Tag: <span>Jim Place</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2003: Massillon 24, Dayton Chaminade-Julienne 45

Role reversal
C-J’s Ringer devastates Tiger defense

By JOE SHAHEEN
Joe.Shaheen @ IndeOnline.Com

The shoe was on the other foot and the Massillon Tigers didn’t much like the fit.

A veteran Dayton Chaminade‑Julienne team coming off a state title and ranked No. 7 among Ohio’s, Division III football teams, came into Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and put a 45‑24 thumping on the Tigers in front of 7,748 on an idyllic autumn Friday evening.

Program Cover

Two years ago, it was a sophomore‑laden C‑J squad that came to Massillon and left on the short end of a 48‑27 score to a Tiger team featuring Justin Zwick and Shawn Crable.

On Friday, C‑J had the Division I prospects in running back Javon Ringer ‑ who rushed for 259 yards and three touchdowns ‑ and quarterback Anthony Turner, who completed 8 of 8 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown.

Chaminade‑Julienne coach Jim Place admitted he had mixed emotions as he looked up at the scoreboard and saw his team’s margin of victory, which was the same 21 points that his team lost by in 2001.

“It’s a great win for me and my kids but at the same time I’m looking around and where was No. 33?” Place said. “Where was No. 16? Where was this guy? Where was that guy? Where was No. 5?

“It’s a wonderful feeling. I’m thrilled but it’s tempered with feeling for the other guy. No one from Massillon wants our pity. But I have some empathy for the other side. Massillon is just a young team that is beat up.”

Tiger coach Rick Shepas emerged from an emotional post‑game address to his team and put the 21‑point setback in perspective.

“Jim Place came up here two years ago to get a young team ready to play for a state championship down the road,” Shepas recalled. “They were a sophomore group and the situation was reversed. Now they’re seniors and a talented group of guys.

“Ringer, what can you say? I love Turner and No. 1 the wideout (Ryan Patrick), he’s special.”

Shepas explained the Tigers are trying to prepare their youngsters the same way Place did in 2001.

“We’re in the same situation this year,” Shepas said. “We’re playing a lot of young people. We’re playing the same kind of schedule. We want to play people so that hopefully things will work out the same way. We don’t want to lower the bar just so we can win football games, so we’ve raised the bar and we’re finding out how we respond and that’s the way it goes.”

C‑J jumped out to an early 14‑point lead on Patrick’s 82‑yard punt return at 7:10 of the first quarter and a 47‑yard Turner‑to‑Patrick pass play that began as a 10‑yard slant and ended up in the end zone.

But the Tigers clawed their way back in the game. Tuffy Woods capped off a five‑play, 59‑yard march with a one‑yard touchdown plunge at 11:11 of the second quarter. It was set up by a 25‑yard sweep by Lanale Robinson and a grinding 21‑yard run by Woods.

Billy Relford ran under the ensuing pooch kickoff and the Tigers regained possession at the 31. After a 12‑yard run by Woods, the drive stalled and Zach Smith drilled a 28‑yard field goal to pull Massillon back to within four points at 14-10.
Relford came up with another huge play on C-J’s next possession, stripping Patrick after a pass completion and falling on the pigskin to give the Tigers the ball at the visitors’ 43.

Again Woods ran effectively gaining 12 yards on first down. Three snaps later, though, on third‑and‑seven, the Tigers fumbled the ball back to the Eagles, who took just four plays to cover the 67 yards to the end zone.

“That’s something that happened to us when we first came here.” Shepas said of the key turnover. “Our resilience after a turnover. We survive one, we survive another. But when stupid things start to happen like the miscues with the bad snaps and stuff like that, those are things our guy have to learn from and get better from.”

C‑J’s lead was 21‑10 at 4:33 of the first half. The Eagles then forced Massillon into a three‑and‑out series, and followed with a seven‑play, 80‑yard scoring march capped by Ringer’s never‑say‑die 24‑yard touchdown run that made it 28‑10 at halftime.

“The one time (Ringer) ran for a touchdown, we missed six tackles,” Shepas said. “There were times when we didn’t line up correctly. We had them in some third‑and‑long situations. Our guys have to line up. That’s the bottom line.”

Massillon finished with six fumbles, losing five. That comes on the heels of a nine turnover game a week ago against St. Edward.

In his first varsity start after being idled for more than a month with a broken wrist, sophomore quarterback Quentin Paulik struggled but passed for 119 yards and a touchdown without being intercepted.

“Here he comes in his first start after those injuries and he has to play against the fastest team we will face all year,” Shepas pointed out. “That’s a tough thing to do.”

Massillon falls to 4‑4 and will host No. 2 ranked Warren Harding next Saturday.

Chaminade‑Julienne improves to 7‑1, locks up a playoff berth, and now has two games to secure home field advantage. But the way the Eagles played on the road Friday, being at home may not matter much.

Dayton C‑J 45
Massillon 24

GAME STATS

Dayton C‑J 14 14 14 3 45
Massillon 0 10 0 14 24

SCORING
CJ ‑ Ryan Patrick 82 punt return (kick failed)
CJ ‑ Ryan Patrick 47 pass from Anthony Turner (Patrick run)
M ‑ Tuffy Woods 1 run (Smith kick)
M ‑ Smith 28 FG
CJ ‑ Javon Ringer 25 run (Grant kick)
CJ ‑ Javon Ringer 24 run (Grant kick)
CJ ‑ Javon Ringer 86 run (Grant kick)
CJ ‑ Turner 5 run (Grant kick)
CJ ‑ Grant 24 FG
M ‑ Billy Relford 57 pass from Quentin Paulik (Smith kick)
M ‑ Hendricks 35 pass from Weisand (Smith kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Massillon rushing: Woods 13‑72, 1 TD
Chaminade‑Julienne rushing: Ringer 24‑261, 3 TDs, Turner 11‑47, 1 TD

Massillon passing: Paulik 7‑22‑119, 1 TD
Chaminade‑Julienne passing: Turner 8‑8‑172, 1 TD

Massillon receiving: Relford 3‑72, 1 TD
Chaminade‑Julienne receiving: Patrick 5‑109, 1 TD

Brock Hymes

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2001: Massillon 48, Dayton Chaminade-Julienne 27

Massillon reins in speedy Chaminade
Tigers’ fifth win in a row improves record to 8‑1

By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers have shown they can run the football this season, but on Friday Rick Shepas’ crew sharpened up the aerial attack and racked up over 400 yards passing to torch Dayton Chaminade‑Julienne 48‑27, in front of 8,138 fans at Paul brown Tiger Stadium.

Program Cover

It was a record‑setting performance for two Tigers. Quarterback Justin Zwick passed for 407 yards to eclipse his own single‑game record of 403 set one year ago. Wide receiver Devon Jordan totaled 206 yards receiving to break the record of 169 yards setback in 1977 by Curtis Strawder.

“Too much Justin Zwick,” said C‑J head coach Jim Place after the game. “Just too much Zwick. Plain and simple, too much Zwick.”

Place wasn’t exaggerating. The 6‑foot‑5, 221‑pound senior completed 24 of 39 passes for four touchdowns, and at least four other throws were dropped. He was sharper than at anytime this season and scored a touchdown on a scramble for good measure.

Jordan wasn’t the only beneficiary of Zwick’s marksmanship. Senior wideout Joe Jovingo had a career night, snaring six passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’m happy with my performance but it is a team game,” said Jovingo. “We could’ve put more points on the board. We’ve got some good running backs and that’s the reason we get open because the defense is playing the run and that leaves fewer guys to cover us.”

Shepas was pleased his quarterback spread it around.

“You never know who he’s going to,” Shepas said. “You know how you like to have it ‑ different receivers catching the ball each week.”

Zwick had plenty of time sit in the pocket and find open receivers, thanks to an offensive line that was without starting tackle J.P. Simon and began the game without starting center Chad Hennon.

“Our guys up front did a nice Job of pass protecting,” said Shepas. “A lot of it has to do not only with our offensive line getting better but also our backs checking up into protection with them.”

Starting guard Doug Dickerhoof revealed the Tiger coaching staff prepared the line for C‑J’s pressure.

“We gave Justin a lot of time and picked up all the blitzes,” said Dickerhoof. “He got the ball to his receivers. They caught the ball and took it in.”

While all is good with the Massillon offense, Chaminade’s 426 yards of total offense ‑ 230 of it on the ground ‑ did not sit well with Shepas, who knows McKinley scouts were in the stands and saw his team miss a few tackles.

“I really wasn’t happy with the defense,” Shepas admitted. “We were just a little sloppy tonight. It just felt sloppy tonight.”

Were some Tigers looking ahead?

“I don’t think so,” said Shepas. “I don’t know what to attribute it to. Our guys have maintained a high level of intensity throughout the season. We saw a good, fast football team and we had to get adjusted to their speed. Mckinley has great speed.”

David Abdul opened the scoring with a 22‑yard field goal on the Tigers second possession. Massillon advanced the ball from its 41 to the C‑J 5, thanks to a 14‑yard Zwick to Jordan completion on a curl pattern, and a 34‑yard pickup when Zwick found Jovingo running free on a post pattern.

Chaminade’s Anthony Turner showed that Zwick wasn’t the only talented quarterback in the house when he hit Andre Chattams with a 34‑yard laser on the Eagles ensuing possession. That throw advanced the ball to the Massillon 36.

Three plays later, Pernell Williams took an option pitch around left end and exploded past the Tiger defense and into the end zone for a 22‑yard touchdown. Bryan Fecke nailed the extra point and Chaminade owned a 7‑3 lead at 3:24 of the first quarter.

Stephon Ashcraft provided the Tigers with a shot on the arm by returning the C‑J kickoff 47 yards to the Eagles 45‑yard line.

After an incompletion on first down, Tiger junior Ricky Johnson turned a sweep that had no gain written all over it into a 45‑yard touchdown run. Johnson started around left end, changed direction and found daylight to his right. He cut back to the middle of the field at the 30 and sprinted untouched into the end zone.

Abdul’s kick was true and Massillon had regained the lead at 10‑7 with 3:08 left in the opening stanza.

A dropped pass doomed Chaminade’s next possession and Massillon made the visitors pay. Beginning at their own 14, the Tigers drove the length of the field, mixing the run and pass effectively. A swing pass to Robert Oliver picked up 16 yards, and Zwick later hit Jordan with a 23‑yard strike to the C‑J_ 8.

Two plays later, Zwick scrambled into the end zone from eight yards out. Abdul’s conversion kick was true and Massillon’s lead was 17‑7 at 8:40 of the second quarter.

Craig McConnell picked Turner off on the first play of the Eagles next possession, returning the football 26 yards to the C‑J 25.

On first down Zwick found a wide open Jovingo at the 8. The senior wideout turned, found no one within 10 yards and scooted into the end zone for the score. Abdul made it 24‑7 Massillon at 6:56 of the second quarter.

Chaminade still had some life and marched 30 yards in eight plays to get back in the ball game. Turner’s 33‑yard run got things going for the Eagles. The sophomore signal caller would score from eight yards out on a broken play. Fecke’s kick made it 24‑14 Massillon at 2:37 of the second.

But the Tigers regained momentum quickly, thanks to a 21‑yard kickoff return by Ashcraft that gave Massillon a first‑and‑10 at its 38. After advancing to midfield, Massillon struck. Zwick dropped back, looked right, then back left where he found Jordan running wide open at the 10. The junior snagged the football and raced into the end zone. Abdul’s kick made it Massillon 31, C‑J 14 with 1:02 left before the band show.

Massillon took the second half kickoff and Zwick again went to work. He hit Jordan for 23 yards, Jovingo for 33 more, and capped off the drive with a 14‑yard pass to Jordan, who spun past a defender and turned it into a 44‑yard touchdown. Abdul’s kick made it 38‑14 Massillon at 9:34 of the third period.

Craig McConnell’s interception and slick 34‑yard runback set up the Tigers next tally. David Hill made a juggling catch for a 19‑yard gain to the C‑J 8, then Jovingo latched onto his second TD pass of the night from 13 yards out. The scoreboard read Massillon 45, C‑J 14 after Abdul’s PAT.

MASSILLON 48
CHAMINADE 27
M C
First downs rushing 2 12
First downs passing 18 7
First downs by penalty 1 1
TOTAL first downs 21 20
Net yards rushing 75 230
Net yards passing 407 196
TOTAL yards 482 426
Passes attempted 39 24
Passes completed 24 13
Passes intercepted 0 2
Punts 2 5
Punting average 31.5 32.8
Fumbles/Lost 1/1 3/0
Penalties 9 5
Yards penalized 49 35

MASSILLON 10 21 14 3 48
CHAMINADE 7 7 0 13 27

SCORING
M ‑ Abdul 22‑yard field goal
C‑J ‑ Williams 22‑yard run (Fecke kick)
M ‑ Johnson 45‑yard run (Abdul kick)
M ‑ Zwick 8‑yard run (Abdul kick)
M ‑ Jovingo 25‑yard pass from Zwick (Abdul kick)
C‑J ‑ Turner 6‑yard run (Fecke kick)
M ‑ Jordan 46‑yard pass from Zwick (Abdul kick)
M ‑ Jordan 44‑yard pass from Zwick (Abdul kick)
M ‑ Jovingo 13‑yard pass from Zwick (Abdul kick)
C‑J ‑ Williams 1 ‑yard run (Fecke kick)
M ‑ Abdul 48‑yard field goal
C‑J ‑ Sanford 30‑yard pass from Turner (Fecke kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Massillon rushing: Johnson 9‑61, Oliver 5‑5, Zwick 3‑5, Hill 1‑10.
Chaminade rushing: Williams 17‑112, Turner 15‑109.

Massillon passing: Zwick 24‑39‑407 4 TDs.
Chaminade passing: Turner 13‑24‑196 TD, 2 INTs.

Massillon receiving: Jordan 9‑206, Jovingo 6‑137, Williams 5‑24.
Chaminade receiving: Chattams 6‑91, Patrick 3‑24, Sanford 2‑38.

‑ Statistics courtesy of RICHARD CUNNINGHAM


Justin Zwick

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1989: Massillon 17, Middletown 7

Madcap night in Middletown

Steve Doerschuk
Independent Sports Editor

MIDDLETOWN – The Massillon Tigers spent Saturday night at the Holiday Inn, but first they went to the funhouse.

When the park closed they had a souvenir, a 17-7 high school football win over the Middletown Middies. That was very nice, since it put their record at 3-0, but it was almost incidental to the numerous sideshows that put nearby Kings Island to shame.

Among them:

The jungle beast – Massillon’s Ed Annen held one end of the leash as Obie XX, the live Tiger mascot, playfully wrapped his paws around the knee of those whistle-toting zebras.

The chopper – The game ball arrived in a TV news helicopter that buzzed Barnitz Stadium then touched down at the 20-yard line. Massillon head coach Lee Owens screamed (although no one could hear him) to get the bird back in the air because his players could not come out on the field.

“We’d hoped to have Paul Brown (the ex-Massillon coach now living in nearby Cincinnati) in the helicopter,” Middletown head coach Jim Place said. “Unfortunately, he was tied up with the Bengals.”

The roller coaster – On fourth and nine in the second quarter, Tiger quarterback Lee Hurst hurled a bomb toward the left corner of the end zone. Receiver Troy Manion maneuvered through two defenders, ran as fast as he could, reached as far as he could, and fingertip snagged the ball for a 31-yard touchdown and a 17-0 lead. On the next play from scrimmage, Middletown tailback Jeff Cothran raced 68 yards for a touchdown.

Zebras on parade – After Cothran’s run, the Tigers roared back. Ryan Sparkman’s strong run put the ball on the Middletown 30. But wait. Clipping! But wait again! Unsportsmanlike conduct for an editorial comment on the clipping. Fifteen more yards. Next play, holding, Tiger. Instead of a first down on the Middie 30. It’s third and 45 on the Tiger 15. You know any good plays?

The male cheerleader – Usually, only college football has them, but Middletown featured a strapping fellow dressed in purple pants, who after Cothran’s long TD run, leaped and bounded along the sideline, wildly gyrating as he exhorted the Middie faithful to stand up and cheer. The cheerleader was Place, the Middie coach.

“It’s that way every game down here,” Place said. “All of our games are wild and crazy.”

The light show – It was 83 degrees and sunny at kickoff time. By halftime, it was dark, except for streaks of lightning, and a fierce wind kicked up.

Something flashed behind the home grandstand. Two stands of lights went dark, one on each side of the field. Few among the 8,000 spectators noticed, but a transformer had caught on fire.

The great debate – Wait for the lights to come back on? Or keep playing under the four stands of lights still shining? The game stopped for 10 minutes as a debate raged. The verdict: Play on, but only on the half of the better lit field. Play resumed with 2:50 left in the half. The Tigers got the ball back and Ryan Sparkman rushed nine yards to midfield. Had he kept going, he’d have run into the dark side of the field. After the play, officials pointed the Tigers the other way, as if the quarter had changed.

“The situation was to our disadvantage,” Owens said later. “If we’re driving into the darkness, the wind is at our backs and that helps our passing game. But we have to drive into the light. Middletown is a running team, and it’s no big deal for them to have to drive into the wind, into the light.

“I didn’t want to go along with it. But I didn’t have much choice in the matter.”

Band on the run – With lightning came rain. It started shortly after band No 1, the one that plays Tiger Rag, strutted. It got wet and juicy at the end of the “Marching Middies” turn. It rained so hard that band No. 2 disdained decorum, running helter-skelter off the field.

The lock-up rooms – A regular in the Middletown press box eyed the lightning and shook his head.

“Two football players died in the country within the last couple of weeks because of lightning strikes,” he said.

“Football people are being awfully careful.” The Tigers were back on the field only seconds when Owens, having surveyed the skies, herded them back to the locker room. Halftime wound up lasting an hour. Massillon had nearly as many fans as Middletown at the start. Most Middletown rooters didn’t return for the second half, when Tiger fans outnumbered their hosts. They hadn’t driven 4 ½ hours to spend the second half at Taco Bell.

The scare – Ambulance lights flashed behind the Massillon grandstand throughout the intermission. The rumor mill went to work. Middletown radio station WPFB reported that two fans apparently had been struck by lightning. It was a false report. Paramedics actually were treating fans who had suffered heat exhaustion. Despite the fact the “fall sport” was into its third week, the temperature at kickoff was 83 degrees.

In the end, they got the lights fixed and played another half of football.

It was an uneventful second half, but all that transpired earlier made you wonder. The Barnitz fellow wose name is on the stadium. Is there a Barnitz and Bailey circus, too?

MASSILLON 17
MIDDLETOWN 7

STATISTICS
MA MI
First downs rushing 4 10
First downs passing 9 1
First downs by penalty 4 3
Totals first downs 17 14
Yards gained rushing 119 244
Yards lost rushing 20 16
Net yards rushing 99 228
Net yards passing 199 29
Total yards gained 298 249
Passes attempted 27 12
Passes completed 16 3
Passes int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 4 2
Kickoff average 50.0 47.5
Kickoff return yards 43 54
Punts 4 5
Punting average 38.0 28.6
Punt return yards 0 20
Fumbles 2 1
Fumbles lost 4 3
Penalties 10 10
Yards penalized 136 88
Number of plays 67 47
Time of possession 26:01 21:59
Attendance 8,000

Individual Statistics
Rushing
(Mas) Dixon 18-76, Sparkman 11-31.
(Mid) Calhoun 15-11, Cothran 14-112, Gerguson 4-11.

Passing
(Mas) Hurst 16-27-0, 189.
(Mid) Ferguson 2-10-1, minus – 3. Calhoun 1-2-0 20.

Receiving
(Mas) Manion 6-67, Martin 5-39, Carpenter 1-25, Dixon 1-8, Harig 1-28, Brown 1-21, Sparkman 1-1.
(Mid) Mason 1-24.

Middletown 0 7 0 0 7
Massillon 10 7 0 0 17

Mas – FG Miller 24
Mas – Manion 7 pass from Hurst (Miller kick)
Mas – Manion 31 pass from Hurst (Miller kick)
Mid – Cothran 68 run (Caldwell kick)

Rameir Martin
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1987: Massillon 7, Middletown 12

Place’s Middies deal Tigers third loss

Middletown coach feels bad about 12-7 win: Massillon coach feels boos

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

Jim Place spent his formative years in Massillon. He knows.

He knows what it is like here after the third defeat of a football season.

Painful No. 3 came Friday night by a 12‑7 score as 7,254 looked on in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The victor, Middletown High’s Middies, are coached by Place, who moved to Massillon when he was a fifth­ grader.

Place was telling someone on a locker room telephone. “Honest, I really never have.”

Program Cover

He was talking to Sonny Spiel­man, Massillon’s assistant athletic director, who is recovering from surgery to remove a non‑malignant tumor from his pituitary gland. Spielman was one of Place’s coaches at Central Catholic High School in the early 1960s.

The loss puzzled the Tigers, who were inexplicably flat in the first half, but still had a chance to win until near the end. It sent them into next Saturday’s McKinley game needing a victory to post their third straight 7‑3 season. Middletown, 7-­1 needs to beat Lancaster next week to make the Division I play­offs.

Place told reporters more about his love for Massillon, where he once attended St. Joseph School.

“If I pick up a newspaper in Mid­dletown and see Massillon lost, I feel bad,” he said. “There’s some Massillon in me. I felt bad tonight for Coach (John) Maronto. I shook his hand after the game and wished him well.”

The crowd was less sympathetic. The booing got loud late in the fourth quarter.

The Massillon dressing room was very quiet.

A reporter from Middletown asked Maronto if he thought a Mas­sillon fumble of the game‑opening kickoff was a turning point. The fumble led to a touchdown.

“I really don’t think the fumble was a factor,” Maronto said. “Mid­dletown played well and made no turnovers. (Tommy) Harkrader is a heck of a back. Their other back, (Duane) Gregory, is part of the quickness that hurt us. Frankly, they deserved to will.

“Middletown can play with the best team in any state at any time. Give them credit.”

Dion Roberts, a 140‑pound Middletown senior, gets much of the credit.

It was Roberts who recovered Steve Siegenthaler’s fumble of the opening kickoff at the 27‑yard line, setting up a 3‑yard touchdown run by the hard‑running Harkrader, a 6‑1 senior who will be playing some­where in the Big Ten (as his father and two brothers did) next year.

It was Roberts who intercepted Erik White’s pass in the end zone with 9:07 left in the contest, snuffing out a furious threat that seemed destined to reverse a 9‑7 Middletown lead.

“This was our biggest win of the season, by far,” said Jason Feczko, Middletown’s record‑setting place ­kicker, whose two second‑half field goals overturned a 7‑6 Tiger lead at halftime.

This was a game in which the agony and the ecstasy happened in the wrong order for the Tigers.

The most exciting play of the season had left Massillon fans in glee­ful spirits early in the second quar­ter. The Tigers’ first two posses­sions resulted in 11 modest gains on running plays. An incomplete pass left Massillon with a third‑and‑long from the Tiger 40.

White dropped back to pass and was about to be crushed by two Mid­dletown rushers when he flicked a little shovel pass to fullback Jason Stafford. Stafford used his sub-4.6 40‑yard dash speed to rocket through a huge gap in the middle. He cut left and easily out ran two Middletown defenders into the end zone for a 60‑yard touchdown that left the fans roaring.

Since Middletown’s point‑after kick died in a fumble, Lee Hurst had a chance to give the Tigers the lead. Hurst’s kick was perfect and the Ti­gers led 7‑6 with 10:30 left in the first half.

At halftime, the diminutive Greg­ory got the word. “They told me I was going to be running the ball more,” the 151‑pound junior said.

Gregory squirted through the middle and around the outside all night. With his excellent speed and low center of gravity (he stands 5­6), the Tigers had a devil of a time bringing him down. He finished with 124 yards in 13 carries. Har­krader added 89 yards in 13 rushes. Quarterback Jason Tisdale, a bruising 191‑pounder who was also swift and deceptive, rushed S5 yards in 15 carries.

They were the men who enabled the Middies to drive 57 yards after taking the second‑half kickoff. The drive stalled at the 11, but Feczko’s 27‑yard field goal gave Middletown a 9‑7 lead.

The 15‑play drive just about wiped out the third quarter. The field goal came with 4:31 left.

The Tigers proceeded to wipe out another big chunk of time ‑ and, almost, the lead ‑ after starting on their own 20 following the ensuing kickoff.

Senior tailback Jerome Myricks, who finished with 118 yards in 19 carries, finally got cooking after a so‑so first half. Runs of 9, 8, 10, 7, 14 and 10 yards by Myricks were the keys that gave the Tigers a first down on the Middletown 14-yard line.
The drive stalled on fourth down at the 8, and Hurst trotted on to the field to try a 25‑yard field goal that would give Massillon a 10‑9 lead. But Middletown gave the Tigers what shaped up as a huge gift when the right end jumped off sides. The miscue gave Massillon a first down at the 4, and the offense returned to the field.

On first down, Myricks was stop­ped for no gain by the middle of the line, On second down, Siegenthaler, getting his second rushing attempt of the season, was stopped for a 1-­yard gain to the 3. On third down, White rolled right but couldn’t get away from two hard‑charging Mid­dies. Just before he was hit, White avoided the sack by unloading the ball into the right side of the end zone, Unfortunately, Roberts was waiting and came away with an easy interception.

Middletown’s offense took over, unleashing Gregory, Harkrader and Tisdale on an all‑rushing drive that swallowed big chunks of time and yardage before halting on fourth down at the 21.

Feczko, who has made 13 of hi­s career field goal attempts and has range to 45 yards, drilled a 38­yarder to give the Middies their 12‑7 edge with 3:21 left.

Still, there was time … but at the end of an 8‑yard gain, Myricks fum­bled and Carlos Brooks recovered for Middletown with 2:27 left. On fourth‑and‑one with a minute left, Gregory blasted around left end for 14 yards to end all Tiger hopes.

Afterward, Harkrader was a happy man. “I’ve heard a lot about Massillon but I’d never seen them play,” he said. “This means a lot. Our offense just overpowered them. They hit pretty hard, but I don’t know if they were expecting us to hit as hard as we did.”

Nor were the Tigers expecting the troubles they had with the pas­sing game. The shovel pass to Staf­ford was the only completion of the night in eight attempts.

”They were the first team all year that was able to take away our, passing attack,” Maronto said.

The Middies didn’t mount much of an air game, either, as Tisdale completed two of seven passes for 29 yards. However, Middletown used a 268‑149 advantage in rushing yardage to win the battle of net offense 277‑209.

As a result of McKinley’s 14‑7 vic­tory over Glen0ak Friday night, the Bulldogs and Tigers will enter their annual showdown with 6‑3 re­cords.

“All I know is we’ve got a lot of’ hard work to do,” Maronto said. “We have to re‑evaluate and re­group. I’m certain of one thing. The team will come back and play their hearts out.”

MIDDLETOWN 12
MASSILLON 7
MAS MID
First downs rushing 11 15
First downs passing 1 0
First downs by penalty 1 2
Total first downs 13 17
Yards gained rushing 151 274
Yards lost rushing 2 6
Net yards rushing 149 268
Net yards passing 60 9
Total yards gained 209 277
Passes attempted 8 7
Passes completed 1 2
Passes int. by 0 1
Times kicked off 2 4
Kickoff average 58.0 55.8
Kickoff return yards 30 48
Punts 3 1
Punting average 37.0 46.0
Punt return yards 0 0
Fumbles 4 0
Fumbles lost 2 0
Penalties 3 4
Yards penalized 30 29
Number of plays 39 50
Time of possession 18:38 29:22
Attendance 7,254

MIDDLETOWN 6 0 3 3 12
MASSILLON 0 7 0 0 7

MID ‑ Harkrader 3 run (kick failed)
MAS ‑ Stafford 60 pass from White (Hurst kick)
MID ‑ FG Feczko 27
MID ‑ FG Feczko 38

John Miller