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1955: Massillon 7, Canton McKinley 13

November 19, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Bulldogs Beat Tigers 13-7 On Breaks
Two High Passes Give Canton 2 Touchdowns And Likely State Title

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high school Tigers “passed” the state championship eight miles eastward Saturday afternoon when they handed the Canton McKinley Bulldogs a 13-7 victory before a chilled crowd of 21,000 fans.

Two high passes from center that went over the Massillon punter’s head, enabled McKinley to score its two touchdowns. One was covered in the end zone, the other only required a three-yard effort to get the score.

The Tigers got their touchdown the hard way – a 79-yard drive. They made more first downs, 12-4 and gained twice as many net yards, but lost the game.

In short, they beat the Bulldogs everywhere but on the scoreboard. But it is the score that counts and in years to come, the score, not the statistics will be remembered.

The Canton victory narrows Massillon’s edge in the 60-game series to three games. The Tigers have won 29, the Bulldogs 26 and five have ended in tie scores.
* * *
THE TRIUMPH brought Canton its first undefeated season since 1934 when a Bulldog team coached by Jimmy Aiken whipped Massillon 21-6 to hang up a string of 11 wins for the season which entitled it to a just claim to the state title.

McKinley was highly elated over its victory and had every reason to be. It was the first time the Bulldogs had beaten the Tigers since 1947, and the victory will undoubtedly gain them the state title.

The counting of ballots cast in The Associated Press poll tonight should only be a mere formality since the game was billed as one in which the state title was to go to the winner. As a result the Hall of Fame trophy, which Massillon has won the last seven years, will likely be awarded to Canton McKinley.

There’s a possibility a campaign by a couple of other undefeated teams will wrest some ballots from the Bulldogs.

Two out-of-town reporters with ballots in their pockets, who had watched the game on the television screen, indicated to us Sunday they were going to desert the Bulldogs and cast their votes for one of the other undefeated teams because of Massillon’s superior showing in statistics.

However, we cannot see their logic in denying the Bulldogs the title in that none of the other undefeated teams has played a comparable schedule or has beaten Massillon, the defending champ.
* * *
WE SHALL VOTE for Canton, although we shall do so with tongue in cheek, believing the Tigers are as good if not the best in the state.

But their 8-1-1 record is against them in the poll. We don’t know where they will finish in this week’s balloting.

Some writers may seize the opportunity to knock the local team far down in the ratings, particularly in view of the clamor for first place.

The Massillon gridders had nothing to be ashamed of Saturday and that helped to temper the loss. Our only criticism, and about the only criticism we heard of Massillon’s play, was a bit of dilly-dallying in the huddle in the last three minutes of the game. It took them 35 seconds to get off next to the last play of the game.

The game, which was supposed to have been a tremendous offensive contest, actually resolved itself into more of a defensive game, and the Tigers had nothing to be ashamed of.

They were superior to McKinley on both offense and defense.

The locals who rolled to nine first downs the first half only got three the second half, but still out-gained McKinley in net yardage from running and passing plays the last two periods, 54 to 52.
* * *
CANTON McKINLEY’S vaunted offense, which had been rolling along at an average of over 400 yards a gained, was held to a net gain of 62 yards, while the Tigers rolled up 194 net yards rushing and passing. Deduct 52 yards on two passes from center that went over the punter’s head and you still have 142 net yards from scrimmage to the Bulldogs; 69 – and Canton called the game a defensive victory for the Bulldogs.

Actually the victory was a gift to McKinley for both touchdowns were donated. No blame should be placed on the centers responsible for the passes. Both felt the world had fallen in on them at the end of the contest. It should be pointed out that they were handling a slippery ball and that a center in modern T football has little opportunity to actually pass the ball 10 yards or more under game conditions.

They practice it often but get little actual game experience because the Tigers seldom punt more than once or twice.

In fact, we saw two poor center passes, one of which resulted in a blocked kick, in a recent professional football game.

The breaks just came at inopportune moments and although the decision of the contest rode on them we haven’t heard anyone criticize either player.

Furthermore, an examination of movies of the game failed to substantiate a report that on both occasions a McKinley player had bumped the ball or put pressure on the centers. McKinley in no way contributed to the play.

The first touchdown was presented in the opening period of play with the Tigers in possession of the ball on their own 36-yard line, fourth down and nine to go.

Dave Archibald dropped back to punt and Tom Spicer’s pass from center soared over his head. Archibald took after the ball and it rolled to the three-yard line before he could get on it.
* * *
IT TOOK NAP Barbosa three whacks at the line to get over but he made it on the third attempt and Nate Harris kicked the extra point to put McKinley ahead 7-0.

The Tigers tied it up by taking the kickoff and gallantly marching 79 yards on 18 plays to score. While doing so they were helped along by 20 yards in penalties which actually were more than nullified by 25 yards in penalties assessed against them.

Don Duke scored the T.D. from the two-yard line with eight minutes and 10 seconds remaining in the second period John Kasunick kicked the extra point a high boot that tied the score at 7-7.

The Bulldogs got their second touchdown without effort in the second minute of the fourth quarter. The Tigers had gotten themselves into a hole when Ivory Benjamin fumbled a punt and Canton covered it on the Tigers’ 45.

Dave Archibald got the ball back for Massillon when he intercepted a Barbosa pass and was downed on the 20.
* * *
THROWN BACK a yard by the Bulldgos in three downs, Archibald again tried to punt. This time Jim Dowd was centering the ball. His pass, like that of Spicer’s was high and soared over Archibald’s head and into the end zone. Archibald dove for the ball and so did two Canton players. Bill White got on it for a touchdown. Harris missed the extra point and that ended the scoring.

Except for the Tigers’ long touchdown drive, neither team threatened seriously from scrimmage.

The Tigers came within striking distance on only two other occasions. The first time they got the ball in the second half they worked to the Bulldog 32-yard line where they surrendered the pigskin to Canton on a fourth down incompleted pass.

McKinley and Massillon both got into each other’s territory in the second period.

The advances were the result of good punt returns. Benjamin ran brilliantly to the Canton 39 before being knocked out of bounds but a 15-yard clipping penalty put the ball way back on the Massillon 31, an actual loss of 30 yards and a real blow to the Tigers who were hot at the moment for it was the first time they had gotten the ball after scoring their touchdown.
* * *
EVEN SO they marched with it from their own 31 back to the Canton 35 where with two yards to go and fourth down coming up they punted.

Ike Grimsley, returned brilliantly, lugging the ball back to the Massillon 47. Two five-yard penalties against the Tigers and a six-yard gain by Don Garman produced a first down on the 31. Barbosa passed seven yards to Jackson, who fumbled when hit hard by Bob Tracy and Dave Schumacher pounced on the ball for the Tigers on the 24.
* * *
CANTON MADE one other effort the last time it had the ball in the game. The Bulldogs aided by a 22-yard run by Barbosa, the best Canton gain form scrimmage, worked the ball into Massillon territory but lost it on downs on the 27.

Charlie Brown, Tiger safety man, had a possible opportunity to tie the score on this series when he almost intercepted a pass by Barbosa with what appeared to be a clear field ahead of him. He juggled the ball while going full steam ahead and dropped it.

That just about sums up the offensive maneuvers of the day.

The Tigers succeeded in stopping the highly vaunted McKinley offense with a special defense cooked up for the game.

They called it an eagle defense. The three men in the center of the five-man defensive line had the responsibility of taking care of five men in the McKinley line, tackle to tackle. Bob Cocklin, who has been a linebacker, and Jim Houston, who has been the defensive left end, changed positions. Tracy’s assignment was also switched. The ends and the two wing linebackers had the responsibility of holding in Bob Williams and Herman Jackson, the Bulldog ends, and they did a good job of it. McKinley didn’t dare to try its end around stuff and the ends had difficulty getting downfield for passes. Only three were attempted. One was intercepted, one was almost intercepted and the receiver fumbled the only one completed when tackled.

Likewise the three men in the middle of the line did excellent work. Ken Fisher started on defense as a linebacker for the first time this season but was knocked out in the second quarter and didn’t play any longer. He was replaced by Jack Butcher who played well.

Fisher was taken to the Massillon city hospital where he has recovered from a slight concussion and was to be released today.

His experience undoubtedly was missed by the Tigers offensively in the second half.
* * *
THE TIGER DEFENSE stopped Ron Carnahan, the Bulldogs’ leading ground gainer for the season, with a net loss of nine yards for his ball carrying efforts.

They had all the other backs bottled up until late in the third period when Barbosa began running from short punt formation. He gained 61 of McKinley’s 78 yards rushing.

His longest run of 22 yards was exceeded only by a 26-yard dash reeled off in the first period by Willie Long in the process of the Tiger’s touchdown drive.

Top ground gainer of the day, however, was Duke with 66 net yards on 20 carries.

The Bulldogs actually got off only 21 running plays, three pass plays and three punts from scrimmage (exclusive of penalty plays) during the game, while the Tigers got off 54 running, three pass and four punt formation plays.
* * *
CHIEF REASON for McKinley failing to get off more plays was inability to move the ball the first half and the Tigers controlling the ball for 10 minutes and 14 seconds while marching to their only touchdown.

In that drive they got the ball through a punt on their own 20. Brown made two yards and Duke four. McKinley drew a 15-yard penalty which put the ball on the 41. Brown hit for seven, Duke one and Long picked up five yards for a first on the Canton 48. Duke made two and James, running on an option, raced 13 yards to a first on the 33.

The Tigers were penalized five yards back to the 38 for offside. Long made two yards and the Tigers drew a 15-yard clipping penalty. A four-yard pass to Brown gained four yards but another five-yard penalty was slapped on the Tigers for offside, moving the ball back to midfield. There Long, running from fullback, sent 26 yards and Archibald in a two-yard plunge made it a first down on the 22.

Archibald carried two more times in a row, getting four yards on each try and putting the ball on the 14. The Tigers drew a five-yard penalty when Jim Houston jumped offside on the next play, but got it right back when a delay of game penalty was slapped on McKinley for a substitution.

Duke plunged to a first on the 11 and James went seven yards to the four.

Duke in two tries went over for the touchdown, getting two yards each time.

The play on which James did his running in this series was especially cooked up for the game. He flared out as though to pass but had the option of running if the defense dropped back. He gained 56 yards in the game and lost 15 for a net of 41.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Houston, Welcher, Cockling, Nagle.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Whitfield, Schumacher, Hofacre, Allen.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Ertle, Tracy, Kasunick.
CENTERS – Spicer, Dowd, Gentzler.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Brown, Duke, Long, Radtke, Butcher, Benjamin, Washington.
FULLBACKS – Archibald.

McKINLEY
ENDS – Williams, Jackson, Jack, Bryant.
TACKLES – Patterson, Rocknich, Infantides.
GUARDS – Clawson, Bell, Martin, Bender.
CENTERS – Perdue, White.
QUARTERBACKS – Barbosa, Grimsley.
HALFBACKS – Carnahan, Garman, Phil Martin, Martins, Fontes.
FULLBACKS – Harris.

Score by quarters:
Massillon 0 7 0 0 7
McKinley 7 0 0 6 13

Touchdowns:
McKinley – Barbosa, White.
Massillon – Duke.

Points after touchdown:
McKinley – Harris (placekick).
Massillon – Kasunick (placekick).

History

1955: Massillon 27, Akron Garfield 20

November 11, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Defeat Akron Garfield 27-20

By LUTHER EMERY

The Tigers squeaked by Akron Garfield 27-20 in Tiger stadium Friday evening before a surprising crowd of 9,444 and now let’s BEAT McKINLEY!

The BEAT McKINLEY cry went up immediately after the game as a banner was unfurled at one end of the field as the team and the band and students joined in a rally on the field.

But in the Tiger dressing room the BEAT McKINLEY spirit had not yet caught on, for the young Massillon athletes were a bit glum over their close shave with the Akron gridders.

Evidently they figured they hadn’t put up their best game against the gallant Akron team, which at the same time must have been wondering what you have to do to win a ball game.

Of course, the answer is “score more points,” and that the Tigers did, with the help of a fumbled Garfield punt that Ken Fisher covered on the Garfield six that led to the third Massillon touchdown.

The game was a close repetition of the 1954 Massillon-Garfield game which saw the Tigers trail 6-0 at the half and finally win 21-13 in the last quarter. It was the kind of a game you can expect a team to play when everyone is talking about the game a week away with Canton McKinley instead of concentrating on the job at hand.

The Tigers might well have lost last night’s encounter just as they could have lost the Garfield game a year ago.

Now it is up to the Massillon gridders to bounce back as they did a year ago and BEAT McKINLEY!

The Bulldog foes who they will meet next Saturday afternoon in Fawcett stadium, Canton, were witnesses at last night’s game.

Wade Watts, their coach, said Friday afternoon he ordinarily doesn’t permit his team to watch an opponent before a game. However, he waived the ruling Friday, feeling he had made a mistake last year by not permitting his team to see the Tigers play Garfield the week before the Massillon-Bulldog game.

“I felt that had my boys seen Massillon against Garfield last year, they might have come over with more confidence.”

As you know, the local gridders whipped the Bulldogs last year, 26-6.

What reaction last night’s Massillon-Garfield game will have on the Canton team remains to be seen.
* * *
CERTAINLY the Tigers were anything but sharp, while Garfield, playing with all of its might, was denied an upset or at least a tie by the narrowest of margins.

The Tigers for instance, scored their first touchdown after Garfield had lost the ball on downs on its own 34. Then the fumbled punt set up the third.

Garfield on the other hand was well on its way to a touchdown in the second period and had the ball on the eight-yard line when set back by a 15-yard clipping penalty.

Of course the Presidents got some breaks too. They covered three Massillon fumbles, a couple of them deep in Massillon territory, but were unable to cash in on them.

Garfield’s main weapon was the same as that of Barberton – the forward pass. Tiger opponents have sensed a weakness in Massillon’s pass defense and are throwing the ball. The Presidents completed nine of 18 passes for 177 net yards.

Two of their touchdowns were the direct result of passes and a long throw led to the other.

For the most part the receivers were fairly well defensed by the Massillon secondary but they caught the ball over the Tigers’ heads.
* * *
DAVE CHRIS, the slick little Garfield quarterback, eluded Tiger tacklers most of the evening when they attempted to rush him and worked from a good pocket of protection thrown up by his teammates. This gave him a lot of time to pick out his receivers.

He had a fine assortment of passes too, and the visitors gained on all of them, including a pass off a buck lateral.

The Tigers froze up in their passing game, tried three and completed one, a 16-yard toss to Jim Houston.

They gained a net total of 278 yards on the ground to 103 for Garfield, but the net sum of both running and passing was 294 for the Tigers to 280 for Garfield. First downs were
17-13 in the local team’s favor.

Leader in the ground gaining department for Massillon was Don Duke with 118 yards in 47 carries. Dave Archibald gained 72 in 14 carries and Charlie Brown 68 in 10. Christ, who gained 77 and lost 19, was the top runner for Garfield.

The first half, as has been the habit so many times this season, found the Tigers battling for their lives.
* * *
GARFIELD came on to score first as it took the opening kickoff on its 38. A 33-yard run by Chris and two passes, an eight-yarder from Chris to Gene Zuravel and one of 12 yards off a buck lateral to Sterling Shepherd who tossed to Manzie Winters, were included in the 62-yard march. The peg to Winters put the ball on the one and Chris took it over on second down. Mobley scored the extra point and made it 7-0.

Don Duke almost got away with the kickoff that followed, returning 61 yards to his 28 where he was bumped just enough to knock him off stride.

Garfield bristled and threw back the challenge, however to take the ball away from the locals on the 25.

But the Tigers also braced and stopped Garfield when, with fourth down and less than a yard to go, it tried for a first down. The locals took the ball on the 34 and from there moved quickly to score. Duke hit for 10, James one, Archibald six and Duke for the last 17 to score the first of his three touchdowns. John Kasunick kicked the extra point to tie the score at 7-7.

But that didn’t discourage Garfield.

Welcher booted the ball straight into the hands of a Garfield player on the 50. On the first play Chris fired to Zuravel for a touchdown, a gain of 50 yards. The attempt at the extra point was lost and the score stood at 13-7.

The second period was almost two-thirds gone when the Tigers managed to tie it up. Garfield had succeeded in getting down to the eight and was penalized back to the 23 for clipping. Earl Radtke ended the threat by intercepting for the Tigers on the 11. From this point the local team marched 89 yards to score. Duke and Archibald alternated carrying the ball and made six first downs on the four. Archibald took it over in two attempts to tie it up at 13-13.
* * *
THE TIGERS who received to start the second half fumbled to Garfield on the first play of the period on the 32, but the visitors were unable to take advantage of the break and were forced to punt, the ball going over the goal and the Tigers getting it on their 20. A 15-yard penalty against Garfield for unnecessary roughness moved the ball up field and the Presidents forced the locals to punt.

Archibald got off a good one but the Akron safety man fumbled it on the six and Fisher pounced on the pigskin for the Tigers. Duke shot over on the first play to score and also plunged the extra point over to put the locals ahead 20-13.

The Tigers forced Garfie4ld to punt after the kickoff, and they got the ball on their 35. Brown got 19 yards and the locals only successful pass of the evening, a 16-yard effort to Houston, brought a first on the 30.

Archibald made two and Brown ran to a first on the 11. Duke took it over from there and Kasunick kicked the extra point that made the score 27-13.

That ended the Tigers’ scoring efforts, but Garfield still had another up its sleeve.

It took the kickoff on the 30 and never stopped until it reached the Promised Land. Chris passed 21 yards to Winters to start the proceedings and a pass to Winters off a buck lateral to Shepherd gained 29 more and a first down on the 23. Mobley picked up four and Chris hit John Lampley for the touchdown, a gain of 19 yards.

The Tigers made one more effort to score but fumbled the opportunity away on the 26-yard line.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Houston, Canary, Welcher.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Schumacher, Kreiger, Hofacre, Meldrum.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Kasunick, Tracy, Ertle, Harrison.
CENTERS – Spicer, Dowd, Gentzler.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Long, Radtke, Butcher, Cocklin, Benjamin, Herring, Washington.
FULLBACK – Archibald.

GARFIELD
ENDS – Lampley, Winters.
TACKLES – Parker, Genda.
GUARDS – Suggett, Parks, Prim, Stevens.
CENTERS – Gay, Grecni.
QUARTERBACK – Chris
HALFBACKS – Shepherd, Zuravel, Miller, Miskar, Arshinkoff, Taylor.
FULLBACK – Mobley.

Score by periods:
Massillon 7 6 14 0 27
Garfield 13 0 0 7 20

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Duke 3, Archibald.
Garfield – Chris, Zuravel, Lampley.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Kasunick 2 (placekicks); Duke (carried).
Garfield – Mobley (carried); Winters (placekick).

Official
Referee – Lobach.
Umpire – Gryska.
Head Linesman – Holzbach.
Field Judge – Sweitzer.

STATISTICS
Mass. Akron
First downs 17 13
Passes attempted 3 18
Passes completed 1 9
Yards gained passing 16 183
Yards lost passing 0 6
Net gain passing 16 177
Yards gained rushing 290 130
Yards lost rushing 12 27
Net gain rushing 276 103
Net gain rushing and passing 294 280
Times kicked off 5 4
Average kickoff (yards) 38 44
Yards kickoffs returned by 94 65
Times punted 2 2
Average punt (yards) 37 22
Yards punts returned by 0 0
Times fumbled 4 3
Lost ball on fumbles 3 1
Times penalized 4 4
Yards penalized 27 27

History

1955: Massillon 26, Barberton 14

November 4, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Defeat Barberton 26-14
Massillon Grid Team Given Good Lesson In Passing By George Izo

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high Tigers sputtered and almost drove their coach and 2,000 Massillon fans crazy in the Rubber Bowl Friday evening, but when all was over they were 26-14 winners over a stubborn Barberton high school football team.

Held to a 7-7 tie the first two periods, the orange and black had to chalk up 19 points in the second half to extend their undefeated skein to 15 games.

Today the Massillon gridders know what the pros are up against on Sunday afternoons, for Barberton played that kind of game – a passing game – relying almost entirely on the strong arm of Quarterback George Izo. His individual brilliance last night would probably get him a unanimous vote for the All-Ohio from the disappointing crowd of 8,335 spectators.

It was Izo’s pitching and Massillon’s own errors, that had the folk, on edge much of the evening. With a few ifs and ands you could have had an upset, or on the other hand you could have had Barberton humbled by a pretty sizeable score. It was that kind of a game.

Take the first half for instance.
* * *
THE TIGERS rolled up 191 yards from scrimmage to Barberton’s 72, yet only succeeded in matching Barberton’s seven points. Another T.D. was pushed over on a forward pass, but it was ruled out and a penalty slapped on the local team because one of the backfield boys moved around illegally.

Then penalties on two other occasions brought the ball back to midfield, when touchdowns were in the making with first downs within the 10-yard stripe.

But looking at it from another way, the Tigers scored their last touchdown on a freak pass interception, the ball bounding off a Barberton players hands into the arms of Halfback Earl Radtke, who ran 70 yards to score. Most folks throught the ball had bounced off the ground but according to Radtke and officials it hit the leg of the intended Barberton receiver.

It was the kind of game you have a hard time figuring out and Coach Tom Harp in the dressing room after the contest decided there’s a lot of figuring to do.

“You should score more than seven points when you gain 191 yards from scrimmage,” Tom theorized, and added, “We are going to have to find out what’s wrong.”
* * *
ONE OF THE THINGS wrong was the number of penalties, 96 yards in all, slapped on the Tigers during the game.

Illegal procedure, offside, backfield in motion and forward movement on a lateral cost the Tigers not only penalties but a lot of lost yardage that would have swelled their net 378 for the evening well over the 450 mark. There were more flags on the field last night than you see on an entire Flag Day in Massillon.

The Tigers, who are making an unenviable reputation for themselves as a poor first half team, gave their Massillon followers a headache in the first quarter when Izo pitched his club to the first points of the game after his team had covered a fumble on the Massillon 38. He completed three passes in four attempts for 24, six and eight yards, the latter a toss to Dave Bartee for the touchdown. His perfect point after touchdown from placement made it 7-0.

The Tigers managed to tie it up in the second period after getting the ball on the Barberton 22, Dave Archibald plunging through center for the last eight and the score.

The local team went ahead in the third quarter by scoring two touchdowns, one on a
six-yard plunge by Duke after covering a Barberton fumble on the 24 and the other on a drive from the Tiger two that actually went 108 yards, penalties included.

Radtke’s 70-yard return of an intercepted pass gave the locals a 26-7 lead in the fourth quarter and Barberton scored last as Izo again fired 31 yards to Bartee for a first down on the three and then plunged the ball across himself.
* * *
THE MAGICS were anything but easy.

They were a rugged team, considerably heavier than the Tigers, and the locals bore the marks of a hard contest on their faces and bodies.

Coach Harp had to rush the injured Jim Houston into the contest to help stem the Magics advance and to provide extra punch for his own offense.

The team as a whole came out of the contest in good condition although some concern was felt for an injury to the arm of Center Tom Spicer who appeared to have a sprained wrist. X-ray pictures were to be taken to establish the extent of the injury. He sustained it in the first quarter, but played on.

Izo was always dangerous. The entire Barberton offense was built around him. He threw from the T or punt formation and his passes were accurate whether long or short. He completed 15 out of 27 and would have had an even better percentage had not receivers dropped three of them. His flips were good for 214 yards. The Tigers intercepted four.

Credit must also be given Izo’s teammates for the pocket of protection they formed around him, giving him all the time in the world to pick out his receiver and throw. At one time he even waved to the receiver to go deeper downfield.
* * *
ONLY ONCE were the Tigers able to sift through the wall of protection and then two of them missed their tackle and Izo eluded the pack to get away for a sizeable run.

Save for Izo’s passes, Barberton had little in the way of an offense. The Magics made only 30 yards on the ground and were thrown for 20 yards in losses leaving them with a net 10.

The Tigers completed three of eight passes for 38 yards.

Leading ground gainer for the local team was Don Duke with 119 net yards in 17 carries. Archibald gained 111 yards in 12 carries, and Charlie Brown 75 net in seven carries for the best average of all. Willie Long carried seven times for a net 30.

Hard fought as the game was there were no punches thrown until the very last play of the game when a Barberton player caught a pass and Bob Tracy snatched the ball away from him as he was falling to the ground. The infuriated Barberton player took a swing at Tracy and a game official grabbed Tracy’s arms while the Barberton player swung again. With that it ended.
* * *
SUMMARIZING, the game went like this:

The Tigers won the toss and received, got one first down but lost the ball on downs on the Barberton 30.

Barberton was forced to punt, the Tigers getting the ball on their 32, only to fumble on second down, Barberton covering on its 38. Izo hurled 24 yards to Bartee, six yards to Debevec, and then eight to Bartee for the touchdown.

The Tigers reeled off three first downs in a row after the following kickoff but were stalled by 20 yards in penalties and had to punt to the Barberton 15.

A penalty set the Magics back to their nine and a poor punt only went to the Massillon 22.

It took only two plays to get the touchdown. Brown ripped off 13 yards and Archibald got the last nine, and the score. John Kasunick kicked the tying point.
* * *
JIM CORMANY brought the following kickoff back 36 yards to the 48 but Archibald got the ball back for the Tigers when he intercepted on the 33.

After making one first down on an 11-yard pass to Houston, the Tigers were forced to punt to the 11.

Barberton made a first down on Izo’s 13-yard toss to Debevec but then had to punt to its own 47.
James passed 13 yards to Duke for a first on the 33 but a five-yard penalty for offside moved the ball back to the 38. Brown went 25 yards to the 13 and moved up four more to the nine. James hit Houston with a pass as he stumbled into the end zone but the Massillon backfield was caught in illegal motion and the T.D. was not allowed. The half ended shortly thereafter.

On the second play after the second half kickoff, Barberton fumbled and the Tigers covered on the 24.

Archibald hit for four, Duke for eight, Archibald for six and Duke for the last six and T.D. Kasunick missed his kick and it was 13-7.
* * *
BARBERTON roared back with Izo completing three consecutive passes of six, seven and 40 yards for a first down on the eight.

He missed his next attempt and when he threw again, Archibald intercepted on the two.

It was Duke, Archibald, and Duke, Archibald for three, six, five and 13 yards. Then Duke broke loose for 34, Brown got three and Willie Long 23 for a first down on the 24, the runs also overcoming a 15-yard penalty. Duke cut the distance 14 yards in two carries and Archibald rammed through for the last 10. Kasunick also missed this kick and that left the score 19-7.

Barberton received and Izo tossed consecutive completions to Nevling for four and to Hatula for five. Nevling made it first down on his 44. The quarterback tossed seven yards to Andy Gissinger, then carried for a gain of four. He passed for three more and threw one that bounced off Debevec’s leg into the arms of Radtke who went 70 yards to score.

That made it 26-7, as Kasunick converted.

The Magics took the kickoff and Izo passed 23 yards to Bartee, eight to Smith and seven to Gissinger. Nevling lost five but Izo fired to Bartee for 31 yards and a first down on the three and then carried it over. He kicked the extra point to make it 26-14 and that ended the scoring.

The line-ups and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Nagle, Houston, Kasunick, Welcher, Chengery.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Kreiger, Schumacher, Hofacre, Whitfield, Allen, Meldrum.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Harrison, Tracy, Ertle.
CENTERS – Spicer, Gentzler, Dowd.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Long, Washington, Radtke.
FULLBACKS – Archibald, Chet Brown.

BARBERTON
ENDS – Bartee, Debevec, Gissinger, Hampton.
TACKLES – Mollric, Boden, Cooksey, Goletz.
GUARDS – Creager, Chaykoski, Brosko, Dean, Flesher, Savage.
CENTER – Thombs.
QUARTERBACK – Izo
HALFBACKS – Nevling, Iverson, Burnette, Burrough, Jones, Smith.
FULLBACKS – Hatula, Morgan.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 7 12 7 26
Barberton 7 0 0 7 14

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Archibald 2, Duke, Radtke.
Barberton – Bartee, Izo.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Kasunick 2 (placekicks).
Barberton – Izo 2 (placekicks).

Officials
Referee – A.N. Smith (Elyria).
Umpire – Virgil Hinton (Canton).
Head Linesman – Bud Shopbell (Canton).
Field Judge – Stan Macheck (Elyria).

STATISTICS
Mass. Barb.
First downs 16 11
Passes attempted 8 27
Passes completed 3 15
Had passes intercepted 1 4
Yards gained passing 38 214
Yards gained rushing 358 30
Total yards gained 304 244
Yards lost 16 20
Net yards gained 378 224
Times punted 2 3
Average punt (yards) 33 26
Yards punts returned by 0 6
Times kicked off 5 3
Average kickoff (yards) 39 34
Yards kickoffs returned by 23 62
Times fumbled 1 2
Lost ball on fumbles 1 1
Times penalized 10 4
Yards penalized 93 50

History

1955: Massillon 34, Warren Harding 7

October 28, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Defeat Warren 34-7
Massillon Eleven Gets Back On Victory Trail
By Crushing Old Rival

By LUTHER EMERY

The Tigers are back on the road of triumph again. There was happiness in the dressing room and noise in the stands as the Massillon gridders defeated their old rival Warren 34-7 here Friday evening before 11,087 fans.

Gone was that gloom that characterized last week’s 12-12 tie with Mansfield, and another link was welded into the Tigers undefeated chain which now stands at 14 games, with three to go before the end of the season.

The same team whipped Warren last night as that which dueled a week ago with Mansfield but it didn’t look the same. In the early moments when Warren drove to its only touchdown and the first of the game, there was apprehension that the night would have grave forebodings for the Tigers.

But it only aroused the Bengals and they struck back to control the ball the rest of the way.
* * *
THEY ONLY managed to come out with a tie the first half, but they completely outplayed the Panthers getting 10 first downs to the latters’ one. Only an error here and there kept the score from growing.

But when Halfback Charlie Brown grabbed a punt on his own 31-yard line in the second minute of the third period and aided by a tremendous block by Earl Radtke, to run 69 yards for a score – the jig was up for Warren.

The Tigers were off to the races thereafter and taking advantage of Warren mistakes, shoved over two more touchdowns in the period and another in the fourth to win by a sizeable margin.

When it was all over, Warren had lost its fifth game of the season as against two wins and was a pretty badly beaten team – physically, statistically and in points.

The Panthers had to take many times out for injuries; they yielded 250 net yards to Massillon on the ground and 54 from passes for a total of 304 net yards to their own 96 and trailed 17-6 in first downs.

Of great satisfaction from a Massillon standpoint was the Tigers’ improved defense and the point after touchdown kicking of John Kasunick. He proved the leading cheer-getter last night as he booted four out of five over the cross bar.
* * *
COACH TOM HARP was visibly pleased at the outcome too. He felt the team showed considerable improvement in its defense and he complimented Kasunick for his placekicking, the result of a lot of practice the past two weeks.

“There were mistakes,” said Harp, “But with the continued improvement of school spirit, community spirit and the boys’ desire to go to work, we should be able to correct these mistakes and continue to improve.”

The Tiger dressing room presented a far-different picture last night, than a week ago, for the boys knew they had played a ballgame and the gloom was gone from their faces as well as those of the many well-wishers who came in to congratulate them.

In whipping Warren they had rolled up the second largest score of the season on the Panthers this year. Only the 46-0 walloping handed Warren by Canton McKinley in the second game of the season exceeded last night’s spread of points.

The Tigers mixed passes with their running attack last night, throwing 10 and completing four, one for a touchdown, for a total of 54 yards.

They also ran 46 plays on the ground, excluding a punt, Dave Archibald ran 19 of them to lead the ground gaining with 126 net yards. Brown ran five for 28 yards and two touchdowns, one a punt return; Don Duke 12 for 52 net yards and a T.D.; Willie Long, six for 35 yards and John James four for 10 yards including a touchdown.

The Tigers’ other touchdown came on a pass over center, James to Dave Canary for 13 yards.
* * *
THE PANTEHRS ran 35 plays on the ground and tossed nine passes, completing three for 20 yards.

Chief ground gainer for the visitors was Nate Reed with 23 yards in nine attempts. Nick Spitogiania gained 17 yards in four carries and Frank Lengel 16 in five.

The Tigers won the kickoff for a change and on their first possession of the ball carried to midfield only to have Rickey Lawrence, a halfback, intercept a James pass and dash back to the Massillon 22. Reed was stopped without gain on the first play but then Lengel hit for two and seven and Reed for five that gained a first on the eight. Carries by Lengel and Reed failed to gain a yard but on third down the ball was pitched out to Reed who went around his left end to score with seven minutes and seven seconds still to play.

That fired up the Massillon team. They took the kickoff and with Archibald and Duke carrying and aided by a pass from James to Canary for nine yards, reeled off four first downs in a row to put the ball on the 12 by the end of the quarter.

On the first play of the second period with fourth down coming up and seven to go, Brown took a pitch and went around his left end to score and Kasunick added the extra point.

The high school reserves will play the Akron St. Vincent reserve team at 8 o’clock tonight at Tiger stadium.

The Tigers pushed Warren all over the field the remainder of the period for six first downs to the Panthers’ eight yards gained, but were unable to score.

A fumble which they recovered stopped one drive and they lost the ball on a fumble in another effort.

The actions was fast the third quarter.
* * *
WITH THE SCORE tied 7-7 Warren received to start the second half. The Tigers forced a punt and Brown gathered in the ball on his 31 and set sail for the Warren goal. Radtke, who had injured a leg knocking down a pass on the previous play, liberated Brown with a block that took two Warren tacklers out of the way. The Tigers by that time had set up a wall of interference that protected Charlie as he raced down the sideline.

Kasunick’s placekick made it 14-7.

The Panthers got off a pass for 15 yards, John Theoharis to George Beck, after the kickoff, but after that they went backwards. Theoharis pressed hard, fumbled and Canary was on the ball for Massillon on the 30. Archibald, Duke and Brown took it to the 13 and James on third down fired over the line to Canary who got across the goal with the ball.

Warren only got off one play after the following kickoff when Grover Danage fumbled and Dave Schumacher flopped on the ball on the Warren 46. Bottled up trying to pass, James went down the middle for 15 yards and Archibald reeled off 21 more for a first down on the 10. Warren was penalized five for offside and Duke got two yards and James went over on a keep play. Kasunick missed his only try for point of the evening after this touchdown.

The Tigers got their last score after Schumacher again gained them position by covering Abrams’ fumble on the Tiger 36. Warren got to that point largely as a result of an attempted on-side kick that barely got off the tee.

After Duke had gained the Tigers a first down on the locals’ 49, Warren all but stopped the Massillon march. But Archibald, running from punt formation and from behind some good blocking, went for 20 yards and a first on the 28. A five-yard penalty set the Tigers back but Long got five and then raced 21 yards for a first down on the seven. Archibald moved it four yards closer and Duke took it over. Kasunick kicked the extra point.

The Tigers picked last night to try the onside kick which they have been practicing but it fizzled out, the ball not traveling the required 10 yards and going to Warren inside the 50.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Houston, Canary, Chengery, Nagel, Welcher.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Kreiger, Schumacher, Whitfield, Hofacre.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Tracy, Ertle, Kasunick, Harrison.
CENTERS – Spicer, Gentzler, Dowd.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Cocklin, Long, Herring, Radtke, Benjamin, Washington.
FULLBACK – Archibald.

WARREN
ENDS – Szuch, Beck, Minotti, Greskovich.
TACKLES – Shively, Leard, Dehringer, Gibson, Coldiron, Johnson.
GUARDS – Maras, Foy, Bartlett, Braden, Ondik.
CENTERS – McEwen, Todd, Bender, Millero.
QUARTERBACKS – Theoharis, Abrams.
HALFBACKS – Dowell, Reed, Spitogianis, Lawrence, Armour, Dotson, Lengel.
FULLBACKS – Gorby, D. Szuch, Danage, Danko.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 7 20 7 34
Warren 7 0 0 0 7

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Brown 2, Duke, James, Canary.
Warren – Reed.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Kasunick 4 (placekicks).
Warren – Beck (pass).

Officials
Referee – Lymper (Mansfield).
Umpire – Russ (Youngstown).
Head Linesman – Tobin (Akron).
Field Judge – Klocker (Akron).

STATISTICS
Mass. Warren
First downs 17 6
Passes attempted 10 9
Passes completed 4 3
Had passes intercepted 2 0
Yards gained passing 54 20
Yards gained rushing 266 99
Total yards gained 320 119
Yards lost 16 23
Net yards gained 304 96
Times punted 1 3
Average punt (yards) 13 25
Yards punts returned by 69 0
Times kicked off 6 2
Average kickoff (yards) 26 33
Yards kickoffs returned by 16 60
Times fumbled 2 4
Lost ball on fumbles 1 3
Times penalized 3 2
Yards penalized 15 10

History

1955: Massillon 12, Mansfield 12

October 21, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Battle Mansfield To 12-12 Tie
Massillon Knots Count In Last Two Seconds After 72-Yard March

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high school Tigers and Mansfield battled to a 12-12- draw Friday night and if you were one of the 13,244 fans who sat through that one you should live to be 100.

And fortunate was Massillon to come out with a tie. The clock on the scoreboard showed only two seconds of the game left to play when Halfback Don Duke threw himself over a pile of humanity to score the tying touchdown.

There was even a chance to win by kicking the extra point. The ball had height and distance but was a little to the right of the upright and the game ended on the following kickoff – deadlocked.

Put yourself in the shoes of John Kasunick, the kicker, and you can realize the pressure he was under trying to get that extra point. And disappointed as John and Massillon fans were that it didn’t go between the uprights, think of the anguish of Mansfield fans had it done so.

They were in despair as it was.

Their team with four regulars sidelined had completely outplayed Massillon the first half of the game. They had out-gained the Tigers 227 to 193 in net yardage, made 15 first downs to Massillon’s 10 and had the verdict wrapped up twice when breaks went against them. And there it was on the scoreboard 12-12 with only two seconds, left to play.
* * *
ACTUALLY nobody was happy.

The Mansfield gridders were disappointed they had not accomplished an upset even though they were the first team to tie the Tigers this year – and the Massillon dressing room was more sober than it has been since the defeat by Alliance last year – despite the Tigers’ gallant last second surge that gained the tie.

Many missed the crucial finish. Massillon fans began streaming out of the park when the Tigers had failed in what most folks thought was their last bid to tie the score when they lost the ball on downs to Mansfield on the latter’s 33 with less than five minutes to play.

And the hard hitting visitors banged away, consuming as much time as possible as they clicked off two first downs and moved the ball to the Tiger 33.
There the Massillon gridders covered a fumble by Bill Hightower, Tiger halfback, Jerry Kreiger getting on the ball on his own 38 with the clock showing two minutes and eight seconds left to play.
* * *
WHAT HOPES Tigers had, flickered out on the next’s play when on a statue play Willie Long was thrown for a 10-yard loss. It looked like the end of time on the next one when Hightower, redeeming his fumble, intercepted Johnny James’ pass and got back to midfield with a minute and 38 seconds remaining.

But here Mansfield defeated its own effort to win. The visitors were guilty of mauling James on the pass and a 15-yard penalty was stepped off.

That returned the ball to the Tigers and kept them breathing.

Things happened in rapid fire after that. James shot a pass to Charley Brown for a first down on the Mansfield 44. Then Charley gained four on a statue. Another pass, James to Jim Houston was good for eight and got a first down on the 32. James hit Houston again for 26 yards and a first down on the six. Only 51 seconds remained and the Tigers had consumed their timeouts. They had to go for it and quick. Wasting little time in the huddle, James handed to Don Duke for three yards. He stuck the ball into Archibald’s stomach and he leaned over for two more. Only 19 seconds remained: time for one more play and a yard to go. The ball went to Duke again. He hit hard. The momentum took him over and the Tigers had preserved their undefeated record for the season, though they failed to extend their victory string of 12 games.

Massillon stands went wild with joy. An audible groan was heard from across the field, because what a few minutes before had seemed a certain 12-6 Mansfield upset victory now read 12-12 on the scoreboard.
* * *
THE MASSILLON comeback in the face of defeat was the one bright spot in the Tigers’ play last night.

They were outclassed completely the first half when they gained only 11 net yards from scrimmage and failed to make a first down, while Mansfield was rolling up eight first downs and 124 net yards.

We have never seen a Tiger offense so thoroughly stopped in many a year.

Two Tigers had the ball but twice in the first quarter. They ran three plays each time, then punted for a net gain of 10 yards.

They had the ball but two times the second quarter. They ran three plays the first time, then punted. They ran only two plays next time, losing the ball on the second on an intercepted pass. Capitulating, they ran only 14 plays the first half, including three punts and an intercepted pass.

The second half was a different story.

Trailing 6-0 as a result of a 64-yard Mansfield march which ended with Willie Mack plunging over from the one-yard line for a touchdown, the Tigers changed their strategy when they came out for the third period and did more inside running.

They took the kickoff and in two plays got their initial first down of the game. Mansfield forced them to punt on the next series but, on the first play from scrimmage, Mack fumbled and Kreiger recovered on his 47.
* * *
THAT SET the Tigers in motion for their first touchdown drive led by Duke. He rammed for three and Archibald got four. Then Duke was freed for a 25-yard dash that took him to the 21-yard line. He just about went the distance but was caught as he was pulling away from the last Mansfield tackler.

Archibald got four yards and Duke in two more carries battled his way to a first down on the 10.

It looked bad for the Tigers when Duke got only one and James was tossed for a three-yard loss on the next play to put the ball back on the 12.

But the Tigers came out with their Statue of Liberty and it was the only time it worked all night. Willie Long took the ball and running hard to his left, did a tight rope walk down the sideline to go into the end zone standing up and tie the score at 6-6. Kasunick also missed this kick, the ball being high and long enough but lacing direction. Only two minutes and 43 seconds of the quarter remained when the T.D. was scored.

The Tigers tried to contain Mansfield, but there was no stopping All-Ohio Mack. Before the period was over Mansfield had taken the kickoff and Mack had ripped off runs of 21 and 14 yards which, coupled with 10 yards made by his teammates, had the ball on the Tigers’ 27.

It didn’t take long from there. Mack hit for one yard, then nine. Hightower got four and Quarterback Jack Ward banged his way through for seven more. That put the ball on the six and Mack took off like a jet to catapult himself into the end zone. He seemed to sail through the air for five of the yards and Mansfield was ahead 12-6. A bobbled pass from center for the extra point hit the ground and Ward picked it up and tried to run it over but was tossed out just short of his goal. So it remained 12-6.
* * *
THE TIGERS gamely surged back with the kickoff, went for three first downs with Archibald and Duke doing the lugging, but they didn’t get closer than the 28 and lost the ball on downs on the Mansfield 33. That set the stage for the dramatic finish we have already recorded.

We can understand Mansfield’s anguish at seeing the Tigers gain a tie.

The breaks were against the visitors. The 15-yard penalty was one and the loss of the ball three times on fumbles were others. One of these losses came on the visitors’ first offensive bid. They started with the kickoff from their 39 and marched straight through the Tigers for three consecutive first downs until Dave Canary pounced on Bob Thompson’s fumble on the Massillon 13-yard line to end the threat. As already mentioned, Jerry Kreiger covered two other Mansfield fumbles.

Mack scored Mansfield’s first touchdown in the second period with two minutes and 34 seconds left after a drive of 64 yards. He carried the ball eight times in the march, gaining 49 of the yards himself.

The Tigers made a great defensive effort to contain the visitors after they had gotten a first down on the three-yard line. They gave Mack a yard on his first attempt, stopped him without gain the second time and allowed Ward a yard on a center buck, Mack barely getting over for the last yard and T.D.

Mack was easily the outstanding man on the field. He was by far the best back the Tigers have faced this season, and was almost as outstanding on defense. He carried the ball 24 times and personally gained 152 net yards which is an average of slightly more than six yards per try. Thompson gained 24 net yards in 11 tries, a fraction over two yards per try.

The average is far below what the two visiting ball carriers had made prior to last night’s game. They had averaged better than 10 yards per carry against five previous foes.

Hightower gained 34 net yards and Ward 17.
* * *
LEADING the Tigers in rushing was Duke with 65 net yards in 13 carries. He was given the ball only once the entire first half, gaining three yards on that first quarter play. Dave Archibald gained 50 net yards on 12 carries, Willie Long five net yards on four carries and Brown one on four carries.

The Tigers threw six passes but only five actually counted in the game, since the one which was intercepted was nullified by the 15-yard roughing the passer penalty. Of the five that counted, three were completed in the tying T.D. drive for 47 yards. One was incomplete and one was intercepted. Mansfield didn’t complete a pass in four attempts.

Asked by the Tigers did not pass earlier in the game, Coach Tom Harp said, “We didn’t have a chance. We tried the one and it was intercepted. After all we only had the ball the four times the first half and lost it on one of these times on the interception. Then in the third period we found we could gain on the ground so we stayed there.”

The Tiger coach expressed disappointment over the tie score but added “we were fortunate to get the tie.”

“We feel Mansfield played a tremendous ball game. We couldn’t move the ball the first half and couldn’t contain them. I think Willie Mack played a great game. The one bright spot was the desire and determination by our kids when defeat stared them in the face and they came back to gain the tie.”

Harp said Mansfield’s heavier line was strong enough to permit spreading of personnel on defense to stop the Tigers’ end sweeps which have been gaining most of the ground for the locals this season.

Mansfield played the game with four regulars sidelined. Kermit Wilson, regular end has been out since the Middletown game. Rock Hinkel, tackle and Earl Roth, guard, were hurt in an auto accident last Saturday and Dave Guiher, halfback, who was slated to start last night was kept out because of an old injury that was aggravated in the same accident.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Houston, Welcher.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Kreiger, Schumacher, Whitfield, Hofacre, Allen.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Tracy, Ertle, Kasunick.
CENTERS – Spicer, Gentzler, Dowd.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Long, Radtke, Harrrison, Cocklin.
FULLBACK – Archibald.

MANSFIELD
ENDS – Travis, Franta, Ackerman.
TACKLES – Beabout, Johnson, Jones, Bill Franta, Calver.
GUARDS – Mayer, Lutz, Hood, Bell.
CENTERS – Orosan, L. Johnson.
QUARTERBACKS – Ward, Carver, Bair.
HALFBACKS – Hightower, Mack, Zivkoff, Philpott, Wilson, White.
FULLBACK – Thompson.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 0 6 6 12
Mansfield 0 6 0 6 12

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Long, Duke.
Mansfield – Mack 2.

Officials
Referee – Machock (Elyria).
Umpire – Rupp (Cuyahoga Falls).
Head Linesman – Murphy (Cleveland Heights).
Field Judge – Stewart (Smithville).

STATISTICS
Mass. Mansf.
First downs 10 15
Passes attempted 5 4
Passes completed 3 0
Had passes intercepted 1 0
Yards gained passing 47 0
Yards gained rushing 146 227
Total yards gained 193 227
Yards lost 33 12
Net yards gained 163 215
Times punted 4 2
Average punt (yards) 36 35
Yards punts returned by 0 29
Times kicked off 3 3
Average kickoff (yards) 36 42
Yards kickoffs returned by 40 40
Times fumbled 1 6
Lost ball on fumbles 0 3
Times penalized 2 3
Yards penalized 10 25

History

1955: Massillon 32, Toledo Waite 13

October 14, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Defeat Toledo Waite Indians 32-13
Locals Win Fifth Game Of Season

By LUTHER EMERY

Toledo Waite high became the Washington high Tigers’ fifth victim of the season Friday evening as the Massillon gridders let out sufficient growls to claw the Indians 32-13.

It was typical weather for a Massillon-Toledo Waite game, and 9,805 fans braved the elements to witness the contest. What was just a sprinkle before the game turned into a real shower in the second half of the contest.

The Tigers did not have the killer instinct last night but they got mean enough on occasion to score five touchdowns, two extra points and gain the sizeable total of 418 yards.

But there many mistakes did not please Coach Tom Harp who is hoping his team will put on a more perfect performance for fans in the future.
* * *
TOM NOTED improvement in the Tigers’ passing, they completed five of 10, two for touchdowns, and probably would have thrown more in the last two periods were it not for the rain.

Waite, using a multiple offense, confused the Tigers at times when it shifted from T to single wing, and managed to score two touchdowns, one after the expiration of time.

The Tigers also had one T.D. that didn’t count, a long 53-yard dash by Don Duke that was called back for a motion penalty.

Waite had difficulty moving the half but managed on two occasions to hold it for long sustained marches that consumed a lot of time.

The Indians, for instance, gained but three yards and lost as many in the third period, then turned around and out-gained the Tigers the fourth quarter 113 yards to 69 largely as a result of controlling the ball.

The visitors had a classy little back in Billie Sallie who was the top ground gainer of the night, with 87 net yards and one touchdown. Sallie gained 111 yards but was thrown for a loss of 24.

They also had a good passer in Tom Sabin, who threw the wet ball better than when it was dry. He hit end Jerry Roberts for a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and also for the extra point.
Fumbles again hurt the Tigers. They had three of them and lost the ball twice, which with one pass intercepted by Waite turned the ball over to the Indians three times.

One of the fumbles came on a return of the second half kickoff by Charlie Brown and gave Waite the ball on the Tiger 30 but the locals intercepted a pas the next play and got it back.
* * *
THE INDIANS, coming up with a screwy defense, gave the Tigers more trouble than they had anticipated, and jumped men in and out of the line to confuse the blockers.

They forced the Tigers to punt the first time the locals got the ball but the latter scored the second time on Johnny James’ long pass over the heads of the Waite secondary that Jim Houston caught for a 61-yard gain. The attempt for the extra point failed.

The Tigers also scored the next time they got the ball, Charlie Brown touring end for 16 yards to end a 37-yard march. Again the extra point was missed.

Waite launched a T.D. drive from its 40 after the next kickoff, with Sallie picking up 17 yards, Rudy Kimbers seven, Chuck Van Camp nine and Sabin tossing to Roberts for nine and to Van Camp for 12 and four consecutive first downs. That put the ball on the seven and Sallie shot around his left end for the touchdown.

The Tigers took the following kickoff on their 26-yard line and marched the rest of the way for their third T.D. of the game. James got 12 yards to start it off, then Duke nine in two carries; Brown 27 in two carries and Willie Long 34. Duke went the last 15 into pay dirt.
* * *
THE TIGERS fumbled the ball away the first time they got it in the third period but drove for a touchdown as they clicked off four first downs in a row the next time they got their hands on the leather. Don Duke led the assault, getting 22 yards in three tries, but it was James who went over from seven yards out on an option play. This time Earl Radtke tried his hand at kicking the extra point and made good on the attempt.

Waite gave the locals an opportunity for another touchdown on the kickoff when they were not alert to pounce on the ball as it rolled to their 37. Bob Welcher, who kicked the ball for Massillon, fell on it for the Tigers and by the end of the quarter they had it on the 13. On the first play of the fourth period, James pitched over the line to Houston who scampered for the touchdown. Again Radtke kicked the extra point to finish the Tigers’ scoring.

Waite unreeled three first downs and got the ball down to the Tiger 16 before the locals could again get possession. Then Massillon moved it back 56 yards before Waite took it on the 28 on an interception.

The Indians drove back with Sallie gaining 20 yards on three carries and snaring two passes for 24 more. With only three seconds showing on the scoreboard, Waite started its last play of the game. Sabin faded back as time expired and shot a pass to Roberts in the end zone for the touchdown. He repeated for the extra point and the game was over.

Brown, Duke and Archibald shared ball carrying honors for the Tigers. Charlie gained 80 net yards on 10 carries; Duke 82 yards on 12 carries and Archibald 72 net on 10 carries.

The Tigers emerged from the game in fairly good condition with the exception of Brown who possibly stoved some muscles at the base of his neck when he rammed into a Toledo player.

The game was slowed down by many time outs for injuries.

Toledo had a whole string of injured players though none appeared to be serious. It was one of the longest contests played here in years.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Houston, Welcher.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Kreiger, Schumacher, Hofacre, Whitfield, Meldrum.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Kasunick, Tracy, R. Brown, Heine, Ertle.
CENTERS – Spicer, Gentzler, Krier, Dowd.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Chas. Brown, Long, Cocklin, Radtke, Herring, Butcher, Washington.
FULLBACKS – Archibald, Chester, Brown.

TOLEDO WAITE
ENDS – Roberts, Vergiels, Weathers, Poelinitz, Koles.
TACKLES – Micenic, Davis, Rogers, Wallace, Ellison.
GUARDS – Kuebbeler, White, Miller, Lopez, Costanzo, Swope.
CENTERS – Gyurko, Young, Bragg.
QUARTERBACKS – Sabin, Reese.
HALFBACKS – Sallie, Kimbers, Van Camp.
FULLBACKS – Lee, Carnicom.

Score by periods:
Massillon 6 12 7 7 32
Waite 0 6 0 7 13

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Houston 2, Brown, Duke, James.
Waite – Sallie, Roberts.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Radtke 2 (placekicks).
Waite – Roberts (pass).

Officials
Referee – Schaffer.
Umpire – Gryska.
Head Linesman – Less.
Field Judge – Hodgson.

STATISTICS
Mass. Waite
First downs 19 13
Passes attempted 10 12
Passes completed 5 6
Had passes intercepted 1 1
Yards gained passing 117 73
Yards gained rushing 301 184
Total yards gained 418 257
Yards lost 20 43
Net yards gained 396 214
Times punted 1 5
Average punt (yards) 37 28
Yards punts returned by 18 2
Times kicked off 6 2
Average kickoff (yards) 39 53
Yards kickoffs returned by 59 61
Times fumbled 3 0
Lost ball on fumbles 2 0
Times penalized 4 4
Yards penalized 27 30

History

1955: Massillon 26, Cincinnati Elder 7

October 7, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Beat Elder 26-7 On Sloppy Field
Massillon Team Gets Touchdowns In First And Fourth Quarters

By LUTHER EMERY

CINCINNATI – A slippery ball and a stubborn Cincinnati Elder football team proved a hard combination to beat Friday evening, but the Massillon Tigers finally succeeded and rolled to their fourth victory of the season by a score of 26-7.

Nine times the Tigers fumbled the slippery ball and three times they lost it, but they hung on to it long enough on four occasions to score two touchdowns in the first quarter and two in the fourth.

Elder got its lone score in the second.

Not until Dave Canary blocked an Elder punt in the fourth quarter to get the Tigers the ball on the Cincinnati 27 was victory assured.

Up to that time the score was only 13-7 in Massillon’s favor and there was the ever present danger of a fumble setting up another score for the Cincinnati team.
* * *
BUT WHEN CANARY blocked Tom Groh’s punt (and he had been asking for it all evening), the Tigers rolled again, Charlie Brown setting up the T.D. by carrying to the one yard line and Johnny James lugging it over around right end on a keep play after Dave Archibald had been stopped twice without gain.

The game was finally put on ice about the same way a few minutes later, only this time Groh, attempting to punt on fourth down, juggled the ball and was thrown for a 10-yard loss on his 10 before he could get the ball away. Willie Long immediately toured his right end for the score and that was it.

The Tigers probably got their two touchdowns in the first period too easy. Winning the toss, they chose to receive and marched from their 36 to the Elder goal with James going into the end zone from four yards out. Archibald had set it up with a 41-yard jaunt. Only four minutes of the game had expired, and it took but another three minutes to get the second T.D. James tossing to Brown for it. The play was good for 50 yards.

From that point on into the fourth quarter the Tigers continually fumbled the ball, due both to the slimy leather and also to poor timing caused by a slippery field.

It had rained all Thursday night and all day Friday up until 3:30 p.m. and water was standing on the field in some places.

Elder scored its T.D. with seven minutes and 10 seconds remaining in the second period after covering a fumble on the Tiger 30. Halfback Jerry McDonald did most of the leather lugging, going the last 15 on a double reverse that completely caught the Massillon defense off guard, Mike Honold kicked the extra point.
* * *
IT WAS ELDER’S only serious threat. It had difficulty moving the ball. In fact it gained only 112 yards from scrimmage, seven through a completed pass, and lost 56 yards for a net of 56.

The Tigers gained 278 yards on the ground, completed one pass for 50 yards for a total of 328 yards gained and lost 30 for a net of 298. First downs were 15 to 6 in the Massillon team’s favor.

Leading ground gainer for the Tigers was Archibald with 88 net yards in 15 carries. Brown gained 81 in eight and Duke 42 in seven; Long gained 28 in five.

The Tigers were penalized six times for 50 yards and Elder five times for 33 yards. The Massillon eleven escaped without serious injury to any player. Linebacker Bob Cocklin sustained a charley horse and guard Gary Ertle was knocked out when he collided with an Elder player but both appeared OK after the game.

The Tigers tried only three passes, completing one for a touchdown and having one intercepted. Elder tried 14, but most of the time the passer couldn’t get the slippery ball near the receiver. Two were completed for a net gain of five yards.

The Tiger band scored a terrific hit with the fans even though its black lights wouldn’t work. Elder fans shouted for more at the end of the show. The Massillon football special reached Cincinnati at 5 p.m.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Houston, Canary.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Kreiger, Schumacher, Hofacre, Whitfield.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Tracy, Kasunick, Ertle.
CENTER – Spicer.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Long, Washington, Benjamin, Herring, Cocklin, Butcher, Radtke.
FULLBACKS – Archibald, Chet Brown.

ELDER
ENDS – Groh, Westendorf.
TACKLES – Metz, Elsacsser, Wanstradt, Brockhuls.
GUARDS – Bleh, Kreiner, Koehne, Glatthaar.
CENTERS – Cumwaldi, Luken.
QUARTERBACK – Bushman.
HALFBACKS – Birri, Mcdonald, Bolihauer, Fieldkamp, Pashka.
FULLBACKS – Honold, Kilvert, Vogt.

MASSILLON 13 0 0 13 26
ELDER 0 7 0 0 7

Touchdowns:
Massillon – James 2, Brown, Long
Elder – McDonald

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Duke, Brown (carried).
Elder – Honold (placekick).

Officials
Referee – Dan Tehan.
Umpire – Jim Beiernsdorfer.
Head Linesman – Bud Meyer
Field Judge – Jack Schultz.

History

1955: Massillon 22, Alliance 6

September 30, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Beat Alliance 22-6
Aviators Give Bengals Rough Battle Before Going Down To Defeat

By LUTHER EMERY

If your hair is still standing on end today you were probably one of the Massillon fans included in the crowd of 13,258 who saw the Washington high Tigers defeat Alliance 22-6 at Tiger stadium Friday evening.

The locals won, and thereby avenged their lone loss of 1954, but it was a hair-raiser that could have gone the other way as many of the Massillon crowd feared it would when the Aviators began bombing the Tigers with passes.

The Massillon eleven scored a safety in the first period on a bad Alliance pass that rolled into the end zone, got a touchdown the same quarter on an 18-yard run by Halfback Charlie Brown, added another in the second on a 45-yard dash by Brown and scored their third in the fourth on a sneaker by Johnny James.
* * *
ALLIANCE scored its only touchdown in the third period on a straight shot over the line, Ted Davison to End Tom Schaefer.

But that only tells part of the story.

Alliance had its tough breaks when passes were dropped with possible touchdowns in sight, or when runners in the clear were hauled down by the Massillon secondary.

And the Tigers had their tough ones too with two long runs called back, one for a touchdown, because of rule infractions.

As expected, Mel Knowlton, who 23 years ago quarterbacked the Massillon Tigers, had his Alliance team all wired to give Massillon the shock of its life.

The Aviators came out fighting and went down the same way, and the Tigers knew they were in a ball game from the opening minute to the end.

Knowlton crossed up the Massillon coaching staff by playing an entirely different offensive game than what he had showed the previous week, and the time spent on preparing special defenses to meet the anticipated Alliance style of play was just wasted energy.
* * *
THE AVIATOR line, which we suspect weighed considerably more than we had been led to believe, gave the Tiger forward wall a rough time all evening and yielding ground stubbornly.

When the figures were added, Alliance gained the most yards and had the most first downs, but the Tigers had the points.

First downs were nine to eight in the Aviators’ favor and they gained 227 yards, 117 through passing, to Massillon’s 221. But they were also thrown for more losses, 65 to Massillon’s 12, which left the Tigers a net of 209 to Alliance’s 162.

Coach Tom Harp wasn’t too pleased with the performance of his team. He pointed out after the game that a team always has a couple of poor games during the season and he considered this a poor game as far as his team was concerned.

When you are playing against a bigger line as we were your timing must be perfect or they will push the ball right down your throat,” he said. “Our timing was not as good as it should have been. We have a lot of work to do and we are going to start in Monday to get it accomplished.”

Harp praised the passing of Davison and the pass snatching of the rangy Schaefer who was a head taller than most of the Massillon secondary.
* * *
THE MASSILLON gridders tried to hurry Davison and did succeed in spilling him for 34 yards in losses, but he completed six passes of the 16 he got away for a net gain of 116 yards. One pass was caught for a yard loss, and several were dropped that could have been caught.

The Tigers got only one pass away and that was intercepted by Alliance. Johnny James tried to throw a couple of others but was smeared in the attempt by the fast charging Alliance line.

Had Anderson Hawkins, Alliance halfback, the speed of a couple of Massillon’s backs he would have gotten away for two Alliance touchdowns. Twice he was ready to break for the goal when a Massillon tackler closed in and got him.

Alliance’s big hope of catching the Tigers, however, was dashed on the first play of the fourth quarter when Schaefer dropped a finger-tip pass on the 15-yard line which had he caught might have resulted in an Alliance touchdown. The score at the time was 15-6. The Tigers capitalized on the disappointment to roar back in five plays and score their third and final touchdown of the game.

Massillon got its first two points with five minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the first period when it had Alliance backed up to its own 15-yard line. Attillio Giovannatto dropped back to punt, got a bad pass from center and the ball rolled behind the goal. He and Dave Canary and a couple of other Tigers dove for the ball, but the former got it and was pinned by Canary for the safety. That gave the Tigers two points.
* * *
ALLIANCE had to kick off after the safety and Don Duke made a brilliant 40-yard return to the Alliance 27. The Tigers hammered to the 18 where Charlie Brown circled his left end for the score. He was liberated for the run by a fine block tossed by Guard Dick Roan on Alliance’s Hawkins. With Archibald plunging the extra point across, the score was 9-0, and that is where it stood until midway in the second period when Alliance punted to its own 45. Brown cut loose on a left end run and went the distance on the first play to make the total 15-0, Archibald missing a single wing plunge for the extra point.

Alliance began throwing after that and though it didn’t score showed enough to fans to prove there was dynamite in Davison’s arm.

The Tigers got themselves into a hole on the second half kickoff when they fumbled the ball near the end zone and then took time to run laterally on a possible handoff. They wound up on their own two. When three plays gained only that many yards they punted to their own 35 and the wound-up Aviators started their scoring drive.

Hawkins rammed it to a first down on the 23 in two attempts and he and Tim Johnson made another first on the 12. Hawkins was tossed for a two-yard loss but with the Tigers using an eight-man line and the three linebackers crowding the line of scrimmage, Davison wisely tossed a blooper over the line to Schaefer who had nothing to do but run across the goal with it.

There were still more than six minutes of the period remaining to be played.
* * *
THE TIGERS came back after the kickoff for two consecutive first downs but fumbled the ball to Alliance on the latter’s 40.

A nine-yard peg to Schaefer and a 16-yard dash by Hawkins got the ball to the 35. Hawkins got seven more, but Schaefer dropped a finger-tip pass from Davison with a possible touchdown in sight.

The Tigers took over and on the first play Brown took a lateral from James that the latter timed perfectly and went 51 yards before he was dumped on the 17. A five-yard penalty for being in motion failed to keep the locals from scoring, James twisting through for the point from the four-yard line. Duke went over for the extra point and that concluded the scoring.

Alliance wasn’t subdued, however. The Aviators tried hard to get the ball over again and succeeded in completing the most dramatic pass of the day, a 50-yard effort to Schaefer that took the ball to the Tiger 25. Schaefer was five yards in front of any Tiger when he caught the ball but Bob Cocklin, secondary defender, ran him down.

On the next play Davison was thrown for a 10-yard loss while still trying to pass and that ended the hostilities.
* * *
FOR THE TIGERS, the defensive play of Canary was one of the highlights of their performance. Brown was the outstanding ball carrier. He lugged the leather 10 times for 134 yards.

He had a sweet T.D. run of 58 yards called back late in the fourth quarter because of a clipping penalty. It was one of the fanciest bits of footwork of the evening.

Dave Archibald, the leading ground gainer last week, was stopped cold by Alliance who wouldn’t permit him to get away on his draw play. He only gained 17 yards in five attempts. Duke carried 16 times and gained 57 net yards, who Willie Long, the hot-shot of the first game only had two chances and finished up with a minus one yard

Hawkins was Alliance’s only threat on the ground. He gained 65 net yards on nine carries.

Next week the Tigers will play at Cincinnati Elder. They will leave Massillon Thursday, stay all night in Hamilton Thursday night; hold a brief workout Friday and continue on to Cincinnati where they will stay Friday night in the Gibson hotel. They will return to this city Saturday.

The lineup and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Houston, Welcher.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Schumacher, Kreiger, Whitfield, Hofacre.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Kasunick, Tracy, Ertle.
CENTERS – Spicer, Dowd, Gentzler.
QUARTERBACK – James.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Long, Radtke, Herring, Washington, Cocklin, Butcher.
FULLBACK – Archibald.

ALLIANCE
ENDS – Polen, Schaefer, Giovannatto, Cowgill, Reynolds, Fryan.
TACKLES – Liber, Long, Tunelius.
GUARDS – McQuilken, Goosby, Welck.
CENTERS – Binkley, Miller.
QUARTERBACK – Davison.
HALFBACKS – Johnson, Bryant, Walker, Muniz, McCallum.
FULLBACKS – Hawkins.

Score by periods:
Massillon 9 6 0 7 22
Alliance 0 0 6 0 6

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Brown 2; James.
Alliance – Schaefer.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Archibald, Duke (carried).

Safety:
Massillon (Giovannatto thrown behind goal).

Officials
Referee – Smith (Elyria).
Umpire – Holzbach (Youngstown).
Head Linesman – Wisecup (Cleveland).
Field Judge – Beach (Youngstown).

STATISTICS
Mass. All.
First downs 8 9
Passes attempted 1 16
Passes completed 0 6
Had passes intercepted 1 1
Yards gained passing 0 117
Yards gained rushing 221 110
Total yards gained 221 227
Yards lost 12 65
Net yards gained 209 162
Times punted 4 5
Average punt (yards) 37 37
Yards punts returned by 45 9
Times kicked off 4 3
Average kickoff (yards) 46 44
Yards kickoffs returned by 17 29
Times fumbled 3 2
Lost ball on fumbles 1 0
Times penalized 5 2
Yards penalized 40 20

History

1955: Massillon 45, Canton Lincoln 7

September 23, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Roll Over Canton Lincoln 45-7
Long Touchdown Runs Spark Massillon Drive On Rain-Soaked Field

By LUTHER EMERY

What hopes Canton Lincoln had of ending the Massillon football jinx was buried in the mud of Tiger stadium before 9,171 fans Friday evening as the Washington high Tigers chalked up a 45-7 victory, their second of the season and their 10th in the 11-game series with the Lions who escaped with a scoreless tie in 1945.

Playing in rain from beginning to end, the Tigers proved themselves good mudders as they ran up seven touchdowns, scored three extra points and rolled up the big total of 406 net yards from scrimmage.

Added to the ability to gain ground was good handling of the slippery ball. The first team fumbled but once, losing the ball, and the second team fumbled late in the game, recovering the ball.
* * *
LINCOLN had more trouble with the slippery leather as the ball squirted out of players’ hands seven times, and into Tiger hands on three occasions.

The Massillon gridders showed more speed and more power last night than they did in beating Youngstown North 31-0 in their opening game a week ago.

Yet, despite the lop-sided score, it was quite a ball game the first half with the Tigers trailing for the first time this season when Lincoln caught them flat-footed with a fourth down pass in the second period that went 39 yards for a touchdown.

The Tigers’ who were leading 6-0 at that point, thanks to a nifty 53-yard T.D. run by Johnny James, were looking for Lincoln to punt for it was fourth down and 11 to go and the ball was on the 39. But the Lions did a lot of fancy ball flipping in the backfield with Quarterback Chuck Dinkins finally shooting a long one to End Larry Ellison who was way beyond the unsuspecting Massillon secondary. Halfback Jim Care slipped through for the extra point and pandemonium broke loose in the Canton stands.
* * *
MASSILLON FANS were uneasy too but their fears were short-lived for the T.D. only made the Tigers snarl.

They took the kickoff on their 30 and with Charlie Brown and Don Duke doing the leather lugging, marched the pigskin over the Lincoln goal, Brown getting the honors on an
11-yard counter and Dave Archibald bucking over the extra point that made it 13-7.

And although only two minutes and 15 seconds of the half remained to be played, the Tigers sneaked in another just as the last seconds of the clock were ticked off. Dick Whitfield blocked a Lincoln punt to give the locals the ball on the Lions’ 19. Willie Long moved it up to the 15 and James to the one.

Then as the hands of the clock pointed to 0, Long crossed the goal for the local team’s third T.D. of the game which proved to be a crushing blow to Lincoln. It ended what hopes Coach Paul Dellerba might have had of rallying his squad during intermission. Duke sliced through for the extra point and it was 20-7.

With Fullback Archibald running like a mad man, the Tigers scored four more touchdowns in the second half to put the game in the cooler. Archibald got three of them on runs of 12, 45 and 47 yards, and sub Quarterback Bob Rinehart added the other on a 15-yard jaunt.

His long touchdown runs made Archibald the leading ground gainer of the night, with a net 126 yards on nine carries. Duke gained 105 net yards on nine attempts and Charlie Brown 61 net yards on eight attempts.

James gained 52 net yards but carried only four times.
* * *
THE TIGERS, who got by last week without punting a single time, were forced to kick once last night and Archibald did it on the run as Lincoln tacklers closed in on him. He booted the ball only 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage but that was better than being thrown for a loss or having the kick blocked.

A pre-game argument over the color of the football helped to fire the Tigers.

Lincoln wanted to play with a brown ball, while Harp held out for a striped ball. The rules state that if the coaches cannot agree on the color then a tan ball is used – but the Tigers didn’t have one. So they thought to scrape the stripes off a ball, but not too successfully.

When Lincoln continued to insist on a tan ball, the officials told Harp to get one. “We don’t have one,” the Tiger coach replied.

The officials decided the game could be played with the ball from which the stripes were scraped, then Lincoln informed the officials they had a tan ball.

“All right, we will play with it and we will ram it right down their throats,” Harp told his team.

Maybe the incident stirred up the local players. At least they showed more pep and vigor than they did in the Youngstown game.

And they scored their first touchdown in a minute and 25 seconds.
* * *
LINCOLN kicked off to Massillon which won the toss. It was a short kick to the 42. On the third plays, James on a keep ran 53 yards for the touchdown. He was supported by some pretty blocking as he turned his left end and headed down the sideline. An attempt to kick the extra point failed and the Tigers led 6-0.

The two teams exchanged punts before the end of the period, but Lincoln was on its way to its only touchdown.

Getting the ball on their 20 through a punt, the Lions advanced it back to their 34 as the period ended. Ronald Worstell got a first down in two carries.

Jim Care advanced the leather to the Tiger 40. Three plays gained but a yard and that set the stage for the Lions’ razzle dazzle touchdown pass to Ellison.

Details of the Tigers next two touchdowns that brought the score to 20-7 at the half have already been given.
* * *
THREE FUMBLES in as many minutes with the ball lost each time got both teams off to a poor start in the third period. Lincoln committed the first boner on its 45 and Massillon got the ball. Then the Tigers fumbled on the Lions’ 30 and the latter recovered. But Lincoln didn’t want the ball, for it fumbled the very next play and Jerry Kreiger got it for Massillon again on the 30. Three plays later Archibald was ramming up the middle for 12 and a touchdown that made it 26-7.

Lincoln completed a pass to the Tiger 25, the next time it got the ball, but the receiver fumbled and the locals covered on their own 23. They moved it to the Lions’ 45 where Archibald broke through the middle to score and make it 32-7.

He made it 39-7 with five minutes gone in the fourth quarter on a run of 44 yards that climaxed a 69-yard march.

Coach Harp substituted heavily after that (he used 38 players) and the seconds got a chance to score when they recovered a Lincoln fumble on the Lions’ 21; Rinehart going the last 15.

The Tigers escaped from the game in good shape, and Harp was thankful for that. “Now if Fisher and Kasunick’s ankles just come along, we will be in pretty good shape for next week’s game with Alliance

The Massillon coach felt pretty good about the performance of his team – said he didn’t intend to single out any individuals for praise. “They did a pretty good job as a whole, I thought,” he said.

The line up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Houston, Geschwind, Anderson, Chengery.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Schumacher, Kreiger, Hofacre, Whitfield, Wells, Meldrum, Allen, Mercer.
GUARDS – Roan, Ertle, Tracy, R. Brown, Harrison.
CENTERS – Spicer, Dowd, Gentzler, Kiplinger.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Rinehart, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Brown, Long, Benjamin, Radtke, Cocklin, Butcher, Washington, Herring.
FULLBACKS – Archibald, Chet Brown.

LINCOLN
ENDS – Ellison, Copeland, Wetzel.
TACKLES – Mulheim, Groetz, Griffin, Craddock, DePasquale.
GUARDS – Ross, Vohelsang, Kelly, Kortis, Ludwig.
CENTERS – Stroia.
QUARTERBACKS – T. Dinkins, Volzer, C. Dinkins.
HALFBACKS – Care, Grinstead, Worstell, Cosentino, Ferry, Richards.
FULLBACK – Farrall.

Score by quarters:
Massillon 6 14 12 13 45
Lincoln 0 7 0 0 7

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Archibald 3, James, Brown, Long, Rinehart.
Lincoln – Ellison.

Points after touchdowns:
Massillon – Duke, Archibald 2 (carried).
Lincoln – Care.

Officials
Referee – Tobin (Akron).
Umpire – Shopbell (Canton).
Head Linesman – Murphy (Cleveland).
Field Judge – Schreiber (Canton).

STATISTICS
Mass. Lin.
First downs 18 7
Passes attempted 2 5
Passes completed 1 3
Yards gained passing 27 62
Yards gained rushing 396 129
Total yards gained 423 191
Yards lost 17 23
Net yards gained 406 168
Times punted 1 3
Average punt (yards) 15 24
Yards punts returned by 6 2
Times Kicked off 8 2
Average kick (yards) 36 29
Times fumbled 2 7
Lost ball on fumbles 1 3
Times penalized 4 6
Yards penalized 20 50

History

1955: Massillon 31, Youngstown North 0

September 16, 1955July 8, 2017
by Eric Smith

Tigers Defeat Youngstown North 31-0
11,063 See Defending State Champions Win Opening Football Game

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high Tigers defeated Youngstown North 31-0 before 11,063 fans in Tiger stadium Friday evening but it was no pink tea party.

Those who thought it would be a breather hadn’t figured how stubborn North could be or how cagey it could play for a low score.

That’s what happened and as a result the Tigers got only one touchdown in each of the first three periods and two in the fourth, thanks to a couple of fumbles covered deep in Youngstown territory.

The score raises the question, how strong are the Tigers?

It will take more games to produce a satisfactory answer.

They were good in some departments, not too good in others, but Coach Tom Harp, who should know his squad better than anyone else, said, “I’m satisfied with the opening game performance. I know there are a lot of things to be improved and a lot of work to be done. I’m sure the motion pictures will prove it and we will have to make the necessary adjustments. Our timing must be improved and our defense needs some attention as well as some of the specialties.”
* * *
WHEN YOU LOOK over the statistics you begin to wonder why the score was not larger. The Tigers gained 411 yards from scrimmage, a goodly amount. They never punted once and not once did they fumble, which is quite an achievement for a football team.

They had the ball eight times and scored touchdowns on five of them. Only once did they lose it on downs. They lost it once on an intercepted pass and they had it deep in North territory when the game ended.

One big reason the Tigers did not score more touchdowns was the type of game Coach Jack Cramb of North elected to play. His team took almost the maximum amount of time in the huddle on every play and always kept on the ground to keep the clock running. Not one forward pass did it attempt for this reason, since the clock stops on an incomplete pass.

Furthermore he had just enough offense to hold the ball for five first downs which consumed more time. When you can’t get the ball you can’t score touchdowns; North actually held the ball seven straight minutes at one time during the game.

The Tigers likewise had to grind out their yardage slowly most of the time, although Willie Long and Johnny James managed to get away for long touchdown runs. Each scored twice during the evening while Charlie Brown got the fifth, and Dave Archibald was denied one on the best run of the night from a draw play. Offensive holding spoiled it.
* * *
THE TIGERS also ran into some difficulties before the game. Ken Fisher, who had been assigned to do the place-kicking came up with a pulled tendon in his kicking leg during the warm up and young Tim Krier was rushed into the gap. He booted the first extra point successfully and the coaches decided to allow him to keep at it even though he missed the next five, feeling the experience would do him good. He actually has had little practice at place-kicking. His dad, Henry Krier, kicked the extra points for the Tigers 21 years ago.

Then Jim Schumacher, one of the defensive tackles, came down with the flu yesterday afternoon. He dressed for the game but remained wrapped in blankets while Dick Whitfield took his place.

While North didn’t throw a pass the Tigers tossed the ball seven times, completing four and having one intercepted. They gained 68 of their 411 yards with passes. North gained 111 yards with two hard-hitting backs, Clifford Anderson and James Higham doing most of the leather lugging.

Long and James proved the most dependable of the Tiger ball carriers.

While the timing was off on many plays, there was some crisp blocking to offset a lot of poor blocks. Fisher cut loose a good block to liberate Archibald on his long run that didn’t count and Don Duke laid the hide to North tacklers on different occasions.

The size of the crowd exceeded the expectations of athletic officials who had doubted that it would reach 9,000. Youngstown only had a small following.
* * *
IT TOOK the Tigers most of the first period before they could score. Stopped in their first effort when they lost the ball on downs on the 15, they got it next time on a punt on the North 49. James flipped a pass to End Jim Houston for a first down on the 37 and Long entered the contest. On his first ball carrying effort he went 37 yards around right end to score and Krier kicked the extra point.

Three minutes of the second period had expired when the Tigers scored again. This time they started from their 38. Charlie Brown reeled off 10 and James passed 20 yards to Duke for a first on the 32. Brown hit for four and Archibald went 16 to the 12 and then reeled off five more. James on a keep play got the last seven and the Tigers led 13-0, and that was the score at the half.

The third period was almost over before the locals could again score. That’s because North took the kickoff and held the pigskin for over seven minutes before the Tigers forced a punt. The Massillon drive started from the 28 and Duke in two carries took it to the 39. Long went around his right end for 16 and Brown reeled off 13 more to place the ball on the 32. Duke made nine and interference was ruled on a James pass to Canary that gave the locals a first down on the 16. Brown made five but a 15-yard penalty for clipping put the ball back on the 25. Long took it back to the 15 and Brown went around left end to score.

The Tigers scored twice in the fourth quarter. Anderson fumbled and Jerry Hofacre pounced on the ball on the North 38. On the first play James on an option, kept the ball and ran right end for a touchdown, doing a fancy bit of tackle dodging on the way.

Leonard Brown, of North, fumbled the following kickoff and this time Earle Radtke was on the spot to cover for the Tigers on the North 24. It took a lot of work and time to get it over though.

Duke started with five but James was thrown for a loss of eight attempting to pass. Archibald got two, and James tossed a lateral to Duke that got a first down on the 10. An offside penalty on the next play put the ball back on the 15. Brown made three at left end and Archibald rammed to the three. He hit center for a yard and then Long swept end for the final touchdown of the game.

Despite the hot weather neither team sustained any severe injuries.

Duke hurt his leg toward the end of the game but it was not serious.

The Tigers will entertain Canton Lincoln here next week.

The lineup and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Canary, Houston, Geschwind.
TACKLES – Graber, Maier, Whitfield, Kreiger, Hofacre, Allen.
GUARDS – Fisher, Roan, Tracy, Ertle, Kasunick.
CENTERS – Spicer, Gentzler, Dowd, Krier.
QUARTERBACKS – James, Rinehart, Brenner.
HALFBACKS – Duke, Chas, Brown, Long, Washington, Benjamin, Herring, Radtke, Butcher, Cocklin.
FULLBACKS – Archibald, Chet Brown.

YOUNGSTOWN NORTH
ENDS – Gray, Phillips, Snyder.
TACKLES – Jackson, Trevis.
GUARDS – Kennedy, Feagins, Cover, Scott.
CENTER – Rubino.
QUARTERBACK – Kula.
HALFBACKS – Anderson, Williams, Hughes, Brown.
FULLBACK – Higham.

Score by periods
Massillon 7 6 6 12 31

Touchdowns – Long 2, James 2, Chas. Brown 1.

Points after touchdown – Krier (Place-kick).

Officials
Referee – Smith, Elyria.
Umpire – Machack, Elyria.
Field Judge – Calhoun, Cleveland Heights.
Head Linesman – Holzworth, Louisville

STATISTICS
Mass. North
First downs 18 5
Passes attempted 7 0
Had passes intercepted 1 0
Passes completed 4 0
Yards gained passing 68 0
Yards gained rushing 342 111
Total yards gained 410 111
Yards lost 13 34
Net yards gained 397 77
Times punted 0 5
Average punt (yards) — 31
Yards punts returned by 29 —
Kickoffs 6 1
Average kickoff (yds) 42 30
Yards kickoffs returned by 7 65
Times fumbled 0 4
Lost ball on fumbles 0 2
Times penalized 7 6
Yards penalized 55 38

Tag: <span>Jim Houston</span>