Tag: <span>Nordonia</span>

History

2013: Massillon 33, Nordonia 17

TURNING IT ON
Massillon puts it together after half to defeat Knights

By CHRIS EASTERLING
Independent sports editor

MASSILLON When Massillon and Nordonia met in a first-round playoff game last year at Paul Brown Tiger
Stadium, the Tigers wasted no time laying waste to the Knights’ hopes for an upset. They led by 14 after one
quarter, and 35 at halftime after they scored 63 points in the win.

On Friday night, the two teams met against in a first-round playoff at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, this time as
Division II members. And matching the division they reside in now, it took until half No. 2 for the Tigers to hit
the accelerator.

Still, hit the accelerator Massillon did, as it once again ended Nordonia’s season with a 33-17 win in front of
6,371 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“I think this game was a wake-up call,” said Tiger linebacker Danny Robinson, whose fourth-quarter
interception helped set up Massillon’s final score. “I think we were taking them lightly at the beginning. The
second half, we turned it on, and that’s how we have to play the rest of the playoffs.”

Next up for Massillon, which is now 9-2, is a regional semifinal Friday night against top-seeded Highland at a
site to be announced Sunday. The Hornets improved to 11-0 by beating Avon Lake in a first-round matchup.
But it was a while before the Tigers could start thinking about next week. First, they had to take care of a
Nordonia team that had plenty of experience back from last year’s team, which had suffered a 63-34 loss to
Massillon in the Division I playoffs.

Massillon had its own pair of adversaries in the first half, which ended with the Tigers leading 16-14. One was
an injury bug that left the Tigers shuffling players around on the offensive line, which lost Ronnie Humphrey to
a leg injury while playing without center Nathaniel Devers due to illness.

“We handled some adversity,” Massillon coach Jason Hall said. “We had Ronnie go down; Nate’s sick. So, I’m
just really proud of our guys and that depth that came in and played on that offensive line. I was proud of them.”
The second adversity was some miscues that opened the door for the Knights to twice hold leads. The first, after
the Tigers netted minus-3 yards on a first-drive punt, resulted in Nordonia taking a 7-0 lead when David Murray
hit Alex Alders in stride for a 31-yard touchdown.

The second came after the Knights jarred the ball loose after a Massillon completion for a fumble. Alders
picked it up and ran it back 25 yards to give Nordonia a 14-13 lead 4:55 left in the half.

Those two scores, though, were basically all the Tigers allowed Nordonia’s explosive offense to get. Massillon
limited the Knights to 232 total yards, the second-lowest four-quarter yardage total for the Knights this season,
while they were only 18-of-42 passing for 145 yards.

The Tigers also forced three Knights turnovers in the game, including a pair of interceptions in the second half.
Two of those turnovers ended up turning into points — a fumble that led to Andrew David’s 29-yard field goal
with 1:06 left in the half for a 16-14 lead; and Robinson’s pick that was turned into a J.D. Crabtree’s second
touchdown run for a 33-14 lead with 11:19 remaining.

“We prided ourselves on our defense the whole year,” Massillon linebacker Devon Ingram said. “We knew we
just had to come out and play Massillon ‘D’ like we usually do. We knew we’d be all right.”

It also didn’t hurt the Tigers one bit that, even with all the line shuffling, Lyron Wilson continued his torrid end
of the season. One week after gaining a combined 289 yards against St. Vincent-St. Mary and McKinley, the
senior rushed for 149 yards against Nordonia.

Crabtree added 89 yards and a pair of second-half touchdowns for the Tigers.

“We continued to run the ball,” said Wilson, who gave Massillon a 13-7 second-quarter lead with a 1-yard run.
“We continued to run the ball well. A big shout-out to the ‘O’ linemen, because they helped us do it.”

And what the Tigers did was once again move past Nordonia and into the second round of the playoffs

GAME STATS

History

2012: Massillon 63, Nordonia 34

Massillon’s offense too much for Nordonia

Chris Easterling
The Independent

MASSILLON Two plays. That’s all it took for Massillon to show there would be no hangover from last week’s win over McKinley as it opened up the Division I playoffs on Saturday night against Nordonia.

Two plays into the game, the Tigers had already covered 85 yards and changed the scoreboard in their favor. And it would be just the start for Massillon, as it pummeled the Knights 63-34 in front of 5,329 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“This was for the seniors, because this is their last game ever playing at the stadium,” said Tiger junior receiver Marcus Whitfield, who had 113 yards and a touchdown on four catches. “We were all pretty hyped. We just got right after it in the first and second plays and ended up with seven points.”

The No. 1-seeded Tigers improved to 10-1, but will find themselves once again facing archrival McKinley next week in a regional semifinal at a site to be announced Sunday by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The Bulldogs beat Hoover 36-29 in a regional quarterfinal on Saturday.

Massillon beat McKinley 37-29 last week at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

“We know their (the Bulldogs’) game plan, but they’re probably going to come in with a different one,” said Tiger receiver-cornerback Gareon Conley, who had two touchdowns receiving – including a 28-yarder on the game’s second play – on three catches. “We just have to be ready. We have to be fundamentally sound and play all three phases.”

If Massillon was so inclined, it could have turned its attention to next week’s game by halftime.

By that point, the Tigers already scored on seven of their nine possessions to take a 49-14 lead.

How dominant were the Tigers in the first half? They went into the locker room having already accumulated a 200-yard passer (Kyle Kempt, 243 yards), a 100-yard rusher (Ryne Moore, 102) and a 100-yard receiver (Marcus Whitfield, 113) on their way to 377 total first-half yards.

Massillon gained 476 total yards for the game.

Kempt finished with three touchdowns to go with the 243 passing yards. He was lifted after the Tigers scored with 9:15 left in the third for a 56-14 lead.

Moore, meanwhile, wouldn’t carry the ball again after his 19-carry, 102-yard, three-score first half. Lyron Wilson added 78 rushing yards and two TDs in the second half.

“The looks they’re giving us, they’re trying to stop the pass,” Kempt said. “They’re giving us a box to run on. We’re really executing well.”

By contrast, Nordonia had just 160 total offensive yards at halftime. And only one offensive score, as the Knights’ first touchdown came on a 64-yard interception return by Nick Rezek.

The Knights finished with 397 total yards, although they racked up many of those yards while running their first-unit offense against Massillon’s reserves. They were sabotaged by four turnovers, a bugaboo that had cost them in back-to-back losses to Highland and Wadsworth to end the regular season.

Rezek’s pick-six did give Nordonia a brief glimmer of life, cutting Massillon’s lead in half at 14-7 with 5:23 remaining in the first quarter. But the Tigers, who had scored on two of their first three possessions, squashed that life with an 11-play, 85-yard scoring drive to lead 21-7 at the end of the quarter.

And then the floodgates opened up.

Massillon scored on the first play of the second quarter – a 29-yard run by Gareon Conley on an end-around. The Tigers then tacked on two more scores – a Whitfield touchdown catch and Moore scoring run – to lead 42-7 with 3:08 left in the half.

Nordonia’s lone first-half offensive touchdown – a sibling scoring hook-up from Tyler Alders to Alex Alders – managed to cut the Tiger lead to 42-14. But Massillon ended the half with a second Kempt-to-Conley scoring pass to restore its comfortable 35-point cushion.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1990: Massillon 70, Nordonia 0

Tigers crown Knights, 70-0

By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor

Remember how you felt the last time you were in the middle of the big hill on your favorite roller coaster?

That sort of giddy release flushed the faces of most Massillon Tiger fans Friday night after a 70‑0 atomic drop on Nordonia at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Following gut‑twisters that became losses to Cincinnati Moeller and Austintown‑Fitch playoff hungry Tigertown did not need a simple victory over a clear underdog Nordonia.

Tigertown needed ‑ and got ‑ a knockout punch. A crowd of 9,872 saw Massillon improve to 4‑2 and Nordonia fall to 3‑3.

The Tigers put a Falando Ashcraft ‑ ‘flyin’, Travis McGuire‑’high‑fivin’, Gary Young‑’skyin’ 70‑0 whoppin’ on the Knights. That trio accounted for 252 of the Tigers 423 rushing yards.

Other 70-0 games

Friday’s 70-0 rout of Nordonia was the fifth such victory in Massillon history. The other 70-0 games:

Year, foe Tiger coach
1922, New Philadelphia Paul Brown
1935, Akron East Paul Brown
1936, Portsmouth Paul Brown
1959, Mansfield Leo Strang

The five biggest Tiger routes:

Year, foe Score
1922, Akron North 94-0
1959, Barberton 90-0
1918, Orrville 82-0
1923, Salem 82-0
1924, Alliance 77-0

Program Cover

Ashcraft, who scored three touchdowns, said the Tigers are back.

“We wanted to blow them out early and give the guys on the second team a chance to play,” he said after rushing 74 yards in 12 carries.

If was 35-0 at halftime. The first unit played one series in the third-quarter. The second and third units came on (strong, in fact), the way the Tiger bench players did in a famous 90-0 win over Barberton in 1959.

This was the fifth time in Massillon history the Tigers have won by a 70-0 final. Massillon teams have won 11 shutouts by scores greater than 70-0, including a record 94-0 win over Akron North in 1922.

“Right now,” Ashcraft added, we’ve forgotten about the first half of the season, Right now, we’re concentrating on winning the rest of our games, one week at a time.”

Ashcraft wasn’t the only Tiger who thought Friday’s outcome was good tonic for the Tigers.
“I was not worried about us at all,: said Young, the little speed merchant who looked like Barry Sanders on breakaway touchdown runs of 50 and 38 yards. “Both of the losses were in our hands. We were close to being undefeated.

“Right now,” added Young, known for his headlong dives on special teams, “this brings us back together… where we need to be…a team.:

“The main thing,” added Dan Scinry, a junior who has looked strong on the offensive line, “was getting our pride back. We had a tough week of practice. In fact, we had a new drill called The Pride Drill. It helped a lot.:

Head coach, Lee Owens cited the underrated factor of getting playing time for everyone on the team.
“We played everyone and any number of guys did a good job,” he said. “We talked all week about starting over again. Tonight was he first leg of a five‑game home stand. There are some tough games coming up. But it was a great way to start.”

Junior Troy Burick got the start at quarterback, with senior Barry­ Shertzer wearing a sport hat and a Massillon American Legion baseball jacket on the sidelines after suffering a concussion last week.

Burick let it all hang out early, throwing an incomplete bomb to Marc Stafford on the first play of the game. The Tigers didn’t score on that series, but the second time they had the ball Burick, whose forte is running, found a grand canyon around the right side on a bootleg run and raced 38 yards to the 17.­

On the next play McGuire showed some cuts and jukes that could soon get him a job at an Arthur‑Murray studio near you. It went for a touchdown.

The Tigers had only two other possessions the rest of the way on which they did not score.

Nick Mossides and Seth Aegerter joined Burick as Tiger quarterbacks who directed touchdown drives.

“I thought all of our quarterbacks looked good,” Owens said.

It is believed Shertzer will reclaim the starting job when he returns to full health. He will not be allowed to take part in contact drills until the middle of next week at the earliest; hence his status is uncertain for next Saturday’s game against Indianapolis North Central.

“We’ll have to see how things go in practice. Owens said.

By, the late stages of the second quarter, it was apparent the Tigers had far too many horses for the Knights.

A scout from Indianapolis captured the mood when the Tigers gained possession on the 13-yard line after a ball was snapped over the Nordonia punter’s head.

“Two plays or three?” the scout said to his partner.

Surprise! It took the Tigers four plays to score (James McCullough bulled in from the two with seven seconds left in the half)

Ryan John, who has quietly become a reliable point after kicker, converted the boot to create the 35-0 halftime score.

Some of the Nordonia players were bothered that the Tigers added another 35 in the second half.

Nordonia head coach Jim Fox held no grudges whatsoever.

“I told Lee, ‘I didn’t think you ran up the score’ He put in his second and third units and you can’t tell them to lay down,” said Fox. “I’m embarrassed we did so poor more than anything else.

“I knew it would be a real physical mismatch. Stow was picked to win our conference, Nobody picked us for a high finish. We have a competitive, scrappy bunch of guys. But when I saw that Massillon beat Stow 51-0, I knew we might be in some trouble.”

The Tigers led only 7‑0 after one quarter but scored on the first play of the second period, Stafford, who could become a more prominent figure in the passing game the rest of the way, got wide open in the left flat, took a short pass from Burick at the 12, and juked the rest of the way on a 19-yard scoring play.

A Ron Humphrey fumble recovery at the six set up the third touchdown, a six yard run by Ashcraft with 9:39 left in the half.

The Tigers then drove 61 yards after a punt. Ashcraft scoring from two yards away.

Nordonia crossed midfield for the only time on the opening possession of the second half before stalling at the 23. The first‑team offense drove 77 yards. Ashcraft running four yards for a TD with 4:40 left in the third quarter. John kick made it 42-0.

McCullough, the Tigers’ big backup fullback, muscled his way 25 yards for a touchdown with 10:57 left in the game. John’s kick made it 49‑0.

The Tigers quickly got the ball back on a fumble, and the 5‑foot‑8 Young quickly found daylight and put some distance on the pack on a 50-yard TD burst with 9:32 left.

Jason Brown’s P.A.T. kick made it 56 zip.

Nordonia punted after three plays and Young scored on a carbon copy of his previous touchdown play, this time traveling 38 yards. Gary Miller, who gave up placekicking to focus on being this year’s starting center, booted one for old time’s sake and it was 63-0 with 6:10 left.

The final touchdown was set up by Aegerter’s 52-yard bootleg run to the two. Ron Roberson scored on the next play with 2:49 left. Miller’s kick enabled the Tigers to hit the 70 mark for the first time since 1959, when Mansfield Senior was handed a 70-0 shiner.

MASSILLON 70
NORDONIA 0
M N
First downs rushing 16 4
First downs passing 4 3
First downs by penalty 1 0­
Total first downs 21 7
Yards gained rushing 422 129
Yards lost rushing 11 36
Net yards rushing 412 93
Net yards passing 64 33
Total Yards gained 476 126
Passes attempted 12 13
Passes completed 5 3
Passes Int. by 2 1
Yardage on pass int. 10 2
Kickoff average 42.9 45.0
Kickoff return yards 19 74
Punts 2 7
Punting average 46.0 29.7
Punt return yards 54 4
Fumbles 3 3
Fumbles lost 1 2
Penalties 3 4
Yards penalized 25 29
Number of plays 55 57
Time of possession 18:02 29:58

Nordonia 0 0 0 0 0
Massillon 7 26 7 28 70

M ‑ McGuire 17 run (John kick)
M ‑ Stafford 19 pass from Burick (John kick)
M ‑ Ashcraft 6 run (John kick)
M – Ashcraft 2 run (John kick)
M – Ashcraft 4 run (John kick)
M – McCullough 25 run (John kick)
M – Young 50 run (Brown kick)
M ‑ Young 38 run (Miller kick)
M – Roberson 2 run (Miller kick)

Chad Buckland
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1975: Massillon 6, Nordonia 6

Nordonia plays Tigers to 6-6 standstill

By DENNY HIGHBEN

The next time someone quips “Nordonia who?” no Massillon football fan will laugh.

Over 11,000 spectators at Tiger Stadium found out exactly who Nordonia was. Some of them already knew, but most didn’t.

THE NORDONIA Fighting Knights came to Tigertown Friday night and made the “Tiger” look like it had four left paws. The contest ended in a 6-6 tie, but the statistics proved Nordonia outplayed the Tigers from the opening kickoff until the final gun.

Program Cover

Nordonia’s points came on field goals of 30 and 34 yards kicked by quarterback Dwight Bungo. Bungo was one of many Knights who never lost poise or coolness throughout the full 48 minutes of action.

Play after play Bungo performed like football was his profession instead of an after school game, hitting on eight of 14 passes. Two of his passes were intercepted, but his confidence remained intact. Teammate Dave Swift made some remarkable runs and Nordonia’s running-passing combination kept the Massillon defense loose all night.

“I feel super,” Nordonia Coach Tom Dorman exclaimed after the game. Earlier in the week Dorman talked like his players would be lucky not to get knocked right out of their equipment and after the game he still sounded disbelieving.

“That’s the best we’ve ever looked and we didn’t do anything unusual. We told the kids they had to run what they knew and if it wasn’t good enough the heck with it,” Dorman said.

The Nordonia mentor said he knew what the Tigers would do and Chuck Shuff knew what Nordonia would do. Dorman served under Shuff as an assistant for five years at Fremont Ross.

Dorman couldn’t credit any particular players with outstanding work. “They were all great,” he said.

Shuff will attest to that.

“They beat us everywhere but on the scoreboard and they darn near beat us there,” Shuff said in the Tiger locker room following the game.

“We tried to tell them (the Tigers) and the community all week that this was a good,
well-coached team,” he added.

THE KNIGHTS were just that – well disciplined, well coached and determined. By no stretch of the imagination were they intimidated by the Massillon reputation.

After exchanging punts, Nordonia took possession on its own 18 and junior fullback Mark Dennison charged straight up the middle for 13 yards. Two plays later Bungo, a junior, hit end George Westrich with a pass for 12 more yards.

Tailback Swift lost one of the four yards that were subtracted from his rushing total on the next play and then Bungo dropped back and connected with wingback Mike Brown in Tiger territory. Brown was on his way to a TD when he was caught from behind by the Tigers Don Stewart on the 20.

The going became difficult through the Tiger line, so on fourth-and-two Bungo booted the ball through the uprights from the Tiger 20, making it 3-0 with 3:53 left in the opening quarter.

The Tigers got the ball, ran three plays and punted on a fourth-and-one situation. Nordonia took over at its own 25 and passed and ran its way to a first down on the Massillon three-yard-line. The Tigers rose to the occasion, with Bill Harmon leading a charge that tackled Bungo on the six-yard line on second down and then at the 16 on third down.

Dennison took the snap for Nordonia, put the ball down on the24 and Bungo kicked it through the uprights for another three points with 6:46 left in the second quarter.

NORDONIA kicked off and Massillon’s Willie Conley fumbled the ball and the Knights recovered at the Tiger 35. Bungo threw a pass on the next play and defensive back Todd Ellis intercepted the ball on the 26. Runs by Harmon, Jay Harper and Keller took the ball down to Nordonia’s 18, where wingback Jeff Lab took the handoff and charged into the end zone, only to have the touchdown nullified by an illegal procedure penalty.

The ball went back to Nordonia’s 23 and on fourth down, 6-2 Bammerlin and 5-8 Chris Maduri battled for a Keller pass and it was knocked down by the defender.

On the second play of the third quarter the ball w as knocked out of Harmon’s arms and Nordonia recovered. The Knights got to the Massillon 18 when Willie Conley took what would have been a sure six points away from Nordonia receiver Mike Brown at the goal line and ran the interception back to the Massillon 40.

The Tigers drove to the enemy nine-yard stripe, where Tom Grizzard turned a
fourth-and-four into a first-and-goal at the five. Grizzard got the call on the next four plays but couldn’t punch through the Knights defense and Massillon lost possession inside the one-yard line.

Nordonia gained 35 yards before punting the ball away, with the Tigers getting it at their 39. Two yards were lost on two plays and on third-and-twelve Keller rolled in his right and hit Lab for a first down on Nordonia’s 45.

THE TIGERS gained four yards and on fourth down, Bammerlin got open at the 15 and took Keller’s pass, cut in and out ran his pursuers for a Tiger TD with 7:59 left in the game.
Keith Harmon was set to kick the conversion, but the snap was a snafu and by the time Harmon got to kick the ball he was staring at Nordonia face masks.

The Knights took the kickoff and combined good passing and running to get to the Tiger 18. Their drive was stalled there when Bill Harmon tackled Swift (who netted 97 yards rushing during the night) behind the line of scrimmage.

Conley and Harold Dorsey made game-saving plays during that drive. Conley batted down a pass that was right on Brown’s number 15 and a few plays later Brown took off a reverse from the Tiger 47 and Dorsey caught up with him at the 19.

On fourth down with 2:30 left Bungo was to kick a field goal but the holder, Dennison, couldn’t handle the snap and the Tiger defense swarmed him at the 28.

MASSILLON couldn’t get going and had to punt. Nordonia did its best to get into field goal position again but time ran out as Bungo scrambled while looking for a receiver and the last pass fell incomplete.

“Our problem was mental – in capital letters,” Shuff said. “We weren’t ready to play a tough team,” he added.

Nordonia 3 3 0 0 6
Massillon 0 0 0 6 6

SCORING SUMMARY
Nord. – Bungo, 30-yard field goal;
Nord. – Bungo, 34-yard field goal.
Mass. – Bammerlin, 41-yard pass from Keller (conversion kick failed).

NORDONIA – 6
Ends – Kynkor, Benton, Shull, Westrich, Maduri, Misenick, Batton.
Tackles – Corp, Griffith, Forepaugh, Chorba.
Guards – Archer, Lewandowski.
Center – Dorman.
Quarterbacks – Bungo, Lingo.
Running backs – Brown, Shirkman, Swift, Jeggers, Dennison, Prenslow.

MASSILLON – 6
Ends – Arner, Conley, Chovan, Matie, Bammerlin.
Tackles – Mark Lauber, Genet, Drobney, Easter, Mike Lauber.
Guards – Brand, Schumacher, Ramsey, Christoff.
Centers – Nagle, Border.
Quarterbacks – Keller, Traylor.
Running backs – Stewart, Warthen, Harper, B. Harmon, K. Harmon, Lab, Ellis, T. Grizzard, A. Grizzard, Dorsey, Toles.

OFFICIALS
Referee – Arthur Cirelli.
Umpire – Robert Steward.
Head Linesman – Henry Mastriann.
Field Judge – J. Donald Miller.
Back Judge – Clyde Shankle.

PAID ATTENDANCE – 11,021.

GRIDSTICK
Mass. Nord.
First downs-rushing 7 9
First downs-passing 2 5
First downs-penalties 0 0
Total first downs 9 14
Yards gained rushing 149 154
Yards lost rushing 8 18
Net yards gained rushing 141 136
Net yards gained passing 61 129
Total yards gained 202 265
Passes attempted 6 14
Passes completed 3 8
Passes intercepted by 2 0
Yardage on passes Intercepted 40 0
Times kicked off 2 3
Kickoff average (yards) 53.5 34.6
Kickoff returns 9yards) 38 19
Times punted 3 2
Punt average (yards) 30.3 37.0
Punt returns (yards) 0 7
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 2 0
Lost fumbled ball 2 0
Penalties 2 2
Yards penalized 10 20
Touchdowns rushing 0 0
Touchdowns passing 1 0
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous touchdowns 0 0
Total number of plays 42 60
Total time of possession 19:55 28:05

Bill Harmon