Tag: <span>Dave Hodgson</span>

Massillon vs. McK - Throwback (Large) History

1997: Massillon 14, Canton McKinley 27

PUPS TOO TOUGH

Tigers make it a game, but McKinley prevails

Tigers throw scare into dogs with second-half turnaround

By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor

It started as if a rout was the order of the day. It ended with the Massillon Tigers giv­ing the McKinley Bulldogs a bit of a scare before succumb­ing 27‑14 in the 104th meeting between the two Ohio high school football giants in front of a full house at Hall of Fame Field at Fawcett Stadium in Canton this afternoon.

Program Cover

The Tigers went one‑two-­three punt on each of their first three possessions, while McKinley put together scor­ing drives of 4, 11 and 11 plays to jump to a 21‑0 lead early in the second quarter. At that point, the Bulldogs seemed very deserving of their No. 1 rating in USA Today’s national high school rankings.

But a funny thing happened to the Pups on their way to a blowout. Massillon’s out­manned Tigers, riding the grit and savvy of quarterback Tip Danzy, the hard running of fullback Dave Hodgson and a defense that wouldn’t quit when it was down, made it a game and then some.

“The kids came back and we made a few adjustments at halftime,” said Tigers coach Jack Rose. “I told them a less­er team would have thrown in the towel when it was 27‑7 at halftime and get blown out.

“There’s no quit in these young men. They carne out in the second half and played their hearts out.”

McKinley bench boss Thom McDaniels did not want to hear any talk of his team let­ting down after building a three touchdown lead at the intermission.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1997

“I don’t think we let down,” he said. “I think we got a little sloppy in the second half. I think our execution dimin­ished, but I don’t think there was any kind of a conscious letdown. We just didn’t play as well.

“The team on the other side of the field was good. Again, you have to maintain concen­tration and try to execute for 48 minutes. We had our lapses primarily with penalties we had some really inoppor­tune penalties.”

The Tigers got excellent field position when Julian Miller returned the opening kickoff to the Tiger 44, but three plays and just two yards later were forced to punt. McKinley took over at its 45 after an 18 yard return by Fred Wilcox.

On third‑and‑six from the 49, Ben McDaniels found Matt Curry on a short slant pattern, and Curry did the rest, sprinting across the grain to the Tiger 26. On the next play, DeMarlo Rozier took a pitch around left end and outran the Massillon defense to the end zone. Phil Armatas’ conver­sion kick made it 7‑0 McKinley at 9:22 of the first period.

Game Action vs. Canton McKinley 1997

Once again Miller ‑ and a facemask penalty on the Pups ‑ gave the Tigers good field position at their 45. But Massillon could pick up just five yards in three snaps and were forced to punt.

Rozier got the ball on the first four snaps of McKinley’s second possession, as the Bulldogs moved from their 29 to just beyond midfield. Then McDaniels bootlegged left and hit Wilcox for 22 yards to the Tigers 26. Rozier again got the ball on four consecutive snaps, setting up second and goal at the Massillon 8. McDaniels scrambled for five yards to the 3, before Isaiah Robinson found a small hole over right guard and scored the second TD of the game.

Armatas was again true with the PAT and McKinley, led 14‑0 at 2:59 of the first quarter.

McKinley’s third touch­down drive again followed a Massillon punt and began at its 41. A third down roughing the passer penalty gave the march life at the Tigers 40. On third and four from the 34, Rozier ripped off a nine‑yard gain over left guard for a first down at the 25.

McDaniels hooked up with Curry for 11 yards to the 16 and three plays later Rozier burst through a hole over his right guard and into the end zone from seven yards out. Armatas capped off the 11­play drive with the PAT at 9:33 of the second quarter to make it 21‑0 and McKinley fans were ready to party.

It looked like they’d get their chance after Massillon again couldn’t move the foot­ball and was forced to punt from its 18. But Josh Hill turned the game around by slicing through the McKinley offensive line to nail Richard Bradley for an 11‑yard loss on a sweep play. Josh Kreider forced McKinley to punt by bringing Bradley down in the open field after he snared a McDaniels third‑down pass in the flat.

“What happened defensive­ly is we finally adapted to their speed,” explained Rose. “Initially we were taken aback a little. They have such great speed and it is difficult to simulate that in practice. Once we got in the flow a little bit, we did better.”

Massillon took over at its 27 after McKinley punted. Hodgson got the ball on four straight plays and picked up 25 yards, including 13 on a draw play that moved the ball to the McKinley 48. On third and 10, Danzy dropped back to pass, saw a seam open up in the middle, and took off for an 11-yard gain and a first down.

Then Danzy found Andy Cocklin on the right sideline for 16 yards. A late hit flag on McKinley moved the ball to the 10. After a first down play lost four yards, Danzy again dropped back and again saw the red sea of Bulldogs jer­seys part. He never hesitated, sprinting 14 yards to paydirt and Massillon was on the board at 21‑7 with 2:37 left in the half.

The rejuvenated Massillon defense stopped McKinley after a couple first downs and forced the punt. But Massillon couldn’t move the football either and was forced to punt from its 24 with under :30 left in the half.

Les Thompson broke through the Tigers blocking scheme and blocked Luke Shilling’s kick. Robinson scooped up the ball at the 15 and raced to the end zone for the back breaking touchdown. A missed PAT made it 27‑7 at halftime.

“The last thing we wanted was to fall behind by three touchdowns to this team,” Rose said. “I said that earlier in the week.

“The blocked punt really hurt, but we had a couple plays there that if we would have executed them, we wouldn’t be punting. In a big game like this, you have to execute every time and we had a few plays where we did­n’t get the job done.”

Massillon stuffed McKinley on the Bulldogs first posses­sion of the second half. The Tigers then moved from their 33 to McKinley’s 30, where they faced a pivotal fourth-­and‑one. But the option blew up in their face for a seven­ yard loss and a scoring oppor­tunity went by the wayside.

McKinley’s next two series’ ended in a punt and a missed field goal, the latter setting the Tigers up at their own 20. After Massillon gained a first down at the 31, Hodgson raced 18 yards on a draw play and a personal foul on McKinley moved the ball into Bulldog territory at the 42. On third and seven from the 39, Danzy rolled left, then scram­bled back to the right and finally found Christian Morgan over the middle for a 21‑yard gain to the 18.

Hodgson again made the Pups pay for their over‑pur­suit by grinding out 12 yards on the draw to the McKinley 5. One play later, Danzy rolled left and completed a pass to Neil Buckosh in the end zone for the touchdown. Josh Hose was true with the PAT kick and it was McKinley 27, Massillon 14 with 10:37 to play.

The Massillon defense, smelling blood now, again shut down the McKinley attack on three plays to force a punt that Kreider fair caught at the Tiger 34. On third and four from the 40, Danzy and Hodgson executed the shovel pass to perfection to pick up 15 yards to the Bulldogs 45 and the locals were rolling.

Danzy dropped back to throw on second and seven. Tyrie Clifford made a twisting grab of the wounded duck at the McKinley 8 and the Bulldogs faithful were con­cerned.

But the Tigers failed to exe­cute a handoff following an audible on the next snap and McKinley’s Mike Doss came up with the fumble to quell the threat and effectively secure a perfect 10‑0 regular season for the Pups.

Again the Tigers could have rolled over. There was still nearly seven minutes to play in the contest and the Bulldogs would’ve loved noth­ing more than to tack on another touchdown, just for celebration purposes.

But the Massillon defense stood tall and gave the offense another shot in the waning moments. Danzy was standing in the pocket still pitching at the final gun, not willing to concede anything, even in defeat.

As the Tigers trudged off the field, there was no griping from the Massillon fans. Just thank‑yous for making a game against the nation’s top ranked high school football team.

“I’ve got to give our fans a lot of credit,” Rose concluded. “They hung in there with us today the entire time. The team appreciated that and I did, too. The fans were a great help in this.”

McKinley 27, Massillon 14
Massilion McKinley
First downs rushing 9 9
First downs passing 6 5
First downs by penalty 0 3
total first downs 15 17
rushing yards 146 183
passing Yards 151 134
total offense 297 317
passing attempts 31 23
completions 15 13
touchdown passes 1 0
interceptions 1 0
punts 6 6
punting average 26.3 37.5
fumbles 5 2
fumbles lost 2 0
Penalties 5 8
yards penalized 57 86

QUARTER SCORES 1 2 3 4
Massillon 0 7 0 7 14
McKinley 14 13 0 0 27

Massillon rushing:
Morgan 5‑0
Hodgson 18‑109
Danzy 8‑26
Spicer 1-11
McKinley rushing:
Rozier 23‑141
McDaniels 4‑12
Robinson 2 6
Doss 3‑3
Bradley 8‑21
Massillon passing:
Danzy 15‑31 151 yards 1 TD,
McKinley Passing:
McDanels 13‑23 134 yards

Massillon receiving:
Morgan 4‑34
Venables 1‑4
Cocklin 2‑19
Hodgson 3‑25
Clifford 4‑64
Buckush 1‑5
McKinley receiving:
Curry 6‑83
Rozier 3‑25
Wilcox 1‑22
Bradley 1‑3
Robinson 1‑(2)
Lucrus 1 3


Jared Stefanko

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1997: Massillon 41, Canton Central Catholic 6

Tigers unveil aerial attack

By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers accom­plished three things with Satur­day’s 41‑6 dismantling of the Central Catholic Crusaders in front 11,350 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Program Cover

First, they improved to 6‑1 on the season, leaving the door open for their fourth post‑season playoff berth in the last five campaigns.

Second, Massillon won its 700th game in the storied histo­ry of America’s most famous high school football program.

Third, by flashing an effec­tive passing game to go along with their already established running attack, the Tigers gave Cincinnati Moeller something else to think about as they pre­pare for a showdown of Ohio gridiron giants this coming Sat­uday at Nippert Stadium in the Queen City.

Massillon generated 365 yards of total offense against Central Catholic, 130 of that through the air. Starting quarterback Tip Danzy completed 10 of 17 aerials for 120 yards and a touchdown as the Tigers had their first proficient pass­ing game of the 1997 campaign. Another TD pass was dropped in the end zone.

“They threw it better than we’ve seen them throw it all year,” said Crusaders head coach Lowell Klinefelter.

Danzy deferred the praise for his big night to his receivers and the Massillon coaching staff.

“Coach told us we were going to throw the ball,” Danzy said afterward. “They called the pass plays, I did my best to go Out and execute them and the receivers did a good job of catching the ball tonight.”

“We threw ball better tonight,” understated Tigers coach Jack Rose. “We’re trying to loosen up the defense. We wanted to throw a couple deep balls on them early. We wanted to hit them and more important to get them back off the line of scrimmage.”

Rose indicated a couple of the pass plays were ad libbed.

“We threw to a couple guys because they were uncovered,” he revealed. “We tell the quar­terback anytime he sees guys uncovered to get the ball out to them and let them do what they can.”

Of course, the Massillon run­ning attack was not ignored. The Tigers put up 235 net yards rushing, led by Christian Mor­gan’s 141 yards in 17 carries.

The senior tailback, who has rushed for 781 yards this sea­son, set the tone for the game with a 66‑yard touchdown run off an option pitch around left end on the hosts’ first play from scrimmage. Josh Hose’s con­version kick made it 7‑0 at the 10:43 mark of the first period.

“That play kind of took the wind out of our sails early,” Klinefelter said.

Actually, Central regrouped pretty well from the Tigers early strike, marching from its 34 to the Massillon 6 on 10 plays. But Josh Kreider killed the drive and dashed the Cru­saders hopes for an upset with an interception in the end zone at 6:25 of the first quarter.

Massillon got another big play early in the second quar­ter, this time from its special teams when Jamie Allman blocked a Central Catholic punt and recovered the ball at the Crusaders’ 25 yard line.

Mike James made a leaping catch of a Danzy pop pass over the middle for a first down at the Central 14. But the drive stalled and Hose ‑ after two consecutive false start flags ‑ boomed a 37‑yard field goal to make it a 10‑0 game at 8:01 of the second quarter.

Central couldn’t get anything going on its next possession and punted the ball away, the Tigers taking over at midfield. On the fifth snap of the drive, Danzy kept the football on the option around the right side and found a seam in the Cru­saders defense. He finally stopped running when he hit pay dirt 28‑yards later. Hose was true with the PAT and Mas­sillon led 17‑0 with 4:22 to go in the half.

“I prefer to run the ball and the cutback is my favorite move,” Danzy said. “There was nobody back there but the safety so I took the opportunity to get into the end zone.”

“Tip’s getting better,” Rose said. “And our offensive line is maturing and that’s giving him sonic opportunities to make some plays.”

Massillon polished up the passing game on its next pos­session, which began near mid­field. On a fourth-and six, Danzy rolled right and hit Clint Dean along the right sideline for 12 yards and a first down. On the next play, Danzy bootlegged left and hooked up with tight end Seth Venables for 13 more yards to the Central 18.

The senior signal caller com­pleted his next two throws, but penalties set up a first and goal from the Central 21. Danzy again ran the bootleg, this time to the right, and found Dave Hodgson at the 4. The senior fullback did the rest, running over a Central defender at the 1 for the touchdown. Hose’s kick made it 24‑0 Massillon with 1:20 to play in the first half.

Central Catholic came right back, just as Walsh Jesuit did the previous week, scoring a touchdown through the air in the waning seconds of the half. Mike Bajornas, who displayed a deft touch most of the evening when he had time to throw, found Jerrit Marsh at the goal line. Marsh came down with the ball amidst three Tiger defenders for the score and it was 24‑6 at the break.

Danzy scored again on a three‑yard run that capped an 8‑play, 62‑yard drive on Massillon’s first possession of the sec­ond half, effectively putting the game away at 31‑6 midway through the third quarter.

Hose’s 27‑yard field goal at 5:02 of the third and Ron Lynn’s 16‑yard interception return for a TD with just over three min­utes to play closed the scoring.

Rose was encouraged by the Tigers lack of turnovers (one interception, no lost fumbles), but was not pleased with his charges’ nine penalties for 80 yards. Two Massillon TD’s were negated by penalty flags.

“We have to play error free to beat Moeller,” Rose said. “We can’t have penalties like we did tonight. We’re taking care of the ball better now. We’re starting to demonstrate we can hold on to it. What worries me is the penalties are hurting us on big plays. This offense has big play potential but we can’t miss big plays due to penalties. It flattens us out.”


Jared Stefanko

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1997: Massillon 34, Austintown Fitch 6

Tigers run over, around Fitch

Hodgson’s 3 touchdowns do the trick

By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers sent a message to the five teams that await them the second half of the 1997 high school football season.

Program Cover

Key on tailback Christian Morgan and Massillon is going to serve up mega‑doses of full­back Dave Hodgson until the defense changes its game plan.

Hodgson, a 5‑10, 205‑pound senior, rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns in 15 carries to lift the Tigers past Austintown Fitch 34‑6 in front of 7,862 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Friday. For good measure, he added a third TD on a 15‑yard pass from Tip Danzy.

It wasn’t as if Morgan was a non‑factor. The 6‑4, 215‑pound senior toted the football 30 times for 151 yards and a touch­down as Massillon’s offensive front was in control of the line of scrimmage practically all night long.

But Hodgson was clearly the spark for Massillon, which fin­ishes the first half of the campaign at 4‑1.

“Massillon’s known for running the tailback,” Hodgson said. “I just want to put our opponents on notice that both of our backs can run the ball. That should take some pressure off Christian. We spread it out a lit­tle bit, the coaches did a great job of picking the right plays and our line did a great job of blocking.”

“It’s like pick your poison,” said Tigers boss Jack Rose. “You want to defend the flanks, we’ll just rip the fullback up in there. If you want to close down in there and stop the fullback, we’ll come out around the cor­ner with it and pitch it.

“Our line is doing a good job of getting on people who can run and we just run around guys who can’t. As long as we continue to do that we have a chance to move the ball.”

Move the ball the Tigers did racking up 422 yards of total offense ‑ including 382 yards on the ground. Massillon averaged over six yards per rushing play and converted 5 of 11 third downs into first downs.

For the first time since their opener against Cardoza, the Tigers won the time of possession battle, 25:23 to 22:37.

But the turnover monster continues to rear its ugly head. Massillon had three first half giveaways or it would have held a much more substantial lead at halftime than the 7‑6 tally on the scoreboard. Overall, Massillon fumbled the ball seven times, losing three. The Tigers also had a pass intercepted.

“The way the game started it looked like it was going to be one thing after another,” Rose said. “Three turnovers in the first half, two touchdowns called back on penalties. It’s frustrating really.”

“The nature of this offense is we’re going to put the ball on the ground. It’s going to hap­pen. When you start tossing that thing around out there with people flying around, its going to happen. What bothers me is the unforced fumbles. It appears sometimes it’s a con­centration thing. That’s some­thing that has to be change the second half of the season or we’re going to give our defense a hole they can’t get out of.”

The Tigers did just that on the opening kickoff, fumbling the football away at the 1‑yard line, The Massillon defense bowed its neck, stopping Fitch cold on three straight snaps, before quarterback Michael Reynolds swept around right end for the touchdown at 9:58 of the first period. A running play out of PAT formation failed and the Falcons led 6‑0.

The Tigers moved from their 39 to the Fitch 30 on their first possession, but failed to con­vert a fourth and four and turned the ball back over to the visitors.

The Falcons got one first down but punted the ball away and Massillon began its initial scoring drive from its 30. On second down, Hodgson picked up 16 yards to midfield on a counter play out of the offset I.

Morgan added 11 more to the Fitch 35 on a pitch around right end and Hodgson found a hole over right guard for 13 yards down to the 24. Two snaps later, Hodgson hammered into the line, popped out to the left side­line and raced 15 yards to the end zone. Josh Hose’s kick made it 7‑6 Massillon at 3:02 of the first.

“We put a counter in this week because the coaches said we couldn’t run the trap from the I‑set,” Hodgson revealed. “Running off the guard and up the middle worked best.”

“The line deserves a lot of credit. They’re doing a great job of coming off the ball and moving the front.”

Fitch took the second half kickoff, but turned the ball over when Josh Kreider tipped a Reynolds pass and Corey Ball came up with the interception at the Falcons 40.

On second down, Morgan took an pitch from Danzy on an option play around right end, exploded through a seam creat­ed by a fine block by Hodgson and motored 37 yards for the touchdown. The conversion kick failed and the Tigers led 13-6 at 9:45 of the third quarter.

Massillon fumbled the ball way on its second possession of the second half, but marched 77 yards in 11 plays the next time it had the football. The drive was keyed by Danzy’s 17-­yard completion to Hodgson and Hodgson’s 36‑yard burst off right guard that moved the ball to the Fitch 16.

Three plays later, Danzy ­again found Hodgson in the right flat. The burly fullback looked to be stopped at the 3, but clawed his way into the end zone. Hose’s kick made it 20‑6 Massillon at 6:02 of the fourth.

“We ran the boot pass a lot today,” Hodgson said. “We weren’t running it at the begin­ning of the year. But I got on the coaches to run it. As junior var­sity players last year, Tip and I were successful running that.”

Hodgson made it 27‑6 with a 23‑yard touchdown, run over right guard and tackle, capping off an eight‑play, 42‑yard drive with 2:19 left to play.

Junior quarterback Tom Fichter’s 33-yard scoring scam­per with 37 seconds left to play put the finishing touches on the Falcons.

As impressive as the Massillon offense was, the defense again was in command. It yielded just five first downs and 75 total yards of offense. The Tigers held Fitch to an average of less than one yard per rushing play.

“I think it was our best game of the season defensively,” said cornerback Jamie Allman “We played as a team. No matter what happened on the other side of the ball, we kept our
heads in it.

“We’re getting a lot better. Mentally, it’s a big thing. When we get our heads in the game, we’re pretty good. When the mental part comes, the physical part comes with it.”

“The first four weeks we have physically handled every­body,” said Fitch coach Brian Fedyski. “Today, Massillon came ready to play and they handled us up front. Credit to Massillon’s staff and team.”

MASSILLON 34
FITCH 6
M F
First downs rushing 18 2
First downs passing 2 3
First downs penalty 3 0
TOTAL First downs 23 5
Net yards rushing 382 28
Net yards passing 40 47
TOTAL yards 422 75
Passes attempted 8 14
Passes completed 3 5
Passes intercepted 1 3
Punts 2 5
Punting average 28 36.8
Fumbles/Lost 7/3 1/1
Penalties 10 11
Yards penalized 136 93

MASSILLON 7 0 6 21 34
FITCH 6 0 0 0 6

SCORING
F ‑ Reynolds 2 run (Run failed)
M ‑ Hodgson 15 run (Hose kick)
M ‑ Morgan 36 run (Kick failed)
M ‑ Hodgson 16 pass from Danzy (Hose kick)
M ‑ Hodgson 23 run (Hose kick)
M ‑ Fichter 33 run (Hose kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Massillon rushing:
Hodgson 15‑153,
Morgan 30‑151,
Danzy 10‑38.
Fitch rushing:
Wilson 13‑36,
Reynolds 14­-16.

Massillon passing:
Danzy 3‑8‑40 1 TD, 1 INT.
Fitch passing:
Reynolds 4‑12‑36, 2 INTs.

Massillon receiving:
Hodgson 2‑34, Kreider 1_15~
Fitch receiving:
Jarvis 2‑18,
Wellington 2-18,
McDougal 1-11.


Jared Stefanko

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1996: Massillon 20, Cincinnati Moeller 15

Tigers are too legit to quit

By TODD PORTER
Repository sports writer

MASSILLON ‑ The Game lived up to its hype.

So did the Massillon Tigers.

When it was gut‑check time, the Tigers laid it on the line against Cincinnati Moeller Saturday night in The Repos­itory Game of the Week.

The unlikeliest of heros ‑ a second‑string fullback ‑ led the top‑ranked Tigers to a 20‑15 win over perennial pain‑in‑the‑neck Moeller.

Program Cover

Junior fullback Dave Hodg­son broke a 74‑yard trap play that hit Moeller like a sledge­hammer as the Tigers defeated the Crusaders for the second year in a row in front of 13,102.

“I never would have expected (Hodgson) would be the guy that decided this game,” Massillon head coach Jack Rose said. “Dave has some speed. It was an unbelievable run.”

Beating Moeller finally gave Massillon the “L” it has been searching for: Legitimacy.

“It seems like we haven’t got­ten a lot of respect lately,” said Rose, whose players noticed they were 6‑3 underdogs in The Repository.

“I think they deserve it,” Moeller head coach Steve Klonne said. “Rankings are rankings and they don’t mean a thing unless you play like the No. 1 team in the state come the playoffs.”

The win against No. 7 Moeller will assure Massillon of keeping its No. 1 ranking by the Assoc­iated Press. Depending how Massillon’s opponents did over the weekend, the win should help the Tigers in their quest to break Cleveland St. Ignatius’ computer‑point record of 450.45 last year. The Tigers should have close to 300 with two weeks left to play.

The victory all but assures Massillon of a playoff spot, too. It didn’t come easy, though.

It was a game of momentum swings and emotional highs and lows.

When it looked like Massillon fans would have to sit through the final two minutes of torture and possibly watch one of those famous Moeller comebacks, the Crusaders ended that night­mare.

Massillon’s Eric Lightfoot punted to the Crusaders with less than three minutes to play. However, Moeller’s Tony Ham­ilton had already fumbled away one punt in the first half.

He did it again when the gamer mattered most.

“I really feel sorry for the play,” Klonne said. “It happen­ed to him twice. We win as a team and we lose as a team. We had a lot of mistakes.”

Moeller fumbled the ball five times and lost three of those. The two teams combined for eight fumbles in a constant mist.

Not rain, snow, nor a brick wall could have brought down the 5‑foot‑8, 180‑pound Hodg­son.

Hodgson took the trap hand­off, which had been very suc­cessful against Moeller all night, broke three tackles near line of scrimmage, and out­ran Moeller to the end zone.

“I’m the second‑string full­back,” Hodgson said, “there wasn’t anything or anyone that was going to stop me once I got going. I really had myself be­lieving I could run through a brick wall.”

Massillon didn’t do itself any favors as soon as the game started. On the first play from scrimmage, Tigers’ tailback Christian Morgan fumbled at the Massillon 14.

Moeller took a 6‑0 lead when Tom Pucke scored from a yard out. The PAT was blocked.

“That’s not the kind of start we had in mind,” Rose said.

Massillon then put together an 11~play‑drive that stalled at the Moeller 49. After a Massil­lon punt, the Crusaders had the ball in their own 5. Three plays later, Massillon defensive back Josh Kreider picked off a Ryan Cooper pass at the. seven and took it in for the first Massillon score. Josh Hose’s PAT gave Massillon a 7‑6 lead.

Massillon took a 13‑9 lead when the Tigers silenced a gambling Moeller defense that sent defensive ends almost every play. Massillon quarter­back Ben Hymes, sprinted to his left, and handed off to tail­back Elijah Blake, who took the sprint draw play 35 yards for the Tigers’ TD. That drive took Massillon all of 28 seconds to go 73 yards.

Moeller’s Pucke also had field goals of 32 and 45 yards that made the score 13‑12 Mas­sillon at halftime. He nailed a 46 yarder that had plenty of dis­tance in the fourth.

“I have to give our defense a lot of credit,” Rose said. “They won this one.”

The Massillon defense held Moeller to 240 total yards, 96 in the second half.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a lot,” Klonne said. “Massillon deserves credit. They were opportunistic.”

at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
Cincinnati Moeller 6 6 0 3 15
Massillon 7 6 0 7 20

Mo ‑ Price 1 run (kick failed)
Ma ‑ Kreider 10 interception return (Hose kick)
Mo ‑ FG Pucke 32
Ma ‑ Blake 35 run (run failed)
Mo ‑ FG Pucke 45
Ma ‑ Hodgson 74 run (Hose kick)
Mo ‑ FG Pucke 46

Team statistics

Rushing:
Massillon 40‑208,
Moeller 39‑147.

Passing:
Massillon 4‑10‑0,26 yards;
Moeller 8‑20‑1, 93 yards.

First downs:
Massillon 10,
Moeller 14.

Fumbles‑lost:
Massillon 3,1;
Moeller 5‑3.

Records:
Massillon 8‑0;
Cincinnati Moeller 6‑2.


Paul Salvino