1975: Massillon 24, Dayton Colonel White 0

Tigers shut out Colonel White 24-0
Before cold and wet homecoming crowd

By DENNIS HIGHBEN

The Massillon Tigers (5-1-1) shut out Dayton Colonel White (4-3) 24-0 Friday, on a cold and wet homecoming night.

Tim Hassel, Dayton coach and Tiger Coach Chuck Shuff agreed the inclement weather hampered the offensive output of both teams.

“THE FIELD wasn’t too bad until the end of the second quarter,” Shuff said, “and after that it was miserable.”

The weather definitely kept the score down. In the second half neither team could conquer the muddy, slippery field to establish a ground game and the passing attacks were hampered even more.

The only thing that resembled a drive in the final half was on Massillon’s first possession, when the Tigers marched from their 33 to Dayton’s 33, where a fourth down run was stopped short by a fumble.

After losing a touchdown on a penalty in the first quarter, the Tigers got down to business and pushed across the Cougars’ goal three times in the second period for all the points of the evening.

Massillon started on its own 20 after the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards for the touchdown that was nullified.

Dayton used a six-man defensive line and three linebackers in an effort to stop the Tigers’ powerful ground game, but the Tiger interior linemen still overpowered the defenders and fullback Bill Harmon gained 19 yards on the first three plays.

After a snafu play the Tigers had a third-and-six on their 37 and Keller threw to Wingback Keith Harmon at Dayton’s 40. Harmon picked up another 10 yards before being tackled. Five plays later Keith got the ball on a reverse and scampered 13 yards into the end zone, but the score was called back on a clipping penalty.

QUARTERBACK TODD Keller threw to End Bill Bammerlin a few moments later from the 23, but the pass was short and Dayton defender Rich Vaughn picked off the pass at the one and was tackled at the six by End Mark Matie.

Dayton ran three plays and punted. Pete Killins caught the ball at Massillon’s 45, slipped by several tacklers and scampered downfield, but was denied a touchdown when he slipped and fell at Dayton’s eight. Killin’s run was wiped out by a clipping penalty anyway and the Tigers had to start from their 30.

Harmon, who gained 135 yards to 28 carries to bring his season total to 944 yards, split the rushing duties with Tom Grizzard and the two got the ball to Dayton’s 10-yard line in 10 plays. Harmon ran through a hole in the center of the line, sidestepped a linebacker and went into the end zone with 11:18 left in the second period.

Grizzard took the ball on a pitch and dragged two Dayton defenders into the end zone for the two point conversion, making it 8-0.

Keith Harmon kicked off and the ball sailed into the end zone. Dayton Quarterback Reggie Oglesby dropped back to pass on first down and was sacked by Grizzard at the 10. Fullback Barry Johnson gained three yards on the next play and on third down Tony Grizzard, the other half of the Tigers’ hard-hitting Grizzard brothers linebacking corps, batted down an Oglesby pass.

OGLESBY, WHO also served as Dayton’s punter was set to punt from near the goal line, but received a bad snap from center. By the time Oglesby was able to kick, several Tigers had penetrated the line and Keith Harmon blocked the punt. The ball rolled to the goal and sophomore tackle Kurt Walterhouse jumped on the ball for a touchdown.

Keller rolled out and threw to Tom Grizzard for the conversion and with 9:13 left in the half the score was 16-0.

Dayton, starting at its 20, drove to near midfield but on third down Tom Grizzard clobbered halfback John Smith in the backfield for a seven-yard loss and Dayton was forced to punt.

Massillon started from its own 27 following the punt and on third and five at the 32, Keller rolled out to pass. The ball slipped out of his hand as he attempted to throw and went straight up. Keller caught his own pass, broke a tackle and picked up the first down.

The Tigers got to Dayton’s 29, when Matie ran a pattern across the field, caught a Keller pass around the nine and went in for the score with 1:22 left in the half, Killins took a pitch from Keller and ran in for the Tigers’ final two points, making it 24-0.

THE BIGGEST highlight of the second half was Dayton’s “Polecat” offense. With the center in the middle of the field, three men lined up near one sideline and six lined up near the other. Oglesby would take the snap about 12 yards deep and throw to any one of the five eligible receivers.

Since there wasn’t anybody in the backfield to run the ball, Oglesby had to pass, but the aerial charades were rendered futile by some fine play from the Tiger secondary, assisted by the wind and rain.

The Tigers adjusted to the wild formation and on Dayton’s last possession Oglesby was sacked twice by Don Englehardt and Bob Dennison for a total loss of 27 yards.

Hassell said after the game the “Polecat” would have worked better in dry weather, but overall he was satisfied with is team’s performance.

“I wish the score would have been a little closer, but we know now we can play on Massillon’s level,” he said.

“IT WAS a real thrill to come up here and with a 24-0 score we can still go back to southern Ohio respectable.

The Cougar coach stated that as an inter-city school, the opinion around Dayton was that Colonel White would get clobbered.

“Our whole school was excited about us playing Massillon and we had a lot of fun doing it. I’d love to come back again next year,” he added.

Shuff praised the Tigers’ and especially the teams’ defensive play. Dayton only penetrated Massillon territory once and only by a single yard and that drive was killed on an interception by defensive back Willie Conley. Colonel White finished with minus four yards rushing, 65 yards passing and four first downs.

COLONEL WHITE
ENDS – Williams, Davis, Harris, Veal.
TACKLES – Lowe, Lampley, Strobel, Young.
GUARDS – Lewis, Slauter, Smith, Thomas, Chapman.
CENTERS –Hopkins, France.
QUARTERBACKS – Oglesby.
RUNNING BACKS – Smith, Johnson, McDaniel, Vaughn.

MASSILLON
ENDS – Arner, Conley, Chovan, Butterfield, Eberhardt, Matie, Jones, Bammerlin.
TACKLES – Mark Lauber, Mike Lauber, Genet, Drobney, Baughman, Dennison, Tourney, Walterhouse.
GUARDS – King, Schumacher, Christoff, Baus, Hauser.
CENTERS –Mitcheal, Nagle, Englehardt.
QUARTERBACKS – Keller, Smith.
RUNNING BACKS – Stewart, Henderson ,Harper, McBride, B. Harmon, K. Harmon, Killins, A. Grizzard, Haas, Ellis, Rogers, Parson, Dorsey, T. Grizzard, Toles, Lash.

COLONEL WHITE 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 0 24 0 0 24

SCORING SUMMARY
M – B. Harmon, 9 run (T. Grizzard run);
M – K. Walterhouse punt block (T. Grizzard pass from T. Keller);
M – M. Matie, 29 pass from Keller (P. Killins run).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Warren Jones.
Umpire – Tony Pianowski.
Head Linesman – Charles Hinkle.
Field Judge – Harold Baker.
Back Judge – Clyde Shankle.

ATTENDANCE – 7,357.

GRIDSTICK
M CW
First downs-rushing 16 1
First downs-passing 2 3
Total first downs 18 4
Yards gained rushing 263 41
Yards lost rushing 4 45
Net yards gained rushing 259 4
Net yards gained passing 61 65
Total yards gained 320 61
Passes completed 2-8 7-17
Passes intercepted by 1 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 37 4
Kickoff average (yards) 3-46.6 2-53.5
Kickoff returns 9yards) 20 0
Punt average (yards) 0 5-26.2
Punt returns (yards) 0 0
Kicks blocked 0 1
Lost fumbled ball 1-3 0-1
Yds. Penalized 3-35 1-5
TDs rushing 1 0
TDs passing 1 0
Misc. TDs 1 0
Total number of plays 64 36
Total time of possession 33:01 14:59