Tag: <span>Erick Howard</span>

History

2009: Massillon 17, North Canton Hoover 10

Tigers moving on, sweep out Hoover

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH — For almost 365 days, the Massillon Tigers had last year’s first-round loss to Hoover ingrained in their memories. On Saturday night, they had a chance to either replace that memory with a much more positive one, or add another bitter one.

They decided to give themselves something much better to thinking about, as they elicited a bit of revenge on the Vikings – and advance into the second round of the playoffs – with a 17- 10 victory over Hoover in a Division I Region 2 quarterfinal in front of a boisterous 6,898 fans at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“It definitely feels good to get a win, especially in the playoffs, because we keep going,” said Tiger senior Bo Grunder, who had four clutch catches – all to pick up first downs – as well as a key stop on a fourth-and-goal play midway through the fourth quarter. “It feels good since last year. I’ve thought about that 14-7 score (in the loss to Hoover) the whole season, the offseason and the whole year. We just paid them back.”

The Tigers did so by getting arguably their best defensive performance of the season as they held Hoover’s Erick Howard to just 99 yards on 38 carries. Of those yards, 46 came on the Vikings’ third-quarter touchdown drive which cut Massillon’s lead to 17-10.

It was only the third time this season Howard, Stark County’s all-time leading rusher, was held below 100 yards. And it was 96 yards fewer than the 195 yards he gained on 40 carries in last year’s win over the Tigers.

“That’s what we wanted,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall, whose 8-3 team will now face 10-1 Twinsburg next  Saturday night at Fawcett Stadium. “We told all our kids that we weren’t just going to come up and lay into him, we were going to give him everything we’ve got every play. … It sounds kind of cliche, but we’d rather die with pride than live without it. That’s just about leaving it on the field.”

Hoover had two chances in the fourth quarter to force a tie, but were stopped both times. The Vikings reached the Tiger 6 midway through the quarter, before Grunder came up with the key defensive play on a quarterback keeper by Brett Tulodzieski four yards shy of the goal line.

The final chance came over the final two minutes of the game, as the Vikings reached the Massillon 47. But a third-down pass play didn’t pick up enough for a first down, nor did the receiver get out of bounds, and the
clock ran out, setting off a wild celebration by the Tigers.

“Give Massillon a lot of credit, players and coaches,” said Hoover coach Don Hertler Jr., whose team bows out at 7-4. “They really did a great job. I don’t know how our kids could’ve played any harder. … We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

The Tigers played from ahead almost the entire game, starting with their second drive which resulted with a 5-yard touchdown run by Jake Reiman. Reiman, starting in place of the injured Alex Winters, carried the ball three times for 36 yards on the drive and actually outgained Howard 49-35 over the first half.

Reiman finished with a career-high 65 yards on 14 carries. “I’ve said it all along, Jake can play for a lot of teams,” Hall said. “He can obviously play for us. We have three or four quality tailbacks. … Jake can run the ball, there’s no mistake about it.”

Hoover had two first-half drives which moved deep into Tiger territory. But only one of those resulted in points, as A.J. Sarbaugh booted a 43-yard field goal to cut the Massillon lead to 7-3 with 9:25 left in the half after the Vikings reached the Tiger 26.

The other drive, which moved to the Massillon 29, was snuffed out by a nifty interception by strong safety Josh Remark. “I rolled down and I saw him (Tulodzieski) get his arm back ready to throw the ball,” Remark said. “I just broke and I caught the ball. … It was all possible because he had to come my way because my teammates were getting the job done up front.”

Meanwhile, the Tigers were methodical in scoring points on their two second-quarter drives, taking at least 11 plays on each as they built up a 17-3 halftime lead. The first was a 15-play, 80-yard march which ended when Robert Partridge hit Devin Smith on a 5-yard fade route with 5:06 remaining in the half. The other was an 11-play, 68-yard drive which ended when Jeremy Geier kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired at the half.
A key to both drives was some clutch catches by Grunder, who had three grabs for 28 yards in the quarter. All three came on either third or fourth down, and all three picked up the necessary yards to move the chains.
Grunder would come up with one more clutch catch in the fourth quarter, when he made a 23-yard grab on third-and-12 from the Tiger 16 to keep Massillon’s final drive going.

“I just want to help my team win the game,” Grunder said. “When it’s time to make a catch, they can throw it to me, Devin, J.O. (Justin Olack). We have a lot of options. It just depends on who’s open.”

GAME STATS

Massillon 17
Hoover 10

Hoover 00 03 07 00 10
Massillon 07 10 00 00 17

SCORING SUMMARY
M – Reiman 5 run (Geier kick)
H – FG Sarbaugh 43
M – Smith 5 pass from Partridge (Geier kick)
M – FG Geier 24
H – Howard 1 run (Sarbaugh kick)
Hoo Mas
First downs 18 14
Rushes-yards 48-141 22-70
Comp-Att-Int 9-22-1 17-30-0
Passing yards 127 229
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalty yards 8-72 11-92
Records 7-4 8-3
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing:
Massillon – Reiman 14-65 TD.
Hoover – Howard 38-99 TD; Tulodzieski 8-43.
Passing:
Massillon – Partridge 17-30-229 TD.
Hoover – Tulodzieski 9-20-127 INT.
Receiving:
Massillon – Smith 4-91 TD; Grunder 4-51; Olack 4-40; Allman 4-
38.
Hoover – Nettleton 3-31; Sarbaugh 2-43; Howard 2-17; Gardner 1-
19.

History

2008: Massillon 7, North Canton Hoover 14

Howard’s big plays bring Tigers season to an end

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

NORTH CANTON, OH

Big plays can go a long way to determining the outcome of a playoff game. Big plays were also at a premium for both Massillon and Hoover as they squared off in a Division I Region 2 quarterfinal on Saturday night in North Canton.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, the biggest plays were made by Erick Howard, who was wearing a Viking uniform on this night. Howard’s two 40-plus-yard plays turned the tide of what ended up being a 14-7 Hoover victory over the Tigers in front of about 7,000 fans at North Canton Memorial Stadium.

The loss ends Massillon’s season at 6-5. Hoover, meanwhile, advances to next week’s regional semifinal against Twinsburg with a 10-1 record. It also marked the Vikings’ first-ever win over the Tigers in four tries in the playoffs.

“We just felt we had to believe,” Howard said. “None of the Hoover teams in the past had done it (beat Massillon), so we just had them in our hearts. This was for every Hoover team that had lost to them – 2005, 2002, 2001. Every team.”

The difference in the game was simple – Howard providing the offense for the Vikings, while the Tigers struggled to get any offense going in the second half. Howard finished the game with 258 yards of offense, including 195 rushing yards on 40 carries.

“Howard’s a good football player,” first-year Tiger coach Jason Hall said. “You have to take your hat off to him. He got in the open field, and we didn’t tackle him. Then he hits us on a draw. They didn’t do much. Really just the two big plays by him, two monster plays. He’s obviously a big part of their team.”

Howard’s 49-yard run on a draw play with 10:17 left in the game broke a 7-7 tie. Howard – who also went 59 yards on a screen play to set up a tying touchdown in the first half – broke at least five tackles on the run, and carried a Tiger defender for about five yards before shrugging him off to cover the last few yards of the run.

The Tiger offense, meanwhile, could manage just 127 yards for the game. Of those, only 10 came after halftime, when Massillon was held to five three-and-outs.

In fact, the biggest gain in the second half for the Tigers came on a Hoover personal foul. Even that, though, wasn’t enough to pick up a first down, as it turned a third-and-21 situation into a fourth-and-four.

“The story of the game is that our offense didn’t get it going in the second half,” Hall said.

What hurt the Tigers most was the fact they were never able to turn the field in their favor after the intermission. Massillon had just one play of at least five yards – its first play of the third quarter. That left the Tigers in second- and third-and-long situations, situations which took the running game out of the equation.

The Tigers held the ball for just over four minutes total in the second half, and never got past their own 43. That led to Massillon’s defense, which spent all night trying to bring down the bruising Howard, having little time to recover on the sideline before being forced back onto the field.

“We struggled off tackle and we weren’t connecting real well in our passing game either,” Hall said. “We just didn’t execute in the second half. It is what it is.”

The contrast between the first and second halves was startling for the Tigers, who struck first with a 1-yard run by J.T. Turner just 12 seconds into the second quarter for a 7-0 lead. Massillon had the ball for almost half the time in the first 24 minutes – 11:53 to be exact – and reached Hoover territory on four of its five possessions before intermission.

Massillon’s scoring drive started at the Tiger 35, and was effective in part because of the Tigers’ ability to spread the Vikings out with four- or five-receiver sets. That opened up running lanes for both Turner and quarterback Robert Partridge, while also allowing Partridge to spread the ball around to several receivers in the process.

Partridge finished the 11-play drive 4-of-5 for 32 yards. He also rushed three times for 18 yards, including a seven-yard run which set up Turner’s scoring plunge.

“In the first half, we were able to move the ball and execute,” Hall said. “Rob ran well and threw some short passes. He scrambled and threw on the run down here to (Josh) Remark. Anytime you have an athletic quarterback, getting in an empty package or a 3-by-1 is just putting them in position to be successful.”

The Tigers had other opportunities in the first half, especially on their next possession. Bo Grunder’s 30-yard punt return put the ball at midfield, and Turner broke loose on a 35-yard run on the first play to the Hoover 15.

However, a holding penalty on the Tigers moved the ball back to the Viking 44. The next three plays netted minus-four yards, resulting in a punt.

The next Massillon drive also started in Hoover territory, at the Viking 45. But it ended on downs as the Tigers netted minus-1 yard.

That’s when Hoover grabbed the momentum and began to turn it in its favor. And, no surprise, it started with Howard.

Massillon got a sack for a loss of 13 on Hoover’s first play, then limited the Vikings to just seven yards on a reception on second down. Faced with third-and-16 from their own 40, the Vikings called a middle screen and quarterback Brett Tulodzieski located Howard in the face of massive pressure.

Howard, cutting and eluding would-be tacklers, would not be dragged down until he reached the Tiger 1. On the next play, he plowed in for the score with 2:07 left in the half to knot the score after the extra point.

“We just put that in this week,” Hoover coach Don Hertler Jr. said of the screen pass. “It was a slip screen, and we just threw it to a different guy. The middle screen really sparked us.”
And that spark ended up burning the Tigers.

GAME STATS

Hoover 14,

Massillon 7
at North Canton Memorial Stadium

Massillon 0 7 0 0 7
Hoover 0 7 0 7 14

SCORING SUMMARY
M – Turner 1 run (Geier kick)
H – Howard 1 run (Sarbaugh kick)
H – Howard 49 run (Sarbaugh kick)

Mas Hoo
First down 7 14
Rushing yards 24-73 50-197
Comp.-att.-int. 9-23-0 6-9-0
Passing yards 54 111
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalty yards 3-15 3-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing

Massillon:

Turner 14-47 TD;

Partridge 6-28;

White 1-1.

Hoover:

Howard 40-195 2 TDs;

Tulodzieski 9-6.

Passing

Massillon:

Partridge 9-23-54.

Hoover:

Tulodzieski 6-9-111.

Receiving

Massillon:

Grunder 4-19;

Pizzino 2-16;

Clark 1-8;

Remark 1-7;

Gaines 1-4.

Hoover:

Beck 3-44;

Howard 2-63;

Nettleton 1-4.

Records

Massillon 6-5;

Hoover 10-1.