Tag: <span>Steve Trivisono</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

Massillon and Mentor Eclipsed 100 Points in 2007 Game

Looking back, it’s hard to believe that this 6-4 Massillon team had put up 52 points on the eventual Division 1 state runner-up.  It’s also hard to believe that they also lost the game.  But the offenses prevailed in this one.  And if you weren’t a fan of either team, then it just might have been one of the most entertaining high school games you ever saw.  The final score was 56-52 in favor of Mentor.

Jason Hall’s Tigers entered Week 5 with a 2-2 record, having unexpectedly lost to both Solon and Parma Normandy.  Mentor, meanwhile, dropped their opener to eventual Division 4 runner-up Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, but stormed back to take the next three, beating Strongsville (44-28), Solon (27-0) and Cleveland St. Ignatius (38-17).  So there was no doubt that Mentor was the favored team.  Only the Cardinals have always struggled when playing in Tigertown and this one turned out to be no different.

The two teams lit up the scoreboard right from the onset, with Mentor taking a 21-17 lead after three possessions by each squad.  Following a 29-yard field goal by Steve Schott, KJ Herring scored from 50 yards out and then JB Price returned a fumbled punt 36 yards for a TD.

The onslaught continued right to halftime with 28 more points, 14 by each team, and Mentor holding onto a slim 4-point lead.  For the Tigers, it was two Devoe Torrence rushing touchdowns, from nine and one-yards out, finishing off a pair of 80-yard drives.  Could either team stop the other in the second half?  Not likely.

Each team scored once in the third quarter to set up a thrilling fourth.  Torrence had tallied his third from the nine yardline following a missed 49-yard field goal attempt from Schott.  So entering the fourth quarter, Mentor was up 42-38.

It was one of those games where the team that scored last was going to win.  It started quietly with a Mentor punt.  Then a 24-yard TD by Torrence with 7:25 remaining, gave the Tigers a 45-42 lead.  Mentor answered with a 2-yard TD with 4:01 to play, completing a 16-play methodical drive.  Now it was Massillon’s turn.  JT Turner returned the kickoff to the Mentor 49, with a 15-yard Cardinal penalty tacked on, placing the ball at the Mentor 34.  From there, it took just eight plays, with big Steve Yoder bulling his way up the middle for 21 yards and the score, seemingly carrying half the Cardinal defense on his back.  Schott’s kick was good and the Tigers were up 52-49.

But scoring was not the intent on that play and the TD came too early, leaving 1:52 on the clock.  Too much time for the high-powered Mentor offense.  And they did just what they were expected to.  The winning 8-yard scoring pass came at the end of a 10-play, 79-yard drive, leaving a mere 24 seconds on the clock.  Not enough time for Tigers to pull it out.

Massillon finished with 498 yards, rushing for 433 and passing for another 65.  Chris Willoughby was 6 of 17.  Devoe Torrence rushed 36 times for 283 yards and four touchdowns and KJ Herring added another 109.

Mentor rolled up 588 yards, rushing for 289 and passing for 299.  Bart Tanski was 25 of 38.  Tom Worden rushed 27 times for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns.

So how could a Massillon team that had been basically written off a week before do this to a Mentor team that was destined for greatness?  Simple.  Pure effort and intensity.  And they kept that up for the rest of the season.  Although they dropped a decision to Cleveland St. Ignatius the following week, the Tigers finished strong, winning their final four games and posting a winning record.

 

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2008: Massillon 17, Mentor 25

EMOTIONS RUN TOO HIGH
Mentor knocks off Tigers 25-17 in game marred by silly mistakes

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

Mentor –

The Massillon Tigers faced two opponents on Friday night at Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium. The first was the Mentor Cardinals; the second was themselves.

Just facing one of those would have been tough enough for Massillon, facing both was just too much to handle as the Tigers, who saw their two-game win streak halted by a 25-17 loss to Mentor in front of about 6,500 fans.

“I think our kids played too hard tonight,” Tiger coach Jason Hall said. “I think once we look at it, we just made one too many mistakes. They had a kickoff return for a touchdown, and just had some undisciplined penalties when our kids are really caught up emotionally in the game. But they were playing hard, but it all comes down to us missing a field goal and not scoring in the red zone. That lost us the game.”

And may eventually cost the Tigers a shot at the playoffs. Massillon falls to 5-4 on the season, with its traditional season finale against McKinley next Saturday afternoon at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers were sitting at No. 9 in Division I Region 2 in this week’s computer rankings. A win over the 6-3 Bulldogs would certainly help Massillon’s chances, but may not necessarily be enough.

What Hall and the Tigers may focus on mostly out of Friday’s loss is the penalties, which were crushing. Massillon was flagged 11 times for 92 yards – including a pair of accepted personal fouls, and at least two other offsetting personal fouls – but it was as much about the timing as the penalties themselves.

“It was an emotional, physical game, and sometimes you get too wrapped up into it,” Hall said. “Sometimes you have to take one, and that’s what we talk about. Sometimes it’s not the person who initiates it, but it’s the person who comes back.”

Trailing 14-7 early in the second quarter, and with the ball at their own 30, the Tigers were flagged for three straight penalties – including a hold – to move the ball to their own 9. Mentor then got a safety to take a 16-7 lead.

An intentional grounding penalty with the ball on the Mentor 6 and the Tigers down 25-14 pushed Massillon back to the Cardinal 22. The Tigers eventually had to settle for a 29-yard Jeremy Geier field goal to start the fourth quarter to cut it to 25-17.

But the most costly sequence may have come with just a little more than eight minutes left and Massillon facing a fourth-and-3 at the Cardinal 7. The Tigers tried to draw Mentor offsides, but jumped at the same time the Cardinals did to draw the illegal procedure penalty.

Mentor then blocked the field goal try on the 4th-and-8 play to turn the Tigers away.

“We just jumped too,” Hall said. “We went out there, we didn’t even have a play called. We practice it and practice it, and we got them, but we happened to pull our own selves offside as well. It was just a situation where we were going to try to force the penalty or kick the field goal, and we had to kick the field goal.”

Massillon had one last chance after Cooper Ivan stripped the Mentor ball carrier and returned it to the Cardinal 11. However, the Tigers were turned away on fourth-and-2 from the Mentor 3, and the Cardinals ran out the clock

The Tigers drove onto the Mentor side of the 50 five times in the second half, including four times inside the 30. However, those drives netted just three points.

In the first half, the Tigers were 2 of 2 in red-zone scoring chances, with Robert Partridge hitting Bo Grunder for an 8-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead. Partridge also hit Kyle Pizzino on a 5-yard strike to cut the deficit to 19-14 at the intermission.

Massillon also saw a 179-yard rushing effort from J.T. Turner go by the boards as well. Turner benefited from a strong push from the Tiger offensive line, which held its own on the line of scrimmage for most of the night.

“I think we did a good job up front,” Hall said. “

The mistakes spoiled a strong effort from the Tiger defense, which held Mentor to just 217 yards of offense on the night. They also forced six three and outs, and twice kept the Cardinals from scoring on drives into Massillon territory.

Seven of Mentor’s points came on an 85-yard kickoff return by Mike Korecz which tied the score at 7-7 with 5:27 left in the first quarter. Another two points came on the safety.

The only substantial drive came on the Cardinals’ first true scoring drive, when they took 13 plays to march 42 yards to take a 14-7 lead. Tom Worden scored from 2-yards out for the touchdown.

“You can’t say enough about our defense against this offense,” Hall said. “I thought (defensive coordinator Steve) Kovacs and his staff had a great game plan and they executed.”

GAME STATS

Mentor 25,

Massillon 17

at Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium

Massillon 07 07 00 03 17
Mentor 07 12 06 00 25

SCORING SUMMARY
Mas – Grunder 8 pass from Partridge (Geier kick)
Men – Korecz 85 kickoff return (Klisuric kick)
Men – Worden 2 run (Klisuric kick)
Men – Safety, sack in end zone
Men – Klisuric 39 FG
Mas – Pizzino 5 pass from Partridge (Geier kick)
Men – Worden 21 pass from Mayse (Pass failed)
Mas – Geier 29 FG

Mas Men
First down 9 12
Rushes-yards 38-168 42-129
Comp-att.-int. 11-23-1 10-19-0
Passing yards 111 88
Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-2
Penalty yards 11-92 9-76

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing

Massillon: Turner 30-179; Roberson 1-4; Clark 1-1.

Mentor: 21-85 TD; Korecz 14-49.

Passing

Massillon: 9-20-98 2 TDs, INT; Clark 1-2-10; McCormick 1-1-3.

Mentor: Mayse 10-19-88 TD.

Receiving

Massillon: Zimmerman 4-26; Grunder 3-25 TD; Pizzino 2-10 TD; Clark 1-40; Turner 1-10.

Mentor: Johanek 4-24; Worden 3-51 TD; Korecz 1-7; McKnight 1-4; Hanzlik 1-2.

Records:

Massillon 5-4;

Mentor 7-2.

History

2007: Massillon 52, Mentor 56

Tigers’ explosion not enough

By CHRIS EASTERLING

The numbers were mind-numbing Friday night: 66 points, 668 yards of offense, 463 rushing yards, two 160-yard rushers and nine touchdowns.

And then halftime arrived in Massillon’s game against Mentor at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

By the time the smoke finally cleared, some three-and-a-half hours after it all began, the last big play was made by the Cardinals, who scored on an 8-yard Bart Tanski-to-Steve Orkis pass with 24 seconds left in a 56-52 Massillon setback.

“The fans got their money’s worth,” said a dejected Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team is now 2-3 headed to next Saturday’s game at St. Ignatius in Parma. “That was a heck of a high school football game, that’s for sure. Their offense is just a juggernaut. … We knew they were good, we just didn’t have a whole lot of answers for them.”

Massillon took the lead – the eighth lead change of the game – with 1:52 remaining when fullback Steve Yoder crashed through the line for a 21-yard touchdown. Steve Schott’s extra point made it 52-49.

But Tanski was an efficient 7-of-7 for 71 yards on the winning drive. The only running play on it was an 8-yard scramble by the Mentor quarterback.

“You have to score when you can,” Stacy said. “You have to punch it in when you can.”

After scoring just 30 points in its last three games combined, Massillon came out with a different look to the offense, lining up in the power-I with Torrence at tailback and K.J. Herring at a halfback next to the fullback. With both Torrence and Herring in the game at the same time, they were able play off of each other with big-time results for the Tigers.

Torrence finished the game with 283 yards and four touchdowns – 168 of those yards and two of those scores in the first half. His 200-yard effort was matched by Mentor’s Tom Worden, who ran for 226 yards – 176 in the first half – and three scores on the night.

Herring added 109 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown run which gave Massillon a 10-7 lead with 4:47 left in the first quarter.

“We wanted to get K.J. more involved in the game,” Stacy said. “We felt we needed another weapon in there to help take some of the pressure off of DeVoe.”

The problem was, the scoring wouldn’t end at that point. In fact, there were still 49 points and three lead changes to go – just in the first half.

The first defensive stop didn’t occur until just over a minute was left in the first quarter, and even then points were scored. Massillon would punt the ball away to Mentor, only to have Dorie Irvin strip the Cardinal return man, while J.B. Price swooped in to recover the fumble and return it 35 yards for a touchdown. Schott’s extra-point kick made it 17-14 Tigers with 1:09 left in the quarter.

Massillon’s biggest pain was Tanski. With the precision of a skilled surgeon, the senior calmly led the Cardinals down the field on drive after drive.

Tanski was 7-of-13 for 69 yards in the second quarter, with a pair of touchdown strikes to Orkis. He added a 15-yard touchdown run, a run which gave Mentor a 35-24 lead with 2:00 left until the band show.

Tanski finished 25-of-38 for 299 yards and three scores. He also ran for 56 yards.

The Tigers, not to be outdone, managed to change the scoreboard one final time before the half, with Torrence scoring from a yard out with 27 seconds left to slice it to 35-31 after the PAT.

The two teams would each score once in the third quarter – Worden scoring from 2-yards out with 8:48 left in the stanza, and Torrence from 9-yards out with 20 seconds left – keeping the Mentor lead at four, 42-38.

Torrence gave Massillon its first lead since the second quarter on a 24-yard run with 7:25 left – 45-42 after the PAT. But Tanski’s second scoring run, a 2-yarder, put Mentor in front 49-45 with 4:01 remaining.

A 40-yard kickoff return by Justin Turner, with an added 15 yards on a Mentor penalty, put the ball at the Cardinal 34. Massillon then was added by a key offside penalty against Mentor on a fourth-and-4 play at its own 28, extending the drive. Two plays later, Yoder scored to give the Tigers – momentarily – their final lead.

GAME STATS