Tag: <span>Toledo Whitmer</span>

History

2012: Massillon 16, Toledo Whitmer 49

Whitmer football wins third consecutive regional crown

MANSFIELD — For the third straight season, Whitmer will be moving on to the Division I state football semifinals.

The third-ranked Panthers (13-0) earned that berth Saturday night by jumping out early on 10th-ranked Massillon Washington, and cruising to a 49-16 victory over the Tigers in a Region 2 final at Mansfield’s Arlin Field.

“This is unbelievable,” first-year Whitmer head coach Jerry Bell said. “This was our goal, and these seniors have worked so hard. This was the 41st game they’ve played in three years, and this one was for our senior class. Massillon is a phenomenal team and very explosive, and we were able to neutralize them tonight.”

Senior quarterback Nick Holley ran for 116 yards, and was 10-of-17 passing for 137 yards and a touchdown to trigger the Panthers’ attack, and senior running backs Tre Sterritt (14 carries, 71 yards, three TDs) and Me’Gail Frisch (13 carries, 81 yards, two TDs) contributed mightily to Whitmer’s 409-313 edge (272-54 rushing) in total offense.

The rest was up to the Panther defense, which bent but did not break in containing Massillon’s high-powered 43-points-per-game offense. It was the third playoff win by Whitmer over Massillon since 2006.

Now 38-3 overall since 2010, Whitmer will face seventh-ranked Mentor (12-1) in a semifinal Saturday at 7 p.m. at a site to be determined.

Mentor advanced by beating defending state champion Cleveland St. Ignatius 57-56 in three overtimes in Saturday night’s Region 1 final.

In an otherwise superb first half where they could do little wrong, the Panthers spotted Massillon a 7-0 lead 49 seconds into the game.

On their second play from scrimmage, the Tigers scored on a 54-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Kempt to Gareon Conley.

The Tigers would not reach the end zone again until 7:42 remained in the game, and by then they trailed by 32 points.

Whitmer’s first drive stalled at the its 47 after seven plays, but Nate Holley’s punt ignited a furious scoring surge.

Tigers return man Marcus Whitfield muffed the punt at his 10, the ball bounced toward the goal line, Whitfield was knocked away by Marcus Elliott, and Keith Howell recovered in the end zone for a touchdown with 8:30 left in the opening quarter.

After kicking the extra point, Panther placekicker Michael Baldwin executed an onside kick and recovered himself at the Massillon 45.

Whitmer quarterback Nick Holley is hit by Massillon Washington’s Ryan Rambo after picking up a first down.

Holley ran for 35 yards on the next play, a Tigers late hit moved it to the five, and Frisch went around right end the final five yards for a 14-7 Whitmer lead 21 seconds after its first TD.

“When they scored right away it was like, ‘…what did we get ourselves into?’ But we responded, and we just had that fire underneath us,” Nick Holley said. “The momentum changed, and I think we had it for the whole game after that.”

The Panthers’ next drive covered 55 yards on seven plays, with Tre Sterritt carrying for the final yard and a 21-7 Whitmer advantage with 4:29 left in the first quarter.

The offensive surge continued after the Whitmer defense stopped Massillon on a fourth-down play at its 35. Once again the Panthers used seven plays to find the end zone, this time with Sterritt going 12 yards through the middle on the first play of the second quarter.

Massillon briefly interrupted the Whitmer express, marching 61 yards on 13 plays before having to settle for Andrew David’s 29-yard field goal with 7:33 left in the half.

The Panthers traded punts with the Tigers, then launched their fourth offensive scoring drive of the half from their 40.

They used 12 plays to move those 60 yards, and Sterritt capped it on a five-yard TD run over left guard 39 seconds before halftime, which arrived with Whitmer holding a commanding 35-10 lead.

“We knew if we just played our game we’d come back,” Sterritt said. “They’re a great offensive team and have a good defense too. We knew we had to respond and we couldn’t let our heads down.

“The momentum just came from us working hard, and believing we were going to win.”

After a scoreless third quarter, Whitmer added a touchdown on the second play of the fourth, capping a monster 16-play, 80-yard drive on Holley’s five-yard TD pass to twin brother Nate Holley for a 42-10 lead on the Tigers.

Most importantly, that drive took 7:51 off the clock, preventing Massillon from staging any comeback bid.

“The defensive staff and offensive staff were dialed in on the play-calling,” Bell said. “We thought we had to be able to run the football against them, and keep the ball out of the hands of their offense. We were able to do that.”

“Our defense is stingy, and we’ve been playing like that all year,” Panther senior defensive tackle Marquise Moore said. “That’s the mindset you have to have going into any game.”

The Tigers’ second TD came on an 11-yard pass from Kempt to Conley.

Kempt was 19-of-32 passing for 259 yards, and Ryne Moore topped the Tigers in rushing with 52 yards on 17 carries.

“We knew if we stopped the big plays we would have a shot at stopping them and winning the game,” senior third-year starting linebacker Jack Linch said. “We did that throughout the game.

“We’ve played a lot of games the last three years. We’re an experienced football team and I think we can go all the way if we just keep working hard.”

Whitmer closed the scoring on Frisch’s six-yard TD run with 4:24 remaining.

Contact Steve Junga at: sjunga@theblade.com

GAME STATS

History

2010: Massillon 24, Toledo Whitmer 28

Big plays by Whitmer end Massillon’s season

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

TOLEDO, OH — In a fourth quarter of big plays, the biggest play ended up being made by the Whitmer Panthers. Because of that, the Massillon Tigers find themselves heading into the offseason much earlier than they had expected.

Jody Webb’s second touchdown run of the fourth quarter – a 44-yarder – gave the Panthers a 28-24 lead with 2:48 remaining, and they were able to hold off the Tigers twice after that as they won a Division I Region 2 quarterfinal game in front of about 8,000 at Whitmer Memorial Stadium.

“They hit a couple of big plays, big runs,” said Tiger coach Jason Hall, whose team bows out at 7-4. “You can’t give up big plays.”

Webb rushed for 137 of his game-high 220 yards in the final 12 minutes of the game. Of those, 103 yards came on his two touchdowns runs – the other being a 59-yarder – in the final 5:09 of the game that twice gave Whitmer the lead.

“No. 1, we have a lot of respect for their defense,” said Whitmer coach Joe Palka, whose 10-1 team will meet Twinsburg in a regional semifinal next Saturday.

“They’re a good defense, no matter what anybody says. I wasn’t surprised they kind of bottled us up (until the fourth quarter). They have some kids going two ways, and we really don’t. I think we kind of wore them down as the game went along.

In between those two runs, Massillon was able to retake the lead when Kyle Kempt hit Justin Olack down the right sideline for a 55-yard touchdown with 3:16 left to momentarily give the Tigers a 24-21 lead. That was one of two touchdown passes for Kempt, who also hit Devin Smith for a 69-yard touchdown in the first quarter that gave Massillon an early 7-0 lead.

“With three minutes to go in the game, we’re up,” Hall said.

Kempt finished 16-of-30 for 298 yards in his first-ever playoff start. He was also hurt by three drops in the fourth quarter that could have helped the Tigers move down the field, as well as an interception that bounced off the hands of a receiver with 2:40 remaining.

“Kyle’s improved every week,” Hall said. “He’s gone up against a couple of special defensive lines the last couple of weeks (in McKinley and Whitmer). I think from day one until today, I think he’s gotten better.”

Part of the Tigers problem was giving Kempt time to throw the ball. With a pair of highly-recruited defensive ends in Kenny Hayes and Chris Wormley, Whitmer was able to record eight sacks for the night, which hampered Massillon at times. Still, despite the Panthers’ defensive pressure, the Tigers were able to take a 14-7 first quarter lead with scores on their first two possessions. Jake Reiman’s 1-yard run with 6:21 remaining in the quarter provided that margin.

Whitmer’s first touchdown was set up by a 54-yard run by Webb on its first play of the game, a run that put the Panthers on the Tiger 9. Three plays later, Tre Sterritt powered in for the first of two first-half touchdowns to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:03 left in the quarter.

Sterritt also ran it in from the Tiger 2 on the second play of the second quarter to tie the game at 14-14.

Massillon was able to take the lead at halftime when it capitalized on a scoring chance that it couldn’t the previous week late in the half against McKinley. In last week’s game, the Tigers failed to score on multiple chances from the Bulldog 8 late in the half.

On Saturday night, the Tigers reached the Whitmer 10 with less than 30 seconds remaining. This time, they converted with a 27-yard Anthony McCarthy field goal with 9.2 seconds remaining to take a 17-14 halftime lead.

That would remain the score until the fourth quarter, when the big plays took over and swept the Tigers out of the playoffs.

GAME STATS

Whitmer 28

Massillon 24

at Whitmer Memorial Stadium

Massillon 14 3 0 7 24

Whitmer 7 7 0 14 28

SCORING SUMMARY

M – Smith 69 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

W – Sterritt 1 run (Kenczewicz kick)

M – Reiman 1 run (McCarthy kick)

W – Sterritt 2 run (Kenczewicz kick)

M – FG McCarthy 27

W – Webb 59 run (Kenczewicz kick)

M – Olack 55 pass from Kempt (McCarthy kick)

W – Webb 44 run (Kenczewicz kick)

Mas Whi

First downs 13 12

Rushes-yards 23-41 44-247

Comp-Att-Int 17-32-1 11-14-0

Passing yards 319 141

Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-0

Penalties-yards 6-59 4-30

Records 7-4 10-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

Massillon – Reiman 9-35 TD.

Whitmer – Webb 22-220 2 TDs.

Passing:

Massillon – Kempt 16-30-298 2 TDs, INT; Smith 1-1-21; Olack 0-1-0.

Whitmer – Palicki 11-14-141.

Receiving:

Massillon – Smith 5-100 TD; Olack 6-128 TD.

Whitmer – Lucas 6-82.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1970: Massillon 41, Toledo Whitmer 0

Tigers win 41-0 despite 12 penalties

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

It seemed like referee Jack McLain walked miles Friday night at Tiger stadium.

Surviving 12 penalties totaling 120 yards, Ohio’s No. 2-ranked Massillon Tigers shut out Toledo Whitmer 41-0 before 11,036 to extend their win skein to five as the first half of the season ended. Whitmer, vastly improved since 1969, has won three of five games.
* * *
RULES INFRACTIONS – a problem all season – halted drives on the Whitmer 13 and
34-yard lines, nearly aborted two others, prevented gaining possession on a punt, cost one conversion and caused extra effort to get another.

“Paul Brown said, ‘Good teams have penalties’”, Tiger Coach Bob Commings reminded. “Ours have to be brought under control. They hurt us tonight. It was like stealing votes.”

Commings thought his charges performed well.

“Under the circumstances, we did as good a job as possible,” he commented. “We came off a big win, have a big game next week (Steubenville). We beat Whitmer 60-0 last year and they were well prepared this time.”

While the offense had its troubles, the “Attack Pack” showed well again, limiting Whitmer to 51 yards on the ground – only one in the second half. Pass coverage was more than adequate as the Panthers completed but two of 10 attempts and had two pilfered.
* * *
“THEY’RE A good club,” Whitmer Coach Norm Decker commented, “but we weren’t so awed at the mighty Tigers this time. There was a lot of good hitting. This is the type of football we like to play. We’d like to come back again. I think we matured tonight.”

Decker explained he had two plans of attack. One was to shut off the passing game which killed the Panthers here in 1969 and the other to stunt on defense because the Tigers had trouble picking up blocks against Niles’ defense last week, in a game which Decker scouted.

“We thought we could cut off their passing game,” Decker commented, “so we put in some new defenses, switched around a bit and even played an extra back at times.”

It wasn’t so much the Whitmer pass defense that accounted for only six of 16 Tiger completions. Quarterback Denny Franklin was throwing long. Commings felt tossing into the wind hurt.

The Tigers received the opening kickoff and drove 72 yards in 11 plays for a score with 8:12 left. Tailback Mike Mauger crossed into pay dirt on an off tackle slant from seven yards out on first down. He swept end on a pitchout to the opposite side for the conversion.
* * *
A 27-YARD reverse jaunt by wingback Larry Harper set up the score after a procedure penalty had put the Tigers back to the Whitmer 34.

Jerry Freels ran the kickoff back 37 yards to the Tiger 48, but Whitmer lost the ball by inches on fourth down at the 39 – the furthest the Panthers got all night. The WHSers drove to the Whitmer 20, but Freels hauled in a pass on the five, ran back to the 15 and a face mask infraction pushed the ball to the 30.

End Don Perry jarred quarterback Randy Curson three plays later and cornerman Bernard Sullivan intercepted on the Whitmer 48. A 29-yard, Franklin to Harper pass-run was wasted as an illegal use of the hands call sent the Tigers back to the Whitmer 29 from the 13 and they were forced to punt.

Whitmer punted back and the Orange and Black survived clipping and procedure penalties to score their second TD. Franklin hit Harper on a down-and-out pattern on third down from the nine with 25 seconds remaining in the half.

Franklin’s conversion pass to split end Willie Spencer was good. However, there was a clip. Then tailback Larry McLenndon, returning after a one-week disciplinary suspension, was brought down short of the goal line.
* * *
FRANKLIN’S 19-YARD end run after the clipping call and Mauger’s 22-yarder helped set up the score.

Massillon scored again with 7:53 left in the third quarter after a Whitmer punt and
seven-play, 51-yard drive. Fullback and Co-Captain Tom Cardinal’s 23 running yards aided the cause.

Mauger went off tackle from three yards out on second down for his second six-pointer. Franklin’s conversion run was nullified by a procedure penalty so Mauger booted a point.

On the ensuing kickoff, end Mike McGuire banged a Whitmer safetyman who was trying to pick up an errant pigskin. Tqackle Glen Weirich gave the Tigers possession on the 10. Franklin ran the end for the TD with 7:24 remaining. He also successfully ran the conversion but a procedure penalty intervened. Franklin then tried to hit Sullivan but failed.

After a clipping call had stymied the Tigers at their 49, wasting Sullivan’s 14-yard romp to the Whitmer 34 on the inside reverse, the Orangemen were forced to punt. A personal foul call put Whitmer on its eight. Harper ran back Steve Thomas’ punt eight yards and the WHSers were set for a 30-yard, six-play playoff jaunt.
* * *
PERRY’S 12-YARD blast set up the score and on third down from the nine, Franklin hit Harper just inside the marker pylon with 10:24 left in the goodbye canto. Perry sprung McLenndon in for the conversion on an end sweep from a pitchout for two more markers.

Late in the period, cornerback Art Thompson knocked a pass into the air, grabbed it at the Whitmer 40 and raced for an apparent score but Massillon’s Harvey Hodgson, Jr., the head linesman had inadvertently blown his whistle, killing the ball where the run had started.

However, the Tigers came back in seven plays for their final score with McLenndon going over tackle on first down from the two;Quarterback Scott Dingler failed to find McGuire for the conversion. There were 58 seconds left.

THE GRIDSTICK
M W
First downs – rushing 21 2
First downs – passing 4 0
First downs – penalties 1 3
Total first downs 26 5
Yards gained rushing 320 72
Yards lost rushing 9 21
Net yards gained rushing 311 51
Yet yards gained passing 71 18
Total yards gained 382 69
Passes completed 6-16 2-2
Passes intercepted by 2 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 2 10
Kickoff average (yards) 7-46.0 1-34.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 3 92
Punt average (yards) 2-34.0 5-31.6
Lost fumbled ball 0-2 1-3
Punt returns (yards) 17 0
Penalties 12 4
Yards penalized 120 32
Touchdowns – rushing 4 0
Touchdowns – passing 2 0
Total number of plays 73 41

Steve Luke
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1969: Massillon 60, Toledo Whitmer 0

How tough Tigers?
Still unanswered: WHS mauls Whitmer 60-0 before 12,371

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

It was almost too easy for the Massillon Tigers and that’s not good because Coach Bob Commings still hasn’t gotten a real line on his Washington high team.

A 60-0 laugher over an outclassed Toledo Whitmer aggregation before 12,371 Friday night at Tiger stadium coupled with previous 60-6 and 22-20 victories only compounded Commings’ dilemma. There have been two cases of weak opposition and another of WHS mistakes preventing the skipper from seeing what his charges could do against a good club.

“I really don’t know how good this team is yet,” Commings confided. “Now we must start playing for keeps with Niles coming in next week to start off our league All-American conference campaign.
* * *
DON’T GET the boss wrong. He was plenty happy with his charges.

“We learned something tonight,” he said. “You’ve got to go out and take it to them. Our suicide kickoff squad really played ball and our defense really hit.”

So good was the defense that Whitmer didn’t get out of its back yard until late in the fourth quarter when the subs got in. The Panthers managed only 56 total yards, all on the ground, and failed to complete seven passes.

One of the fellows Commings singled out for his defensive work was end Ed McConnaughead.

“He did a marvelous job,” Commings said.
* * *
THE ORANGE and Black rolled up the exact number of yards on the ground as in the air – 192 – and completed 10 of 16 passes, causing a shell-shocked Norm Decker, Whitmer coach, to remark, “I’d take his third string quarterback!”

It was the most number of passes thrown by the Tigers this season and for good reason.

“We didn’t have the punch we thought we should have down in close,” Commings explained, “so we had to resort to passing. Our problem was we blew some assignments.”

The Tigers scored four times through the air, four on the ground, tallied five conversions via aerials and kicked two. They scored nine of the 11 times they had the ball.

Fullback Mike Autrey tallied three six-pointers, wingback Bernard Sullivan scored two and added a conversion, split end Don “The Hawk” Lewis caught two conversion passes, quarterback Denny Franklin scored a touchdown, threw a TD pass and two conversion aerials.
* * *
QUARTERBACK GARY Herring threw a touchdown and two conversion passes and kicked a conversion, quarterback John Fromholtz threw two TD aerials, one conversion pass and made two timely interceptions and tailback Mike Mauger scored a touchdown and kicked a conversion.

Fumbles aborted Tiger drives the first two times they got the ball when wingback Larry “Skooter” Harper got off a fantastic 44-yard punt runback to the Whitmer 38. Four plays later Autrey went off tackle from the 25 on first down with 3:39 left in the first quarter.

Mauger kicked the conversion.

A 48-yard pass-run play from Franklin to Harper, with Harper racing 37 yards, set up the next score together with an 11-yard Franklin aerial to right end Mike Robinson after Franklin had thrown 20 yards to Lewis for a TD only to have the Tigers in motion.

The drive took nine plays with Lewis eventually getting the score on a six-yard, third down sprint pass from Franklin to the corner with 9:46 left in the second quarter. The same play netted a conversion.

TAILBACK DARNELL, “Bopper” Streeter took off on a 34-yard punt runback to the Whitmer 32. Four plays later Autrey went through the middle from the 10 on the third down with 6:18 left after setting up the score with a 15-yard draw jaunt.

Franklin again found Lewis for the conversion.

After another punt, a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Whitmer and a clipping walk off against the Tigers, Herring found Sullivan with a 40-yarder on the two. After a leaping catch, “Sullie” stumbled into the end zone with 1:05 left. He had missed a TD pass minutes before.

Mauger’s conversion kick hit an upright and bounced back.

Middle guard Elijah McLin picked off a fumble at the Whitmer 32 early in the third quarter. Harper fooled the Panthers with a double reverse for 37 yards to the 14 and Autrey took it from there with an off-tackle jaunt.

HERRING KICKED the conversion.

John Fromholtz, whose No. 13 is proving to be more lucky than the reverse, picked off a pass and added a 20-yard return to the Whitmer 23. Eight plays later on first down from the six, Franklin tried to pass, ran out of a trap and scored.

Herring hit Harper for the conversion on another of those corner capers.

Massillon took over on downs on the Tiger 35 after having relinquished the pigskin the same way minutes before. Five plays and a Franklin-to-Harper 47-yard pass-run later it was touchdown again with 10:35 left in the fourth quarter. Harper caught the pass on the Whitmer 23 and scampered to the 17.

The score was a second down, six-yard pass down the middle to Sullivan who also caught the conversion aerial. Both tosses were from Fromholtz with the score coming with 10:35 left in the game.

Fromholtz picked off another pass and ran it back 23 yards to the Whitmer 34. A 20-yard off-tackle run by junior tailback Mauger and another double reverse – this one by Sullivan for nine yards – helped the Tigers hit pay dirt again.
* * *
MAUGER MADE a diving catch of Herring’s end zone pass with 7:22 left. Fromholtz found tight end Dan Byelene for the conversion.

From then on it was all Toledo with the game ending with Whitmer on Massillon’s 11.

“They were just too quick and too fast for us,” Decker said, “They blew us off the field. They’ve got a real fine team. When we knocked them down, they got up and came back.”

WHITMER – 0
Ends – Rawson, Conrad, Goodrich, Wagner, D. Barber.
Tackles – Chinni, Cherry, Jacquot, Lazette.
Guards – Coates, Pugh, Nowakoski, Howard.
Centers – Sutton, Lotte, Birr.
Quarterback – Curson.
Halfbacks – Oikle, Freels, Dankert, Adler, Berndt, Pointinger, Freels, Fritz, Leist, Good.
Fullbacks – S. Barber, Lantz.

MASSILLON – 60
Ends – Maxhimer, Robinson, Pribich, Snyder, Lewis, Yackee, Byelene.
Tackles – Dorman, Benson, Celik, Bingle, Strobley, Ridgley, Heck, Dodd, Janikis, Lint, B. Nussbaumer, R. Luke.
Guards – Hout, Midgley, McLin, Janikis, Ashcraft, Sims, Jellel, Miller, Kulik, Indorf, Ferguson, Preece, Eckroate, Marsh.
Centers – S. Luke, Brand, Crookston, Chovan.
Quarterbacks – Herring, Franklin, Fromholtz, Pattinson, Immelt.
Halfbacks – Streeter, Harper, Mauger, Lombardi, Sullivan, Ammond, Sheaters, Clary.
Fullbacks – Autrey, Cardinal.

Massillon 7 22 15 16 60

SCORING SUMMARY
M – TB Mike Autrey, 24-yard run, Mauger PAT (kick).
M – SE Don Lewis, six-yard pass from QB Denny Franklin, Lewis from Franklin PAT (pass).
M—Autrey, 10-yard run, Lewis from Franklin PAT (pass).
M – WB Bernard Sullivan, 40-yard pass-run from Herring.
M – Autrey, 14-yard run, Herring PAT (kick).
M – Franklin, six-yard run, WB Larry Harper from Herring PAT (pass).
M – Sullivan, six-yard pass from QB John Fromholtz, Sullivan from Herring PAT (pass).
M – TB Mike Mauger five-yard pass from Fromholtz, TE Dan Byelene from Fromholtz PAT (pass).

THE GRIDSTICK
M W
First downs – rushing 11 4
First downs – passing 7 0
First downs – penalties 1 1
Total first downs 19 5
Yards gained rushing 206 77
Yards lost rushing 14 21
Net yards gained rushing 192 56
Net yards gained passing 192 0
Total yards gained 384 56
Passes completed 10—16 0–7
Passes intercepted by 2 0
Yardage on passes intercepted 34 0
Kickoff average (yards) 9–45.0 1–53.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 25 127
Punt average (yards) 2–45.5 7–33.7
Punt returns (yards) 100 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Lost fumbled ball 1–2 0–0
Yards penalized 10–80 2–20
Touchdowns rushing 4 0
Touchdowns passing 4 0
Total number of plays 57 55

OFFICIALS
Referee – Robert Whetstone.
Umpire – Harvey Hodgson, Jr.
Head Linesman – Art Cirelli
Field Judge – Beauford Hatfield

Mike Autry