Tag: <span>Youngstown Ursuline</span>

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2016: Massillon 30, Youngstown Ursuline 0

Massillon moves on

All-around winning performance propels Tigers past Ursuline in Warren

Chris Easterling
Independent sports editor

WARREN – Massillon football teams have made plenty of bus trips home from Warren over the years. Some have been enjoyable; others, not so much. Saturday, the Tigers made yet another of those bus rides home from Mollenkopf Stadium.

Massillon coach Nate Moore didn’t even need to get on the bus to know into which category it would fall.

“It’ll be a great bus ride home,” Moore said after his team defeated Ursuline 30-0 Saturday in Warren.

For the Tigers, the trip away from Warren was both literal and figurative. It was literal in the sense that they were leaving the locale and going home.

It was figurative in the sense that, after a week of hearing about their performance in a Week 3 loss to Warren Harding, Massillon was ready to move on and take care of the next challenge on the schedule.

That, as much as anything else, was what made the performance so satisfying to so many wearing the white helmets with Obie logo on the side.

“The kids came out and played well,” Moore said. “At times, really. … Offense, defense, special teams played a good game today.”

That performance has Massillon in position to close out the first half of the regular season right where it wants to be, with a winning record. The Tigers evened their mark at 2-2 with the win, and now return home for the first of six consecutive home games this Friday night against Bowsher. The Rebels will come to Paul Brown Tiger Stadium a far, far cry from the kind of team Massillon has faced over its first four games. They are 0-4 and have lost their last three games by an average of almost 37 points a game.

The Tigers insist they aren’t overlooking a team they beat by 30 a year ago. However, they also know this is a chance to build off what they did Saturday against Ursuline.

“We needed to win this week (at Ursuline),” Moore said. “We need to win next week, just like we need to win every week. The coaches will spend just as much time game-planning Bowsher; we’ll spend just as much time on the practice field trying to get better.”

Massillon’s coaches had insisted that they had improved over the course of the first three games going into the Ursuline game, despite losing two of its first three games. Saturday’s win provided the on-the-scoreboard evidence to back up those claims to the Doubting Thomases around.

Nowhere was that proof more evident than defensively, when the Tigers took steps to quiet some of the critics who claimed they couldn’t stop the run. Ursuline came in as a team that thrives on running the football.

On Saturday, Massillon’s defense silenced that Irish running game. The Tigers limited Ursuline to just 69 yards on 28 attempts, an average of 2.5 yards per carry. Even better for Massillon was the fact that it gave up none of the big rushing plays which had plagued it in losses to Mentor and Warren. The longest Irish run was nine yards. Ursuline, which did have three first-half drives inside Tiger territory, managed just 143 total yards.

Of those 61 came on the Irish’s final first-half drive, which ended at the Tiger 2 when Massillon came up with one of three its fourth-down stops.

“I think defensive line-wise we did a good job,” Moore said. “We’re playing through some injuries at linebacker. We had some guys step up big-time today and play well in spots where they hadn’t played before. A good overall team effort.”

It wasn’t just the defense, either. The offense returned to a balance that it didn’t necessarily have over the first three games, while also not turning the ball over for the first time since a loss to Ursuline in Week 7 of the 2014 season. Massillon continued to run the football well, gaining 166 yards on 43 carries. Jamir Thomas once again led the way with 75 yards on 14 carries, which was significantly down from the 30-plus attempts he had posted in the previous two games.

However, along with that running game, the Tigers showed they’re more than capable of beating a team through the air as well. Seth Blankenship completed 15-of-23 passes for 230 yards and four touchdowns. Blankenship’s 66-yard second-quarter strike to Austin Jasinski staked Massillon to a 7-0 halftime lead.

His 20-yard touchdown pass to Jasinski two plays into the fourth quarter closed out the scoring. In between, the senior threw two third-quarter scoring strikes that helped the Tigers turn a close game into a rout. He had a 37-yard pass to Marcus Perrin and a 12-yarder to Austin Kuscher.

“It wasn’t anything different,” Moore said of Blankenship’s performance. “It’s just (quarterbacks coach Brett) Cooper getting back to the drawing board, working on fundamentals. Seth just believed in the play calls. Coach Cooper just did a great job mixing up the run and the pass. I thought we were pretty balanced.”

The all-around team performance also had help from the special teams. That didn’t just include Nate Gregg’s 27-yard field goal which gave Massillon a 10-0 third-quarter lead. The Tigers’ 23-point second half was almost exclusively set up by special-teams plays.

They recovered a fumbled pooch kick at the Irish 37, which set up Perrin’s touchdown catch to make it 16-0. An onside kick recovery after that score set up Jasinski’s second touchdown catch. There was a little longer wait between recovery and score there due to a 30-minute lightning delay.

“We really got some momentum there with those two fumble recoveries on special teams,” Moore said. “(Special teams coordinator Jason) Jarvis does a great job and we put the ball in some spots where we had a chance to recover if they weren’t handled correctly. They weren’t and our kids were opportunistic and jumped on it and got those balls recovered. That carried us with some momentum.”

Momentum which carried over to a happy bus ride home from Warren.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2015: Massillon 49, Youngstown Ursuline 18

BACK ON TRACK
Hurst shifts to receiver, Blankenship QB in win

BY CHRIS EASTERLING
Independent sports editor

MASSILLON It was just the kind of game Massillon was looking for. Just the kind of home cooking the Tigers needed to leave themselves feeling much better about things.

After an up-and-down quarter-and-a-half, Massillon turned things on midway through the second quarter and gradually pulled away from Ursuline for a 49-18 win at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium on Friday night.

“It felt really good,” Tiger coach Nate Moore said after his team improved to 3-4. “Our kids, they played hard. They played with effort, but they also played well, which has not always happened. They executed and all that stuff. It was a great team victory.”

The Tigers have won two in a row at home, and two out of their last three overall. They return to Paul Brown Tiger Stadium next week when Cincinnati Mount Healthy visits.

They will do so a different-looking team on offense.

Massillon’s offense was looking for a spark of some sort to jolt it back into rhythm after last week’s loss at Austintown Fitch. It may have found it by shifting Lee Hurst II from quarterback to receiver while handing Seth Blankenship the keys to the offense at quarterback full-time.

On the very first play of the game, Blankenship hit Hurst for an 8-yard gain. The bigger gain, though, came with four minutes left in the first half, when Blankenship connected with Hurst for a 37-yard touchdown pass to put Massillon ahead 21-12.

It was one of three first-half touchdown passes for Blankenship, who was 12-of 17 for 204 in the game. He completed a 31-yarder to Austin Jasinski for a 14-12 lead; the strike to Hurst for a 21-12 lead; and a 24-yarder on fourth-and-18 to Montrell Stevens to make it 28-12 with 1:07 left in the half.

In the third quarter, Blankenship hit Hurst on a slip screen, which the latter turned into a 19-yard touchdown for a 35-18 Tiger lead. Hurst finished the game with 81 yards and the two touchdowns on five catches.

“Lee played great,” Moore said. “He had two touchdowns, one way down the field and one on the screen where he broke some tackles. We’re really proud of him.”
Massillon also was proud of its continued defensive improvement during the last few weeks.

The Tigers allowed Ursuline to manage 304 total yards, 190 of which came in the first half.

“Our ends played really well,” said Moore, whose team forced three turnovers, including two interceptions by Kordell Ford. “They played head-first defensively. We were reading our keys and getting off blocks.”

Ursuline came into the game happy to have running back Kimauni Johnson back after he had left last week’s loss with an injury. On the Irish’s second play – their first one was picked off by Ford to set up a Massillon score – Johnson raced 80 yards for a touchdown to pull them within 7-6.

Johnson rushed for 150 yards on 13 first-half carries. However, a shoulder injury in the second quarter knocked him out of the game.

Other than Johnson, though, Massillon’s defense did a solid job in limiting the Irish to just field goals in the first half. Those field goals – of 26- and 27-yards – did give Ursuline a 12-7 lead with 8:59 left before halftime.

Ursuline’s only other touchdown came on a very short field after a Massillon fumble at its own 3. One play later, the Irish scored to make it 28-18 with 9:56 left in the third.

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2014: Massillon 14, Youngstown Ursuline 23

Ursuline uses strong running game to stop Massillon

Chris Easterling
Chris.Easterling@IndeOnline.com

YOUNGSTOWN The more physical team always was expected to be the team to emerge from Friday night’s showdown between Massillon and Ursuline with the win.

The Irish were the more physical of the two teams on this night inside Youngstown State University’s Stambaugh Stadium. That fact was reflected on the scoreboard, which read Ursuline 23, Massillon 14.

And no one was disputing that fact less than Tiger head coach Jason Hall, whose team dropped its second consecutive game – both to Youngstown area teams – to fall to 5-2.

“We got beat physically,” Hall said. “It is what it is. Their defense beat us up physically. There you go. We all got to look in the mirror.”

Massillon’s only two scores were set up by short fields. One came after a shanked punt set up their first possession at the Irish 26; the other after Jeff Koch’s interception started their final possession of the first half at the Ursuline 37.

Both ended with J.D. Crabtree touchdown runs. The first put Massillon ahead 7-0; the second gave the Tigers a 14-13 halftime lead.

Other than that, Massillon found next-to-nothing consistently go right for it against a stout Irish defense. The Tigers had their first drive of the second half end with a blocked 22-yard field goal, and their final drive of the game end with a 41-yard field goal go wide right.

Massillon’s running game was limited to a net of 77 yards, although Crabtree did run for 105 yards on 18 carries. The Tigers put the ball up 37 times, completing 14, for 223 yards.

“They got movement,” said Hall, whose team also was hurt by eight penalties. “They were able to get some penetration. It really cut off our cut-backs and our seams.”

The Tigers did have two other drives reach Ursuline territory, one to the Irish 39 and the other to the Irish 37. The first ended in a punt after the drive was short-circuited by a first-down sack in the second quarter; the latter saw the Tigers lose 31 yards on a bad punt snap to put the Irish in business at the Massillon 27 late in the third quarter.

The second one would set up Ursuline’s 26-yard field goal with 10:04 remaining. That gave the Irish the lead for good at 16-14.

“We’re growing up as a football team,” Ursuline head coach Larry Kempe said after his team improved to 5-2. “I’ve always liked our physicality defensively. We’re starting to understand that offensively up front, too.”

That was evident in the Irish’s patience with the running game. Of their 63 offensive plays, 60 were rushes, netting a total of 274 yards.

For the second week in a row, Massillon allowed a pair of 100-yard rushers, with one of those two being the opposing quarterback. This time, it was Irish quarterback Vito Penza leading all rushers with 168 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns.

Penza’s 32-yard run on the Irish’s second possession pulled them within 7-6 of the Tigers. His 1-yard plunge with 9:05 left in the second quarter gave Ursuline a 13-7 lead after the PAT.

His final score – a 55-yard run with 8:33 remaining – made it a two-score game at 23-14.

“We knew we had to play Ursuline football, Youngstown football,” Penza said. “We played really well as a team.”

Kimauni Johnson also topped 100 yards rushing for Ursuline, gaining 106 yards on 27carries

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2008: Massillon 13, Youngstown Ursuline 23

Ursuline rallies past Tigers
Irish post 17 points in second half to knock off Massillon

By CHRIS EASTERLING
The Independent

Youngstown, OH —

For the first three games of the season, the Massillon Tigers have been a strong third-quarter team. On Friday night at Youngstown State University’s Stambaugh Stadium, they had the tables turned on them by the state-ranked and unbeaten Ursuline Fighting Irish.

Leading by seven at halftime, the Tigers saw the Irish outscore them by two touchdowns in the third quarter as Ursuline pulled away for a 23-13 win to drop Massillon to 2-2 on the season.
“Up front, I thought they did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage,” Tiger coach Jason Hall said. “That’s high school football. They won the battle up front.”

The Tigers were held to just 30 yards in the second half, after gaining 136 in the first half. Ursuline had 153 of its 340 yards of offense after halftime.

Massillon must now regroup quickly, as a tough Garfield team visits Paul Brown Tiger Stadium next Friday. The Golden Rams are 2-1 with a game today against Akron North (3-0).

“It’s like I told our kids, it’s a true test of character for everybody,” Hall said. “It’s not always going to be easy. That’s what’s going to determine the rest of our season.”

The first half was all about Massillon and the opportunities it was presented by Ursuline mistakes.

The Tigers took the ball away from Ursuline – the No. 2-ranked team in Division V – three times in the first half, not counting a kickoff that Massillon fell on before the Irish could. The Tigers converted those into 13 points as the they grabbed a 13-6 halftime lead.

“We put ourselves in a bad situation,” said Ursuline coach Dan Reardon, whose team is 4-0. “I think good football teams find a way to win when you put yourself in a bad situation. We were fortunate we were able to do that.”

The first two Ursuline possessions ended in fumble recoveries by Massillon. The first was recovered by J.B. Price, which he brought back inside the Irish 35. However, a clipping penalty against Massillon moved the ball back to its own 48. That drive would never get going, and the Tigers would punt it back to the Irish.

On Ursuline’s second possession, the Tigers forced a second fumble after an Irish reception and Brian Arelt fell on it at the Irish 45. Massillon would march down to draw first blood, with Price capping the 12-play drive with a 1-yard run at the 1:02 mark of the first quarter for a 7-0 Tiger lead after the extra point.

Ursuline answered on its next drive, marching from its own 37 into the end zone in 10 plays, with Allen Jones running it in from one yard out for the score. However, the Irish tried the swinging gate on the point-after try, with Dale Peterman taking the direct snap. But the Tiger defense was up to the task, and stopped the two-point try to keep Massillon ahead 7-6 with 8:11 left in the first half.

A third Ursuline fumble in the first half – at its own 47 – gave Massillon a chance to pad its lead right before the intermission. Aided by a 30-yard pass from Michael Clark to J.T. Turner, the Tigers moved just outside the Irish 11.

Clark and Turner would hook up to give Massillon a 13-6 lead with 1:08 left until the band show. This time, it was a 13-yard strike to a wide-open Turner in the end zone. The PAT bounced off the upright to keep it a seven-point lead.

Massillon would get the ball right back when Tyler Miller recovered the kickoff at the Ursuline 21 after the Irish failed to cover the kick. But the Tigers failed to convert when a 39-yard field goal went just left with 32 seconds left in the half.

“Not scoring at the end of the first half really hurt us,” Hall said. “Looking back on that, that was huge. We needed some points there.”

The Tigers, though, started the second half as generous guests. Peterman intercepted a Massillon pass and returned it to the Tiger 15.

“That was an emotional swing in the game, obviously,” Hall said.

Two plays later, Darrell Mason scored on a 7-yard run for the tying score – after the extra point – just 1:07 into the second half.

Ursuline’s next possession – helped out by an 18-yard run on a fake punt – moved to the Massillon 5, where it was fourth-and-2. Dawalyn Harper managed to pick up the first down with a two-yard run, then scored from a yard out two plays later to give the Irish their first lead of the game at 20-13 with 48 seconds left in the third quarter.

Kevin Patrick added a 20-yard field goal with 5:50 left in the game for a 23-13 Irish lead.

GAME STATS

Ursuline 23
Massillon 13
At Stambaugh Stadium

Massillon 07 06 00 00 13
Ursuline 00 06 14 03 23

SCORING SUMMARY
M – Price 1 run (Geier kick)
U – Jones 1 run (Run failed)
M – Turner 13 pass from Clark (Kick failed)
U – Mason 7 run (Patrick kick)
U – Harper 1 run (Patrick kick)
U – Patrick 20 FG

Mas Urs
First Downs 9 18
Rushes-Yds 29-69 53-223
Comp-Att-Int 8-17-3 7-9-0
Passing Yards 97 117
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 6-4
Penalty yards 35 0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing:

Massillon

Clark 14-34;

Turner 12-25;

Patterson 2-9;

Price 1-1 TD.

Ursuline

Harper 10-71 TD;

Mason 14-55 TD;

Jones 16-48 TD;

Irizarry 7-47.

Passing:

Massillon

Clark 8-17-97 TD, 3 INTs.

Ursuline

Kempe 6-8-110;

Harper 1-1-7.

Receiving:

Massillon

Turner 3-42 TD;

Adkins 3-39;

Patterson 1-10;

Gaines 1-6.

Ursuline

Turner 2-18;

Peterman 2-16;

Jones 1-56;

Stevens 1-19;

Cole 1-8.

Records:

Massillon 2-2;

Ursuline 4-0.

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

2007: Massillon 14, Youngstown Ursuline 3

Massillon gets enough big plays to turn back Ursuline

By CHRIS EASTERLING

Any win is a work of art, especially when a team is mired in a two-game losing streak the way Massillon was entering Friday night’s contest with Ursuline at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. So, don’t expect the Tigers to be deducting for style points after pulling out a tough 14-3 victory over the Fighting Irish.

“At this point, you take them any way you can get them,” said Tiger coach Tom Stacy, whose team evened its record at 2-2. “It wasn’t pretty. I’ll tell you what, that’s a pretty good football team. … Obviously it helped us not having (Ursuline tailback Darrell Mason) playing. But, hey, we’ll take it.”

It was obvious by the mood in the Tiger locker room they weren’t about to give it back. After having to trudge in after consecutive setbacks to Solon and Normandy the past two weeks, the players were able to revel in the joy that comes with winning on Friday.

“It feels like we got a chip off our shoulder,” Tiger senior quarterback Chris Willoughby said. “We know we still have to work hard. We have a good team (Mentor, which is 3-1 after beating previously-unbeaten St. Ignatius 38-17 on Friday) coming in here next week.”

The Tigers were able to move the ball between the 20s all night, but they struggled to punch it into the end zone. The exceptions were a pair of touchdown passes from Willoughby – a 10-yarder to Josh Cross with 8:39 left in the second quarter and a 47-yarder to Kevin Massey with 5:37 remaining that broke open a 7-3 game.

Willoughby played the entire game save for the first series after Mike Clark suffered a foot injury. Clark had been named the starter earlier this week, and his status for next week’s game against Mentor is uncertain.

The senior quarterback made the most of his opportunity, completing 5-of-8 passes for 72 yards. He had at least two others dropped.

“Coach told me to be ready to go whenever,” Willoughby said. “I always have to be ready. Being a senior, I felt like I had to lead the team.”

The Tigers’ running game managed to grind out enough yards to wear down the Irish, as Massillon gained 162 yards rushing. Of those, 158 were by DeVoe Torrence, who carried it 29 times.

“We thought we could be able to run the ball,” Stacy said. “We have to be able to run the ball. And one of the things we wanted to do is we wanted to run DeVoe a bunch. We wanted to pound it up in here. We knew they had a lot of linemen going both ways, and we wanted to wear them down. I think we were able to do that.”

Massillon finished the night with 240 yards of offense. The Tigers also had a 32-yard field goal blocked.

What Massillon was able to do more than anything on Friday is keep Ursuline from crossing the goal line. Yes, the Irish were able to gain 192 yards of offense, but when they got into Tiger territory, the defense arched its back and turned them away.

The only Ursuline points came on a 39-yard Mike Metzinger field goal, which cut Massillon’s lead to 7-3 with 2:57 left in the first half.

Massillon came up with a pair of turnovers on consecutive Ursuline third-quarter possessions. The first, a fumble recovery at the Tiger 24, turned back the Irish’s deepest penetration of the second half.

Justin Turner also came up with a leaping interception at the Massillon 41 on the next drive.

“I can’t say enough about our defense, our defensive coaches, the game plan and the way we executed on defense,” Stacy said. “We did enough offensively to win. Defensively, I thought our guys did a great job.”

GAME STATS

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1974: Massillon 6, Youngstown Ursuline 14

‘Have to come back next week’ – Shuff

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

Anytime you lose it’s tough to take. For Chuck Shuff it was 10 times as agonizing Friday night when he became the third first-year coach in the 80-yard history of Tiger football to lose an opener.

But Shuff may have had a harder task in winning than either John Atkinson or Elmer McGrew for Chuck had to pit his new system against a tough revenge-minded team in Youngstown Ursuline.

Program Cover

THE WORDS came hard as Shuff, slowly and softly following the Tigers’ 14-6 loss to Ursuline before 12,395 fans, recounted his post-game speech to his squad.

“We have to come back next week,” Shuff said. “We can’t drop our heads. We have to have a lot of Tiger pride. We have to put the pieces together. We have to re-evaluate some things.

“We must stick together as a family. One individual does not lose a ball game. The whole family loses the game.”

While the Tigers had the upper-hand in the statistics, that’s no consolation. They came out second best in a real head knocker between linemen, with Ursuline getting revenge for a 6-2 defeat administered here last year.

“When you bring in a new system, things are going to be a little different,” Jim Maughan Ursuline head coach said, remembering the 21-0 defeat administered his team here in 1972. “We felt if we had a shot at them this would be the time. Fortunately things worked out that way. It was a real team effort.

“THEY HAVE a fine team. They came back and had us on the ropes in the third quarter. I was really worried, but Lady Luck happened to be with us tonight.”

The Irish won the game with some outstanding interior line play which opened gaping holes in the Tigers’ defense in the first half for backs Larry Fontanarosa, Eric Darby and Pat Durina. Tackles Fred David and Jim Dunlea, guards Mike Cizmar and Tim Rice and center Dave Porter did the bulk of the work.

The Irish ran from 16 different sets, according to Maughan and threw in some misdirection tactics from the wing-T which could have contributed to the Tigers’ woes.

“In the second half we weren’t doing anything differently defensively,” Shuff said. “We had a little more pursuit. I felt our kids were awfully tight at the beginning of the game and that’s when you make a lot of fundamental mistakes. Our offensive line looked better as we went along. Our defense improved but we couldn’t put it together.”
While Ursuline picked up 100 net yards rushing in the first half, the Irish got only 32 in the second half. The Tigers picked up 119 yards in the first half and 68 in the second half.

The Tigers moved the ball well but killed themselves at key times with fumbles – even the three of five which they didn’t lose.

IN THE first half Ursuline got some tremendous field position form kick and punt runbacks.

They tied the game on an eight play, 59-yard drive started by Durina’s 32-yard runback of the kickoff following the Tigers’ only touchdown.

Quarterback Mike Fagert went through the center from the two with 1:19 left in the first quarter. He tried to pass to end Gary Zamary for the conversion but threw the ball into the south stands.

Ursuline forced the Tigers into a punting situation, with Todd Keller booting from the north end zone in the second quarter. Darby ran the pigskin back 45 yards to the Massillon two and ploughed through the center on the next play for the TD with 1:44 remaining.

He tried to run the conversion, got hit, the ball popped into the air and Dunlea grabbed it in the end zone.

The Irish got deep into Tiger territory only one other time, but were halted on the Tiger six earlier in the second quarter by Tom Grizzard and Bill Harmon.

THE OBIEMEN’S lone score came after a first quarter punt on a seven-play, 70-yard drive highlighted by Harmon’s 42-yard jaunt around end to the Ursuline 24. But the Irish had “the big bear” in their sights the rest of the game.

Two plays later tailback Mark Streeter took a pitch from quarterback Greg Wood and skirted the right side from the sixth with 6:31 remaining. His attempted pitch to Streeter for the conversion hit an Ursuline player.

The Tigers took the second half kickoff and rolled 37 yards in nine plays to the Ursuline 19 for a first down, but junior fullback Jeff Lab lost the ball on a blast through the center and the Irish’s Dunlea recovered. Lab had started the drive by running kickoff back 24 yards to the Tigers’ 46.

In the fourth quarter the Orange and Black rolled from their 20 to their 46 in six plays following a punt, but Wood fumbled the snap and the Irish’s Sam Lamancusa recovered.

Then the Tigers nailed punter Fontanarosa on the Ursuline 28 following his snap fumble. However, a broken play killed their chances.

IF WHS quarterback Greg Wood can get improved protection, he and end Eddie “Tinker” Bell and wingback Mark “Midget” Pifer could become a good passing combination. One Tiger drive broke down in the second stanza when Wood, throwing under duress, couldn’t hit Bell on fourth down from the Ursuline 14.

A 32-yard kickoff runback by Streeter to the Massillon 46, Wood’s 14-yarder to Bell and junior tailback Tom Grizzard’s 21-yard, off-tackle run and a seven-play, 42-yard drive went for naught.

URSULINE – 14
Ends – Zamary, Jernan, Montana.
Tackles – Beshara, Cardon, Alexander, Dunlea, David.
Guards – Cizmar, Julian, Rice, Lamancusa, Cardarelli, Hunsbarger.
Centers – Davanzo, Porter.
Halfbacks – Rebraca, Darby, Durina, Joyce.
Fullbacks – Fontanarosa.

MASSILLON – 6
Ends – Lemon, Bell, Gutshall.
Tackles – Matie, Mike Lauber, Rich, Nagle.
Guards – Lightfoot, Bricker, Dowd, Christoff, Snell, Venables, Brand, White, Parrish.
Center – Studer.
Quarterback – Wood.
Halfbacks – Streeter, Grizzard, Pifer, K. Harmon, Dorsey, Stewart.
Fullbacks – B. Harmon, Waldrop, Lab, Hoffner.
Punter – Keller.

Ursuline 6 8 0 0 14
Massillon 6 0 0 0 6

SCORING
M – Mark Streeter 6 run;
U – Mike Fagert 2 run;
U – Eric Drobney 7 run (Jim Dunlea fumble recovery).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Hugh Davis.
Umpire – J. Donald Miller.
Head Linesman – Fred Vicarel.
Field Judge – Ted Humphrey.
Back Judge – Chet DeStafano.

GAME STATISTIS
M U
First downs – rushing 10 8
First downs – passing 3 0
First downs – penalties 1 1
Total first downs 14 9
Yds. Gained rushing 202 150
Uds. Lost rushing 39 18
Net yds. Gained rush. 163 132
Net yds. Gained pass. 24 19
Total yds. Gained 187 151
Passes completed 4-11 3-4
Passes inter. By 0 0
Ydge. On passes inter. 0 0
Kickoff ave. (yards) 2-49.0 3.39.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 70 73
Punt ave. (yards) 3.41.3 4-38.8
Punt returns (yards) 19 43
Had punts blocked 0 0
Lost fumbled ball 2.5 0.1
Yards penalized 4-30 5-25
TDs rushing 1 2
Total number of plays 49 45
Time of Possession 24.00 24.00

Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1973: Massillon 6, Youngstown Ursuline 2

ANOTHER STERLING TIGER DEFENSIVE JOB

WHS bests strong Ursuline team 6-2 amid TD-touchback controversy

By Chuck Hess Jr., Independent Sports Editor

You’ll never convince Youngstown Ursuline fans, coaches and players that the Massillon Tigers beat the Fighting Irish 6-2 before 11,723 Friday night at Tiger Stadium. But don’t try to tell Tigertowners that, because their charges played terrific defensive football for the second consecutive week to offset another siege of offensive problems and an equally outstanding defensive job by Ursuline to win the non-league tilt which was married by a lulu of a rhubard with two minutes left.

Program Cover

Tiger Middle guard Allen Lemon had tossed Ursuline substitute quarterback Mike Fagert for a 10-yard loss to the Massillon 47. Mike Tamburino punted, Mark Streeter touched the ball at the 10 and it appeared Ursuline’s Joe Gaetano recovered near the five and advanced to the one where Tim Gutshall hit him and the ball bounced loose, rolled into the end zone where several players fell on it and Massillon’s Charles Danzy was ruled in possession for a touchback.

However, the ruling from Massillon’s Clyde Shankle, the back judge, and Youngstown’s Dr. Larry Glass, the field judge, was that nobody had gained possession of the muffled punt which ended up in the end zone.

“The impetus that put the ball into the end zone was from the kick,” said referee Jim Keefer of Youngstown. “The fact that the Massillon boy muffed the ball on the field of play had no bearing on the play. The ball continued on into the end zone and as soon as it touched the ground or anything else in the end zone the ball was automatically dead and it was a touchback.”

Ursuline coach Jim Maughan complained, “Our boy had possession of the ball. It’s a live ball. If they recover it, it’s a touchback, if we recover it, it’s a touchdown – which we did.” Tiger coach Bob Cummings commented, “If I were in coach Maughan’s shoes, I’d be upset. There’s no other way to play football but with the officials. We’ve had them go that way against us. That’s football. I couldn’t see the ball, I have to agree with the officials called.”

But Commings agreed that his defense had “risen to the occasion in each and every case. I think that Gary Waldrop came up with the offensive play of the season. It was just an old fashioned trap.” Waldrop broke through the left side of the line on the last play of the third quarter and raced 64 yards to the Ursuline one where he was hit and the ball bounced from his hands and over the sideline. Two plays later quarterback Greg Wood sneaked in from the one with 11:53 left in the fourth quarter.

Alan Binks’ conversion attempt was blocked by Glen Herchik who played one tough game as a fullback and linebacker. He picked up 97 net yards in 24 carries losing only four, and enabled Ursuline to lead to first downs 10-8. Danzy collected 91 yards without a loss in 23 tries.

“Herchik is a very courageous kid,” Commings said. “Their whole football team is. It’s the second week in a row we’ve had a team come in and fight us to the wire. We’re not pleased with our showing. But we have to be objective enough to give the opposing coaches and their kids a lot of credit.” The Tigers had two other opportunities to score. They lost the ball on downs at the Ursuline four early in the second quarter. Later in the stanza Binks’ field goal try from the 19 was wide right.

The Irish got out of their territory once in the first quarter. Strong safety Denny Gutshall intercepted a pass on the Massillon 30 in the second period to stop another attempted invasion. Ursuline got to the Tiger 18 in the fourth stanza with Herchik doing the bulk of the ball carrying, but end Leon Rolland brushed off two blockers and dropped tailback Dave Hodge for a two-yard loss to the 20 where the Orange and Black took over.

Cornerback John Mayor intercepted a pass at the Massillon 16 on the final play. Ursuline scored its safety with 5:50 left in the fourth quarter when punter Todd Keller was forced to fall on a bad snap at the foot of the goal post. The Tigers had had fourth down on their 14.

The Irish used a 6-3 defense which Commings said confused his team. So did an unbalanced Ursuline offensive line.

Ursuline – 2

Ends — Williott, Deiter, Darby, O’Neill.

Tackles — Tamburino, Tomko, David, Donlea, Rice, Alexander.

Guards – Murtha, Hunsberger, Lowery.

Center – Porter.

Quarterback – Fagert.

Halfbacks – Hernan, Hodge, Rebraca, Gaetano, Fontanarosa.

Fullback – Herchik

Defensive halfbacks – Dastoli, Flanagan, Vario.

Massillon – 6

Ends – Huffman, Gutshall, T. Lemon.

Tackles – Lee, Csonka, Chapman, Rich, Nicewander.

Guards – Schumacher, Fenton, Schumacher.

Quarterback – Wood.

Halfbacks – Danzy, Streeter, Henderson

Fullbacks – McGuire, Waldrop’

Defensive Ends–Roland, DiLoreto.

Middle Guards – A. Lemon.

Linebackers – T. Gutshall, Graber, Venables.

Defensive halfbacks – Mayor, Pifer, D. Gutshall, Herring, Dailey.

Punter – Keller.

Placekicker – Binks.

Scoring

M–Greg Wood 1 run (kick blocked); U Safety, ball snapped out of end zone.

Officials

Referee Jim Keefer; Umpire Ted Deutsch; Head Linesman Henry Mastriann; Field Judge Dr.Larry Glass; Back Judge Clyde Shankle.

Stats M U

First downs, rush. 8 8

First downs, pass. 0 1

First downs, pen. 0 1

Total first downs 8 10

Yards gained rush. 212 152

Yards lost rush. 36 18

Net yds. gained rush. 176 134

Net yds. gained pass. 4 29

Total yds. gained 180 163

Passes completed 1- 4 3-7

Passes intercepted by 2 0

Yrds on passes int. 10 0

Kickoff average 2-54 1-55

Kickoff returns 32 17

Punt Average 6-36.7 6-31.6

Punt returns yd. 19 17

Fumbles lost 3 (1) 5 (2)

Yards penalized 5-46 4-31

Total no. plays 54 55

Jeff Huffman
Massillon Tigers Black Letter Logo History

1972: Massillon 21, Youngstown Ursuline 0

Tigers beat stubborn Ursuline 21-0

By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports Editor

Bob Commings is concerned about the inability of his team to be consistent offensively and concerned about the Tigers and their fans having a letdown.

“We must keep the faith above all,” the Washington high head football coach said after his team had shut out a tough Youngstown Ursuline team 21-0 before 11,708 fans Friday night at Tiger stadium. “We’re going into a big game next week at Upper Arlington.”

COMMINGS WAS concerned because it was the second straight week in which his charges failed to move the ball in crucial situations. They also have yet to show the big scoring play.

Program Cover

“Three quarters of the way our offense looks so good,” he said. “The thing that is killing us is that we’re not getting the short yardage plays. When you only punt once, you’re doing something right. If we get our short yardage, we’ll be a fine team. Our defense was intact and our specialty teams came through, giving us the ball in good field position.”

Urusline rookie Coach Jim Maughan agreed, saying, “Massillon is well coached. Quarterback Kevin Westover and tailback Tom Hannon are two of the better players we’ve seen. When the Tigers get their timing better, they have the material and will go all the way. I wish Bob all the best. He’s a fine gentleman.”

Commings knew that the Ursuline defense had given his Massillonians fits.

“We’ve had to extend ourselves twice now (meeting tough teams on successive Fridays),” he said of his charges second victory in as many starts.

URSULINE’S SECOND defeat with no wins was equally as tough for Maughan to take. The Fighting Irish were dealt two severe blows in losing senior quarterback Mike Banks with a concussion at the beginning of the second stanza and senior 208-pound guard Dan Miklos a few minutes earlier.

“When you lose a quarterback it’s tough to put a man like Greg Cerimele, a junior who has never played before, into a game at Massillon. He did a tremendous job. It hurt to lose Miklos too. We were out-physicaled in the end.”

Ursuline’s furthest penetration was to the 25 in the final frame.

The Tigers rolled up 299 yards while holding the Irish to 123. The Orange and Black rolled from 20-yard line to 20-yard line but failed at the 26, 13 and 10-yard lines in the first half and 16 and 18 in the second half.

“You have to give our kids all the credit in the world,” Maughan said. “When you hold a team to two touchdowns in four quarters, that’s pretty good. One touchdown was a gift.”
* * *
HE MEANT the second of Hannon’s jaunts – a five-yarder off right tackle with 7:19 left in the game. The Irish gambled on fourth and five from their 29, but strong safety Don Muhlback plowed into junior tailback Wes Hodge who had run well all night and brought him down at the line of scrimmage.

Hannon scored six plays later on first down and Muhlback booted the conversion.

The bespectacled senior was there when it counted all night with a nine-yard punt run back to set up a TD, another for 20 yards, a 31-yard interception return and a conversion pass to fullback Alex Wood, Muhlback had intended to kick but the snap was bad, holder Darrell Bickford flipped the ball to Muhlbach, he ran to his left and then passed.

Another bad snap spoiled his field goal attempt from the 17.

The groovy-hipped Hannon, for the second consecutive week, picked up over 100
yards – this time 109 net in 22 carries. He also threw in punt runbacks of 6, 37, 13, 9 and 23 yards to go with his twin TDs. The last return almost resulted in a touchdown except Ursuline’s Tim Tinker got a hand in the way at the right time at the Irish 33.
* * *
AFTER MUHLBACH’S punt runback in the second quarter, the Tiger’s marched from the Ursuline 35 in seven plays. Hannon raced over right tackle from 14 yards out with 4:55 left. Muhlbach’s conversion saver followed.

Senior wingback Terry Edwards scored the final TD after Hannon had almost gone the route on his fourth quarter punt runback. Four plays later from the Urusline 21 on second down, Edwards caught a Kevin Westover aerial on the two and fought two defenders to get into the end zone with 1:29 left.

Westover’s conversion run was inches short.

Two Tiger fourth period efforts were brought in an abrupt halt when Cerimele intercepted a pass on his five and John Herman one on his 20. Cermeile’s pilfer nullified a 53-yard Westover pass to senior tight end Dave Bodiford in which Bodiford ran 20 yards to put the ball on the Ursuline 20.

Tiger senior middle guard Tom Balizet broke through to nail Banks at the beginning of the second stanza when the Irish were rolling at the Massillon 45. Balizet grabbed the rolling pigskin at the Irish 35 and raced to the 20, but the Obiemen ran out of gas there.

It was on this play, unfortunately, that Banks was put out of commission.

URSULINE – 0
Ends – Graham, Tinkler, O’Neill, Flanagan, Vaughan, Palombaro.
Tackles – Takacs, Tomko, Alexander.
Guards – Kutsko, Poole, Bruno, Miklos, Kerrigan, Lowery.
Centers – Tamburino, Porter.
Quarterbacks – Banks, Cerimele.
Halfbacks – Handel, Hernan, Hodge.
Fullbacks – Herchik, Williott.

MASSILLON – 21
Ends – Bash, D. Edwards, Bodiford, McCauley.
Tackles – Geiser, Green, Hauschulz, Csonka.
Guards – Guiffre, Mayles, Keller, Ahlstrom, Graber.
Centers – Cocklin, Studer.
Quarterbacks – Westover, Bickford.
Halfbacks – Hannon, T. Edwards, Columbus Danzy, DiLoreto, Dennis Gutshall.
Fullback – A. Wood.
Middle guards – Balizet, G. Wood, Lee.
Linebackers – T. Gutshall, Bozzacco, Charles Danzy.
Defensive halfbacks – Muhlbach, Jackson, Christie, Swann, Mayor, Dan Gutshall.

URSULINE 0 0 0 0 0
MASSILLON 0 8 0 13 21

SCORING SUMMARY
M – Hannon, 14 run (Wood pass from Muhlback);
M – Hannon, 5 run (Muhlback kick);
M – T. Edwards, 21 pass from Muhlback (run failed).

OFFICIALS
Referee – Art Cirelli.
Umpire – Alex Rubins.
Head Linesman – Chuck Hinkle.
Field Judge – Beauford Hatfield.
Back Judge – Ron Giacomo

THE GRIDSTICK
M U
First downs, rushing 10 3
First downs, passing 3 1
First downs, penalties 0 1
Total first downs 13 5
Yards gained rushing 203 106
Yards lost rushing 24 26
Net yards gained rushing 182 82
Net yards gained passing 116 41
Total yards gained 299 123
Passes completed 6-16 2-0
Passes intercepted by 1 2
Yardage on passes intercepted 34 31
Kickoff avg.(yds.) 4-38.5 1-47.0
Kickoff returns (yds.) 17 32
Punt avg.(yds.) 1-17.0 7-30.4
Punt returns (yds.) 112 0
Fumbles (lost) 2(1) 1(1)
Yards penalized 6-50 5-65
Touchdowns rushing 2 0
Touchdowns passing 1 0
Total number of plays 56 54

Tommy Hannon