BLOCKED
PUNTS WIN HARD GAME
By Luther
Emery
The films are undeveloped and so is the
It was
Playing on a slippery field that after a
few minutes made it practically impossible to identify players unless you could
pick them out from their positions, the Tigers found themselves pitted against
a spirited
Don’t take anything away from Pierre Hill’s Presidents. In the rain and mud, they looked the best
eleven the Tiger have faced this season and they were out to win.
Both teams had their minds set on victory. So high were they keyed that they literally
jumped at each other the first quarter, leaping offside so often that the
officials twice had to call them together and urge the captains to take it just
a little easier to so as not to delay the game.
To the folks who sat at home and followed the game by radio
and special wire it must have been a thriller; to the fans whose faces were
washed with rain all evening it was a killer-diller.
The boys played for keeps on both sides, but there was none
of the episode of flying fists that so many fans had anticipated.
In fact fans who didn’t get
tickets, were probably only too glad to stay home, while those who did, were so
drenched and cooled off by the rain that they kept their hands in their
pockets. There was no reason for
anything otherwise and more grumbling was heard among
It was a football game from start to finish, just as so many
other Massillon-Warren games have been.
The Tigers looked the smoother team and had more speed, but they
couldn’t use it on the sloppy gridiron, fumbled frequently and had a hard time
moving their heavier opponents who ganged them on the line of scrimmage because
they knew a wet ball made passing practically prohibitive.
It was more of a game than the score would indicate. Only twice all evening did the Tigers
actually carry the ball over the middle stripe – they got it in
Tigers Seize Opportunities
The difference in the two teams was that the Tigers took
advantage of their scoring opportunities while
Two blocked punts and a brilliant 80-yard run by Capt. Fred
Blunt produced the Tigers three touchdowns.
The game was only a few minutes old when on the first
exchange of punts, big Joe De Mando got his carcass
in front of Charley Scarpaci’s punt on the 80-yard
line and blocked the ball so hard that it bounded across the goal line. De Mando dove for
the ball lost it, but Karl Paulik stretched himself
across the leather for the touchdown. As offside penalty on the attempted point for touchdown put the
ball on the one yard line where Chuck Holt banged through for the extra point.
The Tigers were fighting hard to hold their seven-point lead
and Bob Graber had twice punted them out of danger when Fred Blunt suddenly
electrified the fans with the feature touchdown run of the evening, midway in
the second period that saw him shake himself loose from Don Byrnes, who almost
nailed him for a five-yard loss, he ran 80 yards up the sidelines behind fine
blocking, without another hand being laid on him. This time Graber rammed the extra point over
to make the score 14-0.
The thrills weren’t over with yet, for the Tigers developed
a bad case of butterfingers and Warren recovered two fumbles on the nine and
10-yard lines. Both times the vaunted
Tiger line bristled like a Halloween cat and smashed the attempts of the
Presidents to legislate a touchdown.
They were helped by a bit of poor judgment on
A blocked punt by Bob Wallace in the fourth quarter that
That in brief describes the scoring plays but it only
touches on the performance of a few of the players. Though mud and rain games usually result in
two teams locking themselves in a grunt and groan match in the middle of the
field, nothing of the sort took place last night and there were thrills every
minute.
Never will you see a better punting duel than that put up in
the second period between Scarpaci and Graber and
there wasn’t a
Once Scarpaci
punted dead to the one-yard line.
The Tigers were battling to hold a seven-point lead then, and the seven
looked small enough. In the fact of a
hard charging
Then there followed the brilliant goal line stands by the
Tiger forward wall in which every man from one flank to the other had to do his
everlasting best.
It seemed as though the local team would never get out of
trouble. The first setback came when
Blunt fumbled a none too good pass on the 33-yard line
and the ball rolled back to the nine where Bill Lahto
recovered for
Less than a minute remained to play, and the Tigers elected
to carry the ball and not make any effort to gain ground, hoping to stall out
the half. On the second play, however,
Dallas Power, who was sent in as a substitute, lost control of the greased
pigskin and Frank Superak recovered for
Scarpaci’s pass was grounded but Marcarello ran hard to the one and one-half yard line.
For the most part, play in the third quarter was confined to
the back yard of each team. Late in the
period, however, Graber made a brilliant 25-yard return of Scarpaci’s
punt to lug the leather past midfield to the
At the outset of the fourth quarter the Tigers threatened
when Blunt intercepted one of the eight passes attempted by
On the following sequence of plays, Wallace broke through to
block Scarpaci’s punt and set the stage for the
Tigers third and final touchdown.
Statistically, the difference between the two teams wasn’t
as great as the 21 points. Were it not
for Blunt’s 80-yard dash, the number of yards gained
from scrimmage would have been almost the same.
The Tigers gained a net total of 167 to
Neither team tried a whole lot in the way of passing.
With the exception of Don Armour,
the
Many
Joe De Mando who entered the game
with a severe cold was brought home and placed in the city hospital, just to
make certain that he would receive careful attention.
Well, the films will be mailed back to
The films were given back
to
Sweet Victory
Bray LE Georges
Paulik LT Superak
Wallace LG Byrnes
Fuchs C Kujala
Hill RG Kelson
Weisgarber RT M. Graham
De Mando RE Lehto
Cardinal QB
Graber LH Larson
Blunt RH Scarpaci
Holt FB Marcarello
Scores by period.
Substitutions –
Touchdowns – Paulik,
Blunt, Graber
Points after touchdown – Holt three plunges
Referee – Brubaker
Umpire – Lobach
Headlinesman – Richardson
Field Judge – Allison