INDIANS’ PASSES
DAZZLE
THRONG
Visitors Make More First Downs Than Massillon But they Pay Off On Points, So Tigers Stretch Undefeated String to 51 Games
The war drums of the Toledo Waite Indians were still
ringing in the ears of the Washington high school Tigers today as they looked
at the statistics and wondered how they ever escaped being ambushed in last
night’s game at Tiger stadium.
A crowd of 16,621 fans looked on amazed as the
Indians outgained the Tigers from scrimmage and rolled up more first downs, but
lost 34-14. It was Massillon’s 51st
consecutive game without a defeat.
Jack Mollenkopf brought Waite to Massillon,
convinced that the Tigers were ripe for a trimming. He had planned to ambush Massillon with a passing attack that had
been developed but not entirely uncovered this season until last night’s
battle.
He, too, knew that he had a better team than most
people had credited him with, and most of all, a team that wouldn’t quit.
Having carefully studied and scouted the Tiger team,
Mollenkopf thought he was all set to spring the biggest upset of the 1942
football season and might well have done so with the assistance of good luck
and the fulfillment of a few “ifs.”
Take out the blocked punt that produced the third
Massillon touchdown, remove a couple of costly Waite fumbles, and substitute
completed passes for two “touchdown” passes, one of which was dropped by the
receiver and the other intercepted by a Massillon gridder, and you might well
have had a tie score. On the other
hand, the Tigers too can play the “if” game, and from their viewpoint they
might have won by more points had they 10 seconds more time left in the first half which ended with them
in possession of the ball, first down and goal to go on Waite’s one yard line.
Mollenkopf admitted that while he had set a trap for
Massillon, he was ambushed himself by the throwing of Romeo Pellegrini, who
replaced the injured Bob Graber at left halfback.
“I never knew that little fellow could throw so
far,” the Toledo coach said after the game as he ground a crust of bread
between his fingers at the dinner table.
“I never knew Massillon to throw from the left, either. I was fooled there.”
The play-by-play account shows that Pellegrini
completed passes of 57, 51, 14, and 15 yards for touchdown. In fact it was the first time this season
that the forward pass developed into a potent scoring weapon for the Tigers,
and it was well it did, for they did not run the ball over once last
night. Their fifth touchdown was the
result of a blocked punt.
Some of the things that Mollenkopf figured on were
correct. The Tigers were ripe for some
trouble and have been getting riper since their defeat of Steubenville. They have two games to go, both Saturday
afternoon contests – Erie East next week and Canton McKinley two weeks
hence. The locals should begin coming
up again, and it is hoped the rebound will be too much for both Erie East and McKinley.
In Waite the Tigers found a better than average team
that had been underestimated by most fans, and possibly the players sensed this
same feeling of superiority.
“It is a far better team than I had last year,”
Mollenkopf confided after the game, “and we would have done a lot better this
season had it not been for several unfortunate breaks.”
The Toledo coach was especially proud that his team
did not quit on him, and it was one of few teams that have not folded under
Tiger pressure.
The Indians were battling just as hard at the end of
the game as they were at the start, and were on their way to a last minute
touchdown, when an intercepted pass ended in a safety that gave them two
points.
It has been three years since the Tigers have had to
explain their victory to readers of the statistical column. From yards gained and first downs you would
have thought Waite a certain winner.
The Indians made 14 first downs to the Tigers 10 and gained 259 yards to
the Tigers 230 yards but Massillon converted its yardage into scores instead of
first downs to win 34-14.
The long shot touchdown passes to Willmot and the
other two pegs to Cardinal and Holt, don’t show in the first down column
through all covered more than 10 yards.
The yardage is figured I, however and there’s just nothing you can do
about trying to explain why Waite gained more yards except to say that the
Indians had a good defense and a tough defensive end in Harold Raether.
The Tigers only gained 73 yards lugging the ball
last night and made 173 yards with their passes, which is better passing than
they have done at anytime this season and poorer running.
Waite’s passing attack was the fanciest thing seen
here in a forward pass way for several seasons. You can give most of the credit to straight-shooting Joseph
Horvath and if Uncle Sam needs a grenade thrower to clean out machine gun
nests, Horvath has our recommendation.
He pitched so accurately that he seldom missed his mark and most of the
night did all the throwing to the same man, Paul Hrabovsky, Indian quarterback.
They worked pass after pass all evening, connecting
for three of 17 yards, 22 yards and eight yards, in the series that led to
their first touchdown, and completed two more, one for 32 yards and another for
11 in the second touchdown march. Mixed
in the latter effort was an 18-yard toss to Raether.
Second guessers might accuse both teams of a poor
selection of plays at intervals during the game. Waite, for instance advance the ball to the Tiger 25-yard line on
passes in the third quarter, then ran four consecutive ground plays for a net
loss of 13 yards. The Tigers at one
time worked into Waite territory, then with only two yards necessary for a
first down, wasted two attempts trying to pass and were forced to punt.
The Tigers pushed over two touchdowns before Waite
could score. Midway in the first
period, when Waite was pressing its secondary to stop Tiger ball carriers,
Pellegrini raced back and fired a long pass over the heads of the Indians’
safety to Willmot, who had to wait for the ball to float into his arms. He still had time to go the rest of the
route for 51 yards. The pass changed
the complexion of the game, for only two plays before, Willmot went high in the
air to spear one of Horvath’s passes that had touchdown written all over it,
for Hrabovsky had gotten behind Willmot and would have went for the works had
not the latter left his feet to haul in the leather and return 29 yards to his
49-yard line, from where the Massillon touchdown pass was completed. Cardinal kicked the extra point that
followed to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.
The local team struck back quickly for a second
touchdown when Pellegrini kicked off and covered Howard Schatzke’s fumbled
return on the Waite 41. Pellegrini ran
to the 26 and Holt plunged to the 15 but a 15-yard penalty for holding put the
Tigers back momentarily. Here the old
Statue of Liberty was hauled out of the bag, and Bray, taking the ball from
Pellegini, ran 22 yards to the 20-yard line.
Holt plunged for a first down and Pellegrini tossed to Cardinal for the
rest of the distance. He again kicked
the extra point to bring the score to 14-0.
Waite took the following kickoff and did not stop
until it crossed the Massillon goal. A
poor kickoff went out of bounds on the Indians’ 49. Lamoreaux was thrown for a six-yard loss, so Horvath began
tossing to Hrabovsky, once for 17 yards, again for 22 yards which brought a
first down on the 18-yard line, and another for eight yards. A five-yard penalty for off-side gave the
Indians a first down on the Tigers’ four-yard line and here the Massillonians
bristled in good old fashioned spirit.
Louis Smith hit for three yards, but the ball still remained on the
one-yard line after the next two plays.
Waite didn’t shift on fourth down, however, and with a quick opening
play, Horvath broke through for the touchdown.
Richard Wandtke was sent in to hold the ball for the attempted kick but
fumbled it and the Indians lost the point.
The Tigers scored their only touchdown of the period
on a blocked punt. Horvath intercepted
Pellegrini’s pass on the seven-yard line after the Massillonians had carried
the kickoff deep into Toledo territory.
Horvath tried to punt on first down, but Barney Wallace got his face in
the way of the ball, blocked the punt and Chuck Holt scooped up the leather and
ambled over for the score. Cardinal’s
kick for the extra point was wide.
The Tigers tried for another in the period and
nearly got it. Time expired as
Pellegrini tossed to Bray for 23 yards and a first down on the one yard
line. Waite was offside. The Tigers had the choice of the ball or the
penalty. They took the ball, which
meant the half was over. Had they taken
the penalty, Waite would have been penalized which would have placed the ball
on the 19-yard line and there would have been time left for one play.
The fans didn’t understand the ruling and thought
the officials had wasted precious seconds, conferring with the Massillon
players which caused time to expire before the ball could be put in play
again. As a result they let out a big
boo when the arbitrators walked off the field.
The ruling was explained during intermission.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, Waite
advancing he greatest distance, reaching the Massillon 25-yard line on one
occasion.
The Tigers got in motion early in the fourth period,
however and passed and ran their way 88 yards.
A 17-yard toss to Cardinal moved the ball into position for a 15-yard
toss to Holt for the touchdown.
Cardinal booted the extra point.
The last score came shortly after when Pellegrini
again caught the Waite secondary asleep and tossed the ball to Willmot for 56
yards and a touchdown. Willmot caught
the ball on the 15-yard line, which means the leather traveled approximately 56
yards through the air, since Pellegrini was almost 15 yards behind the line of
scrimmage when he fired. Holt plunged
the extra point.
Coach Kammer sent in his second team, and Waite soon
was knocking on the Tiger door. Horvath
tossed to Hrabovsky for 32 yards, and another for 11 yards put the ball on the
Tiger 25. A peg to Raether advanced it
to the seven and the Massillon first team went in. That made too many times out and the Tigers were penalized five
yards to the two, from which Louis Smith exploded for the touchdown. Another attempt for the extra point was
muffed.
The Indians still were not stopped. The next time they got the ball they struck
back, Horvath tossing to Hrabovsky for 34 yards and nine yards. He tried to pitch for the touchdown, but Sam
Yelic hauled to the leather on the one-yard stripe and began to run with the
ball. He was tossed behind the goal for
a safety and two points for Waite. The
game ended before the Tigers could kick out.
Still Winners
Massillon Waite
Willmott le Collins
Williams lt V.
smith
R. Wallace lg Lehman
B. Wallace c Kimpon
Weisgarber rg Foster
Paulik rt Westenkirchner
Jasinski re Raether
Cardinal qb Hrabovsky
Pellegrini lh Horvath
Bray rh Lamoreaux
Holt fb L. Smith
Score by
periods:
Massillon 14 6
0 14 – 34
Waite
0 6 0 8 – 14
Substitutions
– Massillon: Power, Fulton, Oberlin, Gable, Schuler, Tongas, Profant, Turkall,
Yelic, Kanney, Mastriann.
Touchdowns – Willmot 2, Holt 2, Cardinal.
Points after
touchdown – Cardinal 3 (placekicks),
Holt (carried)
Safety – Yelic (two points for Toledo).
Referee – Slutz.
Umpire – Boone.
Headlineman – Harlow.
Field judge – Rupp.
Statistics
First Downs 10 14
Yards Rushing 72 103
Yards Lost Rushing 16 34
Net Gain Rushing 57 69
Yards Passing 173 190
Total Net Gain 230 259
Passes Attempted 14 19
Passes Completed 6 12
Times Punted 4 3
Average Punt (yards) 32 34
Times Kicked Off 6 3
Times Penalized 9 4
Yards Penalized 65 20
Fumbles 3 4
Lost Ball on Fumble 0 3