Tigers Beat
Cincinnati
Elder 27-12
Fourth
Straight In Spite Of Mistakes
It
was a good thing our Tigers weren’t playing Canton Lincoln or Alliance – and
we’ll throw in power-laden McKinley – last night.
They
simply had too many weapons for a big and stubborn Cincinnati Elder team, which
put up a ding-dong scrap for almost three-quarters. They dominated the statistics and impressed with three long
touchdown drives but there were too many mistakes in that
27-12
victory.
It
was Massillon’s fourth straight triumph of the season and marked the second
year in a row that Elder became a cropper to the locals, who won’t get the
chance to play the Panthers the next couple of years.
With
the clock reaching zero for the last time of the chilly evening, the two-year
contract with Elder had elapsed. It is
a fact that Massillon wants to continue playing the club from the Queen City
but they are having trouble getting together on dates.
* * *
ALTHOUGH ELDER fared badly in the second and third periods and didn’t score its
second touchdown until after the Tigers had four, it was anybody’s ball game
until the last 12 minutes.
This
might be hard for some people to believe but the Tiger coaches and the players
themselves realize probably more than anybody that the performance wasn’t as
sharp as it might have been. Too many
times the ball carrier was afforded little in the way of blocking, too many
times the defense appeared sluggish and all in all there were just too many of
those little mistakes that could ruin you against tougher opposition.
Looking
at the situation from another angle, it was the opposition, which slowed up the
Tigers at times. The Panthers, backed
vocally by their band and about 200 fans, were a pretty tough nut to crack.
Pre-game
dope had it that Elder was big, rough and ‘higher than a kite” for Massillon,
and the scouts were right again.
Virgil
Scardina thought his charges might have played better ball but wasn’t taking
anything away from the boys. He had a
big line, which the locals had a rugged time moving on occasions, and his
backs, especially fullback Ronnie Reisz, weren’t spectacular but they could get
the job done.
In
the Tiger dressing room after the game there wasn’t too much celebrating,
Apparently the Tigers were in opinion that their play wasn’t up to par.
* * *
COACH LEE TRESSEL was relaxed after experiencing some pre-game
nervousness. Lee doesn’t get jittery,
usually, but last night was an exception.
“It
was an easier one (meaning Lincoln and Alliance were more formidable) but we
never had much of a chance to let up” he said after it was all over.
The
Tiger coach opined that Elder’s defense was a rugged one and this fact, along
with the two fumbles which Elder recovered, and some missed assignments, slowed
his team up. Defensively the Tigers
were “a little better,” according to Tressel.
The
Tiger relied on their running game and again Ivory Benjamin, Mike Hershberger,
Chet Brown and “Chuck” Beiter gave the enemy fits.
Brown,
the big boy with the odd gait who really roars once he gets warmed up, and
Hershberger, who does everything well, scored two touchdowns apiece and the
latter, after little Davie Richardson got banged on the head following the
initial Tiger tally, took over the place-kicking duties and toed three straight
conversions between the uprights.
* * *
BROWN LUGGED the leather seven times and averaged over 15 yards a trip with his
touchdowns being chalked up on neat 27 and 38 yards runs. Benjamin, who averaged eight yards for 15
carries, set up Chet’s 38-yarder with a scoot of 22 and Brown’s other
six-pointer
climaxed a 94-yard march.
Hershberger
capped drives of 58 and 78 yards with one-yard blasts. Mike carried 15 times and averaged over four
yards a crack (he hit the middle more than anybody) and his punting was again
nothing short of terrific. He kicked
twice, once for 51 yards and another time for 50 but the latter punt actually
went 29 yards officially because it rolled into the end zone.
All
this running accounted for a net of 314 yards on the ground and Massillon
gained 31 more yards on three completions in six attempts while Elder came out
of it with a net of 75 yards rushing and 60 on three-for-12 in the air
game. The Orange line, anchored by
Tom Heine, Tom Meldrum, Dick Whitfield
and Jim Mercer with some good end play from Chet Brown, tossed Elder backs for
losses totaling 51 yards. The Tigers
also had 16 first downs to the losers’ 10.
Hershberger’s
first punt, which barely rolled into the end zone, came on the 10th
play of the encounter (played to 9,758 paid fans) and after the two clubs
exchanged fumbles. The ball was brought
out to the 20 and Elder took on the appearance of an array to be reckoned with. The Panthers went all the way but they had
to get a “break” on a fumbled hand-off.
After
they made one first down to the 35, an errant pitch-out, with the ball striking
the shoulder of halfback Jim Vogt, set the visitors back on the 23. A pass was incomplete and quarterback Paul
Umberg booted. Benjamin grabbed the
ball on the Massillon 40 but it was dropped as he attempted to give it to Dick
Brenner. And Elder had possession on
the Massillon 39 as tackle Ray Herzog covered the pigskin.
* * *
ELDER MOVED for a first and 10 on a pair of six-yard runs by Ron Wainscott and
Dave Wittrock and Vogt and Reisz carried to the 18. With a fourth and one situation, Reisz drove behind a wedge at
the right side, slipped past the line of scrimmage, twisted out of the grasp of
one defender and much to the surprise of just about everybody (it looked like
he was a dead duck at the 15) zipped past the final stripe. Guard Frank Koehne’s placement was wide but
Massillon was behind.
Reisz
scored with 2:25 remaining in the period and it didn’t take the locals long to
tie it up. Benjamin, Brown and
Hershberger accounted for 18 yards before the initial quarter came to a close
and Benjamin’s 10-yarder featuring a nice stop-and-go overture by the trick
junior halfback, came on the opening play of the second panel. Hershberger gained seven in two tries at
left tackle before Rinehart hit Benjamin with a pretty running pass. Ivory was downed after a 12-yard pick-up to
the one and on the next play Hershberger banged through right tackle to make it
6-6 at 10:36. Richardson was hit hard
after his boot went low of the posts.
There
wasn’t much to write home about until the first half was almost over. An Umberg punt was grounded at the Tiger 40
from which point Benjamin, on a double reverse,
high-tailed
it 22 yards to the Elder 38. Then
Brown, racing into the clear at the 20, lumbered the rest of the way
untouched. Hershberger’s kick put the
Tigers in front 13-6 with 2:30 remaining in the half.
After
Hershberger got off his 51-yard punt early in the third quarter, Umberg
retaliated with a 42-yarder and Massillon started clicking from its own 23.
Before
the end of the quarter the Orangemen had tacked up five more first downs. It was Hershberger, then Benjamin,
Hershberger then Benjamin for a total of nine plays, which netted 60 yards. The Tigers decided to go to the air on the
first down at the 17 but a Rinehart pitch was dropped in the end zone and on
the last play of the period Brown fought his way for 15 yards.
* * *
WITH THE OVAL on the two, Hershberger’s off-tackle slant put it a yard away on the
first play of the final canto and on the second the same hustler hit the same
spot for Massillon’s third touchdown of the night. He converted to make it 20-6 at 11:26.
Two
penalties helped stymie Elder after the kickoff but Larry Washington, the alert
defensive halfback, hurt the Panthers more.
He intercepted Umberg’s toss at the Tiger 35 and dashed to the Panther
46.
However,
the Tigers were penalized for illegal use of the hands and on the next play
were assessed 15 additional yards, this time for holding. The ball was back on the six but the
Tresslemen had another touchdown in them.
Brown
bolted off tackle for 19 and Beiter, who had broken into the starting lineup
for the first time, returned to gain 11 yards on a sweep. Attempting to pass, Rinehart was nailed for
an eight-yard deficit but still the locals moved. Beiter got seven and then Hershberger 12 before Mike hauled in a
Rinehart aerial for 12 yards to the 35.
Washington ran once for four, ditto for Benjamin and from the 27 Brown
saw to it that the drive wasn’t going to be in vain. He found a hole at the middle, veered to his left and chugged to
pay dirt unmolested. Hershberger again
split the uprights. Thus the score was
27-6 with four minutes and 10 seconds of play remaining.
Elder
took the kickoff at its 32 and went on to score a second time. Passes to Wittrock and sub Jerry Drew were
the chief gainers to the Tiger 36. From
that point Umberg threw again. Drew
again was the receiver, taking the oval on the 15 and going in standing
up. Dan Bushman tried to run across the
extra point but was stopped short.
Elder
tried an onside kick but the ball was covered only five yards away and on the
second kick-off Beiter returned eight yards to the Orange 38. Rinehart lost four attempting to pass after
a delay-of-game penalty and then end Jim Mullin intercepted a Rinehart pitch at
the Tiger 39 and raced to the five before he was flopped by Rinehart. Wittrock ran for four and that was it.
The
Tigers came out of the fray in good shape, except for a few cuts and
bruises. Elder lost sub center Bob
Maegley in the second half and six stitches were required to close a wound over
an eyebrown.
MASSILLON – 27
ENDS
– Brenner, Elavsky, Walls, Mays, Childers, Hagan.
TACKLES
– Whitfield, Mercer, Slaybaugh, Halter, Ortiz, Brownlee.
GUARDS
– Meldrum, B. Brown, Heine, Heimann.
CENTERS
– Krier, Kiplinger, Swartz.
QUARTERBACKS
– Rinehart, Stewart.
HALFBACKS
– Benjamin, Hershberger, Richardson, Washington, Pledgure, Bivings, Lawson.
FULLBACK
– Beiter, C. Brown, Reese.
ELDER – 12
ENDS
– Roth, Mullin, Reinstartler, Ludwig, Wegman, Flanigan.
TACKLES
– Herzog, Farrell, Worss, Marx, Halloran.
GUARDS
– Lebring, Brown, O’Neill, Nethaus, Keehne.
CENTERS
– Maegley, Jertvorth, Westendorf.
QUARTERBACKS
– Umberg, Bushman.
HALFBACKS
– Luenberger, Wittrock, Wainscott, Carmisino, Vogt, Drew.
FULLBACK
– Reisz.
Scoring by quarters:
Massillon 0 13 0 14 27
Elder 6 0 0 6 12
Massillon scoring:
Touchdowns – C. Brown 2 (runs of 38 and 27 yards); Hershberger 2 (two 1-yard
plunges).
Extra points – Hershberger 3 (placements).
Elder scoring:
Touchdowns – Reisz (run of 18 yards); Drew (pass play covering 36 yards).
OFFICIALS
Referee
– Paul Robin Tobin.
Umpire
– Earl Schreiber.
Head
Linesman – Walter Grysks.
Field
Judge – Harvey Hodgson.
STATISTICS
Mass. Opp.
First downs rushing 15 8
First downs passing 2 2
First downs by penalties 0 0
Total first downs 17 10
Yards gained rushing 333 126
Yards lost rushing 19 51
Net yards rushing 314 75
Passes attempted 6 12
Passes completed 3 3
Yards gained passing 31 60
Net yards gained 345 135
Times kicked off 5 3
Average kickoff return 6 18
Yards kickoffs returned by 18 89
Times punted 2 5
Average punts (yards) 40 42
Yards punts returned by 0 0
Had punts blocked 0 0
Total fumbles 3 3
Times lost ball on fumbles 2 2
Penalties 4 3