Massillon defeats Niles McKinley 25‑12 Tigers cash in on Dragon’s turnovers
By ROLLIE DREUSSI Independent Sports Editor
“We’re just glad that one’s over with,” Tiger coach Mike Currence said after his team’s 25‑12 win over Niles McKinley before 8,919 fans Friday night in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
“That certainly wasn’t our regular crew out there,” he added.
The Tigers, going with a patchwork lineup due to numerous injuries on defense, converted three of five Red Dragon turnovers into touchdowns as they raced to a 25‑0 lead.
The Red Dragons refused to fold, however, and rallied for a pair of touchdowns before it was over.
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“We’re proud of our kids,” said Niles coach Jack Pierson. “If it weren’t for the dog‑gone mistakes we’d have been in the ball game.
As it was, a couple of mistakes by the Tigers allowed the Dragons to get back in the ball game in the second half.
A blocked punt set up Niles’ first score, and a failure to convert on a fourth‑and‑one play from their own 39 cost the Tigers another score.
But the Tigers’ last three touchdowns were set up by Dragon mistakes ‑ one fumble and two interceptions.
“We were playing with a lot of different people in there,” Currence noted. “For the most part they did a good job. It was our decisions on some of those plays that hurt us.”
One was going for the first down on fourth‑and‑one at their own 39.
“We should have punted the ball. But we had it and we wanted to control it. We just overestimated our ability. When you get a big lead, sometimes your willing to take a risk. We should have been more conservative.
Currence said one good thing about the game was he was able to rest many of his injured regulars.
“In a way I’m happy (getting to rest some players), but I’m not pleased with our mental discipline in the second half. Hopefully next week we’ll be healthy.
“We’ve got to start putting it together,” he added, referring not to next Friday’s game against Mansfield Senior but the Nov. 7 clash with 8‑0 Canton McKinley.
The Tigers are now 6‑2 and Niles falls to 3‑4‑1.
Massillon had control of the game from the opening kickoff when it drove 73 yards in 14 plays with fullback Greg Grimsley bulling over from a yard out. Greg Radtka’s kick made it 7‑0 with 5:36 left in the initial quarter.
Grimsley gained 23 yards in eight carries in the drive and quarterback Rick Spielman gained 23 in three carries and also completed a 19‑yard pass to Robert Oliver on a third‑and‑six play.
After an exchange of punts, Tiger junior tackle Sam Clark ‑ starting in place of the injured Joe Peters – recovered a fumble at the Niles eight yard line following a bungled handoff.
Oliver swept left end on the next play for a 13‑0 lead. Radtka’s kick was wide right.
Rodney Hill, a senior defensive halfback, set up the next Tiger score when he intercepted an Ed Kurowski pass at his own 15 and returned it 11 yards.
The Tigers then drove 74 yards in five plays as Spielman found Gary Conley wide open in the end‑zone with a 32‑yard TD pass. Spielman’s run for the extra points failed and the Tigers led 19‑0 with 6:33 to play in the half.
Key plays in the drive were a 27‑yard pass from Spielman to senior wide receiver Dan Ricker and a 24‑yard run by senior halfback George Roknich.
It took the Tigers only three plays to come up with another turnover at the start of the third quarter. On a third‑and‑five play at their own 46, Chris Spielman intercepted Pat Holmes’ pass at the Niles 48 and returned it 27 yards.
Five plays and a pass interference penalty later the Tigers had a 25‑0 lead on Grimsley’s one‑yard run. A pass for the extra points failed, and with 7:51 to play in the third quarter it looked like the route was on.
But somebody forgot to tell the Red Dragons they were out of it, and they used some inspired play to get back in the game.
Chuck Canann blocked a punt by Massillon’s Scott Zupp, and the ball rolled out of bounds at the Tiger 16.
Following an incomplete pass, Jeff Wrataric rambled 12 yards and speedy little Tim Trifilette (5‑4, 130) covered the final four for the tally with :09 left in the third quarter.
Senior George Nikitenko, the Tigers’ offensive center, was in on defense to help fill a hole caused by injuries, and he intercepted Holmes’ pass on the extra points try.
The Tigers then decided to grind it out and get the game over with, but the charged up Niles’ defense stopped Grimsley on third‑and‑one and Spielman was sacked back at his own 31 on fourth down.
Facing a third‑and‑one at the Tiger 22, Trifilette scooted 21 yards around right end to the one yard line, and Carmen Cicero took it in on the next play with 9:05 to play in the game. A run for the points after failed, and it was 25-12.
The Tiger defense stiffened thereafter, however, and Mark Haubert ended the game with an interception at his own 20 as time expired.
The Dragons had one other turnover, a fumble recovered by defensive end Tony Morelli.
Niles lost its top two quarterbacks to injury as Floyd Davis injured his knee and Kurowski reinjured his collar‑bone.
The statistics were fairly even except for two categories: turnovers and points, Massillon never turned the ball over while Niles did it five times.
The Tigers had 140 yards rushing and 91 passing and Niles had 105 rushing and 86 passing. Massillon had 13 first downs and Niles had 11.
Individually, Spielman completed four of nine passes (he threw only one in the second half) for 91 yards and a touchdown, his eighth of the season.
Grimsley gained 63 yards in 20 carries. Spielman, despite two sacks for 16 yards in losses, gained 31 yards in eight carries. He had 137 yards In total offense in the first half.
The Tigers will host the Mansfield Senior Tygers Friday at 8 p.m.
Fans are reminded that tickets for the McKinley game will go on sale at the Stadium’s west ticket window Monday at 8 a.m. There are 1,000 end zone seats remaining and there will be a limit of two per person.
Season ticket holders who have purchased McKinley tickets, but did not pay postage, can pick up their tickets at the ticket office at Washington High School.
Smith And Pujazon Shine As Bulldogs Rip Tigers 27-0
LOCAL WARRIORS GO DOWN FIGHTING
Powerful And Speedy McKinley Eleven Tallies 4 Times In Annual Classic To Inflict Third Defeat Of Season On Massillon Gridders
By FRED J. BECKER A golden anniversary in football but not so golden from a Massillon viewpoint was celebrated out at Tiger stadium Saturday afternoon when a power-laden Canton McKinley Bulldog outfit battered its way to a 27-0 victory over a Washington high school Tiger team that was on the short end in everything but courage.
And what courage those Massillon kids displayed!
The records will show in cold figures what will appear to be a rather lopsided victory for one of the most powerful aggregations ever fielded by Canton McKinley but the raw courage and fight those badly outmanned Tigers exhibited out there on the gridiron last Saturday afternoon will live long in the memory of the more than 21,000 fans who jammed Tiger stadium to witness this annual schoolboy classic, one of the greatest in the nation.
50th Anniversary Game Team Captains & Head Coaches
Defeated But Not Outfought Defeated, yes, but not outfought were those Massillon youngsters who had some apparent shortcomings all fall but lack of intestinal fortitude was not one of them. No football team in Massillon history ever fought their hearts out against greater odds than did those gallant little youngsters last Saturday.
In defeat they rose to their greatest fighting performance of the season and even though they lost they need not hang their heads in shame. They put up a brilliant fight against odds that were too great for them to overcome with sheer courage alone and they will always be remembered as the team that went into their season’s biggest game with everything against them and came out of it heroes in defeat.
Tigers Never Quit Even partisan Canton McKinley fans who went wild with glee as their superb and powerful Bulldogs ripped their way to 4 touchdowns through the use of driving power and dazzling speed had to stop in the midst of their cheering to pay tribute to the great fighting spirit displayed by the Tigers. Those Massillon kids came out fighting at the opening whistle and they were still fighting their hearts out at the final bell, even though nearly all the breaks of the game went against them, breaks which would have taken the fight out of a team imbued with less fighting spirit than the Tigers possessed Saturday.
The victory is yours, Canton McKinley. You deserved it because you had the team – a great team in every way. We give you all the plaudits and praise that rightfully belongs to a victor. Your Bulldogs did a masterful job, a great exhibition of what a team can do when it is big, experienced and strong in every department with 2 such phenomenal performers in the backfield as Joe Pujazon and Hank Smith, All-Ohio scholastic performers without a doubt.
We gave you every credit, Canton McKinley, except this one – your powerful Bulldogs didn’t outshine our little kids when it came to courage – but courage alone could not win that ball game Saturday against a team like the Bulldogs – a team that packed too many guns and made the most of the power, speed and weight it possessed.
Last Saturday’s game marked the 49th combat between Massillon and Canton McKinley teams in the last 50 years, the first game having been played in 1894. McKinley’s triumph last Saturday now gives it a 2-game victory margin over the Tigers, the Bulldogs having won 24 of the 49 engagements with Massillon having won 22 while 3 others ended in ties.
That 27-o trouncing the Bulldogs inflicted on the Tigers was Massillon’s third defeat of the 1944 campaign, the orange and black this fall losing more games in a single season than any other Tiger team since 1932. Other outfits to conquer the 1944 Tigers were Cleveland Cathedral Latin 6-0 and Warren Harding 32-12. Brilliant Bulldog Season By defeating the Tigers Saturday in the golden anniversary classic Canton McKinley completed one of the most brilliant season’s in its history, winning 9 and losing but one, that to Warren Harding by a single point, 27-26.
A brilliant decade of Tiger football ran afoul of some bad breaks this fall and for the first time since 1934 an orange and black team finished far down in the list of outstanding Ohio scholastic outfits but the Tigers of 1944 need not feel too badly about this because the defeats they suffered were inflicted by aggregations which held great advantages over them in manpower, size and experience. In each of their 3 defeats they went down fighting before teams which excelled them in practically all departments of the game and the defeats would have been greater had not the Tigers possessed that superb fighting spirit which kept them in there battling to the finish, even though they were outclassed.
Although Washington high school lost 3 games this fall it still had a great and shining record on the gridiron which no other school in Ohio can match and which very few throughout the country can equal. In 100 games played since 1935 the Tigers have recorded 93 victories against 5 defeats and 2 ties. Canton McKinley has inflicted 2 of these defeats winning 35-0 in 1942. Newcastle, Pa., handed the Tigers a 7-0 reverse in 1937 and Cathedral Latin and Warren Harding joined the list of Tiger conquerors this season. The 2 ties came in games with Mansfield’s Tygers in 1937 and 1941, both by 6-6 scores.
There is this one consolation for the 1944 Tigers and local supporters of the orange and black. The Tigers will come roaring back – and before very long – to avenge the defeats sustained this year. Just keep an eye on the Tigers for the next year or two and see what happens.
No two backfield stars laden with more power and speed than Joe Pujazon and Hank Smith put on display Saturday have ever been seen in action here. Operating behind a big and powerful forward wall that outweighed the Tiger line by nearly 20 pounds to the man, the McKinley stars had nothing to do but run and how they ran! This pair of Canton aces divided the scoring honors, each tallying twice.
There was nothing particularly deceptive about the Bulldog attack. For the most part one could tell what type of play the east enders were going to use. It was either Pujazon or Smith running off the tackles or wide to the right or left ahead of powerful interference which shook them loose for frequent and brilliant long dashes down the field.
Once Smith and Pujazon were out in the open it was a man-sized job to halt them. The Tigers for the most part did a great job of smacking them down with spectacular and fierce tackling but they just couldn’t catch them all the time.
Pujazon and Smith closed their scholastic careers against the Tigers in a blaze of glory and deserve plenty of praise for the brilliant performance they put on tap. Without them the Bulldogs, even with their great advantage in weight, would have been taken apart by the Tigers as they played Saturday but Pujazon and Smith spelled the differences between victory and defeat.
Aiding and abetting Pujazon and Smith were Herm Lombardi, who did a great job backing up the line, Bob Tucci, Bob Parks, Jack Belding and Jim Rawers, towering husky pillars of strength on the line. They were big and good, these fellows and they packed too many guns for the badly outweighed Tiger line which fought tooth and nail against them all afternoon and came off second best, simply because they did not have the weight and strength to battle on even terms with the rugged Canton gains.
In all the previous games the Bulldogs, in addition to the brilliant running of Pujazon and Smith, depended to a large extent on a highly capable aerial attack to score points but forward passing availed the Cantonians nothing Saturday. The Tigers saw to that by playing a strong defensive game against aerials, covering Canton receivers like a swarm of bees and rushing Pujazon so much he had no time to display the uncanny accuracy which had characterized his passing all fall. Thus the Tigers became the first team to bottle up the Canton air attack.
There were plenty of heroes in the Tiger camp Saturday. Every boy who got into the game distinguished himself by his fierce and courageous playing but the great work of Massillon’s sturdy co-captains Bill Gable and Glenn Keller stood out prominently. Few better exhibitions of defensive playing have ever been seen than that put on tap Saturday by tow-headed Bill Gable. He smashed McKinley interference and tackled like a demon all afternoon. Keller also did a great job of backing up the line and punting.
Others standing out prominently in the Tiger performance were little Francis Cicchinelli, 135 pound guard, who hit with the force of a 200-pound battering ram, Tom Brooks and Gene Krisher, sophomore linemen, Bert Webb, Don Sedjo, Junie Pedrotty and Don McGuire who spearheaded the Massillon offensive threats, and Wilmer Luke who did a grand job of covering big Jim Rawers, who all season had been on the receiving end of most of Pujazon’s passes. Jim didn’t catch any aerials Saturday.
Breaks of the game and one or two errors in judgment hurt the Tigers and set up at least 2 Canton touchdowns and also robbed the orange and black of some fine opportunities to score. Had these breaks been in the Tigers’ favor it might have been a different ball game, despite McKinley’s apparent great advantage.
The errors the Tigers committed were plain to be seen but they were errors which any team might make and the Tigers do not rate too much censure for these blunders. Those who are inclined to criticize might well stop and ponder for a moment what they would have done under similar circumstances, particularly in the heat of such a tense battle as that one was Saturday. After all the lads who made those mistakes are just kids and their errors might have gone almost unnoticed had they been on the winning end instead of the losing.
It’s easy to find flaws when things are not going your way.
The statistics show just how powerful a ground gaining outfit the Bulldogs were Saturday. They only shaded the Tigers 11 to 8 in first downs but that does not begin to tell the story. Where Bulldogs Held Edge Canton McKinley’s vast superiority is revealed in the yards gained, the Bulldogs finished their afternoon’s chores with a net yardage of 345 as compared to only 132 for the Tigers. The Bulldogs had a gross yardage of 366 with a loss of 21 while the Tigers had a gross of 163 with a loss also of 21.
The orange and black gained more yards through the air than the Bulldogs but tried more than twice as many passes as the east enders. Coach Elwood Kammer’s lads tossed 18 aerials during the progress of the battle, completing 6 for 74 yards and had 3 intercepted. Canton tried 7, completing 2 for 31 yards and had 2 intercepted. Pujazon, however, was not on the tossing end of either of Canton’s completed aerials. Smith tossed both of them, one to Harold McCoy in the second quarter and the other to Bill Messenheimer late in the game.
As had been the case so often this season the Tigers found themselves in a hole early in the game and had to wage a desperate but not too successful battle in an effort to keep the Bulldogs out of pay territory.
McKinley received and on the first play of the game Pujazon running wide around his left end broke into the clear and dashed 32 yards to the Massillon 26 before being pulled to earth. The Tigers braced and Pujazon took to the air, his first attempt to hit Rawers being batted down. On his second try, which was fourth down, he tossed a long one toward Rawers but Luke leaped high into the air and grabbed the ball instead of batting it down. This was the first costly Tiger mistake as Luke was tackled on his 6 yard line. Had the ball been batted down the Tigers would have gained possession on their 27 yard line.
Then a 5-yard penalty for offside did not help them and Keller punted from behind his goal line to Pujazon who came roaring back to the Massillon 30 before being halted by this same Keller. Bill Gable dropped Smith for a loss of 6 but Lombardi crashed through the Massillon line and rambled to the 19 before being stopped. Pujazon made it a first down on the Massillon 17 but once again the Tigers stiffened and held. Then came the first of Pujazon’s 2 touchdown dashes. Taking the ball from center Joe faded back looking for a pass receiver. Finding none he set out toward the east side line and running like a scared rabbit dashed down the sideline and across the Massillon goal for Canton’s first touchdown. Several times it seemed as if a Tiger tackler would nail him but they all missed. Smith plunged across for the extra point. Poor Judgment The Tigers received and Keller ripped off a 15-yard gain through right tackle. Webb made 3 and Sedjo smashed for 6 but with third down coming up the Tigers gambled on a pass instead of a ground play and it failed. The decision to attempt to pass seemed like poor judgment, particularly at that stage of the game when their line plays were clicking.
Then with a yard to go it looked as if they were going to gamble on a plunge but Coach Kammer immediately sent in a substitute with instructions to punt. All season the Tigers have gambled on making that last yard on fourth down and all season they have lost. Kammer was not ready to give Canton the ball at midfield Saturday if he could help it.
Keller then punted and Pujazon was downed on the Canton 30. A short time later the Tigers got a break when Lombardi fumbled and Dick Ielsch pounced on the ball on Canton’s 20. The Tigers worked their way to Canton’s 25 and with fourth down coming up the locals took to the air and this time they ran into a bad break. McGuire pitched a perfect strike to Webb who was out in the open but the little Tiger halfback could not hold the ball and it fell to the ground. Had he held it, it might have resulted in a touchdown.
Early in the second quarter Keller had the experience of having a punt blocked for the first time this season. Bob Parks crashed through to block the kick and McCoy covered the ball on the Massillon 13.
A Canton chance to score, however, was wiped out when Korosedes fumbled on the second play and Cicchinelli covered on his 17. The Tigers offensive was checked and Keller then punted to Smith who was dropped in his tracks on Massillon’s own 47. Canton drew a 15-yard penalty for holding, putting the ball back on McKinley’s 41 but Pujazon tossed a lateral to Smith, and the dusky Bulldog flash broke into the clear and raced to Massillon’s 24 for a 35 yard gain. Pujazon made 8 in two plays. Lombardi fumbled but recovered and then Pujazon made it first down on the Massillon 12. Pujazon’s attempted pass to Rawers was batted down but Massillon was handed a 5 yard penalty for being offside. But once again the Tigers braced and took the ball on their 6.
Again Keller punted, Pujazon being downed on the Massillon 30. Two plays later he was injured and left the game. It was then Smith tossed a pass to McCoy good for 17 yards, taking the ball to the Massillon 8. Lombardi smashed for 3 and then Smith, running wide around his right end went over by a scant few inches for Canton’s second touchdown. Canton’s attempt to run the ball over failed and the Bulldogs were leading 13-0. Tiger Bid For Score Fails The Tigers, however, refused to concede a thing and late in the quarter again were within scoring distance when Korosedes fumbled and Brooks covered on the Canton 27. With time running out McGuire passes successfully to Gable for 7. A Keller to Gable pass failed and then Webb tossed to McGuire for 14 yards taking the ball to the Canton 6. Keller was turned loose on a dash at right end but was thrown for a 4 yard loss as the gun sounded, ending the half.
The Bulldogs threatened to turn the game into a rout in the third period by scoring twice in quick succession, their third touchdown coming on an unbroken march of 85 yards. Getting the ball on their 30 after a Keller punt the Bulldogs were handed a 15-yard penalty for clipping. Pujazon picked up 3 yards and then Smith turned loose another of his dazzling runs, breaking into the clear and streaking down the east side line to the Massillon 40 for a gain of 42 yards before being nailed by Gable. Pujazon and Korosedes picked up 6 in 2 plays and once again Smith went into high and this time raced around his right end to the Massillon 21 for 14 yards. Pujazon and Korosedes made 9 yards in 2 tries and then Pujazon tucked the leather under his arm and sprinted around his left end for 7 yards and the third Canton touchdown. Rawers placekicked the extra point. Just one play was needed for Canton’s fourth and last touchdown.
Once again the Tigers gambled in an effort to make a yard and first down and failed, the Bulldogs getting the ball on Massillon’s 49. And once again Mr. Smith went to town in a big way with the day’s most dazzling run for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Starting out around his right end, the Bulldog ace squirmed and fought his way into the open, shaking off a flock of Tiger tacklers. Then reversing his field he darted toward the west side of the gridiron and out sped the Tigers in a sizzling dash across the goal line. Again Rawers made good on his placekick to boost the Canton total to 27. Not So Golden Massillon, 0 Pos. McKinley, 27 Gable LE McCoy Ielsch LT Tucci Cicchinelli LG Belding Heltzel C Lilly Brooks RG Cobett Krisher RT Parks Luke RE Rawers Keller QB Lombardi McGuire LH Smith Webb RH Korosedes Sedjo FB Pujazon
Score by quarters: Bulldogs 7 6 14 0 27
Touchdowns: Bulldogs – Pujazon 2; Smith 2.
Points after touchdowns: Bulldogs – Smith (plunge); Rawers 2 (placekick).
Referee – Mobach. Umpire – Gross. Head Linesman – Brubaker. Field Judge – Shafer.
Statistics Mass. Can. Total first downs 8 11 Yards gained by rushing 89 335 Yards lost by rushing 21 21 Net yards gained rushing 68 314 Forward passes attempted 18 7 Forward passes completed 6 2 Yard gained by passing 74 31 Total net yardage, rushing and passing 142 345 Passed had intercepted 3 2 Number of punts 6 3 Average distance of punts 36 22 Number of kickoffs 2 6 Average distance, kickoffs 27 40 Number of fumbles 1 4 Times ball lost on fumbles 1 1 Number penalties against unreadable Yards lost on penalty unreadable
Last Meeting Of Tiger Boosters
The final regular Tiger Booster club meeting of the 1944 football season will be held this evening at 8 o’clock in Washington high school auditorium.
Coach Elwood Kammer’s report on the Tiger-Bulldog battle last Saturday will highlight the program.
The annual Tiger banquet and show will be held at Washington high school Tuesday, Dec. 5. Clark Shaughnessy, Pittsburgh Panther coach, will be the principal speaker.
Tigers Smother Akron West 60-7 In Opening Grid Tilt
BENGALS TALLY 9 SETS OF COUNTERS
Kammer’s Lads Flash Speedy, Hard Hitting Offense With Webb, Turkall And Sedjo In Spotlight; 87 Yard Dash Scores For West
By FRED J. BRICKER
A champion gains recognition as a champion because he has a certain something which makes him superior to all challengers – and that goes for football or twiddle winks. And once he gains the throne room he must retain or improve that superiority to withstand the attacks of those who would separate him from his crown. Incidentally the task of subduing a Tiger, king of jungle beasts, it seems, requires far more skill and strength than it does to subdue a steer out in the wide open spaces, so a group of so-called cowboys discovered to their sorrow Friday night.
A year ago the Tigers of Washington high school gained recognition as scholastic football champions of Ohio by emerging victorious over 10 challengers, among them the Cowboys of Akron West high school, subdued 13-6, after a wild and wooly battle. Tigers in Auspicious Start This year another group of ambitious Massillon youngsters, eager to defend that hard-won championship, appear determined to do an even better job in fighting to retain the state title, than did the 1943 Tigers in winning it. At least they made a very auspicious start out at Tiger stadium last night when they ran rough shod over a hapless bunch of Akron West Cowboys 60 to 7 in tilting the lid on the 1944 gridiron campaign.
Before a crowd of nearly 15,000 football-hungry spectators and in a colorful setting that only a Massillon gridiron spectacle can produce, Coach Elwood Kammer’s 1944 Tigers – and we mean all 40 of them – romped and smashed their way to one of the most convincing triumphs any orange and black outfit has ever scored in its opening engagement. Tigers In Scoring Spree Scoring 2 or more touchdowns in each of the 4 quarters and with substitutes – second and third stringers – being used freely and often the Tigers Friday night did about as they pleased with Coach Chuck Piotter’s invading Akronites.
But while the Massillonians romped to an easy conquest in their initial effort and might have made the score much larger had the regulars remained longer in the contest, the Tigers did not present a flawless exhibition. They made mistakes, which were to be expected. They displayed a mild case of the jitters early in the contest, which soon disappeared once they got the feel of battle. They looked definitely the part of champions most of the time but there still lies ahead of them plenty of hard work to iron out the rough spots and to develop the smooth running machine necessary if they are to sweep through all opposition as did the 1943 aggregation.
Akron West’s Cowboys have been removed from the Tigers path by an avalanche of touchdowns but the orange and black cannot rest on its opening game laurels. Those laurels will not turn back such tough customers still to be faced, formidable opponents such as Cleveland Cathedral Latin, Canton Lincoln, Warren, Steubenville, Mansfield, and lest we forget Canton McKinley where they say the Bulldogs really have something this fall. Only improved team play, which comes from hard and diligent work, will turn the trick. One swallow does not make a drink neither does one victory make a season.
One of the mistakes the Tigers made last night was to let Walter Campbell, rangy Akron West Negro halfback, pick up a kickoff late in the fourth quarter and race 87 yards down the sidelines for the Cowboys, only set of counters. It is doubtful if even a Tiger laid a hand on the galloping Campbell. They can’t do that too of often and stay up on top because points are not always going to come to the Tigers as easy as they did last night.
Either the Cowboys of 1944 are much weaker than the sturdy team of a year ago or the Tigers of 1944 are much better than the Tigers of 1943. A year ago West made the local lads fight for their lives. Last night the visiting Cowboys had practically all the life kicked out of them early, showing just one spark of fire on that long touchdown run late in the game.
Except for that one lapse, the Tigers displayed a fine and hard-to-dent defense. Akron West was never close to scoring at any other stage of the game, in fact its offense was smashed to bits on most every occasion it attempted to advance the ball into Tiger territory. Defensively the Tigers looked good both in stopping ground plays and aerial attempts and found their only trouble in halting Jack Hamm, veteran 185-pound West fullback who was always hard to stop and several times stepped off neat gains. Tiger Offense Shines Offensively the orange and black seemed to have everything in the book, with plenty of speed and drive and with sweeping end runs their best stock in trade. Standing out prominently in the Tigers’ offensive performance last night was the blocking. Orange and black teams for years have been noted for their effective blocking but last night’s exhibition was one of the best ever seen here. Tiger blockers mowed down would-be West tacklers like Yankee tanks mowed down Germans in a recent and historic sweep across France.
With the kind of interference Glenn Keller, Bill Gable, Don Sedjo and Junie Pedrotty put on tap last night it was easy for such gallopers as Bert Webb and Vic Turkall to roam afar and wide for handsome gains, particularly the dusky Webb who put on display a nimble pair of ankles, much to the consternation of the visiting Cowboys and to the delight of the rabid fans who thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the fleet-footed little Negro.
Outstanding in Massillon’s offensive performance was Webb’s spectacular running. Turkall’s sweeps around the end and off tackle, Don Sedjo’s hammering drives through the line and general all around ability of the Tiger co-captains, Keller and Gable, the only starting holdovers from the 1943 team.
Figures always tell the best story and the statistics of last night’s encounter prove the superiority the Tigers held over West. Coach Kammer’s lads tallied 15 first downs to West’s 4, gained a total of 330 yards from all types of play to 54 for the visitors and completed 4 passes out of 9 attempts for 43 yards while Akron failed to complete one in 11 tries and had 2 intercepted. Penalties totaling 60 yards were imposed on the Tigers while West lost 15 yards through rule infractions.
Receiving the initial kickoff the Tigers started off like veterans and swept through and around the Akronites right down the field from their 20 to well inside West’s 20 before a mild case of jitters overtook them. Keller took the opening kickoff on his 20 and ran it back to his 33. Turkall rammed off right tackle for 7 and then Webb set his twinkling tootsies into action and reeled off 37 yards in a brilliant sweep around left end. Fine blocking cleared a wide path for him and all he had to do was run – and he can do that quite well. Mild Case Of Jitters Turkall picked up another 7 on an off tackle plunge but here the jitters made their appearance and the Tiger march began to stall. Over anxious to nail that first touchdown quickly the Tigers began to run into offside penalties and poor ball handling with the result West stopped the Massillon march and gained the ball on its 14. But the Tigers recovered quickly and stopped the visitors and when Jack Hamm dropped back to punt Keller smashed through the line like a demon and when Hamm’s foot came in contact with the ball there was Keller.
The ball bounced off the Massillon co-captain’s chest and bounded back across the Akron goal line – and you guessed it – right there to pounce on it was this same Keller. He did it eagerly and with convincing emphasis and the Tigers’ had their first touchdown of the 1944 campaign. Turkall’s placekick was right between the uprights and the score was 7-0 Massillon.
Keller’s blocking of Hamm’s punt was the spark needed to touch off a blazing Tiger offensive and from then on Massillon points began to pile up rapidly.
A short time later Hamm succeeded in getting away a punt which Webb took and raced back from his 35 to Akron’s 44 but a Tiger was guilty of clipping and the officials slapped a 15-yard penalty on the local lads, putting the ball back to Massillon’s 36. Keller picked up 3 in a smash at the line but again the Tigers were guilty of doing something they shouldn’t and a 5-yard penalty for offside set them back to their 31. Turkall, taking the ball from Webb on a reverse, made 1 and then Webb, again wheeling around left end, clipped off a first down to the Massillon 46.
Turkall attempted a pass to Wilmer Luke, rangy Negro end, and as Luke sought to snag the ball an Akronite banged into him and the officials ruled interference on the Akron 36. It was a gain of 18 yards and sparked a touchdown drive because on the next play young Mr. Webb, taking the ball from Turkall on a reverse, swept wide around left end and behind fine blocking raced 36 yards for a touchdown. This time Turkall’s attempted place kick was wide and the count stood, Massillon 13, West. 0
Again West received and unable to go anywhere was forced to punt with Hamm booting the leather to Webb who tossed a lateral to Pedrotty as he was about to be tackled with Pedrotty being downed on Akron’s 47. Keller raced wide around Akron’s left end to the 15 but the ball was carried back and Massillon penalized 5 yards for backs in motion. Webb made 2 as the first quarter ended. Then behind a screen of good blocking Webb clipped off 21 yards to Akron’s 28 on the first play of the second quarter. Turkall clipped off 4 and Pedrotty smashed through the line to Akron’s 5 for 12 yards and a first down. Webb, racing wide around left end, dashed over for the third Tiger touchdown and Turkall boosted the Massillon total to 20 with a booming place kick.
What followed was a repetition of what had happened before. Gable kicked off. West failed to go anywhere and Hamm punted out on the Massillon 48. Right off the bat Turkall tossed a neat pass to Like, good for 26 yards, putting the ball on Akrons’ 26. It was Massillon’s first completed aerial. Webb then passed to Turkall but Vic had no molasses on his fingers and dropped the ball with a clear field ahead. One can imagine Vic said things to himself about that time. Webb then clipped off a 12-yard gain on another dash around end to Akron’s 14 and was given a well earned rest by Coach Kammer who sent young Alex Giloff, a sophomore, in to replace him. Sedjo Rams For Score Sedjo busted the Akron line wide open and rammed through for an 11-yard gain to the 3. Keller made 1 at the line then Sedjo smashed through for the fourth Tiger touchdown. Again Turkall added the extra point on a place kick.
Kammer took pity on the visitors and rushed in his second team, all the regulars leaving the game with the exception of Sedjo. The second stringers did not operate quite as smoothly as the varsity but they were good enough to chalk up another touchdown before the period ended. After holding the Cowboys and gaining possession of the ball on Massillon’s 43, Don McGuire heaved a pass to Jim Bishop for 15 yards but a Massillon offside nullified the gain and brought a 5 yard penalty. When McGuire again attempted to pass he waited too long to find a receiver, was hit hard by Dick Knowlton and fumbled, Knowlton recovering for West on Massillon’s 31.
The Tigers, however, again bottled up West’s offense and regained the ball on their 31. Again the Tiger march was stalled and Dan Byelene got off a neat punt, Massillon’s first, to Akron’s 31. Hamm then was on the tossing end of an Akron attempted aerial. He heaved it far out to his left with not an Akronite within a city block. Zeller Snags Pass, Scores But Jack Zeller, Tiger sophomore end, was there and neatly snagged the ball and leisurely romped 25 yards unmolested for a touchdown. In fact the Cowboys seemed to be off in the next county at the moment, that far away from Zeller did they appear. Byelene carried the ball over for the extra point and when the gun sounded for half time a short time later the Tigers were leading 34-0.
The regulars came back into the ball game at the start of the third period and it was not long before the orange and black scoring machine was again in motion.
West received and Campbell picked up 9 at right end and Hamm plunged for a first down, but on the next play the Akron plunger fumbled and Webb took charge of the leather on Massillon’s 40. Turkall steamed wide around his right end and was run out on Akron’s 45 after a 15-yard gallop. Then Webb again set his fleet dogs into motion and racing wide around left end galloped to Akron’s 27 only to fumble but Pedrotty was right there to fall on it and the gain was good for 18 yards. The Tigers were sweeping the ends like a forest fire sweeping through a pine forest.
Turkall picked up 6 on another wide sweep and Pedrotty sneaked through left tackle for a first down on Akron’s 15. Webb did some more end sweeping and was run out on the 10. Turkall did it around the other end and made it a first down on the 5.
Then to make the picture different Pedrotty hammered through the line to the 4, Turkall picked up half a yard and on a quarterback sneak went over for touchdown No. 6. Vic placekicked, successfully for the extra point, making it 41-0.
Maybe this tale of Massillon scoring is getting monotonous but there’s still more to come.
This time on the kickoff, however, it was a bit different. Gable hoofed the ball down the field and Roland Black fumbled when hit by a flock of Tiger tacklers. Fred bonk covered for Massillon on Akron’s 40. Turkall passed to Pedrotty for 3 but his next attempt to Bob Clark was wide. Webb took a lateral from Pedrotty and tore off a first down to Akron’s 29. Turkall picked up 6 at right end and then Webb on another one of those Tiger sizzling sweeps, raced wide around left end and 23 yards for Massillon’s 7th touchdown. Again Turkall converted via placekick and the scoreboard read Massillon 47, Akron West 0. Second Stringers Back In Once again Kammer relented and replaced his regulars with the second team, but still the Massillon scoring did not stop. Near the end of the third period Akron West’s offense backfired when a bad pass from center rolled into the open where Zeller pounced on the ball on Akron’s 28. McGuire and Paul Cary picked up 7 in 2 tries before the quarter ended and on the third play in the fourth period, McGuire tossed a pass to Sedjo who put down his shoulders and rammed through the visitors for 26 yards and touchdown No. 8. This time Cary placekicked successfully for the additional point and it was 54-0 Massillon.
Again a West fumble paved the way for Massillon’s 9th and final touchdown. The Tigers covered the ball on Akron’s 26. With Sedjo and Ted Makowski hammering away at the line the ball soon was deep in Akron territory and Sedjo recorded his third touchdown of the game on a smash from the 3 yard line.
He attempted to placekick but his effort was wide and the score stood 60-0.
Now we finally come to something different. Gene Krisher kicked off and Walt Campbell snagged the leather on his 13. He started off like a house afire down the west sideline and brother he remained ablaze all the way down the field romping by Tiger after Tiger until he had covered 87 yards and cored for his badly battered team. He was given some good interference to help him over a few rather bad spots. Hamm passed to Bob Tinsley for the additional point and West at least had 7 points to show Akron fans today for all their black and blue spots.
After that Akron touchdown Kammer relented some more and cleaned the bench sending in the third team, the sophomore aggregation, which had played a practice game against Lorin Andrews Thursday afternoon. The sophs didn’t score but they didn’t look too bad. Neither did Akron West score any more and the game wound up a short time later with the final count 60-7.
Well not so bad for a starter but looking ahead a bit – its Cleveland Cathedral Latin here next Friday night and the Latins are scholastic champions of Cleveland. No resting on your laurels Tigers! Going Places? Tigers – 60 Pos. Akron West –7 Clark LE Dales Ielsch LT Knowlton Heltzel LG J. Conn Bonk C Manos Gable RG Bevington Gibson RT Azar Luke RE Taylor Keller QH Tinsley Webb LH R. Black Turkall RH Campbell Sedjo FB Hamm
Score by quarters: MASSILLON 13 21 13 13 60 Akron West 0 0 0 7 7
Referee – Gross. Umpire – Rupp. Head Linesman – Grof. Field Judge – Jenkins.
Statistics Mass. West Total first downs 15 4 Yards gained by rushing 287 54 Yards lost by rushing 0 13 Net yards gained by rushing 287 41 Forward passes attempted 9 11 Forward passes completed 4 0 Yards gained by passing 43 0 Total net yardage Rushing and passing 330 41 Passes had intercepted 0 2 Number of punts 2 5 Average distance of punts 34 25 Punts blocked 0 1 Number of kickoffs 8 1 Average distance of kickoffs 37 48 Number of fumbles 5 5 Times ball lost on fumbles 1 5 Number of penalties against 8 3 Yards lost by penalties 60 15
Bulldogs Put Up Good Fight But Are Outclassed By Massillon’s Great Defensive Performance And Brilliant Offensive Plays
By FRED J. BECKER Independent Sports Editor
Fame IS fleeting, is it not?
Well, yes, if you do not possess the necessary qualifications to keep your name in the headlines. No one hangs around at the top of any endeavor very long unless they are the best and can convince the rest of the universe that they are. And in this day and age it takes a lot of convincing, brother.
Now take “Football City” or should we simply say Canton, for instance. Canton and its McKinley high school accomplished a feat a year ago that carried the name of Canton around the world. And just less than a week ago our neighbor to the east found a place in the sun though an article published in a magazine of national circulation. But “Football City” held its place in the sun just four days. Today what is left of the ruins has been quietly interred in Fawcett stadium, Canton, turned in the space of two short hours last Saturday afternoon, from a gridiron to a graveyard.
Tigers Regain State Honors
The snows will fall and the winds will howl this winter over the final resting place of “Football City.” The interment might have been quiet but the thing that led up to it was anything but.
And so today Massillon and the rest of the universe proudly hail the mighty Tigers of Washington high, undisputed schoolboy football champions of Ohio for the eighth time in nine years and without an equal anywhere in the country. A happy city pays tribute to a group of boys, champions every one of them, who had what it takes to make good, who came though with flying colors when the chips were down.
Great Football Team
An overflow crowd of more than 22,000 spectators in Fawcett stadium Saturday afternoon saw a truly great Tiger football team administer a 21 to 0 lacing to the Bulldogs of Canton McKinley in a remarkable demonstration of football power.
It was Massillon’s 10th straight victory of the 1943 campaign and its first undefeated or untied season in three years.
There might have been some in that great crowd who doubted the Tigers’ ability to whip the sturdy Bulldogs before the game began, but there was not one in that gathering who was not convinced when it was over that they had just sat through a performance by a football team that through its brilliant display of power, courage and ability had very amply proved its right to lay claim to a mythical Ohio scholastic championship, or even a national title.
Once would have to hunt far and wide to find a team that could come close, let alone equal, the Washington high school Tigers of 1943. There was something else in that Tiger team this season beside power, courage and ability. It was spirit – Massillon football spirit – and that can’t be matched anywhere.
Last year Canton McKinley came to Massillon and defeated an injury riddled Tiger team 35 to 0 for its first victory over the orange and black in eight years. Saturday the Tigers of 1943 gained revenged for that reverse of a year ago. They proved once again that Massillon football is just a little different than any other football and they did it in a very convincing manner.
It was a great battle Saturday that clash between two undefeated schoolboy aggregations in an atmosphere of rivalry that has existed and grown steadily over a period of nearly 50 years. The Tigers entered that all important fracas with a string of nine straight victories. The Bulldogs came up to their final 1943 struggle with eight triumphs and one tie.
Statistics McK Mass. First downs, rushing 4 8 First downs, passing 5 3 First downs total 9 11 Yards gained, rushing 99 150 Yards gained, passing 99 101 Yards gained, total 198 251 Yards lost 15 21 Yards gained, net total 183 230 Passes attempted 14 14 Passes completed 7 5 Passes incompleted 6 7 Passes intercepted by 2 1 Punts 7 6 Punts, average yardage 25 37 Penalties, yardage 0 30 Fumbles 1 1 Own fumbles recovered 1 1
Stirring Contest
It was truly a battle of gridiron Goliaths. It was a stirring contest from start to finish, jammed with almost as many thrills as there were persons jammed into Fawcett stadium. It kept the spectators on the edge of their seats throughout and many a heart worked harder Saturday than it ever has before. Nerves were strained to the breaking point and it was not until the game was almost over that Massillon supporters became certain of a victory and Canton adherents gave up their hopes for a second straight triumph over the Tigers.
Credit must be given to the Bulldogs for the great battle they made of it. Coach Herman (Bup) Rearick’s boys played and fought their hearts out but they just couldn’t match the fighting spirit and playing ability of Coach Elwood Kammer’s orange and black clad kids. The Bulldogs need not feel too badly about that because no one could have matched that old Tiger spirit last Saturday. You either have it or you don’t. Massillon had it, large gobs of it, and Canton simply couldn’t match it.
While Massillon rolled up 21 points on the red and black through three touchdowns, one in the third quarter and two in the fourth, the score hardly indicates the intense battle waged out there on the Fawcett stadium gridiron. The statistics show that the game was a much closer affair than the point total would lead one to believe.
It was a whale of a ball game with Canton always a distinct threat until after the Tigers had scored their second touchdown early in the fourth quarter. From there on Canton’s spirits began to droop and the Bulldogs became a thoroughly beaten outfit.
Both teams possess great offensive ability. Canton with a fine backfield composed of Joe Pujazon, Hank Smith, Tony Rotunno and Dick Kempthorn, was always a threat, loaded with offensive dynamite that might have exploded at any time. The only reason it didn’t was because the Tigers pulled the fuses and rendered the Canton dynamite harmless long before it had a chance to reach the explosive stage.
The Tiger backfield and ends put on an offensive display that was beautiful to watch and so daring at times that it simply stunned the pop-eyed spectators.
Tigers Shoot the Works
The Tigers knew before they went into the ballgame that Coach Kammer’s strategy called for them to gamble for points. They were instructed to shoot the works, to forget about playing a conservative game, to go all out for a convincing victory and haul out of their bag of tricks everything that was in it.
This they did. Massillon’s great backfield, and every one should be convinced by now that is a truly great backfield, of Captain Bob Wallace, Romeo Pellegrini, Henry Mastriann and Glenn Keller, gave a brilliant demonstration of offensive power. Wallace and Pellegrini slashed off tackle or around the ends in spectacular fashion. Keller blocked, ran interference and caught passes like a demon. And Mastriann – what a full back he is. There was nothing Canton possessed that could stop that boy Saturday. You can let your money ride on him anytime.
Out on the flanks Tom Jasinski and Don Willmot helped the Massillon offensive picture by some spectacular catching of passes thrown by Pellegrini who never gave a better demonstration of passing accuracy than he did Saturday. Canton went quite nutty over the passing ability of Pujazon and he is quite an adept thrower but good as he was Saturday, Pujazon was overshadowed by the remarkable performance given by Massillon’s swarthy, little backfield star.
And now we get right down to the meat of things, right down to where that ballgame was won by Massillon and where it was lost by Canton. Right down there, boys and girls, on the line, on that forward wall where we had a hunch, and so expressed it last week, the decision would be rendered.
Say what you want but you can’t get away from this one thing – that ball game was won by Massillon because its defensive performance so completely smothered the Bulldogs that they really never had a chance to get rolling. Their vaunted speed availed them but little because most of the time they were smacked and smacked hard by some energetic Tiger before they could really get under way.
Defensive Efforts Won Game
Massillon’s great defensive efforts won that football game, won it because the first two Tiger touchdowns resulted from Massillon’s great defensive playing and both touchdowns were scored by linemen. The first set of Tiger counters came on a blocked punt, the second on a pass interception behind the Canton line of scrimmage on a pass interception right in Canton’s own backfield.
There’s no disputing the fact that Massillon’s great line blasted the Bulldogs apart. The line, backed up by a secondary defense that never missed an opportunity to nail a Bulldog if he got that far, bottled up so completely every Canton offensive thrust that the Bulldogs didn’t have a ghost of a chance. The red and black never got inside Massillon’s 20 yard line.
All of the defensive qualities of Massillon’s team stood out prominently. Only two touchdowns were scored against the Tigers all fall. It did not take an expert to see that Massillon’s chances to climb back to the football throne rested largely upon its ability to stop opposing teams through its great defensive qualities and then hammer those same opponents into the dust through the assistance of a fine and dependable line.
All season we have watched two great linemen perform efficiently and spectacularly for the Tigers. They were Bob Williams and R.D. (Dick) Arrington. They are a great pair of football players and they proved it quite convincingly Saturday.
Arrington Is Star
It was Arrington who smashed his powerful and rugged body though the Canton line to block Joe Pujazon’s punt in the third quarter and gave Massillon it’s first touchdown. It was Arrington who smashed through into the Canton backfield to grab the ball when it was knocked from Pujazon’s hands as he was about to pass and then race 61 yards far in advance of every Bulldog pursuer for Massillon’s second touchdown. If that doesn’t make him one of Massillon’s greatest all time tackles then nothing will.
And who was it who smeared Canton ball toters all over the lot all afternoon, in as brilliant a display of defensive playing it has ever been any one’s privilege to see? No one else but Bob Williams, big tall husky Bob, another great football player, if there ever was one.
From the vicious manner in which he tackled and the speed with which he raced through Canton’s line one would never have known that on the very first play of the game he sustained a painful knee injury and that it bothered him continually, one time forcing him to take time out. You can put his name right up there with the rest of the Tiger immortals.
And then there was tow-headed quiet Bill Gable. He was in that ball game up to his neck all afternoon. It was Gable who was through the line when Arrington blocked Pujazon’s punt and grabbed up the ball and lugged it across the goal line. Put him on your list of heroes.
Then there was Julius Tonges. He was very much in that ball game too, and it was Tonges who hit Pujazon so hard when he attempted to pass, the ball popped right out of his fingers into the waiting mitts of “never-miss-an-opportunity” Arrington who a second later was scampering away for a touchdown.
And don’t forget Larry Berger and Dick Belch, who replaced him for a short time. They were in there all the way, ripping Canton’s line to shreds and tackling with real Tiger viciousness.
Secondary Plays Well
Wallace, Keller, Pellegrini, Mastriann, Willmot and Jasinski also covered themselves with glory, for their defensive performances. Those boys in the secondary had a big job on their hands. They knew Canton had speed and they knew Canton had a first class passing attack. It was their job to nail Canton’s speedsters if they got by the line and they did a few times. It also was their task to stop Canton’s aerial attack. They handled both assignments and handled them well.
Cantons’ backs, particularly Hank Smith and Joe Pujazon, were fast and shifty but never fast enough to get through the Tiger secondary. Pujazon and Gordon Cook, Bulldog right end, made a fine passing combination but Cook, who made some spectacular catches, seldom moved very far from where he caught the ball before being nailed by a Tiger and that Tiger most of the time was Pellegrini. Had Romeo missed, Cook several times might have been off on touchdown gallops but Romeo never missed. When he hit Mr. Cook the Bulldog pass receiver hit the gridiron with a thud.
The Tigers were that kind of a team Saturday. Heroes every one of them. And before we forget, wasn’t that some punting exhibition big, affable Tom Jasinski put on? He really laid the leather to the old pigskin Saturday and his punting was beautiful to behold, long, high, boots, several of which sailed over the head of the Bulldog safety-man. And don’t forget the artistic kicking performance of Mastriann who three times added points to the Tiger total by brilliant place kicks following touchdowns.
The statistics show that the Tigers excelled the Bulldogs in all departments of the game. The Tigers made 11 first downs to nine for Canton, not a wide margin but enough to show their superiority. Eight Tiger first downs came on rushing, three on passes. Canton made four on rushing and five on passes, holding a 6-5 edge on the Bengals at half time.
Each team tried 14 passes, Massillon completing five for 101 yards and Canton seven for 99 yards. The Bulldogs intercepted two Massillon passes, the Tigers intercepted one Canton pass. Seven of Pellegrini’s heaves failed while Pujazon missed on six of his.
Tigers Hold Edge
The Tigers made 150 yards on rushing to 99 for Canton. The Tigers lost 21 yards on rushing to 15 for Canton and Massillon had a net gain for all types of plays of 230 yards while Canton had 183. Each team fumbled once and recovered its own fumble. Jasinski’s six punts averaged 37 yards, giving him a wide margin over Pujazon who punted seven times for an average of only 25 yards a kick.
Massillon was penalized 30 yards, most of the penalties coming because of backs in motion. The game was very well handled by Dr. David B. Reese of Dayton as referee. Earl Gross of New Philadelphia, as umpire, and A.B. Long of Newark as headlinesman, and T.B. Lobach of Akron as field judge.
Neither team was able to hit pay dirt in the first half, Canton because it did not have the offensive power to get within striking distance, Massillon because luck was riding against it rather than with the Tigers. If breaks had gone the right way on three first half passes the local lads attempted and they most certainly all would have been good for touchdowns. Despite this the Tigers late in the second quarter stormed right inside Canton’s 10-yard line but failed to score because of a pass interception.
The breaks of the game decided the battle in Massillon’s favor but the breaks were well earned and were made by an inspired Tiger team that was always on its toes and never missed a chance to smear the Bulldogs. The breaks came through Massillon’s great defensive performance and were responsible for two touchdowns.
Then just to prove that they also had it in an offensive way the Tigers took the ball on their 18 and in 11 plays marched 82 yards without a stop for their third touchdown. That should convince Canton fans that the Tigers were just too good for their Bulldogs defensively or offensively.
Canton received and worked the ball from its 35 to Massillon’s 39 before the Tigers checked them. A 20 yard pass from Pujazon to Cook was responsible for most of the yardage.
The Tigers got the ball on their 20 following Pujazon’s punt but were held and then Jasinski booted the ball way down to Canton’s 22 on a beautiful kick. Canton made two first downs in a row on runs and plunges by Pujazon and Smith before the Tigers again checked them.
Touchdown Lost
Pellegrini took Pujazon’s punt and was downed on Massillon’s 12. Wallace, Mastriann and Pellegrini made Massillon’s first down of the game in three plays, going to the 26. Wallace on a reverse reeled off another first down to the 37. And then Massillon lost its first chance for a touchdown. Pellegrini dropped back to pass, was hit by a Canton tackler but got away from him and then cut loose for a long heave. Down the field, in the clear, was Don Willmot, but Don had slowed up just a trifle when he saw Pellegrini hit and the ball sailed over his head. Had he been just a few feet farther on he would have snagged the leather and it would have been a certain touchdown because no Bulldog was near.
Jasinski then punted and the Bulldogs came storming back on an 18-yard gain on a pass from Pujazon to Cook. Their spurt, however, was shortlived and Pujazon punted to Willmot who returned from his 22 to the 31 as the quarter ended.
The Bulldogs once again checked the Tigers and Jasinski punted to Canton and once again a Pujazon-Cook pass was good for 16 yards. Smith and Pujazon made another first down in three plays to Massillon’s 29 but this time the Bulldogs couldn’t do it, and they had to surrender the ball to the Tigers on Massillon’s 26.
Then another Tiger scoring opportunity was lost. Pellegrini on second down dropped back and heaved a long one down the center of the field. Ahead of the Canton safety man raced Jasinski and the ball nestled into his outstretched hands but Tom, generally a sure fire pass receiver, muffed this one. The ball dropped out of his hands and another touchdown chance went glimmering.
But this didn’t discourage the Tigers, particularly Pellegrini. On the next play he faded back and pitched a strike to Keller out in the flat. This one worked and it was good for 15 yards, taking the ball to Massillon’s 39. Once again Pellegrini faded back and once again he shot the ball to Keller out in the flat and this time it was good for 11 yards.
Pellegrini’s next one, a long heave to Jasinski, was incomplete. But Mr. Pellegrini is a hardy little soul who never gives up. Not in the least daunted he faded back on the next play, running far to his right. Racing down the left side of the field was Don Willmot. Pellegrini turned and heaved a long one, 27 yards it was to Willmot, who snatched the ball and raced 31 yards more before being brought to earth on Canton’s nine yard line by Pujazon. It was an overall gain of 58 yards.
Tigers Checked Again
This time it looked as if the Tigers couldn’t miss on a touchdown – but they did. Mastriann cracked right tackle for three to the six. Then the Tigers decided to gamble on another pass. Pellegrini threw a perfect pass, intended for Willmot out in the flat, but the ball never reached Don. Bob Swan, Canton guard, came from nowhere to spear the leather and race it back 16 yards to Canton’s 18 before being downed.
Pujazon punted after three plays had failed and Massillon took the ball on its 37 after an out-of-bounds kick. On the first play Willmot came around from his end to heave a long pass that was knocked down by Pujazon. Then Pellegrini went into action again and this time connected with Bob Wallace for a gain of 22 yards, taking the ball to the Canton 15. Pellegrini passed again, this time to Keller for four but his next attempt was intercepted by Pujazon on the Canton five. Canton attempted one line thrust before the quarter ended.
It didn’t take the Tigers long to convince everyone at the start of the third quarter that they were really going to town. Wallace took Pujazon’s opening kickoff on his 11 and raced it back 31 yards to the Tigers 42. He almost broke into the clear. A Massillon first down took the ball to Canton’s 31 but here the Tiger attack went into reverse for a bit, Wallace losing 11 at left end and Pellegrini being tossed for a five yard loss at right end. Then after a pass from Pellegrini intended to Wallace had been knocked down by Pujazon, Jasinski punted to Pujazon who dropped the ball but recovered it and was tackled on Canton’s 15. Williams and Keller halted Pujazon after a three-yard gain and Berger smacked down Smith for a loss of two.
Then it happened. With the ball on Canton’s 14 Pujazon dropped back to punt. As the ball was passed a flock of snarling Tigers tore through the Canton line. At least three of them bore down on the startled Pujazon who quickly tried to punt but the ball never got over the Canton line. Dick Arrington’s broad chest got in front of the ball and it hit him with a thud. Bounding off to Arrington’s right and toward the Canton goal. Like a hawk Bill Gable swooped down on it, picked it up and taking about three steps was over the goal line for the game’s first touchdown. Bedlam broke loose in the stands but Mastriann calmly kicked the ball between the uprights to add the extra point.
An amusing episode occurred a few minutes later. The officials asked Canton if it would grant a time out while Bob Wallace changed his pants. They just wouldn’t stay up any longer and the Massillon captain decided he had better have another pair. So while his teammates gathered around him on the sideline. Bob switched pants with another teammate.
Neither team threatened during the remainder of the third quarter and the fourth period opened with Massillon in possession of the ball on its 27 with second down coming up. Jasinski two plays later punted to Pujazon who returned eight from his 30 to his 38. Pellegrini knocked down a pass from Pujazon intended for Cook and then Arrington tossed Pujazon for a loss of five but this was nullified when Massillon was penalized five for being offside. Pujazon passed to Cook who caught the ball, then fumbled it. Keller fell on the leather but it slide out from under his body and Canton recovered on Massillon’s 40. Pujazon made five yards in two plays and then lightning again struck.
Mr. Arrington Again
Pujazon dropped back for another pass. As he lifted his arm he was hit hard by Julius Tonges. The ball flew out of his grasp and up into the air. When it came down there stood Mr. Arrington all ready to take it and set sail and he did just that. The Tiger colored star grabbed the ball and never hesitating set out at full speed for Canton’s goal line, 61 yards away. And he made it, leaving his pursuers far behind.
Once again Mastriann came through with a perfect place kick. Well, if Canton didn’t know they were beaten before that second touchdown they certainly did after it was recorded on the board.
After the kickoff the Bulldogs launched a desperate attack that took them from their 42 to Massillon’s 23 before they were checked and forced to surrender the ball to the Tigers.
Then it was that the local boys decided to show the east enders they could score through their own offensive powers and opened up with a march that did not end until the ball was planted back of the Canton goal. It took 11 plays and the march was good for 82 yards.
Highlighting the advance was a brilliant 43-yard dash off left tackle. Mastriann roared through again for a first down on Canton’s 23. Wallace skirted left end for two and Pellegrini passed to Jasinski for five. Wallace then raced around left end to the Canton 13 for another first down. Mastriann hit through right tackle for three and on the next play bucked and squirmed his way for 40 yards and a touchdown. He kicked his third goal from placement to give him a perfect day in this department.
Coach Kammer, his face wreathed in smiles, then waved his regulars off the field where they had done a swell job. The only substitution up to that time had been Dick Belch for Berger.
The second team went in and kicked off and the game ended before the Bulldogs could run off a play.
After it was over a group of Massillon fans and players hosted Kammer on their shoulders and carried him to the Tiger dressing room entrance. It was a fine tribute to a coach who has come a long way since he saw his first Tiger team smeared by the Bulldogs 35 to 0 a year ago.
Champions Again
Tigers – 21 Pos. Bulldogs – 0 Willmot LE Herdlicka Arrington LT Tucci Tonges LG Swan Williams C Infantiedes Gable RG Kurzinsky Berger RT Belding Jasinski RE Cook Keller QB Kempthorn Pellegrini LHB Smith Wallace RHB Rotunno Mastriann FB Pujazon
Referee: Reese (Dayton). Umpire: Gross (New Philadelphia) Headlinesman: Long (Newark) Field judge: Lobach (Akron).
Tiger Boosters To Honor Coach
Massillon football fans celebrated that 21-0 Tiger conquest of Canton McKinley far into the night Saturday but all the celebrating is not yet over.
There’ll be more tonight when the Tiger Booster club holds its final Monday night meeting of the season in the Washington high school auditorium at 8 o’clock. It will be an open meeting and all fans are invited.
Tonight it will be coach Elwood Kammer’s night and the Boosters will pay tribute to the Tiger mentor who has just closed his second year at the helm of the orange and black with a record of 19 wins in 20 games, 10 of them in a row this fall to again make the Tigers state scholastic champions.
“Kam” has done a great job and will be deserving of all the tribute paid him tonight.
George Bird also will have his Tiger swing band at the meeting.
Tigers Score 7 Touchdowns To Trounce Timken 46 – 0
EIGHTH WIN FOR LOCAL GRIDDERS
Flashy Aerial Attack In First Half And Brilliant Running Attack In Second Gives Orange And Black Wide Margin Over Cantonians
By FRED J. BECKER Independent Sports Editor
Rolling up seven touchdowns three of them within the space of a little more than four minutes at the start of the third quarter, the Washington high school Tigers Friday night buried Canton Timken under a 46 to 0 score at Tiger stadium as a crowd of nearly 10,000 watched Coach Elwood Kammer’s youngsters chalk up their eighth straight victory of the season in their final night encounter of the 1943 campaign. The conquest of Timken equaled exactly the 46-0 drubbing the orange and black handed Akron St. Vincent’s in the third game of the season and which, until last night, had been the highest total made by Massillon against any opponent.
While the Tigers were making merry at the expense of Canton Timken another game of interest to Massillon fans was taking place in eastern Stark County where the Canton McKinley Bulldogs were humbling the Alliance Aviators 31 to 0. It was McKinley’s seventh triumph in eight starts; the only blot on the Bulldogs’ record being a 13-13 tie with Warren defeated 20 to 0 a week ago by Massillon.
Capacity Crowd Is Certain
The Tiger and Bulldog meet in two weeks in their annual rumpus at Fawcett stadium, Canton, and already a capacity crowd of more than 22,000 is assured. Practically every ticket already has been sold.
In defeating Timken 46 to 0 Coach Kammer’s lads failed to equal the score made by McKinley against the same team, the Bulldogs trimming the Timkenites 54 to 12 early in the season and in conquering Alliance 31 to 0, the Bulldogs outstripped the Tigers who three weeks ago were able to edge the Aviators by only a 12-0 margin.
Offense Ragged In Spots
While they rolled points against Timken almost at will, once they got started, the Tigers last night were rather ragged in spots, particularly early in the contest and their performance indicated they still will have to improve if they hope to take the Bulldogs into camp in two weeks. In smearing Timken the orange and black registered its second victory of the season over a Canton opponent, having defeated Canton Lincoln 15 to 0 in the season’s opener but the triumph over a Canton foe they desire and Massillon fans want them to score is still to be registered and the Bulldogs will be as always, the toughest foe the Tigers face. The orange and black will have to have a much sharper and better functioning offense than it showed against Timken if it hopes to avenge the 35-0 shellacking McKinley plastered on Massillon a year ago.
The Tigers last night scored touchdowns in every quarter, one in the first, two in the second, three in the third and one in the fourth. Penalties robbed them of at least two others and an offense that bogged down when it was most needed prevented them from scoring several others.
Every member of the Tiger squad saw action last night, the second stringers taking over after the score had mounted to 39 to 0 early in the third quarter and the third team relieving them in the fourth period and finishing the game.
It had been expected all week that Timken would attempt to turn back the Tigers with a forward passing attack but instead it was the Massillonians who went in for aerials in a big way. The Tigers, particularly during the first half, kept the air filled with footballs and cut loose with more passes than they have attempted at any other time this season.
All told the Bengals attempted 25 passes, completing eight for 224 yards, an average of 28 yards for each successful heave. Timken intercepted one Massillon aerial. The visitors tried only seven aerials and completed none with the Tigers intercepting three.
Stonewall Defense
As usual Coach Kammer’s aggregation displayed a stonewall defense, effectively smothering all of Timken’s attempts to score. It was not until late in the fourth quarter with the third team in the game that the visitors were able to work their way inside Massillon’s 20 yard line, getting as far as the 17 before they were stopped. It was the only time Timken made any serious threat to score.
Standing our prominently on defense last night was big Bob Williams, Massillon center, who plays a tackle position on defense, steadily improving in every game Big Bob last night turned in his best job of the season as he smeared Timken ball toters with his deadly tackling. The balance of the Tiger forward wall also played good ball, but had its troubles with Angelo Sanchez, Timken’s ace backfielder and probably the most versatile ball lugger the Tigers have seen all season.
Sanchez was easily Timken’s outstanding star. On offense he piled up a lot of yardage on the Tigers by his clever running and his defensive play, particularly against Massillon’s ball carriers kept the Tigers from running the score close to the century mark.
Just to show you how well Massillon’s defense functioned, Dick Arrington, husky Negro tackle, at one time in the third quarter became the fifth man in the Timken backfield. Charles Neago, Timken fullback, received the ball from center on what apparently was to have been a reverse play. Arrington crashed through the Timken line and was in Canton’s backfield in a jiffy, so fast that Neago thought he was the Timken back who was to take the ball and turning shoved the ball into Dick’s hands. Arrington was so surprised by the sudden turn of events that before trying to get under way he was brought down by Timken tacklers.
The Tigers customary good blocking was not up to its usual efficiency last night and several times what might have been long Massillon gains were wiped out because Timken tackles were pushed rather than knocked out of the way.
Tigers Hold Big Edge
The statistics give the Tigers a big edge over the Timkenites with Massillon making 16 first downs to eight for Canton. The orange and black gained 224 yards on seven passes and 361 yards on rushing with a loss of 21 yards on rushing for a net gain on both passing and rushing of 564 yards. Timken made 160 yards rushing and had a loss of 32 for a net gain of 128 yards. The blue and gold failed to make a yard on passes.
The Tigers waded into scoring territory early in the contest but rather ragged playing kept them away from pay dirt until about the middle of the period.
Timken received and Sanchez, on a reverse, hoofed it 15 yards through the Tigers for Timken’s first first down, carrying to the Massillon 47 but here they were stopped and big Calvin Moore punted to Pellegrini on his 20. A Wallace to Pellegrini to Jasinski lateral with Tom skirting his left end made nine but another lateral from Wallace to Willmot with Willmot heaving a long pass intended for Jasinski failed. Wallace then plunged for a first down and Pellegrini heaved a long pass to Jasinski for a 41 yard gain to Canton’s 28. Tom’s good catch of the ball featured the play. Mastriann and Wallace picked up another first down to Timken’s 18 and Wallace skirted left end for seven more but here the attack bogged down and Timken held, finally taking the ball on its 15.
Pellegrini paved the way for the Tigers first touchdown when he intercepted a pass thrown by Timken’s George Stan on Massilon’s 35 and ran it back to the 50 before being forced out of bounds. Five plays later the Tigers had their first touchdown.
Mastriann made four at the line and Wallace in two dashes made it first down to Canton’s 40. Pellegrini’s pass intended for Willmot was incomplete but Romeo then pitched a long one to Jasinski that connected for 40 yards and the first Massillon counters. Tom took the ball on a good catch just over the Timken goal line. Mastriann missed on an attempted placekick.
Just before the first quarter ended Moore punted out of bounds to Massillon’s 40-yard line. Once gain Pellegrini attempted to hit Willmot with a pass and once again connections failed.
Eighty Yard Touchdown Play
Then on the first play in the second quarter, Pellegrini from punt formation sought to find a Massillon receiver out in the open but before he could find one he was nailed for a 20 yard loss being downed on his 20. But his loss was wiped out on the next play when Romeo, trying another pass, pitched a strike into Captain Bob Wallace’s hands on a 15 yard heave and the Tiger leader raced down field for 65 yards and Massillon’s touchdown. The overall gain was 80 yards and the touchdown came after three plays. Wallace took the pass out in the open and had clear sailing until near the goal line when he neatly sidestepped a lone Timken tackler and pranced unmolested into the end zone. Turkall, sent in to placekick, missed fire and the score was 12 to 0.
The Tigers missed another touchdown a bit later after gaining the ball on Timken’s 35 when Wallace partially blocked one of Moore’s punts; Mastriann getting the ball on the 40 and being downed on Timken’s 35. Pellegrini tried three passes and none worked when Massillon receivers were unable to hold the leather. Then on a fake punt formation, Glenn Keller took the ball from Jasinski and raced around right end for a first down. Another first down with Wallace making nine on one dash took the ball to the 10 but here the Tiger attack once again bogged down and Pellegrini was stopped in his tracks when he attempted to lug the ball over the one yard line on fourth down.
Timken was checked and Moore got away a good kick to Pellegrini who took the ball on his 48 and ran it back to Canton’s 46. Once again the Tiger offense functioned and in three plays the Tigers had chalked up their third touchdown.
Pellegrini passed for another seven and then pitched another strike to Wallace who raced 17 yards to Canton’s 23 before being overhauled. Again Pellegrini pitched a strike, this time to Jasinski and big Tom took the ball in the southeast corner and raced over for the score. Mastriann’s placekick was good boosting the count to 19.
The start of the third quarter, however, saw Massillon’s offense at its best and the Tigers rammed over three touchdowns in a hurry, two of them in the first two minutes of the period with the third coming after four minutes and 15 seconds of play.
Forsaking passes and resorting to the running game, the Tigers almost ran the Timkenites out of the park as they chalked up the three quick touchdowns.
Touchdowns Came Quickly
Massillon received and in two plays the Tigers moved 60 yards for a touchdown. The Tiger first stringers were still in the game with the exception of Keller who had been replaced by Wilbert Pedrotty and Bill Gable who gave way to Dick Richards.
Alonzo kicked out of bounds on Massillon’s 40. On the first play Pellegrini raced round right end and down to Canton’s 43. Then Wallace dashed around right end and into the clear, scampering all the way down the field on a pretty run for Massillon’s fourth set of counters. Mastriann’s successful placekick added the extra point.
In jig time the Tigers were back for another touchdown. Canton received and on the first play Arrington found himself a member of the Timken backfield as Neago handed him the ball. Dick was downed on Canton’s 35. Mastriann made six at the line and Wallace raced around left end and down to the Canton five before being forced out of bounds by Sanchez. The dash was good for 24 yards. On the next play Mastriann tore his way through the Timken forward wall for the touchdown. His attempted placekick, however, failed.
Once again Timken received and this time Wallace did the kick off. Bob’s boot, however, went only nine yards before going out of bounds, Canton getting the ball on Massillon’s 49. Williams, Richards and Arrington chased Sanchez toward his goal, finally nailing him for a 17 yard loss and Moore then punted, the kick being partially blocked by Larry Berger. Pedrotty got the ball on the 50.
Pellegrini made one at right end and then picked up 28 yards on his next effort, being chaed out of bounds on Canton’s 21. Once again Wallace turned loose his speed and dashing around left end went the remaining 28 yards for the sixth Massillon touchdown and the third in less than five minutes of play in the third quarter. Mastriann converted for the extra point and then Kammer sent in his entire second team.
The second stringers scored one touchdown but lost two others on penalties.
Early in the fourth period Vic Turkall intercepted a pass tossed by Neago on Massillon’s 29 and the second team moved toward pay dirt. Turkall, Don McGuire and Bertrus Webb raced the ball to Canton’s 10 with Webb clipping off a 40 yard run through left tackle, getting to the 10 before being forced out of bounds.
Penalties Halt Scoring
On the next play McGuire dropped the ball but Turkall picked it up and dashed across the line only to lose the points when the ball was called back and Massillon penalized 15 for offensive holding. But the Tigers roared right back with Turkall clipping off 17 to put the ball on the three from where Webb rammed through the line for what looked like another touchdown but once again the ball was called back and Massillon drew a five-yard penalty for offside.
Then Tomsho intercepted Pedrotty’s pass. Timken failed to get anywhere and Lucas punted to Turkall who was downed on Timken’s 20. Turkall heaved a pass to Wilmer Luke good for 11 yards and another to Pedrotty for five. Then Webb, on a neat bit of running, raced 16 yards around left end to Canton’s seven from where Turkall crashed through right tackle and over and this time the touchdown counted. Turkall made good on his placekick for the extra point, boosting Massillon’s total to 46 where it remained.
The entire third team took over at his stage and Timken carried the ball from its 40 to Massillon’s 17 before the game ended, the Tiger third stringers holding at his point and gaining possession of the ball as the final gun sounded.
Statistics Tigers Timken Total first downs 16 8 Yards gained by rushing 361 160 Yards lost by rushing 21 32 Net yards gained by rushing 340 128 Forward passes attempted 26 7 Forward passes completed 8 0 Yards gained by passing 224 0 Total net yardage rushing And passing 564 128 Passes had intercepted 1 3 Number of punts 3 7 Average distance of punts 26 30 Number of kickoffs 8 1 Average distance of kicks 23 15 Number of fumbles 1 4 Times ball lost on fumbles 0 4 Number of penalties against 6 5 Yards lost by penalties 40 25
Alliance Handed 12-0 Lacing By Tigers In Muddy Battle
ROLL UP TALLIES IN THIRD QUARTER
Washington High Gridders Establish Themselves As Good Mudders By Winning Fifth Straight Game; Played in Torrent of Rain
By FRED J. BECKER Independent Sport Editor
And now, ladies and gentlemen, you have every right to say that your 1943 Washington high school Tigers are a pretty fair country ball club.
They proved it Friday night in the mud and water at Tiger stadium when they defeated the Aviators of Alliance high school 12 to 0 for their fifth straight victory of the campaign, conquering not only a first class football opponent but the elements as well. Playing under the most adverse weather and field conditions any Massillon team has been called upon to face in a number of years Coach Elwood Kammer’s youngsters accepted their assignment with gusto and came through with flying colors.
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SECOND STARK FOE TURNED BACK In defeating the Aviators, the orange and black took the measure of a worthy foe that prior to last night had lost but one game in four engagements. The victory advances the Tigers, another milestone in their campaign to regain the Stark county scholastic championship they surrendered to Canton McKinley last November when defeated 35 to 0 the first Massillon reverse in 53 games.
Alliance was the second Stark foe to feel the sting of the Tigers’ attack, Canton Lincoln taking at 15 to 0 lacing in the opening game of the season. Canton Timken and Canton McKinley are the two Stark opponents still remaining on the Massillon schedule.
DOWNPOUR FLOODS FIELD
Very little, if any rain had fallen in Massillon for over a month prior to Friday but yesterday afternoon and night the heavens opened up and rain fell in torrents for at least eight hours, turning the Tiger stadium gridiron into a sea of mud and water. A drenching downpour fell steadily throughout the game. Because of the weather, what would have been the largest home crowd of the season turned out to be the smallest to see the Tigers in action in five games. Less than 6,000 hardy souls braved the deluge to sit through a soaking downpour and watch the Tigers slosh to their triumph over the Aviators. Had the weather been dry a crowd of at least 18,000 would have been on hand. As it was only the most ardent and enthusiastic Massillon and Alliance supporters braved a thorough soaking and flirted with pneumonia to watch the contest.
Naturally when the heavens opened up Coach Kammer and his assistants were a bit worried as to how their charges would perform on a wet field. Their four previous games had been played under ideal weather conditions and on a dry and solid gridiron. But the Tigers showed their tutors they could deliver the goods in fair weather or foul. They proved themselves a first class aggregation of mudders as they smashed their way to a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to sew up the ball game.
Because of the slippery condition of the field and the steady downpour the Tiger machine did not function with the smoothness it was expected to show and probably would have displayed had the footing been firm. But battling against the handicap of adverse weather and a stout Alliance team that was tough defensively from start to finish the Tigers recorded a notable achievement and earned the praises, not only of their coaches, but of the fans who sat in on the rain saturated contest.
ALLIANCE NEVER DANGEROUS
Alliance, weakened by the loss of Bill Rodgers, its triple-threat backfield ace, laid up with an injured knee cartilage since the East Liverpool game two weeks ago, was never dangerous in an offensive way, never moving the ball beyond the Massillon 40 and never threatening to get within scoring range. Bill Rodgers entered the game at the start of the fourth quarter but was in only long enough to get off a nice punt for the Aviators. Then Coach Leonard (Dutch) Hoppes called him back to the sidelines.
The Tigers dominated play throughout the game. True their offense did not function as it did against Steubenville or Akron St. Vincent’s but considering the conditions under which they played they did right well in their ground gaining and the poor footing and an unfortunate penalty cost them at least two touchdowns in the first half. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had the battle been staged on a dry field.
The Tigers clear cup superiority over their enemies from the eastern end of Stark county is shown in the statistics. The Massillonians made 10 first downs to one for Alliance, that Aviator first down coming late in the game when the Tigers were ruled guilty of interfering with an Aviator pass receiver. Alliance never came close to moving the chain through its offensive punch.
Despite the steady downpour and the slippery condition of the field the Tigers handled the ball well and few fumbles were made. The Tigers tried nine forward passes and completed two for 39 yards. Alliance, with Jack Robinson taking the injured Bill Rodgers’ place as the passer, tried 10 aerial heaves, most of them to Frank Rodgers, Bill’s brother, and completed but one for five yards that completed pass being the one on which interference was ruled. Massillon intercepted on pass.
In the ground gained department the Tigers greatly excelled the Aviators, having a total gained yardage from scrimmage and passes of 230 with a loss of 30 for a net gain of an even 200. Alliance had a total gain of 27 yards and a net loss of 29, winding up with a minus two.
CENTER OF LINE SHINES
Probably the most outstanding part of the Tigers performance was its work on defense. Alliance has some first rate ball luggers in Jack Robinson, Ray Allcorn and Dick Seidner, who replaced the injured Rodgers, but the orange and black forward wall smothered them quite effectively, doing a thorough job of smashing most of Alliance’s attempts to gain ground through the line or around the ends. The Aviators’ line also distinguished itself, the Tiger backs finding the alert Alliance forwards hard to skirt or knock out of a play. The Tigers, however, did find one weak spot in the Alliance defense and they rammed through it with telling effect in the second half.
The center of Massillon’s line with Bob Williams at center and Julius Tonges and Bill Gable on the guards, played its best game of the season last night. Williams submarined the Alliance backs time after time and his tackling was a bright spot in the battle. Tonges and Gable were in mud and water and the ball game up to their necks. The balance of the line with Belch and Arrington on the tackles and Willmot and Jasinski at the flanks soaked up a lot of water but did a thorough job of stopping the visiting firemen.
Henry Mastriann continued to impress as a steady and excellent line plunger ripping the center of the Aviators’ line apart consistently for good gains. Captain Bob Wallace found the going rather tough but completed a number of nice gains and Romeo Pellegrini got away often enough to keep the Aviators constantly in hot as well as cold water, and his fine running was directly responsible for Massillon’s second touchdown. The muddy field made Glenn Keller’s blocking assignments rather difficult but he was in the ball game all the time and his recovery of an Alliance fumble set up the first Massillon points. ?? Even the second team, which took over late in the fourth quarter, acquitted itself well in its initial test in mud and water.
ROUGHNESS QUICKLY HALTED
Somewhere along the way the Alliance boys must have gotten the impression that some tactics frowned upon by the rule-book would be necessary to get along with the Tigers. Anyway on the first two plays of the game the Aviators were handed two 15-yard penalties for unnecessary roughness. Frank Rodgers kicked off to Don Willmot to start the watery contest and Don lugged the leather back to his 33 before being stopped. The officials promptly stepped in and marched off 15 more yards because of roughness by Alliance.
Then Wallace skirted left end for 11 yards and some more Alliance high jinks were uncorked with the result that Captain Bob came up with a neat shiner under his left eye and Alliance soaked up another 15 yard penalty for roughness, taking the ball to the Alliance 24. Then Referee Earl (Monk) Gross stepped into the picture and from the stands it looked as if he delivered a short but very pointed lecture to the Alliance boys. From then on and through the remainder of the game they were nice lads, playing football as the rule-book says it should be played.
The Tigers seemed to be on the way to an early touchdown but a break of the game, and the breaks in such a contest as last night are frequent and both good and bad, halted their march toward the Alliance goal. The break came when Pellegrini got away around his right end and out into the open only to slip and fall on the alliance 25 where the Tigers had to surrender the leather, having failed to make the necessary yardage.
Another Massillon march a few minutes later was sidetracked when the Tigers were set back 15 yards for holding. Late in the first quarter Allcorn got off a quick kick from midfield that turned into a good break for the Tigers. The ball struck one of Allcorn’s teammates and Willmot got it just beyond the line of scrimmage and lugged it back to Alliance’s 36. Mastriann sloshed through the center of the Aviators’ line three times and toted the ball to Alliance’s 23 as the quarter ended.
PENALTY COSTS TOUCHDOWN
Then came a break that really hurt the Tigers. On the first play of the second period Pellegrini tucked the leather under his arm and set sail around his right end, racing 23 yards down the sideline and across the goal only to lose the points when the officials ruled the Tigers guilty of holding, calling the ball back and inflicting a 15-yard penalty on the local boys, putting the ball on the Alliance 38-yard line. A Pellegrini to Jasinski pass made up this penalty and more, taking the ball to Alliance’s 13 but here the Tigers bogged down and Alliance took the ball on its own 10.
Allcorn punted but the ball went straight up in the air and out of bounds on Alliance’s 17. But once again the Tigers could not take advantage of the scoring opportunity and the Aviators stopped them on the 15. From here on until the end of the period play was confined within Alliance’s 40-yard line but the Tigers could not strike hard enough to get within sight of the visitors goal.
The Tigers got their one big break of the ball game at the start of the third quarter and it was the break that paved the way for their first points and victory.
Dick Arrington kicked off to Alliance and he kicked the ball straight down the field. Robinson got his hands on the ball but it slithered out of his fingers and Glenn Keller pounced on it on Alliance’s 15-yard stripe. And six plays later the Tigers hit pay dirt for their first touchdown.
Mastriann ramming through that weak spot in the Alliance line made a first down to the three in two plunges and then came back to make one more on his third attempt. Vic Turkall who had replaced Pellegrini at the start of the third period, picked up another yard to the two and Mastriann sloshed one more to the one. Pellegrini returned to the game and on the next play Captain Wallace lugged the leather over for the first Massillon touchdown. Mastriann didn’t get a chance to try for the point from placement. The ball slipped out of Pellegrini’s hands and Romeo picked it up and tried a forward pass that failed.
A short time later the Tigers were again knocking at the touchdown door and their knocks brought results.
65 YARD MARCH FOR SCORE
Gaining possession of the ball on their 35-yard line after Seidner had punted, the Tigers started a march of 65 yards for their second touchdown, two neat runs by Pellegrini featuring the unbroken advance. Seven plays were required in this 65-yard march. Mastriann still plugging away at the weak spot in the center of Alliance’s line made 18 yards in two plays. Massillon received a five yard penalty for too much time out in the huddle but Mastriann picked up three of these in another line smash. Then Pellegrini let out all his sails and churned his way through mud and water wide around right end and down the field for 36 yards before Alliance dropped the anchor on him on the Aviators’ 16 yard line. It was one of the prettiest runs of the water-logged battle. Wallace hit off left tackle for six and Mastriann sloshed through the line for two. Then once again Pellegrinni launched another sailing expedition and this time he did all right and largely without any help from his teammates.
Fading far back Romeo nimbly picked his way through the mud, ducking would be Alliance tacklers here and there and finally cutting loose with a burst of speed that carried him by the entire Alliance team and across the goal line for Massillon’s second touchdown. This time Mastriann got a boot at the ball from placement but the attempt was wide.
From here on in Massillon had no more scoring opportunities and in the fourth quarter Kamer began pulling out his soaked regulars and substituting his second team and late in the game the entire second string aggregation was getting a chance to get its uniforms wet. Alliance, thwarted on the ground went to the air in a desperate attempt to score but got exactly nowhere on its aerial attack. It did however, register its only first down of the game late in the third quarter when the officials ruled Massillon interference on a pass play.
Massillon’s second stringers in the game when it ended were Turkall, Wilbert, Pedrotty, Bertrus Webb and Donald Sedjo in the backfield and Wilmer Luke, Dick Ielsch, Bob Richards, John Profant, Francis Cicchinelli, Larry Berger, and Bob Clark on the line.
Statistics Tigers Alliance Total first downs 10 1 Yards gained by rushing 101 22 Yards lost by rushing 20 20 Net yards gained by rushing 161 7 Forward passes attempted 9 10 Forward passes completed 2 1 Yards gained by passing 39 5 Total net yardage rushing and passing 200 -2 Passes had intercepted 0 1 Number of punts 6 10 Average distance of punts 31 31 Number of kickoffs 2 1 Average distance of kicks 47 48 Number of fumbles 4 3 Times ball lost on fumbles 1 2 Number of penalties against 4 4 Yards lost by penalties 40 40
Washington High Football Team Scores Victory In First Game of 1943 Season Before Surprisingly Large Crowd Of Over 13,000
By Fred J. Becker Independent Sports Editor
Rolling again are those Tigers of Washington high school. Kept away from pay dirt during the first two periods and rather badly jolted by a determined enemy offensive in the opening minutes of the battle, Coach Elwood Kammer’s young orange and black warriors came surging back in the final two periods Friday night at Tiger stadium to roll up two touchdowns, a point after touchdown and an automatic safety through the medium of a blocked punt to defeat a hard-fighting, courageous Canton Lincoln high team 15 to 0 in their opening combat of the 1943 scholastic football season before a crowd that passed the 13,000 mark.
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It was a victory No. 1 in a string which Massillon’s young Tigers hope to roll up to 10 before the end of November and the start of a new series of triumphs which they hope will erase the memory of the Canton McKinley defeat last November when a Massillon streak that had mounted to 52 games without a defeat was snapped by a 35-0 Bulldog triumph.
Hard Fought Ball Game
It was a tough ball game from start to finish. Both teams put everything they had into it and not until the fourth quarter was well under way did the Tigers hold the upper hand and a margin sufficiently large to permit their supporters to take a free and easy breath. It was a well deserved victory for the Tigers and a defeat without disgrace for Junie Ferrall’s Lincoln Lions.
The lads from the city which annually produces Massillon’s biggest gridiron rivals fought their hearts out and the local lads will not meet many teams during the next two months able to match the Cantonians in defensive ability. A brick wall wouldn’t be much harder to dent than the defense which the Lions showed last night.
Those who witnessed the game know now that Coach Kammer was not just doing a lot of talking when he said the Lions would be about the toughest foe any Tiger team had ever been called upon to face in an opening engagement. The Lions proved Friday night that every word Kammer said was true.
Tigers Rough In Spots
They were hard to beat – mighty hard, in fact, and in chalking up a 15 to 0 triumph over the east enders the Tigers are deserving of a lot of credit. Only a hard-driving physically fit team could have turned the trick and the Tigers were that kind of a ball club last night. Sure they made mistakes, sure they didn’t complete one pass all night and both on offense and defense they were rough in spots but always remember that the Tiger team last night was one of the youngest to ever represent Washington high school, but they are youngsters with a mighty fine fighting spirit and now that they have had their baptism of fire they’ll be a better ball club and some of the mistakes made last night will not occur next week or in the weeks to come.
The Tigers very definitely have possibilities and they’ll get better as the season grows older.
A surprisingly big crowd, one which surpassed even the expectations of the Tigers’ most optimistic supporters, sat in on last night’s engagement and were treated to a really fine football game, a contest that was interesting all the way and a battle royal from the opening kickoff to the final blast of the referee’s whistle.
Two beautiful runs of 21 and 29 yards respectively by Romeo Pellegrini, a swarthy hard hitting junior, aided and abetted by splendid interference, brought home the bacon for the Tigers. Another two points were added on an automatic safety when quarterback Glenn Keller blocked a Canton punt, driving the ball back beyond the end zone.
There were no outstanding stars on the Massillon team last night. Every boy gave the best he had while he was in the game. The Tiger line acquitted itself in fine shape. It had a hard customer to handle in Captain Mike Rejina of the Lions, a big, bruising back who could run and plunge and around whom the Canton offensive was built but they stopped Mike before he got too troublesome, even though in addition to his running ability he proved himself to be a capable southpaw passer and kicker.
Pellegrini Shines On Offense
Pellegrini spearheaded the Massillon attack. He got away for a lot of fine gains and his two touchdown gallops were beautiful to watch. Defensively such boys as Capt. Bob Wallace, Bob Williams, R.C. Arrington, and Henry Mastriann performed in a highly creditable manner.
Although its forward passing attack failed to click, not one in seven attempts being good, the Tigers held a 12 to 6 advantage over the Lions in first downs. The Tigers gained a total of 203 yards while the Lions were held to 146 yards. Lincoln completed four passes out of 11 for 59 yards and had one intercepted. The Tigers fumbled five times, and recovered two.
The Lions, fortified by three practice games with other schools, began to get troublesome right from the opening kickoff and threw a big scare into the orange and black camp before being halted on the Massillon 10.
Early Lincoln Splurge
The visitors received, Arrington kicking out of bounds with the Lions putting the ball in play on their 35.
Right away Capt. Rejina and Jim Watson began to make life miserable for the Tigers and in a series of end sweeps and line smashes carried the ball deep into Massillon territory. It looked quite dismal for the Tigers for a few minutes but they managed to pull themselves together and repel the invaders on the Massillon 10 yard line. Then the Tiger offensive began to move and three first downs in succession carried the ball to Massillon’s 45 yard line.
Here the march slowed down and Pellegrini attempted a pass. It was intercepted by Watson on the Lions’ 35. This time, however, the Tigers stopped young Mr. Rejina and he was forced to punt soon after the second quarter began. His kick went out on the Massillon 34 but the Tigers couldn’t go anywhere and Tom Jasinski booted one to Rejina who was downed on his 44. Once again the Tigers held and when Cheyney attempted a pass Don Willmot snared it on his 27.
Here it was that young Pellegrini shifted into high and turned loose an exhibition of running that before the evening was over was destined to bring victory to the Tigers.
Lugging the leather on smoothly working reverses around his right side, Pellegrini stepped off gains of 14, nine, 15, and 18 yards to carry the ball to Lincoln’s 12 yard line. Here the Tiger march bogged down and was wiped out completely when Glenn Keller fumbled and a flock of Lions covered the ball on the visitors’ 17. After making a first down Rejina was forced to punt and once gain the Lions got a break when Pellegrini fumbled the kick and Bill DeGarmo recovered for Lincoln on the Massillon 30. Massillon, however, held and took possession of the ball a few seconds before the second quarter ended.
Pellegrini Hits Pay Dirt.
Massillon received to open the third period and after an exchange of punts set in motion the offensive thrust that produced the first Tiger points. Rejina punted out of bounds on the Massillon 47. Mastriann hit the line for four, then made it a first down. Keller made two and Wallace one before Pellegrini set sail for six before being forced out of bounds. Mastriann made it a first down on Lincoln’s 21. Here the Lions took time out to talk it over but on the next play Wallace flipped the ball to Pellegrini on another reverse and the Tiger halfback, with good blocking ahead of him raced around Canton’s left end for 21 yards and into the promised land. He scored the extra point on a dash through the line and Massillon fans began to breathe easier and tell each other that it was a pleasant evening after all, even though a bit chilly.
The touchdown put new confidence into the Tigers and they began to smack Mr. Rejina around quite lustily, so much in fact that he began to lose some of his effectiveness. A fumble by Vic Turkall gave Lincoln the ball on its 21 but set the stage for the safety. Rejina lost 10 on a bad pass from center and when he attempted to punt his team out of danger, Glenn Keller broke through and blocked the kick, sending the ball beyond the end zone and giving Massillon two points on an automatic safety.
Canton kicked from its 20 and Turkall brought the ball back to the Lions 45 as the period ended. With Pellegrini, Mastriann, and Wallace sparking the Tigers in a steady march toward the Canton goal the Massillonian’s soon were within striking distance of another score shortly after the fourth quarter opened. But with their goal line threatened the Lions put on a brilliant stand that shattered the Tiger march inches away from the goal line.
With the ball on Canton’s seven yard line, Mastriann plunged to the one-yard marker. He was stopped inches away from the goal on his next try only to see the ball go back to the six because the Tigers were offside. Wallace was tossed for a one yard loss but Mastriann made two on his next try and Pellegrini drove to the one yard line with fourth down coming up. Mastriann tried for the score but was smothered without gain by the aroused Lincoln Lion line.
Prize Play Of Game
Then Rejina punted from behind his goal line and here came the prize play of the game and Massillon’s second touchdown. Taking the ball on Canton’s 29, Pellegrini twice eluded tacklers who had a hold of him but couldn’t floor him. Then the Tiger speedster set sail to his left, racing toward the sideline as a wall of interference, that formed, as if by magic and which must have included every member of the Tiger team, completely blotted out the white jerseyed Lions and permitted Pellegrini to scamper the remainder of the distance unmolested for the touchdown. Wallace’s attempted place kick failed.
With practically all Massillon second stringers in the lineup the hard-to-beat Lions made one more serious threat to score late in the quarter. It came when Rejina tossed a long pass to Lessig who was pulled down on the Massillon 40 after an overall gain of 40 yards. Kammer rushed his first stringers back into the battle and on the first play Willmot intercepted a Rejina pass to erase the Canton threat. The game ended shortly after with Lincoln again in possession of the ball but not going anywhere.
There may have been some of us in Massillon who thought the Tigers would be a better club with more speed but Junie Ferrall, the Lincoln coach, thinks they have plenty of speed. Chatting in the Canton dressing room after the game Ferrall declared the Tigers were faster than any team his Lions played last year, even faster, he said, than Lorain, the only outfit to halt the Lions in 1942.
Calls Local Team Fast
“That Massillon team looked awfully good out there tonight,” he said. “They handled the ball exceptionally well and they were plenty fast.”
None of his boys sustained any serious injuries. They were a bit downcast because they had their hearts set on whipping the Tigers.
Over in the Tiger dressing room a jubilant scene was taking place as the happy Tigers celebrated their initial triumph.
Of course Kammer was not surprised at the fight put up by the Lions. He had seen just that kind of a game coming up for the past two weeks and he was glad his boys were able to emerge on top.
“You kids played a credible game tonight,” he told the boys, “but you need lots more work. We didn’t complete a pass and we need a passing attack that will function if our ground offense is going to get anywhere. Your good physical condition was a big factor in your victory.
Victory No. 1
Massillon – 15 pos. Lincoln Willmot L.E. Lessig Arrington L.T. Wilkins Tongas L.G. Manly Williams C DeGarmo Gable R.G. White Berger R.T. Robertson Jasinski R.E. Heckaman Keller Q.B. Martelli Pellegrini H.B. Watson Wallace H.B. Cheyney Mastriann F.B. Rejina
Score by quarters: Massillon 0 0 9 6 – 15
Touchdown: Pellegrini, 2
Points after touchdown: Pellegine, (plunge)
Safety: Keller
Referee: Gross; Umpire: Graf; Headlinesman Long; Field Judge Rupp.
Statistics Tigers Lincoln Total first downs 12 6 Yards gained by rushing 232 87 Yards lost by rushing 32 28 Net yards gained by rushing 210 59 Forward passes attempted 7 11 Forward passes completed 0 4 Yards gained by passing 0 59 Total net yardage rushing & passing 210 118 Passes had intercepted 0 1 Number of punts 5 7 Average distance of punts 34 28 Punts blocked 0 1 Number of kickoffs 3 2 Average distance of kickoffs 24 32 Number of fumbles 5 0 Times ball lost on fumbles 2 0 Number of penalties against 2 2 Yards lost by penalties 20 20
Open Meeting For Tiger Fan
The Massillon Tiger Booster club will hold its second meeting Monday evening at 8 o’clock in the auditorium of Washington high school. It will be another open meeting and all Massillon football fans, men and women are invited to attend.
Because the Tigers won the opening game against Canton Lincoln 15 to 0 Friday night, the Booster club gathering will have cause for celebration and a rousing meeting is in prospect.
Coach Elwood Kammer will be on hand to give the fans a detailed report on the opener and to tell them something about the team’s plans for the Akron West game here next Friday.
Tigers Completely Outplayed As Red And Black Rip Local Team To Pieces Last Half To Defeat Orange and Black First Time In Eight Years
By Luther Emery
Now Massillon knows how Canton McKinley, and all the Tiger’s other opponents have felt these last seven years.
Saturday it was the Massillon fans turn to sit in the stands and watch their Tiger team take a thorough 35-0 beating at the hands of one of the finest Canton McKinley teams ever to set foot on a Massillon gridiron.
Canton Keeps Edge in Series
For seven long years, the Tigers have been lashing the whip in Ohio gridiron circles. Saturday, in the closing game of the eighth year, they were on the receiving end, with none other than their old rival, Canton McKinley, administering a sound threshing in the 47th game to be played between the two elevens since 1894. The victory gave Canton 23 victories in the series, left Massillon with 21 and three have ended in tie scores.
The defeat was Massillon’s first in 53 consecutive games, a string that began in November 1937 after the Tigers had lost to a fighting New Castle team, 7-0. But one tie marred the victory chain, Mansfield holding the 1941 Massillon team to a 6-6 draw.
The defeat was Massillon’s first at the hands of Canton McKinley since the 21-6 paddling the local eleven received in 1934. That likewise was the last time an Ohio team had been able to subdue the terrific Tigers.
Reason For Celebration
So McKinley had reason to celebrate. For seven years the Bulldogs have watched the Massillon fans stream out on the field and parade behind their band after the game. Saturday it was Canton’s turn, and they so rejoiced at the triumph that the officials had to call the game, despite the fact that there was time left for one play.
The celebration went on into the night, carried through Sunday and will be resumed today when McKinley high practically declares a holiday to laud the achievement of their coach Herman “Bup” Rearick and his Bulldogs.
Massillon never knew a celebration such as the Bulldogs will be treated to. Victories have been so many for the Tigers the past seven years that they have been taken for granted by fans and students, and they accepted defeat with no more signs of emotion than exhibited in their triumphs.
The sympathy of the fans went to Coach Elwood Kammer and his Tiger team. It was the first losing game for the senior members of the squad, the first loss for Kammer as a high school coach.
There was no disgrace in losing to the Bulldog Saturday. He was terrific, and when animosities created with 48 years of rivalry are put aside in favor of common sense, the Tigers could have been beaten by no better opponent than their old Stark county rival, McKinley.
Canton reached its peak Saturday afternoon and played a near perfect game of football before the crowd of between 20,000 and 22,000 spectators. The Bulldogs scored five touchdowns, three points after touchdown, a safety, and had two other touchdowns called back because of penalties.
That set a new scoring record for the Massillon-Canton series, something no one even dared to dream about before the game.
Canton’s Day
It was McKinley’s day. Practically everything the Bulldogs tried worked, and it was one of those days when the victors were even opportunists, intercepting passes and being Johnny on the spot for fumbles.
It was anything but a day for Massillon. The only break the Tigers had was the weather. They wanted a dry field, and the footing was fairly firm. The rain stopped before they peeled the tarpaulin from the gridiron, and while the sod was a bit soft, it was anything but muddy. The Tigers got off to a poor start when a punt went straight up in the air on the 32-yard line, and in their anxiety they contributed 15 yards in penalties that left the Bulldogs but 17 to go in their first touchdown drive and they gave away 10 more yards on the red and black’s second touchdown jaunt.
A poor start was anything but what the Tigers had hoped for. Their strategy was to score as quickly as possible, with the hope of breaking down the Bulldog spirit so prevalent the last two weeks, and at the same time ease the pressure on four cripples who were pieced together with bandages in order to get them on the field.
The Massillon eleven was not badly outplayed the first half, though Canton from the start looked the stronger team and the eventual winner. Three five-yard penalties, one of which gave the red and black a first down on the Tiger five-yard line helped them to their first touchdown after a poor punt, and another five-yard penalty gave the red and black a first down on the 20-yard line in the second touchdown drive after the Tigers had only yielded seven yards in three attempts. The second touchdown came with less than a minute of the half remaining to be played.
The Tigers gained 88 yards t he first half, all by rushing, to 109 for Canton, 19 of which were made by passing.
It was in the second half that McKinley rose up in all its might to subdue the Tiger and knock him loose from his throne with a deluge of 23 points. Only a merciful gun kept the score from being any larger.
Nine of the points crossed the Tiger goal in rapid succession just when it appeared that the local team might salvage a scoreless third period out of the contest and 14 more were piled over a tiring but still scrapping Tiger team.
The Bulldogs victory throws the state championship race into an awful mess. In percentages, the Tigers have a better record than Canton, for the Bulldogs were tied by one of their own schools, Lincoln, and lost 21-13 to Steubenville, a team that Massillon whipped 33-13. The Big Red will put in a claim for a share of the title, and there probably will be a lot of shouting from several “podunks” that haven’t played anybody but that have finished the season with an undefeated record. Most sportsmen will say you have to beat the champ to win a title and Canton has the honor of being the first Ohio team to do it since 1934; but Steubenville will more than likely object, for the Big Red will boast that it is the team that beat the team that beat the champ and has a higher percentage of victories this season. Oh, well.
The statistics were all in favor of McKinley, 17 first downs to Massillon’s 10 and 304 yards gained in rushing to Massillon’s 166. In fact when you analyze the gains by quarters you find the Tigers seldom had the ball the last period and only tried two running plays the entire fourth quarter.
Though the local team carried the ball into Bulldog territory three times during the game they only threatened once. Their first march followed the Bulldogs, first touchdown, the Tigers striking back with a drive that moved from their 20 to the Bulldog 41, where Graber on third down with seven yards to go, tried to snap a pass over the center of the line to Bray, but Abe Aslanides intercepted on his 35 to end the threat.
The second march came the next time the Tigers got the ball and likewise started from their 20. They moved it to the bulldog 40 where they were forced to punt.
Fumble Ends Threat
The last effort, in the fourth period was their best. Starting with Chuck Holt’s interception of Earl Louck’s pass on the 39-yard line, they overcame a five-yard penalty to move up to the 28-yard line on passes. Bob Graber tossed one to Don Willmot who put a lateral into Fred Cardinal’s hands for a first down in midfield. Another fell into Tom Jasinski’s fingers for a first on the 34 and another to Cardinal took the ball to the 28. There Holt on a running play crashed through the weak side and raced to the 10-yard line. He appeared to have generated enough momentum to go over, but when bumped, the ball flew out of his hands and into the arms of Jack Crider, who got back to his 28 before being downed. No once could have lateraled it any better.
Everyone in the Massillon stands was hoping Chuckie would get the touchdown. With Graber useless as a runner because of an injured ankle, Holt shouldered the burden of the ball carrying. Twenty times he lugged the leather during the afternoon, often going three times in a row.
The rest of the running was left to Keve Bray, who carried the ball 11 times. Graber carried it but once. Bray gained more yards the first quarter than all of the Canton players together. He ran 46 yards in six attempts, while the combined first period yardage of the Bulldog backs was 29 yards.
Canton is heaping words of praise on Tony Dominick and Jack Crider for their great performances. Spear-headed by a fast charging line that knocked the Tiger forwards on their heels the last half, Dominick and Crider tore the locals apart the last half. Dominick ripped through center where all the courage of little Dave Edwards and Barney Wallace couldn’t stop him. Willie Crider slipped in and around the tackles bringing his performance to a peak with a 47-yard touchdown jaunt. Ernie Parks, the fleet-footed giant of the Bulldog backfield was held well in check. He only gained a net total of 36 yards in 12 attempts but his weight and elongated body helped to wear down the Massillon eleven that spotted the red and black 14 pounds to the man in weight.
There was no lack of courage on the Massillon line and it wasn’t any fun for 150-pound Edward , 140 pound Wallace, and 150-pound Bray to have 192-pound Bob Zimmer, 193-pound Parks, and 172-pound Dominick come pounding through the center of the Massillon forward wall. Coach Elwood Kammer occasionally relieved the Massillon lightweights and sent Bob Williams and Bob Kanney into the game for defense.
There was no lack of courage when fellows like Bob Wallace with a badly damaged leg; Graber with a sore ankle; Cardinal with two injured shoulders and a damaged foot; Karl Paulik with an injured shoulder; and Tom Jasinski with a charley horse would stay on the firing line against a heavy eleven in tip-top condition.
Took Defeat Gamely
The Tigers have no alibi to offer that anyone quit trying. They simply got the whipping that they knew was coming sometime or other and they took it, painful as it was, without a whimper. That was their answer to the question many have asked – how will Massillon take defeat? The Tiger Booster club will have an opportunity to give its answer Tuesday evening when it meets in the Washington high auditorium.
To recount the scoring plays, here is what happened.
The Tigers received, Cardinal getting the ball and coming back to his 20. Three plays gained eight yards so Romeo Pellegrini, who started in place of Graber, dropped back to punt. The ball went straight up going only four yards from the line of scrimmage, so Canton took over on the Massillon 32. Crider hit for two yards, but Massillon was offside and drew another penalty giving Canton a first down on the 22-yard line. With Dominick carrying the ball twice and Crider once, the Bulldogs moved up to a first down on the 10-yard line.
Three substitutes raced on to the field for Massillon, Graber, Bob Wallace, and Bob Williams. The Tigers were charged with delaying the game and drew another five-yard penalty giving Canton a first down on the fire-yard line. Dominick was stopped without gain, but he got four yards his next effort and went over on the third attempt. Crider’s attempted placekick for the extra point was wide.
The Tigers came back with a couple of offensive bursts that bogged down after passing the midfield strip and the Bulldogs finally took over when Graber punted over the goal. Here an 80-yard touchdown drive was lunched. After Crider had drive for two yards, Dominick in two attempts crashed a first down on his 32. Parks made nine yards, his best effort of the day, and Dominick picked up the rest for a first down on his 44. Two more plays and Dominick had another first on the Tiger 44. Crider hit for four yards, but the Tigers drew a five-yard penalty on the next play. Parks was tossed for a three-yard loss, but Crider made up for it by tossing a flat pass to him that netted a first down on the Massillon 32. Dominick got six yards in two attempts, but the Tigers with hopes of halting the Bulldog drive, were guilty of offside on third down and the five-yard penalty gave Canton a first on the 21-yard line. Dominick and Crider on two plays powered their way to a first down on the nine-yard line. Parks and Crider were held to a total of three yards but Crider crossed the Tigers up on third down and flipped a short pass to Dale Haverstock who got to the one foot line. It was only a matter of form for Dominick to crash through for the touchdown. Crider’s attempted placekick was blocked and the score was 12-0. Only seconds remained to be played, and the half ended two plays later with one Massillon pass knocked down and the second intercepted by Crider on the 34-yard line.
Canton Gets Safety
The Tigers stopped Canton drives twice in the third period before the Bulldogs finally scored on a safety. The first drive reached the 35-yard line after recovery of a Massillon fumble there. The second went to the six-yard line where the locals recovered a Canton fumble. Trying desperately to do something Graber twice passed from behind his goal. Once Haverstock missed a sure touchdown when the ball slipped through his hands as he tried to intercept it. Punting on third down, Graber was rushed by Zimmer, Bulldog quarterback, who blocked the ball and fell on it back of the end zone for an automatic safety that gave Canton two points.
The Tigers kicked out from the 20-yard line and Vic Wernet got back to the Massillon 48. Parks made a yard and then Crider went for the works in a beautiful dash through center in which he outran the Massillon secondary. Chuck Holt made a desperate effort to get him with a diving tackle on the five-yard line, but Crider faded away. This time Hank Smith was rushed in to sweep right end for the extra point and succeeded, bringing the score to 21-0.
The Bulldogs gained at will from there on in. They kicked off to Massillon, and on second down, Crider intercepted Graber’s pass and went for a touchdown only to have the ball called back because a Canton player clipped. It made no difference, for the red and black just powered their way right on through for 48 yards with Parks scampering around left center for the last seven and Crider pitching to Jasper Harris for the extra point.
The next one followed the Tigers best bid of the day when Crider recovered Holt’s fumble on the 10 and went back to his 28. It was first Dominick and then Crider, with the latter getting off one 32-yard run, until the four-yard line was eventually reached. Then Crider went over for the touchdown and Dominick place-kicked the extra point.
On the last play of the game, Bill Cook, sub center went 30 yards with a pass interception for a touchdown that didn’t count. Time expired during the run and the spectators poured on to the field. But McKinley was offside on the play. The Tigers would have taken a fine-yard penalty and there would have been one more play. The officials looked at the crowd and thought what’s the use. Massillon would have held the ball anyway, so they called the game.
Chain Is Cut
Massillon Pos. McKinley Willmot LE Haverstock Edwards LT Jordan Kanney LG Wernet B. Wallace C Lombardi Weisgerber RG Schuster Paulik RT Bell Jasinski RE Harris Cardinal QB Zimmer Pellegrini LH Crider Bray RH Parks Holt FB Dominick
Statistics Mass. Cant. First downs 10 17 Line plays 32 58 Yards rushing 136 304 Yards lost rushing 9 6 Net gain rushing 125 298 Yards passing 47 31 Net yards gained 172 329 Passes attempted 12 8 Had passes intercepted 3 1 Passes incomplete 5 2 Fumbles 4 2 Lost ball on fumble 2 1 Times penalized 6 3 Yards penalized 30 25 Times punted 4 2 Punts blocked 1 0 Average punt (yards) 24 26 Yards punts returned 0 38 Kickoffs 2 6 Yards kickoffs returned 51 0
Booster Club Meets Tuesday
Massillon’s undefeated string of 52 games has been broken and that calls for all the more effort on the part of members of the Tiger Booster club.
The Boosters will not meet tonight, but they will gather Tuesday evening and will elect officers for 1943 as well as make plans for their annual banquet. It will be an open meeting. The pub
TOUCHDOWN IN FOURTH QUARTER GIVES CANTON 6 – 3 TRIUMPH FIRST VICTORY IN FIVE SEASONS FOR M’KINLEY ELEVEN
Driven backward by a bewildering aerial assault and a relentless, hard-driving attack off tackle a weary but grimly fighting Washington high school football team last Saturday afternoon went down to defeat before its perennial rival, Canton McKinley, 6 to 3 in a thrilling and spectacular battle at Lakeside Stadium, Canton, before the largest crowd that probably has ever witnessed a scholastic athletic event in Stark county. A touchdown in the fourth quarter that came through the medium of a well carried out offensive brought victory to the red and black of Canton, giving it a three point margin over Massillon which in the third period had amassed three points through a field goal from placement by Elwood Kammer from the 25-yard line.
Needless to say Canton went wild with joy when the game came to a close and its team was out in front. It was the first time in five years that a McKinley high team has been able to win from Massillon and the first time in three years that Canton has been able to score points on an orange and black scholastic outfit. Prior to Saturday Massillon had reigned supreme over its old enemy since 1920 when the red and black turned in a 14 to 0 triumph.
There was nothing fluky about Canton’s victory. It was merited and well earned, although for three periods the east enders were decisively out played by a fast stepping and hard hitting Massillon team that should have scored at least two touchdowns in the first half but didn’t because the fickle goodess of luck decreed otherwise. Massillon made 14 first downs to seven for Canton, out playing its ancient foe two to one, yet it was forced to bow its head in defeat.
Two things stand out prominently in setting forth the reasons for Massillon’s defeat. One was a break of the game that came in the third quarter and proved the turning point of the battle. From then on Canton held the upper hand and it made the most of its opportunity and the result was a hard earned victory for its colors. NO RESERVE STRENGTH The other was the advantage Canton had on Massillon was in reserve strength; that more than anything else caused the downfall of Coach Stewart’s team.
With six men cut off the team by a ruling making them ineligible a week before the Canton game, three of them regulars in the backfield, Coach Stewart was forced to send his strongest lineup into the fray at the start and keep it there until the last hope of victory vanished in the final minutes of play. The Massillon backfield, especially Kammer and Laughlin who bore the burden of the local team’s offense, had spent themselves during the first three quarters in their fierce dashes through the Canton team and when the time came for a last desperate effort to overcome the east enders’ lead Massillon no longer had the punch. Its team was willing and its spirit undimmed but its physical prowess had been spent in that earlier determined but futile attempt to wrest the victory from its old foe.
Not so with Canton. It sent into the struggle at the start of the third period Taubensee and Kinney, a pair of fresh halfbacks who were ready to cut loose with all their power when Canton’s opportunity came and their driving attack along with Holmes’ cleverly executed aerial bombardment, turned what looked like a certain defeat for Canton into a brilliant victory by an eleventh hour attack. Taubensee was the hero of Canton’s triumph, being the lad to smash through the Massillon line in the fourth period for the touchdown.
If Massillon had had Captain Define, Smith and Halpin ready to jump into the fray to relieve Kammer and Laughlin and Brown when they showed signs of fatigue the outcome might have been different. But they were on the sidelines, ineligible and so Massillon’s chances of victory went glimmering. KAMMER IS STAR But a hero in defeat was Kammer, the fast charging and line smashing Massillon backfield ace. To his great ground gaining prowess and ability to outrun his Canton rivals was due Massillon’s greatest chance for victory. Kammer ripped, slashed and dashed his way through the Canton team for three quarters in one of the greatest exhibitions of playing ever seen in a Massillon-Canton tussle but Kammer’s great efforts were not to be rewarded. He also was a bear on defense but he could not go on forever and the fourth quarter found him leg weary and his energy almost gone. Sharing offensive honors with the brilliant Kammer was Whitey Laughlin, the stocky plunger, who also tore the Canton line to shreds on numerous occasions and once in the fourth quarter saved Massillon’s goal line by throwing Taubensee for a loss of three yards when Canton had but three yards to go for a touchdown on fourth down. But he also, along with Brown and McConnell, began to feel the strain in the fourth quarter. THE BIG BREAK The big break of the game came in the third quarter when McConnell, standing back to punt, missed a high pass from Bill Price. It was fourth down. The ball was on Massillon’s 40-yard line. Price shot the ball back to McConnell but it was over the Massillon punter’s head. McConnell reached for it but the ball went through his hands. He covered it on his 30-yard line but the oval went to Canton.
It was then that McKinley began the drive that was to carry it to victory. Quarterback Holmes also began to show his field generalship. He called Taubensee and Kinney into service on short off tackle bucks and they soon had driven through for a first down carrying the ball to Massillon’s 29-yard line. Then the orange and black defense stiffened. Up to that point Canton had not attempted a forward pass. Holmes then dropped back as if to try for a field goal. Instead he shot a bullet pass to Bolender who pulled it out of the air for a 16-yard gain, being tackled on Massillon’s 11-yard line as the quarter ended.
With a touchdown in sight Kinney rammed the line three times and toted the ball to Massillon’s three-yard line with fourth down and two yards to gain for a first down and three to make a touchdown. Taubensee started for Massillon’s left tackle but he never reached the line of scrimmage. Like a battering ram Laughlin smashed through and nailed Taubensee for a loss of three yards and Massillon had staved off the touchdown, getting the ball on its six-yard line. THE TOUCHDOWN Massillon could not gain and McConnell punted to Holmes who was tackled on Massillon’s 40. Canton, scenting victory, was not to be denied and was soon off on another march toward the orange and black goal. Holmes opened up with his deadly aerial attack and shot a pass to Bolender for 18 yards. Three line plays then gained only a few yards. Again came fourth down with the ball on Massillon’s 18 and again Holmes dropped back to kick formation but once more he depended upon the aerial game and this time hurled a pass to Clarke, who grabbed the ball and carried it to the six-yard line before being pulled to earth by Kammer. Then Taubensee earned his chance to become Canton’s hero. On the first play he smashed through right tackle for three and on the next he went through the same spot and over Massillon’s goal line for the first touchdown a Canton team has scored on Massillon in four years. Bolender failed to kick from placement for the extra point.
The fourth quarter was still young but Massillon’s offense was gone. Brown opened up with forward passes but to no avail. Canton was watching Massillon’s aerial attack very closely, following Storrie and McConnell, the receivers of Brown’s heaves, like hawks. The game ended with Canton in possession of the ball inside Massillon’s 20-yard line. CHANCE TO SCORE Canton did not once get inside Massillon territory in the first half until near the end of the second quarter when Brown fumbled a punt and Canton covered on the Massillon 26-yard line. But Massillon almost continually was playing on Canton ground. In the first quarter the orange and black advanced deeply into Canton territory on an exchange of punts.
McConnell, by a pretty kick, had driven the ball out of bounds on Canton’s six-yard line. Holmes then punted from behind his goal line but he kicked against a strong wind and Massillon got the ball on Canton’s 26-yard line. Massillon marched down to Canton’s six-yard line and a touchdown seemed likely when Kammer was sent on a long end run and was tossed for a five-yard loss. A line plunge might have accomplished more. In addition to this Massillon incurred a 15-yard penalty for holding and was pushed back to the 29-yard line. The ball was brought up to Canton’s 16-yard line when Clark interfered with Storrie as he was about to catch a pass. Laughlin made five at the line but a triple pass fizzled and lost nine. This was made up however when Brown passed to McConnell for 11. But fourth down was coming and Brown tried another forward and this was intercepted by Clark who carried it back 30 yards before being stopped.
With Kammer skirting the ends and smashing the line for steady gains Massillon marched right up the field in the second quarter only to lose another splendid chance to score by a 15-yard penalty for holding. Canton found Kammer almost unstoppable and was being swept back everytime the Massillon star took the ball. Getting the pigskin on Massillon’s 30-yard line Kammer almost single handed, carried the ball for steady gains on end runs and line drives until it was resting on Canton’s 15-yard line. He was given good interference and assisted by Laughlin and McConnell. But then, with Canton weakening fast, a Massillon man was guilty of holding and a 15-yard penalty blasted the chance to score. Canton then took the ball on downs but Plaskett fumbled and W. Harris covered on the 31-yard line. Massillon made another first down but time was nearly up and McConnell tried for a goal from placement from the 32-yard line but it was low. SCORE ON PLACE KICK The third quarter still found Kammer plowing through the Canton team for substantial gains. Laughlin also was dong some splendid ball toting and an unbroken march of 45 yards soon had the ball on Canton’s 20-yard line. But Canton’s line held and then Kammer dropped back to the 25 for a place kick. A Canton lineman was offside just as the ball was passed. Kammer put his toe against the leather and the ball sailed over the cross bar for the first points of the game.
Massillon then had its choice of taking the five-yard penalty for Canton’s offside play, which would have given it a first down, or the three points resulting from the place kick. The orange and black took the points; whether that was a wise move will always remain a debatable question. To have taken the penalty would have brought a first down inside Canton’s 15-yard line and a touchdown might have resulted, for Canton was hard beset to stop Kammer’s fast charges and Laughlin’s line plunges. But right then those three points looked like good enough to win and the local team can’t be blamed for taking a sure lead in preference to a doubtful touchdown. Had it taken the gain resulting from the penalty it might have scored and the game ended in a tie or a Massillon victory had the point after touchdown been registered. But why discuss a matter that’s now history. A few moments later came the break that started Canton on its way to victory. Tough Luck Massillon – 3 Pos. Canton – 6 Gump LE Bolender W. Harris LT Woodring Kelly LG Spence Price C Ballard Crone RG Duff Dommer RT Dunn Thomas RE Dye Brown QB Holmes Kammer LHB Clark McConnell RHB Plaskett Laughlin FB Hodnick
Score by quarters: Massillon 0 0 3 0 3 Canton 0 0 0 6 6
Substitutions: Massillon – Storrie for Gump, Gump for Storrie, Storrie for Gump, N. Harris for Price, Agler for Thommas, Tipton for Crone, Hax for Brown.
Canton – Sheets for Dye, Taubensee for Clark, Kinney for Plaskett, Rittersbaugh for Spence, Dye for Sheets, Clark for Kinney, Plaskett for Clark, Kauffman for Plaskett.
Touchdown – Taubensee.
Field goal (from placement) – Kammer.
Referee – Dr. Lambert, Ohio State. Umpire – Swain, Dickinson. Head Linesman – Barrett, W. & J.
INTERCEPTED PASSES BRING 14 – 0 VICTORY OVER WARREN HIGH LONG DASHES IN 4th QUARTER WIN FLASHY DUEL
Fighting with the ferocity of a Tiger at bay and hurdling obstacles that would have broken the spirit of a less courageous aggregation a determined Washington high school football team last Saturday afternoon at Warren swept over Warren high school’s eleven in relentless fury and came through with a spectacular 14 to 0 victory over its Trumbull county rival in the annual tussle between these two foes.
Two intercepted forward passes in the fourth quarter followed by brilliant dashes down the field of 90 and 95 yards stayed off defeat, routed a dangerous and hard playing opponent and added another victory to the orange and black banner.
With their captain and five other teammates on the sidelines, the victims of a ruling affecting their eligibility, the local team took the field Saturday in a shattered condition but with a fighting spirit that could not be broken and won from a team, that according to all the statistics piled up during the battle, should have won. But that determination to do or die, that comes when adverse odds are greatest, and the ability to play heads up football from start to finish, turned the tide of victory to Massillon.
To the keen foresight and quick judgment of “Whitey” Laughlin and Elwood Kammer must go the credit for Massillon’s sensational triumph. It was these two lads who in the fourth quarter, pulled Warren forward passes out of the air in the shadow of Massillon’s goal posts and converted them into touchdowns for their team by scintillating dashes down the field. Coach Stewart’s athletes were outplayed, no one can deny that but they were not out gamed and because they fought the hardest when their goal line was in danger is the reason they are the victors and Warren the vanquished today. WEATHER IDEAL With ideal weather conditions prevailing, the first in many weeks, the game attracted a record crowd that packed every inch in the Moose Park at Warren. And the local team was not without support, about 1,500 Massillonians making the trip to Warren. It was a perfect day for football with the field in good condition with the exception of one spot in the center.
Weakened by the loss of six players through the recent eligibility ruling of Commissioner Townsend, among them Captain Define and Paul Smith, star halfbacks and punter, and Paul Storrie, brilliant end, who has a bad knee, Coach Stewart’s team went into Saturday’s game with all the odds against it. It was stacking up against a formidable opponent that had been pointed for its annual duel with Massillon and with its regulars in the best of condition. But yet it won, another indication that the fighting spirit and courage of a local scholastic team is still without equal in the state.
The orange and black was out played quite decisively by the sturdy Warren team so far as the matter of gaining ground is concerned, making but four first downs to 13 for the eastern Ohio lads but it’s points that win football games and not first downs and Massillon had the margin on points when the battle was over. Warren’s punch, that twice carried its team within Massillon’s 15-yard line, spent itself in a futile attempt to break the orange and black and went to pieces as Massillon swept on to victory.
There are some who might say Massillon was lucky to win Saturday. Sure, the breaks came Massillon’s way and the element of luck might have entered into the deciding issues in the contest but after all if Laughlin and Kammer had not been playing an on-toe type of football they would not have been in position to snare those Warren passes when then came their way. They were doing what they were supposed to do; what any intelligent football player would be doing in a situation of that kind and when the opportunity presented itself for them to place themselves between the Warren forward passer and the receiver they made the most of their opportunities and the result was a Massillon victory. Call it luck if you want to but if that’s luck then the playing of most every so called smart football team must be about 100 percent luck.
With two regular half backs and punters out of the game Coach Stewart sent Brown, Kammer, Laughlin and McConnell into the fray as the Massillon backfield quartet with McConnell to do the punting. Considering that it was the first time this season he has had a chance to do any punting, McConnell performed like a veteran, out-punting his Warren rival throughout the game.
Kammer, of course, carried the bulk of the Massillon offense. He was closely watched and his interference did not work as smoothly as it would have worked with Define and Smith in the game but the sturdy Massillon ace ran and smashed his way through the Warren team for substantial gains. LAUGHLIN STARS Laughlin, handicapped all season by a bad leg and playing his first full game of the year, was one of the big stars. This stocky youngster played a great game on defense, tackling hard and being in most every play. Sharing honors with Laughlin on defense was Bill Price, the fighting center, who also had a lot to do in stopping the Warren attack.
Massillon’s line was given a rather stiff battering by the husky Warren backs and had it not been for the splendid playing of the secondary defense the eastern Ohio team might have scored. Kammer, who played safety man, until Warren got within scoring distance, also performed well, twice stopping Warren touchdowns by tackling Warren men after they had gotten away from the balance of the local team.
McKee, whose long dashes around the Massillon ends seldom failed to gain ground, was Warren’s shining light. He was a hard man to stop and a clever ground gainer.
Warren showed its best offense in the third quarter when it took the ball on its 20-yard line and marched it down the field for five first downs in a row before being halted on Massillon’s 16-yard stripe as the fourth quarter opened and then lost its chance to score when Laughlin intercepted a pass and ran 90 yards for the first touchdown.
Both teams were in position to score in the first half but neither possessed the punch to put the ball over the line, either for a touchdown or field goal. In the first quarter Laughlin, ever on the alert, pulled a Warren forward pass out of the air on his 32-yard line and ran it back 47 yards to Warren’s 21-yard line before being halted. Kammer tried for a field goal from the 19-yard line but the kick failed.
Then early in the second quarter Fritz Gump made a brilliant catch of a long forward pass from Brown that would have put Massillon on Warren’s 20-yard line but he was tackled hard by two Warren players and fumbled, Warren covering.
Near the end of the quarter Warren threatened to score when Horner tossed a pass to Polena who gained 30 yards, being downed on Massillon’s 12-yard line. Kammer was the only man in front of Polena and the goal line but he saved the day by bringing the Warren quarterback to earth. Then the Massillon line stiffened and held and McKee dropped back to the 23-yard line for a shot at the goal posts but he dropped the pass from center and Crone fell on the ball.
A few momens later Horner’s fighting spirit got the better of him and he robbed his team of another chance to score. He broke through the Massillon line and made a brilliant dash of 22 yards before being tackled by Kammer. He had carried the ball within Massillon’s 20-yard line but lost the gain when he attempted to stick his fingers into Kammer’s eyes when the Massillonian tackled him.
Early in the third quarter Kammer shot around Warren’s right end for 36 yards, taking the ball to the 15-yard line before being downed. But three shots at the line failed to gain and when Kammer tried another field goal the kick was blocked and Warren got the ball on its 17-yard line.
Then after an exchange of punts the easteners opened their most dangerous march of the day. With McKee and Horner hammering the line and skirting the ends Warren marched the ball down the field for five first downs in a row having the oval on Massillon’s 19-yard line and a touchdown in sight when the quarter ended. They were working smoothly and Massillon seemed unable to stop them.
But with their backs to the wall the Massillon team took a new lease on life and held Warren on the 16-yard line. With fourth down coming and several yards to gain Polena attempted a forward pass in a last desperate effort to score. It was then that Laughlin jumped into the spotlight to snare the pass on his 10-yard line and turn it into a touchdown by racing 90 yards with the Warren team in close pursuit but unable to reach him. Kammer added the extra point by kicking a goal from placement.
Warren, however, was far from being licked and shortly after was again marching up the field. They blocked one of McConnell’s punts and covered the ball on the 40-yard line. With McKee thundering around ends and Horner charging through the line Warren soon had the ball back inside Massillon’s 20-yard line.
They got it as far as the seven-yard line with fourth down and seven to gain. Once again Massillon was fighting fiercely.
Polena again called for a forward pass in an attempt to make the yardage or score a touchdown and again his effort was frustrated for this time Kammer shot across the field, grabbed the ball a yard or two in front of the Warren man who was waiting for the pass and ran 95 yards for the second touchdown. Kammer, fast as lightning, had left the entire Warren team far behind by the time he had reached midfield and had clear sailing. Kammer failed to kick goal but Massillon was awarded a point because Captain Baker of Warren used his hands too freely when the attempt to add the extra point was made.
These two touchdowns took a lot of steam out of Warren and a short time later W. Harris covered a fumble on Warren’s 23-yard line. Massillon however could not gain and McConnell tried a drop kick, which never got beyond the line of scrimmage. As the game ended Warren had carried the ball back to midfield on a long end run by McKee.
Massillon attempted nine forward passes Saturday, working three for only 10 yards while five failed. Warren tried seven, completing three for a total gain of 48 yards. Massillon intercepted three, two of which were turned into touchdowns. Bring On Canton Massillon – 18 Pos. Warren – 0 Gump LE Blakely W. Harris LT Klippert Crone LG Bawn Price C Baker N. Harris RG Marhszll Kelly RT Braunberms Thomas RE unreadable print Brown QB Polena McConnell LHB Young Kammer RHB McKee Laughlin FB Conway
Score by quarters: Massillon 0 0 0 14 14
Substitutions: Massillon – Spencer for N. Harris, Singer for Spencer, Agler for Gump, Gump for Agler, Dommer for Kelly, Hax for Brown.
Warren – Horner for Young, Young for Horner, Horner for Conway, Zahn for Klippert, Consider for Bawn.
Touchdowns – Laughlin, Kammer.
Point after touchdown – Kammer, Awarded point for Warren roughness.
History 
