1950: Massillon 39, Toledo Waite 0

Tigers’ Hard Running Attack Smashes Waite 39-0
First Team Rolls Up 33 Points First Half Then Retires To Bench

By LUTHER EMERY

A terrific running attack packed with hard blocking smashed Toledo Waite 39-0 before 9,592 fans in Tiger stadium Friday evening and gave Washington high school its eighth straight triumph of the season.

With big Bob Howe, Ernie Russell and Freddie Waikem ripping off long gains, the Tigers were unstoppable until Coach Chuck Mather took matters in hand and himself checked the onslaught by filling the ranks with substitutes the last two periods of the game. Not a regular played offensive football in the second half, and 42 players in all got into the melee.

A driving rain isn’t supposed to be good for offensive football, but the Tigers plunged into the dampness as though they were out to win dashes in a swimming race.
* * *
RAY LANE went over for the first touchdown from three yards out on the seventh play of the game. Then came three T.D.’s in a row with the Tigers scoring on the first play from scrimmage after getting possession of the ball. Howe romped for two of them on runs of 63 yards and 84 yards and Fred Close tossed to Cliff Streeter for 60 yards and the fourth touchdown of the game. It took two plays to get the fifth, Ernie Russell crossing the goal on a 24-yard jaunt.

That represented all of the scoring in the first half and with undefeated Barberton coming up for a game next week, that was enough. Mather rested his team the last two periods and the subs were able to score but once, Paul Francisco tossing a six-yard pass to Tom Zellers in the fourth quarter for the final score. Jerry Krisher had his poorest night of the season at kicking extra points, missing on half of his attempts as he booted the wet ball over three out of six times.

It was a small crowd, as Massillon crowds go, but a grave group of fans who sat in typical Massillon-Toledo Waite weather to watch the proceedings.

Not once during the entire game did it stop raining and fans dripped out of the stadium in a downpour.

Protected by a tarpaulin which was not skinned off until shortly before game time, the field while slippery was far short of the quagmire it would have been had it not been covered. As it was, the numbers of players were easily legible at the end of the game.
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SELDOM HAS a football team rolled up as much yardage in the rain as the Tigers reeled off last night. They gained 451 from scrimmage including 103 by passing and 348 by rushing, and with only 26 yards lost on scrimmage plays had a net total of 425 for their evening’s performance to 115 for Waite.

Easily the outstanding ground gainer though he carried the ball but three times was Bob Howe. He went 18 on his first attempt to put the leather on the three-yard line in position for Lane to score the initial T.D. of the game, and this effort added to his two touchdown runs gave him 165 yards for three ball carrying attempts. Not bad – 55 yards per try.

Waikem and Russell also ran well, and the hardest luck player on the squad, Bob Grier, had a 76-yard touchdown run called back in the fourth quarter because a teammate was found guilty of holding.

The backs were able to run only because of some superb blocking accorded them. The Tiger line mowed down the Waite forward wall, and end sweeps which provided most of the long bursts, were accompanied by terrific protection and the fanciest downfield blocking seen here this year.
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THERE WAS considerable deception in ball handling, too. This clever slight of hand work on the part of quarterback Close and a good fake by Russell largely made possible Howe’s longest run. Practically the entire Waite team went for Russell who charged up through the middle and most fans also thought he had the ball until they saw big Bob streaking down the sideline with three blockers ahead of him.

You can’t single out any particular blocker without being unjust to the other members of the team. They were all looking for somebody to knock over last night, and that’s the way football games are won. Coach Mather only hopes they will be that sharp next Friday when Barberton comes here.

Not once did the Tigers punt. They were going to try it on one occasion but Jim Reichenbach juggled the wet ball, tried to run with it, tried to boot it on the run, missed it, and the Tigers lost the oval.

If you look in the first down department, however, you would wonder how the local team ever made 39 points and still did not punt. You have to get into the details for the reason. The Tigers only had eight first downs, but long runs for touchdowns do not show in the first down column which is the big reason for the small figure. The locals might have punted on one other occasion but instead lost the ball on downs. Then too they lost the ball twice on fumbles and had three passes intercepted, all of which retards an offense and cuts down on chances of making first down yardage.
* * *
THE TIGERS experimented with several types of defense against Waite’s single wing attack, but could hardly tell from the progress of the game which was the better since Waite did not have too much offensive power. In fact the only time the Indians reached any depth in Tiger territory was through covering a Massillon fumble and intercepting a Tiger pass. They were unable to punch the ball over the 45.
Waite, however, appeared to have plenty of blockers on its sweeps and reverses, but the Massillon secondary came up fast to nail the ball carriers after the first line had spilled the interference.

Buddy Peacock, Waite’s fleet freshman halfback, got into the game early and was easily the best runner on the visiting team. He didn’t gain a whole lot of ground but he is only a freshman and should be a good one some day.

Both teams came out of the contest without serious injuries.

The Tigers lost no time scoring their first touchdown. They won the toss, elected to receive and Streeter brought the kickoff back to his 28. On the first play of the game Russell went 23 yards to the Waite 49. The Tigers were set back yards for being in motion on the next play, but Waikem got back eight and Russell swept left end for a first down on the 36. He took it two more times in succession gaining three yards and 12 yards for a first on the 21. Howe ran hard around right end for 18 yards and a first down on the three and Lane went over from that point.
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WAITE was held for downs on the Tiger 37 after recovering a Massillon fumble and on the first play Howe romped 63 yards to score. Krisher who had kicked the point after Lane’s touchdown, missed this time and the quarter ended at 13-0.

In a little burst of offense, Waite moved the ball from its own 30 to the Massillon 45, but had to punt, the ball going out on the Tiger 16. On the first play Howe swept his left end for 84 yards and his second touchdown.

Stopped again after the kickoff, Williams punted out on the Massillon 40. Close called for a pass play, ran back and fired the ball to Streeter who made a good catch on the 35 and ran the remaining distance to score. Krisher’s point made it 27-0. Bill Stoner covered a Waite fumble on the second play after the kickoff, on the 30-yard line. Waikem ran for six yards and Russell went through on a quick opener for the remaining 24. Krisher missed this attempted kick and the score at the half stood at 33-0.

The second, third and fourth stringers hammered away throughout the last two periods but it was not until midway in the fourth that they were able to score. Once Lee Nussbaum got off a 26-yard run to the 18 but the attack faded when Waite recovered a fumble on its 15. When they finally did score the subs took the ball on downs from Waite on the Indians’ 41 and overcame a couple of five-yard penalties on a pass, Paul Francisco to Bill Stoner that netted a first down on the 17. Francisco was thrown for a 13-yard loss trying to pass, but Nussbaum got back eight of them and Grier on a double reverse ran hard to the six-yard line where Francisco tossed to Zeller for the final touchdown.

Victory No. 8

MASSILLON
ENDS – W. Brenner, Streeter, Murray, Zellers, Corbett, B. Brenner, Tassoff, Keen, Allison.
TACKLES—Gibson, Schumacher, Grunder, Geiser, Strobel, Martin, Woolbert, Mitchell.
GUARDS – Tunning, Reichenbach, Moyer, Gleason, J. Howe, Corral, Snyder.
CENTERS – Krisher, Dowd, Gable.
QUARTERBACKS – Close, Francisco, Misere.
HALFBACKS – Waikem, Russell, Stoner, Nussbaum, Khoenle, Grier, Straughn, Lane, Climo, Vliet.
FULLBACKS – R. Howe, Stewart.

TOLEDO WAITE
ENDS – Davis, Turner, Galuzny, Whitner.
TACKLES – Cummings, Poose, Carter, Thomas.
GUARDS – Koroloff, Ahumada, Fromley, Tschirret.
CENTERS – Gunner, Keaton.
QUARTERBACKS – Petroff, Smith.
HALFBACKS – Zieroff, Eckardt, Peacock, Blanton, Kohn.
FULLBACKS – Sterger, Williams, Galyas.

Score by periods:
Massillon 13 20 0 6 39

Touchdowns: Massillon – Lane; Howe 2; Streeter; Russell; Zeller.

Point after touchdown: Massillon – Krisher 3 (placekicks).

Referee – Tehan.
Umpire – Heinold.
Head Linesman – Dunton.
Field Judge – Gross.

Statistics
Mass. Waite
First downs 8 6
Passes attempted 14 12
Passes completed 3 2
Had passes intercepted 3 2
Yards gained passing 103 13
Yards gained rushing 348 116
Total yards gained 451 129
Yards lost 26 14
Net yards gained 425 115
Times kicked off 7 1
Average kickoff (yards) 42 48
Yards kickoffs returned by 21 84
Times punted 0 6
Average punt (yards) — 32
Yards punts returned by 5 —
Fumbles 2 2
Lost ball on fumbles 2 1
Times penalized 10 3
Yards penalized 60 35