1934: Massillon 37, Tiffin Junior Home 0
5,000 FANS SEE TIGER PASSES ROUT TIFFIN JUNIOR HOME ELEVEN 37-0 FRIDAY
ORPHANS BATTLE TO LAST DITCH AGAINST VERSATILE OFFENSE
By LUTHER EMERY
A versatile attack, with passes and laterals mixed in with end dashes and off tackle smashes, carried the Washington high school Tigers to a 37-0 victory over Tiffin Junior Home here Friday evening in the opening game of the season played before a crowd of 5,000 fans.
Two touchdowns in the first period, two in the second and two more in the fourth told the power of the Massillon team. There were let downs frequently and occasional mechanical troubles, but the Tigers clicked consistently enough to plaster the first defeat of the season on the Junior Home boys.
Tigers in Star Roles
Leading the offensive assault was Henry Krier, D.C. McCants, the two quarterbacks, Mike Byelene and Howard Dutton and Wendall Lohr, whose snaring of Dutton’s passes delighted the crowd. Defensively, it was Cloyd Snavely whose hard tackles while backing up the line had much to do with Tiffin’s inability to carry the ball anywhere.
Outweighed, the Tiffin gridders did their best to make a game of it and went down fighting in the last ditch. Even when hopelessly beaten they dug their cleats into the sod and staved off Tiger scoring attempts on three occasions.
The Tigers did not demonstrate any unusual line crushing power. They played an open game and their touchdowns were largely the result of forward passes rather than a hard running attack.
Krier First to Score
“Heine” Krier was first to cross the Tiffin goal. The first period was well under way when Bruce Manning, the Juniors’ versatile quarterback, caught Lohr asleep and punted 60 yards on first down over the Tiger safety man’s head to the Massillon 20-yard line.
McCants was set at liberty and galloped 46 yards to the Tiffin 34-yard line before being dropped. Krier smashed for 10 yards on the next play. He got nine more yards in two attempts and McCants barely made it first down on the 14-yard line. Massillon was set back five yards for being offside, but McCants made three more yards and a pass, Dutton to McCants brought a first down on the two-yard stripe. The Juniors’ braced and held McCants to a net gain of one yard on two attempts. Krier then smashed through the left side of the Tiffin line for a touchdown. He placekicked the extra point.
The second touchdown came shortly after the following kickoff. Krier booted the ball to Manning who returned to the Juniors’ 35-yard line. McCants partially blocked Manning’s punt on the third down and Morningstar, having dropped back to cover for a pass, caught the ball in the air and raced 44 yards for a touchdown. Krier missed his kick.
That ended the scoring for the first quarter.
Lateral Scores Touchdown
Lohr started the Tigers moving for their first touchdown of the second period when he returned Manning’s punt from his own 23-yard line to his 33-yard line. McCants made six yards from punt formation. The Tigers were penalized five yards for being offside on the next play. Tiffin, however, was penalized 15 yards for roughing McCants and a pass, Dutton to Shertzer, brought a first down on the Tiffin 30-yard line. Dutton snapped another pass to McCants good for three yards and McCants ran to a first down on the
15-yard stripe on the next play. Krier hit right tackle but a 15-yard penalty for holding set Massillon back to the 30-yard line. Again Dutton stepped back and heaved a long pass to Lohr who stepped out of bounds on the five yard line. An end around play with a lateral to Shertzer produced a touchdown. Krier failed twice to set the ball across the uprights.
Krier kicked off to Manning who was stopped on his 24-yard line. Massillon held and Manning booted to Lohr, who returned 10 yards to his 43-yard line. Massillon was penalized five yards on the next play, but a pass from Mike Byelene who replaced Dutton, to Lohr netted first down on the Tiffin 30. Krier made two yards, Byelene four and McCants got through for a first down on the 20. A lateral, Krier to Shertzer lost two yards. Byelene sneaked through center on the next play for a 22-yard touchdown. Krier’s kick was wide of the posts. The second half ended a minute later with Massillon in the lead, 25-0.
Neither team scored in the third quarter. Tiffin midway in the period got into Massillon territory but a pass to an ineligible receiver gave Massillon the ball on its own 40. McCants got away to a 38-yard run but Tiffin braced and intercepted a pass to end the threat.
The fourth quarter opened with a bang. Dutton on the first play throwing a pass to Lohr who ran the remaining distance of 44 yards for a touchdown. A pass failed to gain the extra point.
The Tigers launched another drive that carried them to the 15-yard line where the Juniors grounded three passes in a row to regain possession of the ball. Manning punted the ball back to his 40 and Lohr returned to the Tiffin 28. McCants hit for nine yards and Dutton made it first down on the 18. Byelene lost a yard but a lateral to Shertzer netted first down on the seven-yard line. Dutton sneaked through to the one yard line and McCants plunged across. The pass for the extra point was grounded.
The last five minutes of the game was one substitute after another, until both coaches nearly used up their supply of reserves.
Tigers Make 20 First Downs
The Tigers had the edge in every department of the game. They made 20 first downs to three for Tiffin and completed seven of 17 passes for a gain of 129 yards. Two passes were intercepted. Tiffin gained nine yards on passing and had five incomplete and one intercepted.
Massillon lost 115 yards in penalties while Tiffin was penalized 40 yards.
Tiffin Junior Home is an orphanage of the Junior O.U.A.M. Boys from many states in the union, whose fathers are dead are sent to the orphanage. The football team last night represented 10 different states. The school only has an enrollment of 130 boys and its football team is annually called upon to play one of the stiffest schedules of any high school team. Mooseheart, Ind. And Steubenville are among its strong opponents this year.
Schools are eager to schedule the Juniors because fraternal affiliations add to the gate attractions.
Color and lots of it was injected into the game. Pennants of the Tigers 1934 opponents were suspended from the light poles. Massillon’s state champions, the American Legion boys, drilled and played before the game. So did the Washington high and the Junior Order bands.
Bud Houghton, Longfellow junior high coach described the game over a public address system from a position in the press box.
Jimmy Aiken a Spectator
One of the most interested spectators was Jimmy Aiken, Canton McKinley high coach. Said Jimmy between halves, “It looks like you have a good team. You have some big boys there. Are those weights correct? Those boys make my fellows look like pee-wees.”
We answer, “Oh yeah.”
Many compliments were heard last night over the fine condition of Massillon field. The turf is finer than that found on many of the nation’s biggest stadiums. Actual observation has disclosed that.
Except for a cramp in the leg sustained by Krier it was not necessary to take time out for any injuries last night. Krier’s leg was hurt.
Dutton’s punting brought back memories of fine Washington punters of years gone by. Not a bad one did the little Massillon quarterback get away last night and he placed several out of bounds with fine accuracy.
Washington high will face stiffer opposition here next Saturday when Jack Snavely, former Tiger coach brings his Cleveland Shaw high team to Massillon. For 10 years Massillon faculty managers have been trying to schedule Shaw, but not until this year could they complete negotiations. Shaw last made its appearance here in the undefeated season of 1922, when the later Edwin “Dutch” Hill dove over the line of scrimmage in the last 27 seconds of play to tie the score at 6-6 and Bill Edwards booted the extra point that gave Massillon a 7-6 victory.
The lineup and summary of last night’s game:
MASSILLON Pos. TIFFIN
Shertzer LE Ferguson
Wolfe LT Herron
Molinski LG Valentine
Morningstar C Warf
Snavely RG Waugman
Buggs RT Quick
Lohr RE Morrison
Dutton QB Manning
Krier LH Paynter
Lange RH Johnson
McCants FB Cartwright
Score by periods:
Massillon 13 12 0 12 37
Substitutions:
Massillon – Byelene, qb-lh; Gillom, fb; McDew, e; Miller, g; Carter, rh; Herring, lh; Price, t; Russ,e; Graybill,c; Schimke, g; Peters,t.
Tiffin – Fields, hb; Langdale, lt; Hampton, re; Fargis, le; Gunter, g; Schlemmer, t; Wilson, c; Whittaker, g.
Touchdowns: Massillon – Krier; Shertzer; Byelene; Morningstar; Lohr; McCants.
Point after touchdown: Massillon – Krier (placekick).
Referee – Shafer.
Umpire – Michaels.
Head Linesman – Rupp.