GRABER RETURNS PASS 97 YARDS
With Steubenville Coach In Stands, Massillon Eleven Runs Most of Its Plays From Punt And Spread Formations
The
Alliance Aviators turned out to be zero fighters Friday evening as the
Washington high Tigers held them scoreless before a record Alliance crowd of
10,000 fans while running and passing five touchdowns over the goal for a 34-0
victory.
It
was the Tigers 47th game without a defeat and the first loss of the
season for Alliance which had previously leveled three opponents in a row.
A
screwy game statistically, you would never guess from a look at yardage gained
and first downs made by the two teams that the winner would hold a 34-point
advantage.
But that was the way it was. Alliance made more first downs than the
Tigers, 12 to 9, and gained a net total of 150 yards from scrimmage, but could
show narry a point for its efforts while the Tigers collected 34.
All
can be explained.
The
Tigers scored on long runs and touchdown runs do not count as first downs even
though the ball carrier travels more than 10 yards.
Four of the Tigers
five touchdowns came on long jaunts and as a result do not show in the first
downs. Likewise, two of the touchdowns
do not show in yards gained from scrimmage because they were scored on a
blocked punt and an intercepted pass.
Together they totaled 135 yards.
Then too, Alliance
rolled up more first downs than the Tigers and gained a sizeable amount of
yardage against the Massillon second team but could not score because Coach
Elwood Kammer sent in this first team – not so much to deny the Aviators a
touchdown, but more for the opportunity to test the regulars in an eight-man
line.
The Tigers won, and
in so doing found the bomb of the Aviators a dud.
Alliance was expected to give the Tiger varsity more of a
game than was in evidence last night, but the Tigers, quickly taking the
initiative struck early, built up their score and fooled around the rest of the
game.
In fact the local eleven ran most of its plays from punt
formation and a wide spread that it used for the first time this season.
The Tigers deployed the width of the field on their spread
and Bob Graber had himself a picnic in deep punt formation, running and passing
all evening.
It only took two plays to get the first touchdown. Graber pitching to Tom Jasinski for 18 yards
on the spread formation and Keve Bray ripping around his left end for the last
25 on second down.
A 76-yard march produced the second with Graber tossing to
Bray for the touchdown, and Holt kicking the extra point.
The third was chalked up with the same lightning rapidity
as the opening score. The Tigers
received at the start of the second half and Chuck Holt got away for a
touchdown as he brought the kickoff back to midfield. Graber took it to the 27 and tossed a pass from there to Don
Willmot who went the rest of the distance.
The
last two touchdowns came on breaks which the Tigers converted into points. Vernon Weisgarber got his big hands in the
way of one of Dick McClure’s punts and the ball sank in the chest of Fred
Cardinal who only had 35 yards to run to reach the promised land.
Graber
got milk and honey later too in the fourth quarter in the longest run of the year
when he went up in the air on the goal line to haul down McClure’s pass and ran
approximately 97 yards to score. Bob
Wallace put the finishing touches to the last tackler with a neat bit of
blocking near midfield. The run was
executed almost as perfectly as that made by Graber after intercepting a pass
against Lincoln Nebraska a week ago.
Both
touchdowns came when the Tigers were messing around trying to polish up their
punt formation passing and end sweeps.
The first ream had sufficient power and skill to handle the Aviators
without difficulty. Not so with the
second team.
It
was against the seconds that the red and blue gained most of its ground, and
twice the Tiger regulars had to rush in to shame the youngsters for not
holding.
The
Aviators had a first down on the five-yard line on one occasion, were inside
the 10-yard line a second time, and were down to the 14 a third time, but
couldn’t get the ball over. This burst
of offensive power, however, took place in the last period when the Tiger regulars
were on the bench and the Aviators didn’t like it a little bit as Coach Kammer
sent in his first team when the goal line was threatened.
The
Tigers long runs for touchdowns can be attributed principally to another
demonstration of great blocking by the ball carriers teammates.
The
blocking as a whole was good and made possible Grabers long touchdown dash with
an intercepted pass.
There’s
a brother act in the Tiger line that is worth watching too. Barney and Bob Wallace time and again broke
through Friday evening to throw Alliance runners for losses. Dick McClure, who did most of the passing
especially came in for this punishment.
Always rushed, he had to pick out his receivers quickly, or pick himself
off the ground.
While
the Tigers as a whole remained strong last night their glaring weakness was the
second team line. In previous games
this year the second stringers usually were able to play opponents first teams
after the varsity had managed to wear them down a bit.
Not
last night. The Aviators could do
little offensively with the first team, but just as soon as the second team
took over the Aviators moved. In fact
the Tigers only had the ball in their hands three times the entire fourth
quarter and on one of these occasions they punted on first down.
Maybe
one of the reason why they were content to perform from a punt and spread
formation last night was the fact that Howard Brinker, former Massillon junior
high and now head football coach at Steubenville, was in the stands.
Coach
Kammer didn’t want to give “Brink” anything to take back to show his Big Red
team which plays here next Friday evening.
Discounting
two long runs made by Aviator backs against the Tiger second team, the forward
pass was Alliance’s most effective weapon as far as ground gaining was
concerned, but it backfired at the goal line when one pass was intercepted for
a touchdown and another for a touchback.
The
Aviators gained 118 yards and lost 57 trying to carry the ball for a net gain
of 61 yards from rushing. Considering
that two runs against the second team totaled 69 yards you can see that
Alliance lost more than it gained from rushing the rest of the game.
In
passing, however, the Aviators connected eight times in 21 attempts for 98
yards. The Tigers intercepted four
passes. The local eleven completed four
passes in 11 attempts for 81 yards and had two intercepted. The 81 yards added to a net of 163 yards
from rushing gave the Tigers a net gain of 244 yards for their evening’s work.
Fans
saw something in the way of good punting last night too. McClure got off the first one, a 74-yarder
that sent the Tigers back deep into their own territory. In the fourth period Graber duplicated the
stunt by catching the Alliance safety man off guard and kicking the ball 72
yards.
It
was raining on both occasions, but the moisture didn’t appear to hamper the
operations at any time.
The
Tigers sent the Aviators into a tail spin ere fans had settled in their
seats. Alliance took the kickoff, and
when two plays only advanced the leather to the Tiger 22, McClure punted high
to his own 43. On the first play
Graber, throwing from spread formation, pitched a beauty to Tom Jasinski who
caught the ball just past the line of scrimmage and ran to the Alliance
25. The locals wheeled Bray around left
end on the next play and all he had to do was run behind the superb blocking
thrown up in front of him. Holt carried
the extra point across.
Recovers Kickoff
The
Tigers recovered the next kickoff when the ball was driven off the chest of an
Alliance player and back into the hands of Dave Edwards who covered on the
Alliance 49. The drive extended to the
(information unavailable) where Graber punted into the end zone.
Alliance
gained its only first down of the period when Geltz plunged for eight yards
after McClure had made four. But the
Tigers plugged the hole in the left side of the line and forced Alliance to
punt.
The
quarter ended with the score 7-6.
Getting the ball on the 24-yard line, the locals launched a 76-yard
drive. Holt and Graber carried to the
11-yard line and when Holt was tossed for a yard loss, Graber threw to Bray for
the touchdown. Holt placekicked the
extra point.
Nothing
of any importance took place the rest of the period and the half closed at
14-0.
Holt
nearly got away on the kick-off that opened the second half. He was hauled down on the 50 after exploding
right through the middle of the Aviator team.
Graber nearly got away but was pulled down from behind on the 37. On the next play he fired the ball to
Willmot for a touchdown. Holt’s kick
was low.
Graber
nearly got loose again when he ran from his own 32 to the Alliance 30 but an
Alliance player ticked him on the heels from behind in a desperate tackle. The ball was moved to the 11-yard line where
the Tigers tried to pass their way across, failed and were held for downs. McClure tried to punt out but Weisgarber
half blocked the ball and it fell into the arms of Cardinal on the 35-yard
line. He powered his way down the
sidelines behind good blocking for a touchdown and Holt kicked the ball out of
the park on a successful attempt for the extra point.
With
the second stringers taking over, Alliance gained ground. Passes from McClure to Faulkner and Hahlen
took the ball to a first down on the seven-yard line. The Tiger regulars took over, stopped three running plays with a
net gain of three yards and Holt intercepted a pass behind the goal on fourth
down to end the threat.
Graber
got off a booming kick to the Alliance eight-yard line and the Tiger second
team went back into the game. But
Alliance came down the field, again on long runs by Geltz and McClure and a
15-yard penalty against Massillon that gave the Aviators a first down on the
10.
Again,
the first team took over, threw the Aviators back, and when McClure tried to
flip the ball over the line on a short pass, Graber pulled it down and ran 97
yards for a touchdown. Holt again
kicked the extra point, and the Tiger subs took over once more. Geltz and McClure ran the ball back to the
Tiger 13 where the second stringers stopped the threat without the aid of the
varsity. Henry Mastriann plunged for a
first down and the game ended as the Tigers punted back to midfield.
It Was 34-0
Massillon Pos. Alliance
Willmot le D. Hahlen
Edwards lt Pegler
R. Wallace lg Iannotti
B. Wallace c Andreanni
Weisgarber rg Gempler
Paulik rt J.
Hahlen
Jasinski re Faulkner
Cardinal qb McClure
Graber lh Ulbrecht
Bray rh Castiglione
Holt fb Geltz
Score by periods:
Massillon 7 7
13 7 – 34
Substitutions: Massillon: Power, qb;
Yelic, rt; Turkall, rh; Kanney, lg; Schuler, rg; Oberlin, le; Gable, re;
Williams, c; Gibson, rt; Pellegrini, lt;
Mastriann, fb; Bamberger, rt.
Alliance:
Zink, Thomas, Mayer, Skillern, Grimes, Hardy, Dickey.
Touchdowns – Bray 2,
Cardinal, Graber, Willmot.
Points after touchdown – Holt 4
(one plunge, three placekicks).
Referee – Mackey.
Umpire – Rupp.
Headlineman – Boone.
Field judge – Klocker.
Game Statistics
Tigers Alliance
Total First Downs 8 13
Yards Gained by Rushing 178 118
Yards Lost by Rushing 10 17
Net Yards Gained by Rushing 168 101
Net Yards Gained by Passing 81 98
Forward Passes Attempted 11 21
Forward Passes Completed 4 8
Passes Had Intercepted 2 4
Number of Punts 3 6
Average Distance of Punts (b) 39 36
Number of Kickoffs 6 1
Average Distance of Kickoffs 30 30
Number of Fumbles 0 2
Number of Penalties Against 5 2
Yards Lost by Penalties 35 10
10,000 WATCH AVIATORS LOSE FIRST OF YEAR
After Getting Ball
ALLIANCE, OH., Oct. 9 – Massillon’s mighty Tigers
chalked up their fourth straight victory here tonight as they routed the
Alliance Aviators 33-0. A throng of
10,000 saw Alliance suffer its first loss in four games.
The Tigers scored their first touchdown in two plays
after gaining possession of the ball in the opening quarter. A pass from Graber to Jasinski picked up 20
yards and Keve Bray ran 20 more on a sweep.
A 15-yard aerial toss from Graber to Bray brought a
second period touchdown. Holt placed
kicked goal. In the third frame Graber
passed 20 yards to Willmot for another counter.
The victory extended mighty Massillon’s unbeaten
steak to 47 games. Cardinal recovered a
partially blocked Alliance punt and returned 25 yards to score and Holt placed
kicked goal.
In the fourth quarter when Alliance was threatening
the Massillon goal line, Graber erased the threat by intercepting a pass from
McClure on the Massillon 5 and rumbling 5 yards to the promised land. Holt’s placement made it 33-0.
ALLIANCE MASSILLON
D. Hahlen
LE Willmot
Pegler LT Edwards
Iannotti
LG R. Wallace
Andreanni
C B. Wallace
Gempler
RG Weisgarber
J. Hahlen
RT Paulik
Faulkner
RE Jasinski
Skillern
QB Cardinal
Ulbrecht
LH Graber
Castiglione
RH Bray
Geltz F Holt
Massillon 6
7 13 7 – 34
Touchdowns – Bray 2, Willmot, Cardinal,
Graber
Points after
touchdown – Holt 3 (placements)
Substitutions
– Massillon: Oberlin, Tongas, Bamberger, Gibson, Williams, Turkall, Yelic,
Kanney, Mastriann, Power, Schuler,
Gable, Ilsch.
Alliance: Zink, Thomas, Mayer, Grimes,
Hardy, Dickey.