CROWD OF 12,000
SEES TIGERS DEFEAT WARREN HIGH 21-0
MASSILLON TURNS
TO POWER PLAYS TO WIN
Ball Carriers Shove Over
Three Touchdowns
When Visitors Spread
Defense Over Passing Zone;
Game Abundant In Color
By LUTHER EMERY
A driving offense that gained yardage the hard way, kept the
Washington high Tigers into the top spot of
northeastern Ohio
football Friday evening as they stemmed the invasion of the battling Presidents
of Warren before a crowd of 12,000 cheering fans.
Thrice the Tigers plowed their way to touchdowns and thrice
the toe of Ray Getz, sophomore halfback sent the ball spinning between the bars
for a 21-0 triumph in a game that has never been surpassed in color here.
Color and Class
Fully 12,000 fans poured into Massillon field, which already has been
enlarged to a 13,000 seating capacity.
The packed stands formed a colorful back drop for the green stage and
one of the finest football shows ever put on.
Both teams had its performers, but in the entire cast there
were none more dangerous or more sparkling than the Johnson brothers, Mackey
and Levi, Warren’s
fleet and dangerous halfbacks.
Their dazzling sprints, the skillful maneuvers of the
81-piece Warren band, the snappy new drill of
the Tiger musicians, the princely marching of the Ohio champion American Legion drum and bugle
corps and the downright determination of both teams to battle to the final
whistle completed a show that sent losers as well as winners home talking.
Warren Primed For Game
As expected, Warren
was loaded to the guns. Several thousand
President supporters drove the 70 miles to Massillon and another several thousand gathered around
public address systems at home to see and hear their team in one of
northeastern Ohio’s
most important football games of the year.
It was billed as a game that would go a long way toward
determining the northeastern Ohio
champion and it did just that.
Warren came to Massillon with an
uncrossed goal line, but went back home with three touchdowns shoved over it.
The first followed the kickoff to Massillon and a Tiger drive of 80 yards that
ended with Ray Getz lashing through a stubborn left tackle for one yard and a
touchdown.
Another bristling drive that started from the Tiger 29-yard
line late in the first period and took up a third of the next quarter produced
the second score with Capt. Red Snyder diving over from the one yard line after
the visitors had twice stood their ground.
An intercepted pass on the Warren 40-yard line and a drive
that moved forward with the aid of a 15-yard penalty produced the third
touchdown in the fourth quarter with Freddie Toles
winging his way around right end from the four-yard line.
Those three touchdowns briefly sum up Massillon’s offensive efforts for the
evening.
Warren Always Dangerous
Warren
with two backs in the Johnson boys, who were faster and who could twist and
squirm better than any of the Tiger ball carriers was dangerous at all times.
Again and again Mackey or Levi would break through the Massillon line as though
fired from a cannon, but there was always a Tiger
somewhere handy to haul them down before they could reach the Promised Land.
Once it was Red Snyder who leaped on Levi’s back after he
was on his way down the sidelines. Again
Mackey was carrying the mail up the middle with four men ahead of him for
interference and no one to be taken out of the way when Bill Zimmerman gathered
himself off the ground and took the fleet Negro from behind.
The Johnson boys’ runs with one exception were the only long
ones of the evening, the Tigers gathering virtually all of
their yardage in power plays through the line or hard sweeps around the
ends.
Visitors Defense Bothered Tigers
The Warren defense which continually shifted from a five-man
to a six, seven and even eight man line, confused Tiger linemen on their
blocking assignments and frequently resulted in Massillon ball carriers being
stacked up without gain.
But troublesome as it was, Warren’s defense was pierced for 254 yards
and 15 first downs while the visitors were held to 163 yards and seven first
downs.
Warren,
however, did succeed in stopping the Tiger passing attack to a fair degree of
success. Carefully guarding their
secondary, the Presidents only allowed two completed passes, one figuring in
the second touchdown drive.
Using a 6-3-2 defense, the Tigers likewise guarded their
secondary and only allowed the completion of one Warren pass while intercepting three, one of
which started the final touchdown drive.
Though it broke occasionally and allowed the Johnson brother
to tear through, the Tigers forward wall gave a creditable performance and out
charged the visitors for three periods.
By gaining the first foot of ground Toles, Houston, Russell, McMichael, Gillom, Martin and Lucius made it possible for their ball carrying teammates
to smash through for gains which though not long, paid off in the end.
Tigers Score After Kickoff
The Tigers won the toss and received at the north end of the
field. It was slam-bang from then
on. Mackey Johnson booted the kickoff
into the end zone and Massillon
took the ball on its own 20. The going
was tough with two and three downs being necessary to get the required first
down. With Getz, Snyder and Slusser alternating at carrying the ball the Tigers rolled
up six first downs as they moved down the field. They got a first down on their 32, their 46,
the Warren 44,
the 25, the 12 and Snyder finally rammed through for a first on the one-yard
line. It took two plays to get it over
from there, Getz carrying it across and kicking the extra point. The drive consumed half of the first quarter.
When Warren
failed to gain after the following kickoff, Lindsey booted the ball to Snyder
who came back to the visitor’s 46. There
was second touchdown drive was launched despite two 15-yard penalties for
holding. A fake kick from which Snyder
ran 33 yards to a first down on the Warren
29-yard overcame the penalty losses. It
was Massillon’s
longest run of the game.
The mouse trap with Toles carrying
the ball gained 11 yards and brought a first down on the one-yard line and
Snyder went over after Warren
had twice stopped thrusts at the line.
The visitors flashed their first offensive late in the
second period when the Johnson boys got hot feet and carried the leather to the
15-yard line. There on fourth down,
Zimmerman and Getz dumped Mackey hard after he had taken a lateral from Exler and Warren lost the ball.
Warren Takes Initiative
The third quarter was all Warren.
Not a first down did the Tigers make in that frame while Warren came through with
three in two unsuccessful bids for touchdowns.
Once Levi Johnson raced through to the Massillon 31-yard line
where Snyder charged over to the sideline to stop him. Warren
only got two yards its next four plays and lost the
ball on the 29.
They charged back again, however, and were well on their way
with a first down on the Tiger 32-yard line when Manus fumbled the ball and
Getz recovered for Massillon
to end the threat.
Came the fourth quarter and the tide again
turned in favor of the Tigers. In
a desperate effort to score, Warren opened up
with passes into a secondary that was closely guarded by Massillon.
Horace Gillom went up into the air to pull one
down on the Warren
40 and got back five yards before being downed.
Slusser in two plays ran to a first down on
the
19-yard line. As he was tossed out of bounds, an over
anxious Warren
player piled in on his legs and a 15-yard penalty was stepped off. It advanced the ball to a first down on the
four-yard line. On the first play, Toles swept wide around his right end, outrunning Edwards
of Warren to get the touchdown. Getz for
the third time blasted a perfect shot between the uprights for the extra point.
The victory was the Tigers’ third and their hardest game of
the season. Apparently they came out of
it in better shape than either the McKeesport or
Mansfield games and will point for Sharon next week.
The coaching staff of Miami University
viewed the game from the enlarged press box and were amazed at the show
put on. “We can see now how you can draw
crowds of 12,000 at your football games,” was their comment.
They were particularly interested in the Massillon band. “Better than most college bands,” they said.
Maestro George Bird had his musicians primed for a new
number and transferred the scene to the old Chicago Fair and “little Egypt’s
gyrations”. It case you don’t know Pep
Paulson was inside the skin.
Warren Band Impresses
The Warren
band presented a fine drill between halves and an acrobatic drum major in Miss
Helen Johnson. She knows here “taps” too
so they say. The Warren male drum major who did such fancy
baton twirling is one of the four Keller brothers, a family of drum majors.
The Warren band paraded the
streets late Friday afternoon and marched to the Washington high gymnasium where members were
served a lunch by the Band Mother’s club.
Members of the Massillon
band were on hand to greet the visiting musicians.
The Legion drum and bugle corps put in its annual football
appearance before the game. The corps
usually participates in the opening night exercises but was on its way to Los Angeles this year when the Tigers opened their season
with McKeesport.
The Ohio champions and the
10th best corps in the United States were given a great
ovation as they left the field.
Miss Margaret Busse, Massillon’s acrobatic
cheerleader was given a big hand.
There was one fight, but the fan who took the pass at one of
the Massillon
‘coppers” regretted it. He was not
locked up however, but was put out of the field.
Good Plunging
Massillon Pos. Warren
Toles LE Edwards
Lucius LT Hoffman
Russell LG Brownlee
Martin C Canzonetti
Houston RG Hyde
MacMichale RT Lindsey
Gillom RE Holmes
Slusser QB Henry
Getz LH Manus
Zimmerman RH Johnson
Snyder FB Layton
Score by periods:
Massillon 7 7 0 7 21
Substitutions:
Massillon – Lechleiter, le; Foster, le; Fabian, fb.
Warren – L. Johnson, fb; Exler, lh;
Leutsch,; E. Wilson; Thompson; Terrell; Mustas; R. Wilson; Webster; Lohret;
Mrus.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Getz; Snyder; Toles.
Points after touchdown:
Massillon – Getz 3 (placekicks).
Referee – Jenkins.
Umpire – Rupp.
Head Linesman – Hetra.
Field Judge – Ensign.
Game Statistics
Massillon Warren
First Downs 15 7
Yards rushing 254 163
Yds. Lost rushing 14 13
Net yards rushing 240 150
Yards passing 22 18
Total Yds. Gained 262 168
Passes attempted 7 7
Passes completed 2 1
Passes incomplete 5 3
Passes intercepted 0 3
Times punted 5 3
Av. Punts (Yds.) 37.4 37.6
Yards penalized 65 35