Tag: <span>Steubenville</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1953: Massillon 35, Steubenville 6

Tigers Rip Big Red 35-6
Capacity Crowd Sees Massillon Gridders Win Fourth Game Of Season

By LUTHER EMERY

A hard hitting Steubenville football team gave the Washington high school Tigers their stiffest battle of the season Friday evening but did not have enough to keep the Bengals from winning their fourth victory of the autumn campaign and their 17th in a row.

The score was 35-6 and the margin of Massillon victory might have been four touchdowns more had it not been for a couple of fumbles, a disagreement of officials and the expiration of time. We will get around to all that before the end of this story.

What matters most was that the Tigers kept their slate clean while removing the Big Red from the undefeated list in the state. What we regret is that it had to be done at the expense of an ex-Massillonian, Ray Hoyman, coach of Steubenville.

But there’s no time for sentiment on the football field, and there was none of it displayed in the game as the two teams battled it out throughout the night.
* * *
YOU HAD only to visit the Tigers dressing room after the contest to know the players had been through their most grueling contest of the season.

Several were limping and there was scarcely a lad who did not leave some skin behind in Harding stadium.

“That was the hardest hitting team we have met this year,” said Coach Chuck Mather as he gave the squad the once over after the game.

Tom Fisher had an injured leg, which could bench him for quite a spell; Chuck Lentz was banged up; John Traylor was limping and the merthiolate was being daubed around freely.

It was testimony of the brand of football the Big Red put up in defeat, and evidence that the Tigers had to be good to survive.

A capacity crowd of more than 9,000 attended the game and over a third of it was composed of Massillon fans.

The local delegation had plenty of opportunities to cheer as their favorite team slammed over five touchdowns through some sensational running and passing, and lost four others that might just as well have been marked up to their credit.
* * *
STEUBENVILLE folks had a jolly time themselves when their fleet back, Jim Johnson, intercepted a Tiger pass and went for the works in the last 37 seconds of the game.

It didn’t mean anything as far as getting close to victory was concerned but it was something to cheer about.

Of more interest from a local standpoint were the touchdowns that were not made. Twice the Tigers lost the ball on fumbles when within an arm’s reach of the goal line, and twice more they were denied scores, once through a difference of opinion of officials and again through the expiration of time.

The official twist came near the end of the first half when John Francisco apparently went over from the three-yard line. The head linesman, Glen Dicken, indicated a touchdown. The field judge disagreed and the referee took the field judge’s opinion. The Tigers had but two seconds left after that one and Rich Crescenze fumbled in his hurry to get off another play as the half ended.

Then at the end of the game the Massillon boys had a first down on the seven-yard line with precious seconds ticking away. Their timeouts already used up, Joe Eaglowski faked injury in an attempt to get a timeout, but the officials did not see him and time ran out before the ball could again be put in play.
* * *
THE ORANGE and black struck swiftly in the opening minutes of each half. An unintentional onside kick at the start of the game was covered by John Francisco on the Big Red 39-yard line. Six plays later, Crescenze passed 26 yards to Jim Letcavits for the touchdown, with the game only two minutes and 42 seconds old.

Then to start off the second half, John Traylor gathered in the Stubber kickoff on the 10 and raced 90 yards to score.

Sandwiched between these two touchdowns was a 44-yard touchdown pass, Crescenze to Traylor.

The locals scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Billy Stone went over from seven yards out on the first play of the quarter to climax a 40-yard march. Francisco bucked across the final six points from the one-yard line and Tom Boone completed a perfect evening of placement kicking by booting his fifth point after touchdown.

The Statistics show the Tigers’ superiority as good if not better than the score.

The locals made 31 first downs to the Stubbers three and gained 454 yards from scrimmage to 113 yards.

Where they failed was in loose ball handling. They fumbled seven times, losing the ball on four of the occasions.

Penalties hurt at times too. The Tigers lost 95 yards while Steubenville lost 47 for rule infractions.
* * *
THE TIGERS rolled up their yardage in, every possible way. They made much of it on the ends, hoping to spread the Big Red defense for quickies and counters through the line and they opened the secondary, particularly early in the game with some well placed passes. Crescenze and Carl Porter hit five receivers for two touchdowns and 133 yards.

Steubenville had a set of fast backs who were dangerous when loose. Fastest of all was John Stinson, a substitute who hadn’t intended playing this year because of a twice fractured leg. He didn’t pick up too much yardage since he only carried a couple of times. Next in line and a great back was Fred Hudson who was a threat every time he carried the ball. Jim Morgan and Jim Johnson, other backs, were also dangerous.

On the line, Veteran Tackle Bill Kerr played a whale of a game. Said Eaglowski, “He was the kind of guy who would smile and wink at you and then proceed to knock you to pieces.”
* * *
THE TIGERS had their good boys too. Francisco, Traylor, Homer Floyd and Billy Stone all ran well. Homer had a case of fumbleitis, largely because the Stubbers were tackling the ball.

Jim Letcavits looked good again at end and Bruce Schram at tackle, and you can’t start mentioning people without getting into Boone’s five placements after touchdowns and his fine kickoffs.

Here’s how the scoring went:

Steubenville won the toss and elected to receive. Boone kicked off, hit the ball on the side of his foot and Francisco grabbed it for the Tigers on the Big Red 39. Traylor and Francisco made it first on the 27, Traylor hit for five, but Crescenze covered a fumbled handoff for a loss of three. The Big Red line swarmed over Francisco for a yard loss. Then Crescenze stepped back and shot a pass to Letcavits for 26 yards and the first T.D. of the game. Two minutes and 42 seconds had expired.
* * *
THE TIGERS started next time from their 37. Traylor ripped off 10 after Floyd had failed to gain. Floyd went to the Big Red 44 and Crescenze pitched to Traylor for the remaining 44 yards and a touchdown. Five minutes and 56 seconds of the game had passed by on this one.

The Tigers didn’t threaten again until midway in the second period when they recovered Hudson’s fumble on the Big Red 24. Floyd raced to a first on the 15. Floyd raced to a first on the 15. Francisco made four and Floyd fumbled but recovered for a gain of three putting the ball on the eight. Francisco drove to a first down on the four. Floyd fumbled within reach of a touchdown and Johnson recovered for Steubenville.

The locals drove to the goal line the next time they got the ball as the last seconds were being ticked off on the clock. With 21 seconds to go, Francisco apparently went over from the two. The head linesman, we thought, as did Coach Mather, signaled for a T.D., but was overruled by the referee. Time was called with two seconds to go. Crescenze attempted to buck it over but fumbled and another touchdown effort was lost.

The third quarter got under way in dazzling fashion for the Tigers. Traylor gathered in the kickoff on the 10 and raced straight up the alley 90 yards to score in the first 16 seconds of play.

The Tigers next got the ball on a punt on their 25. Francisco and Traylor got off good runs as the ball was moved to a first on the 16. Floyd took it to the eight had the ball pulled from his arms and Steubenville covered. A third T.D. was lost.
* * *
AS THE THIRD period was fading the Tigers launched their fourth successful touchdown drive. Traylor was downed with a Big Red punt on the latter’s 40. Stone smacked for 15 and again raced to a first on the 12. Stone circle right end on the first play of the fourth period for the touchdown.

Floyd set the Tigers in motion for their final points when he hauled in one of Nick Medves’ passes on the Steubenville 46. Stone hit for 10 and after an exchange of five-yard penalties for delays, Porter circled left end for 23 yards and a first on the 13. Stone was stopped without gain but Halfback Andy Stavroff ran to the six.

A five-yard penalty on Steubenville for offside put the ball on the one and Francisco was given the honor of bucking it over.

Only 37 seconds of the game remained to be played when Johnson intercepted Porter’s pass and ran 65 yards for the Big Red touchdown. But even in those last 37 seconds the Tigers almost got another. They brought the kickoff back to their 45 and Stone almost got away as he ran to a first on the seven. It was at this point that Eaglowski played injured but nobody saw him until the game as over. A fourth touchdown lost.

The line-up and summary:
MASSILLON
ENDS – Letcavits, Lentz, Boone, Lopez, Lorch.
TACKLES – Schram, Dean, Williams, Maier, Woolley.
GUARDS – Agnes, Eaglowski, Gardner, Shilling.
CENTERS –Fisher, Grant.
QUARTERBACKS – Crescenze, Porter.
HALFBACKS – Traylor, Francisco, Longshore, Stavroff.
FULLBACKS – Floyd, Stone.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – Thomas, Starlipper, Pettress, Wilson, Fulton.
TACKLES – Snyder, Kerr, Underwood, Snair.
GUARDS – Starr, Bickerstaff, Brandt.
CENTER – Moncilovich.
QUARTERBACKS – Medves, White.
HALFBACKS – Johnson, Hudson, Stinson, Callas.
FULLBACKS – Morgan, Pylia.

Score by periods:
Massillon 14 0 7 14 35
Steubenville 0 0 0 6 6

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Letcavits; Traylor 2; Stone; Francisco.
Steubenville – Johnson.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Boone 5 (place kicks).

Officials
Referee – A.L. Walsh (Elwood City).
Umpire – Sam Hodnick (Canton).
Head Linesman – Glen Dicken (Pittsburgh).
Field Judge – Hub Radnour (Pittsburgh).

STATISTICS
Mass. Steub.
First downs 21 3
Passes attempted 15 7
Passes completed 5 1
Had passes intercepted 1 2
Yards gained passing 133 7
Yards gained rushing 321 106
Total yards gained 454 113
Yards lost 21 18
Net yards gained 433 95
Times kicked off 6 2
Average kickoff (yards) 45 37
Yards kickoffs returned by 100 93
Times punted 3 7
Average punt (yards) 37 34
Yards punts returned 63 13
Times fumbled 7 2
Lost ball on fumbles 4 1
Times penalized 9 9
Yards penalized 95 47

Jim Lectavits
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1952: Massillon 46, Steubenville 13

Tigers Roll Over Steubenville 46-13
Long Runs By Traylor And Nussbaum Sparkle Offense Of Massillon

By LUTHER EMERY

Steubenville’s Big Red wave was only a ripple today, calmed by the 46-13 lasing meted out by Washington high Friday evening as the 1951 titans of Ohio scholastic football clashed before 14,536 fans in Tiger stadium.

The Tigers stood the test, a double test in fact and gave every reason why they should stay at the top of the Associated Press poll another week in the 1952 title race.

Program Cover

Steubenville was adjudged the team that would test the caliber of the Massillon eleven this fall. The way the Tigers walloped their visitors, should leave no doubt in the minds of local fans but that Coach Chuck Mather has assembled another fine eleven. The proof was doubled in the manner in which the team struck back after tailing for the first time this season and after being scored on for the first time.r

The touchdown, coming after Steubenville covered a Massillon fumble on the 21-yard line early in the game served to arouse the Tigers. They countered with a fury greater than anyone had expected to gain the lead in five minutes and pile point on point the rest of the way.
* * *
THAT WAS the big test we have when waiting for – to see if the team would fold when behind. It didn’t.

Instead, the linemen and blocking backs shook little Johnny Traylor loose for two touchdowns the first quarter, Lee Nussbaum for two in the second quarter, and from then on it did not matter that Traylor and Nussbaum each scored again and John Francisco added another.

Four of those touchdowns came on long runs with Francisco handing off to Traylor on a punt return for 74 yards; Johnny going 65 on an off tackle play; Nussbaum doing a tight rope walk down the sidelines on a pitchout for 41 yards, and breaking through center for 32 yards and another beauty.

But when you are looking over Nussbaum’s ball carrying efforts you have to mark down as his hardest bit of work, a jaunt of 14 yards, a hard running, individual effort on fourth down that brought a first down on the 14-yard line in the Tigers’ initial touchdown march.
* * *
AND WHILE credit is being passed out for ball carrying, the efforts of Benny Bunch, the Big Red’s great little fullback should not be overlooked. He scored seven of Steubenville’s points and not only shined offensively but defensively as well.

However, reports that the Big Red were as good as last year, were an inflation that burst with the Steubenville bubble. The visitors did not have a Calvin Jones at tackle, a Gilliam on end or a Pumpkin Vincent to team with Bunch in the backfield.

They had a good football team, but a far cry from that of last year which was beaten out 13-6 by the Tigers in the last 10 seconds of play.

For a few minutes of the first period there were indications that maybe the folks were right about the Big Red’s ability. They pushed the Tigers over the field and scored their first touchdown with ease in the first four minutes of play.

Points were hard to get after that. Once they banged their way down to the two-yard line where Bunch fumbled and Massillon recovered. In the third period they turned a blocked Massillon punt into six points.
* * *
WHILE A fumble and a blocked punt helped the Big Red to its scoring efforts, a couple of penalties for roughing the kicker also proved costly to Steubenville and contributed to Massillon’s scoring. Twice the Big Red had Massillon marches stopped, and twice the team was penalized for roughing Johnny Traylor when he was punting on fourth down. On each occasion the Tigers took occasion of the new lease on life to march on to touchdowns.

Thus both teams sort of helped each other to score two touchdowns, and each fumbled away an opportunity. Bunch losing the one already mentioned on the two-yard line and Johnny Traylor dropping the ball after a very fine run that went to the Steubenville seven. The ball rolled back to the two where Steubenville covered it.

So you can count the breaks about even which would leave the score as it should be.

First downs again belie the difference in the two teams. Each eleven made the yardage 10 times but the yards gained column tells a different story. The Tigers had 362 net to Steubenville’s 152 and that does not include the 74-yard punt return by Traylor.
* * *
THE TIGER passing attack still isn’t the sharpest in the world. Two of eight were completed for 64 yards. The Big Red completed two of nine but also had two intercepted by Tom Boone who is getting quite adept in that department.

Best catch of the night, however, a one-handed effort by Bob Khoenle that would have been good for 40 yards, wasn’t allowed because Massillon was offside on the play.

Coach Mather used 28 players in the game but did most of his substituting on defense.

The Tigers used a 5-4-2 defense last night to cope with Steubenville’s offensive weapons. At times it faltered, but in the main succeeded.

Nobody knew who had the ball when Nick Medvis, Steubenville quarterback hurled a pretty 43-yard pass to Bill Fields in the third quarter. Fields and Boone both went up after the leather and came down together, but Fields had a little the better grip and managed to wrestle it away from Tom. It produced a first down on the 10-yard line, but the Big Red could go no furt6her and was thrown back to the 26 where it lost the ball.

The game maintained Massillon’s superiority over Steubenville on the gridiron. The Big Red last beat the Tigers in 1931 by a 67-0 score, a total that has not been excelled. The teams didn’t meet again until 1937 and the Tigers had won every game since save for a 7-7 tie in 1945.
* * *
MAYBE IT was because he was playing folks not far from his old home town of Hopedale that gave Johnny Francisco the jitters early in the game. He twice fumbled the kickoff which put the Tigers back on the seven at the start of the game. Then after the locals had earned a hard first down, Johnny again bobbled the pigskin and this time Bunch pounced on it on the Massillon 21. On the first play, Fed Hudson smashed through to the Tiger eight. Four plays later Bunch bounded over the goal line – or did he? Fans in the position to see said he did not get over, but the referee, Dan Tehan, called it, so the six points went up on the scoreboard.

The Tigers struck back, starting with the kickoff on their 39 and marched to a touchdown. They wouldn’t have made it, however, had Steubenville not drawn a 15-yard penalty for roughing Traylor when he punted on fourth down. The penalty took the ball to the Big Red 42. Traylor made five yards and Nussbaum six for a first down on the 31. The Big Red braced and held the Tigers to three yards on the next three downs, but Nussbaum came through with his hardest run of the game, a pitchout around left end that brought a first down on the 14.

Francisco picked up four and Traylor went the remaining 10, juggling the ball, but hanging on to it as he was tackled while crossing the goal line. Boone kicked the extra point.

The Tigers forced Steubenville to punt after the kickoff and Francisco made a running catch of the ball on his 26-yard line. He headed for the sideline, handed the ball off to Traylor who caught the Big Red flat-footed and ran 74 yards to score.

Maybe that one should not have counted. Francisco appeared to hand the ball illegally forward to Traylor. It he did, he fooled the officials who counted the six points. Boone kicked the extra point and that ended the scoring for the first period.
* * *
THE PRODUCTION of points was turned over to Nussbaum in the second period. It had hardly gotten under way until Lee tucked a pitchout under his arm and behind a terrific block by Khoenle, went 41 yards for six points, threading his way into the open along the sideline.

He scored from 32 yards out next time the Tigers got the ball, breaking out through the middle and cutting to the sideline behind good blocking.

Nussbaum made it three in a row as he scored the first points of the third period on a pitchout from the two yard line. Khoenle made it possible, however with a brilliant shoe-string catch from Misere for a gain of 39 yards and first down on the two.

Steubenville staged a little offensive thrust that took the ball to the 10 and then went backward to the 26. The Tigers were also thrown back and Traylor tried to punt. Bunch blocked the kick and Pilya scooped it up and went over for a touchdown. Bunch ran the extra point over and that ended the Big Red scoring for the night.

The Tigers got another in the third quarter on Traylor’s 65-yard jaunt and came back in the fourth period to score again. Francisco going over from the four-yard line after a drive of 92 yards. A 16-yard pass caught by Sam Williams and a 55-yard run by Francisco ate up the biggest hunks of yardage.

Coach Mather was obviously pleased with the showing of his team and his players who emerged from the game without serious injury. A couple of substitutes who might have gotten into the contest were kept on the bench last night as a portion of disciplinary action taken against them for keeping after hours at Cincinnati last week. Mather left it up to the squad to decide the punishment. The members voted 80 laps around the field for the pair next week.

The Tigers have their weak spots, most noticeable of which to fans are in the kicking department. Geiser is having difficulty getting distance on the kickoffs and Traylor isn’t given good protection punting. All season he has been barely getting the ball away.

Three In A Row

MASSILLON
ENDS – Williams, Khoenle, Longshore, Crone, Letcavits.
TACKLES – Younkers, Geiser, Schram, Gumpp, Rubio, Dean.
GUARDS – Fabianich, Kraus, Clinage, Agnes, Shilling.
CENTERS – Corral, Kimmins.
QUARTERBACK – Misere.
HALFBACKS – Francisco, Traylor, Tasseff, Porter, Millar, Boone.
FULLBACKS – Nussbaum, Stewart, Stone.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – Thomas, Fields, StarliPer.
TACKLES – R. Conkel, Snyder, Underwood.
GUARDS – Baldwin, Kerr, Bickerstaff.
CENTERS – Amick, Moncilovich.
QUARTERBACK – Medvis.
HALFBACKS – Clowers, Hidson, Wickham, Johnson, Baker, Ray, Whaley, Giannamore.
FULLBACKS – Bunch, Carney, Pilys.

Score by periods:
Massillon 14 13 12 7 46
Steubenville 6 0 7 0 13

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Traylor 3; Nussbaum 3; Francisco.
Steubenville – Bunch, Pilya.

Points after touchdowns:
Massillon – Boone 4 (placekicks).
Steubenville – Bunch (carried)

Referee – Tehan.
Umpire – Holzbach.
Head Linesman – Schill.
Field Judge – Shopbell.

STATISTICS
Mass. Steub.
First downs 10 10
Passes attempted 8 9
Passes completed 2 2
Had Pases intercepted 0 2
Yards gained passing 64 54
Yards gained rushing 332 140
Total yards gained 396 194
Yards lost 34 42
Net yards gained 362 152
Times kicked off 7 4
Average kickoff (yards) 35 35
Yards kickoffs returned by 12 43
Times punted 2 5
Average punt (yards) 16 32
Had punt blocked 1 0
Yards punts returned by 78 12
Times fumbled 6 6
Lost ball on fumbles 4 1
Times penalized 4 6
Yards penalized 30 60

Bob Khoenle
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1951: Massillon 13, Steubenville 6

TIGERS DEFEAT STEUBENVILLE
13-6 IN LAST 10 SECONDS 88-Yard Drive Produces Winning Touchdown

By LUTHER EMERY

Unless you are breathing in puffs and your heart pounding at the rate of 220 beats a minute, you can’t appreciate this story for you were not one of the 2,000 Massillon fans who saw victory snatched from the embers of a Big Red fire in Steubenville Friday evening that left 10,000 spectators gasping in their seats and wondering if what they had seen had really happened.

The score was 6-6 and 10 seconds, only 10 seconds remained to be played when Referee Titus Lobach raised his hands signaling that Henry “Ace” Grooms, big Tiger fullback, had lunged over the goal line for the winning touchdown of the game. It mattered not that Jim Rubio kicked the extra point to make the final score 13-6, for Steubenville didn’t have a chance to run a play after the following kickoff.

What a game!

It will go down in history as one of the fiercest fought, one of the best “timed” in the history of Tiger football, taking its place with the never-to-be forgotten 7-6 triumph over Cleveland Shaw in the last 27 seconds of play in 1922.

Brother, pass the aspiring – and an orchid for Grooms and a crown for Chuck Mather which could just as easily have been a fool’s cap, had his daring not paid off in the Tigers’ final victory march.

You can write off the rest of the game as a brilliant battle between the defenses of an inspired Steubenville team and a tenacious Tiger eleven.

Both were supposed to be coping with high-geared offenses last night. They were geared to the occasion – they yielded ground stubbornly – Steubenville enough to let Massillon score in the second quarter – Massillon enough to allow Steubenville to tally in the third period.

The teams were headed for an unexpected 6-6 tie when in the middle of the fourth quarter Bill Kerr of Steubenville got off a beautiful punt that put the Tigers in a hole, deep in their own territory and on their own 12-yard line.

The best local fans could hope for at that stage of the game was a couple of first downs that could get the orange and black out into their front yard where a fumble would not be so dangerous or where they could punt back into Stubber territory.

The Tigers had different designs. Aroused, they began a march that went 88 yards for a touchdown. The distance actually traveled was 98 yards because two five-yard penalties had to be overcome in the drive.

Yards came hard, but everyone counted. Eight times Grooms carried the ball in the effort. He was a demon to the Big Red as he gained on every play.

He hit for four yards, Bobby Grier for three and Bobby Joe Johnson for seven to gain a first down on the Massillon 26. A five-yard penalty set the Tigers back to their 21, but they came smashing back with Grier hitting for six, Tom Straughn for seven and Grooms for 16 and a first down on the Big Red 48.

The pounding which the Tigers had been giving the Big Red line all evening finally began to tell. Grooms took the ball two more times, made seven yards, then three for a first down on the 38. Grier smashed through for 15 and another first down on the 23 with two minutes and 59 seconds left to play.

Mather pulled Grooms out of the line-up to give him a few instructions. Straughn made three yards in two attempts and Grooms was sent back into the game. The fans groaned as the referee stepped off a five-yard penalty . . . the Tigers had already consumed their allotted times out.

Instead of it being third down and seven to go, it was now third and 12. But Mather had gambled and won.

Those who would have jumped all over him today, for the substitutions and penalty, were singing his praise, for Grooms carried out instructions and ran hard to his right for 16 yards and a first down on the nine.

It was Grooms again, this time to the left, and he got as far as the three-yard line. He smashed through for another yard, and on third down, ran hard to his right to go down beneath a pile of humanity at the point where goal line meets side line. When the last body was extricated, Ace was found clinging tightly to the ball, half-an-arm length over the goal line.

A look at the clock showed only 10 seconds remaining of the game. Rubio kicked the extra point and the Tigers just had time to kickoff to the Big Red. The game ended before they could put the ball in play again, and the Tigers had their third victory of the season, and their 17th in a row since they were last defeated by Mansfield in the middle of the 1949 season.

Grooms gained 55 yards in the surge to victory.
* * *
UP TO THE TIGERS’ final drive, the game was virtually even, with each team having gained approximately the same number of yards and defense outshining offense on both sides.

Deduct the 98 yards from the 248 made from the scrimmage by the Tigers and the latter would be left with 150, just 16 more than the yardage gained by the Big Red.

While Massillon fans celebrated the victory, keen disappointment filled the Steubenville dressing room, for the touchdown blow snatched fame away from Ray Hoyman, a former Massillon man who has done a great job of coaching in Steubenville in the three seasons he has been there. It’s too bad it had to happen to as fine a fellow. While praise does not produce points, let it be said for Ray, that every Massillon fan expressed admiration for the battle put up by his team, and we heard nothing but compliments for his Big Red from Steubenville fans.
* * *
THE TIGERS were lucky to win, if you call winning with 10 seconds to go – luck. Had not Grooms gone over when he did, the game would probably have ended before the Tigers could have again got off a play from scrimmage – in which case they would have been unlucky. How you look at it is all a matter of 10 seconds.

You can give the defense credit for playing the game last night and if you want to single out a few boys for praise in this department, give Jim Geiser and Chuck Vilet a big pat on the back, and don’t spare the praise for the other members of the defensive platoon, mainly John Tasseff, Weldon Younkers, Joe Sapia, Alex Matie, Dave Gable, Terry Snyder, Bob Khoenle, John Traylor and Willie Longshore. And don’t forget big Frank Gilliam, and Calvin Jones of Steubenville. Both were knocked out in the touchdown drive.

Massillon’s Snyder did double duty, playing left guard on offense, a position new to him and backing up the line on defense. His work was deserving of special praise.

It was evident early in the game that the Tigers were dealing with a team that had the will to be their master. Yards were lost on the first play from scrimmage and the locals were forced to punt. They got a big break after stopping Steubenville when Kerr, back to punt received a poor pass from center lost 19 yards as he ran back to pick up the ball and was dumped on the 11 by Tasseff. The Big Red dug in and stopped the Tigers, taking over on the two.
* * *
A SHORT PUNT that went only to the Big Red 41, started the Tigers on their first successful touchdown march. Grier plunged for five yards and Straughn whirled to a first down on the 27. Grooms made two at right end and Straughn on two plays went to a first down on the 15. Grier made eight yards and Grooms lunged through center for a first down on the four-yard line. It took four plays to get it over, with Grier finally plunging across on the second play of the second period. Rubio’s kick for the extra point went wide of the uprights.

The teams battled through the rest of the quarter with neither threatening to score and Vilet having the edge in the punting duel.

Neither team made any progress the second half until Jim Prayso intercepted Paul Francisco’s pass on the Tiger 35 and was downed in his tracks as he caught the ball.

Halfback Clarence Lawson carried twice and got a first down on the Tiger 24. He was made the work horse of the Big Red as he smashed three more times in a series of four plays for a first down on the Tiger 10.

There Prayso crossed up the Tigers. He darted off tackle, saw the hole blocked and scooted along the side, to circle right end and score for Steubenville.
* * *
WITH THE SCORE tied at 6-6 the try for extra point was an important one. You felt as though you could reach out and strum the tension and make it ping like a violin string, so taut was the crowd as Howard Linn lined up his kick. The ball was wide of the uprights, however, and Massillon fans breathed easier.

There was nothing else to write home about until the fourth quarter got under way and the Tigers staged their victory march.

Only because of this drive, the Tigers were able to show a substantial advantage in the statistics – 10 first downs to five, a net of 227 yards gained to 105 yards for Steubenville.

Neither team had anything to blow about in the way of passing. It was virtually a useless weapon.
* * *
THE TIGERS completed the only one of the night out of five attempts for 27 yards. Steubenville tried six passes and its only catch was the interception of a Massillon aerial.

The Tigers played over three quarters of the game without the services of Glenn Tunning, veteran left guard, who was removed early in the first period with an injured leg – a charley horse.

Grooms likewise did not try to kick the points after touchdown because of a charley horse.

In addition to Grooms ‘ 107 yards, other Massillon backs gained ground as follows: Grier 49 yards in nine carries; Straughn 42 yards in 15 carries; Nussbaum 15 yards in five; Johnson seven in one and Paul Francisco one in one.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Shilling, Brenner, Taseff, Matie.
TACKLES – Gibson, Strobel, Geiser, Younkers, Kraus.
GUARDS – Tunning, Grunder, Snyder, Gable, Moyer, Stewart.
CENTERS – Roderick, Sapia.
QUARTERBACKS – P. Francisco, Longshore, Dommer.
HALFBACKS – Grier, Straughn, Johnson, Khoenle, Traylor, J. Francisco, Milncek.
FULLBACKS – Nussbaum, Grooms, Vilet.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – Gilliam, Fields, Pilya, Thomas
TACKLES – Yohn, Linn, R. Conkel
GUARDS – Jones, Kerr, D. Conkel
CENTERS – e. Locust, Amick.
QUARTERBACKS – Medves, Vincent.
HALFBACKS – Prayso, Lawson, Dixon, R. Locust, Stinson.
FULLBACKS – Bunch.

Score by periods:
Massillon 0 6 0 7 13
Steubenville 0 0 6 0 6

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Grier; Grooms.
Steubenville – Prayso.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Rubio (placekick).

Officials
Referee – Lobach.
Umpire – Boone.
Head Linesman – Jenkins.
Field Judge – Shopbell.

STATISTICS
Mass. Steub.
First downs 10 5
Passes attempted 5 6
Passes completed 1 0
Had passes intercepted 1 0
Yards gained passing 27 0
Yards gained rushing 221 134
Total yards gained 248 134
Yards lost 21 29
Net yards gained 227 105
Times punted 5 8
Average punt (yards) 33 31
Yards punts returned by 49 19
Times kicked off 3 2
Average kickoff 36 46
Yards kickoffs returned by 40 13
Times fumbled 2 3
Lost ball on fumbles 0 0
Times penalized 8 3
Yards penalized 60 25

Ace Grooms
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1950: Massillon 35, Steubenville 12

16,175 See Tigers Beat Steubenville 35-12
Big Red Becomes First Eleven To Cross Goal Line Of Massillon Team

By LUTHER EMERY

Washington high school’s goal line is no longer uncrossed. The Big Red wave from down Ohio River way, rolled over the Massillon zero stripe twice Friday evening but it wasn’t enough to keep the Tigers from chalking up their fourth straight victory by a score of 35-12 before 16,175 fans, largest crowd of the season.

Just as expected, the Tigers ran into tough competition in Steubenville which not only became the first team to cross the Massillon goal this season but which actually out-scored the local team 6-0 in the second period.

The Massillon gridders were not at their best. Usually when a team does not look up to form, the opposition is part of the reason, and such was partially the case last night.

Steubenville gave ground stubbornly during most of the game and first downs came the hard way though the Tigers had an 18-6 advantage in this department.

But with all the spirited play on the part of the Big Red, the local team did not appear sharp. Blocking was not up to par and players did not appear to be on the alert in throwing their bocks, they picked the wrong man to throw the leather at and permitted tacklers to slither through to mess up the maneuver.

“I wasn’t at all pleased with the performance of the boys,” Coach Chuck Mather said after the game. “I didn’t think our blocking was a sharp as it should have been and too many times one or more players got mixed on assignments and blocked out the wrong man.”

The showing of the Steubenville team was no surprise to Mather. He anticipated trouble, found it and his warnings that Perry Jeter, fleet Big Red halfback was dangerous at all times were verified in the third quarter when the speedster ran 74 yards for Steubenville’s second touchdown of the game.
* * *
HONORS for scoring the first touchdown against Massillon this season went to Clarence Lawson, sophomore halfback, who sparked the Big Red touchdown drive of 88 yards in the second period. He went over from the one-yard line, where the ball had been placed as a result of a five-yard penalty on Massillon.

The Big Red showed the Tigers more offense and defense than they had seen all season, though the locals had the edge in this portion of the statistics, gaining 349 net yards, (the least made by the Tigers in a game this season) against Steubenville’s 155 yards.

Perry Jeter and Lawson furnished most of the Big Red’s punch.

The Tigers didn’t have an individual ball carrying star. Bob Grier scored three of the locals’ touchdowns, one from 22 yards out and the others on two and one-yard plays.

The Tigers used a pressing defense that caused many in the stands to wonder why the Big Red did not pass when the Massillon secondary was so near the line of scrimmage. The answer was furnished in the later stages of the game when the Big Red did most of its passing, none coming close to the intended receiver.

The Tigers tried 10 passes and hit on three for 78 yards. Two others were dropped by their receivers.
* * *
FORTUNATELY the locals came out of the game from what appeared to be no serious injuries. “We are thankful for that,” said Mather in the dressing room after a quick check of all players.

Fans groaned when they saw big Cliff Streeter sprawled out on the turf but it only proved to be a severe leg cramp.

Thirty-three players were used in the game but many of them played only a few minutes.
* * *
THE FIRST period was seven minutes old when the Tigers chalked up the first of their five touchdowns. They lost the ball on a fumble on the kickoff but began rolling after an exchange of punts in which they got the ball on the Big Red 47-yard line. Freddie Close on first down hurled a fine 37-yard pass to Cliff Streeter who was nailed on the 10-yard line. Russell banged his way to the two and Bob Howe plunged it over for the score.

A poor punt after the following kickoff gave the locals the ball on the Big Red 40 and placed them in position to drive for another touchdown. Russell, running beautifully from a trap, went 24 yards to the 16. The Big Red dug in and was hard to move from there on. Grier banged for three, Russell four and Howe made it first down on the four. Howe hit again for two and Russell smacked center….. (NEXT LINES ARE UNREADABLE)

….ball most of the second period with its 88-yard touchdown drive. The Big Red got the ball through a punt on their own 12.

With Benny Bunch and Clarence Lawson doing the lugging, the visitors reeled off six first downs, principally on end runs to put the pigskin on the six-yard line. An off side penalty against Massillon advanced the leather to the one-yard line where Lawson went over for the first touchdown against the Tigers this year. Bunch’s attempted kick for the extra point was low. All of Steubenville’s first downs were packed into this one drive.
Score: 14-6.
* * *
THE TIGERS took the kickoff and aided by two passes, Close to Streeter for 16 yards and Close to Bill Stoner for 25, had the ball on the 19-yard line when the half ended.

The first time the local team got the ball in he second half it scored. A Steubenville punt went out of bounds on the Massillon 36, Grier ripped off 29 yards for a first down on the visitors’ 35 and Russell narrowed the distance by 13 more yards. Grier went around end for 22 and the score. Score: 21-6.

Steubenville was forced to punt after the kickoff, Stoner being downed with the ball on a short return on his own 45. It took a lot of hard driving to get to the goal.
* * *
THE TIGERS rammed over their final touchdown with less than a minute left to play in the fourth quarter. The drive started from the Massillon 35 where the local team took the ball on downs. Howe got away for a 37-yard run that moved the pigskin to the Big Red 28. Steubenville was penalized five yards and Freddie Waikem raced to a first down on the 15. Lee Nussbaum picked up six and Howe placed the ball on the four. Ray Lane narrowed the distance to two yards and Grier went over for the final points of the game.
Score: 35-12.

Jerry Krisher kicked all of Massillon’s extra points after touchdown, giving him a string of 13 without a miss. Unofficially it should be 14, since he had to kick one twice because of the Tigers being off side.

Today, 50 members of their teams and their dads were taken by the Tiger Booster club to Columbus to see the Ohio State-Pitt football game. They made the trip in private autos. A chicken dinner at Centerburg was on the schedule.

The line-up and summary:

MASSILLON
ENDS – W. Brenner, Streeter, Woolbert.
TACKLES – Gibson, Grunder, Strobel, Younker, Geiser, Mitchell.
GUARDS – Tunning, Reichenbach, Moyer, J. Howe, Sapia, Gleason, Laps.
CENTERS – Krisher, Dowd.
QUARTERBACK – Close.
HALFBACKS – Grier, Russell, Waikem, Nussbaum, Stoner, Khoenle, Francisco, Lane, Stewart.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – Gilliam, Jones, Fields.
TACKLES – Ruggieri, Linn, Yohn, R. Conkel.
GUARDS – Bodo, Suggs, Churchwell, Morrow.
CENTERS – Wells, Locust.
QUARTERBACKS – Medves, Wickham.
HALFBACKS – P. Jeter, Thompson, L. Jeter, Lawson.
FULLBACK – Bunch.

Score by periods:
Massillon 14 0 14 7 35
Steubenville 0 6 6 0 12

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Howe; Russell; Grier 3.
Steubenville – P. Jeter; Lawson.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Krisher 5 (placekicks).

Referee – Rupp.
Umpire – Brubaker.
Head Linesman – Grubbs.
Field Judge – Jenkins.

Statistics Of The Game
Mass. Steub.
First downs 18 6
Passes attempted 10 8
Passes completed 3 0
Had passes intercepted 7 0
Yards gained passing 78 0
Yards gained rushing 288 192
Total yards gained 366 192
Yards lost 17 37
Net yards gained 340 155
Kickoffs 6 3
Average kickoff (yards) 43.6 33
Yards kickoffs returned by 22 101
Punts 3 8
Average punt (yards) 38.3 25.3
Yards punts returned by 9 15
Times fumbled 4 2
Lost ball on fumble 2 1
Times penalized 6 3
Yards penalized 40 13.5

Jim Reichenbach
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1949: Massillon 63, Steubenville 0

Tigers Roll Over Steubenville 63-0
Long Runs, Dazzling Passes Feature Locals’ Fourth Victory Of Year

By LUTHER EMERY

The Washington high school Tiger bared its fangs at Steubenville Friday evening and the Big Red football team was clawed 63-0 under the most potent attack unleashed by the Massillon team this season.

As a result, Massillon Coach Chuck Mather was a rather unpopular fellow today in the place he once called home. Steubenville fans from their booing in the stands accused him of trying to run up a score, though he used 36 players in the game, experimented with passes throughout the third period and played a second, third and part of a fourth team the last quarter.

It was the 13th game of the present Massillon – Steubenville series, which began in 1937, and the Tigers 12th victory. The 1945 game ended in a tie score. Prior to 1937, Steubenville won twice, in 1930 and 1931.

For the greater part of the first period of last night’s game it appeared that a spirited but lighter Steubenville team might make a game out of it as the Big Red drove to a first down on the Tiger 15-yard line , but when the locals braced, stopped the threat and scored a touchdown, the spark began to disappear and left completely after the second TD.

After the second touchdown it was just a question how large the score would be and by the end of the half it had already mounted to 35-0.
* * *
MATHER used his second team on defense throughout the last two periods, while his first team did offensive duty the third period but experimented with passes which also scored touchdowns and when the second team finally took over the offense, in the fourth quarter, it maneuvered to the final points of the game.

The Tigers ran and passed for the distance last night which will account for their being short in only one department of the statistics – first downs. They only made nine to Steubenville’s 11, but you do not count touchdown runs of 40 and 50 yards as first downs. They show up in the yardage where the locals were overwhelmingly superior, gaining 180 by passing and 399 by rushing for a total of 579. They lost but 11, giving them a net offense from scrimmage of 568 yards to Steubenville’s net of 188 yards.

Seldom has a Massillon team flashed on offense like that seen last night, and best of all, not one player but every member of the backfield had a hand in it. Ace Crable went 33 yards for one of his two touchdowns; Clarence Johnson ran 44 and 33 yards for his two and threw a 57-yard pass to Don Slicker for another; Dick Jacobs scooted 57 yards for one of a pair and Don James fired a long one to Joe Gleason good for 56 yards and a set of points. The final score coming with every position filled by a member of the second team was turned in by Freddie Waikem on a 15-yard right end jaunt on a double handoff.
* * *
AS THOUGH sensational runs and passes were not enough, the locals also set what probably was a record for kicking points after touchdown by ganging nine in a row without a miss through the uprights. Jerry Krisher booted seven and Clarence Johnson two.

Maybe it was only a coincidence but the kickers for the first time were using a tape made famous by Lou (The Toe) Groza, specialty kicker of the Cleveland Browns. They got it Thursday, practiced one evening and came through with out a miss last night.

It was too bad Ray Hoyman, former Tiger football player and head coach of the Big Red had to be the victim of the Tigers’ sharpest attack of the year. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

The Steubenville folk didn’t like it too well either. Every time the Massillon first team took over on offense the second half, a hoot went up from the stands. But Chuck had some pass plays he wanted his varsity to try out against competition for future games and it was unfortunate for Ray that they worked.
* * *
IT WAS HIS intention to do some experimenting the second half, which ordinarily slows down a game, but last night the Tigers were on, and everything they tried seemed to work, while the Big Red after a fast start, ran into a series of disheartening fumbles that gave the Tigers the ball six times.

That’s the kind of a game it was – the limit on everything. A team ordinarily recovers some of its fumbles, but not for the Big Red last night. It lost the ball on every bobble.

The Tigers escaped with only the injury, Jerry Krisher sustaining a bruised hip, which did not appear serious. Richard Davison, Steubenville tackle, was carried off the field on a stretcher, but an examination in the dressing room revealed that he had only received a painful shoulder separation which should not keep him out more than a couple of weeks.

Mather was pleased with the improved showing of his forward pass weapon which hasn’t been too potent this year. The percentage of completions wasn’t too good, five of 15, but that was more than made up in the 180 yards gained.

Steubenville presented a sharp running attack to start the evening with its twin halfbacks, Larry and Parry Jeter and Freshman Fullback Bennie Bunch, shoving the Tigers back on their heels.
* * *
THE BIG RED likewise stopped the local team the first time it got the gall when Bunch intercepted Don James’ pass.

It was different the next time the pigskin changed hands, however. Dick Jacobs ran 62 yards to a touchdown but the ball was called back and the Tigers penalized 15 yards for Johnson’s needless clip. On the next play Johnson made up for it by lashing out around his left end in a 44-yard dash to pay dirt.

The quarter ended without further scoring, but the Tigers made it 14-0 early in the second period when Krisher covered Harry Thompson’s fumble on the Big Red 33-yard line. On the first play Crable scooted around his right end, twisting away from several groups of tacklers, for the six points.

An intercepted pass by Dick Shine who ran the ball back to his 43-yard line set the stage for the third touchdown, which came three plays later with Jacobs running beautifully for 57 yards and the score mounted to 21-0.

A fumble by Larry Jeter on the first play after the following kickoff was covered by Waikem on the Big Red 36. The Tigers maneuvered to a first down on the 13 and Crable on fourth down carried seven yards across the goal. That and the extra point swelled the total to 28-0.
* * *
THE SCORE mounted to 35-0 when the Tigers got the ball on their own 35 through a punt, lugged it to the Big Red 33 where Johnson shot through left tackle on a quick opener for the remaining distance.

Mather decided to experiment the second half and that he did. The Big Red kicked to Johnson who got back to his 43 and on the first play he started out as through to run his left end, cut back and when he was just about to be surrounded, fired a long pass up the field that Slicker took on the dead run and went over. The ….(line is unreadable)…air. Johnson throwing it five yards behind the line of scrimmage and Slicker gathering it in on the 15.

Steubenville again gave the ball to the Tigers on a fumble covered by Bob Howe on the 29. James’ pass to Jacobs put it on the three-yard line and three plays later, Jacobs went around right end to score and bring the total up to 49-0.

Another fumble by Larry Jeter, covered by Craig Kelly on the Tiger 44, got things in motion for the eighth touchdown of the game. It only took one play to get it, James tossed to Gleason for the remaining yards.

The Tiger second and third teams played the entire fourth quarter and scored one touchdown with Waikem carrying over from the 15 after he, Lane and Glenn Tunning had advanced the ball on a march of 65 yards.

Power To Spare
MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, GLEASON, Studer, W. Brenner, Houston, Corbett, Murray.
TACKLES – KRISHER, SCHUMACHER, Stanford, M. Roderick, Duke, Gibson.
GUARDS – SHINE, REICHENBACH, Laps, Kelly, Gibson.
CENTERS – PATT, Turkal, Vliet, Martin.
QUARTERBACKS – JAMES, Close, Francisco.
HALFBACKS – JOHNSON, JACOBS, Waikem, Lane, B. Brenner, Tunning, Russell, Woolbert.
FULLBACKS – CRABLE, F. Grier, R. Grier, Howe.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – WASHINGTON, JONES.
TACKLES – DAVISON, LINN, Yohn, Ruggieri.
GUARDS – CHURCHWELL, BODO, Morrow.
CENTERS – WELLS, Henderson.
QUARTERBACKS – LELLI, Beattle.
HALFBACKS – L. JETER, P. JETER, Thompson, Brokaw, Lawson.
FULLBACKS – BUNCH.

Score by periods:
Massillon 7 28 21 7 63

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Johnson 2; Crable 2; Jacobs 2; Slicker; Gleason; Waikem.

Points after touchdowns:
Massillon – Krisher 7; Johnson 2 (placekicks).

Referee – Gross.
Umpire – C.W. Rupp.
Head Linesman – Schill.
Field Judge – Long.

Statistics
Mass. Steub.
First downs 9 11
Passes attempted 15 9
Passes completed 5 3
Had passes intercepted 2 1
Yards gained passing 180 57
Yards gained rushing 399 174
Total yards gained 579 231
Yards lost 11 43
Net yards gained 568 183
Times kicked off 10 1
Average kickoff 44 37
Yards kickoffs returned 20 170
Times punted 2 5
Average punt 38 29
Yards punts returned 0 13
Times penalized 8 2
Yards penalized 60 20
Times fumbled 2 6
Lost ball on fumbles 1 6

C.J. Johnson
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1948: Massillon 34, Steubenville 21

Tigers Whip Steubenville 34-21
Massillon Gridders Stave Off Late Surge By Big Red Gridders

By LUTHER EMERY

MASSILLON 34, STEUBENVILLE 21!

Read it, thank your lucky stars it ended that way and give Chuck Mather’s Tigers and Howard Brinker’s Big Red boys a pat on the back for having played one of the finest offensive football games seen in Tiger stadium in many a moon.

It was a game long to be remembered, a battle of touchdowns, with both teams too strong offensively for the other’s defense and each ready to take advantage of every break and scoring opportunity.

Program Cover

Steubenville showed its power in the first two minutes by marching the ball from kickoff to the Tiger goal line, and the Tigers let the Big Red know they were not to be trifled with by tying up the count two minutes later.

That’s the kind of football you read about in story books and seldom see. But it was on display in real life before 18,000 fans in Tiger stadium Friday evening and what a game it turned out to be.

The Tigers were the better team on the field, on the scoreboard and statistically, but they were playing with dynamite when with a 27-7 lead they gave the Big Red an opportunity to light their fuses in the fourth quarter. The latter exploded with two touchdowns within four minutes of each other that had everyone on the seat’s edge wondering what was coming next.
* * *
IT WAS one of those games in which anything was apt to happen at anytime with breaks playing an important part in the scoring. Each team fumbled five times and only one of the 10 fumbles was recovered, that by Massillon. The visitors had their butter fingers the first half and the Tigers made the most of every break. In the last two periods it was the Massillon team that couldn’t hold the ball and the Big Red who seized the opportunity to turn the bobbles into touchdown drives.

Had the breaks only gone Steubenville’s way, the Tigers could easily have been the loser, for the Big Red was strong at the tackles and had speed and deception in the backfield of a caliber good enough to defeat most of its opponents this season.

However, the Tigers, despite a series of bad breaks which cost them two certain touchdowns, got help on a couple of others and emerged on the long end of the score.
We believe the Tigers the better team, possibly by as much or more (unreadable….) between the two scores, but we also are certain that no one can toy with Steubenville this year and get away with it.

No one visioned a possible 28-17 Steubenville victory on the scoreboard anymore than did Massillon’s Chuck Mather after the Big Red had scored its third touchdown with five minutes of the game remaining to be played.
* * *
MATHER, with a 27-7 lead built up in the first two periods, was playing the part of a good fellow and allowing as many members of his team as possible to get in a period or two of football for experience which would also apply toward that letter M which is the goal of every varsity player. He used 25 in all and had quite a patched up lineup in the ball game when lightning struck twice within four minutes and the Big Red crept up to within six points of his team. There were long seconds and dark moments until Mather’s regulars could again take over and surge to their fifth touchdown and put the game on ice.

It takes a good team to do that and the Tigers’ comeback attests to the quality of the team even more than the 34-21 margin of victory.

Massillon fans were proud of their team for that. They liked the way their Tigers came right back after being swept off their feet to match Steubenville’s first period touchdown and make the visiting fans swallow their cheers and they liked the way they retained their fourth period calm when, with but a six-point lead and the possibility of another disastrous fumble turning victory into defeat, they drove 71 yards for their fifth and last touchdown.

It was considered a test game for the Tigers and they passed the examination by a sufficient margin so as to convince the skeptics of their ability.

Regardless of breaks, any team that can roll up 27 points on Steubenville in two periods this year is a good football team and we have an idea no other will bag that many against the Big Red in two consecutive periods the remainder of the season.
* * *
THE TIGERS were hitting and running hard. To pick out an outstanding performer from just watching the game would be an injustice to any boy. We’ll let Chuck Mather decide that from the pictures. All members of the starting backfield, Jack Hill, Clarence Johnson, Irvin Crable and Capt. Al Brown, ran well and each had a part in the scoring, while the line ripped openings in the Steubenville forward wall that the backs poured through for long gains.

They rolled up 489 yards from scrimmage which is more yards than any Massillon team has made in a single game since the middle of the 1943 season. Their improved passing attack gained 138 of these yards for them, while they got the remaining 351 on running plays. Steubenville made 322 yards, of which 80 were on passes and 242 on ball carrying. First downs were 18 to 12 in the Tigers’ favor.

Between them, Clarence Johnson of the local eleven and Gino Leilli, of Steubenville kicked seven off eight attempted goals which is some placekicking for high school boys. The only miss was Johnson’s second of five attempts. The ball went wide of the uprights.

The Steubenville backs, Harry Thompson, Nick Tsangeos, Bob Jones and Waddell Snyder, caused the Tigers no little trouble and Robert Beattie with a little better receiving would have had a good percentage of pass completions. He can toss the ball well and several of his pegs marked down as pass failures went directly into the arms of teammates.

The Steubenville ball carriers in fact caused trouble the very first time they came into possession of the ball. They brought the kickoff back to the 35-yard line and on the first play of the game exploded a bomb in the Massillon line that permitted Snyder to run to a first down on the Tiger 48. Next time he carried he made it to the 36 and just when it appeared the Tigers would stop this first threat, Beattie dropped back and fired a 27 yarder to Tsangeos for a touchdown. Leilli added the extra point and there was great joy on the Steubenville side of the field.
* * *
THE MERRIMENT was soon dispelled; however, when on the first play after kickoff, Johnson whipped a “Long Tom” to Crable who went all the way to the Steubenville 13 before he was hauled down from behind. It was a 59-yard effort. Brown sliced to the eight, but two more attempts by Brown and Crable gained but a yard leaving fourth down and the ball still seven yards from the goal. Johnson was fired through left guard for the touchdown and he kicked the extra point from placement to tie the score.

The Tigers got the first break of the game when Snyder fumbled the opening play after the kickoff and Ray Lane, Massillon linebacker, pounced on the ball on the Stub 21. Johnson took a short lateral and circled his right end to the eight. On fourth down Crable went over on a double reverse. This time Johnson missed the extra point and the score stood at 13-7.

Another break set the Tigers up for their third touchdown when Bill Paul pounced on Tsangeos fumble on the locals’ 46. The goal was still 54 yards away, but Hill slipped a pass to Johnson for a first down on the 37 and another to Crable took the ball to the 17. On a delayed trap, Brown went to the four-yard line and hit off right tackle for the remaining distance.

Steubenville came back from the kickoff with a drive that got to midfield when Takacs covered Tsangeos’ fumble which rolled back to the Big Red 36. When two plays failed to gain, Hill rifled the ball to Crable. Beattie managed to get in the way and partially block it, but as the ball was falling to the ground, Crable dove for it and came up with the leather in his arms and a first down on the 16. Crable picked up three and when Hill was bottled up trying to pass, he ran for it and went over the goal standing up for the Tigers fourth touchdown of the half.

The locals were knocking again when the half ended and had the ball on the Big Red
five-yard line.

Neither team scored in the third period but each had the ball too close to their opponent’s goal for comfort. Steubenville got in position by covering Brown’s fumble on the Tiger 19. The Big Red marched to a first down on the Tiger seven, but here the local team held and took the ball away after four downs on the four-yard line.
* * *
A PARTIALLY blocked punt by Ronald Patt, sub center, gained the ball for the Tigers toward the end of the period on the Steubenville 48. Crable took a pass from Hill for a first down on the 30 and the Tiger quarterback tossed one to Ben Roderick for what would have been a first on the one-yard line, but the Tigers were declared in motion and were penalized five yards.

A 30-yard run by Snyder that put the ball on the 15-yard line set up Steubenville’s second touchdown. A fourth down pass to Bob Turrnetine put the ball on the five and two plays later Snyder went over for the touchdown.

Crable’s fumble, which Nick Tsangeos covered on the locals’ 49-yard line started Steubenville off on its last scoring spurt. Snyder and Jones lugged the leather to the 14 and Beattie’s pass to Turrentine provided a first down on the one-yard line. Jones went over for the six points. Leilli kicked the 21st and both Massillon and Steubenville fans had visions of a possible Big Red victory.

Mather sent his regulars back into the fray and the offensive unit operated as though it had no knowledge of the score. The boys started with the kickoff on the 29 and Johnson bulled his way through to midfield. He hit for nine more and Brown ambled to the 21. Crable went to the 18, then to the six and fourth down Brown circled his right end for a touchdown with only 33 seconds remaining to be played. By controlling the ball the last five minutes the Tigers had not only saved their game but had increased their margin of victory.

For the most part, members of the team emerged from the contest unscathed, and should be in good shape for the next week’s hot contest at Alliance.

GREAT GOING

MASSILLON
ENDS – SLICKER, HOUSTON, Streeter, Studer, Gleason.
TACKLES – KRISHER, TAKACS, Jones, Pizzino, Schumacher.
GUARDS – MORROW, PAUL, Reichenback, De Walt, Ebbert.
CENTERS – McVEY, Patt.
QUARTERBACKS – HILL, James.
HALFBACKS – JOHNSON, CRABLE, Roderick, Bush.
FULLBACKS – BROWN, Lane.

STEUBENVILLE
ENDS – TUREENTINE, FRALEY, Delave.
TACKLES – WICKHAM, MORATES.
GUARDS – D’ALFONSO, STACY, Bickerstaff.
CENTER – DUNCAN.
QUARTERBACKS – BEATTIE, Leilli.
HALFBACKS – THOMPSON, TSANGEOS.
FULLBACKS – SNYDER, Jones.

Score by periods:
Massillon 13 14 0 7 – 34
Steubenville 0 7 0 14 – 21

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Brown 2; Johnson; Crable; Hill.
Steubenville – Tsangeos, Snyder, Jones.

Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Johnson 4 (placekicks).
Steubenville – Leilli 3 (placekicks).

Referee – Rupp.
Umpire – Gross.
Head Linesman – Boone.
Field Judge – Jenkins.

Statistics Of The Game
Mass. Steubenville
First downs 18 12
Passes 13 13
Passes completed 6 5
Passes intercepted 0 0
Yards gained passing 138 80
Yards gained rushing 351 242
Total yards gained 489 322
Yards lost 20 7
Net yards gained 469 313
Times punted 1 3
Punts blocked 0 1
Average punt (yards) 36 10
Punts returned by (yards) 0 13
Times kicked off 6 4
Average kickoff (yards) 49 43
Kickoffs returned by (yards) 37 109
Times fumbled 5 5
Lost ball on fumbles 4 5
Penalties called on 9 1
Penalties refused by 0 1
Times penalized 8 1
Yards penalized 60 5

Jack Hill
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1947: Massillon 13, Steubenville 12

Tigers Great Comeback Whips Steubenville 13-12
Massillon Team Scores Twice In Last Half After Trailing 12-0

By LUTHER EMERY

A fighting Washington high Tiger that wouldn’t be beaten, clawed its way to a 13-12 victory at Steubenville Friday evening to the amazement of an overflow crowd of 10,000 spectators.

Hopelessly outclassed, out-charged, outplayed and out-scored 12-0 the first two periods, the Tiger team made a gallant comeback the second half to score a touchdown the third period and another in the fourth on a sensational 65-yard pass from Clarence Johnson to Ben Roderick.

Victory rode the pigskin on that toss, as the ball nestled into Roderick’s arms on the
15-yard line with nothing but the goal posts ahead of him.

It was Massillon’s third straight victory and crushed Steubenville’s hopes for an undefeated season, the decision hanging on one slim point, a goal from placement after touchdown kicked by Gene Schludecker.

Had you not known the players and their numbers you actually would have thought the game was one of those pre-season exhibition affairs in which a bevy of teams are trotted out to play a quarter or so with each other. Neither team looked the same in the second half as it did the first two periods.

The first half was all Steubenville and the last two periods all Massillon.

After the Big Red had rolled to two touchdowns in the first 14 minutes of play and the local team had shown a preference for running backward instead of forward, Massillon fans eased back in their seats and murmured to themselves “this is the demise of the Tigers.”
* * *
THE SECOND PERIOD was closing rapidly before the Massillonians showed any kind of an offense where they had spent most of their efforts up to that time trying to pass for yardage – all to no avail – they suddenly found that the Big Red was vulnerable to a ground attack; and began to roll. Time beat them to the goal line which was only 12 yards away with first down coming up when the half ended. Though disappointed at not having scored, they went in for the rest period, encouraged with the knowledge that they could push Steubenville around too.

Whatever Coach “Bud” Houghton charged the team with during that brief intermission period we would recommend as a sure cure for rheumatics, for you would never have known it was the same Massillon team that came out for the second half.

The Tiger coach said he spent most of the time between halves going over his defense, making corrections in the secondary which had been fooled repeatedly by Steubenville’s reverses.

The defense stiffened, the offense moved and the Big Red was out of the ball game entirely the last two quarters as the Tiger gridders found themselves and put on the kind of performance which Massillonians have learned to expect through their heritage of football.

They took the kickoff and passed and marched their way to the six-yard line before Steubenville stopped them. They roared right back for a 41-yard march that ended with Al Brown bolting his way through the Steubenville forward wall for the last three yards and the first Tiger score. With Jack Hill holding the ball, Schludecker booted a perfect goal from placement.
* * *
ANOTHER touchdown was needed for victory, and the Tigers went right after it. They were well on their way when Bob Stratton intercepted Hill’s pass on the goal line and scampered back to his 30 before being downed. But the Tigers braced, got the ball on a punt on their own 35 and then it happened. On first down, John Bardarnza tossed a lateral to Clarence Johnson who ran wide to his left, reversed his field and fired the ball straight down the center. Ben Roderick and Earl Johnson had already passed the Steubenville secondary when the ball began to fall. It nestled into the former’s arms on the 15-yard line after a flight of 60 yards and Earl blocked out the only possible Steubenville tackler as Ben romped over the goal with the pigskin. Massillon fans as well as Steubenville fans gasped with amazement at the sudden turn of events for the Big Red supporters after turning back the one touchdown threat had felt a sense of security when their team forced the Tigers into their own territory.

Steubenville was aware that the Tigers had such a play. Their coach Howard Brinker, a former junior high coach here, saw the Massillon team in spring practice and as late as Thursday had warned members of his team to be on the lookout for a long pass anytime Johnson had the ball. The Tigers pulled it at the opportune moment, Coach Houghton sending Bardarnza into the game to call the play and catch the Big Red asleep as they ganged up on the scrimmage line to halt the Massillon running attack.

The touchdown came with six and one-half minutes of the fourth quarter remaining to be played and the Tigers nearly got another after Brown and Jacobs covered a Steubenville fumble on the 33-yard line. They knocked each other out diving for the ball. Jacobs recovered to run the ball back to the three before being forced out of bounds. Steubenville’s recovery of a fumbled lateral to Clarence Johnson ended this threat with three minutes and 10 seconds to go and the game ended with the Big Red trying desperately to pass their way to a touchdown, in possession of the ball on a first down on the Tiger 30-yard line. It was the only time they had the ball in Massillon territory the second half.

In defeating Steubenville the Tigers gained more yards than in the Revere and Canton Lincoln games put together and four-fifths of the gains were rolled up in the second half.

First downs were 13 to 10 in the local team’s favor and they rolled up 326 yards to Steubenville’s 237. Ninety of the 326 were scored on two forward passes, Johnson’s
65-yarder to Roderick and an earlier 25-yarder to brother Earl that figured in the first fruitless touchdown drive.

Steubenville was keyed for the game and there’s no denying the Big Red has a fine team. With the exception of a few plays at the end of the game, the team operated from a single wing offense and gained most of its ground on tricky reverses that caused the Tiger secondary to take after the faker, leaving the ball carrier to run at liberty around the opposite flank.
* * *
SUCH WAS the case when Robinson scored his first touchdown after six minutes and five seconds of the first period had expired. Nary a hand was laid on him as he sped around his own left end to score from 14 yards out. On the previous play Pete Polovina had advanced the ball 48 yards on a reverse around the opposite end.

The Tigers still permitted themselves to be fooled in the second period as the Big Red drove from its own 29-yard line to the two-yard line where Polovina plunged over for his team’s second touchdown. He missed both attempts for the extra point and Steubenville fans groaned for the points were the first he has failed to kick this season.

Up to this time the Tigers’ had a net loss of three yards for their offensive efforts.

They came back with the kickoff, however and marked up three first downs in a march from their 37 to the Steubenville 32 where an intercepted pass ended the threat. Their next effort stopped when Wittmann, an illegal receiver caught a pass from Jacobs, giving Steubenville a first down on Massillon’s 31. The Big Red was penalized 15 for holding and Jones pounced on Robinson’s fumble on the Big Red 47 to set the Tigers in motion again. Jack Hill was tossed for a 14-yard loss trying to pass but Clarence Johnson reeled off 18 yards around right end and Brown raced to the 12-yard line in the last seconds of the half. Coach Houghton sent in a substitute to stop the clock but it was too late. The period was over. Then came the rousing second half, and here are the plays that led to Massillon’s first touchdown.
* * *
GETTING the ball on a fumble on the Big Red 41, Clarence Johnson hit right tackle for six yards and Bardarnza sneaked through to a first down on the 27. Bardarnza tried it again and gained but two yards. Brown shot through tackle to a first down on the 14. Hill made two at right tackle and Johnson hit through left for six more. Bardarnza went through center for a yard and Johnson made it first down on the three-yard line. Brown went over on first down for the score.

Massillon’s defense showed the same reversal of form the second half as did its offense. The Tigers tackled viciously and never permitted their goal line to be threatened.

Whereas the Steubenville line ripped the Massillon forward wall to pieces the first half, the Tiger linemen piled the Big Red up in the second. They stopped Steubenville’s ace runners Robinson and Polovina in most of their second half ball carrying efforts and slowed them down considerably. Both of the Big Red players are good runners and dangerous at all times.

Fumbles hurt Steubenville. It lost the ball four times on loose handling of the pigskin, while the Tigers recovered all but one of their own fumbles.

The Tigers emerged from the game in apparently good condition. Both Jacobs and Brown were removed because of injuries but both reentered the contest before it was over and appeared well enough in the locker room after the game.

The victory stretched Massillon’s record to 10 victories and one tie with Steubenville in games played the last 11 years. The Big Red won the only other two games played between the teams in 1930 and 1931.

A Great Finish

MASSILLON Pos. STEUBENVILLE
Johnson LE Hess
Eberhardt LT Dobbs
Williams LG Ossio
Olenick C De Leonardis
Houston RG Wells
Wittmann RT Morates
Roderick RE Wheeler
Hill QB Lelli
Jacobs LH Polovina
Brown RH Robinson
C. Johnson FB Stratton

Score by quarter:
Massillon 0 0 7 6 13
Steubenville 6 6 0 0 12

Substitutions:
Massillon – Schludecker, c; Morrow, lg; Farris, rg; Jones, rt; Takacs, fb; Edie, rt; Badarnza, fb; Grier, rh, Resh, lh.
Steubenville – Snyder, fb; Tuerentine, le; Fraley, le; Nelson, re.

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Brown; Roderick.
Steubenville – Robinson; Polovina.

Point after touchdown:
Massillon – Schludecker (placekick).

Referee – Rupp.
Umpire – Schill.
Head Linesman – Russ.
Field Judge – Gross.
Statistics
Massillon Steubenville
First downs 13 10
Yards gained rushing 236 187
Passes attempted 13 5
Passes completed 2 4
Passes had intercepted 2 0
Yards gained passing 90 50
Total yards gained 326 237
Yards lost 30 15
Total net yardage 296 222
Times kicked 3 3
Average kicks (yards) 41 48
Times punted 3 4
Average puts (yards) 23 35
Average return of kicks 19 4
Average return of punts 11 4
Fumbles 3 5
Fumbles (recovered) 2 1
Fumbles lost 1 4
Times penalized 4 3
Yards penalized 30 25

Tony Uliveto
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1946: Massillon 13, Steubenville 6

Tigers Hand Big Red 13-6 Defeat Before 21,000 Fans
Massillon Gridders Win Hard Fought Battle With Fourth Period Touchdown

By LUTHER EMERY

The Tigers of Washington high school dammed the Big Red surge from Steubenville Friday evening and turned back the wave from the Ohio River city by a score of 13-6 in a hard fought game in Tiger stadium before a near capacity crowd of 21,000 fans.

Massillon spectators who like to see them close, saw their second home game in a row that way, and were glad to settle for the seven-point margin of victory. In fact at the end of the scoreless first half they had reached the point where they wouldn’t have been too disappointed with a tie score.

Program Cover

Hard To Crack
Not that Steubenville has the greatest football team in Ohio. It hasn’t, but it has a scrappy eleven that caught the Tigers on a night when the latter were jittery and the victim of a bad case of fumblelitis.

No team could have had any more hard luck happen to it at the wrong time than that which plagued the local eleven throughout the game. But in spite of all the bad, there was enough good in the Tiger team to pull through to victory, and the crowd stuck to the end.

A terrific first half which saw a lot of vicious tackling, and goal line threats thrown away with fumbles, prefaced the second half when the two teams scored all of their points.

The third period was five minutes old when Al Brown, Tiger sophomore quarterback, raced around his right end for the first touchdown of the game, and the fourth quarter had hardly begun when Querino Lelli tossed a 29-yard pass to Bob Stratton of the Big Red to tie the score at 6-6.

The Tigers roared back magnificently after the Steubenville touchdown and went 85 yards to score with Gene Zorger lugging the leather over from the one-yard line and Brown placekicking the 13 and final point.

That in brief tells the story of the scoring, but it does not tell the whole story.

Howard Brinker, former Massillon Ed. Jones junior high coach who went to Steubenville as assistant to Mel Knowlton in 1941 and became head coach when Knowlton entered the navy, brought a heavy, experienced team to Massillon and as expected by those who were in the know, gave the Tigers all they cared to handle in one evening.

In the early stages of the game, Brinker’s eleven outplayed the orange and black, but in the last three periods the Massillon eleven was distinctly the better team and not only the score but the statistics bear out this point. They made 11 first downs to Steubenville’s five and gained a net total of 263 yards to the Big Red’s 149. Hard luck cost them two possible touchdowns the first half and they were on the three-yard line when the game ended.

In fact fate was so unkind the first half it appeared as through the books were closed on Tiger scoring. The local boys handled the Big Red defense nicely after the first period, but muffed every scoring opportunity.

No wonder then the Massillon spectators went delirious with joy when Brown finally worked his way over the Stubber goal line. As far as the spectators were concerned they would just as leave had half a dozen bombs shot off for that one, for it looked big for the moment. Then along came Steubenville to tie it up at 6-6 and folks again were talking about settling for a tie. But their visions of a duplication of the 1945 score were soon eased when Zorger took the following kickoff and raced straight up the alley and through the Steubenville team, only to be hauled down from behind on the visitor’s 35-yard line and have a 15-yard penalty slapped on for clipping.

The fans greeted the clipping charge with a terrific boo, since from the stands it appeared that Al Brown had safely driven his body in front of the would-be Steubenville tackler.
A Great Run
Zorger’s run on the kickoff return was one of the finest of the day and one of many contributions on his part to the spectacular phase of the evening.

One two other occasions he almost got away for touchdown sprints, but was hauled down by the safety man. His running was just as outstanding for the Tigers as was that of slippery Preston Robinson for the Stubbers. The latter, who has a lot of knee action, put the Big Red in position for their fourth quarter touchdown when he dashed 28 yards to the Tiger 29-yard line from which point Lelli executed his perfect peg to Stratton. The latter all evening had the knack of eluding the left side of the Tiger secondary and had it not been for his own butter fingers, the Big Red might have had an even better showing for its efforts.

The one Steubenville touchdown actually was the Big Red’s only serious threat of the game, although fans at all times feared that Robinson or Pete Polovina would break away for a sprint to the oats bin.

The Tigers, on the other hand, were threatening right up to the end of the game. Ben Roderick late in the fourth quarter, intercepted a Steubenville pass and raced for what looked like a touchdown, but his foot slipped out on the 30-yard line and the ball was called back to that point and put in play. Then too at the end of the game, the Tigers were hammering for what appeared to be a sure touchdown on the three-yard line.

The Massillon line again played a great game. It took a beating the first period when it appeared unable to handle the Steubenville backs or open holes for the Tiger runners, but it arose to the occasion from there on and moved the Big Red players around constantly. Big Jim Young played a bear of a game and Tony Uliveto was in on plenty of tackles. Likewise, Gene Yost and Tom Brooks grabbed their share of legs during the night.

Steubenville operated almost completely from a single wing. The Tigers started with a T offense but couldn’t make it click to get openings for ball carriers. They lost no time getting back into a single wing.

The Big Red played a 5-4-2 defense throughout most of the night. It confused the local team during the early minutes of the game but once the players and coaches figured out a way to go through they often penetrated it for sizeable gains.

The loss was Steubenville’s second in four games this season and the victory was the Tigers second in three games.

Steubenville had previously beaten East Liverpool, 19-0 and Weirton, W. Va., 13-7 and had lost to Steubenville Central Catholic, 2-0. The Tigers in their two previous games had defeated Canton Lincoln, 29-0 and lost to Cathedral Latin at Cleveland, 14-7.
A Vicious Game
The teams went at each other with a vicious spirit from the start of the opening whistle and tackled for keeps. Neither team threatened until the closing minutes of the first period when the Stubbers launched a drive that carried them to the 8-yard line where, on fourth down, Don Joyce tried to pass and was thrown for a six-yard loss by Gene Krisher, Tom Brooks and Gene Yost.

The Tigers made their first serious threat midway in the fourth when Zorger got loose for a 22-yard run that took the ball to the 27-yard line and moved it on to the five in another dash. On first down, the ball was dropped in a reverse, Zorger to Byelene, and Dwight Bauman recovered for the Big Red.

Stopped in their efforts to return the ball, the Stubbers elected to punt, but Joyce’s kick was blocked and it would have been Massillon’s ball on the five-yard line had not a Massillon player been offside. That ended another possible threat and the last of the first half.

The Tigers came out after intermission with the idea of taking the kickoff and going for a touchdown but it didn’t work out that way. The Big Red stopped them and forced them to punt. The third period was about half over when the local team got its first break of the day. Joyce had dropped back in an attempt to pass but was smothered as he drew back to fire. The ball popped out of his hand and the Tigers covered on the Big Red 25. A series of plays gained a first down on the 12-yard line and put the ball in position for Brown’s wide end sweep for a touchdown.

He tried to placekick the extra point but punched the ball into the backs of his own players.

Steubenville struck back with fire in its eyes and on the first play of the fourth quarter got the ball through a punt on its own 38-yard line. Robinson danced his way to the Tiger 29 from which Lelli launched his touchdown pass. Polovina’s kick was blocked.

With the score tied at 6-6 the Big Red kicked off to Zorger who caught the ball on his 15 and ran straight up the field behind fine interference. He was in the open at the 50-yard line and had a one step lead on the nearest Big Red tackler when Brown took off with a dive in an attempt to lay a block into the Big Red player. The officials called it clipping and instead of the Tigers getting the ball on the 35, they got it on the 50. It took nine plays to get over the goal, Zorger lugging the ball across from the one-yard line . This time Brown kicked the extra point which looked very precious for the moment.

That ended the scoring although the Tigers’ nearly had another on Roderick’s fine run after interception and Byelene’s long pass to Johnson for a first down on the nine-yard line. The Tigers had moved it from the nine to the three when the game ended.

Massillon’s passing attack was ragged. The Tigers’ completed two for 48 yards and had two intercepted. Steubenville wasn’t any better although one of the two passes it completed went for a touchdown. The Big Red tried 11 and had two intercepted.

Massillon’s superiority can be read in the ground gained by the local team. The Tigers gained 27 yards to the Big Red’s 166.

Numerous penalties, many inopportune moments, slowed the game. The Tigers were penalized four times for a total of 65 yards while Steubenville was penalized seven times for 75 yards.

WILLIAM G. “BUD” HOUGHTON
— 1946 —
Game 3: Steubenville (Big Red)
Head Coach: Howard Brinker
Date: Friday, Oct. 4 (8:00 p.m.)
Stadium: Tiger Stadium
Attendance: 21,000
Referee: Titus Lobach
Umpire: O.V. Boone
Head Linesman: Denny Schill
Field Judge: Carl Brubaker

Massillon Starting Offense Steubenville
(22) Jack Zeller LE Robert Hess (15)
(25) Jim Young LT Dwight Baughman(35)
(11) Tony Uliveto LG George Ossio (10)
(50) Merle Darrah C Art Deleonardis (26)
(98) Tom Brooks RG Eugene Quinn (19)
(42) Julius Wittmann RT Jim Miller (37)
(45) Morrie Eberhardt RE Stanley Giffs (25)
(35) Al Brown QB Don Joyce (33)
(33) Junior Pedrotty LH Pete Polovina (22)
(65) Gene Zorger RH Preston Robinson(31)
(10) Gene Yost FB Bob Stratton (12)

1 2 3 4 Final
Massillon 0 0 6 7 13
Steubenville 0 0 0 6 6

3rd Quarter
Mass TD#1 – Al Brown runs 12 yds around RE on 1st & 10 to end 25 yd drive. The drive starts after a fumble recovery. PAT kick by Brown is too low and hits the backs of his own players.
4th Quarter
Steub TD#1 – Bob Stratton takes 29 yd pass from Querino Lelli to end 62 yd drive. The drive starts after a punt reception. PAT kick by Polovina is blocked.
Mass TD#2 – Zorger runs 1 yd to end 9-play 50 yd drive. The drive starts after the kickoff return by Zorger. PAT kick by Brown is good.

M STATISTICS Opp
11 First downs 5
2 of 10 Passing 2 of 11
2 Own passes intercepted 1
48 Passing yardage 41
228 Rushing yardage 125
276 Total yardage 166
13 Yards lost 17
263 Net yards gained 149
4 for 27.7 Punts & average (yards) 6 for 25.8
38 Punt returns (yards) 21
3 for 47 Kickoffs & average (yards) 2 for 49
3 of 5 Fumbles & lost 1 of 3
7 for 65 Penalties & total yardage 7 for 75

Game Info
Substitutions
Massillon: Byelene, qb; G. Krisher, rt; Bishop, re; Eberhardt, re; W. Krisher, g; Johnson, le; Badarnza, rh; Roderick, fb.
Steubenville: Hess, le; Wells, rg; Lelli, lh; Sogan, rh.


Merle Darrah

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1942: Massillon 33, Steubenville Wells 13

EXCITING GAME THRILLS 18,300

Largest Crowd of Season Moans And Applauds As Steubenville Outplays Massillon Eleven First Two Periods

By Luther Emery

An inspired Steubenville football team, guided by a capable son of Massillon, outplayed the Washington high Tigers for two periods here Friday evening, while 18,372 hearts pounded, but succumbed to its own spent efforts to absorb a 33-13 beating, its first of the season.

Program Cover

The initial loss was far from disgraceful. The Big Red gave Massillon fans what they have wanted to see, a ding dong battle with the decision hanging in the balance and for the first time since the Tigers were defeated by New Castle, Pa., in 1937, they trailed at half. It was 7-6 at intermission.

Big Red’s First Half

Points and first downs were all in the Big Red’s favor the first two periods, and though a fumble cost Massillon a touchdown in the opening period, the Tigers were fortunate to as much as score thereafter in the half. It took a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness which nullified a loss of 15 yards on an attempt to pass, and moved the ball into position for their only score of the first half which came with 25 seconds left to play.

It was a poor first half as far as the Tiger brand of football was concerned, but it was a brilliant first half for the Big Red and an exciting one for fans of both teams as hopes flared and faded with fumbles and pass interceptions.

The Tigers began to find themselves in the last five minutes, but not until after the Big Red’s No. 1 player, Johnny Stojack, and the best to set foot on the local gridiron this fall, was carried off with injuries.

A Great Player

Stojack, who scored the Stubbers first touchdown, and gained practically all of the yards on the ground, was a bear as well on defense and played his heart out for his coach and team.

He returned to the game thrice after being hurt, but was only a shadow of the athlete who slashed through the Tigers the first period and a half.

Had he and Guido Mastroianna escaped injury and been able to have stuck out the entire contest, Massillon physicians would have found themselves overrun with heart cases today—the score would have been too close for comfort.

The star end and halfback, however, couldn’t stand up under the pounding and had to give way to substitutes who were far inferior to them in point of performance. An x-ray will be taken of Stojack’s shoulder today, but it is not believed serious. Mastroianna may have sustained one or more damaged ribs.

Here the Tigers had an edge. Their condition was superior and they had better replacements, two items that had a big influence on the score, and extended their undefeated string to 48 games.

It was evident from the opening kickoff that Brinker had the Big Red flaring. They raced out of the huddle and over the ball in a business like way and took off with the center snap so eagerly that they were frequently penalized for being offside. They were beating the Tigers to the first yard of turf, however, and when this is going on, you can expect an occasional offside penalty.

The Massillon attack, on the other hand sputtered under what appeared to be a poor selection of plays the first two periods, and poor ball handling had the team in the hole time and again.

The Big Red set up a 5-4-2 defense when the Tigers came out of the huddle, but jumped two men into the line just before the ball was snapped on single-wing plays thereby confusing the local players and at the same time massing the defense to face the ball carrier.

When the Tigers threw from punt formation, the Big Red secondary stayed put, and had men spread all over the field to guard against the aerial attack.

Once the locals began concentrating on a ground attack inside the Big Red tackles, they began to move, and soon had Steubenville on the defensive.

Changed Cleats

A change of cleats between halves may have contributed to the improved offense. The Tigers wore their short cleats the first two periods, and had a hard time standing up. Everyone worked feverishly in the dressing room during intermission to make the change over to long cleats and players had firmer footing the last two periods.

It was a big relief to Tiger fans to see their team finally begin hitting on all eleven and launch sustained drives that carried them into the promised land.

With the Big Red showing signs of weakening the last few minutes of the first half, most Massillon fans felt the Tigers would come through the last two periods, but few expected the score to mount to 33 points.

But with the exception of a couple of long passes over the heads of a second string Massillon backfield that produced a touchdown in the fourth period, the Big Red showed nothing the second half. They had packed all of their energy into the first two periods and when the Tigers came out after intermission to take the kickoff and march 56 yards to a touchdown, the collapse was complete.

Where the Big Red made seven points to Massillon’s six and rolled up six first downs to Massillon’s four the first half, the Tigers made 10 first downs to the Stubbvers two the last two periods and 27 points to their six.

The second half offensive gave the local team what margin it enjoyed in the statistics. First downs were 14-8 and the net gain in yardage was 344 to 233.

“Now maybe they will believe me,” was Coach Elwood Kammer’s comment after the game. “They were definitely the best team we played this year and if you don’t think it was hard going out there, look at these kids.”

The youngsters were emerging from the coach’s room at this moment and as each came out of the door, he swallowed a conditioning pill.

There were limps, bruised lips, weak wrists and skinned faces, nine names were on the casualty list with orders to report for physical examinations and possible treatment Saturday.

Big Red Suffered, Too

The same condition existed in the Big Red dressing room where Brinker and his assistant made hasty examinations of players and wondered whether several would be able to carry on next week.

When you think back over the first half, you wonder whether the Tiger team will be able to stand up under the battering it has been absorbing at the hands of heavier opponents this year. When you recall how the lines fairly rattled when they clashed as each eleven sought to push over the first touchdown, you realize why both squads bore visible marks of the struggle.

The play during the first half was terrific, with breaks figuring in nearly every series, which resulted in the ball changing hands most of the time without a punt. In fact the Tigers punted but once the entire game.

The Tigers were first to threaten, and would have scored were it not for an unfortunate fumble. Keve Bray put the locals in position when he intercepted Stojack’s pass that had been deflected by Weisgarber, on the 26-yard line. A five-yard penalty and two plunges by Holt gained a first down on the 14 and Holt smashed his way to the five on the next play where he fumbled and Stojack covered for the Stubbers.

That got the Big Red hopped up and though they were in poor position to do anything offensively on the next series, Roush intercepted a pass for them after they punted out and it looked like the Steubenville teams of 10 years ago as the Tigers rolled back to their 10-yard line. A 25-yard pass, Stojack to Percy Brown figured in the march and the Big Red appeared off to the races as Stojack in two attempts crossed the goal. But the ball was called back the second time and the Stubbers drew a five-yard penalty. The officials made up for it on the next play, however and gave the Big Red a first down on the Tiger one yard line for unnecessary Massillon roughness.
Call what followed, “The Siege of Stalingrad.” The Tigers imitated the gallant Russian defenders as they throw back the Big Red invasion and four ball carrying attempts for a net loss of five yards.

Threat Stopped

The eight man Massillon line bounced back everything that came its way and refused to budge. Brown was hurled at the center. He couldn’t gain an inch. Stojack took a crack at the middle. He got half a yard. Brown was tossed at the center again. He went down on a knee as he piled in for the loss of half a yard. Stojack was turned loose around his right end. Keve Bray sifted through and nailed him for a five-yard loss and the Tigers took over. They were doing nicely too, until Holt fumbled again on the 24-yard line and Johnny Chadnock covered for Steubenville.

Fred Cardinal had an opportunity to put on the feed bag when Stojack’s pass came his way, but in his anxiety to head for the oats bin he dropped the ball with a clear field ahead. Stopped in the air, Stojack took to the ground and on the next play a fake reverse, raced around right end for a touchdown. The shout that went up from the Steubenville stands was enough to roll the Ohio river. Mastroianna calmly kicked the extra point and the Tigers for the second time this season – trailed.

On the first play after the kickoff, the inspired Stubbers were given another lift when Roush intercepted Graber’s pass from punt formation on the Tiger 44. But Stojack was also injured on the play and the peppery Stubbers had an immediate relapse.

Brown tried to pass but Graber intercepted on his 38 and the door of the Tiger cage was open. Graber passed to Tom Jasinski for a first down on the Stubber 34 and the ball was advanced five more yards when Steubenville took a time out to get Stojack back into the contest. Graber fumbled and Holt covered for a loss of 17 yards. The Tigers were thrown back 15 more yards when Graber couldn’t find a receiver for his pass, but it did not count for the Big Red was charged with unnecessary roughness and penalized 15 yards, giving the Tigers the ball on the 28-yard line. Bray circled left end for nine yards and Holt took it to the 10. Stojack was again taken from the game with injuries. On the next play Holt plunged over the touchdown and the Tiger fans let loose a roar that must have been heard in Canton. Holt was thrown back when he tried to plunge the extra point across.

Only 55 seconds remained of the half and it closed two plays after the following kickoff.

Touchdown Parade

The second half was a Massillon parade most of the way, with the two most sensational plays, touchdown runs by Chuck Holt, called back because of penalties.

It was a tough break for Chuck. He went 51 yards on the one effort, but the officials tagged a penalty of illegal use of the hands on one player on the three-yard line and the Tigers drew a 15-yard penalty. They went over just the same.

On another occasion Graber tossed a 20-yard pass to Holt who juggled the ball on the 30-yard line, finally caught it and ran the rest of the way, only to have the effort nullified by an offside penalty. In this instance as well, the Tigers did not surrender the ball until they had crossed the goal.
The Massillon sails were set right after the kickoff of the third period. Fred Cardinal nearly got away but was tossed on his 44. Carrying the ball five consecutive plays, as the Tigers worked inside the Big Red tackles, Holt put the pigskin on the 21-yard line. The Big Red looked for Holt again, but his time Bray came around his left end behind good blocking and carried to the five-yard line where he was hauled down from behind while slowing up to give his blockers an opportunity to finish the job ahead. Holt was over in two plays and the Tigers had taken the lead. Graber ran the extra point across outside right end and the score was 13-7.

The next time the Tigers gained possession of the ball they marched to another score. It was a drive of 56 yards with Holt and Bray carrying to the 12-yard line. There they drew a five-yard penalty, but Holt more than got it back as he carried to the eight-yard line and Bray circled his left end for a touchdown. The Stubbers stopped the first bid for the extra point, but were offside. On the second attempt, Graber went over to boost the score to 20-7.

Holt’s 51-yard no touchdown run followed the next Steubenville series. After the penalization for illegal use of the hands, the Tigers were given the ball on the Big Red 18. Holt went to the one-yard line and Dallas Power took over. Holt kicked the extra point and it was 27-7.

Score On Second Backfield

Kammer sent three new faces into his backfield to make the change in the ball carrying department complete. Weisgarber blocked a Steubenville punt and the Tigers covered on the 36. The second string backs moved the ball to the two-yard line where they lost it on downs. The youngsters held, but were tagged with roughing the kicker, and the Big Red was given a first down on its 10-yard line. Throwing from behind his goal, Brown pitched to Bill Snyder for 38 yards and a yard short of midfield. On the very next play he fired to Dick Roush, who caught the leather on the 30 and went the rest of the distance for Big Red’s second touchdown.

An attempt to kick the extra point failed.

Kammer sent in his first string backs again and Holt immediately took the kickoff and raced back to the Big Red 48 before being downed. The Tigers drew a 15-yard penalty for clipping on the play, however and lost the ball on Bray’s fumble. Graber got it back on an intercepted pass and the locals were on the march again. Came the beautiful no count, catch by Holt followed by a five-yard penalty for offside that set the locals back to their own 45. Another five-yarder for too many times out pushed them back to their 40, but a 39-yard pass, Graber to Jasinski, gained a first down on the Big Red 20 and the backs alternated carrying the ball to the one-yard line where Graber went over for the final points of the game. On the first play after the kickoff, Graber intercepted Brown’s pass and got back to the Big Red 25 but the game ended before another play could be run off.

Thrilling

Massillon Steubenville
Willmot le Snyder
Edwards lt not readable
R. Wallace lg not readable
B. Wallace c not readable
Weisgarber rg not readable
Paulik rt not readable
Jasinski re Mastroianna
Cardinal qb Chadnock
Graber lh Stojack
Bray rh Roush
Holt fb Brown

Score by periods
Massillon 0 6 21 6 – 33
Steubenville 0 7 0 6 – 13

Substitutions – Massillon: Kanney, Power, Gibson, Pellegrini, Mastriann, Williams.
Steubenville: Gregory, Watkins, Mike, Parisi, Quattrone, Wagner, White.

Touchdowns – Holt 2, Bray, Graber, Power, Stojack, Roush

Points after touchdown – Graber (carried), Holt (placekick), Mastroianna (placekick)

Referee – Jenkins.
Umpire – Graff.
Headlinesman – Rupp.
Field Judge – Boone.

Game Statistics
Tigers Big Red
Total First Downs 14 3
Yards Gained by Rushing 266 127
Yards Lost by Rushing 18 16
Net Yards Gained by Rushing 248 111
Net Yards Gained by Passing (a) 96 122
Forward Passes Attempted 10 14
Forward Passes Completed 4 4
Passes Had Intercepted 2 4
Number of Punts 1 1
Average Distance of Punts (b) 24 24
Yards Punts Returned 18 0
Number of Kickoffs 7 2
Number of Fumbles 4 2
Times Ball Lost on Fumbles 3 0
Number of Penalties 9 10
Yards Lost by Penalties 78 56

MASSILLON SENDS STREAK TO 48
IN 33-13 TRIUMPH

Steubenville Succumbs After Leading at
Half, 7 to 6

MASSILLON, OH., Oct. 16 – Trailing at half time, the Massillon High Tigers, undefeated since 1937, struck back in the two final periods to trounce a fighting Steubenville Big Red eleven, 33 to 13, before 18,372 fans here tonight.

It was Massillon’s 48th straight game without defeat.

Paced by John Stojack, hardest driving halfback seen in Tiger Stadium in four years, Steubenville led Massillon, 7 to 6, at half time.

Stojack repeatedly raced through the Massillon defense, finally scoring on a 23-yard jaunt off right tackle. Guido Mastrioanni, left end, kicked the extra point and the visitors took a second-quarter lead of 7 to 0.

The Tigers then lashed back. After an exchange of intercepted passes Massillon started from its 43. Capt. Chuck Holt culminated the advance by smashing left guard from the 9-yard line. Holt missed the extra point when he bucked the line. The half closed a minute later with the Stubbers in front 7 to 6.

Previous to the invaders’ touchdown the Tigers held for downs on their 1-yard line. Steubenville finally ended up on the 6-yard line.

In the third quarter the Tigers reeled off three touchdowns while the Stubbes were checked without a threat. Starting from their 44, the Tigers took the lead when Holt shot over from the 1-yard line. Graber ran over the extra point and the Tigers jumped ahead, 13 to 7.

The Tigers then started another march from their 44 with Right Halfback Keve Bray circling left end from the 8. Graber ran around right end for the 20th point.

A 52-yard drive ended the third-period scoring. Substitute Dallas Power went over from the 2 on a quarterback sneak. Holt converted and Coach Elwood Kammer’s club led 27 to 7.

Both teams registered six points in the final stanza. A series of aerials produced the second Steubenville touchdown. Standing on his 49-yard line, Percy Brown, fullback, pitched a long heave to Right Halfback Dick Roush, who dashed over unmolested.

With the score at 27 to 13, the Massillon first-string backfield again was inserted. On fourth down Graber drove off right tackle from the one, making the final score 33-13.

MASSILLON 33
STEUBENVILLE 13

Chuck Holt
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1937: Massillon 13, Steubenville 0

TIGERS DEFEAT STEUBENVILLE 13-0 ON MUDDY GRIDIRON GLASS AND SNAVELY REGISTER TOUCHDOWNS
Massillon Points Scored in First and Last Periods; Stout Defense Holds Big Red to Net Gain of One Yard

By LUTHER EMERY

Out of the murk, the Washington high Tigers came, Friday evening, to overpower the Big Red of Steubenville 13-0 and write another score in the record books which Massillon fans hope will give the local team its third successive state championship.

With the elements against them, the Tigers splashed and plunged to show 7,000 fans, 1,000 of them from Massillon, why they have been proclaimed state champions the last two years.

Score in First Quarter
They struck fast. Stopped once on the one-yard line after recovering a Steubenville fumble, Bob Glass led the local eleven to its first touchdown in a 25-yard drive that ended when he plunged through stubborn resistance from the one-yard line. He also carried the ball across for the extra point.

The longer the game progressed the more it appeared the seven points would be the margin of difference.

The Big Red yielded ground in midfield but when waddling in the shadows of its goal posts, would not be moved.

Snavely Blocks Punt
Minutes were slipping in the fourth quarter when the Tigers with a series of offensive maneuvers and well placed punts shoved Steubenville back to its four-yard line and forced them to punt. But Fingers never got the ball away. Don Snavely crashed through, blocked the punt and covered it behind the Big Red goal for a touchdown.

The Stubbers tossed passes recklessly after that but could not connect.

The Big Red was a stubborn football tam. Massing its superior weight when pushed back to its goal line, it twice stopped Massillon touchdown drives within the three-yard line and on three other occasions turned back threats within the 20-yard stripe.

But the Tigers were not to be denied victory. Though the breaks helped them to their touchdowns, they helped to make the breaks and deserved the 13-point advantage as the following statistics will show.

Looking more like gingerbread boys after rolling about in the mud and water, the Massillon boys gained the sum total of 209 yards to Steubenville’s one and made 12 first downs to Steubenville’s one. In fact Steubenville’s only first down was made on a penalty and was not gained by rushing.

In every department the Tigers excelled. They tossed three passes and completed two for a gain of 29 yards. The Big Red failed to complete a pass.

Linemen Play Great Game
The Massillon line out-charged the heavier Steubenville forward wall and too much credit cannot be given the defensive playing of Don Snavely and Messrs. Gus Peters, Junior Anderson, Lynn Houston, Earl Martin and Bud Lucius for their fine defensive work.

The gangly Tiger center twice smacked through and smeared the 190-pound Di Carlo for successive losses.

The heavy footing, however, slowed the offensive charge of the Massillon gridders and they found it hard to dig the Big Red out of their goal line stands.

An all-night and all-day rain left a heavy gridiron, but thanks to solid turf, the field was not a quagmire.
Backfield men, however, found it hard from the start to handle the slimy ball and there were frequent fumbles, each team recovering the ball from opponents.

A fumble, in fact gave the Tigers their first chance in the opening minutes of the game.

Tigers Recover Fumble
The Big Red had kicked off and Glass getting but seven yards, in two attempts had punted back to the Stubbers 15-yard line. On the second play, Fingers fumbled and a Massillon boy pounced on the ball on the nine-yard line.

Then and there the Tigers found they were up against a more than average line. Bob Glass hammered through for four yards but lost three of them the next time he carried. He carried the ball two more times but could only gain seven more yards and the Big Red took the ball on their one-yard stripe.

Standing deep behind his goal line, Fingers punted out to George Slusser who made a daring catch on the Big Red 30 and got back five yards more. It was a great job of ball handling on the part of Slusser and the way he handled the slippery pigskin throughout the night is worthy of credit.

Glass Scores Touchdown
With Glass carrying the leather, the Tigers required three smashes to push it forward to a first down on the Stubbers’ 13-yard line. He whacked right tackle for one yard on a reverse and crashed through the left side for nine more and a first down on the three-yard line. The Tiger halfback required two more plays, both directed at the center of the Steubenville line, to get the ball over. Both sides were offside when an attempted kick for the extra point went wild of the posts, so Glass lugged the leather across on the second attempt for the seventh point.

Playing a break, the Big Red chose to kickoff but the Tigers held on to the ball and swept back up the field on a 24-yard dash by Slusser on a fake kick and a 10-yard sweep by Glass. The Stubbers stopped the drive on their 15-yard line, however when they twice held Glass without gain and nailed Slusser to a spinner.

The Tigers again got the ball on a punt in midfield and Glass and Zimmerman drove back to the 30 where a 15-yard penalty ended their threat. After another exchange of punts, Massillon took the ball on the Stubber’s 40 and aided by a 15-yard flip over center, Slusser to Snavely, marched the ball to the three-yard line, where Glass on fourth down with two yards to go, missed a first down by a foot. He dug his head into the tummy of Straka, 265-pound Steubenville tackle and through dazed, continued in the game.

Fingers punted out of danger but the Tigers came right back again driving down to the 20-yard line where Fingers intercepted Slusser’s toss to Snavely and got back to his 24-yard line before being tackled. Fingers got away for four yards on the next play, Steubenville’s longest gain of the game.

Neither team threatened in the third quarter. The Big Red had a chance when Di Carlo covered a Massillon fumble on the Tiger 25, but on the first play he fumbled and Lucius got the ball back for Massillon.

Early in the fourth period the Tigers began a series of maneuvers that gradually shoved the Big Red back into its own territory and paved the way for the final touchdown.

They took the ball to the 12-yard line, where a 22-yard loss on a widely tossed lateral set them back to the 34. Bob Glass planted a high punt that dropped to the four-yard line where Don Snavely downed the ball.

Snavely Blocks Punt
Fingers kicked back to Slusser who made another of those daring catches on the 32-yard line and only got forward two steps before being downed. A five-yard penalty stopped the threat and Glass, not taking any chances, punted to Fingers who was dropped by Snavely for no return on the three-yard line.

When two passes were knocked down, Fingers dropped back to punt. Don Snavely came crashing through and blocked the ball. It rolled to the side. Both players plunged for the ball. Fingers hit it first but like a greased pig it slipped from his arms and Snavely crawled on it for a touchdown.

Glass tried to kick the extra point but the ball slipped from the fingers of Red Snyder who was holding it for him. Gathering up the leather, Glass sidestepped two Stubber tackles but fell a yard short of making the extra point.

The Big Red tried to pass the wet ball but it only resulted in Bog Howard intercepting it on the Massillon 35-yard line. The game ended with the Tigers completing a first down in midfield.

The Massillon gridders emerged from the game in good condition. Though there was a lot of piling up, particularly in the closing minutes of the game, none appeared hurt except Glass who aggravated an old shoulder injury. He played with a rubber doughnut on the sore spot and though twice injured, lasted the entire game, however.

Sweaters were nearly plastered to the skin with mud and water and players of both teams had a hard time “skinning” them off after the game.

The Massillon band proved every bit as good mudders as the Tiger gridders. The Big Red turned over the entire intermission period to the local musicians, who tossed off their rain coats and drilled on the field. “The best band that has ever drilled here,” was the compliment of the Steubenville announcer.

Rained Throughout Game
Put on your rain coat, fill the bath tub with water and crawl in. You may then better realize the drenching spectators received. But it was not as severe as at New Castle last year and fans were better prepared. They had their rain coats, blankets, hats, umbrellas and boots this time. The rain had one redeeming feature, however. It kept down the fog and the vanguard of the Massillon delegation began arriving home at 11:30 p.m.

The special train which conveyed the band and several hundred fans to Steubenville pulled in an hour and a half later. It did not leave Steubenville until after 11 p.m.

Many Massillon fans remained in Steubenville all night and continued on to Pittsburgh today. The same program will be enjoyed by members of the team. They spent the night at the Fort Steuben hotel and this morning left for Pittsburgh to attend the Wisconsin – University of Pittsburgh game. They will return to Massillon tonight.

The lineup and summary:
Massillon Pos. Steubenville
Lechleiter LE Knowalezuk
Peters LT Straka
Houston LG Fryer
Martin C Bell
Lucius RG Barsuck
Anderson RT Mike
Snavely RE Williams
Slusser QB Roe
Glass LH Fingers
Snyder RG Di Carlo
Zimmerman FB Olson

Game Statistics
Mass. Steub.
Yards gained rushing 209 18
Yards lost rushing 29* 17
Net yards gained 180 1
Yards gained passing 29 0
Total yards gained 209 1
First downs 12 1x
Times punted 6 7
Average punts in yards 36 32
Average punts returned 4.8 1.5
Penalties 40 9
Lost ball on fumble 2 2
Passes completed 2 0
Passes intercepted 1 2
Passes incomplete 0 4
* – 22 of 29 yards lost in fumbled lateral
x – Penalty gave first down

Score by periods:
Massillon 7 0 0 6 13

Substitutions:
Massillon – Howard, le.
Steubenville – Henry, rg.

Touchdowns:
Massillon – Glass, Snavely.

Point after touchdown:
Massillon – Glass (carried).

Referee – Goodwin (W. & J.)
Umpire – Graf (Ohio State).
Head Linesman – Gross (Marietta).
Field Judge – Lindell (Glenville State Teachers).

Bob Glass