Tag: <span>Leon Ashcraft</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1994: Massillon 39, Dayton Trotwood Madison 18

Another blowout Trotwood Madison Tigers’ 2nd victim
Tigers take turnovers to trounce Trotwood
Massillon improves to 2-0 with 39-18 win

By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor

Just when it looked like Trot­wood Madison tailback Howard Lankford would torture the Massillon defense all night long, the electrifying mighty mite coughed up the football and gave the Tigers the momen­tum they’d never relinquish in a 39‑18 victory in front of 10,201 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Friday.

Program Cover

With the Tigers clinging to a perilous 13‑12 lead in the final three minutes of the first half, Lankford ‑ who finished with 145 yards rushing in 25 carries ‑ fumbled after diving into the middle of the Massillon line. Senior linebacker Courtney Herring recovered for the Ti­gers at the Trotwood 40.

Massillon was quick to capi­talize. On second down, senior tailback Leon Ashcraft skirted left end on a counter play and danced 23 yards to the 15. Two plays later, senior quarterback Willie Spencer rolled right, pump faked and sprinted into the end zone to give the Tigers a seven‑point advantage at 19‑12 and a much‑needed burst of confidence going into halftime.

“You just cannot turn the ball over against a quality team like Massillon, especially when we had things going our way,” said Trotwood coach Bill Dennis, who then addressed Spencer’s touchdown run. “Going in we knew we had to contain Spencer and keep him from getting to the perimeter. But he’s such a good athlete. We just didn’t get it done.”

Up to that point, it appeared Lankford would be the fly in the Tigers ointment the entire evening. He rushed for 97 first half yards and had the Massil­lon faithful holding its collec­tive breath every time he touched the football.

“We just couldn’t tackle him, he’s so quick,” said Tigers coach Jack Rose. “They do a nice job of getting him the ball in certain situations and he is hard to find. They’d get him the ball and he’d just pop out of there.”

However, the Tigers came out in the second half and put the game away with two third-quarter touchdowns within a three minute span and a refo­cused defense that didn’t allow a Trotwood first down until there were nine minutes left in the game.

”The defensive coaches made some nice adjustments at halftime,” Rose observed. “But overall, our defense played to­day like it practiced all week, and we didn’t practice worth a lick.”

The first half was a different story. On the opening kickoff, Lankford showed what was to come, sprinting and spinning for 35 yards to the Trotwood 44. The Massillon defense stiffened and a fake punt misfired giving the Tigers superb field position at the Trotwood 48.

On third‑and‑seven, Spencer rolled right and hit Brennan Rohr, who made a sliding catch along the sideline at the 14‑yard line. A clipping penalty moved the ball back to the 18, but Ashcraft found a huge cavity on a delay over left guard and charged into the end zone for an 18‑yard touchdown and a 7‑0 Tiger lead at the 7:52 mark of the first quarter.

“That Ashcraft is a nice, little runner,” Dennis commented. “Their offensive line did a good job. We couldn’t get off their blocks and fly to the football like we did last week.”

“Bones runs hard,” Rose con­curred. “He had a real nice game tonight.”

But Trotwood came right back, marching 52 yards in nine plays. Lankford put the points on the scoreboard when he took a pitchout around right end, ran through three would‑be tack­lers for an 18‑yard touchdown with 4:29 to play in the first quarter.

Trotwood got a gift on the drive when Massillon was flag­ged for a late hit on a third down play, giving the Rams new life at the Tigers 21‑yard line.

The Tigers were intercepted on the second play of their next possession, but got the ball right back when Lavell Weaver reco­vered a Trotwood fumble to put the Massillon offense in busi­ness at midfield.

Ashcraft burst for 15 yards on first down, Spencer ‑ after a beautiful play fake ‑ hit tight end Ryan Shanor for 23 yards to the Trotwood 13, and Ashcraft finished off the lightning march with an 11‑yard bolt off left guard and tackle for a touch­down to make it Tigers 13, Trot­wood 6 with :38 to play in the opening period.

Again Trotwood counterpun­ched after getting great field position at their own 40 after a short kickoff. With Lankford carrying on five of the seven snaps, the Rams pulled to with­in one point with 10:21 left in the first half. The 5‑5, 160‑pounder finished off the TD drive by finding paydirt on a seven‑yard draw play up the middle to make it a 13‑12 contest.

Massillon moved the ball on the next possession, but were finally forced to punt and downed the ball inside the Trot­wood 1.

The Rams brought it out, as halftime approached, but gave the ball and the ballgame away on Lankford’s key fumble.

Massillon marched with the second half kickoff moving from its 20 to the Trotwood 19 before losing the ball on downs. The Tiger defense got the ball back by forcing the Rams to punt after just three plays. On first down from the 45, Vinny Turner picked up 17 yards on a draw and Spencer rolled around right end for a 23‑yard pick‑up to the 4‑yard line.

One play later Spencer scored on the quarterback sneak to make it 25‑12 with 3:56 to go in the third.

Again the Massillon defense did its job, forcing Trotwood to punt after three snaps. On first down from the Tiger 29, Ashcraft found a huge gap be­hind center Mark Wells, broke to the right sideline and gal­loped 52 yards to the Rams’ 19­-yard line. Four plays later, Ashcraft dove into the end zone from the 3 to make it 33‑12 with less than a minute left in the third.

MASSILLON 39
TROTWOOD 18
M T
First downs rushing 17 11
First downs passing 3 5
First downs penalty 1 1
Total first downs 21 17
Net yards rushing 353 172
Net yards passing 85 132
Total yards gained 438 304
Passes attempted 7 26
Passes completed 3 17
Passes int. by 1 1
Times kicked off 7 4
Kickoff average 41.4 49.0
Kickoff return yards 25 129
Punts 2 2
Punting average 37.0 36.0
Punt return yards 26 0
Fumbles 0 4
Fumbles lost 0 3
Penalties 2 3
Yards penalized 30 24
Number of plays 56 57
Time of possession 26:09 21:51
Attendance 10,201

TROTWOOD 6 6 0 6 18
MASSILLON 13 6 14 6 39

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter
M ‑ Ashcraft 18 run (Pribich kick)
T ‑ Lankford 17 run (run failed)
M ‑ Ashcraft 11 run (kick failed)

Second Quarter
T ‑ Lankford 7 run (pass failed)
M ‑ Spencer 11 run (kick failed)

Third Quarter
M – Spencer 1 run (kick failed)
M – Ashcraft 3 run (Shanor Pass from Spencer)

Fourth Quarter
M ‑ Lewis 4 run (kick failed)
T ‑ Williams 25 Pass from Hutson (pass failed)

FINAL STATISTICS

Rushing:
Massillon
Ashcraft 17‑170, 3 TDs;
Spencer 8‑73, 2 TDs;
Lewis l4‑72, 1 TD;
Turner 8‑33;
Fraelich 1‑5;
Herring 1‑0.
Trot­wood‑Madison
Lankford 25‑145, 2 TDs;
Christon 5‑18;
Hutson 1‑9.

Passing:
Massillon
Spencer 3‑7‑85, 1 int.
Trotwood‑Madison
Hutson 16‑24‑129, 1 TD, 1 int.;
Walker 1‑2‑3.

Receiving:
Massillon
Shanor 2‑55,
Rohr 1‑30.
Trotwood‑Madison
Williams 5‑51, 1 TD;
Russell 6‑39;
Lankford 4‑10;
Mark 2-32.


Leon Ashcraft

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1994: Massillon 41, Youngstown Rayen 6

No contest!
Tigers maul Rayen in season opener Ashcraft, Spencer spark Massillon to easy victory

By JOE SHAHEEN
Independent Sports Editor

The Massillon Tigers seemed intent on giving Youngstown Rayen every opportunity to make a game of it in the teams’ season opener at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Friday. But Rayen was just as determined to make things easy for their hosts.

In the end, Massillon walked off with an unfulfilling 41‑6 vic­tory in front of 10,756 on an un­seasonably chilly night.

How hard did Rayen try to be the perfect guest?

Program Cover

With Massillon leading 14‑0 early in the second quarter, the Rayen defense stiffened and forced a punt. But Massillon re­tained possession when Rayen was whistled for illegal participation. That usually means 12 men on the field, one too many. In this case, an official spotted 13 players on the field for the Youngstown entry.

The penalty gave the Tigers new life and they scored on the drive take a 21‑0 lead that would prove to be insurmountable for the visitors.

There’s more.

Late in the first half, Tigers quarterback Willie Spencer strolled out of bounds on a third-and‑long play. That meant the Tigers would have to punt, apparently giving Rayen a final opportunity to get on the scoreboard. But a Rayen defen­der bumped Spencer after the play was dead and then got into a jawing match and was flag­ged for unsportsmanlike con­duct, an automatic first down for the hosts.

Massillon was not sharp, especially in the first half which ended with the locals holding a 21‑0 advantage. Spencer fum­bled twice, recovering both. The secondary was burned twice for long pass plays, each of which went for over 35 yards. And Massillon’s longest pass play of the night, a 64‑yard hookup between Spencer and Steve Griffith, was called back on an illegal‑motion penalty.

Still, there were some bright spots for the Tigers, not the least of which was the impress­ive running of junior fullback Vinny Turner. When. it became apparent Rayen’s defense was eying on the Massillon tail­backs, head coach Jack Rose in­serted Turner and began feed­ing him the football on quick hit­ters in the middle of the line.

Turner (5‑9, 194) responded with an impressive first half. He carried the ball seven times and picked up 65 yards before the band show, a 9.3 yards per carry average. His effective­ness forced Rayen to begin paying attention to the fullback and opened up things for tail­backs Leon Ashcraft and Nate Lewis.

“They were really penetrat­ing hard off the back side,” Rose said. “So we thought we’d hit them quick, right over top of the center and soften them there. Then we hit them a cou­ple times off tackle with the trap play and got a couple of good gainers there.

“Vinny is a converted tailback and has great feet. He has a great future, whether it be at tailback or fullback.”

Ashcraft scored twice in the first half. He capped a five-­play, 43‑yard drive on the Ti­gers second possession with a one‑yard TD dive over left guard. The stocky senior went in from 13 yards out on Massil­lon’s next possession, absorb­ing a big hit at the 5 and keeping his balance to score standing up. The run culminated a three-­play, 47‑yard drive that was keyed by Turner’s 31‑yard burst up the middle on the initial snap of the possession.

“That second run there was a nice little hole there and I just had to take it up in there,” Ashcraft explained. “A couple of people got on me, but I just did what I had to do to help the team.”

The Tigers only sustained drive of the first half took place on their first possession of the second quarter. Massillon moved from its 25 on 12 plays, scoring when Spencer snuck into the end zone from a yard away at 4:46 of the second period. Ashcraft’s ten‑yard burst off right tackle and an 18­-yard scamper by Spencer on a roll out around right end keyed the drive.

Massillon came out sharp in the second half. Senior fullback Jeremy Fraelich rumbled for 25 yards on the first play after the band show. Spencer then hit Jason Manson for nine yards and two plays later found Vaughn Moeller along the left sideline for 30 more to the Rayen 7.

Spencer rolled right on second‑and‑goal and hit tight end Ryan Shanor under the crossbar for the TD and the Ti­gers led 28‑0 with 8:22 to play in the third.

Spencer found Moeller with a 37‑yard scoring toss at 3:38 of the third to make it 34‑0 and sig­nal the end of the night’s work for the majority of Massillon’s starters.

“Vaughn has deceiving speed,” Rose said. “He got behind the secondary a couple of times. He can be a real deep threat for us this season.”

Rayen got on the scoreboard with 2:06 left in the third when Damien Williams gathered up a Tiger fumble and ran 46 yards to paydirt to make it 34‑6.

Lamar Lancaster inter­cepted a Rayen pass with 5:30 to play and ran it back to the five-­yard line. Nate Lewis closed the scoring on first down when he burst into the end zone on the draw play. The kick made it 41-­6.

“We’ve got to improve in the passing game,” Rose summarized. ”We had a couple of drops again tonight. We’re catching the ball and falling down and we should be catching the ball and running with it. But we im­proved as the game went on.

“Defensively, we missed a lot of tackles tonight. It looked like we were there, we just weren’t wrapping up.”

Rose had mixed feelings on the performance of his young offensive line, an area he be­lieves will be the key if the Ti­gers are to return to the playoffs for a second year in a row.

“I thought we handled their pressure pretty good when we came down and did our steps correctly and zoned properly. We did a nice job,” Rose said. “The back side blocking could use some improvement.

MASSILLON 41
RAYEN 6
M R
First downs rushing 14 3
First downs passing 2 4
First downs penalty 2 0
Total first downs 18 7
Net yards rushing 262 65
Net yards passing 89 107
Total yards gained 351 172
Passes attempted 8 21
Passes completed 5 7
Passes int. by 1 1
Times kicked off 7 2
Kickoff average 45.7 38.5
Kickoff return yards 18 92
Punts 0 4
Punting average 0 25.0
Punt return yards 15 0
Fumbles 2 3
Fumbles lost 1 1
Penalties 5 12
Yards penalized 29 87
Number of plays 49 43
Time of possession 26:17 21:43
Attendance 10,756

Y’TOWN RAYEN 0 0 6 0 6
MASSILLON 14 7 13 7 41

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter
M ‑ Ashcraft 1 run (Pribich kick)
M ‑ Ashcraft 12 run (Pribich kick)

Second Quarter
M ‑ Spencer 1 run (Pribich kick)

Third Quarter
M ‑ Shanor 7 pass from Spencer (Pribich kick)
M – Mohler 37 pass from Spencer (kick failed)
R ‑ Williams fumble recovery in end zone (pass failed)

Fourth Quarter
M ‑ Lewis 5 run (Weirich kick)

FINAL STATISTICS

Rushing:
Massillon
Turner 9-72;
Lewis 9-61, 1 TD;
Ashcraft 9‑49, 2 TDs;
Spencer 7‑33, 1 TD;
Fraelich 4‑37;
Whitfield 3‑10.
Rayen
Johnson 7‑30,
Morgan 3‑18,
Jeffries 8‑14,
Wil­liams 4‑3.

Passing:
Massillon
Spencer 5‑7‑89, 2 TDs;
Whitfield 0‑1, 1 int.
Rayen
Jeffries 7‑21‑107, 1 int.

Receiving:
Massillon
Mohler 2‑66, 1 TD;
Shanor 1‑7, 1 TD;
Manson 1‑9;
Rohr 1‑7.
Rayen
Crenshaw 2‑71,
Jones 3‑33,
Williams 1‑4.

Leon Ashcraft