Tag: <span>Dan Hackenbracht</span>

Massillon vs. McK - Throwback (Large) History

1992: Massillon 6, Canton McKinley 14

Once-in-a-career play twice in one day

McKinley nips Tigers, misses playoffs

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

McKinley’s 14-6 win over Massillon Saturday was a football student’s football game.

Last year’s was all day at Cedar Point on the tallest coaster ’til you’re dizzy, Tigers 42-13.

This time it was a lot of Woody vs. Bo, rock ribbed running, smashing hits, tight all the way, every decision might mean the game.

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McKinley won it, really, on the double screen pass that sprang Che Bryant for a 57-yard touchdown.

Thom McDaniels has been McKinley’s head coach since 1982. How many times has he used the double screen pass? “Twice,” he said after the game witnessed by 17,863 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. “Once to day when it went for a short gain. Once today when it went for a touchdown.”

Massillon led 3-0 at halftime on a 22-yard Jason Brown field goal. McKinley had a third-and-two on the first possession of the second half when McDaniels sent in the double screen. “We thought Massillon would have the regular screen pass pretty well defended,” McDaniels said. “We thought it would help to add a wrinkle.”

The wrinkle was to let the Tigers through to charge quarterback Joe Pukansky. Fullback Tremaine McElroy would be available as the dump-off man on the right side of the field. Tailback Che Bryant would be ready on the other side.

“I was just hoping we could get a first down out of it,” Pukansky said. “They bit on the fake (to McElroy). It was open to Che’s side.”

It was wide open. Bryant caught the ball around the line of scrimmage, the McKinley 43, ran ahead down the left sideline for 10 yards, spotted a gaping hole, cut across the grain, and used what he says is 4.5 speed in the 40 to race untouched into the right corner of the south end zone.

“Joe Gallo (the center) threw a real good block,” Bryant said. “Alfonso (Ash, the flanker) threw another one.” Two Tigers were on the ground when Bryant made his cut.

“We knew McKinley was a good screen pas­sing team,” Rose said. “I was disappointed with our defense on that play. We lost our pursuit angles.”

Sophomore Josh McDaniels, the coach’s son, booted the point-after to give McKinley a 7-3 lead with 9:55 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers relied on 5-foot-5 senior fullback Eugene Copeland to respond immediately. Copeland, whose best game of the season yielded 85 yards in 14 carries, ran 17 yards on a trap to the McKinley 40.

A 25-yard sideline pass from, Mike Danzy to Alonzo Simpson, both juniors, got the Tigers close. The possession boiled down to fourth-and goal from the 5.

Rose said he thought about going for the touch­down. But it was so early. He sent in Brown and got a 24-yard field goal. It was 7-6, McKinley, with 5:17 left in the third quarter.

Partly since backfield starters Bryant (6-3, 178, Jr.) and McElroy (6-2, 195, Sr.) double, as standouts on defense, McDaniels likes to give them a breather for one or two series each game., The backups are sturdy and quick, just like the starters. Fullback Jeremy Kirkpatrick (6-1, 207, Sr.) and tailback Denell Harris (6-1, 195, Jr.) ran McKinley into scoring position early in the fourth quarter.

However, Bryant was re-inserted on fourth-and-one from the Tiger 21-yard line.

Both teams used defensive shifts and blitzes, successfully. This time, Massillon safety Eric Woods inched up to the line before the snap, then shot the gap. Woods smashed Bryant to the turf, for a two-yard loss. The Tigers got the ball back with 10:24 left in the game. McKinley’s lead remained one lonely point.

The Bulldog defense forced a punt, then the Tigers got McKinley in a fourth-and-one from just short of midfield with four minutes left. The Bulldogs acted as though they were going for a first down. Pukansky barked but the Tigers didn’t bite. McKinley cal­led time out and lined up for a punt.

Rose disdained one’ risk having to drive 80 or 90 yards with time running out – in favor of another. “We went for the block,” he said. “Even if we didn’t get the block, we’d have a good chance of forcing a bad punt.”

Woods, who earlier had distracted Josh McDaniels into missing a 23-yard field goal attempt with a strong rush, was one of the shock troops assigned to go after the punt of junior Rob Pukansky, the quarterback’s first cousin, and possibly McKinley’s starting QB next year.

The Tigers got a bad punt out of it. It went off the side of my foot,” Rob Pukansky said.
But Pukansky and Woods both wound up writhing in pain of the field, the aftermath of what became a roughing-the-­kicker penalty.

I felt the rush coming,” Pukansky said. “When that happens, I just try to get the ball out of there, not worry about booming it or making it look pretty. I got hit right here (he pointed to his stomach).” Woods and Rob Pukansky both were helped from the field.

McKinley kept the ball, then drove. Harris, the backup tail­back, wound up crashing up the middle for 16 yards and a touch­down on a fourth-and-one play. Josh McDaniels’ kick created the 14-6 final score with 50 seconds left.

McKinley improved to 9-1 but was denied a playoff bid. The Bulldogs needed to finish in the top four in Region 3, Division I. They came in seventh.

McKinley played the same strong schedule as usual but missed the tournament because four opponents they beat did not fare as well as usual: GlenOak (3-7), Warren (5-5), Boardman (4-6) and Massillon (5-5).

Copeland, with his 85 yards, and Bryant, with 92 yards in 18 carries to go along with the touchdown reception, were Saturday’s leading offensive players.

Each team wound up throw­ing only nine passes. The Tigers came through an entire quarter without going to the airways.

On its first possession, Mas­sillon ran four plays and elected to punt on fourth-and-a-foot from its own 36. McKinley then punched the ball past midfield on an all­ running segment before a post pattern from Joe Pukansky to Ash netted 27 yards to the 8. Ti­ger defensive backs Dan Hackenbracht and Chad Buckland thwarted a third-down try for a touchdown pass, after which Josh McDaniels couldn’t con­nect on a 23-yard field goal attempt.

The Tigers’ first pass – on their first play of the second quarter – was a 19-yard Danzy­to-Simpson strike. That trig­gered a 50-yard drive from the Tiger 45 to the Bulldog 5, featur­ing a 22-yard run on a third-and-­12 quarterback draw by Danzy. Brown’s 22-yard field goal came on fourth-and-goal from the 5 and gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead with 6:13 left in the first half.
McKinley wound up with a 327-173 lead in net offensive yards, a statistic belying the closeness of the game. Take away McKinley’s yardage on the double screen and the yar­dage the Pups gained after the roughing-the-kicker call, and McKinley’s edge was a modest 217-173.

The Tigers still lead the all-time series, 53-40-5.

MAS McK
First downs rushing 6 15
First downs passing 3 2
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 9 18
Yards gained rushing 138 237
Yards lost rushing 15 6
Net yards rushing 123 231
Net yards passing 50 96
Total yards gained 173 327
Passes attempted 9 8
Passes completed 3 5
Interceptions 1 0
Times kicked off 3 3
Kickoff average 42.3 38.4
Punts 4 2
Kickoff return yards 22 11
Punting average 36.5 28.0
Punt return yards 1 0
Fumbles 0 0
Fumbles lost 0 0
Penalties 2 4
Yards penalized 21 20
Number of plays 40 60
Time of possession 18:43 29:17
Attendance 17,863

McKinley 0 0 7 7 14
Massillon 0 3 3 0 6

MAS – FG Brown 22
McK – Bryant 57 pass from Pukansy (McDaniels kick)
MAS – FG Brown 24
McK – Harris 16 run (McDaniels kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing
(Massillon) Copeland 14-85, Stinson 8-7, Danzy 7-31.
(McK) Bryant 18-92, McElroy 11-34, Pukansky 7-22, Harris 9-52, Kirkpatrick 5-32.

Passing
(Massillon) Danzy 3-9-1 50.
(McK) Pukansky 5-9-0 96.

Receiving

(Massillon) Simpson 2-44, Stinson 1-6.

(McK) Bryant 2-60, Ash 2-27, McElroy 1-9.

Dan Hackenbracht

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 55, Youngstown East 20

Tigers tatoo East 55‑20, await Pups

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon, Tigers smashed visiting Youngstown East 55‑20 Friday and declared themselves ready for McKinley.

The Tigers have scored 38, 44 and 55 points during what has become a three‑game winning streak. If they continue to escalate the scoring next week, there is liable to be an all‑week party in downtown Massillon.

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While the odds are against that‑happening, the Tigers are probably as ready as they can be for McKinley in a season that included a four‑game losing streak. They have responded to the skid by outscoring the subsequent three foes 137‑20.

McKinley, which will visit Paul Brown Tiger Stadium one week from today, takes a 7‑1 record into tonight’s game against Boardman, 4‑4, at Fawcett Stadium. The Bulldogs have lost four straight Week Nine games, but Tiger head coach Jack Rose predicted “They’ll win” against Boardman. McKinley’s talent and consistency led him to say that.

As for his 5‑4 team, Rose said, “We played real well at times. At times we were real sloppy. But we won and for the most part we avoided injuries, which was one of the main concerns.”

Andre Stinson, the Tigers’ leading rusher all season, made a few hearts skip beats when he stayed on the turf after getting tackled in the second quarter. Stinson jogged off the field but did not play any more. At that point, he had gained 70 yards and scored two touchdowns.

“Andre’s all right,” Rose said, indicating Stinson suffered a bruised thigh. Team doctor Robert Erickson said Stinson should be ready to practice Monday.

The Tigers blew out to a 21‑0 lead. “We blocked real well at the point of attack,” Rose said. East head coach Jerron Jenkins wasn’t about to argue. “They outmanned us up front,” Jenkins said.

An East assistant said Massillon’s line is “easily the best we’ve faced.” Jenkins nodded in agreement. East, 2‑7, would have had to play its best game of the year to stay with the Tigers.

Instead, the Golden Bears committed these pigskin sins, all in the first quarter: Penalty for too many men on the field. A 15‑yard penalty against an assistant coach who hurled profanities at an official. Three weak punts that enabled the Tigers to begin scoring drives on the East 22‑, 35- and 33‑yard lines. A screen pass thrown into triple coverage. An illegal‑man‑downfield penalty.

Following the poor punts and good returns by Dan Hackenbracht and Kevin Buckland, the Tigers scored on their first three possessions, on a combined 17 plays covering a combined 88 yards.

Stinson opened the scoring with a three‑yard run in which. he spun off a pile and trotted into the end zone. Jason Brown’s kick made it 7‑0 with 8:18 left in the first quarter.

The second touchdown was set up on a nice. running pass from quarterback Mike Danzy to Alonzo Simpson along the right sideline. It covered 21 yards. Stinson scored from a yard out, Brown made the kick, and it was 14‑0 with 3:09 left in the opening period.
East’s third consecutive three‑and‑out possession gave Rose cause to smile about the defense. “We did some nice tackling,” Rose said. “They had a couple A plays that could have gone for something, but our defense reacted well.”

The offense kept taking, advantage. Dan Hackenbracht’s 5‑yard TD run and Brown’s kick made it 21‑0 with 10:30 left in the second quarter.

East, 2‑7, flaunted its speed moments later when junior quarterback Anthony Mixon play‑faked, then found Darnell Johnson wide open for a 63‑yard touchdown. A two‑point conversion made it 21‑8 with 10:12 left in the second quarter.

However,. the Tigers would wind up scoring on all five of their first‑half posssessions. They answered the East touchdown with a 69‑yard drive capped by Ali Dixon’s 6‑yard TD run. Dixon scored moments after replacing the injured Stin­son . A 26‑yard Danzy‑to‑Todd Peters pass helped. Brown’s kick made it 28‑8 with 7:39 left before the band show.

The defense kept humming, East wound up with two first downs in the first half, and minus‑8 yards rushing ‑ and the offense added a 68‑yard drive. Danzy scored standing up from a yard out, Brown made the kick, and it was 35‑8 with 38 seconds left in the half.

The Tigers built a 42‑8 lead on an 11‑yard TD run by Danzy, who for the third straight week left the game after the first series of the third quarter.

Massillon previewed some of its running attack of the future via a 13‑yard TD run by Leon Ashcraft and a 21‑yard scoring run by Dixon. Both of their brothers were starting Tiger running backs during the Lee Owens era (Falando Ashcraft and Lamonte Dixon).

East scored two more TDs against backup Tiger defensive units. Dixon, a 5‑foot‑7, 144‑pound junior, was the Tigers’ rushing leader with 75 yards in 10 carries. The Tigers wound up with a 436‑182 lead in net offensive yards.

Massillon senior Marty Gigov intercepted a pass, giving him three pickoffs in the last two weeks. The Tiger rushing attack racked up season highs of 26 first downs and 389 yards.

No crowd figure was given. Estimates put it in the 7,000 range. Add at least 10,000 to arrive at next week’s crowd figure. The Bulldogs are coming to town.

Obie photo day

Tiger fans are invited to “Obie XXIII photo day” Sunday at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The Massillon Tigers’ mascot can be photographed from 1‑3 p.m. Sunday, handler Ed Annen said. Enter the stadium through the south gate.

M E
First downs rushing 26 4
First downs passing 2 2
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 28 7
Yards gained rushing 393 103
Yards lost rushing 4 20
Net yards rushing 389 83
Net yards passing 47 99
Total yards gained 436 182
Passes attempted. 8 9
Passes completed 2 3
Interceptions 0 1
Times kicked off 9 4
Kickoff average 38.9 32‑3
Kickoff Mum yards 46 90
Punts 0 4
Punting average 00.0 31.5
Punt return yards 42 0
Fumbles 2 2
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 7 8
Yards penalized 50 54
Number of plays 77 26
Time of possession 34:34 13:26

East 0 8 0 12 20
Massillon 14 21 7 13 55

M ‑ Stinson 3 run (Brown kick)
V ‑ Stinson I run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Hackenbracht 5 run (Brown kick)
E ‑ Johnson 63 pass from Mixon (Smith pass from Mixon)
M ‑ Dixon 6 run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Danzy 1 run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Danzy I I run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Ashcraft 13 run (Brown kick)
E ‑ Fitzgerald 37 run (pass failed)
M ‑ Dixon 21 run (kick failed)
E ‑ Perdue 5 run (pass failed) I

Rushing
(M) Danz, 10‑55, Copeland 11 55, Stinson 13‑70, Hac anbracht 2‑7, Dixon 10‑75, Seimetz 2‑7, Utterback 2‑9, Arney 4‑21, Riley 5‑16.
(E) “ant 1‑3, Rhodes 3‑9, Perdue 6‑37, Fitzgerald 3‑43.

Passing
(M) Danzy 2‑5‑0 47, Utterback 0‑3‑3.
(E) Mixon 341‑1 99. Perdue 0‑1‑0.

Receiving
(M) Simpson 1‑21, Peters I26.
(E) Johnson 1‑0, Perdue 2‑37.

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 44, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 0

Tigers win in rout

Tigers roar to emotional win

Players dedicate game to coach’s hospitalized son

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers spent the week praying for 2‑year‑old Christopher Rose. On Friday, they played for him. Did they ever play. The Tigers dedicated the game to Christopher, hospital­ized son of head coach Jack Rose. Then they went out and clobbered Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary 44‑0.

“We played this game for Coach Rose and his son,” said senior tight end Todd Peters. “They were in our hearts the whole game.”

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Rose kept an upbeat attitude during a four‑game losing streak that ended last week with a 38‑0 win over Bloomington South. He has done the same thing while Christopher battles congestive heart failure in Akron Children’s Hospital.

”I didn’t know they had done that (dedicate the game to Christopher) until after the game,” Rose said shortly before leaving Paul Brown Tiger Stadium to be with his wife, Denise and son at the hospital. “I appreciate them and the coaches for all they did;’

Rose said medication seems to have improved Christopher’s condition, which he developed several months after undergoing open‑heart surgery. “It’s been a tough week,” Rose said. “It kind of puts this (football) in perspective.”

It is difficult to explain why the Tigers, 4‑4, could so thoroughly dominate St. Vincent‑St. Mary. The Fighting Irish are 3-5, but they were competitive last week in a 17-0 loss Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, the team that clobbered Canton McKinley early in the season.

“I guess we’re not as good as I thought,” said Irish head coach John Cistone. “Maybe playing Mooney and Massillon back to back was too much . this year, anyway. That’s the worst we’ve played since 1970, when Massillon had that great team.” Cistone was talking about a 68‑7 loss to Bob Commings’ state championship team of 22 years ago. “Massillon,” added Cistone, “has an awful big offensive line. They manhandled us on the inside. And (quarterback Mike) Danzy was too quick to the outside for our ends. “Put that together with all our turnovers (two fumbles, three interceptions) and I guess this is what happens.”

For the second straight week, the Tigers rolled up a 38-0 lead before the fourth quarter then brought in numerous backups. For the second straight week, they fashioned a shutout. “The defense,” noted Rose, “has played well all year.”

One of the senior defenders, nose guard William Shahan, said the players never got down during the losing streak. “Coach Rose told us, ‘Keep chopping wood … keep chopping wood.’ We did, and we’re coming up with a lot of intensity. If we keep playing like this the last two weeks, we should do great.”

Not all of the Tiger starters took a rest because the game was a blowout. Senior safety/running back Dan Haceknbracht suffered a foot injury in the second quarter and finished the game in street clothes. “It’s a sprain,” Hackenbracht said. “I’ll be all right.” Team doctor Robert Erickson said he will examine Hackenbracht this morning. Erickson said the injury is unrelated to the broken ankle that cost Hackenbracht most of his junior year.

Senior Marty Gugov filled in for Hackenbracht and set up two touchdowns, first by causing and recovering a fumble, then by making an interception. “This was a big game for the team,” Gugov said. “It was a real great team effort.”

The Tigers took the opening kickoff and set the tone early. They drove 62 yards in 12 plays, using four ball ‑carriers on a smash‑mouth march. Danzy sneaked in from the 1 for the touchdown, Jason Brown kicked the P.A.T., and it was 7‑0. The drive consumed nearly half the first quarter.

The defense forced St. Vincent to punt after three plays but an effective punt pinned the Tigers at their own 12. If there was a turning point in the game, it may have been a third‑and‑long completion from Danzy to Peters that went for 21 yards. “We sent two guys deep and one guy over the middle,” Peters said. “They can only put so many defenders on so many people. ”

Danzy danced to his right on a bootleg and hit the man who crossed the middle, Peters. It was the key play in a 14‑play, 88‑yard march that included a 22‑yard counter‑gap run by Andre Stinson and a 1‑yard touchdown plunge by Hackenbracht. Brown’s kick made it 14‑0 with 9:42 left in the second quarter. The drive consumed 6:41.

St. Vincent’s next possession ended when Gugov stripped third‑year starting quarterback Josh Zwisler of the ball. Gugov recovered at the Irish 41, setting up a booming 32‑yard field goal by Brown that may have been good from 15 yards deeper. There was 5:30 left in the first half, and Massillon had already dented St. Vincent for as many points as Mooney did in an entire game.

With less than a minute left in the half, linebacker Vic Murray jarred the ball loose from Irish running back Cameron Pooler. Tiger senior Paul Schroeder recovered near midfield.

On third down from the Irish 43, Danzy rolled right and unloaded a bomb to junior Eddie Griffith, who had raced behind a cornerback and a safety. Griffith caught the ball cleanly in the end zone and Brown delivered the kick to make it 24‑0 at the 0:03 mark of the first half.

For the second straight week, Danzy played one series at quarterback in the second half. It was a quick one. Gugov’s interception gave the Tigers the ball in the opening moments of the third quarter. Danzy connected with Peters for a 24‑yard touchdown, and Brown’s kick made it 31‑0 with 10: 37 left in the third quarter.

The backup offensive players maintained the pace. With 7:22 left in the third quarter, junior quarterback Mike Utterback tossed a 14‑yard TD pass to Leon Ashcraft. Brown’s kick made it 38‑0 with 7:22 left in the third quarter.

Ali Dixon scored on a 4‑yard run with 8:56 left in the game to create the 44‑0 final.

Tim Menches’ interception in the end zone preserved the shutout.

The Tigers will take on struggling Youngstown East next Friday before playing host to arch‑rival McKinley. “We’re on a roll , right now,” concluded Peters. “We’ve got to go after it.

MASSILLON 44
St. VINCENT 0

M St. V
First down: rushing 18 5
First down passing 7 4
First downs by penalty 1 0
Totals first downs 26 9
Yards gained rushing 284 134
Yards lost rushing 7 17
Net yards rushing 277 117
Met yards passing 145 56
Total yards gained 422 173
Passes attempted 12 11
Passes completed 8 5
Passes int. 0 3
Times kicked off 8 1
Kickoff average 49.3 53.0
Kickoff return yards 30 96
Punts 1 2
Punting average 31.0 33.0
Punt return y yards 0 0
Fumbles 2 4
Fumbles lost 1 2
Penalties 2 6
Yards penalized 15 36
Number of play 65 42
Time of possession 27:39 20:21
Attendance 10,497

St. Vincent 0 0 0 0 0
Massillon 7 17 14 6 44

M ‑ Danzy 1 run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Hackenbracht 1 run (Brown kick)
M ‑ FG Brown 32
M ‑ Griffith 43 pass from Danzy(Brown kick)
M ‑ Peters 24 pass from Danzy (Brown kick)
M ‑ Ashcraft 14 pass from Utterback (Brown kick)
M ‑ Dixon 1 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:
(M) Stinson 11‑72, Copeland 10‑54, Danzy 7‑20, Selmetz 1‑6, Hackenbrachl 5‑12. Dixon 6‑26, Ashcraft 4‑7, Arney 5‑61, Riley 2‑26, Hock 1‑3.
(St. V) Pooler 14‑66, Haller 6‑6, Zwisler 3‑(minus)3, James 5‑41, Shenigo, 3‑7.

Passing
(M) Danzy 4‑8‑0 94, Utterback 4‑4‑0 51.
(St. V) Zwisler 3‑8‑1 33, Haller 2‑3‑1 23.

Receiving
(M) Peters 2‑45, Griffith 1‑43, ‑Manson 2‑22, Ashcraft 1,14, Elder 1‑6, Westland 1‑15
(St. V) Pooler 2‑14, Close 1‑19, Frattura 1‑12, Gilbride 1‑11.

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 38, Bloomington South, IN 0

‘Best 3‑4 team in country ‘ Tigers sack South 38‑0

STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

For the first time in more than a month, the end of a football game didn’t hurt for B.J. Payne.

“We’ve got to be the best 3‑4 team in the county,” Massillon’s punishing defensive tackle said after the Tigers snapped a four game losing streak with a 38‑0 romp over Bloomington (Ind.) South before 9,571 Saturday in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Payne didn’t like the sound of that. After all, this was a 7‑0 team the Tigers had tamed.

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“No,” Payne said, “We’ve got to be the best 3‑4 team in the state.

Payne still didn’t like the ring. Shucks, the Tigers had put up their first shutout of the year against some guys whose chances of winning the Indiana state title are supposed to be better than in 1991, when South made the state semifinals.

“We may be the best 3‑4 team in the country,” Payne said.

He grinned. That sounded right.

It was grins all around for the Tigers, who hadn’t won since Sept. 11, when they outlasted Walsh Jesuit 28‑24 in overtime.

Head coach Jack Rose, who hadn’t wanted it to be that way in his first year on the job, didn’t really sound relieved. He sounded more like a man who knew this sort of business was coming.

“These guys never did stop practicing well,” Rose said of his 3-4 team. “I was saying again all week that we were having a great week of practice. A lot of people thought I was blowing smoke I wasn’t. These guys have never given up on themselves.

It was an early blowout. Massillon led 32‑0 at halftime. The first‑stringers for the most part got in one more series in the second half then took a rest.

How could this be? How could the Tigers wipe out an Indiana team Hoosier State football types were saying was about as strong as the Indianapolis North‑Central squad that beat the tigers 35‑20 one week earlier?

Mo Moriarty, the Bloomington South head coach, suggested a couple of reasons. This time, Moriarty said, it was the Indiana team and not Massillon that had to put up with the long bus trip. The other factor: The Tigers are tough customers.

“This kind of trip is too long for high school kids,” Moriarty said. “We checked into the motel at 11:30 p.m. Friday and we spent all day away from home, touring the Hall of Fame and a lot of other things. By the time the game came around we were very sluggish.

“But give Massillon a lot of credit. I hate it when a coach gives every reason for a loss except the fact the other team is better. Let’s face it. They beat our butts tonight.

“They were very physical, and they hurt us with the blitz.”

Massillon’s defense was out outstanding South never mounted a serious scoring threat. In the first‑half, when it was first unit against first unit, Massillon led 206‑67 in net offensive yardage. Throw in the kickoff and punt returns of Leon Ashcraft, Dan Hackenbracht and Kevin Buckland and you get another 138 first‑half yards.

In the end, Massillon led 307‑134 in net offensive yards and 220‑122 in punt/kick return yards.

Speaking for his position the TNTs (tackles/nose guards) ‑ Payne said the game plan was superb.

“Coach (Gary) Wells had them figured out pretty well,” Payne said. “I don’t think they had a clue what our defense was going to throw at them next.”

The defense wound up throwing the Panthers for 41 yards in losses, resulting in a net rushing total of minus‑2 yards.

Payne seemed to be happiest about the performance of the Tigers’ offense.

“They really made our job easy tonight,” he said “It was a never‑ending story. They just kept scoring and scoring and scoring.”

The Tigers used a mix of superb field position, passing and running to blow it open early.

On three different occasions, the early part of a touchdown drive included an 18‑yard completion from quarterback Mike Danzy to Jerry May.

“One of the things we worked on this week with Mike was looking to pass to the second level,” Rose said. “He had been tending to overlook the second level and throw deep. Tonight, he did a nice job going to the second level.”

Danzy wound up completing 6‑of‑11 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed four times for 37 yards.

Leon Ashcraft got the night off to a flying start when he returned the opening kick 57 yards to the South 32‑yard line.

The first play from scrimmage was one of those 18‑yard completions to May. Dan Seimetz scored from 3 yards out and Jason Brown converted the kick to make it 7‑0 with just 91 seconds gone in the game.

A long punt return by Hackenbracht to the South 22 set up the second Tiger TD.

“They had a weird way of covering punts,” Hackenbracht said. “They stayed back on the line of scrimmage longer than most teams.”

An 11‑yard option run by Danzy set up Andre Stinson’s 2‑yard run for a touchdown. South was penalized on the point‑after try, but the Tigers still elected to try for a kick with the ball 11/2 yards away. The snap went awry and the score stayed at 13‑0 with 3:00 left in the first quarter.

South went three‑and‑out, Hackenbracht returned a punt to near midfield, and the Tigers went to the run. Gains of 7, 9, 9, 4 and 17 yards put the ball on the 13, from where Hackenbracht bounced off a block by Stinson and went around the left side for an easy six. The conversion run failed and it was 19‑0 with 9:13 left in the second quarter.

South’s offense again was stuffed and Buckland returned a punt to the Panther 43. A procedure penalty cost the Tigers 5 yards but Danzy compensated by hitting May for 18 yards on the next play. The rest of the series featured more running. Stinson scored from a yard out, the conversion run attempt failed, and the Tigers led 25‑0 with 3:40 left in the half.

Moriarty gambled late in the half. South punched the ball to near midfield where it was fourth‑and‑one. The Tigers snowed under quarterback Eli Stoddard on a sneak attempt with 1: 55 left in the half.

The Tigers used the field position to drive 46 yards. Danzy scored from 5 yards out, Brown kicked the P.A.T., and it was 32‑0 with 54 seconds left in the half.

South’s last gasp was a 25 yard completion on the first play of the second half. A Vic Murray sack led to another punt, a 50‑yard punt return by Buckland, and a 14‑yard TD pass from Danzy to Eddie Griffith. The kick was wide but the Tigers led 38‑0 with 7:59 left in the third quarter.

After that, Rose substituted freely.

The Tigers will be back at Tiger Stadium Friday to take on Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary.

St. V fell to 3‑4 Saturday with a 17‑0 loss to Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, the state’s sixth ranked team in Division‑III.

MASSILLON 38
SOUTH 0
M S
First downs rushing 15 0
First downs passing 5 6
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 20 6
Yards gained rushing 217 39
Yards lost rushing 4 41
Net yards rushing 213 ‑2
Net yards passing 94 136
Total yards gained 307 134
Passes attempted 13 22
Passes completed 7 10
Interceptions 1 0
Times kicked off 7 1
Kickoff average 51.7 49.0
Kickoff return yards 57 122
Punts 2 7
Punting average 33.0 34.9
Punt return yards 163 0
Fumbles 2 1
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 4 2
Yards penalized 33 17
Number of plays … 59 45
Time of possession 26:31 21:29
South 1 0 0 0 0
Massillon 13 19 6 0 38

M ‑ Hackenbracht 3 run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Stinson 2 run (kick failed)
M ‑ Hackenbracht 13 run (run failed)
M ‑ Stinson I run (run failed)
M ‑ Danzy 5 run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Griffith 14 pass from Danzy (kick failed)

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 20, Indianapolis North Central, IN 35

Tiger fans respond as their team takes the field in Hoosier Dome Saturday

Tigers in need of home cooking after road trip

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

INDIANAPOLIS ‑ It was a lazy Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, when many visitors from Massillon plunked down a buck to ride the tour bus around the oval made famous by the Foyts, Unsers and Andrettis.

Program Cover

“Speed week” moved to the Hoosier Dome, where Indianapolis North‑Central burned to a 35‑20 high school football victory over the Massillon Tigers.

“We’ve played a team that has that kind of speed,” Massillon head coach Jack Rose said. “But they (the Garfield Rams) don’t use it the same way these guys (North‑Central’s Panthers) do.”

“On one of their touchdowns, our cornerback made a good play. He was in good position to tackle their guy for a loss. But the guy used his speed to turn the play into six points.”

North‑Central rode its run‑and‑shoot offense to a 5‑2 record. The Tigers must fight being down‑and‑out in the wake of a fourth straight loss. They will take a 2‑4 record into this Saturday’s home game against another Indiana team, Bloomington South. South, ranked sixth among Indiana’s big schools, improved to 7‑0 with a 47‑0 blowout over Shelbyville this past Friday.

“One concern is how much our guys can absorb,” Rose said. If history repeats itself, there is some of it to consider in terms of the four‑game losing streak. Massillon has had only five such skids in its entire history. Three were in the very early years, 1899, 1917 and 1912. It is the other two that are the most intriguing.

In 1931, a four‑game losing streak and 2‑6‑1 overall record did in fourth‑year head coach Elmer McGrew. McGrew was replaced in 1932 by Paul Brown, whose first team ended the season with a four‑game losing streak.

Naturally, Rose hopes his path in the wake of a four‑game slide more closely follows Brown’s than McGrew’s.

One Tiger player, talking to his mother after the game at the Mariott Hotel, seemed to think the players would be all right. “The coaches took it harder than the players did,” he said.

Many of the players decided to take a deep breath and enjoy the road trip, much as did the 3,000 Massillonians who traveled to Indianapolis for the game. Massillon people swarmed into Union Station, a downtown shopping area. A man twisting balloons into all kinds of shapes was encountered by a Massillon man. “Can you make one in the shape of a Tiger?”

“You mean, like the one (an Obie) on your shirt ?” A crowd gathered. After that, the vendor must have made 400 balloon tigers.

The path of Saturday’s game was the fast lane. The first contest in a double‑header witnessed by more than 11,000 set the tone. Defending Indiana state champ Ben Davis scored in the final three minutes to secure a frenzied 28‑21 win over Cincinnati Elder.

In the nightcap, the Tigers simply could not slow down North‑Central’s balanced attack.

“I knew it was going to be a shootout,” Rose said. It was, and the Tigers weren’t dead until the Panthers, leading by 8 points, drove 80 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown with 2:58 left in the game.

“We saw some things in their style of defense that made us think we could move the ball,” North‑Central coach Al Harants said. “We weren’t sure we’d be able to deal with their offense quite as well as we did.”

The Tigers generated far more offense than they had the previous week in a 14‑0 loss at Austintown‑Fitch. After racking up 184 yards in the first half, though, they were held to 110 yards in the second half ‑ North‑Central poured it on in both halves, gaining 219 yards in the first half and 196 in the second half.

North‑Central junior quarterback John Clippinger, who was a sophomore watching from the sidelines when the Tigers tore up the Panthers 41‑0 at Massillon in 1991, completed 14 of 20 passes for 185 yards. Junior Tony Nefouse, taking advantage of the spread‑out defense created by Clippinger’s apt operation of the run‑and-shoot, rushed 19 times for 125 yards and scored two touchdowns.

If the Tigers are struggling, Clippinger didn’t seem to know it. “They’re an awesome team, along the same lines as Ben Davis,” he said. “They’re much better than the two teams that beat us. When we lost those two games, it was right after we beat Ben Davis. We had big, fat heads, but we got ourselves straightened around.”

Massillon’s crowd set the tone before the kickoff with a rousing chant of “T‑1‑G … E‑R‑S” that resounded around the Teflon‑topped Dome. The team responded by driving 80 yards in nine plays for a touchdown.

Running back Andre Stinson, who finished with a season‑high 110 yards, set up the TD with a 7‑yard run. Stinson wound up going in from the 1, Jason Brown converted the kick, and it was 7‑0 with 8:27 left in the first quarter.

North‑Central answered by driving 88 yards for a score on its first possession. The mostly running, 11‑play march was capped by Clippinger’s one yard plunge and Tommy Keenan’s kick. It was 7‑7 with 4:58 left in the first quarter.

A three‑and‑out Tiger possession was followed by a short punt and a 41-yard North-Central scoring drive. Clippinger hit senior split end Arthur Angotti for 20 yards on first down. The TD came on a 8-yard run by Nefouse. After Keenan’s kick, it was 14-7 with 1:58 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers’ next possession ended quickly with their only punt of the game. Dan Hackenbracht made a daring, running catch on the punt and returned to the North-Central 34. Quarterback Mike Danzy scored on a spectacular 36-yard run, breaking three tackles after dropping back to pass, then outrunning the Panther defense into the left corner of the end zone. Brown’s kick made it 14-14 with 8:24 left in the half.

North-Central regained control with a 13-play, 71-yard drive again capped by a 1-yard drive again capped by a 1-yard Clippinger plunge. Keenan’s kick made it 21-14 with 3:14 left in the half.
The Panthers got the ball back on a punt but quickly lost it when a big hit by William Shahan caused a fumble covered by Tiger junior Josh McElhaney near midfield. A 32-yard field goal attempt by Brown with seconds left in the half was deflected.

North-Central drove to the Tiger 10 at the start of the second half before a big third-down stop by Hackenbracht followed by an incompletin stalled the threat.

The Tigers then drove 90 yards. Thanks largely to a 51-yard strike from Danzy to Alonzo Simpson. Hackenbracht scored from two yards out, but Brown’s kick was blocked and North-Central kept a 21-20 lead with 4:46 left in the third quarter.

The Panthers inflicted the critical blow when they drove 46 yards in 10 plays for a score. Junior Dave Mosley’s one-yard run and Kennan’s kick made it 28‑20 with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

Even at that, the Tigers could tie it with a TD and two‑point conversion. Their best chance came midway through the fourth quarter when Danzy reached the Massillon 40 on a scramble. The would‑be first down was wiped out by a holding penalty. Instead, it became third down at the 10. The Tigers had to punt, setting up the clinching North‑Central touchdown, a 6‑yard run by Nefouse with 2:58 left in the game.

NORTH‑CENTRAL 35
MASSILLON 20
M N
First downs rushing 9 13
First downs passing 2 10
First downs by penalty 0 1
Totals first downs 11 23
Yards gained rushing 228 250
Yards lost rushing 14 20
Net yards rushing 214 230
Net yards passing 80 185
Total yards gained 294 415
Passes attempted 11 20
Passes completed 2 14
Interceptions 1 0
Times kicked off 4 6
Kickoff average 41.8 58.0
Kickoff return yards 36 51
Punts 5 1
Punting average 29.2 23.0
Punt return yards 22 9
Fumbles 0 3
Fumbles lost 0 2
Penalties 2 3
Yards penalized 30 31
Number of plays: 48 73
Time of possession 19:33 28:27

Massillon 7 7 6 0 20
North‑Central 14 7 7 7 35

M ‑ Stinson 1 run (Brown kick)
NC ‑ Clippinger 1 run (Keenan kick)
NC ‑ Nefouse 8 run (Keenan kick)
M ‑ Danzy 36 run (Brown kick)
NC ‑ Clippinger 1 run (Keenan kick)
M ‑‑ Hackenbracht 2 run (kick failed)
NC ‑ Mosley 1 run (Keenan kick)
NC ‑ Nefouse 6 run (Keenan kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing
(Massillon) Seimetz 4‑25, Stinson 21‑110, Hackenbracht 5‑11, Danzy 6‑68.
(North‑Central) Nefouse 19‑125, Allen 12‑67, Mosley 6‑24, Perkins 3‑13, Clippinger 11 ‑0.

Passing
(Massillon) Danzy 2‑1‑11‑1 80
(North‑Central) Clippinger 14‑20‑0 185.

Receiving
(Massillon) Peters 1‑21, Simpson 1‑59.
(North‑Central) Allen 4‑59, Angotti 6‑81, Mosley 3‑30, McConnell 1‑15.

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 0, Austintown Fitch 14

Tigers fall at Fitch

By MIKE KEATING
Independent Sports Writer

AUSTINTOWN ‑ Falcon Stadium is a 10,000‑seat facility. It is also a torture chamber to the Massillon Tigers. The Austintown‑Fitch Falcons, occupant of the structure, added to the agony with a 14‑0 high school football decision over the Tigers Friday.

Fitch scored a touchdown on the last play from scrimmage to win the 1986 game, won on a 40‑yard field goal in 1988, and deviated from its running game to capitalize on two touchdown passes to win in 1990.

There were no last‑second heroics or surprises by Fitch in the most recent meeting, but the Tigers were stuffed by the Steel Valley Conference school’s steel‑like defense and lost before 8,000 fans on a cool, breezy Friday night.

The Tigers fell to 2‑3. The last time they had that mark was 1984, Mike Currence’s final year as head coach.

Massillon has also lost its last three games, the first time that has occurred since 1988, when Lee Owens’ first team dropped decisions to Fitch, Akron St. Vincent‑St. Mary and Warren Harding.

The Tigers were shut out for the first time since an 8‑0 loss to Cleveland St. Joseph in the eighth‑game in 1987 on a muddy field in Euclid during John Maronto’s final year as Massillon head coach.

It was a dry field when the Tigers and Fitch played Friday. David Hartman, Fitch head coach and Massillon native, was pleased his team survived a battle of smash mouth football.

“It was a fight,” he said. “They’re much … much better than what we saw on film against Alliance and (Akron) Garfield.”

Jack Rose glanced at the post‑game offensive statistics while seated in the Fitch gym, adjacent to the Tiger lockerroom. The first‑year Massillon head coach was perplexed about his team’s offense. “We cannot score in the red zone,” he said. “We have to get that fixed.”

The Tigers had one scoring drive stopped inside the Fitch 20 and two others inside the Falcon 30. Rose noted the Tigers had problems finishing off scoring drives in both the Garfield and Cincinnati Moeller games.

“We worked a lot in practice on moving the ball inside the 30,” he said. “We’ve tried to get them in a frame of mind they have to execute once they get down there. We’ll just have to keep working.”

Part of Fitch’s defensive game plan was to contain Massillon quarterback Mike Danzy. “We felt he had done so many things against the teams they’ve played,” said Hartman “Our goal was not letting him make any big plays. Their offense is different, but we had to prepare for more things than we did when Lee Owens was coach.”

Fitch took the rollout away from Danzy and that forced him to scramble up the middle, where he was often greeted by a host of players wearing all‑red uniforms. He was either sacked or tackled behind the line of scrimmage five times and finished with minus‑35 yards rushing.

“This was our third, shutout,” said Hartman, “We have a good defensive team.”

Fitch has posted shutouts in three of its last four games, even though linebacker Dan Inglis missed most of the second half after he was ejected early in the third quarter. “The official told me he kicked somebody,” Hartman said.

The Tigers were held to only 83 yards in total offense. “I figured we could get 300 yards in total offense against them,” Rose said. “I thought we could get 150‑160 rushing and 140‑150 passing.” The Tigers unveiled the running game on their first series, but Fitch stopped it without allowing a first down.

Fitch then reciprocated with an 8‑play, 59‑yard drive that was capped by a big play on fourth down. Fullback Shawn Kamrad, 6‑1, 195, made a statement on his first carry when he blasted off left tackle for 12 yards to the Massillon 47.

The Tigers gave ground grudgingly on the next six plays and forced Fitch into a fourth‑and six at the 31.

Quarterback Nick Siciliano rolled left and flipped a pass to Kamrad over the middle. The Fitch fullback caught the ball at the 30, motored upfield, received a punishing block near the 20 and the short pass turned into a 31‑yard touchdown. Joe Ferraro hit the P.A.T. and Fitch led 7‑0 at the 5: 47 mark of the first quarter.

The Tigers responded with their best sustained drive of the game after Dan Hackenbracht returned the kickoff to the 33. Wide receiver Jarmey Elder made a one‑hand grab of a Danzy pass on a slant pattern for eight yards. Dan Seimetz picked up six on a counter‑gap and the ball was at the 47.

An offensive holding call appeared to stop the drive, but Danzy rolled left and hit Jerry May on an out pattern for 18 yards to the Fitch 40. Stinson picked up 12 of Massillon’s next 13 yards on the counter‑gap play and the first quarter ended at the Fitch 27.

On the first play of the second quarter, Stinson blasted off left guard and into the Fitch secondary. He was jarred at the 15, the ball popped loose and Fitch’s Chris Inglis recovered.

Early in the third quarter, Massillon defensive tackle B.J. Payne recovered a fumble at the Fitch 23. Eugene Copeland picked up a yard off right tackle, Stinson was held to another yard on another off‑tackle play and nose tackle Jason Kokoski, 5‑11, 210, diagnosed a screen pass and Copeland was thrown for a four yard loss.

On fourth‑and 14, Danzy rolled right, was blindsided and ‘Chris Inglis picked up the ball at the 30 and was eventually tackled at the Fitch 47.

After the Tigers held, Danzy hit May on a corner route for 34-yards to the Fitch 36. But the Tigers couldn’t net another first down in the drive and Hackenbracht was thrown for a 2‑yard loss on a fourth‑and‑three with 3:28 left in the third quarter.

The Falcons executed their Wing‑T offense to perfection on their next series with Kamrad running the dives and Siciliano running the keeper up the middle or taking the ball outside on the option. The drive consisted of 18 plays, covered 69 yards and was capped by Kamrad’s 1‑yard burst off left tackle. Ferraro’s placement made it 14‑0 with 7:18 to play.

Ferraro, also a defensive back, ended any Massillon comeback hope with an interception at‑the Tiger 45 with less than 6: 00 left to play.

FITCH 14
MASSILLON 0
M F
First downs rushing 2 10
First downs passing 2 2
First downs by penalty 1 0
Totals first downs 5 12
Net yards rushing 24 179
Net yards passing 59 43
Total yards gained 83 222
Passes attempted 12 4
Passes completed 5 2
Passes int. by 0 1
Kickoff average 47.0 50.3
Kickoff return yards 72 21
Punts 4 4
Punting average 29.3 29.0
Punt return yards 10 17
Fumbles 2 1
Fumbles lost 2 1
Penalties 1 5
Yards penalized 11 59
Number of plays 37 50
Time of possession 18:58 29:02

Fitch 7 0 0 7‑14
Massillon 0 0 0 O_ 0

F ‑ Kamrad 31 pass from Siciliano (Ferraro kick)
F ‑ Kamrad 1 run (Ferraro kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATICS

Rushing
M – Stinson 13‑41, Seimetz 3-12, Copeland 2‑3, Hackenbracht 2‑3;
F – Kamrad 23‑105, Siciliano 9‑46, Turner 11‑13.

Passing
M – Danzy 5‑12‑1, 59;
F – Siciliano 2‑4-0, 43.

Receiving
M – May 2‑52, Elder 2,11;
F – Kamrad 1‑31, Moore: 1‑12.

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo Gameday

1992: Massillon 14, Cincinnati Moeller 24

Massillon bows, Rose vows comeback
Moeller sinks Tigers to 2-2; tough test at Fitch up next

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

A trace of blood tinged the top of the “4” on Andre Collins’ Cincinnati Moeller football jersey. Collins’ team had just overcome the Massillon Tigers 24-14 in front of 16,762 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Saturday night. In the process, the big junior running back became a walking symbol of his team’s series against the Massillon Tigers.

Program Cover

The outcome gave Moeller four victories over the Tigers in the last four years. The blood? Well, Moeller has extracted a pint or two from Tigertown. The Crusaders lead the all-time series seven games to none. A Collins has faced the Tigers in each of the last four games. In 1989 and ’90, Moeller’s hero was Andre’s brother, Carlos. Andre has suited up the last two years.

Andre hasn’t had the same impact as his brother. But the games have had a big impact on him. “This game means a lot,” said Andre, his brother rooms with ex-Tiger Eric Wright at the University of Kentucky. “I feel sad that it’s the last game between our teams. I enjoy playing here. Massillon has the greatest fans … probably in the nation.”

In the 1970s, Moeller may well have had the greatest high school teams in the nation. That is no longer the case. But the Crusaders of the ’90s are still a playoff-style team, if not an actual qualifier, every year.

Jack Rose’s Tigers are 2-2 heading into a Friday night game at Austintown, where Massillon has lost three straight times. Rose’s response to losing is anger and resolution. “We’re going to come back,” he told a large gathering of alumni late Saturday night at AMVETS Post 6.

Earlier, in the locker room after the loss, he vowed he and his staff will “get things to where we want them,” which wasn’t where they were Saturday. Yet, Rose conceded Moeller is an excellent team, well coached, more than adequately talented, and very smart.

If there were technical aspects of the game he could fault, he could not criticize his team’s effort. “We played hard,” Rose said, emphasizing the last word. “Our kids were really playing hard.”

In terms of having a shot at Moeller in the final moments of the fourth quarter, this was the Tigers’ second-best game of the series. In the 1990 game, Moeller won on a last-second touchdown recep­tion by Carlos Collins. In the ’91 game, the Tigers led by a point at halftime but faded down the stretch.

In Saturday’s battle, the Tigers put together a touchdown drive’ that turned a 10-point deficit into a precarious 17-14 Moeller lead with 6:19 left in the game.

Moeller clinched the win on a toss to tailback Brian Balsly, who raced 44 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. Balsly, who finished with 126 rushing yards, hobbled off the field earlier in the half. “It was back cramps,” he said. “I just played through them when I got back in.”

Moeller was coming off a loss to Covington Catholic. “That was a shame,” said Moeller head coach Steve Klonne, still tortured by a phantom (he thought) roughing-the-­kicker call set up Covington’s go-ahead touchdown. “This gets us back in the right frame of mind.” “I think this will get us going,” added Balsly. “I think we can go as far as we want to go”

The Tigers stopped Moeller in ‘the early going Saturday. Massillon had the first pos­session and punted, then Moeller did the same thing. The Tigers then used eight plays to cover 67 yards for a touchdown.

The big plays were a third­-and-eight scramble for a first down by quarterback Mike Danzy, and a 49-yard Danzy-­to-Alonzo Simpson pass play. On this series, safety Dan Hackenbracht joined Andre Stinson to form the Tiger backfield. It was Hackenbracht who scored from two yards out on third adown, following blocks by Matt Orr and Mark Miller.

Jason Brown’s kick made it 7-0 with 6:09 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers wound up with a 179-135 advantage in total offense in the first half. In the end, Moeller led 360-285.

The Crusaders began making inroads on their second posses­sion, on a drive consisting of runs of 8, 4, 3, 7, 5, 4, 6, 3 and 7 yards. There was only one pass in the mix, an incompletion that helped allow the Tigers to stop Moeller on fourth-and-one from the 18. Linebacker Jake Reed made the penetration that led to Andre Collins getting stopped.

The Tigers had a chance to take charge midway through the second quarter. A 35-yard run by Stinson gave them a first down on the 25. The chance pas­sed when Moeller held the Ti­gers right there on downs.

And, from there, Moeller cre­ated the field position that led to a tie at halftime. Moeller had perhaps its poorest passing night in the Massillon series, but the Crusaders did get a key 21-yard catch from 6-7 1/2-inch tight end Bob Brannen before having to punt deep into Massillon territory.

Following a Tiger punt, the Crusaders needed two plays to score from 54 yards out. Quar­terback Dan Feichtner found his favorite target, senior flanker Brad Hronek, for a 53-yard gain to the 1. Feichtner scored on the next play, and Brian Huston’s kick made it 7-7 with two minutes left in the half.

The Tigers missed another opportunity with a fumble near the Moeller 20 in the closing seconds of the half.

“We thought we were in field goal range one play before that,” Rose said. “We were trying to take one shot at the end zone before the kick. Obviously, it didn’t work out.”

Moeller went to work at the start of the third quarter, driv­ing 80 yards in nine plays – all runs. Feichtner again scored from a yard out. Huston’s kick made it 14-7 with 6:52 left in the third quarter.

“They were real methodic­al,” Rose said. “They were just taking it right at us, as we thought they would. Stopping them can be difficult. They’re big, they move well, and they execute well.”

Huston kicked a 20-yard field goal with 10:20 left in the game to make it 17-7.

The Tigers’ next possession got life on a 22-yard scramble by Danzy to the Moeller 46. A 19-yard completion to Todd Pe­ters took the Tigers into scoring territory.

Simpson almost made a spec­tacular, comeback catch at the 2 on a ball ruled incomplete. But on fourth-and-five, Simpson cut from left to right, underneath the secondary, and caught a Danzy pass which he carried to the 2. “We put that play (the pass to Simpson) in for this game,” Rose said.

Stinson scored from a yard out, Brown made the kick, and it was 17-14 with 6:19 left.

Moeller answered by moving 75 yards in six plays, the last of which was Balsly’s game clinching 44-yard TD run.

Now the Tigers will try to re­bound against Fitch, which im­proved to 3-1 Saturday with a 33-25 win over Lakewood St. Ed­ward. Fitch was upset in its opener, 14-10 by Youngstown Chaney, but bounced back to de­feat Mentor 17-0 and Erie Prep 13-0.

MOELLER 24
MASSILLON 12

MA MO
First downs rushing 6 14
First downs passing 6 3
First downs by penalty 2 1
Totals first downs 14 18
Net yards rushing 157 257
Net yards passing 128 103
Total yards gained 285 360
Passes attempted 26 1
Passes completed 9 4
Passes int. by 0 0
Kickoff average 48.0 56.8
Kickoff return yards 70 50
Punts 4 3
Punting average 35.8 29.7
Punt return yards 12 14
Fumbles 2 1
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 3 4
Yards penalized 35 40
Number of plays 63 57
Time of possession 22:14 25:46

Moeller 0 7 7 10 24
Massillon 7 0 0 7 14

MA – Hackenbracht 2 run (Brown kick)
MO – Feichtner 1 run (Huston kick)
MO – Feichtner 1 run (Huston kick)
MO – FG Huston 20
MA – Stinson 1 run (Brown kick)
MO – Balsly 44 run (Huston kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing
(MA) Copeland 9.39, Stinson 45, Danzy 15.62, Seimetz 1.9, Hackenbracht 42.
(MO) Lapham 10.42, Balsly 15.126, Collins 420, Bronner 8.73, Scholz 1-4, Feichtner 7 for minus-8.

Passing
(MA) Danzy 9-26-0, 128;
(MO) Feichtner 4-11-0, 103.

Receiving
(MA) Simpson 3-77, May 2-2 Copeland 1-8, Elder 1-3, Peters 2-11.
(MO) Hronek 2-69, Brannen 2-34.

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 13, Akron Garfield 14

Hard day’s night in Tigertown
Garfield rally provides 14‑13 upset

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

It rained Friday, hard enough, maybe, to wash tomorrow into today. For the Massillon Tigers, 14‑13 losers to Akron Garfield, tomorrow got here too soon.

“I told the team before the season, ” Tiger head coach Jack Rose said after his football team fell to 2‑1, “we would face a crisis sometime this season. “Obviously, it got here with this game. It’s tough.”

Program Cover

“But,” added Rose, “I really feel we’ll bounce back. We’ll have a good week of practice. Our kids will play hard … they’ll play as well as they can against Moeller.”
Cincinnati Moeller, 6‑0 in the all‑time series against the Tigers will pay a visit next Saturday to Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, where 9,950 saw last night’s game.

Meanwhile, tomorrow couldn’t have arrived at a better time for Garfield. “We use a lot of two‑way players,” explained Garfield head coach Bill McGee. “We want October to get here. Tonight felt like October.” It felt that way because of the rain, because it was cool. Consequently, some of the energy the two‑platoon Tigers might have sapped from the Rams on a hot day hung around.
It was there after the Tigers broke a 7‑7 halftime tie with a touchdown in the middle of the third quarter.

Garfield marched 59 yards after the ensuing kickoff . Junior running back Frank Idley scored from nine yards out with 2:25 left in the third quarter. Since the Tigers had misfired on the previous extra‑point kick attempt, Garfield’s Mark Glockner was able to give his team a 14‑13 lead by booting it through when it was his turn.

When the Tigers couldn’t keep moving on a fourth-quarter drive that pushed the ball to the Garfield 15‑yard line, the Rams toughened up and rode out the 14‑13 lead until it was the final score.

The rain couldn’t wash away yesterday. Not for Garfield’s senior quarterback, Joe Nemith. Nemith said a recurring thought kept flashing through his mind throughout the game. ”Sixty to 13,” was the thought, he said. “That’s all … 60 to 13.”

That was the score by which the Rams lost to the Tigers in 1991. “Our kids were highly motivated by that 60‑13 theme,” McGee said. “It was real embarrassing for us … not that Massillon ran it up, or anything like that. We just had one of our poorer teams.”

This year’s team is different. It has at least five seniors with a shot at landing a Division I college scholarship. It has sophomores who should keep the 2‑8 nightmare that was the 1991 season from happening again soon .
‘
“I’ve said all along they play harder this year,” Rose said. “They have a lot of talent. They have good speed and good balance.”
McGee, who says the goal of his team (now 2‑1) is to win the 1992 state title, returned the compliment. “I underestimated how physical a team Massillon is,” he said. “That was one of the harder‑hitting games we’ve played in a long time.”
There were a few hard feelings afterward. Most of Garfield’s players punctuated their post‑game celebration by dancing on the Obie the Tiger insignia on the middle of Massillon’s sand‑turf field.

By that time, most of the Tigers were near the locker room. Some of them saw the celebration and went out to meet it. There was some shoving, but the mini‑melee was quickly broken up. McGee didn’t endorse the actions of his team. “Get your fat (butt) back to the locker room,” he told one of his linemen.

But he understood it. “That was all about something that happened before the game,” he said. “Their players all congregated on the tiger. The problem was, they cross the 50‑yard line and pushed some of our players out of the way to do it.”

There were also some hard feelings in the stands. Some directed their anger at Rose, who is in his first year as Tiger head coach. “Go back to Kent State,” a few of them yelled. Rose was an assistant coach at Kent State before becoming the Tigers’ defensive coordinator in 1991.

The loss was tough on Rose. He looked like a man who had been up all night in the postgame locker room. But he is a tough man. He was composed as he assessed the loss.

“The main thing,” he said, “was that we kept shooting ourselves in the foot … penalties … turnovers … mistakes.”

The game was tense throughout. Garfield woke up the crowd right away when sophomore sensation Antoine Winfield returned the opening kickoff from his 8‑yard line to the Tigers’ 5 before Dan Hackenbracht brought him down. A clipping penalty on the return put the ball on Massillon’s 25, but Garfield needed only five plays to run it in. On third down from the 7, Winfield lined up at left halfback in the T‑formation (three back) offense, took an inside handoff, and streaked up the middle for a touchdown. Glockner’s kick made it 7‑0.

The Tigers wound up with only three first‑half possessions, which will happen against a good ball‑control team. They made it to the Garfield 15 on the first and to the Garfield 32 on the second, but didn’t score until the third.

Quarterback Mike Danzy threw a 31‑yard touchdown pass to tight end Todd Peters with 1:32 left in the half. Peters ran an end zone route and Danzy hit him with a well‑thrown bomb that barely eluded the sophomore, Winfield, who was streaking in front of him.

Jason Brown’s kick created a 7‑all halftime score.

Early in the third quarter, Tiger cornerback Scott Brediger recovered a Winfield (yes, the soph plays running back, too) fumble at the Garfield 35.

A holding penalty set up a third‑and‑19, and Danzy tried to hit flanker Alonzo Simpson on a post pattern near the goal line. Again it was the soph, Winfield, arriving on the scene to make the interception; however, Garfield was stuck with the ball on its own 4‑yard line.

Switching to running back, Winfield fumbled on second down and the Tigers’ Joel Smith recovered at the 1. Tiger senior Eugene Copeland scored on the next play, but Brown’s extra point try was wide left, and the Tigers led 13‑7 with 6:23 left in the third quarter.

Garfield drove 59 yards for the decisive points after the ensuing kickoff. A 9‑yard run by Frank Idley and the conversion kick made it 14‑13 with 2:25 left in the third quarter,

Key plays were a pair of 13‑yard completions from Nemith to senior end Eugene Lewis.

“They were bringing a strong safety to the strong side and I was throwing to the short side,” Nemith said. “We were in a spread formation and we’d send the tight end to the flats, up the seam.

Garfield then pulled a stunner by onside kicking, but the Tigers recovered near midfield.

The Tigers spent the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter driving the ball ‑ running it, mostly. A bootleg run of 17 yards gave the Tigers a first down on the 16. But two runs for a total of one yard and a holding penalty stalled the drive, then Danzy was sacked for a 19‑yard loss that was nearly worse than that. Danzy threw while he was going down and the ball was picked off by a Garfield lineman who would’ve had clear sailing to the end zone. The Tiger quarterback, though, was ruled down, as McGee scolded a Ram assistant coach who blew his stack over the ruling.

Garfield then staged a drive reminscent of 1987, the last time the Rams beat the Tigers. They completed a pass to loosen things up and otherwise used Idley and Winfield on runs. They took the ball from their own 17 to the Tiger 16. There was 2:43 left when B.J. Payne stopped Idley at the 16 on fourth down.

Danzy scrambled for a yard, then threw three incomplete passes. On fourth down, Danzy lobbed what seemed destined for a completion to Peters, but there he was again ‑Winfield ‑ flashing in to knock away the pass.

Garfield took over and ran out the clock. The Rams wound up with a 213‑160 advantage in total offensive yards. They got away with gridiron murder, fumbling six times, losing four of the cough‑ups. Idley was the workhorse, rushing 87 yards in 23 carries. Nemith didn’t pass much, but he did it effectively ‑ 5‑for‑6 for 58 yards.

Tiger running back Andre Stinson left the game in the first half with a bruised thigh and was replaced by Hackenbracht. Stinson returned in the second half and wound up with 48 yards in 11 carries. Hackenbracht was the Tigers’ second‑leading rusher with 42 yards in eight carries.

“It was a good game,” con­cluded Garfield’s coach, McGee. “We’re a good team. We win here occasionally.”

The Tigers, meanwhile, are a team facing a crisis: trying to rebound from a tough loss, and having to do it against Cincinna­ti Moeller.

GARFIELD 14
MASSILLON 13
M G
First downs rushing 8 10
First downs passing 2 4
First downs by penalty 1 1
Totals first downs 11 15
Net yards rushing 116 155
Net yards passing 44 58
Total yards gained 160 213
Passes attempted 14 6
Passes completed 3 5
Passes int. by 0 1
Kickoff average 44.0 31.7
Kickoff return yards 39 111
Punts 2 2
Punting average 33.0 40.0
Punt return yards 8 0
Fumbles 2 6
Fumbles lost 1 4
Penalties 5 6
Yards penalized 44 55
Number of plays 47 55
Time of possession 18:27 29:33

Alliance 7 0 7 0 14
Massillon 7 0 6 0 13

G ‑ Winfield 7 run (Glockner kick)
M ‑ Peters 31 pass from Danzy (Brown kick)
M ‑ Copeland 1 run (kick failed)
G ‑ Idley 9 run (Glockner kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
(M) Copeland 4‑12, Stinson 11 48, Danzy 5‑6, Seimetz 3‑7, Hackenbracht 842, Dixon 2‑1.
(G) Idley 23‑87, Campbell 3‑18, Nemith 8‑10, Winfield 15‑40.

PASSING
(M) Danzy 3‑14‑1, 44;
(G) Nemith 5‑6‑0, 58.

RECEIVING
(TD) Copeland 1‑5, Peters 2-39.
(G) Lewis 4‑42, Winfield 1‑16.

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 27, Walsh Jesuit 24

Massillon rallies again Tigers seem doomed, then rally for overtime win

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

It was over. Walsh Jesuit led 14-0 and had the game in the bag.

Then it was over again. Shut out through three quarters, Massillon caught some magic and led 21-14.

Program Cover

Roll over Beethoven. Walsh drove far and fast to make it 21-all and create overtime. Momentum City. Mo-town. Walsh stormed to the 1 in OT. It was over again.

On the other hand, Socrates (or Yogi Berra maybe), laid down the law long ago: It ain’t over “til it’s over.

A penalty made Walsh settle for a field goal and a 24-21 lead. Then the Tigers got their turn in overtime, and when it was real­ly over, they had won a 27-24 jaw-dropper in front of 11,731 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

In high school overtimes, each team gets a turn to run its offense 20 yards from the goal line. If they’re still tied after each team has taken a turn, they do it again. They could stay all night long taking turns.

However, Mike Danzy and Jerry May turned out the lights on the Warriors. Earlier, they had hooked up on a 59-yard touchdown pass. In overtime, on third-and-five with Walsh up by 3, they hooked up again. Danzy rolled right and threw a strike to May in the right corner of the end zone. All that was left was for May to wind up on the bottom of a flesh pile of celeb­rating teammates.

The Tigers, 2-0, locked them­selves in the locker room, sang the alma mater while standing on benches, and roared through a fire-breathing speech by head coach Jack Rose.

“This game,” Rose told them, “is going to make you guys tough to beat.”

Walsh, 1-1, has been through this before. In a 1989 playoff game, the Warriors led 24-7 in the third quarter before the Tigers staged one of the greatest comebacks in their history for a 42-24 win.

In some ways, last night’s game was more dramatic than the 1989 gut-buster, maybe be­cause the ’89 game wasn’t close at the end … because the ’92 game ended on the last play.

There were a lot of heroes, but then again, just one big Mr. Hero if you take a mouthful from Tiger senior Dan Hackenbracht to heart.

“We were playing OK until the fourth quarter, “Hackenbracht said. “Then everybody started playing for the team. There were no individuals play­ing out there. Just one team. There are no individuals on this ” team. It’s great to be a part of it.

“This game,” Hackenbracht concluded, “really brought us together.” A 75-yard punt return for a touchdown by Hackenbracht that created a 14-all tie with 4: 59 left in the fourth quarter helped the cause.

This from a guy who one week earlier couldn’t hang on to a punt in a 17-8 win over Alliance. And, yes, the bobbles bothered him.

“I couldn’t sleep all week,” Hackenbracht said. “I didn’t even know I’d be returning punts until tonight.”

Rose stuck with him. “He’s got a great ability to make that first tackler miss on a return,” Rose said. “That’s the key to breaking them.”

Hackenbracht was playing safety when he set up a Walsh punt by knifing in to break up a third-down pass over the middle. After the play, Hackenbracht faced the Walsh bench and engaged in some pleasant conversation.

“A few of their guys were saying, “They don’t want none … they ain’t nothin,” Hackenbracht said. “When I lined up to take the punt, I looked over to their bench. I saw three guys. Theycalled my name. I winked at them I just had a feeling.

“Then I just concentrated on looking the ball into my hands. I looked up and all I could see was a huge hole on the right. Then I saw gus throwing blocks. Eric Woods…Josh McElhaney. I don’t know who else.” He sprinted into the right corner of the end zone.

The turning point had come lake in the their quarter. Walsh had a 14-0 lead and was poised to put away the game after a late hit penalty gave the warriors the ball at the Massillon 31.
On first down, Tiger tackle Paul Schroeder intercepted a screen pass in the Walsh backfield and returned it to the Warrior 15, where he was run down by the intended receiver, Walsh tailback Andrae Martin.

“I just had a feeling about that play.” Schroeder said. “The coaches told us that if their line looked like it was letting us through to the quarterback, watchout for the screen. The quarterback (Matt Smith) looked me right in the eyes. All I saw was his eyes. Then he looked away. Then he looked back to my side and threw it.”

The Tigers took over late in the third quarter and wound up scoring with 9:30 left in the fourth … on fourth down from the 5 … on a diving catch card by Alonzo Simprion in the same spot where Hackenbracht scored on the punt return. And May caught the game winner in overtime.

Simpson’s clutch catch, fol­lowed by Jason Brown’s kick, made it 14-7.

Walsh’s best player, 6-5, 245­-pound tight end/linebacker Mike Vrabel, hopped off the field with a badly sprained ank­le on the next series. Then the tailback, Martin, perhaps the second-best player, was carried off. Still, Walsh drove near mid­field before the Tigers made the defensive stop, setting up Hack­enbracht’s punt return.

The breakaway TD ignited the crowd. The defense re­sponded with a quick stop. The Tigers got the ball back at their own 37 on a punt with 3:40 left. Walsh stopped two running plays, setting up a third-and­-six.

Danzy went back to pass and was rushed hard. “I was pretty close to getting sacked,” Danzy said, “but God gave me the ability to use my feet, and I broke contain.”

Meanwhile, May was getting open. “I started out as a decoy,” May said. “I saw Mike was get­ting rushed on my side and watched. I got open and he threw a strike.”

May put a nifty move on cornerback Brian Hopkins at the 35 to break into the clear. He dove into the end zone, did a belly smacker, then, as he put it, “puked.”

The TD play covered 59 yards. Brown’s kick made it 21-­14 with 2:17 left. Massillon athletic official Dave Null went to the locker room to help pre­pare for the victory celebration. He emerged after a few mo­ments saying, “What hap­pened?”

What happened was Smith, a second-year starter at quarter­back, kept his cool, completed some big passes (one a 17-yard completion on fourth-and-10), and drove Walsh 78 yards for a touchdown. Senior Chris McDonald caught a 27-yard touch­down pass with 19 seconds left. Junior Dave Regula converted the high-pressure kick to make it 21-all. Overtime.

The Tigers won the toss and elected to let Walsh’s offense – get the first crack from the 20. Martin, back in the game, stormed for eight yards on each of the next two plays. Then Walsh used two plays to pound the ball to the 1 on third down. A critical illegal procedure call ruined the touchdown opportunity. Jake Reed and Woods made the de­fensive stop on third-and-goal from the six. Then Regula booted a 24-yard field goal to give Walsh a 24-21 lead.

The Tigers then got the ball on the 20. Andre Stinson, who wound up with 88 rushing yards after amassing 85 yards last week, hammered for seven yards to the 12, but then was thrown for a two-yard loss on a run around the left side. That made it third and five – third and the ball game.

The Massillon coaches had noticed Walsh’s defense was paying special attention to the dangerous receiver, Simpson. They sent Simpson out on a curl.

“They were biting pretty hard (on fakes to Simpson),” noted Danzy. “Jerry was to go out and up (to the right corner of the end zone.” “We hadn’t run that play since last year,” May said. “I was playing quarterback then and it was my favorite play.”

The free safety left May and began to run toward Simpson, allowing May to break free. “It was a perfect throw,” said May, who caught the ball on the run, alone, in the end zone.

Walsh had managed to take a 7-0 halftime lead despite the fact the Tigers led 17:17 to 6:43 in time of possession.

The Warriors scored with 8:17 left in the second quarter on a 33-yard pass from Smith to senior wingback Mark Mason. The drive covered seven plays and 65 of Walsh’s 86 first-half yards.

Danzy’s scrambling high­lighted a Tiger drive that seemed destined to tie the game at halftime. It was third-and-­goal from the 1 with 2:15 left when Walsh called a timeout.

Walsh tackle Chris Giordano dumped Danzy for a 5-yard loss, then Brown was wide right on a 28-yard field goal try. The play call, a Danzy run in which he started backward, had many fans scratching their heads.

Rose said Danzy’s elusive­ness and the fact Walsh would be loaded up for an inside run (the Warriors wound up shifting Vrabel so he was nose-to-nose with 305-pound Tiger tackle Brandon Jackson) were behind the play call.

“I’m not going to second guess that one,” he said.

The Tigers got the ball first in the third quarter and drove be­fore a fumble set up Walsh’s second TD. The Warriors needed only five plays to cover 56 yards. The score came on an 18-yard pass from Smith to junior Brock Kreitzburg. Regula’s kick made it 14-0 with 5:30 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers appeared to be in deep trouble.
Of course, it wasn’t over.
By the time it was, Tigertown had gone head over heels for its ’92 team.

MASSILLON 27
WALSH 24
M W
First downs rushing 10 7
First downs passing 5 8
First downs by penalty 1 2
Totals first downs 16 17
Net yards rushing 140 122
Net yards passing 135 181
Total yards gained 275 303
Passes attempted 17 25
Passes completed 8 8
Passes 2 2
Kickoff average 42.0 53.8
Kickoff return yards 80 38
Punts 1 4
Punting average 30.0 36.5
Punt return yards 100 0
Fumbles 2 0
Fumbles lost 1 0
Penalties 5 4
Yards penalized 45 30
Number of plays 63 58
Time of possession 27:41 20:19

Walsh 0 7 7 7 3 17
Massillon 0 0 0 21 6 27

W – Mason 33 pass from Smith (Regula kick)
W – Kreitzburg 18 pass from Smith (Regula kick)
M – Simpson 5 pass from Danzy (Brown kick)
M – Hackenbracht 75 punt return (Brown kick)
M – May 59 pass from Danzy (Brown kick)
W – McDonald 27 pass from Smith (Regula kick)
W – FG Regula 24
M – May 15 pass from Danzy

Individual statistics

Rushing
(M) Stinson 26-88, Danzy 11-41, Copeland 7-11, Seimetz 1 -0.
(W) Martin 14-59, Smith 9-42, Lloyd 9-21.

Passing
(M) Danzy 8-17-2, 135;
(A) Smith 8-25-2,181.

Receiving
(M) Simpson 3-30, May 2-74, Copeland 2-16, Griffith 1-15.
(W) McDonald 2-­62, Mason 2-49, Vrabel 2-38, Kreitzburg 1-18, Lloyd 1-14.

Dan Hackenbracht
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1992: Massillon 17, Alliance 8

Tigers muddle through
It’s rough, but Rose wins No. 1
Danzy‑to‑Simpson connection key in 17‑8 Tiger victory

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

Jack Rose’s first Massillon football team staggered through a thorny debut but still managed to plant a 17‑8 loss on the Alliance Aviators Friday.

Program Cover

A crowd of 11,640 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium saw Massillon gain a 316‑208 edge in net offensive yards, a reflection of the relative closeness of the fray.

It was one of those games everyone expected the Tigers to win but was tighter than many expected, leaving the winners shaking their heads and the losers shaking their hoisted helmets.

“We weren’t satisfied with that performance,” Rose said.

He was talking about the reaction of his players, not just the coaches.

I like the fact the players weren’t satisfied,” Rose said. “It’s a young team. They want to improve.”

Alliance’s 243‑pound senior nose guard, Marlon Baker, led the Aviators’ post‑game pep rally.

“We’re gonna go 9 and 1,” Baker shouted as the Aviators gathered in a huddle on the field. “We’re gonna go 9‑1 and get another shot at ’em. We gotta work. Just a little bit more. A little bit more.”

Alliance head coach Phil Dorn, like Rose a first‑year pilot at a new school who has been a head coach elsewhere, was a graduate assistant at the University of Michigan in 1991.

“I’ve seen a lot of football,” Dorn told his team. ”I’ve coached in the Rose Bowl. I’ve coached with a Big Ten champion. Let me tell you. If you play hard like that all year, you’ll win the Federal League championship.”

Alliance spent the night throwing half a scare into the Tigers without ever making things extra spooky.

‘Tiger senior Jason Brown kicked a 20‑yard field goal on the third play of the second quarter to provide a 3‑0 lead.
Shortly after that, Massillon’s Scott Brediger intercepted an upfield bullet pass from Alliance junior quarterback Joe Brady and gave the Tigers possession 28 yards from the Aviator end zone.

Two plays later, Massillon junior quarterback Mike Danzy rolled right and lofted a pass into the end zone to 6‑foot‑2 junior receiver Alonzo Simpson , who is already starting to remind fans of 1989 Tiger senior Rameir Martin.

“The defensive back (senior Tamiko Hatcher) played me tight on the line (on the TD play),” Simpson said. “I got a quick start and got behind him. It was a TD route. I can’t explain it. I don’t think about it. I just run it.”

He was wide open for the catch. Danzy made a perfect throw. Brown kicked the extra point and it was 10‑0 with 7:54 left in the first half.

After that, a Tiger fumble and an Alliance interception set up two field goal attempts by 265‑pound placekicker Timiko Payton. Both had plenty of leg, but tries from 26 and 33 yards sailed wide.

The Tigers led 10‑0 at the half.

“I thought we started the game a little scared,” said Massillon senior running back Andre Stinson, who gained 68 of his 81 rushing yards in the second half. “We were better when we came off the field at the end of the half. I thought we, were OK in the second half.”

Alliance blew its first and best chance in the second half.

A 41‑yard pass from Brady to speedster Tony Townes put[ Alliance inside the 10 early in the third quarter. However, two dropped balls at the goal line preserved the Tigers’ 10‑0 lead. The first drop was an incompletion. The second was a completion to Townes at the 1. Townes seemed right at the goal line when he fumbled. Tiger senior Eric Woods recovered.

“That was a turning point, Dorn said.

Massillon’s offense clicked on the next two series. A 39‑yard run by Stinson was the highlight of a drive that ended on downs at the 10.

On the Tigers’ next possession, a 39‑yard bomb from Danzy to tight end Todd Peters put the ball on the 17. Two plays later, guard Scott Baumgardner threw a key block and running back Dan Hackenbracht did the rest, scooting around the right side for an 11‑yard touchdown run.

Brown’s P.A.T. boot made it 17‑0 with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.

Hackenbracht was a promising punt returner as a sophomore. He missed most of his junior year due to an injury. He had trouble handling punts last night, and fumbled one at midfield late in the game. Brady completed a bomb to set up a 1‑yard scoring run by junior Shawn Watson with 50 seconds left in the game.

“I wasn’t pleased with our kicking game,” Rose said. “Jason Brown had been punting real well in the preseason but didn’t do as well tonight. He’ll do much better.

“As for ‘Hack,’ maybe his motor was running too hard, this being the opener. He has great ability as a punt returner,”

Danzy, in his first varsity start, completed 6 of 14 passes for 155 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. He rushed 10 times for 33 yards.

Dorn, the Alliance coach, said part of his early strategy was to rattle Danzy.

“They played better defense than they had in their scrimmages,” Rose said. “They brought a lot of people. Sometimes they brought up four corner people. Sometimes they brought ’em up the middle.”

Observed Danzy, “I was kinda nervous before the game but I just tried to go with the flow and the nerves went away after awhile. We had some ups and downs, but we had some good moments for a first game.

Massillon’s defense was strong.

Things got off to a good start when Tiger junior tackle B.J. Payne made three tackles for losses in the first six minutes of the game.

At halftime, the Aviators had rushed just 19 yards on six attempts. Brady did manage 63 first‑half passing yards, but on only 5 completions in 14 throws ‑ and there was Brediger’s key interception.

Subtract Alliance’s last second 49‑yard TD drive set up by the Tiger fumble and the Aviators would have finished with just 159 total yards.

“We didn’t get the shutout, but I’m pleased with the defense … we ran to the ball,” Rose said. “You have to remember Hack and Eric Woods are our only two regulars back on the defense from last year. And it’s pretty much the same on offense. We have Brandon Jackson and Mark Miller back on the line but everybody else has a lot less experience,”

Brady wound up completing 9 passes in 23 attempts for 149 yards. Three went to Townes for 83 yards.

Simpson gave the Tigers 80 yards on three catches. A week earlier in a practice game against Lakewood, Simpson got the Tigers going with a long reception. It was the same thing against Alliance, The Tigers had to punt after their first two possessions, but Danzy threw to Simpson for 30 yards on the third possession to set up Brown’s field goal.

Rose’s game plan going in was to pund the ball inside on the run, considering Alliance’s defensive troubles in the preseason. The Tigers had 18 first‑ or second‑down plays in the first half, and 15 of them were runs. Ten of the plays went for two yards or less.

“Give Alliance credit,” Rose said. “They stepped it up.”

The Tigers will play at home again next Friday against Walsh Jesuit.

“That’ll be a good test,” Rose said. “They’ll be a lot more physical on defense than what we saw tonight. But I look for us to improve a lot.”

MASSILLON 17
ALLIANCE 8

M A
First downs rushing 7 4
First downs passing 5 5
First downs by penalty 1 1
Totals first downs 13 10
Not yards rushing 161 59
Net yards passing 155 149
Total yards gained 316 208
Passes attempted 14 23
Passes completed 6 9
Passes int. by 1 1
Kickoff average 53.3 37.0
Kickoff return yards 22 67
Punts 3 7
Punting average . 26.7 41.3
Punt return yards 6 0
Fumbles 4 1
Fumbles lost 2 1
Penalties 3 7
Yards penalized 25 55
Number of plays … 55 57
Time of possession 21:21 26:39

Massillon 0 10 7 0 17
Alliance 0 0 0 8 8

M ‑ FG Brown 20
M ‑ Simpson 27 pass from Danzy (Brown kick)
M ‑ Hackenbracht 11 run (Brown kick)
A ‑ Watson 1 run (Brady run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

(M) Copeland 9‑36, Stinson 15‑81, Danzy 10‑33, Seimetz 3‑3, Hackenbracht 3‑8.
(A) Smith 13‑16, Adger 3‑9, Watson 9‑34, Black 2‑10.

PASSING

(M) Danzy 6‑14‑1, 155.
(A) Brady 9‑23‑1, 149.

RECEIVING

(M) Simpson 3‑80, Peters 1‑39, May 1‑19, Stinson 1‑17,
(A) Black 4‑47, Smith 1‑13, Watson 1‑8, Townes 3‑81.

Dan Hackenbracht