VISITORS
KEEP FANS ON EDGE
Passes
Electrify Crowd, But 85 – Yard Return Of
Kickoff
For Touchdown Was Outstanding
Thrill
in 28-6
By Luther Emery
The magic of
Showing an improved offense that
at times flashed old time power, the Tiger gridders
capitalized on breaks and alert second-half play to triumph 28-6 over the
visiting Magicians.
Passes Fail to Score
Though always in front, the Tigers
were near panicky at times in the first two quarters when the Magicians unwielded their throwing arms to toss bullseyes
into the
Once a tremendous effort from Herb
Carey to Harry Odell, nearly set up six points, but the Magic player slipped as
he headed for the Tiger goal with no one in the way to stop him, and fell on
the 19-yeard line. The ball soared 53
yards though the air that time and the pass was exceeded only in high school
circles in these parts by the mighty 55-yard shot Mike Byelene
tossed at Niles in 1935. Mike, who is in
the army now, was watching from the press box last night.
A blocked punt, a hard tackle and
a smashing run of 23 yards produced two touchdowns and a safety and helped
relieve the tension of Tiger fans as the score amounted to 14 points with only
55 seconds of the first half remaining.
Then the visitors shot the works
and the
Fans Uneasy At Half
It was the touchdown that kept
everyone in the stands at half-time and held them there throughout most of the
third period, for with dangerous runners like Carey and a passing show such as
the Magicians put on, fans expected anything to happen any moment. And it was just about that fast, too.
The complexion of the game changed
so rapidly you could hardly keep up with it.
It seemed the visitors just had to score, but their passing attack
fizzled when they got dangerous and usually ended with an interception by a
Tiger player. The Massillonians
had five of them last night, two stopping critical drives.
The interceptions were not just
breaks. They were the result of a well
planned defense concocted between halves by the Tiger coaches.
Where protection of the secondary
was left to four men the first two periods, the ends began dropping back the
last half to provide a six-man defense against passes. Even then, the Magicians managed to sneak one
through now and then, but they waited too long to try to run with the ball
against this weakened line. They tried
it only twice the third period and gained four yards on one attempt and one
yard on the second. In the fourth they
carried it four times and averaged better than seven yards per attempt.
The Tigers had all the better of
the statistics, with the exception of passing where they looked woefully
weak. First downs were 13-8 in their
favor. They gained 312 yards carrying
the ball to the Magicians 40 and averaged 39.5 yards on their punts to 23.2
yards.
Magicians Better Passers
The passing was all in the Head’s
favor. They completed nine for 163
yards, and had 10 grounded and five intercepted. The Tigers completed two for 24 yards, had
one intercepted and 11 grounded.
Outshining the offense for the
second straight game, the line played fine defensive ball. The Head could still be hammering it and
still wouldn’t have a touchdown. Rarely
could a visiting player get over the
When two perfect passes carried
the Magicians 30 yards to the
The
One of the touchdowns came in the
last minute while Coach Bud Houghton was testing his experiment of using Chuck
Holt at fullback and Fred Blunt at right half-back. “Pokey” went 23 yards for it as he measured
his tacklers, then turned on the steam to circle them.
The game had its casualties and
may prove a costly one, for Kevie Bray, who held down
most of the pass defense work the first half, was carried from the field with
an injured leg in the middle of the last period.
Dave Larkin, giant
If there was any single individual
piece of work that sparkled for the Tigers it was the punting of Graber. He really laid his foot to the leather last
night and through two tremendous boots, punted the Tigers out of a second
period hole and set the Head clear back to its own seven-yard line where Bob Kanney broke through to toss tantalizing Ed. Barry for a
safety and two points for the Tigers.
They may not look precious to you
now, but they were bit last night with
The two points came on top of a
first period touchdown that Dallas Power, subbing for Lawrence Cardinal, scored
when he threw his body over the ball after Joe De Mando
had blocked Barry’s punt. Graber set the
stage for that one too when he angled the ball out of bounds inside the 10-yard
line. Not wishing to take any chance on
a fumble, the Head tried only one play, then sent
Barry back to punt. De Mando eluded the blockers and hit the leather with a
thud. No more did it go over the Head
goal until
A 19-yard run by Graber had the
Tigers knocking again after the next exchange but they lost the ball on the
13-yard line. A five-yard penalty and a
15-yard pass helped the Head advance the pigskin to midfield and here the
Magicians put on a show. The ball was
snapped to Carey, who faded back to pass but found himself hounded by two Tiger
tacklers. He raced back 19 yards and finding
he couldn’t elude them, rared back and fired the ball
up the center of the field.
Dick Adams had come in from his
safety position to look the situation over and by the time he discovered what
was happening Harry Odell was streaking down the field behind him.
Stumbles In Open
Field
The ball just kept on sailing and
nestled into the arms of Odell who turned and raced for his goal, with no one
to stop him. He must have mistaken the
20-yard stripe for a new white clothes line for he tripped and went down in a
heap and away went six points for the Head.
It’s hard telling what might have been the result had the visitors
chalked up this score.
They succeeded in working another
pass that took the leather to the three-yard line where the gallant stand of
the Tigers has already been described.
Two line bucks and a sweep netted the loss of two yards and a pass on
the fourth down was grounded. You could
see who the Head depended on in this series, for Carey handled the ball all
four times.
Graber banged a beautiful punt
from behind his goal to midfield and in another exchange along with a 31-yard
dash by Dick Adams after a pass interception had the Head rocking back on its
own seven-yard line. Kanney’s desperate
tackle that sent Barry reeling behind his own goal for a safety and two points
for
An exchange of punts and
But they forgot to examine the
names of the players – Sullivan, O’Dell, Carey, Kelley, Bardy
and Barry. They forgot the Irish in that
team, but they didn’t forget it for long, because it was on the following
kickoff that Carey scooped up Shephard’s fumble and
raced 85 yards for a touchdown that was the most electrifying offensive effort
of the night. He missed his attempted
kick for the extra point.
Twenty-two yards was as near as
the visitors could get to the Tiger goal the second half, but the
A muffed punt by
A drive of 40 yards through an
apparently tiring
More Thrills
Bray LE O’Dell
Paulik LT Brady
Miller LG Bray
Fuchs C
Kanney RG Hawkes
Weisgarber RT Remick
De Mando RE Kelley
Power QB Sullivan
Graber LH
Blunt FB Carey
Score by Period
Substitutions
Merrill, rg.
Touchdowns – Power,
Graber, Blunt 2, Carey
Points after touchdown –
Safety –
Referee – Brubaker
Umpire – Graf
Headlinesman – Harlow
Field Judge – Lubach