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History

1961: Massillon 7, Canton McKinley 6

Tigers Beat McKinley
Bengal Team First In local History To Win 11 Games In A Season

By LUTHER EMERY

The ballots have been cast and in their number is the 1961 Ohio high school football champion.

Which team will it be?

Massillon’s Washington high school Tigers have the best record in games won and lost – 11 straight this season. No other state power can boast that many, and the Tigers have met and conquered many of Ohio’s strongest teams.

They deserve the title.

Last week they led the Associated Press poll by 29 points, and since last week they have added an 11th triumph to their schedule a 7-6 victory over Canton McKinley Saturday, to become the first team in Massillon history to win 11 games in a season.

Program Cover #1

* * *
UNFORTUNATE the determining factor of some pollsters appears to be how close Massillon comes to losing a game, rather than by how many points the Tigers have measured some of the state’s powerhouses.

Since Saturday’s game was a close one, this could again be a factor in this week’s final voting in the AP poll which is recognized by the Ohio High School Football Coaches association as the poll to determine the state champion. The results of the poll will be officially announced Tuesday afternoon.

A gallant Canton McKinley team gave the Tigers all they could handle Saturday afternoon before 20,000 fans at Fawcett stadium Canton, and outplayed the Tigers in many departments except points.

Here the Tigers led and 50 years from now the score will still read Massillon 7, McKinley 6.

Both touchdowns were scored in the first half – Massillon going across the first time it got the ball – McKinley scoring early in the second period.

The Bengals won by a toe and a foot so to speak. The toe was that of Wil Paisley, the guy who came out of the halls to boot 16 of 17 extra point attempts from placement, including the point that beat McKinley, and the foot was the measurement of ground the Tigers refused to yield when the Bulldogs had them hanging on the goal line in the fourth quarter.

Program Cover #2

* * *
THAT GOAL LINE stand brought out the championship caliber of the Massillon team.

McKinley folk had much to be proud of even in defeat.

Their fighting Bulldog eleven, which had been made underdog by as many as 32 points, became aroused and fought the Bengals to a standstill. They had the advantage in total net yards gained from scrimmage and in first downs, and made more serious threats than the Tigers, who actually had but the one scoring opportunity.

The McKinley team by far played its best game of the season. The Bulldogs’ coach Pete Ankney, asked each boy to give a little extra measure Saturday and they all did. And for it Ankney, bitterly disappointed at having an upset victory so near his reach, never-the-less was thankful and praised his boys for it.

“We gave it everything we had,” he said in a little room off a quiet McKinley locker room.

“Our boys for their size did a Herculean job and I thought they deserved to win it. We worked hard for this game. I thought all day we would win. I was real proud of our team right down the line, offensively and defensively. Our assistants and our associates did a good job of scouting Massillon. I knew Massillon had a great team and a great staff. I want to congratulate Strang and his fine team for a great year.”

Jim Alexander (23)

* * *
AND STRANG, whose eyes were dripping too – but from tears of joy – said in a happy Massillon dressing room. “It is a tremendous feeling to know your team has set a school record of winning 11 games in a season. That was a great McKinley team we played out there today. Ankney has done a great job of bringing them along this season. Why today they could have beaten most of the teams in Ohio.”

 

We asked Strang why he didn’t open up more. “We were probably more conservative than we should have been,” he replied.

“But gosh, when you have two passes intercepted and you are leading by a point, you don’t like to take a chance on much ball handling. Remember from the start of the second half when we fumbled the kickoff and were downed on our own five yard line, we never had the ball where we could afford to take chances.”

Strang was particularly proud of the goal line stand of his Tiger team that thwarted McKinley in its bid for a winning fourth quarter touchdown and Ankney was still second-guessing himself hours after the game, if maybe he should have tried a field goal on fourth down instead of trying to ram a foot through the Tiger line for a touchdown.

We asked Pete if he had considered a fourth-down field goal attempt at the time. He said, “I did, and I have a thousand times in the last 20 minutes, but I thought the chances of getting that foot and a touchdown were better than trying for a field goal and three points. If the ball had only been on the five-yard line, there wouldn’t have been any question, we would have tried for a field goal – and maybe we would have won the game.

* * *
BUT ANKNEY, we are certain, made the choice that 40 out of 50 high school coaches would have made and tried for the touchdown.

Massillon fans will be talking the rest of the year about that goal line stand.

McKinley, trailing 7-6, had gained possession of the ball on its own 49-yard line when Ken Austin covered Ken Dean’s fumble, which would have given the Tigers a first down. The Bulldogs marched to a first down on the Massillon three and the Tigers dug in.

Mark Hall banged into the line for no gain. Willie Dent dented the center for a yard and a half to put the ball not much more than a foot from the goal line. Came the last big effort for both teams.

The Tigers were dug in with their toes just on the goal line when Williams came crashing forward again. Ken Ivan and Charles Whitfield met him with a thud that could be heard in the stands. Williams’ forward momentum was stopped and he coughed up the ball which was grabbed quickly by Ivan. The Bulldogs had been stopped in their tracks and the Tigers had saved the day. Three plays later they had moved the ball out nine yards for safe punting distance and as the game turned out that was it.

Both teams had difficulty moving and not much to show in the way of offense for an afternoon’s effort.

Ankney threw what amounted to a nine-man line against the Tigers all afternoon but the boys were able to drop back quickly enough to intercept the only two passes thrown by Massillon, thereby frightening the locals into clamming up. The Bulldogs jitterbugged on the defensive line and after the first quarter were fairly successful in jamming up the middle down which the local team ran most of its stuff.

* * *
AND THE TIGERS were far from sharp. They gave McKinley the ball twice on fumbles and twice on intercepted passes and they had a couple of other fumbles which though they recovered, retarded their offense.

Looking at the statistics, Canton made 11 first downs to Massillon’s 8 and gained 42 yards passing to none for the Tigers. The Bulldogs gained 135 yards rushing, two more than Massillon, but lost 22 to the Tigers seven giving the locals a net rushing advantage of 126 to Canton’s 113. But in net yards gained rushing and passing, Canton again had the advantage, 155 yards to 126 for the Tigers.

The way the game started it looked as though the Tigers might be complete masters of the day.

They kicked off to McKinley, forced the Bulldogs to punt and poorly at that, to the Canton 47.

Charlie Brown got five yards on two tries and Philpott 11 for a first on the Canton 31. Brown hit tackle for two and Philpott 11 more for a first on the 18. Ken Dean banged through for nine yards on two lugs and Jim Alexander on a sneak put the ball on the Bulldog four. Dean slammed through to the one and Alexander went over. Paisley kicked the extra point and that was Massillon’s scoring for the entire day.

The Bulldogs took the kickoff and began a drive that carried over the centerfield stripe where Charlie Brown made a one-handed pass interception to end the threat. The Tigers came back into Canton territory but a pitchout was fumbled and Hall covered for Canton on the Tiger 49, on the first play of the second period.

AUSTIN made nine yards on a keeper and Jim Patterson fumbled and covered for a first down on the 36. McKinley was penalized back to the 41 for being in motion. Austin and Williams moved it up two yards and Lou Harris fired the ball on third down to Willie Dent for a touchdown. Dent getting behind the Tiger secondary to make the catch.

McKinley elected to run with the ball and try for two points to get the edge on the Tigers. Roy Yancey was thrown before he got to the goal line and the score stood at 7-6.

And that’s were it still stood when t he game was over.

The Tigers never threatened again in the entire game. In face, they only got as close as the 49-yard line once and that was on the last series of plays when the game ended with the Bengals in possession of the ball on the McKinley 28.

Canton was in Massillon territory four times after scoring its touchdown. It had a first on the 23 late in the second period but could not get any closer. It got over the midfield stripe on an intercepted pass early in the third period but lost the ball also on an interception by Floyd Pierce on the Massillon 40.

After being stopped on the one foot line the Bulldogs made one more bid and got down to the 21 before giving up the ball on downs.

The victory was Strang’s 38th against two losses and a tie since coming to Massillon four years ago.

From all appearances the game will be the last between Massillon and Canton until 1963, because of McKinleys suspension in Ohio interscholastic competition for one year for having allegedly used undue influence in getting a family to move from Portsmouth to Canton so that two boys could play football at McKinley high. Members of the McKinley Booster club and an assistant coach were named in the accusations. Canton school officials are considering taking the suspension into court.

The Big One

MASSILLON
Ends – Ivan, L. Ehmer, Pierce, Paisley, Garland.
Tackles – Spees, Strobel, Mercer, C. Bradley, Clendening.
Guards – Radel, Clendenin, Whitfield, Poole.
Center – Ben Bradley.
Backs – Alexander, Philpott, Schenkenberger, Dean, Brown, Blunt, Davis, Snively, Baker.

McKINLEY
Ends – Singleterry, Parks, Barboto.
Tackles – Day, Seymour, Peterson, Campbell.
Guards – Johnson, Currence, Ghezzi, Turner, Hall.
Centers – Wood, Pope.
Backs – Harris, Fontes, Dent, Patterson, Yancey, M. Hall, F. Hall, Williams and Auston.

Massillon 7 0 0 0 7
McKinley 0 6 0 0 6

Touchdowns – Alexander (one-yard plunge),
Dent (39-yard pass from Harris).

Point after touchdown – Paisley (placekick).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Tony Pianowski.
Umpire – Jim Lymper.
Head Linesman – Jack McLain.
Field Judge – Bobbie Brown.

STATISTICS
Mass. Can.
First downs – rushing 8 9
First downs – passing 0 2
First downs – penalties 0 0
Total first downs 8 11
Yards gained rushing 138 135
Yards lost rushing 7 22
Net yards gained rushing 129 113
Yards gained passing 0 56
Total yards gained 129 169
Passes attempted 2 12
Passes completed 0 3
Passes intercepted by 2 2
Times kicked off 2 2
Kickoff average (yards) 47.7 45
Kickoff returns (yards) 0 30
Times punted 4 1
Punt average (yards) 34.7 28
Punt return (yards) 0 17
Had punts blocked 0 1
Fumbles 4 2
Lost fumbled ball 2 0
Penalties 0 2
Yards penalized 0 10

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 21, Parma 20

Tigers Edge Stout-Hearted Parma 21-20
Bengals Come From Behind In Third Period To Win Game

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

The 70,000 fans who stayed away Friday night will be kicking themselves for days to come!

But 10,219 who showed up at Municipal stadium in Cleveland will be talking about what they saw for some time!

The Redmen from Parma almost pulled the Ohio high school football upset of the season, as the Massillon Tigers squeaked to a 21-20 second half win. The margin of victory was an extra point off the toe of Junior Will Paisley after the Bengals’ second touchdown.

The Washington high school faithful sat shocked, absolutely stunned as the fired-up Redmen ripped the Massillon defense to shreds and stymied the Tigers’ powerful running game almost to a standstill in the first half to take a 20-8 lead after the initial 24 minutes of play. But the tables were turned in the second half.

The great fighting spirit of the Bengals that never lets them say die won out in the end. The Massillonians came storming back to tally 13 points in the third stanza for the win.

Program Cover

* * *
IF EVER THEY proved their right to the 1961 state title, it was Friday night, as the Tigers picked up their 10th straight victory of the season while Parma ended 5-5. It was one of the toughest nights in the career of Coach Leo Strang.

The Canton McKinley Bulldogs are the only team to stand in the way of the Bengals’ third straight championship. After what happened in Cleveland, they’ll not be taking Pete Ankney’s crew lightly. The Bulldogs are sure to be full of steam next Saturday in view of their recent suspension from football for the 1962 season.

Three names stood out above all others in the story of the contest. Two were Redmen, one a Tiger. The Parma passing combination of Russ Jacques to Al Hoehn, both juniors, and the second half performance of Massillon’s big senior Fullback Ken Dean dwarfed all other aspects of the game.
Dean scored both of the third quarter TD’s which enable the Bengals to come home victorious. Dean also ate up valuable acres of real estate to help keep two Massillon drives going and eat up the clock.

Jacques, a lefty quarterback pulled the rollout maneuver to perfection outwitting the Tiger defense time after time. Hoehn, with his stop-and-go pattern, left Massillon defenders in his dust with regularity. He would start down the field, hesitate for just a minute, then take off to grab Jacques pinpoint passes.

* * *
ONLY NEAR the end of the tilt when the Tigers were able to put the pressure on a desperate Jacques, trying to beat the clock, did his aim falter. The rest of the night he had perfect protection and plenty of time to throw.

Both coaches heaped praise on the other’s team. Said Strang, “Parma was capable of this all year. They were sky high tonight. I can’t understand why they haven’t played like this before. Brugge (Coach Bob of Parma) and his staff deserve a great deal of credit. They anticipated the type of defense we would use and outfoxed us.”

Said, Brugge, “I cautioned my boys that you can’t make mistakes against that great Massillon team. We did and they capitalized on them. I hope you guys win next week and take it all. You deserve it.” He added, “This was a great moral victory for us. I told the team they would have to play way over their heads. They gave me 100 per cent effort plus. I can’t ask for more than that.”

This was Strang’s third victory over a Parma team coached by Brugge. Leo had pulled the trick both in 1956 and 1957, both times by shutouts. The 1957 victory gave Shaw high its first Lake Erie league title in 29 years. It was the first victory for Massillon in three tries at Municipal stadium.

* * *
STRANG EXPLAINED to reporters that the Redmen used four different things his scouts had never seen in the five games they had watched Parma. One was a counter play, which enabled left Halfback Carl Roloff to pick up big gains around the center of the Massillon line while running away from the flow of blockers. Another trick was a different type of blocking than the Tiger scouts had seen Parma use before.

“We changed our whole defense at halftime,” said Strang. “Our setup didn’t work against Parma, because they changed about half of their offense for the game. We moved our ends out to be able to slant in order to put more pressure on the passer.”

* * *
PARMA WON the toss. Massillon has only pulled the trick twice this year – and proceeded to use all but 2:45 seconds of the first period driving to its first score.

Brugge had said that his team’s only chance was to pass. However, he came out running. Halfback Carl Zipfel took Co-Captain Ken Ivan’s kickoff on the Parma five-yard line and returned to the 21. From there the Redmen embarked on a 79-yard drive for a score. The march covered 18 plays with six first downs.

Roloff, right halfback Howie Wichert and Fullback George Sider took turns running around both ends, over both tackles and through center. The gains weren’t just small ones but seven, eight, nine and 10 yards at a clip.

Three times the Tigers had Parma at third down situations but couldn’t hold. The last time it was fourth down on the one, Jacques hit Wichert for the TD on the next play. Another pass to left end Wayne Martin, near the end line, scored the conversion.

Massillon had its only four plays of the quarter after the kickoff, moved only from its 12 to its 18, and Jim Alexander punted.

* * *
PARMA HAD 20 PLAYS from scrimmage during the first quarter. The Tigers had 15 plays in the second quarter but Parma had 10. Inability to get the ball hampered the Bengals throughout the first half.

Massillon got another chance at about the 10-minute spot of the second stanza, getting the ball on its 47 after a 37-yard punt return by Bob Baker. The Bengals took until 6:28 to get the equalizer. The Parma defense didn’t let the Tigers break loose, with the result they had to settle for the short gainers which consumed valuable time.

After eight plays and two first downs, with Brown and Philpott doing most of the carrying through the center and between the long side end and outside tackle, Alexander carried over just inside the right end from the 18 for the tally. His pass to Ivan notched the conversion.

Two plays following the kickoff Ivan almost intercepted a pass near the Parma 43 that might have netted Massillon a score. Had Ivan held on he had what looked like a clear field ahead.

Parma took eight plays to score after this, getting two first downs in the process. Key plays were a 30-yard pass to Hoehn from the Parma 38 to the Massillon 32 after a holding penalty on the Redmen, and a 10-yard aerial from the 20 to the 10. Both were from Jacques to Hoehn.

* * *
SIDOR FINALLY carried over down the center from the one at 3:26. Jacques tried to throw for the extra points but was tackled and the scored remained 14-8.

On Massillon’s next play from scrimmage, Alexander tried to pass to Ivan. Jim’s pass was short. By the time Ken could get turned around, Hoehn had intercepted on the Massillon 45.

There was 2:48 left in the half. Parma promptly scored again at 1:14, this time in seven plays and three first downs.

Jacques passed to Roloff on the first play, to take the ball to the 15. One play later a holding penalty set the Redmen back to the 29. Baker and Bill Blunt broke up a pass down the center at the goal line to Hoehn on the next play to stop a score. In their efforts the Tiger defenders almost tipped the ball into Hoehn’s hands in the end zone.

On the next play Jacques threw down the left side. Hoehn dropped the pass, which had TD written all over it again. Then Jacques threw right and end Joe Angey made an impossible circus catch on the one.

Sidor took the ball over again on the next play, this time through a gaping hole in the right side of the Tigers’ line. Jacques pass for the conversion fell incomplete.

* * *
THE TIGERS managed to get a drive going from their 27, following the kickoff, only to have the clock catch them on the Parma seven with a first down. The last play of the half was a pass from Alexander to Wingback Ron Schenkenberger that covered from the Redmen’s 43 to the seven down the right side.

When the second half started, it was Massillon’s turn to eat up the clock. The Tigers moved 80 yards right after the kickoff, only to be stopped on the three on an incomplete pass. The drive featured good runs around the center by Dean, in for the first time, and Alexander, and Brown’s jaunts inside the long side end. The march lasted until 6:22.

The Bengals didn’t reach gold dust territory until 5:37, after recovering a Parma fumble on the Redmen’s four; Charlie Whitfield, playing middle guard for the first time because Willie Poole was taken ill, pounced on the ball after a vicious tackle had jarred the pigskin loose from Wichert’s hands.

Dean went over, through the middle, on the first play. Paisley booted the conversion to make it 20-15.

Ivan’s kickoff was fumbled by Lee Orne on his 30 after another hard tackle. Ron Davis recovered this one.

Dean scored six plays later, going over through the center from the one at 3:22 to give Massillon its winning margin. Alexander’s pass for the extra points was incomplete.

Fred Philpott, senior fullback, had a key run around left end from the 28 to the sic to help set up the score.

Massillon had 22 plays to Parma’s 11 in the third canto. Both teams had 18 plays in the last quarter. Both had long drives stopped.

* * *
PARMA HAD the first chance.

Taking over on the Tigers’ 47, the Redmen drove to the six in seven plays and three first downs. Most of the efforts were passes from Jacques to Hoehn, although Angey caught one that moved the ball from the 25 to the eight.

The Bengals broke up three successive passes from the six, anyone of which might have been a score, and took over with 7:38 remaining. They tried desperately to get a TD for breathing room but were stopped on the Parma 17 after 13 plays an four first downs.

Dean did most of the carrying, aided by Brown and Alexander again. A good part of the real estate was picked up through the middle this time.

Parma took over at the 1:12 mark. Jacques went to the air for four out of the next five plays, throwing to Hoehn each time. He picked up one first down, but that was all. Jacques had to run out of bounds on one play when he couldn’t pass.

Massillon was able to run out the clock after this. There were only 26 seconds remaining.

STATISTICS
Mass. Parma
First downs – rushing 12 9
First downs – passing 1 4
First downs – penalties 3 1
Total first downs 15 14
Yards gained rushing 252 115
Yards lost rushing 3 0
Net yards gained rushing 249 115
Yards gained passing 35 153
Total yards gained 284 268
Passes attempted 5 21
Passes completed 1 8
Passes intercepted by 0 7
Times kicked off 4 4
Kickoff average (yards) 44.6 45.4
Kickoff returns (yards) 39 71
Times punted 1 1
Punt average (yards) 33.0 32.0
Punt return (yards) 37 2
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 0 3
Lost fumbled ball 0 2
Penalties 3 3
Yards penalized 33 35

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 56, Toledo Libbey 0

Tiger Kittens Help Beat Libbey 56-0
Strang Sweeps Bench As Bengals Roll On To Their 9th Victory

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

The rain drops came down pretty fast at Tiger stadium Friday night. But Washington high Coach Leo Strang was moving players from the bench into the game even more quickly.

After the varsity had run up a 27-0 score on Toledo Libbey midway in the second period, Strang started moving his reserves into action. The second-string seniors and underclassmen added 29 more points for a 56-0 victory.

Every man on the squad played.

It was the Tigers’ ninth straight win of the season, second shut-out in a row and their fourth of the year. It was Libbey’s sixth straight defeat. The Cowboys have won only one of seven contests.

Program Cover

* * *
A TOTAL of 8,267 fans, the smallest gathering of the seven home games, sat in on the defeat of a hopelessly outmanned, but scrappy, Toledo eleven. The fans who were at the final home game had to brave a continuous rain that varied from a downpour to a drizzle and made ball handling extremely dangerous in the home-coming tilt.

In spite of this the two teams threw a total of 26 passes. Massillon completed four of six attempts for 108 yards, two touchdowns and a conversion. Libbey, forced to the air, because it couldn’t move on the ground connected six of 20 times for 51 yards.

The Tigers’ fine defense held Libbey to 44 net yards on the ground for a total of 95 net yards gained. The Bengals used their blitz at times, but not often.

Massillon had 356 net yards on the ground, most of the gain in the first half, and 108 via the airwaves. The total was 464.

Strang said, “I’m real pleased that all the boys got a chance to get into the game. It’s been a real grind for the past five weeks. The second-stringers have had very little chance to play. I’m happy the fans got to see them.”

Youthful Dave Lundberg of Libbey said, “Our younger boys got some good experience down here. This is one of the finest teams our staff has ever seen. Their reaction on defense was terrific.”
“We helped Massillon look good. But they’ve looked good against fine teams and would have looked good against us anyhow.”

* * *
THE TIGERS SCORED just about every time they got their hands on the ball, failing to tally only in the final stanza. Two drives were stopped by fumbles, one by an interception.

Wilbur Paisley tried a 23-yard field goal when another drive bogged down. But the kick was bad and went off to the left. However, the junior booter had six conversions in seven tries to his credit by the end of the night – one was blocked – to give him 14 for 15 in three games.

Counting Paisley, nine different Tigers broke into the scoring column. Co-Captain Charlie Brown did it twice. He got the first two scores of the game.

This made up for Charlie’s fumble on the Libbey 21-yard line during the Tigers’ first try at moving the ball. They had taken the opening kickoff on their 30.

The next opportunity for the Bengals came after a bad 10-yard punt from the Libbey 15 to the 25. Six plays and two first downs later the Tigers had their first tally.

They got some help from a pass interference penalty. Quarterback Jim Alexander tried to hit long side End Larry Ehmer, in the west corner of the south end zone. He was pushed from the rear. The penalty gave the Tigers possession on the one.

* * *
PHILPOTT FUMBLED on the next play, losing two yards. Then Brown went between the outside tackle and long side end from the three with 6:06 left. Paisley’s boot was good.

Minutes later the Tigers took over on their 36 after an incompleted pass and on the first play Brown was off and running on the same play for his second score at 2:26. Paisley got his second conversion.

In the second period Massillon got the ball after a punt on its 20. Brown went between the tackles for seven yards. Then Alexander threw on the diagonal. Co-Captain Ken Ivan, Short side end, cut across, grabbed the ball at midfield and raced for the touchdown at 9:48. Paisley’s kick was blocked.

The next TD came at 3:45, after the Bengals had taken over again on a punt. Alexander cut between his short side guard and end on the first play, lugging the ball from his 46 to the Libbey nine. Ken Dean ran through the center to the one. Alex scored on the next play. Paisley’s kick was good.

* * *
MASSILLON SCORED twice within the last two minutes of the first half. A blocked punt gave the Tigers the ball on the Libbey 17. Quarterback Bob Baker ran two plays through the center, hitting pay dirt on the second from one yard out at 1:44.

This time Paisley faked the kick. Alexander, who was holding stood up and fired to Willie Poole, a guard playing the end spot on the kicking team and Massillon led 35-0.
Fifty-one seconds later sophomore Cornerback Floyd (Duke) Pierce intercepted a Bill Brown aerial on the Massillon 41 and galloped 59 yards for a TD. Paisley connected again.

Both of the Tigers’ second half TD’s came in the third stanza, after the Bengals had forced Libbey to punt.

Early in the canto Massillon got the ball on its own 47. Utilizing six plays with three first downs, the Tigers had their seventh TD at 8:23. Quarterback Keith Jarvis passed down the center to long side End Steve Garland from the 13. Paisley booted the extra point.

On the previous play, Jarvis had broken through the center on a key run from Toledo’s 36 to the 13 to set up his own score.

* * *
THE FINAL tally came at 2:34 on a 39-yard run by sophomore Tailback Terry Getz. Getz midway through the season made the switch from quarterback to tailback. The run was a sweep around the long side end. Paisley’s seventh conversion attempt was good.

The Benglas had moved from their 30 in seven plays and two first downs for the score. A key run was by another sophomore Quarterback Ron Swartz. His run from the Massillon 37 to the Toledo 48 helped set up the tally.

The play chart shows that Libbey was able to get into Massillon territory only once in the first period and twice in the last, the final two times being on a fumble recovery and pass interception. The Cowboys had the ball on the Bengal 25 when the game ended

Although Libbey didn’t show a whole lot, Halfback Jim Goings, a sophomore, ran well when he was able to get loose. So did sophomore Halfback John Williams, playing his first game and Fullback Guy Warner. End John Searcy showed well on defense.

STATISTICS
Mass. Libbey
First downs – rushing 17 1
First downs – passing 3 4
First downs – penalties 0 0
Total first downs 15 5
Yards gained rushing 165 70
Yards lost rushing 9 26
Net yards gained rushing 356 44
Yards gained passing 108 51
Total yards gained 464 25
Passes attempted 6 20
Passes completed 4 6
Passes intercepted by 2 1
Times kicked off 9 1
Kickoff average (yards) 44.1 30.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 70 117
Times punted 0 7
Punt average (yards) 0 28.7
Punt return (yards) 18 0
Had punts blocked 0 1
Fumbles 2 2
Lost fumbled ball 6 0
Penalties 2 0
Yards penalized (unreadable information)

Massillon Statisticians
Junie Studer.
Earl O’Leary.

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 36, Warren Harding 0

Tigers Plow Through Warren 36-0
Bengals Roll Up 476 Net Yards On Ground In Winning 8th Game

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

It was like a wild horse stampede at Tiger stadium Friday night. The Massillon Tigers galloped up and down the turf like a herd of stallions on some western prairie before 16,443 fans, the second largest crowd of the season.

They ran roughshod over the Warren Black Panthers to the tune of 36-0, gaining revenge for last year’s 19-18 upset. When the final whistle sounded, the Tigers had eaten up 479 yards of real estate. They lost only three yards all night, giving them a net rushing total of 476, the highest yet this season.

In gaining their eighth straight victory without a loss, the Bengals got all of their yardage on the ground. Senior Quarterback Jim Alexander was knocked on the head near the end of the second period and missed two-thirds of the third quarter. But their ground game was so successful the Tigers didn’t need any air relief.

Program Cover

* * *
THE BENGALS threw only once during the first half. Bob Baker, another senior signal caller, who filled in well for Alex, tried on late in the second period. It missed connections. Sophomore Ron Swartz also threw a pass near the end of the first half and two near the end of the game. Ron Schenkenberger, senior wingback, tried one at the end of the game. All were incomplete except one of Swartz’s, which was intercepted.

The Bengals got most of their yardage in the second half. The Washington high eleven gobbled up 299 yards in that segment of the game. The Tigers might have gotten more in the first 24 minutes except Warren had the ball for 34 plays, including two long possession drives. Massillon ran 27 plays, scoring twice but did not hold on to the ball as long.

In the second half Warren had 27 plays and Masisllon 26, but the Panthers turned the ball over four times after the intermission to three in the first half and had no long drives as in the first two periods.

Even though the Tigers ground game was terrific, there was one position they couldn’t run from. That was the fullback spot. Coach Leo Strang said, “We could break their keys but couldn’t break our fullback loose. They were just keying too strongly on Philpott (Fred).”

Being unable to get possession in the first half hurt. “We knew we could move the ball from the first play,” Strang said, “We picked up their keys and defensive philosophy. But we couldn’t get the ball.”
Strang said that Warren Coach Ben Wilson used pretty much the same theory on defense in Friday night’s game as he did last year in the Trumbull county city.

* * *
ONE REASON the Tigers couldn’t get the ball the first half is that the Panthers were trapping substitute defensive tackles Charlie Whitfield and Ed Radel. Both were last minute replacements for Larry Strobel and Jim Ehmer. Strobel had a bad ankle, although he played some offense. Ehmer was out with the flu.

Whitfield and Radel both are normally linebackers. Whitfield played some tackle last week. However, Mansfield didn’t trap as much or as well as Warren did.

By making some adjustments at halftime, the Tigers got their defense going again. They switched from an 8-3 to a 5-4-2 shooting a linebacker through to stop the effectiveness of the Panthers’ trap plays. Likewise they discarded the partial blitz and either all charged or no one charged.

Overall Tiger defenders did extremely well again. They held Warren to 189 yards on the ground, threw them for a loss of 11 yards, and permitted only 15-yard via the air route for a total of 193. The Panthers, however, gained the most yardage of any Bengal opponent this season.

Junior Wil Paisley kicked four more conversion, making eight out of eight in two weeks.

* * *
THE BENGALS scored in every quarter. This was five of the eight times which they handled the ball.

The Tigers won the toss for the first time since the Alliance game, the final Friday in September. Alexander ran five of the first six plays, four down the center and one around the right end. This made Warren switch its normal 5-2-4 to an eagle 5-2-4 putting the linebackers between the tackles and ends, instead of on either side of the middle guard, thus loosening up the middle.

The Bengals carried from their 25, for the first score, in 10 plays with five first downs. Alex got two of them. With 7:10 seconds left, Brown carried through the center from the one for the touchdown. He had set up the score with a 12-yard run from the 15-yard line to the three.

Paisley kicked his first conversion.

Warren took the kickoff 45 yards, from its 30 to the Massillon 17, the Panthers’ longest march of the night. There the Tigers held on fourth down. Outstanding in this series as he was all night, was left halfback Wendell Smith. The speedy Panther picked up crucial yardage, aided by some fine blocking and good ball handling by Quarterback Bart Wilson.

Then the Tigers had what looked like another scoring drive coming up but ran afoul of a holding penalty and got no further than their 32.

In the next series, the first of the second stanza, Warren right halfback Frank Calvin went 36 yards for a touchdown between his right tackle and right guard. But a holding penalty nullified the score.

* * *
THAT WAS THE LAST time Warren got near Massillon territory until the final series of the game when the Bengals intercepted a pass on a first down play on their 27. With Wilson playing with a jammed thumb, re-hurt early in the game, the Panthers were able to go to the air only three other times.

Coach Wilson said, “That lost score took all the steam out of the boys. If we had made that touchdown, things might have been different.”

Massillon ran three plays after the Warren drive bogged down. Alexander ran through the center from his 38 to the Panther seven on the first play. Then Brown ran two plays, the second for a score at 4:01 from the one.

Paisley booted conversion No. 2.

The Tigers took over after a poor 30-yard punt in the third canto and went 70 yards for another score. In five plays and two first downs it was 20-0 at 6:42. Bob Baker burst through the center from 58 yards away, almost getting tripped up twice but following through nicely for the score.

Paisley came onto the field. But Strang changed his mind and Brown swept right end for two points.

* * *
THE TIGERS’ forced a punt again on the next series, moving the ball from their own 49, for the score in six plays and three first downs all in succession. Brown picked up two running from the Warren 44 to the 36 and 18 to the eight. Baker ran the other.

Dean swept left end at 1:25 diving on the goal line flag for the six-pointer. Paisley kicked conversion No. 3.

The final score came at 6:57 of the last quarter. Again the Bengals took over after a poor punt by Jim Levero, this one going only 12 yards. Massillon moved from its 43 to the touchdown in 10 plays and three first downs. There were runs of 21, 17 and 16 yards to help the cause, two by Brown and one by Schenkenberger on a reverse.

Brown got his third TD of the night, between the outside tackle and long side end, again from the one. Paisley converted for the fourth time.

The Tigers almost had a sixth touchdown, Schenkenbergers pass to short end Larry Ehmer during Massillon’s last scrimmage was just beyond Ehmer’s outstretched fingertips on the two.

After the game, Warren mentor Wilson described his boys as “shell-shocked”. He said, “We played good but not good enough to beat a really fine Massillon team.”

Strang praised the Warren squad. He said, “They were really fired up. They have a rough team. Their backs ran harder than at anytime we’ve seen them this year.” He also hastened to add, “Our boys were hungry for this one. They were higher for this game than any other this season.”

Toledo Libbey comes in for the Bengals’ final home game of the season next Friday. Now over the big hump in quest of a third straight state championship, the Tigers can breathe easier for awhile.

Victory No. 8

WARREN
Ends – Ferance, Hammond, Williamson, Lawrence, Snyder and Shannon.
Tackles – Chickerneo, Kearny and Franklin.
Guards – Jamison, Peterson, Windie and Cohen.
Centers – Sanfrey and Kosiraho.
Backs – Wilson, Mancinelli, Smith, Calvin, Levero, Shinn, Thomas and Zupancic.

MASSILLON
Ends – Ivan, Ehmer, Garland, Pierce and Dewald.
Tackles – Maglischo, Spees, Paisley, Mercer, C. Bradley, Clendening and Profant.
Guards – Clendenin, Whiftield, Matecheck, Radel, Relford, Poole, Mickley,
Migge and Caldwell.
Centers – B. Bradley, Strobel, Heine and Heckathorn.
Backs – Alexander, Schenkenberger, Brown, Philpott, Baker, Swartz, Jarvis,
Dean, Snively, Davis, Blunt and Kanney.

Score by Quarters
Massillon 7 7 15 7 36

Scoring
Massillon
Touchdowns – Brown (three one-yard runs); Baker (58-yard run);
Dean (eight-yard run).

Conversions – Paisley’s 4 (placekicks); Brown 1 (run).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Bud Shopbell.
Umpire – Bob Harman.
Head Linesman – Ron Dolson.
Field Judge – Any Chiebeck

STATISTICS
Mass. Warr.
First downs – rushing 16 10
First downs – passing 0 1
First downs – penalties 0 0
Total first downs 16 11
Yards gained rushing 479 189
Yards lost rushing 2 11
Net yards gained rushing 476 178
Yards gained passing 0 15
Total yards gained 476 193
Passes attempted 6 4
Passes completed 0 1
Passes intercepted by 0 1
Times kicked off 6 1
Kickoff average (yards) 46.5 52.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 17 93
Times punted 1 4
Punt average (yards) 34 22
Punt return (yards) 0 0
Had punts blocked 0 1
Fumbles 1 0
Lost fumbled ball 0 0
Penalties 4 2
Yards penalized 40 30

Massillon Statisticians
Junie Studer
Earl O’Leary

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 34, Mansfield 6

Bengals Claw Mansfield For 7th Win
Blitzing Defense Limits Tygers To 84 Yards

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

The late Al Jolson had a pet phrase, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” The Massillon faithful in the group of 13,539 fans who sat in on the Tigers’ seventh game of the season Friday night at Tiger stadium found out Jolson had something there.

The contest was complete with the Tigers’ greatest defensive show of the season, some weird fumbles, side-of-the-foot punts, the Bengals behind for the first time this season, the unveiling of a toe the likes of Lou Groza and one of the oddest touchdowns in a long time.

For the fourth week in a row the Bengals stopped a here-to-fore undefeated and ranked team. This time it was Mansfield which felt the claws of the Tiger, 34-6.

It could have been an even higher score but for some breaks which didn’t go Washington high’s way. As Coach Leo Strang said, “We were bound to have a night like this one of these times.”

Program Cover

* * *
ALSO HAD Massillon been able to crack its offense into high gear in the first half, the story would have been different. “Our offense was rusty and listless,” said Strang. “Our timing was off, and we bobbled the ball all over the place.”

“Part of our touble stemmed from their stunting,” the Tiger pilot continued. “They seemed to be jumping into the right spots. It took us time to adjust to this, but when we did, we broke through well.”

In commenting on his defense Strang said, “It certainly helped make our touchdowns.” The Massillon defenders set up four of the five TD’s. “Red Dogging,” or crashing linebackers the Bengals held Mansfield to 84 yards on the ground and nothing in air. The Tygers had a minus five yards rushing in the second half. Massillon intercepted two of Mansfield’s five aerials and 62 yards on the ground caused the Tygers to lose.

While this was going on Massillon rolled to 321 yards rushing and 19 passing for 340 yards on offense. Quarterback Jim Alexander wasn’t as sharp as usual, completing only two of seven passes.

Part of Alex’s trouble was in the Tyger’s rushing him consistently and covering the deep receivers well. Outstanding defenders were the “floater” or “monster,” Jim Wareham, Middle Guard, Ron Keplinger, End Wendell Bell and Safety Bill Mitchell.

* * *
THE TIGERS rushing of passers was a sight to behold. They covered receivers well. No single man was responsible for the fine defensive showing. They all helped out. The Bengal blitz also stopped many runs before they got started.

In all fairness to Quarterback Don Cole it must be mentioned that his favorite target, End Elroy Allen, was hobbled with an injured leg. Allen, had caught nine TD passes before Friday’s game. But with the rush the Tigers had on and their coverage of receivers, it is doubtful that even had Allen been in top condition, that this would have made much difference.

Mansfield got into Massillon territory early four times during the game, twice in the first quarter and twice in the second. They were stopped at the 47 once, the 33 and the 24-yard line.

The other invasion was when speedster Henry Weaver ran the opening kickoff back for the game’s first score. Showing why he was the state 100-yard and 180-yard low hurdles champ last spring. Weaver grabbed Co-Captain Ken Ivan’s second boot (the first went out of bounds) on the Tyger 12 and cut to his left down the sideline, outdistancing Massillon defenders, who underestimated his speed, for the score with only 15 seconds gone in the game. Wareham’s kick for the conversion was no good.

Tom Henson kicked off for Mansfield, making the third such boot in such a short time, something rarely seen. But for a fumble on the return, an even odder situation would have cropped up.

Bob Baker gathered in the ball on his 15 and started up the right side. He had clear sailing for a score. However, he was bumped hard at the Massillon 48 and the ball squirted out of his hands and across the sideline.

The Tigers got their first touchdown six plays later when Alexander passed to Ivan on the down-and-out pattern from the Mansfield six at 10:06 to put the cap on a 52-yard drive.

Fullback Fred Philpott paved the way for the score with a 35-yard jaunt around left end from the 45 to the 10. A last minute shove by Don Cole, who alternated with Mitchell at safety, knocked Philpott out of bounds.

* * *
IT LOOKED as if trouble was brewing when Co-Captain Charlie Brown picked up only five yards on the next three plays. But Alexander and Ivan teamed up for the fourth down TD pass and the score.

Junior Will Paisley booted the first of four extra points for the Tigers to put Massillon in the lead 7-6. The kick was from the 15 due to a delay penalty.

Mansfield appeared to be off to the races again. Bill Mitchell, another speedster grabbed Ivan’s kickoff on the 14 and lugged the ball to his 22.

Weaver took off around right end with a pitchout and raced 26 yards on the next play for a first down. This was his next to last big run of the night. By the second half the Massillon defense had worn him to a frazzle.

Allen punted when Mansfield was halted three plays later, and Massillon took over on its 18. A 49-yard drive in nine plays and two first downs took the Bengals to the Tyger 33. A fourth down play failed to click and Mansfield took over.

The Tygers controlled the ball for two series during which Weaver had a fine 12-yard run off tackle, and Mansfield employed the “shotgun” or spread offense to no avail. The Tygers tried this maneuver several other times but could generate nothing off of it.

* * *
RON SCHENKENBERGER, usually very sticky fingered, suffered the first of three fumbles, two of which proved costly, when Allen punted on fourth down. Schenk bobbled on his 21 just after the second period had started, but recovered and ran to the 27.

When this series fizzled on the 42, Alex dropped back to punt, but hit the ball with the side of his foot. The pigskin went out of bounds on the Mansfield 36.

The Tygers had the ball for three more series before they failed to make a first down. Massillon ultimately took over on its 32.

Six plays and two first downs later it was TD No. 2 for the Bengals, even though they were set back 15 yards for an illegal shift along the way. They also picked up 15 via the personal foul route.

The score came at 4:20 when Schenkenberger scored on a reverse from a backs-over formation, going from short to long side. The run was 52 yards. Paisley’s boot was good, the ball sailing clear over the north end zone bleachers.

Mansfield had the ball for practically the rest of the quarter with two exceptions. The Tigers got the ball on the visitors’ 49 after a punt, but Brown fumbled on the next play. Schenk fumbled a punt on his 26. John Brooks recovered on the 29.

* * *
COLE TRIED to pass on the next play. But the aerial was picked off and turned to the Massillon 41. An illegal shift penalty, caused by poor timing kayoed another drive as the first half ended.

The Tigers were unable to score on a 44-yard drive from their 31 to the Mansfield 25 following the second half kickoff. The drive was stopped after 10 plays and two first downs.

Massillon had two opportunities in the series that got sidetracked. Schenkenberger was all alone on a reverse on second down from the 28 when the ball popped out of his hands, the Bengals losing 10 yards in the process.

Two plays earlier Philpott went through the center on third down from the 47. He was just about in the clear when a Tyger on the ground reached a hand back over his head and just managed to trip the Bengals’ leading scorer up.

Mansfield had two series and Allen went back to punt with the ball snapped from his 26. Charlie Whitfield and Willie Poole broke through to bring him down on the 17, not giving Allen time to punt.

* * *
MASSILLON HAD its third score six plays and a first down later when Brown shot between the outside tackle and long side end from the three with 1:38 seconds remaining in the third canto. Charlie failed to score the conversion with a run between the tackles.

Mansfield had three more plays before the period ended, the opportunities coming after the kickoff. But Weaver was on the wrong end of a bad handoff, the ball was bobbled, and Joe Snively recovered on the Tyger 43.

Massillon started another drive. But an illegal shit penalty cost them again. After driving to the 13 in 11 plays and two first downs, the Bengals failed to pause one second and suffered the consequences. Set back to the 28 on third down and needing 28 yards to score, Alex tried to hit Ivan in the end zone. But the short side end’s diving try for the catch of the overthrown pass was in vain. A fourth down run was short.

The march, which started near the end of the third stanza, carried to midway in the fourth. The Tigers’ next tally was set up by a pass interception.

Snively hauled in a second down aerial on the Tyger 45. Before he was tackled he got down to the 25. He almost got loose for a score.

On the first play sophomore Wingback Bill Blunt, playing his first game, scored on a reverse. The time was 3:21. Paisley’s boot made the score 27-6.

* * *
BUT THE WIERDEST touchdown possibly ever scored at the stadium was still to come. Allen dropped back to punt from his two near the end of the contest. The snap was bad. Poole came charging in at Allen. The senior end’s punt went straight up into the air. As it came down, Jim Ehmer tipped it toward his cousin Larry and Ivan. After a struggle for possession between the two, Ivan finally ran the ball over from the three at 1:36.

Paisley’s kick raised the tally to 34 and sent the Dad’s night crowd home happy as the Tigers got their seventh straight win of the season.

Mansfield Coach Bill Doolittle commented on the Tigers thusly after the game. “They’ve got a tremendous team. It’s very well balanced. They’ve got good running and passing. This makes it difficult to defense them. They’ve got too many ways to hurt you. We just couldn’t contain them enough.”

Lucky 7th Win

Mansfield
Ends – Pratts, Allen, Beckwith, Bell and Baker.
Tackles – Russell and Shasky.
Guards – Atwater, bucher, Dunson, Henson, Potter and Winbigler.
Center – Keplinger.
Backs – Brooks, Cole, Mitchell, Phillips, Schroeder and Weaver.

Massillon
Ends – Ivan, L. Ehmer, Garland and Pierce.
Tackles – Maglischo, Spees, J. Ehmer and Mercer.
Guards – Clendenin, Whitfield, Poole, Radel, Paisley and Migg.e
Centers – Strobel and Bradley.
Backs – Alexander, Schenkenberger, Brown, Philpott, Blunt, Toles, Swartz, Dean, Snively, Baker and Getz.

Score by Quarters
Mansfield 6 0 0 0 6
Massillon 7 7 6 14 34

Mansfield
Touchdowns – Weaver (88-yard run).

Massillon
Touchdowns – Ivan (six-yard pass from Alexander);
Schenkenberger (52-yard run);
Brown (three-yard run);
Blunt (25-yard run);
Ivan (three-yard punt return).

Conversions – Paisley 4 (place kicks)

OFFICIALS
Referee – Bill Holzwarth.
Umpire – Clarence Rich.
Head Linesman – Jim Langhurst.
Field Judge – Russ Kemper.

STATISTICS
Mass. Mansf.
First downs – rushing 12 6
First downs – passing 1 0
First downs – penalties 1 1
Total first downs 14 7
Yards gained rushing 330 146
Yards lost rushing 9 62
Net yards gained rushing 321 84
Yards gained passing 19 0
Total yards gained 340 84
Passes attempted 7 5
Passes completed 2 0
Passes intercepted by 2 0
Times kicked off 7 2
Kickoff average (yards) 45.0 44.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 47 129
Times punted 2 6
Punt average (yards) 26.0 27.3
Punt return (yards) 8 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 4 2
Lost fumbled ball 2 2
Penalties 5 5
Yards penalized 65 36

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 12, Cincinnati Roger Bacon 0

Tigers Beat Tough Roger Bacon 12-0
Cincinnati Defeated First Time On Home Field In Three Years

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

CINCINNATI – The Massillon Tigers got what they came for. They beat Roger Bacon high school here Friday night and proved to the fans of southern Ohio that the focal point of high school football in the state is Stark County without a doubt.

For the second year in a row the Bengals shut out an outstanding Bacon eleven, this time 12-0, before an overflow crowd of 10,000 fans at Bacon stadium. It was the first loss for the Spartans on their home field in three years.

The bleachers on the north side of the field and both end zones were jammed. Fans were standing two deep around the perimeter of the field. A steep hill on the north side was packed with spectators.

Although his charges notched their sixth straight victory of the season and took a giant step toward a third straight championship, Coach Leo Strang was not all smiles.

Program Cover

* * *
“WE SHOULD HAVE scored more points for the yardage we gained,” the skipper said. “We played hard but we also made some mistakes. Bacon had a fine team.” The Tigers had a fumble at an inopportune time and were hurt by penalties.

The Tigers gained 374 total yards while holding Bacon to 159. Again it was a tremendous defensive effort by the entire team which was so important in the victory.

Bron Bacevich, Spartan mentor called the Tigers, “What we feel is the best high school team in the midwest and certainly one of the best in the country.” He continued, “We played as well as we could except we made too many errors. I was happy that this one was a clean hard-hitting game.”

The Tigers played possession football, grinding out the yardage on the ground with Charlie Brown doing most of the carrying. As last week, Brown garnered a lot of real estate between the long side end and outside tackle on the fake ridge play. He picked his opening well.

Brown gained 165 yards in 23 carries. This figures to an outstanding 7.2 yards per carry against a rugged defensive line which out weighed the Tiger blockers by at least a 10-pound average.

* * *
ALTHOUGH it’s tough to single out any one boy for opening up the holes, Long Side Guard Charlie Whitfield and inside Tackle Larry Strobel came in for a lot of praise from their area coaches.

The Tigers lost the toss again for the fifth time in six weeks so Bacon had the first opportunity.

The Spartans opened up a drive that carried from their own 28-yard line to the Massillon 42 where Safetyman Bob Baker hauled in an aerial tossed by Sophomore Quarterback Pat Case, intended for Jim Teed. The Tigers took over on their seven.

Bacon didn’t reach Massillon territory again until late in the final period. The Spartans opened up an aerial attack, which was stopped on the Bengal six.

The Tigers moved to their first score after Baker’s interception. It took the Bengals 20 plays to cash in with their first tally. They got six first downs in the 94-yard jaunt.

Brown carried on 12 of the plays. The big run was 21 yards from the Bacon 34 to the 13 on a second and three situation.

* * *
BUT AN EVEN bigger play was a fourth down gamble on the Tiger 44. Massillon had one yard to get, Brown made three.

The final score came on a fake into the line and pitch to Fullback Fred Philpott who swept the short side from three yards out with 9:01 left in the second period. The Tigers caught Case playing too tight at cornerback and that was all they needed.

Philpott tried the same run for the extra two points, but this time Case played him right.

Bacon carried from its 25 to the 47 on the next series. Here their attack stalled and Case punted.

After another Massillon series failed to get the Tigers anything (unreadable) fumbled on first down, and the Bengals took over on the Spartan 33. The Tigers drove for another TD only to have it called back due to holding.

* * *
ON THE FIRST play after the fumble, Alexander hit Ron (Glue Fingers) Schenkenberger, senior Wingback, on the hook on the 25. Schenk carried to the five.

This was the first of several fine catches by the little toehead who is fast becoming a great receiver.

Brown went through on his pet play inside the long side end for the score. But the penalty nullified a fine run.

Set back to the 20 and stymied for two plays Alexander again tried to hit Schenk, this time down the middle on the “banana,” but Dan Westerbeck intercepted in the end zone. The half ended a few minutes later.

Massillon scored its other TD in the third period and controlled the ball so well that the Spartans had only two series in that canto.

The Tigers got their other score so quickly in the third period that the Spartans didn’t know what hit them. Baker ran the kickoff back from his 10 to his 40. Then came the score.

BROWN SHOT off the short side and with the help of a fine block by Center Ben Bradley scampered 60 yards for the six-pointer at 11:26. Philpott was caught on a pitch to the short side, and the conversion attempt backfired.

Then came Bacon’s only series of the quarter. The Tigers took over on their 27 after a punt with Brown doing almost all of the carrying. They got four first downs. A penalty in the middle of the drive nullified a long gain.

The Bengals took another gamble on fourth down in their own territory. But this time, with a two-TD lead, they could afford to tempt lady luck. Needing two yard from their 35 they called on Ken Dean. He got the deuce.

Schenkenberger made a tremendous catch while falling backward to help the drive move from the Bacon 43 to the 16.

Bacon put on a tremendous stand with its back to the wall and stopped Massillon with fourth and one from the seven.

The two teams exchanged fumbles in the last period. The Spartans bobbled on their 48. Massillon on the Bacon 37.

Bacon moved from its 33 after the Tiger fumble, to the Bengals’ 12 on a combination of passes and sweeps only to be stopped by the Tigers on a great stand in the shadow of their goal posts.

The Tigers took over and ran the clock out.

Nice Going

MASSILLON
ENDS – Ivan, L. Ehmer, Garland and Pierce.
TACKLES – Strobel, Spees and Mercer.
GUARDS – Clendenin, Whitfield, Migge, Poole and Radel.
CENTER – Bradley.
BACKS – Alexander, Schenkenberger, Brown, Philpott, Dean, Baker, Snively and Davis.

ROGER BACON
ENDS – Henninger, Tood and Plum.
TACKLES – Schmidt, Fein, Puiskamp and Workman.
GUARDS – Butts and Norton.
BACKS – Sexton, Anthony, Hobbin, Galiagher, Meyer, Westerbeck, Case and Fitzpatrick.

Score by Quarters
Massillon 0 6 6 0 12

Scoring
Touchdowns – Philpott (three-yard run);
Brown (60-yard run).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Harry Meyer.
Umpire – Jim Heieradurfer.
Head Linesman – Vic Kauffman.
Field Judge – Russ Kemper.

STATISTICS
Mass. Bacon
First downs – rushing 12 8
First downs – passing 5 3
First downs – penalties 0 0
Total first downs 17 11
Yards gained rushing 257 112
Yards lost rushing 3 6
Net yards gained rushing 254 106
Yards gained passing 120 53
Total yards gained 374 159
Passes attempted 8 6
Passes completed 3 4
Passes intercepted by 1 1
Times kicked off 3 1
Kickoff average (yards) 50 48
Kickoff returns (yards) 28 8
Times punted 1 2
Punt average (yards) 48 39
Punt return (yards) 0 38
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 2 3
Lost fumbled ball 1 2
Penalties 3 1
Yards penalized 35 5

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 38, Steubenville 14

Steubenville Fifth Victim of Tigers
Bengals Hand Big Red First Loss 38-14

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

Webster’s dictionary defines a pile driver as a machine for driving down piles.

Washington high’s Tigers came up with a new definition Friday night. There could be no more apt description of the Bengals offensive machine.

The Tigers literally drove a here-to-fore undefeated Steubenville Big Red team down to submission, 38-14, before an overflow crowd of some 10,000 fans at Harding stadium in the River City.

For the unbeaten Bengals it was win No. 5 on the road to a third straight Ohio schoolboy championship. It was the first loss in five contests for the Big Red.

After the game an utterly flabbergasted Steubenville coach, Ray Hoyman, said, “You’ve got quite a team there.” He also added, “We’re not thick enough for you,” meaning Hoyman didn’t have the depth to cope with the Tiger juggernaut.

* * *
MASSILLON COACH Leo Strang said, “This was the best game away from home since I’ve been here. Our power offense was also the best this season.”

He mentioned the aerial game. We had tough luck with our passing. Steubenville made some beautiful saves he said. The Big Red intercepted two passes. Four were incomplete.

Although the Bengals played every bit as well as against Alliance last week, Friday marked the first time any team had scored more than one touchdown against Massillon. Two bad breaks late in the game caused that situation.

With the Massillon second liners in and less than two minutes left to play in the game, Halfback Chuck Weiher intercepted one of Bob Baker’s aerials on the Big Red 20-yard line and got back to the 24. With the exception of this and two other times, Massillon scored every time it got its hands on the ball.

Quarterback Bill Hoyman, the coach’s son and Co-captain, picked up seven yards around left end. Then he passed to Co-Captain and End Ken Potts for 17 more and a first down.

On the next play Halfback Ray Terry shot through the middle, cut to the right sideline and was gone 52 yards for the score at 1:43. He fumbled a pitchout on the conversion try to prevent any further damage there.

* * *
MASSILLON RAN seven plays after the kickoff, was penalized on three of them and Jim Alexander dropped back to punt on his own 28. The snap was bad. He fell on it but being fourth down, it became Steubenville’s ball when the Bengals failed to make the necessary yardage.

The Big Red took over on the Massillon nine with 10 seconds remaining. Wilson took a flat pass off a pitch and raced around the right side to the one. Terry carried over through the center on the final play of the game. Wilson took a pitch and passed to Paul Cunningham for the conversion.

Steubenville was in Massillon territory only two other times during the game. Earlier in the last stanza, Harry Wilson, the Big Red’s leading scorer, grabbed Wilbur Paisley’s kickoff after the final Tiger score on the Steubenville 20 and raced down the sideline to the Massillon 23.

Confusion reigned among the Washington high ranks with the reserves in on the kickoff. Paisley almost kicked the ball before Referee Bill Holzwarth sounded his whistle. Then the Tigers didn’t seem to know who was supposed to do what on Wilson’s long run.

* * *
THE BIG RED lost the ball on an incompleted pass on fourth down four plays later on the Massillon 27. On one of those plays Bob Baker knocked down a Hoyman pass in the end zone to prevent a score.

Steubenville didn’t get onto Bengal ground until the third period had seen about 10 minutes of play go by. After the Tigers fourth score, the Big Red took over on its 35 and moved to the Massillon 33 where a pass was incomplete on fourth down, again thanks to an alert Bengal secondary.

Although Massillon didn’t blitz as much Friday as against Alliance, because Steubenville didn’t have the explosive attack of the Aviators, its Oklahoma 5-4 and Eagle six defenses were more than adequate, holding Steubenville to 136 net yards rushing and 53 passing. The Tigers had 361 rushing and 25 passing. Steubenville completed only one of 13 passes, Massillon two of eight.

The Tigers gained a lot of yardage on the trap between the outside tackle and long side end. With Steubenville playing a wide 6-2 most of the night, the Big Red was a sucker for this type of play.

Massillon started off the night as if it owned Steubenville. Although the Tigers failed to score the fist time, they got their hands on the ball, they dominated play for the rest of the night after that.

The Bengals lost the toss again for the fourth time in five tries, but Steubenville elected to defend the East goal. The Big Red kicked to Co-Captain Charlie Brown on the 30. His runback was only three yards.

* * *
WITH BROWN, Fred Philpott and Ken Dean alternating on the running, the Tigers carried to the Steubenville five in 12 plays and four first downs, using short gainers for their yardage. Then with the ball on the five, third and three, the Tigers were caught holding. The ball was moved back to the 18. Two plays later a pass incompletion stopped the drive on the 14.

Bob Baker intercepted a pass on the Steubenville 25 to set up the Tigers’ first score. Alexander threw to Wingback Ron Schenkenberger on the hook pattern for a first down on the 16. Brown gained a yard and Philpott 10 through the middle.

Then Brown went between the center and the long side guard for the score at 2:37. The same play netted two more points on the conversion.

This was to be the first of four two-pointers for the Bengals. They seemed to have found the answer to all of their conversion attempts, which went awry in the previous four games.

The Tigers scored again after getting the ball via a punt mid way in the second frame. They marched from their own 25 to pay dirt in nine plays with three first downs.

* * *
BROWNS 42-YARD run down the center on the first play from scrimmage helped set up the score. Dean took the ball over on the wedge from the one on third down at 6:13. Philpott swept left end for the conversion.

The Bengals had one other chance in the second quarter, but were forced to punt the first of two times during the night when they failed to get beyond their 37.

Receiving again at the start of the second half, Washington high lost no time in scoring. It took the Tigers five plays and two first downs, starting from their own 33.

Brown had an 11-yard romp through from his 48 to the Steubenville 41 on second down in the first series. Two plays later on second and three on the 34 Philpott went through between the outside tackle and long side end for the tall at 9:15.

When Steubenville was penalized to the 1 ½ for delay of game, Dean tried to use his favorite play, the wedge, for the conversion, but missed. It was the only time during the night the Tigers did.

A little later the Bengals forced the Big Red to punt again, taking over on their own 36. Massillon covered 64 yards in eight plays and three first downs for the fourth TD.

* * *
THE BIG RUNS were by Alexander and Brown, both between the tackles. Alexander moved the ball from his 42 to Steubenville’s 33 on second and four, Brown raced from the
22 to the nine.

Brown then cracked over, again between the tackles, at 3:43 on second and four from the four. Philpott’s sweep off a pitch left made it 30-0.

Massillon’s final tally came after a Big Red incomplete pass in the final quarter. The Bengals took over on their own 33 and reeled off 67 yards in eight plays with three first downs.

Philpott’s long run from his 33 to the Steubenville 39 on a second and 10 situation helped set up the last score. Davis finally carried in, between the outside tackle and long side end for the score on third and one from the one at 7:51. Alexander tallied the conversion off the short side.

The long trip to Cincinnati for the Roger Bacon game comes next Friday as the Tigers take step No. 6 in the climb toward the state title.

Chalk Up No. 5

MASSILLON
Ends – Ivan, L. Ehmer, Garland, McDew, Pierce and Dewald.
Tackles – Spees, Strobel, Dekan, Profant, Magliacho, Mercer, C. Bradley and Clendening.
Guards – Clendenin, Migge, Geckler, J. Ehmer, Poole, Whitfield, Mickley, Caldwell, Relford, Radel and Matecheck.
Centers – B. Bradley and Heckathorn.
Backs – Alexander, Schenkenberger, Brown, Philpott, Dean, Baker, Snively, Franklin, Jarvis, Lash, Getz, Williams, Sullivan, Davis and Kanney.

STEUBENVILLE
Ends – Potts, Ray and Herring.
Tackles – S. Schaeffer, Mazzaferre and Peters.
Guards – Newman, Ohle, Lawson and Sheffert.
Centers – Archer and Duncan.
Backs – Hoyman, Weiher, Wilson, Terry, Cunningham and Barnes.

Score by Quarters
Massillon 8 8 14 8 38
Steubenville 0 0 0 14 14

SCORING
Massillon
Touchdowns – Brown 2 (five and four-yard runs); Philpott (34-yard run); Dean (one-yard plunge); Davis (one-yard plunge).
Conversions – Philpott (2) Brown, Alexander.

Steubenville
Touchdowns – Terry (52 and one-yard runs).
Conversions – Cunningham (pass from Wilson).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Bill Holzwarth.
Umpire – Wilson Murray.
Head Linesman – Ted Humphrey.
Field Judge – Andy Chiebeck.

STATISTICS
Massillon Big Red
First downs – rushing 18 3
First downs – passing 2 2
First downs – penalties 0 1
Total first downs 20 8
Yards gained rushing 382 130
Yards lost rushing 21 3
Net yards gained rushing 361 136
Yards gained passing 25 53
Total yards gained 386 180
Passes attempted 8 13
Passes completed 2 5
Passes intercepted by 2 1
Times kicked off 5 3
Kickoff average (yards) 45.0 26.3
Kickoff returns (yards) 8 97
Times punted 1 3
Punt average (yards) 27.0 30.6
Punt return (yards) 2 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 1 0
Lost fumbled ball 0 0
Penalties 5 5
Yards penalized 40 75

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 26, Alliance 0

Tigers Roll Over Alliance High 26-0
Tight Bengal Defense Limits Aviators To 44 Net Yards Rushing

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

Massillon’s terrific Tigers had the “Keys to the Kingdom” Friday night at Tiger stadium. And they unlocked another door in the path to a third straight state high school football championship for Leo Strang’s charges.

The Benglas shut out previously undefeated Alliance 26-0 before the largest crowd of the season. Some 91,319 fans sat in on the slaughter of the hapless Aviators, who have never won a game at Tiger stadium.

“We must have read a 100 keys out there,” said a jubilant Strang. He was referring to the method by which defenders can diagnose the direction and type of play coming at them. They watch certain key players for the tipoff.

Program Cover

* * *
BY DOING THIS expertly and wheeling and pealing, blitzing from and eight-man defensive line and pursuing plays doggedly the Tigers held the Aviators to a mere 44 net yards rushing. The Bengals completely smothered Alliance’s heretofore explosive attack. They were thus the first to stop the deadly Alliance sweep play. The vaunted “Pony Backs” – Marion Young, Glenn Hill and Larry Grimes, never had a chance. Quarterback Jim LaFountain got few passes away. The ones he connected on netted Alliance only 10 yards. When he did pass, the Tiger secondary covered receivers like a glove, allowing Mel Knowlton’s boys to complete only one of nine aerials.

“This was the best defensive effort I’ve ever gotten from a team playing an opponent the caliber of Alliance,” Strang said. He meant not only at Massillon but in his entire coaching career.

An effort like the one the Bengals made Friday night has to be a tribute to a great coaching staff. A fine job of scouting plus utilization of the reports to the utmost resulted in the Tigers’ fourth straight and most impressive win of the season.

“We, the coaches, put in long sessions this week, staying up to midnight and 1 a.m. studying the Alliance offense and how to defense it correctly,” Strang said. “I’m dead. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a week,” he added

* * *
A DEJECTED KNOWLTON said, “I have no alibis. We were lousy in all departments. But don’t get me wrong,” he added, “I’m not taking anything away from Massillon. That’s a great team.”

The contest was marred by a free-for-all at the contest’s conclusion. Massillon’s Bob Baker and Alliance’s Marion Young had a difference of opinion in the middle of the field during the last play. Then both benches emptied. Fists were swinging and helmets flying. But most of the uproar was a lot of pushing.

Both Strang and Knowlton, right in the middle of the melee, said, “We tried to break the thing up. But as quickly as one fight was stopped, more got started. This is an awful thing to have happen.” Actually, there weren’t as many boys fighting as it seemed, but it was enough to ruin an otherwise fine night of football. The altercation was stopped after about five minutes.

It would be unfair to single out any Bengal for fine play offensively or defensively because all did such a tremendous job. But it must be mentioned that Fullback Ken Dean scored three of the Tigers’ four touchdowns.

It appears that Dean, who reported about 40 pounds overweight last month and is now down to a trim, for him, 218, is back on the beam. His old speed and power, which brought him All-American honors in 1960, appear to have been recovered.

* * *
“IT SURE FELT great out there,” the big guy said, “but please give the whole gang credit. They gave me the opportunities.”

One of the guys who was instrumental in Dean’s TD romps was Ron Schenkenberger. He caught two key passes that set up two six-pointers. The little wingback also set up another score by Fullback Fred Philpott.

Passing was all important to the Strangmen. They opened up the middle by throwing to unstack the Aviators’ five-four and four-five defenses which jammed up the Tigers’ ground game down the middle.

It looks like Philpott and Dean will be the big yardage boys from now on. Philpott did the open field running and Dean got the short yardage in tight.

“That’s the way I’ll use them the rest of the season,” Strang said.

The Tigers won the toss for the first time this season. But it didn’t do them any good. On their first play from scrimmage, the Bengals fumbled on their own 42. Jim Fraraccio recovered for Alliance.

The Aviators drove to the Massillon 24, their deepest penetration of the night. On a first down play, Alliance fumbled, and Steve Garland hopped on the errant pigskin.

* * *
IT COULD BE that this fumble broke the spirit of the Aviators for they never got going again. Had they gotten an early score, the game might have been tighter.

This could also have been what the doctor ordered for Massillon. The Bengals were certainly keyed up for the entire 48 minutes.

The Tigers got only four yards during their first series. But that was the only time they didn’t get more than one first down when they had the ball in their hands.

The Airmen, on the other hand, got only one other drive going the entire night, and they lost the ball on downs on the Massillon 26 on that one, which occurred in the last period.

Quarterback Jim LaFountain punted on fourth and two on the Massillon 42 in the second Alliance series. Schenkenberger, attempting the runback, gave the hometown fans a fright when he fumbled on his 12. He recovered, however.

* * *
THE TIGERS then took off on an 88-yard touchdown romp, covering 15 plays and picking up five first downs along the route. Strang’s charges alternated between sweeps and plays up through the center on the drive.

Schenkenberger had two fine pass catches to help set up Massillon’s first score. The first was a 17-yarder on the down-and-out pattern from mid field to the Alliance 33. Quarterback Jim Alexander completed another from the 17 to the two with Schenk running the diagonal pattern.

Dean then came into the game and ran two straight wedge plays up the center, scoring from the one on the second run as the first period ended. Brown tried to go between the long side guard and inside tackle for the conversion but missed.

Another Alliance series followed. And LaFountain was forced to punt again. Schenkenberger fumbled and recovered again, this time at the Airmen’s 47. Had he not lost time on the bobble he might have scored for his path was wide open.

Cornerbacker, Floyd Pierce made a brilliant over-the-shoulder interception on the Aviators’ 29, to set the stage again.

Schenkenberger grabbed a button-hook pass on the next play and raced to the two from where Dean went over on the wedge a second time at 5:54. Alexander’s pass to Larry Ehmer misfired on the conversion attempt.

* * *
LINEBACKER Charlie Whitfield put the Tigers back into business near the end of the period by recovering an Alliance fumble on the Aviators’ 41, but the Bengals failed to capitalize on the situation this time.

Massillon’s last effort of the half ended when a pass to Schenkenberger down the middle was knocked down by safety Tony King around the Aviator 10. He batted down two other potential TD aerials.

Both Strang and Knowlton heaped praise on King saying, “He did a tremendous job on defense.”

In the third period Massillon got its only TD coupled with a conversion. Again it was Dean, this time on what started with the big fullback cutting in between the tackles and then out to the sideline on the right side. He carried two players with him and finally fell on the goal flag for the score at 1:37. The run came from the five. Brown’s sweep of right end netted the conversion.

Massillon had taken over after an Aviator punt on the Tiger 49. Covering 51 yards ,the scoring march was completed in eight plays.

One of the really funny incidents of the night occurred in the third period. On another Aviator punt Schenkenberger and Baker each thought the other was going to catch the ball and it hit the former on the top of his head. Luckily the Tigers recovered.

* * *
MASSILLON SCORED its last TD in the dying minutes of the game, showing once again that the Tigers know how to utilize the clock. The Tigers recovered a fumble on the Alliance 29 to set this one up.

In three plays it was 26-0 at 0:38. Schenkenberger caught a pass on the first play using the “banana” pattern, out and then looping in and down the center. The play carried to the 11. Brown swept right end to the one, and Philpott scored on the wedge. With Alexander holding, Co-Captain Ken Ivan attempted to kick a conversion for the first time this season. However, the ball hit one of the uprights and caromed back into the field, just missing going through by inches.

The Bengals’ now leave Tiger stadium until Oct. 20, playing at Steubenville next week and Cincinnati Roger Bacon, Oct. 12.

Strang set the tone for coming games with the statement, “I don’t know whether we can stay keyed up for the next five or six weeks or not.”

A Big Victory

ALLIANCE
Ends – King, Leaf, Crowder, Green.
Tackles – Admonius, Dunn, Woods.
Guards – Frearaccio, Long and Mallory.
Center – Stoops.
Backs – LaFountain, Grimes, and Young.

MASSILLON
Ends – Ivan, L. Ehmer, Garland, Pierce.
Tackles – Strobel, Spees, Paisley, Mercer.
Guards – Clendenin, Whitfield, Poole, Migge, and Radel.
Center – Bradley.
Backs – Alexander, Schenkenberger, Brown, Philpott, Baker,
Dean, Snively, Davis and Williams.

Massillon – 6 6 8 6 – 26

Scoring
Touchdowns – Dean 3 (one, two, five-yard runs);
Philpott (one-yard run).
Conversions – Brown (sweep).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Bud Shopbell.
Umpire – Jim Lymper.
Head Linesman – (unreadable)
Field Judge – (unreadable)

STATISTICS
Mass. All.
First downs – rushing 11 2
First downs – passing 4 1
First downs – penalties 0 2
Total first downs 15 5
Yards gained rushing 206 84
Yards lost rushing 9 40
Net yards gained rushing 197 44
Yards gained passing 103 10
Total yards gained 300 54
Passes attempted 14 9
Passes completed 6 2
Passes intercepted by 1 1
Times kicked off 5 1
Kickoff average (yards) 45.8 45
Kickoff returns (yards) 20 61
Times punted 4 4
Punt average (yards) 38.2 33.5
Punt return (yards) 17 14
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 2 4
Lost fumbled ball 1 3
Penalties 3 2
Yards penalized 35 10

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 20, Cleveland Benedictine 6

Tigers Defeat Stubborn Benedictine 20-6
Bengals’ Unexpected Strength Surprises Massillon Gridders

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

Someone once said, “The football bounces in strange ways.” Whoever it was had something there.

How do you explain Cleveland Benedictine losing, 40-0, last week and playing vastly better Friday night?

Massillon Coach Leo Strang had one answer after his charges had defeated the fired-up Benedictine eleven 20-6 Friday night at Tiger Stadium. “Benedictine was probably looking toward us last week. We were looking ahead to next week and Alliance. You can take 20 points off a team’s total when this happens.”

Benedictine veteran mentor, Auggie Bossu, had his explanation, “We were fighting for our life in there. We had to be up for the game and were. This is the first time in a long time that we’ve been in a contest right up to the end. I’m proud of our boys showing.”

* * *
THERE’S ALSO a third possibility. There’s a jinx that seems to dog the Tigers. Whenever Massillon has been written up in national magazines or filmed for national presentations, they’ve had a tough time in the next game.

A television film crew from the National Broadcasting Company’s “Today” show was on hand Friday night. The films will be shown on the program Monday morning from 8 to 8:30. The crew plans to return for the traditional game with McKinley in November.

Whatever the reason was, the Tigers got their third straight win of the season and Strang and his lieutenants breathed a lot easier after the final whistle had sounded.

There were several factors in Benedictine’s fine showing. One was the play of its defensive line. Another was Quarterback Ron Boruszkowski’s running of the option play. A third was the fine pass defense thrown up by the Bengals.

Bengal defensive linemen were charging hard and low with good results so its secondary was able to play deep and had Tiger receivers well covered. Boruszkowski, playing with a stoved thumb and after having missed several days of practice in the last two weeks, ran his team well. He gained a lot of yardage around end.

The Tigers also defended well, both up front and in the deep positions, although they gave up the most yardage of their three games this season last night.

* * *
MASSILLON gobbled up a lot of ground yardage around the middle of the line once again, but it was their lowest total to date. The Tigers led the Bengals 265-104. Washington high also was on top in the air 42-31.

Massillon Quarterback Jim Alexander completed two of four passes. Boruszkowski connected on two of seven.

It was a battle of unbalanced wing-T’s, Massillon stuck to offense to the right. Benedictine varied its attack with its offense swung both ways.

Fullback Fred Philpott was a multiple scorer again. He tallied two times. Left Half Ken Dean got his first score of the season. Quarterback Jim Alexander scored a conversion.

Benedictine’s lone score tally was by halfback Jim Kucera.

It took the Tigers nearly the whole first period to engineer their initial score. The Tigers lost the toss for the third straight week and kicked from the north goal for the third time.

Benedictine drove to the Massillon 34 on its first chance with the pigskin. Taking over on their own 39-yard line, the Bengals covered 27 yards in the next six plays and two first downs before Bob Baker intercepted a pass on the Tiger 28 to stop the drive.

* * *
MASSILLON came back with a 72-yard trek for the first score of the game. The drive took 12 plays. The Tigers garnered four first downs in the process.

The Tigers ground out the yardage via short gains, the longest being a 16-yard effort by Ron Schenkenberger from his own 42 to the Bengal 42.

The play that brought the Tigers to pay dirt was a sweep of left end on first down from the 16 by Philpott. Alexander went down the middle for two more on the keeper. The score came with 2:37 left in the period.

The two teams battled on even terms until midway in the second stanza. The Bengals took over after a Massillon punt on the hosts 47 and went all the way for the score.

It took Benedictine seven plays. Kucera and Boruszkowski took turns running the ball around the ends or off the left side of the line. Tom Kucera took it over at 7:31, sweeping the left side. Boruszkowski failed in his effort to get two more points, and the score stood
8-6.

* * *
BOTH TEAMS had one more chance in the second period. Benedictine got stalled on the Massillon 42. The Tigers were on the verge of scoring when time ran out.

They had been put back in a big hole by a long punt by Boruszkowsi to the three. In nine plays and three first downs the Tigers had moved to the Benedictine 45. With third and 10, Alexander passed to Schenkenberger down the middle. The play carried to the Benedictine 15 but the first half had ended en route.

Massillon scored the first time it got its hands on the ball in the third period. Taking over on its own 33 after the kickoff, the Tigers moved 67 yards in nine plays with three first downs.

A big play was Brown’s sweep of right end for 19 yards from his 43 to Benedictine’s 38.

The scoring play was a 22-yard blast down the middle on second and seven with 7:05 remaining. Schenkenberger tried to sweep right end for the score but missed.

* * *
BENEDICTINE had one more scoring opportunity at the end of the third period and beginning of the fourth. After a Massillon punt, the Bengals got rolling from their own 46. They got as far as the Massillon 34 in the next seven plays but were forced to punt after a holding penalty had set them back.

Massillon scored its final TD late in the fourth period. The Tigers forced Benedictine to punt and got the ball at mid field.

Strang’s charges reeled off nine plays in three first downs and tallied at 1:21. Dean shot through the middle from the two on second down. Philpott’s sweep was short for the conversion.

Brown had two big gainers of 10 and 13 yards during the drive, the last setting up the score.

Next week the real meat of the schedule starts. The Alliance Aviators come in for a battle of the undefeated. It’ll be a lot of hard work from now on, as the Tigers try for their third straight state championship.

Victory No. 3

Cleveland Benedictine
Ends – Marcoguiseppe and Klaff.
Tackles – Porowski and Piazza.
Guards – Zummo, Gad and White.
Center – Bilek.
Backs – Boruszkowski, Chorba, Kucera and Zelina.

Massillon
Ends – L. Ehmer, Ivan and Pierce.
Tackles – Strobel, Spees, Maglischo, Pierce and Mercer.
Guards – Clendenin, Whitfield, Poole, Migge, Radel, Relford, and J. Ehmer.
Center – Bradley.
Backs – Snively, Alexander, Philpott, Brown, Dean, Davis and Baker.

Score by quarters
Benedictine 0 6 0 0 6
Massillon 8 0 6 6 20

Scoring
Benedictine
Touchdowns – Kucera (17-yard run).
Conversions – none.

Massillon
Touchdowns – Philpott (16 and 22-yard runs).
Dean (two-yard plunge).
Conversions – Alexander.

OFFICIALS
Referee – Steve Bernardic.
Umpire – Harold Rolph.
Head Linesman – Octavio Sirgo.
Field Judge – Pete Lanagan.

STATISTICS
Tigers Bengals
First downs – rushing 15 7
First downs – passing 2 1
First downs – penalties 0 0
Total first downs 17 8
Yards gained rushing 278 131
Yards lost rushing 13 27
Net yards gained rushing 265 104
Yards gained passing 42 31
Total yards gained 307 135
Passes attempted 4 7
Passes completed 2 2
Passes intercepted by 1 0
Times kicked off 4 2
Kickoff average (yards) 26.2 35.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 49 26.0
Times punted 3 5
Punt average (yards) 27.3 39.2
Punt return (yards) 11 3
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 0 1
Lost fumbled ball 0 0
Penalties 4 6
Yards penalized 40 70

Charlie Brown
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1961: Massillon 32, Akron Garfield 6

Tigers Defeat Garfield 32-6
Stout Defense Plays Prominent Role In Bengals’ Second Win

By CHUCK HESS, JR.

There’s an old adage, “The best offense is a good defense.” That statement was never proved more convincingly than at Tiger stadium Friday night before a crowd of 12,904 fans.

The Washington high Tigers sprung a blitzing defense on Akron Garfield that had the
two-time defending Akron city champions completely befuddled and demoralized. The hard-charging defense, outweighed by Garfield, wore the fleece of the Golden Ram down to fuzz. Its horns were dulled to a nubbin.

The result was a 32-6 victory for Massillon, the second win of the season, and the ninth straight triumph over Garfield.

It was an outstanding Garfield team that invaded the stadium, hoping to upset the Tigers and go on to a state championship. But the Bengals out after a third title in a row were not to be denied.

“Garfield has a fine team,” said Tiger Coach Leo Strang amid the happy post-game scene in the Bengals’ dressing room. “We just caught them by surprise with out changing defenses and never let up.”

Program Cover

* * *
IT WASN’T only the line and line backers’, that did an outstanding job, the secondary’s coverage of pass-receivers kept the Rams on the ground. Quarterback Denny Boothe was unable to throw with the result he was tossed for losses several times by Tiger defenders. Unable to loosen up the defense by occasional passes, the Rams’ ground game suffered.

Leading the hard-charging Tigers were Willie Poole and Charlie Whitfield. Joe Snively, Bob Baker and Charlie Brown did the covering of the pass-receivers.

Strang gave his coaches who did the spotting from the press box and scoreboard a big pat on the back for their fine work. They had Garfield pegged to a T both offensively and defensively. Nick Vrotsos, Nick Coso and Jack Robb were in the press box. Frank Domokos was in the scoreboard.

The Tiger offense had Garfield guessing all night. The Presidents played a wide 6-2-2-1 most of the time. This left the middle open and it was here that the Bengals made the most of their yardage.

However, when the Rams closed up the center, Strang had his backs sweeping the ends. Garfield just couldn’t adjust to the changes.

“You just can’t make mistakes against a team the caliber of Massillon.” Garfield Coach Dan Flossie said. “We did and it cost us.” Flossie added. “The Tigers are a great team and they play good, clean, hard football.”

* * *
WHEREAS the Tigers threw a lot last week, this time they stuck to the ground, gobbling up 313 yards to Garfield’s 48. Garfield out passed the Bengals 73-39. Total offense was 382 to 121.

The Tigers gained 15 first downs to Garfield’s two on the ground each had three in the air. Totals were 18 and five.

Freddie Philpott for the second straight week, showed real stuff from his fullback spot. He scored two touchdowns and gained 154 yards in 13 tries for an 11.8 average.

Charlie Brown scored one TD. Ron Schenkenberger one and short side Guard Bob Clendenin one on a fumble-recovery.

The Tigers had trouble scoring conversions again. Ron Davis scored the lone two-pointer, after the second TD.

* * *
FOR THE SECOND straight week the Tigers lost the toss and were forced to kick. Garfield ran two plays, after Dave Mosely had run the kick back 11 yards from his 30. Then Boothe fired down the middle to End Mike Yovanovich, who grabbed the ball on the Massillon 25 and raced 14 before being tackled.

Here the Rams lost a fine opportunity to score. A fumble on the first play of the second series was recovered by the Tigers.

The Bengals then moved to their 49 in 11 plays, picking up two first downs in the process. They took a daring gamble with fourth and one on their 23. Ken Dean, playing his first game, went through the middle for six yards and the first down.

Two plays later Brown picked up six yards on a third-and-three situation from the 36 with a sweep to the right to keep the Tigers in possession. But the Bengals weren’t destined to score during their first series. They ran out of gas on the 49 and Jim Alexander punted to the Garfield 13.

The Rams went into a T spread on the first play. Boothe fumbled, Ed Radel, also in his first game, came charging through from his linebacker’s spot and recovered on the 11.

It looked like a sure score for the Bengals coming up. However, they lost the ball on downs on the five.

* * *
GARFIELD had one series, punted and Massillon took over on the President’s 40. Philpott burst through the middle on the first play and with the aid of a fine block by Clendenin, scored with 26 seconds remaining. Dean tried the middle for two more points but missed.

Then came Garfield’s lone TD. Tony Besesi grabbed Charlie Williams’ kickoff on the Rams’ 22 and ran it back to the Massillon 47. On the next play Ray Matthews, the Presidents all-everything back, swept left end for 32 yards to the Tiger 15 as the first quarter ended.

On the first play of the second period, Jim Sims blasted off right guard for the score with only five seconds gone in the quarter. A pass to End Dick Byerly on the try for the conversion failed.

Massillon came back after the kickoff, following Brown’s 21-yard return to the Tiger 43, for its second marker. In nine plays covering 57 yards and three first downs, the Bengals led 12-6,

The Tigers almost missed this score. Philpott blasted through the middle from the seven on second and three, was hit on the two and fumbled. The ball squirted into the end zone. Clendenin jumped on it for the score at 7:34. Davis swept right end for the 13th and 14th points.

* * *
MASSILLON’S next TD came near the end of the half. The Tigers stopped Garfield on the Bengal 28 after Byerly had recovered a Massillon fumble three plays earlier on the 36.

In a 72-yard drive covering six plays and three first downs, the Bengals had scored again. The TD was set up on a 38-yard pass play, Alexander to Wingback Ron Schenkenberger on a ride action with a hook pattern to Schenkenberger.

On the next play Brown swept around right end for the score with 31 seconds remaining. A repeat effort failed to score the conversion.

The Tigers’ fourth score came on the first series following the half time intermission. Schenkenberger took Matthews’ kick on the 17 and returned to the 40. Six plays, 60 yards and two first downs later the Bengals hit play dirt again.

Once more it was Philpott lugging the pigskin. He went through the middle from the 28 on third and nine with 9:17 showing on the clock. Brown missed the conversion, trying to go over right tackle.

* * *
THE TIGERS missed another opportunity in the third canto. They took over on the Garfield 33 when the Rams gambled on fourth and one and lost. However, the Bengals were unable to go further than the 30 in four plays.

The Rams got a long drive going at the end of the third period and beginning of the fourth to dent Massillon territory for the only time during the second half. The feat was accomplished only four times during the night. Garfield was in control for 12 plays covering 57 yards to the Tiger 15. The drive included four first downs. An incomplete pass on fourth down put an end to the Rams’ efforts for the night.

Massillon’s last score came right after the turnover. The Bengals rolled 85 yards, utilizing 14 plays and getting four first downs in the process.

Alexander passed to Schenkenberger down the middle on an out-and-in pattern from the 17 on fourth and 10. Alex tried to hit Larry Ehmer for the conversion but couldn’t connect.

The Tigers got over their first big hurdle Friday night, but there are nine more facing them before another state championship is theirs.

Good Defense

AKRON GARFIELD
Ends – Price, Yovanovich and D. Byerly.
Tackles – Postiach, Dyser, Kovacevich, Zeh and Bodash.
Guards – Breitenbach, Buchanan and Gaines.
Centers – Kiggans and Romacae.
Backs – Matthews, Sims, Boothe, Butash and Mosely.

MASSILLON
Ends – Ivan, Ehmer, Garland, McDew and Pierce.
Tackles – Spees, Strobel, Brenneman, Mercer, C. Bradley, Dekan and Profant.
Guards – Clendenin, Whitfield, Relford, Radel, Poole and Migge.
Centers – B. Bradley, Heine and Heckathorn.
Backs – Alexander, Philpott, Schenkenberger, Davis, Brown, Snively, Baker
Getz, Jarvis, Lash, Dean, Kanney and Franklin.

Garfield Scoring
Touchdowns – Sims, 13-yard run.

Massillon Scoring
Touchdowns – Philpott, 40 and 28-yard runs;
Clendenin, fumble recovery;
Brown, five-yard run;
Schenkenberger, 17-yard pass from Alexander.

Conversions – Davis

OFFICIALS
Referee – Andy Moran.
Umpire – Frank Westfall.
Head Linesman – Tom Bender.
Field Judge – George Donges.

STATISTICS
Mass. Opp.
First downs – rushing 15 2
First downs – passing 3 3
First downs – penalties 0 0
Total first downs 18 5
Yards gained rushing 324 66
Yards lost rushing 11 18
Net yards gained rushing 313 48
Yards gained passing 69 73
Total yards gained 382 121
Passes attempted 7 6
Passes completed 3 2
Passes intercepted by 0 1
Times kicked off 4 2
Kickoff average (yards) 38.5 36.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 35 126
Times punted 2 2
Punt average (yards) 36.0 37.0
Punt return (yards) 4 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 4 5
Lost fumbled ball 1 2
Penalties 9 2
Yards penalized 55 10

Charlie Brown