Tag: <span>Lanale Robinson</span>

History

2005: Massillon 27, Findlay 20

Massillon secures date with rival

By JOE SHAHEEN

As Lanale Robinson led the Tiger Swing Band in the alma mater, Massillon head coach Tom Stacy had his head down. He was deep in thought, no doubt pondering the Tigers upcoming regional championship game on Saturday against unbeaten Canton McKinley.

Clearly Stacy wasn’t happy with what he had just witnessed as the Tigers knocked off a game and feisty Findlay team 27-20 at Arlin Field in Mansfield last Saturday night in front of 12,264 paying customers.

“We have to play much better to even have a chance next week,” Stacy said. “There’s no question about that.

“We came back tonight but we didn’t play very well. We made a lot of mistakes, a lot of goofy penalties. We did some stuff tonight that we hadn’t done all year. That was kind of disappointing. But it’s a win. That’s all you can say.”

It was a heart-stopping win, one marred by penalties and mental mistakes uncharacteristic of two teams playing in the 12th week of the season.

Findlay looked to be beaten when it got the ball back on its own 22 with 1:22 to play. But the Trojans pulled the old hook and ladder play out of mothballs and if not for a heroic effort by Brian Gamble to run down Findlay’s Caleb Enright at the 3-yard line, the game would have gone into overtime.

“(Gamble) has made big plays for us all year and that was big,” Stacy said.

Findlay still had time to get it in the end zone. A short completion to Enright in the left flat came up a yard short and with the final seconds ticking off the clock, Trojan quarterback Chris Schneider tried to sneak it in instead of spiking the ball to stop the clock.

The middle of the Tiger defensive line did not yield and Massillon had survived to play another week.

“There’ll be so many ‘what ifs?’, I don’t know if I’ll ever watch this film, I swear,” said Findlay head coach Cliff Hite. “We had them. They had us. We had a shot. That’s all you can ask for.

“We wanted to spike the ball but he didn’t get the right signal. It happens. That’s high school football. When you go no huddle with no time outs, that’s what you’ve got to do.”

It should never have come to that but the Tigers were their own worst enemy all night long. They were penalized 10 times for 97 yards, including no fewer than three \”roughing the kicker\” flags and three other personal fouls.

Massillon also lost three fumbles, one at the Findlay 13-yard line.

“We’re down here with a chance to put it away and we fumble the snap,” Stacy said. “We haven’t fumbled a snap all year and we fumbled two tonight. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”

Findlay led 10-7 at halftime, controlling the football for 17 of the first 24 minutes of play.

The Trojans went up 17-7 after a 52-yard punt return by Zack Kraus set up an 8-yard Schneider to Andrew Leddy touchdown pass at 9:38 of the third quarter.

Then Massillon woke up, marching 65 yards in nine plays with Gamble covering the final half yard for the touchdown. Steve Schott tacked on the point after to make it Findlay 17, Massillon 14 at 6:07 of the third quarter.

Tiger junior defensive back Michael Porrini recovered a Findlay fumble on the second play of the Trojans ensuing possession, setting Massillon up at the Findlay 29.

Bobby Huth, who completed 10 of 13 passes for 102 yards on the night, rolled right on first down and connected with Zack Vanryzin at the 8-yard line and the senior wideout did the rest to give the Tigers their first lead of the night at 21-17 with more than five minutes still to play in the third.

Massillon then forced Findlay into a three-and-out series, and the Tigers took over at their own 20 after the Trojan punt.

On first down, Huth took the snap and looked to be optioning right, but instead pitched the ball to Robinson on a reverse. The senior tailback turned the corner and sprinted down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown. A failed two-point conversion made it Massillon 27, Findlay 17 at 3:20 of the third.

“I’m upset the way we let the third quarter go,” Hite said. “When we got up 17-7, it was almost like we let up a little bit and Massillon turned it up about 15 notches.”

“We tried to,” Stacy responded. “We needed to. We told the kids at halftime we needed to. It was kind of like we were playing in a fog the first half.”

The lone fourth quarter tally came when Findlay marched from its 10 to the Massillon 7, then settled for Brandon Walker’s 24-yard field goal with just under five minutes to play.

The Tigers tried to run out the clock but the plucky Findlay defense forced a Massillon punt with 1:22 to play.

“We’re 11-1 and we have a chance for a rematch now and we’ll see what happens,” Stacy said. “To play like that and get a win, we were fortunate.

“We got the rematch but we have to do something about it. We have to play better. We have to up our play to have a chance (against McKinley), that’s for sure.”

GAME STATS

Antonio James
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2005: Massillon 49, Eastlake North 14

Tigers go 9-0

By JOE SHAHEEN

With the annual season-ending rivalry game with McKinley looming one week from today, Massillon Tiger coach Tom Stacy didn’t want any slip-ups against underdog Eastlake North Friday night at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Program Cover

Stacy was adamant that his players focus on Eastlake, so much so that early in the week he banned them from addressing McKinley.

“We had a gag order on talking about McKinley,” Stacy said. “We did. We said don’t mention the name. Don’t talk about it.

“This program has had some slip-ups in Week Nine. I was part of a couple of those.”

Despite a steady drizzle for the first half of the game, the Tigers didn’t slip or slide or otherwise screw up their perfect record. Instead they blew Eastlake away 49-14 in front of 6,936 fans to improve to 9-0.

“I’ve coached in a lot of places and I’ve seen some very good football teams,” said Eastlake North head coach Nick Toth. “One of the things that makes Massillon a good team is they’re really well coached from top to bottom.

“I watched nine films on them and I only saw one thing I thought we could take advantage of that they were a little bit structurally weak. This is a well-coached football team. That guy is doing a very, very nice job over there.”

Eastlake North finished with 211 total yards but most came after the Tiger starters were out of the game.

“Our starters really got after them,” Stacy said. “That’s good to see. We told them they better go out and play hard. I thought our starters did a good job with that.”

Bobby Huth had a superb game at quarterback, connecting on 9 of 13 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Stacy wanted to get his junior signal caller in a groove for the showdown next weekend.

“We wanted to get him in a rhythm and get a little bit more balance in our offense tonight,” said Stacy, noting the Tigers had 300 yards rushing and 274 yards passing. “If the weather had been better we’d have thrown a little bit more.”

The Tigers broke on top without the benefit of an offensive snap as senior cornerback Troy Ellis picked off a Mitch Weisbarth aerial at the Eastlake North 42 and ran it all the way back for a touchdown at 10:31 of the first quarter. Steve Schott’s point after was good and Massillon was up 7-0.

“If he hadn’t picked off that pass and ran it back, we’d have lost 42-14 instead of 49-14,” Toth quipped.

Massillon’s first offensive possession ended in a fumble but the next time the Tigers touched the ball there would be no such relief for Eastlake.

Huth hit Zack Vanryzin for seven yards along the right sideline on first down. Then senior running back Lanale Robinson ripped off 16 yards around right end and tacked on 22 more on a similar play to reach the end zone. Schott’s kick was true and the Tigers were up 14-0 with almost four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Another three-play drive the next time Massillon had the ball yielded yet another touchdown. The possession began with a flea flicker play as Huth stood in the face of the North pass rush and found Vanryzin wide open at midfield. The senior wideout caught the ball and then weaved his way through the Ranger secondary down to the North 15.

Two plays later Robinson went over his right guard, ran through at tackle at the 5-yard line and scored the Tigers third touchdown of the evening. Schott’s conversion boot made it 21-0 with just under a minute to play in the opening stanza.

Massillon’s only sustained drive of the first half began at its 31. Eight plays later – six of which were runs by Gamble – Huth found senior tight end Brett Huffman all by himself at the North 14. Huffman snatched the ball out of the air and ambled in for the touchdown.

“I went up the line and I saw there was nobody around me and I was hoping Bob saw it too,” Huffman said. “He did and he got it to me. It was perfect pass. Good throw, good catch, good touchdown.”

Schott’s conversion was on target and Massillon’s lead grew to 28-0 at 4:06 of the first half.

Gamble made an incredible diving catch to key the Tigers final first-half possession. The drive began at the Massillon 20 with a 23-yard Huth to Gamble hook-up.

Two plays later Huth wound up and let fly in Gamble’s direction down the right hash. The ball looked to be overthrown but Gamble dove and – with his body parallel to the ground – latched onto the ball for a 30-yard gain to the North 26.

“That was a heck of a catch,” Stacy said. “I didn’t think he was going to get to it. I didn’t think there was any way.

“It gets to the point where you kind of take him for granted some times. He is a great player.”

Five plays later Huth lofted the ball into the end zone and Trey Miller pulled it in for Massillon’s fifth touchdown of the first half. Schott was accurate with his conversion kick and the Tigers carried a 35-0 lead into the halftime locker room.

The Tiger defense was relentless, limiting North to 82 total yards in the first two quarters and only 16 yards rushing.

Massillon sacked Weisbarth three times, with Lorenzo Grizzard, Dirk Dickerhoof and Paris McCall doing the honors for the Tigers.

Robert Morris opened the second half scoring with a 16-yard burst into the end zone, capping a drive that got started with a 59-yard Shawn Weisend to Vanryzin aerial. Schott’s kick pushed the tiger lead to 42-0 midway through the third quarter.

Massillon’s final touchdown came on an electrifying 80-yard run by Robinson on the second play of the fourth quarter.

Robinson finished with a career high 169 yards rushing on just 11 carries.

GAME STATS

Antonio James
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2004: Massillon 72, Friendship Edison Collegiate Academy (Washington DC)…

Tigers set for playoff push

By JOE SHAHEEN
Joe.Shaheen@IndeOnfine.com

Rick Shepas is happy with where his Massillon Tigers are at with two weeks left in the regular season ‑ now 4‑4 and in control of their own destiny with regards to the playoffs.

Massillon, with victories this Saturday at Warren Harding and the following Saturday at home against McKinley, are in the post‑season for the fifth time in Shepas’ seven seasons as head coach.

Program Cover

The Tigers got back to 4‑4 and put the playoffs in their sights with a 72‑6 domination of Washington D.C. Friendship Edison Collegiate Academy last Saturday night at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

While it was evident from the beginning that Edison was out‑manned by the Tigers, that cannot diminish the performances Lanale Robinson and Robert Morris, each of whom scored three touchdowns as Massillon accumulated 374 yards of total offense.

Robinson, a promising 5 foot 10, 184 pound junior tallied less than two minutes into the game on a 37 yard run, and then again less than two minutes later on a 62 yard kick return that followed a safety. He capped off his first half scoring blitz with a 27 yard touchdown dash midway through the opening quarter, and finished with 133 yards. rushing in 15 carries as starter Ramon Kelly, rested his injured knee.

“We backed off contact this week of practice and the kids responded, “Shepas said. “We came out ready to play a physical game, The wind and rain meant we needed to get, the ground game going, we’re going to continue in that vein.

“Lanale ran hard. He showed heart and passion for his job last night. We still have to fix some things in where he runs on specific plays and his understanding of setting up his blocking better”

Morris, a 5‑10, 200‑pound linebacker turned fullback, found the end zone on a 1-yard run midway through the second quarter, on a 12 yard pass reception from Quentin Paulik to open the second half scoring. and on an 18‑yard run with under four minutes to play.

“Where Morris had been defense with his speed, his ability and run hard makes him a natural at fullback position, “Shepas said.

Still, look for Kelly to return to the starting line as the Tigers primary ball carrier this week against Warren Harding.

“Ramon was ready to play ,both mentally and physically but we didn’t want to rush him with the week that is coming up,” Shepas “Ramon will be back in that mix this week.”

“I thought ouir offensive line limited their mistakes. We had very few breakdowns even though we didn’t prepare much for (Edison)”

Massillon also went back to Paulik as its starting quarterback after Shawn Weisend got a start the week before against Lakewood St. Edward. He completed 10 of his 18 throws for 135 yards and two touchdowns. A third scoring toss was dropped but the Tigers also had an interception.

It seems Shepas is committed to Paulik for the final two all‑important games.

“Yeah, I would say so,” said, Shepas. “I’ve said all along he’s a guy, who makes great checks at the line. He really does a lot of things very well. We have struggled in the passing game with our reads and that’s just going to take time.”

Time is one element the Tigers don’t have. They have to play their best two games of the season over the next 14 days in order to secure an improbable playoff berth.

But this do‑or‑die scenario is just what Massillon’s meat grinder schedule was designed for.

“There has been a lot about debate about the schedule we play,” Shepas said. “I think the schedule does prepare us. These kids have shown toughness with the schedule we’ve played. Plus we’re handing some of the tougher mental things. With as much a adversity as this team has had to deal with on regular basis, I think we’ve shown some resolve. Some of our guys are really starting to find themselves.”

Massillon 72
Friendship Edison 6

Massillon 30 12 21 7 72
Friendship Edison 0 0 8 0 6

SCORING

M ‑ Robinson 37 run (Schott kick)
M ‑ Safety
M ‑ Robinson 62 kick return (Scott kick)
M ‑ Barnes 7 run (Schott kick)
M ‑ Robinson 27 run (Schott kick)
FE ‑ Proctor 31 no (kick blocked)
M ‑ Barnes 1 run (Schott kick)
M ‑ Morris I run (Schott kick)
M ‑ Dahlquist 51 interception return (Scott Kick)
M ‑ Gates 27 pass from Paulik (Schott kick)
M ‑ Morris 18 run (Schott kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Edison: Proctor 12‑50 Butler 4‑9,
Massillon: Robinson 15‑133, Morris 11‑68, Barnes 7‑47,

Passing

Edison: Proctor 5‑17‑54 2 INTs.
Massillon: Paulik 10‑18‑135 1 INT

Receiving

Edison: Kates 3‑38 Gillis 1‑16,
Massillon: Morris 3‑28, Robinson 2‑39 Gates 2-34, Huffman 1‑5.

GAME STATS


Kurt Jarvis