ALLIANCE DEFEATED
46 TO 0
BY MASSILLON
HIGH ELEVEN GAINS REVENGE
IN GREAT BATTLE, SATURDAY
46 to 0!
By that score orange and
black clad warriors of Washington high school last Saturday afternoon gained
revenge for the defeat handed them a year ago by Alliance high when they buried
the gladiators from the eastern extremities of Stark county under an avalanche
of seven touchdowns and four goals after touchdown in a spectacular battle on
the Pearl street gridiron before about 4,000 fans. It was Massillon’s sixth
straight victory of the 1922 campaign and it marked another step toward the
scholastic championship of Ohio as well as
the first advance toward gridiron honors of Molly Stark’s domains.
The score would indicate
that Coach David B. Stewart’s gridders had a rather
easy time winning from the aggregation of huskies which Harry Geltz, Alliance coach and former Mount Union star, brought
to Massillon. But while the invaders found
the attack of the youthful Tigers irresistible during the last three quarters,
the game was a great deal harder fought than the 46 to 0 score would lead the
casual observer to believe.
It was a battle all the
way. Alliance, with a team that from end
to end, outweighed Massillon, came here imbued with a spirit to fight to the last
ditch. And fight they did. But the brilliant attack of the orange and
black, which crashed its way through the Alliance line, skirted
the visitors’ ends and gained frequently by the aerial route, was not to be
denied. And Coach Stewart’s lads, were out to win and they won because the greatest
scholastic football machine ever developed in Massillon’s history was
able to outplay and outsmart its rivals from the east.
To say Massillon’s brilliant
triumph was due to the playing of any one, two or three gridders
would be doing an injustice to the rest of the lads who made possible that 46
to 0 victory. Every one of Coach
Stewart’s warriors covered themselves with glory. They were in the game every minute and it was
only the concerted team play of the orange and black that made possible the
crushing defeat handed to Alliance.
But every football game
brings out its stars and Saturday’s melee was not an exception. Football fans will have to travel far before
they see a high school lad put up a defensive game such as “Bill” Edwards,
rangy tackle, played Saturday. Edwards,
without a doubt was the shining light on defense. This tall, well-built youngster,
was a thorn in the side of Alliance’s attempts to gain. Into every
play was Edwards. He roamed over the
field like a lion unchained and few and far between were the plays that did not
see Bill Edwards crash through the Alliance wall of
defense and bring down the man with the ball.
Alliance simply couldn’t keep Edwards at bay.
And in addition to his great defensive work Edwards gave Massillon four
points by showing exceptional ability as a drop kicker, hoisting the ball over
the bars four times after touchdowns.
On offense Joe Define, the Navarre flash and “Dutch” Hill, the great plunging fullback, were the
stars. Define ran with the speed of the
wind Saturday and his great 60-yard run through the entire Alliance team for
touchdown in the fourth quarter was the greatest play of the day. Hill as usual smashed his way through the Alliance team for
substantial gains. The visitors were out
to stop the Massillon star. All during the game they
were urging each other to stop Hill but the orange and black plunger showed
them it could not be done.
Hill also showed ability in
punting. His twisting spiral kicks
traveled high and far and it gave Massillon’s ends plenty
of time to get down the field and tackle the Alliance receiver
before he could move out of this tracks.
All season Coach Stewart’s
team has been recognized as a wonderful defensive aggregation. On offense it had not shown a great deal
outside of end runs and line plays. But
Saturday the Massillon tutor ordered his warriors to open up and critics who a week or two
ago were declaring that Massillon had no overhead attack worth speaking of probably find their lips
sealed today.
The orange and black has an
aerial offense and it proved it Saturday by shooting passes over the Alliance line that
paved the way for three touchdowns. A
fumble robbed the local team of another touchdown after a forward had placed it
in position to score. With Hill and
Thomas heaving the passes, the youthful Tigers completed four out of nine
attempted forwards for a total yardage of 92.
Alliance also had an overhead attack but the visitors did not launch it until
the last five minutes of play when they made a desperate effort to score. It was not until the visitors opened their
overhead drive that they made a first down.
Up until that time they had not been able to pierce the orange and black
for any substantial gains.
With Hopkins, Alliance fullback,
heaving the ball, Coach Geltz’s gridders
worked four forwards and made four first downs.
Their aerial drive carried the ball deep into Massillon territory and
on one occasion they carried the oval to Massillon’s 10-yard line
but lost it on the next play when the forward passed over their goal line. Hill immediately punted out of danger and Alliance’s chance of
scoring was gone.
Although he was only in the
game for about three minutes it was Captain “Tink”
Ulrich, peppery, fighting dark haired leader of the orange nad
black who broke the morale of the Alliance crew and instilled into his own
warriors the fighting spirit which made their attack assume steam roller
proportions during the last three quarters.
Still nursing an injured
knee, sustained in the Youngstown South game two weeks ago, Coach Stewart did not send Ulrich into the
game at the start. But when Alliance held Massillon scoreless
during the first quarter, Coach Stewart gave heed to the pleading of the orange
and black leader and sent him into the fray in the second period.
And Captain Ulrich had not
been in the game two minutes before he grabbed an Alliance punt on the
visitors’ 42-yard line and with perfect interference tore his way down the
field for Massillon’s first touchdown. That play
broke the fighting spirit of the east enders and it
made the local team open up an advance which Alliance could not
stem. Coach Stewart pulled Ulrich out of
the game immediately after he had scored the touchdown. The local tutor, did
not care to take any chances on having Ulrich’s knee injured again and while he
hated to leave the conflict “Tink” obeyed and went to
the sidelines. He had done his share to
bring victory.
After Ulrich’s brilliant run
the orange and black began to smash the Alliance team to
shreds. Shortly, after the first
touchdown, Massillon started a march from Alliance’s
45-yard line that was not
halted until Hill tore around Alliance’s left end
for a 20-yard gain and another set of counters.
Before the quarter ended Hill shot a long pass to Weirich
for a gain of 35 yards. Weirich being
downed on Alliance’s five-yard line. With 40 seconds of play left Hill grabbed the
ball and shot through the visitor’s for another touchdown.
Massillon twice was within scoring distance in the first quarter but was unable
to gain through the Alliance line. Edwards put the local
team in position to score when early in the game he blocked an Alliance punt and Massillon gained
possession of the ball on Alliance’s 18-yard line when a visiting player held Edwards who was racing
after the oval. But four attempts to
pierce the Alliance defense failed.
Early in the third quarter Pflug broke through and blocked an Alliance punt and then
covered the ball on the visitors 20-yard line. Smashes into the line took the ball to the
six-yard stripe but Define fumbled a poor pass from Roth and Mattick covered for the visitors. After an exchange of punts Massillon started
another march from Alliance’s
31-yard line, which ended
when Hill bucked the ball over from the third yard line.
It was a forward pass from
Thomas to Potts, good for a gain of 21 yards, that
paved the way for Massillon’s fifth touchdown. After
tackling the pass Potts carried the ball to Alliance’s 12-yard
line. Hill made 11 yards on a plunge and
then Define carried it over from the one-yard line.
Early in the fourth quarter Borsa ripped off a first down and then Hill heaved a pass
to Potts who carried the ball to the Alliance nine-yard
line. Define made two and then Hill
bucked the Alliance line twice and the ball was over.
A few moments later Define made himself a hero when he took an Alliance punt on his
40-yard line and by a sensational run scored Massillon’s seventh
touchdown, traveling
60 yards through the visitors.
Define showed well in returning punts during the last half.
Alliance shortly after intercepted a Massillon pass on its
23-yard line and then opened its aerial attack which took the ball out of its
territory and put Massillon on the defensive. Ted Roth,
Massillon center, sustained a dislocated knee during the last few minutes of
play and had to be carried off the field.
Sweet Revenge
Massillon – 46 Position Alliance – 0
Weirich LE Hicks
Edwards LT G. Nixon
Kallaker LG Hoiles
Roth C Reese
Pflug RG Cady
Salberg RT T. Nixon
Rohr RE Wilcoxen
Thomas Q McGrannahan
Define LH Orr
Boerner RH Harding
Hill F Hopkins
Score by
quarters:
Massillon 0 19
14 13 – 46
Substitutions: Massillon – Ulrich for Define, Borsa for Ulrich,
Hax for Thomas, Miller for Kallaker, Jamison for
Rohr, Potts for
Weirich, Thomas for Hax, Define for Borsa, Borsa for Boerner,
Kallaker for Miller, Hise for Roth.
Alliance – Maple for Hoiles, Mattick for Hicks.
Touchdowns – Hill 4,
Define 2, Ulrich.
Goals after
touchdowns – Edwards 4.
Referee – Maurer, Wooster.
Umpire – Morrison, Penn State.
Headlinesman – Wilson.
Time of
quarters – 15 minutes.