Tag: <span>Kentrell Taylor</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2012: Massillon 34, Maumee 12

Massillon pours it on Maumee in weather-shortened game

Chris Easterling
The Independent

MAUMEE A 20-minute trip across Stark County proved to be too much for the Massillon Tigers to handle a week ago in a loss at GlenOak. On Friday night, they tried their hand at dealing with a two-and-a-half-hour trek to the northwest corner of Ohio as they paid undefeated Maumee a visit.

The long journey seemed to revitalize the Tigers, who caught fire midway through the first quarter and never looked back in rolling to a 34-12 win over the Panthers at Richard Kazmaier Stadium.

The game was called after one half of play as a storm moved into the area. The officials pulled the plug at 10:30 p.m.

“You travel three hours for a rain delay, but I thought, by the second quarter, our kids were playing well,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said after his team improved to 2-1 entering next week’s game at Perry. “We settled in defensively. We were pleased with the way we played.”

The secret to the Massillon rout was an offense that was the exact opposite of the previous week. Against GlenOak, the Tigers were held to minus-4 net yards rushing on 21 carries, albeit 32 of those yards lost came on six sacks by the Golden Eagles.

However, on this night, Massillon decided the way to go was to ground and pound the ball down the field. The Tigers powered their way to 225 rushing yards on 20 carries, including big games by both Ryne Moore and Kentrell Taylor.

Moore took an 11-carry, 157-yard, two-touchdown performance into the locker room. Taylor had 78 yards and two scores on just five carries.

“We were real happy with our running backs,” Hall said. “They didn’t get a chance to really see Ernie Baez either. … We really have three guys we’re real confident when they carry the ball. I thought Trelly really showed some of his speed in the open field on that one (50-yard touchdown) run. We were able to rotate some guys in there and let them play. I thought they really ran well in the first half.”

The huge way the half – and ultimately, the game – ended, with Massillon scoring on five straight possessions before finally being forced to punt on its final first-half possessions. That was belied by a slow start caused by many of the same issues that troubled the Tigers last week.

Their first drive reached the Maumee 20, only to get short-circuited by a 13-yard loss on a bad snap followed three plays later by a missed 44-yard field goal.

The Tigers had a pair bad snap. They also were plagued by eight penalties for 65 yards.

“I thought our kids just needed to settle in,” Hall said. “We shot ourselves in the foot on that first drive with a bad snap.”

And, for a stretch, it was Maumee – not Massillon – that was controlling the pace of the game.

The Panthers moved into Tiger territory on each of its first three drives. The first, though, resulted in a Massillon score when Brody Tonn stepped in front of a Maumee screen pass and raced 52 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Tiger lead with 8:32 left in the first quarter.

But Maumee scored on its next two possessions to take a 12-7 lead. Andrew Schultz capped a seven-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard run with 5:11 remaining in the first to cut to 7-6.

Dominique King then hauled in a 57-yard touchdown pass from Steve Duby on the first play of the next Maumee possession for a five-point lead with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

But the Tigers came back with a three-play, 64-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard Moore run, to take the lead for good at 14-12 just 24 seconds later. And from there, they started to roll.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2011: Massillon 35, Woodson, Washington D.C. 14

Another Rout
Tigers start fast before Going into cruise control

Chris Easterling
The Independent

MASSILLON The Massillon Tigers weren’t focusing so much on H.D. Woodson (D.C.) this week as they were focusing on themselves and making themselves better. Turns out, they gave just enough focus to the Warriors to come away with a win.

The Tigers scored on their first four offensive possession to remove all doubt early, then put it in cruise control from there in beating Woodson, 35-14, Friday night in front of 6,172 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Massillon came into the week with very little to go on with regards to its visitors from the nation’s capital — just a few clips off YouTube and some of last year’s films. Turns out, that was all the Tigers would need in running their record to 3-1 heading into next week’s home game against Firestone.

“It got kind of sloppy at times,” Tigers coach Jason Hall said afterward. “Sometimes, that can be expected when you don’t know much about people. The end of the game, we got a lot of young guys out there playing.”

By the time Woodson gained its first first down of the game — on the first play of the second quarter — Massillon already held a 28-0 lead. The Tigers also had a 203-8 edge in total yards at that point.

From there, it became a matter of Massillon trying to get through the final 36 minutes without sustaining any critical injuries while trying to maintain a measure of sharpness. The Tigers dipped into their second-unit defense to start the second half, while the reserve offense made its first appearance on the second possession of the third quarter.

“All in all, we came out pretty hot in the first quarter there,” Hall said. “We’re pleased.”

Massillon got the scoring started with 7:48 left in the first quarter when Alex Winters hauled in an over-the-shoulder, one-handed grab on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Kempt for a 7-0 lead. But the Tigers would add three more scores before the quarter was over, spreading the wealth to just about everybody in the offensive backfield.

Ryne Moore got into the act on the next Massillon possession, scoring from 8 yards out with 4:53 remaining in the quarter. Kentrell Taylor got his turn next just 41 seconds later on an 18-yard touchdown run for a 21-0 lead.
The final Tiger back to find the end zone before the first quarter ended was Eric Copeland, who provided the second Tiger touchdown catch of the game when he made a wide-open 2-yard catch with 15 seconds left in the quarter.

The Tigers took a 35-0 lead into the locker room at halftime thanks to Gareon Conley’s 45-yard interception return for a score. It was one of two second-quarter interceptions for Conley, and part of a four-takeaway game for Massillon, which also recovered an onside kick in the first quarter.

Still, despite the lopsided score, there was plenty for Hall to critique his team about. And that started from the very first moment of the game when Massillon muffed a pooch kick to give Woodson the ball at the Tiger 34.
Massillon’s offense also found itself grinding its wheels after jumping out to the 28-0 lead.

After gaining 203 yards on 19 first-quarter plays, the Tigers netted minus-5 yards on just five second-quarter snaps.

The offense continued to have its share of struggles in the second half. Massillon finished the game with 226 total yards, but a net of 23 in the final three quarters.

“There was some sloppy stuff,” Hall said. “We had some negative plays. We had a mishap on the goal line on a run play. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t have to practice.”

Woodson’s offense, though, could not get any consistency going against Massillon’s defense, whether it was the Tiger first-stringers or their backups. The Warriors finished with 159 yards, 104 of those coming in the fourth quarter when they got on the scoreboard with a pair of touchdowns — one a run with 9:09 left and the other a punt return with 7:03 left.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2010: Massillon 55, Avon Grove, PA 17

Massillon avoids looking ahead, routs Avon Grove

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH – There is always the danger in Week Nine for the Massillon Tigers to find themselves a tad distracted, their minds wandering ahead to the next week’s showdown with hated McKinley.

The minds of the Massillon players certainly found themselves drifting early in Friday night’s contest against Pennsylvania visitor Avon Grove at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Of course, there were no worries of a potential letdown, as they were already well on their way to a 55-17 rout of the Red Devils.

“All in all, we handled our business, we stayed healthy and it leads up to McKinley Week,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall after his team improved to 7-2 and all but clinched a playoff berth. “That speaks for itself.”

Massillon scored on all seven first-half possessions to jump out to a 48-10 halftime lead. The first six scores came courtesy of the Tiger first-teamers, while backup quarterback Anthony McCormick’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Rambo with two ticks left on the first half clock gave the reserves a first-half score of their own.

By that time, most of the Tiger faithful among the 7,603 in attendance weren’t thinking about the Red Devils. They certainly were thinking a team in red, but that team was McKinley, not Avon Grove.

With McKinley having already gotten a 24-hour head start on its rest and preparation for next Saturday afternoon’s showdown at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium by playing – and winning – on Thursday night at Boardman, the Tigers were more than happy to be able to call it an early night for their regulars.

“When you’re a kid, you don’t think of it that way,” Hall said. “Those kids like to play. They wanted to go back out and play. More importantly, we’re healthy. We didn’t get dinged up tonight. We’re expecting back some more depth next week with Jake Reiman and Tyler Robinson coming back. We’re gearing up for this McKinley game.”

Massillon still needed to take care of its business against Avon Grove before its attention could fully be directed at the Bulldogs. And considering the results of last week’s game – a 20-6 loss to Warren Harding – Hall made sure his players’ minds were set on the Red Devils as well.

“We were all disappointed from last week,” Hall said. “We didn’t think we played well. Warren took it to us and I didn’t think we responded. It was kind of a business mentality this week. I thought our kids came out quick and were ready to play.”

Whatever concerns the third-year coach had surely dissipated on the first drive of the game. The Tigers needed just four plays – following a 50-yard return by Devin Smith – to make it 7-0 as Alex Winters ripped off a 16-yard touchdown run just 1:56 into the game.

It was one of two scoring jaunts for Winters in the first quarter. His 13-yard run made it 21-3 with 1:52 remaining in the quarter.

Kentrell Taylor – who led the Tigers with 84 yards on 12 carries – also ran for a pair of first-half scores, including a 7-yard run that gave the Tigers a 27-3 lead after one quarter. His 17-yard scoring run capped the night for the Massillon first unit.

The passing game wasn’t forgotten either as Kyle Kempt completed 10-of-16 passes for 159 yards in his six possessions with a pair of touchdown passes to Smith.

As impressive as the Tiger offense was, the defense was more than its equal. That, more than anything, put a smile on Hall’s face after Massillon gave up a 348-yard rushing performance to Warren’s Demond Hymes last week.

Facing a shifty, fast and elusive tailback in Avon Grove’s Brandon Monk, the Tigers swarmed to the ball and never let him get loose for the big play he is capable of. Monk – whose 71-yard kickoff return set up an Avon Grove field goal that cut it to 7-3 with 8:30 left in the first quarter – finished with 83 rushing yards on 17 carries.

Monk was able to get into the end zone for a third-quarter score against Massillon’s reserves.

The only touchdown the Tiger first-unit defense surrendered came with 38 seconds left in the first half on Charles Holmes Jr.’s 16-yard run.

“We played the way we expected to play,” Hall said. “The kids aren’t going to be perfect, the coaches aren’t going to perfect. The best way to get that Warren game out of your mouth was to play another game. It was nice to get out there and play, the kids running and tackling. It was kind of a move-on time.’

And now, the Tigers get to move on to the most important game of the year – McKinley.

GAME STATS

Massillon 55,

Avon Grove (Pa.) 17

at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

Avon Grove 3 7 7 0 17

Massillon 27 21 7 0 55

SCORING SUMMARY

M – Winters 16 run (McCarthy kick)

AG – FG Mayhart 28

M – De. Smith 67 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Winters 13 run (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 7 run (Kick failed)

M – De. Smith 14 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 17 run (McCarthy kick)

AG – Holmes 16 run (Mayhart kick)

M – Rambo 25 pass from McCormick (McCarthy kick)

AG – Monk 15 run (Mayhart kick)

M – Conley 17 pass from McCormick (McCarthy kick)

AG Mas

First downs 10 21

Rushes-yards 31-84 35-225

Comp-Att-Int 7-19-2 17-31-0

Passing yards 64 263

Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-0

Penalties-yards 1-5 4-35

Records 3-5 7-2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: Massillon – Taylor 12-84 2 TDs; McCormick 7-83; Winters 3-32 2 TDs; Da. Smith 10-13.

Avon Grove – Monk 17-83 TD.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 10-16-159 2 TDs; McCormick 7-15-104 2 TDs.

Avon Grove – Fiala 7-18-64 2 INTs; Monk 0-1-0.

Receiving:

Massillon – De. Smith 6-109 2 TDs; Rambo 3-54 TD; Conley 2-31 TD.

Avon Grove – Pankonien 2-23; Benson 2-21; Holmes 2-9.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2010: Massillon 28, Steubenville 7

Massillon rolls to redemption, routs Big Red

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH — For almost a year, the Massillon Tigers lived with the memory of their trip to Steubenville. They remembered the way Big Red pushed them around the field and exerted their will in handing them as crushing a loss the Tigers would experience in 2009.

On Friday night, in the confines of their own home stadium, the Tigers got their chance to rid themselves of those painful memories of a rainy night on the river. And exorcise those memories they did as the Tigers rolled to a 28-7 win over previously-undefeated Steubenville in front of a raucous crowd of 11,540 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“We had this one circled since we lost to them last year,” said Tiger receiver Devin Smith, who had 121 yards on four catches with a pair of touchdowns.

“We wanted redemption back from them. That was the biggest thing this week, getting our redemption back. We wanted to show them what Massillon football was all about.”

A year ago, it was Big Red who was the aggressor, the one who was the bully taking the lunch money. On Friday night, Massillon was the one to establish the tone of the game.

The Tigers did so from the very first play as Anthony McCormick – wearing Alex Winters’ jersey number – took a lateral and hit Smith for a 76-yard touchdown pass. All of 14 seconds into the game and Massillon had a lead it would never relinquish.

“I didn’t even let him (McCormick) know he was wearing that (Winters’ number) until about an hour before the game,” Tiger coach Jason Hall said. “It was just a situation where we were able to catch them off guard with it and we were able to take advantage of it.”

Steubenville would try to follow the same blueprint it used in beating Massillon last year – and has used for years against various opponents. Big Red took up 12 plays on their first possession, then another 16 yards on the second.

And ended up with nothing to show for either.

The first ended in a quick kick at the Tiger 44. The second ended on a Tyler Allman interception at the Massillon 1.

Allman’s pick would be one of six Big Red turnovers on the night, including three straight in the second quarter. Massillon turned those turnovers into 14 points – the first a 13-yard touchdown run by Kentrell Taylor, who finished with 99 yards on 20 carries, for a 14-0 Tiger lead late in the second quarter.

The other came on a 42-yard Seth Nalbach interception return for a score in the third quarter.

“It’s backbreaking, because I’ve been on the other side,” Hall said of the turnovers. “Offensively, it’s hard to get momentum if you’re turning the ball over every time you get going. Our defense really put them in position where they really couldn’t get rolling tonight. They couldn’t establish a rhythm because of the things we were doing.”

Steubenville finished with 321 yards of offense, 278 of those on the ground. But Big Red could only convert 5-of-16 third-down tries, while going for it seven times on fourth down, converting four.

“We set the tone defensively,” Hall said. “I can’t praise our kids and our coaches defensively enough. Our kids just never gave up. We forced some turnovers, punishing them when they had the ball. That’s Massillon football. That’s what we expect.”

Big Red would put their only points of the game on the board when JoJo Pierro ran for a 24-yard touchdown 1:15 into the second half to cut it to 14-7. Pierro finished with 193 yards on 33 carries.

While Steubenville owned the first possession of the third quarter, the Tigers owned the rest of the quarter. Massillon struck on a 36-yard scoring pass from Kyle Kempt to Smith and then on Nalbach’s pick-six.

“It really felt good, just getting back at them and having them get that feeling that we had last year,” Smith said.

GAME STATS

Massillon 28,

Steubenville 7

at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

Steubenville 0 0 7 0 7

Massillon 7 7 14 0 28

SCORING SUMMARY

M – Smith 76 pass from McCormick (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 13 run (McCarthy kick)

S – J. Pierro 24 run (McClurg kick)

M – Smith 36 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Nalbach 42 interception return (McCarthy kick)

S M

First downs 11 15

Rushes-yards 57-278 30-97

Comp-Att-Int 3-8-2 11-19-0

Passing yards 43 206

Fumbles-lost 4-4 4-2

Penalties-yards 5-48 3-14

Records 6-1 6-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

Massillon – Taylor 20-99 TD; Nalbach 5-14; Kempt 3-7.

Steubenville – J. Pierro 33-193 TD; A. Pierro 16-44.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 10-18-130 TD; McCormick 1-1-76 TD.

Steubenville – A. Pierro 3-8-43 2 INTs.

Receiving:

Massillon – Smith 4-121 2 TDs; Olack 4-61; Roberson 2-18; T. Robinson 1-6.

Steubenville – Garay 1-37; Petteway 1-5; Meyer 1-1.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2010: Massillon 56, Brantford, Ont. Canada 7

Tigers tune up for Big Red, belt Brantford

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH — Jason Hall never denied that a portion of this past week was spent as much on preparing for next Friday’s showdown with undefeated Steubenville as it was on Friday’s actual opponent from Ontario, Brantford Collegiate.

About 10 seconds into the game was all it took for the Tigers to officially be able to turn their eyes to Big Red. That’s the amount of time it took Devin Smith to take the opening kickoff back 79 yards for a touchdown giving Massillon the lead for good.

From there, it was a question not of if the Tigers would add to their lead, but how much, as they rolled up a 56-7 win over the overmatched Canadian guests at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“It’s really kind of hard to judge, but we played a lot of kids,” Hall said after his team won its fifth straight to improve to 5-1 on the season. “I thought we executed for the most part, even with our young guys. We stayed healthy. It’s fun to see some of those guys play who don’t always play on Friday night. All in all, it was a pretty successful night.”

The Tigers led 28-0 after one quarter and made it 35-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter. It was at that point that Hall began to pull his regulars from the game and the real focus turned to Steubenville.

“I thought at the time that we put our kids in, I knew they would be successful,” Hall said of making the move to the reserves. “They practice hard. I thought we, obviously, had an handle on the game.”

That didn’t prevent Massillon from continuing to bulk up its lead even with the reserves in. By the time the two teams headed to the locker room at halftime the Tigers were up 49-0, and most of what was left of the 6,224 in attention were focused more to the halftime kicking competition where Whitney Robinson had a chance to win $500,000 by making a 35-yard field goal.

Robinson, for the record, ended up walking away with $500 by kicking the ball out of the end zone.

The second half was played with a running clock. By that time, the Tigers were already counting down the minutes and seconds until Steubenville’s first visit to Massillon – to face the Tigers – since 1978.

About the only “blemish,” if you will, came on the game’s last play when Brantford’s Colin Wilcock caught a 27-yard pass from Brodie Parker and fell into the end zone for the shutout-breaking score. The scoring drive was 76 yards and left the Mustangs with 69 total yards for the game, compared to 381 yards for the Tigers.

Even with the Tigers appeared to be on the wrong end of things, it wound up working out for the best. Their second touchdown came on a fourth-and-seven play when Kyle Kempt hit Justin Olack for a 26-yard touchdown pass.

The only time Massillon actually started a first-quarter drive on its own side of the 50, it took it just one play – a 66-yard Kempt-to-Olack touchdown pass – to score.

The sophomore Kempt made the most of his five possessions under center completing 4-of-7 passes for 106 yards. He gave way to fellow sophomore Brody Tonn, who Kempt replaced as the starter two weeks ago, on the second possession of the second quarter.

Another sophomore, Kentrell Taylor, also made the most of his chances to carry the ball in the first half. The bruising 6-foot, 240-pound back punished the Brantford defense for 65 yards and a pair of touchdowns on seven carries.

“Kentrell, the last two or three weeks has really practiced well,” Hall said. “The biggest thing everybody sees is that he’s progressing. He understands the offense and he runs hard.”

Damion Smith also got into the first-half scoring act by ripping off a 43-yard touchdown run. Aaron Medrano added a touchdown catch in the second half.

GAME STATS

Massillon 56,

Brantford (Ont.) Collegiate 7

at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

Brantford 0 0 0 7 7

Massillon 28 21 7 0 56

SCORING SUMMARY

M – De. Smith 79 kickoff return (McCarthy kick)

M – Olack 26 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 1 run (McCarthy kick)

M – Olack 66 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Smith 7 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 14 run (McCarthy kick)

M – Da. Smith 43 run (McCarthy kick)

M– Medrano 28 pass from Tonn (McCarthy kick)

B – Wilcock 27 pass from Parker (Mann kick)

BC M

First downs 4 15

Rushes-yards 22-16 24-188

Comp-Att-Int 7-19-1 10-13-0

Passing yards 53 193

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 2-10 5-45

Records 1-2 5-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

Massillon – Taylor 7-65 2 TDs; Da. Smith 1-43 TD; Reiman 5-33; Tonn 2-27; Cowan 2-12; Copeland 2-11.

Brantford Collegiate – Winch 9-22.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 4-7-106 3 TDs; Tonn 6-6-87 87 TD.

Brantford Collegiate – Parker 6-13-54 TD; Kelly 1-6-(minus-1) INT.

Receiving:

Massillon – Olack 2-92 2 TDs; McCormick 2-23; Cowan 2-22; Medrano 1-28 TD.

Brantford Collegiate – Packer 2-25; Dennis 2-2; Archibald 2-(minus-1); Wilcock 1-27 TD.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2010: Massillon 42, Akron Firestone 10

Second-quarter surge carries Tigers to 800th win

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

MASSILLON, OH — For one quarter, the Massillon Tigers found themselves in a tussle with the visiting Firestone Falcons on Friday night. In fact, with less than five minutes remaining until halftime, it was still just a four-point game.

But over the final four minutes or so of the half, the Tigers came alive, and left the Falcons gasping for air as they cruised to the program’s 800th win all-time.

Massillon – which fumbled on the game’s first play to set up a Falcon touchdown – scored three touchdowns in the final 3:15 of the first half to blow open what had been a tight affair and help it roll to a 42-10 win over Firestone at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I thought we started playing a little better,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall after his team improved to 4-1 on the season. “I thought we started running the ball a little better. That first play of the game makes my stomach turn. … I thought our kids did a good job coming back from that.”

The Tigers were holding onto a 14-10 lead late in the second quarter when Seth Nalbach partially deflected a Firestone punt, which was recovered at the Falcon 39, Three plays later, Kyle Kempt fired a 19-yard scoring strike to Justin Olack for a 21-10 lead with 3:15 remaining in the half.

From there, the floodgates opened up for Massillon.

Tyler Miller returned an interception 60 yards for a score on Firestone’s next possession to make it 28-10. After Ryan Skelly blocked a Falcon punt on the subsequent drive, Nalbach ripped off a 22-yard touchdown run to make it 35-10 with 1:03 left on the first-half clock.

“I thought once we settled down and got control and handled that initial miscue, I thought our kids played pretty well,” Hall said.

The burst to end the half was in stark contrast to the first 18 minutes or so of the game.

Firestone turned a Tiger fumble on the first play of the game into a 3-yard Cody Grice touchdown run and a 7-0 lead just 16 seconds into game. But Massillon went to work grinding out and impressive 22-play, 80-yard scoring drive of its own to tie it up on Jake Reiman’s 7-yard run with 3:57 left in the first quarter.

The time-consuming drive showcased the Tigers’ rejuvenated running game, with Alex Winters and Reiman both getting a chance to showcase their skills. Winters carried the ball seven times on the drive, while Reiman toted the pigskin six times.

Winters would carry the ball just one more time in the game – a 53-yarder on the next Tiger possession – finishing with 77 yards on eight carries. He suffered what Hall reported may be a concussion later in the half which sidelined him for the rest of the game.

Reiman, meanwhile, would go on to rush for 34 yards on 10 carries in the game. Sophomore Kentrell Taylor would add 38 yards on 11 carries, scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“For the most part, I thought they did a nice job running the ball,” Hall said. “We did some stuff we don’t traditionally do and lined up and ran some power and some iso and some toss. Just some stuff we’ve been working on in practice and will continue to work on.”

While the Tiger rushing game would certainly get its share of work on the night, they didn’t let the gusty conditions keep their passing game from taking off as well. Kempt completed 14-of-23 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yard scoring strike to Devin Smith early in the second quarter that gave Massillon the lead for good at 14-7.

About the only thing that didn’t go entirely the way of the Tigers was their ability to completely contain Firestone’s bowling ball of a tailback, Cody Grice. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound senior finished with 122 of the Falcons’ 174 rushing yards on the night.

However, the Tigers were able to keep Grice out of the end zone, save for his score early in the game. The only other Falcon score came on a 37-yard field goal by Alana Gaither with 8:07 left in the second quarter.

“I thought our defense played really well for the most part, besides a couple plays tackling,” Hall said.

GAME STATS

Massillon 42

Firestone 10

at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium

Firestone 7 3 0 0 10

Massillon 7 28 0 7 42

SCORING SUMMARY

F – Grice 3 run (Gaither kick)

M – Reiman 7 run (McCarthy kick)

M – Smith 48 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

F – FG 37 Gaither

M – Olack 19 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

M – T. Miller 60 interception return (McCarthy kick)

M – Nalbach 22 run (McCarthy kick)

M – Taylor 3 run (McCarthy kick)

Fire Mass

First downs 9 18

Rushes-yards 37-174 43-162

Passing yards minus-3 225

Comp.-Att.-Int. 1-5-1 15-26-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 4-30 6-55

Records 2-3 4-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

Massillon – Winters 8-77; Taylor 11-38 TD; Reiman 10-34 TD; Nalbach 1-22 TDs.

Firestone – Grice 22-122 TD.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 14-23-209 2 TDs; McCormick 1-3-16.

Firestone – Heimbaugh 0-9-0 INT; Willis 1-6-(minus-3).

Receiving:

Massillon – Smith 5-61 TD; Olack 4-87 TD; Roberson 2-24.

Firestone – Grice 1-(minus-3).