble aborted the conversion try.

The Bengals forced a punt on the next series as linebacker Paul Marks threw Haines for a 10-yard loss on third down. Sheegog ran back 31 yards with the boot to the McKinley 24. But a penalty and 2 incomplete passes halted the drive on the 24.

It looked as if McKinley were about to come charging back. Their outstanding fullback Larry Clayton went booming off right tackle for 28 yards to the Massillon 48 with Paige making a desperation tackle to save a score. Four more plays put the pigskin on the 35.

* * * * *
THEN SHEEGOG intercepted another pass on what McKinley Coach Ron Chismar called the key play of the game. Massillon then drove 76 yards in 13 plays for the winning score. Most important about this drive was that it clipped 8 minutes off the clock allowing too little time for McKinley to rebound. This was about the umpteenth time that the Tiger trademark of 1965, possession ball, had paid off. It couldn’t have come at any better time.

Lemon, Sheegog, Foster and James all had a hand in the assualt. Lemon had an 8-yard run, Sheegog a pair of 8’s and Foster an 11.

It was Foster who came up with what Bruce thought was the key play and so did all of the Tiger fans. Massillon had fourth down on the 17. Sheegog was about to be trapped on a pass-run when (name unreadable) out a low clothes line. Foster made a swan dive on the 9 and came up with the ball. Umpire Tony Pianowski immediately signaled a legal catch.

Foster blasted through the middle to the 3 and over, off left tackle, in successive plays with 2 minutes remaining. Sheegog tried to hit Paige for the conversion but Rick couldn’t hold it.

But the heart-throbs weren’t to stop. McKinley, showing the great stuff it is made of, continued to fight, moving the kickoff to the 29 after a 23-yard runback by Mathews to the 25.

With third down on the 27, Haines hit end Ed Hinton on the 39. Then Haines faded to pass, slipped and went down on the 29 with Mike (Big Boy) Sherrett on top of him.

* * * * *

THE NEXT PLAY saw Haines fade again. This time Marks picked off the fourth McKinley pass of the day, more than in any other game for the Tigers. Massillon took over on the Bulldog 46 and ran out the clock.

Unlike in the second half, McKinley was in command in the first period. Hopped up like a horse on loco weed, the Pups rammed away for 2 quick TD’s before the startled Tigers knew what had hit them and it looked as if an upset were in the making.

Half Fred Mathews was the star here. He ran the opening kickoff back 44 yards to the Massillon 48. Although there is no intent to play down a fine performance by Mathews, it has to be stated that a couple of Tiger defenders slipped in the mud just about the time they were going to haul Mathews down.

He picked up 40 more yards on the drive, the payoff coming on a 32-yard pass-run combination with Haines on the propelling end. The down was third and the time remaining 9:40. Greek-born George Fronimo booted the extra point soccer style in stocking feet.

The Tigers got a 20-yard runback to the 30 by Sheegog. But then disaster struck Sheegog, passing into the teeth of a strong wind, saw his aerial hold up short. Mathews hauled down the errant toss on the McKinley 35 after a frantic effort by Paige to bat it away and
hot-footed it to the Massillon 43 for 22 yards on another fabulous return. Eight plays later the Bulldogs had their second score and it looked like curtains for the Bengals.

* * * * *
WITH CLAYTON carrying the ball 5 times and picking up 25 yards, the Bulldogs got their next TD with 4:15 left in the welcome frame as Haines sneaked in from the one. Fronimo again connected on a conversion kick.

Mathews had a key third down pass reception for 6 yards on the Tiger 21. Clayton brought the ball to scoring distances by bursting through the center on successive plays to shake off tacklers and travel from the 21 to the 3.

Sheegog ran back the kickoff to the Massillon 34, a distance of 24 yards. But on the first play, Bill Knucklos recovered a Bengal fumble on the Massillon 37.

The Brucemen then stopped the Bulldogs’ drive on the Massillon 32 and the Pups got into Massillon territory only once the rest of the game.

The remaining seconds of the first period and all of the second were a standoff. McKinley had the ball for only 9 plays in the second canto. Massillon’s deepest penetration was to the 21 just before the half ended.

The Obiemen had 2 drives going, one for 6:30 and the other for 4:15. Junior “monster” back Ron Muhlbach intercepted a pass to start one thrust. The Tigers failed to make it once on a fourth down play and got bogged down by 3 procedure penalties the other time.

Chismar said after the game that he thought Massillon had a “great football team.” He said the difference between the 2 halves of play was Bruce’s throwing ‘junk” at the Bulldogs in the first half and playing his normal game in the second.

* * * * *
BRUCE confirmed Chismar’s statement about using a lot of odds and ends in the first half. He felt that his team did a better job of rushing the passer in the second half, which helped cut down on the effectiveness of the Bulldogs’ passing.

When asked what it was he said at half time to fire up the Tigers, Bruce replied, “Go Get them!” He added, “That old Massillon tradition of coming back is hard to beat.”

Chismar commented on his passing in the second half by saying that broken patterns were involved when James intercepted for a TD and Sheegog pilfered to start the drive for the winning score.

“They wouldn’t have scored if it hadn’t been for that,” Chismar said.

Chismar, a fine sportsman, refused to say that the absence of speedster Darryl Rippey hurt. “Elbert Bradley did a fine job of filling in,” he said. “I cannot take anything away from him.”

Tiger defensive backfield Coach John Behling explained the reason for the Bengals’ trouble in covering passes in the first quarter. “The boys couldn’t hear their cover calls,” he said.

The Lineups. . .

MASSILLON – 19
Ends – Paige, B. Williams, McGuire, Gallion, Griffin.
Tackles – Hartley, Neago, Petroff, Sherrett.
Guards – Rose, Whitified, Kraft, Richards, Zorger.
Centers – Marks, F. Williams, Ehmer.
Quarterbacks – Sheegog, Doolittle.
Halfbacks – Lemon, James, Muhlbach, Smith, Healy, McFadden, McLendon.
Fullbacks – Foster, Manson.

McKINLEY – 14
Ends – Ring, Snell, March, Hinton.
Tackles, Scott, Adamski, Rushe.
Guards – Robinson, Hall, Nucklos, Shimek.
Centers – D’Antonio, McEwen.
Quarterback – Haines.
Halfbacks – Mathews, Bradley, Johnson.
Fullbacks – Clayton, Dickerson.

Score by Quarters:
Massillon ………….. 0 0 12 6 – 18
McKinley………….. 14 0 0 0 – 14

Touchdowns:
Massillon – James 2 (39-yard run and 40-yard pass interception return);
Foster (3-yard run).
McKinley – Mathews (23-yard pass-run from Haines);
Haines (one-yard sneak).

Extra points:
McKinley – Fronimo 2 (placekicks).

OFFICIALS:
Referee – George Ellis (Akron).
Umpire – Tony Pianowski (Cleveland).
Head Linesman – Branton Kirk (New Philadelphia).
Field Judge – Tom Ascani (Canton).

Attendance: 22,326

Statistics . . .

Statistics
Mass. McKin.
First downs—rushing 10 7
First downs—passing 3 3
First downs—penalties 0 0
Total first downs 13 10
Yards gained rushing 165 153
Yards lost rushing 2 29
Net yards gained rushing 183 124
Net yards gained passing 43 60
Total yards gained 226 184
Passes attempted 12 11
Passes completed 4 4
Passes intercepted by 4 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 42 27
Times kicked off 4 3
Kickoff average (yards) 45.0 49
Kickoff returns (yards) 65 63
Times punted 1 1
Punt average (yards) 40.0 29
Punt returns (yards) 28 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 1 2
Lost fumbled ball 1 0
Penalties 5 1
Yards penalized 25 15
Touchdowns rushing 2 1
Touchdowns passing 0 1
Touchdowns by interception 1 0
Miscellaneous 0 0
Total number of plays 38 31

History

1964: Massillon 20, Canton McKinley 14

November 14, 1964July 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

TIGER CHAMPS AWAIT CROWNING

State Title Assured By Comeback Victory Over McKinley, 20-14

By STEVE HAPANOWICZ

There’s no truth to the rumor the ABC Television Network has offered the 1964 Massillon Tigers mass employment as scriptwriters.

The network well might hire the Tigers because the Ohio State high school football champions came up with as great a finish to a perfect season as any scriptwriter could dream up in his wildest imagination.

Trailing 14-0 going into the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against Canton McKinley, a game that had the state championship at stake, an undefeated season hanging in the balance, 22,685 emotionally charged fans watching in Tiger stadium and un-numbered thousands viewing on television, the Tigers staged one of the greatest come-from-behind victories any Massillon team has put together to win 20-14.

The Tigers, who led the Associated Press poll voting as the No. 1 team in the state most of the season, should be officially crowned state champs when the final poll comes out Tuesday.

Outplayed by the hard hitting McKinley squad, stopped at the 1-yard line by the McKinley defense in the second quarter, stopped again at the 14 and at the 3-yard line in the 3rd quarter, Massillon for better than 2½ quarters of the game was a toothless Tiger held at bay by a pack of angry Bulldogs.

BUT THEN the unwritten script began to unfold, putting junior quarterback Dave Sheegog in the starring role. Sheegog, 5’ 10”, 170-pounds, came into the contest on offense when regular quarterback Steve Kanner went out with cramps in his leg. The Tigers started to move with Sheegog at the controls and by the time the gun went off signaling one of the greatest mob scenes ever seen in the stadium, the Tigers were on top, with a brand new set of teeth that look like they will last another year.

There were other hero’s in the Tiger comeback that will rate as one of the greatest in Massillon football. Gene Biddle replaced the injured John Muhlbach at center in the second half when Muhlbach sustained a severely bruised hip; Jim Lawrence, who was the most consistent runner for the Tigers beside Sheegog, and Walt Lemon who took some of the pressure off Sheegog in the late stages of the drive with his running.

Determination and persistence paid off for the Tigers who kept the pressure on McKinley despite the 14-point deficit and wore down the Bulldogs. McKinley played almost the entire game without Ed Jones, the roving cornerback, in the “monster” defense and Larry Haines who broke a finger in the second quarter, but managed to come back and almost bring the Bulldogs into the lead with a drive in the wining second of the ball game. In the final analysis, Massillon’s depth told the story. The Tigers had Sheegog, Biddle and Lemon.

The Bulldogs broke on top with 5:32 left in the first quarter. Massillon took the opening kickoff and on the third play from scrimmage lost the ball on a fumble by Ed Herring on the McKinley 49. With Kalogeras banging into the line for consistent yardage and Fred Mathews picking up a 12-yard gain, the bulldogs took 11plays to get to the 9 from where Haines hit Emanuel Bradley all alone in the end zone for the first score. Guard Henry Vafides kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

Sheegog fumbled the ensuing kickoff with the Bulldog’s guard Tom Bradbury recovering on the Massillon 19. Kalogeras picked up 15 yards on 4 carries. With a third and 9, Haines hit end Nick Roman with a pass but Roman was stopped inches short of the goal. With fourth and inches, Kalogeras plowed over for the score. Vafides kicked what was to be the Bulldog’s final point.

************

THE TIGERS MOUNTED one offensive more in the second quarter moving from their own 46 to the McKinley 1. A penalty against McKinley for grabbing a facemask gave the Tigers the ball at the Bulldog 10 with first down. Lawrence picked up a yard up the middle, Kanner sneaked out for 3 and Hewitt went 5 to the one. With fourth and 1 Lawrence went high into the middle of the line but McKinley replused him short of the goal.

The third quarter looked no better for the Tigers despite the recovery of 2 McKinley fumbles. On the second play from scrimmage following the kickoff for the second half, Willie Hall fumbled and end Wes Goodnough recovered at the Bulldog 23. Lawrence gained 6 yards in 2 carries and Herring 3. With the ball at the 14 the Bulldogs held Lawrence on a fourth and 1 to no gain.

McKinley moved the ball to the 21 when Will Hall fumbled and Massillon’s Tom Whitifield recovered on the 19. Lawrence picked up 6 to the 13 and another 5 to the 9. After a 2-yard loss, Bobby Hewitt carried to the 4. Lawrence gained a yard and on fourth and 3 Herring was stopped at the 2 by Mathews the last man with a chance to get him.

After moving to the 11, the Bulldogs punted, Romans’ kick coming to rest at McKinley 40. There were 3 minutes and 54 seconds left in the third quarter when the Tigers started their greatest comeback in many a year.

Hewitt picked up 2 and Kanner 3. Kanner left the game and Sheegog came in. Giving a sign of things to come, Sheegog picked up 10 yards on a roll out. Hewitt picked up 4 on a second down and with third and 6 Sheegog hit end Ken Gillmore with an 8-yard pass putting the ball on the 13 with a first down coming up. Lemon squirted off for 6 yards as the quarter ended. With second and 4, Herring went to the 4 and then to the one from where Lawrence scored the first touchdown at 10:11. The extra point run by Lawrence failed and the score stood at 14-6.

McKinley couldn’t move the ball and punted to the Tiger 39 where the Tigers started a 9 play 61-yard drive. Sheegog picked up 6 yards and then hit Herring with a pass up the middle to the Bulldog 35. Lawrence gained 4 and Lemon 9 before Sheegog hit Lawrence with a pass at the 10. Lemon picked up 7 to the 3 and Lawrence 3 more.

Sheegog gained a yard to the 2 and with fourth and 1 Hewitt just made it over the goal line for the score. Sheegog tied the score at 14-all by scoring the extra points over the left side with 3:32 left in the game.

************

McKINLEY TOOK Paul Marks’ kick to the 12 and gained 6 yards in 3 carries. Roman punted to the Massillon 45 where Sheegog fielded the ball and returned it 33 yards to the Tiger 17.

Massillon missed connections on a pass and Sheegog gained 3 yards to the 14. With third and 7 Sheegog faked to Lawrence going into the line, kept the ball and went over right tackle. He broke into the clear only to be met by McKinley’s Ray Kinnard at the 3 and Mark Mathieu at the 1, but he just strained forward for the touchdown that put the Tigers ahead 20-14 with 54 seconds remaining.

But the ball game wasn’t over. With 48 second left on their own 24 the Bulldogs moved to the 42 on an 18-yard gain picked up by Haines. A halfback pass from Mathews to Hall picked up 8 yards and another pass from Haines to Mathews, the Bulldogs most dangerous runner, put the ball on the Tiger 24. On first down, Haines tried to hit Mathews with a pass inside the 5-yard line but Dave Whitfield deflected it and Mathews never had a chance for it with 11 seconds left. Mathews got another pass to move it to the 17. Thinking time had run out Massillon fans swarmed on the field, but with 1 second left to play, officials and 15 Massillon policemen cleared the field and McKinley tried one more play, Haines throwing the ball to center Jim Roman after being rushed by the Massillon defense.

Bedlam reigned for a long time on the field and in the Tiger locker room.

Coach Earle Bruce being congratulated in a packed office said, “I still can’t believe it.” Asked if he made any adjustments in the second half, Bruce replied, “No. Sheegog came through with flying colors. He’s a calm, cool and collected quarterback. We went with the quarterback keep off the inside belly series. Our game plan was to run the ball. We fumbled in the first half and didn’t in the second. Physically we came on in the second half.”

Asked if he thought the Tiger could come back while trailing 14-0, Bruce said. “You know, once you’ve come back, you always think about coming back,” Bruce said referring to the Niles game. “They just made mistakes in the second half. We made ours in the first half.”

************

FOR DON NEHLEN, who brought the Bulldogs up to contention for the state title after taking over a team that was 6-4 last year, it was a bitter defeat.

“Massillon didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves. Our mistakes beat us,” he said after the game.
“Sheegog was great for them, but Kalogeras was by far the best football player on the field. We just didn’t have quite the depth.”

Asked if his team tired late in the game, Nehlen said, “No, I don’t think so. You’d look that way too if you had your back to the wall like that. Let’s just say our daubers were down a bit.”

Nehlen was unhappy with the officiating.

“We recovered 3 of their fumbles, but we didn’t get the ball. None of the officials even looked at it,” he said.

Statistically, Massillon had the slight edge getting 215 yards to 214 for the Bulldogs and 10 first downs to McKinley’s 7. The Tigers got 158 yards rushing while McKinley had 156. In passing it was 58 for McKinley to 57 for Massillon. Massillon held the ball for 57 plays while McKinley had it for 51.

Statistics
Mass. McKin.
First downs—rushing 10 7
First downs—passing 4 2
First downs—penalties 1 0
Total first downs 15 9
Yards gained rushing 173 170
Yards lost rushing 15 14
Net yards gained rushing 158 156
Net yards gained passing 57 58
Total yards gained 215 214
Passes attempted 10 7
Passes completed 5 5
Passes intercepted by 1 0
Yardage on passes intercepted 22 0
Times kicked off 4 3
Kickoff average (yards) 46.5 53.3
Kickoff returns (yards) 62 27
Times punted 1 5
Punt average (yards) 34.0 30.6
Punt returns (yards) 52 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 4 3
Lost fumbled ball 2 2
Penalties 0 5
Yards penalized 0 40
Touchdowns rushing 3 1
Touchdowns passing 0 1
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous 0 0
Total number of plays 57 51

McKINLEY – 14
Ends – N. Roman, E. Bradley, Ring, Chaney.
Tackles – Scott, Miller, Carpenelli, R. Kinnard, Dodd,
Frazier, Shaheen.
Guards – Spencer, Bradbury, Vafides, Ra. Spencer.
Center – J. Roman.
Backs – Haines, Mathieu, Mathews, Hall, Rippey. E. Bradley,
Kalogeras, Dunnerstick.

MASSILLON – 20
Ends – Gilmore, Franklin, Paige, Goodnough, Garcia,
D. Whitfield.
Tackles – Binge, Morgan, Rambaud.
Guards – T. Whitifield, Laursel, Zorger.
Centers – Muhlbach, Biddle.
Backs – Kanner, Sheegog, Herring, Hewitt, Lawrence, Frieg,
Pribich, Manson, Lemmon, Conti, Marks, Schenkenberger.

Massillon…………. 0 0 0 20 – 20
McKinley………… 14 0 0 14 — 14

Touchdowns – McKinley: Bradley (9-yard pass from Haines); Kalogeras (1-yard run).
Massillon: Lawrence (1-yard); Hewitt (1-yard run); Sheegog (14-yard run).

Extra points – Vafides 2 (kicks); Sheegog 2 (run).

Officials:
Referee – Tony Pianowski (Cleveland).
Umpire – Harold Rolf (Ironton).
Head Linesman – Joe Romano (Mansfield).
Field Judge – Russ Kemper (Cincinnati).

History

1963: Massillon 22, Canton McKinley 6

November 9, 1963July 15, 2017
by Eric Smith

City Still Raving About Tigers Today
A Sparkling Defense Stops McKinley 22-6

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

In a song of a few years back the whole town was talking about the Jones boys.

But today Massillon is still raving about something even better – its terrific Tigers and their scintillating defense. The Bengal fans are also waxing enthusiastic about a master piece of strategy by their Coach Leo Strang and questioning with unbelief the words of McKinley Coach Tony Ware following Saturday’s game at Fawcett stadium.

Put all these factors together and you have the story of Massillon’s convincing 22-6 conquest of the Bulldogs before an overflow crowd of 21,965. The victory will probably open the door of the throne room for the Tigers, giving them their 20th state championship.

The Bengals gave every last bit of effort to show their fans, the people of Canton and the state of Ohio that their first victory over McKinley 24-20 at Tiger stadium last month was no fluke.
* * *
THE TIGER defense stunting and blitzing held McKinley to 26 net yards on the ground and 35 in the air for a total of 61 and tossed the Bulldogs for two safeties in the second half. Time and again Bengal defenders stopped McKinley ball-carriers before they got started and intercepted three passes, one for a touchdown. The vaunted Willie Hall was held to 47 yards, breaking loose only twice.

That’s why Massillon fans today still found it hard to understand how McKinley Coach Tony Ware could say that their Tigers “didn’t bother us defensively. Our offensive mistakes beat us.” He added, “We played our worst game of the season.”

But Strang knew what beat McKinley. In the jubilant dressing room after the game he said, “Did we defense them or did we defense them?” He added, “Oh that was sweet! I never wanted anything more in my life. We had some bad breaks in there, too.”

Massillon did well offensively, too, picking up 202 yards on the ground and 44 via the aerial route for a total of 246.

The cunning piece of strategy by Strang was putting seniors Terry Getz and Bill Blunt back into the spots at which they had started the season. Knowing that Ware would set his defense for Blunt’s running from the tailback slot, Strang inserted “The Rabbit” as wingback and the curly-haired Getz at tailback, thus effectively foiling Ware’s efforts.
* * *
WITH BLUNT decoying defenders, Getz the more powerful of the two, ended his high school career in tremendous fashion behind some outstanding line blocking. Terry ran hard and picked his holes well to tally two touchdowns and collect 107 yards.

His unselfish comment was, “Give the credit to the line. They blocked beautifully.”

The Tigers wasted little time cranking into high gear offensively. After forcing McKinley to punt, minutes after the opening kickoff, the WHS eleven took over on its 22-yard line. Quarterback Ron Swartz broke through the middle on a play which netted 29 yards to McKinley’s 49 even though Swartz stumbled, fumbled the ball and Tom Roderick eventually recovered it during the action.

Lawrence ran a play. Then Getz carried three straight times for a total of 36 yards, putting the ball on the eight. Swartz fumbled on the four on the next play. McKinley’s Fred Mathews recovered.

Nobody got anywhere for the remainder of the first period.
* * *
McKINLEY GOT its only threat going as the result of an intercepted pass by Pete Kalogeras on the Massillon 49. He ran back to the 34. But the Bulldogs got no further than the 20. Henry Vafides tried a field goal but sent the ball way off to the right.

The Tigers had two bad breaks during their next time with the ball. A delay penalty set them back from third and six on their 49 to third and 11. On the next play, Will Perry bobbled a pass while in the clear for a score.

As the second quarter was nearing its close, the Tigers got their first score. Perry, playing his only game at defensive tackle, charged in and hit quarterback Arnie Fontes as he was about to pass. The pass went weakly off to the side.

Cornerback Grady Eckard tipped the pass into the air on the 30. With amazing reaction he reached back, grabbed the ball and raced in for the score. There were two minutes, 30 seconds left.
* * *
SWARTZ TRIED right end on a keeper for the conversion but fumbled and was hit short of the goal line.

With a little more than a minute remaining in the quarter, Floyd Pierce intercepted a pass on his 30 and ran back to the 43. The Tigers then moved 55 yards to the two-yard line thanks to a roughing the passer penalty and a fine catch of a 19-yard pass from Swartz by Blunt.

With 10 seconds left, Blunt raced off right tackle from the two on third down. Massillon fans thought he was in the end zone but the officials didn’t and the half ended.

The Orange and Black got to the McKinley 34 after taking the second half kickoff but Steve Kanner was forced to punt. The ball rolled towards the end zone and Frank Scassa downed it on the one to set up the Tigers’ first safety.
Fontes faded from the five to pass on third down and was lassoed in the end zone by Eckard with six minutes, 11 seconds left in the third canto. The score was 8-0.
* * *
THE BENGALS used 4y minutes on their next scoring drive, moving from the McKinley 33 after a 22-yard runback of the kickoff following the safety. Getz, Lawrence and Swartz took turns running the ball on eight plays with three first downs.

Getz ran the last two plays off right tackle, picking up nine yards on fourth down, then going in from the three with 1y minutes showing on the clock. Swartz missed the conversion run off tackle.

Seconds into the fourth quarter linebacker John Muhlbach intercepted a McKinley aerial on the Bulldogs’ 35 and ran the ball to the 15. But a clipping penalty nullified the runback and three plays later Lawrence fumbled on the 21 with Mathews again Johnny on the spot for the recovery for the Pups.

McKinley got two series and Kalogeras went back to punt on fourth down from the 39. A tremendous charge by the Tigers caused a fumble. Kalogeras tried to punt the ball while it was rolling loose, but ended up with a penalty for illegally kicking a free ball. Massillon was awarded the ball at the spot of the infraction and was off for its final six-pointer.

Eight plays, three first downs and six minutes, 47 seconds later Getz went off right tackle again on second down from the two after running six of the plays on the drive. With one minute, 43 seconds showing on the clock, Bobby Hewitt missed running the conversion.
* * *
TOM RIVERA got to kickoff from the Bulldog’s 45-yard line, thanks to a piling penalty between the extra point try and the kickoff. His boot went into the end zone for a touchback.

On the next play Bobby Johnson tried a “Statue of Liberty” play from the 20, was forced to retreat all the way to the goal line and was thrown into the end zone by Mike Jones. This was probably one of the few 20 yard safeties on record. Massillon led 22-0 with one minute, 32 seconds left in the game.

Hoping to score another touchdown, Blunt passing in a game for the first time, suffered an interception by Martin Smith on the McKinley 20 after the kickoff. He ran back to the Massillon 19.

Three plays later on first down from the nine, Fontes passed to End Dwayne Lipkins for McKinley’s only score with 15 seconds left. Fontes misfired on an attempted conversion pass.

Massillon had one more chance following the kickoff. Swartz just missed hitting Blunt deep in McKinley territory for a score.

The Tigers ended the season with a 9-1 record. McKinley finished 6-4. Massillon has now won 36 games in the series, McKinley 27. Five have ended in ties.

This was the second straight time that Massillon had beaten McKinley twice in one year.

The year 1909 was the only other time this happened.

One group of men who are usually overlooked and seldom praised for their efforts we would like to give a pat on the back for a job well done Saturday. These are the traffic officers who kept the cars on the move before and after the game.

We recall missing the kickoff at Fawcett two years ago because of a traffic jam, though we thought we had given ourselves more than sufficient time to get to the game. We left
one-half hour later this year and drove right into the stadium without any delay. Maybe there were tie-ups in some places but we didn’t encounter any.

MASSILLON – 22
Ends – Perry, Pierce, McAllister, Hose, Jones and Goodnough.
Tackles – Miller, Tarle, Morgan, Lash and Binge.
Guards – Larsuel, Castile, Rivera, Roderick, Swisher, Muhlback and T. Whitfield.
Center – Scassa.
Quarterbacks – Swartz, Gatsios and Kanner.
Halfbacks – Getz, Blunt, Rink, Schenkenberger, Eckard and Marks.
Fullbacks – Lawrence and Hewitt.

McKINLEY – 6
Ends – Lipkins, Roman , Card and Jones.
Tackles – Miller and Shumick.
Guards – Turner, Barney, Hall and Vafides.
Center – Roman.
Quarterback – Fontes.
Halfbacks – Johnson, McElroy, A. and M. Smith, Carter and Mathews.
Fullbacks – Hall and Kalogeras.

Massillon 0 6 8 8 22
McKinley 0 0 0 6 6

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Getz (three and two-yard runs); Eckard (30-yard pass interceptions).
McKinley – Lipkins (nine-yard pass from Fontes).

Safeties:
Massillon – (Fontes tackled by Eckard and Johnson tackled by Jones).

Officials
Referee – Brenton Kirk (New Philadelphia).
Umpire – Harold Rolph (Ironton).
Head Linesman – C.W. Rupp (Cuyahoga Falls).
Field Judge – Harvey Hodgson, Jr. (Massillon)

GAME STATISTICS
Massillon Opp.
First downs, rushing 10 3
First downs, passing 3 3
First downs, penalties 1 2
Total first downs 14 8
Yards gained rushing 211 79
Yards lost rushing 9 53
Net yards gained rushing 202 26
Yards gained passing 44 35
Total yards gained 246 61
Passes attempted 14 12
Passes completed 5 6
Passes intercepted by 3 2
Times kicked off 4 4
Kickoff average (yards) 40.5 37.5
Kickoff returns (yards) 43 19
Times punted 2 3
Punt average (yards) 41.0 36.3
Punt returns (yards) 8 8
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 4 3
Lost fumbled ball 2 0
Penalties 2 3
Yards penalized. 20 45

Tag: <span>Canton McKinley</span>

Tiger Rally Repels Bulldogs 18-14 Real Champs Fight Back!

Tiger Rally Repels Bulldogs 18-14
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