Benedictine
Overpowers Tigers 13-7
By CHARLIE POWELL
Mix speed and power
and you have George Sefcik. For more
power there’s Gary Hansley. Add a big,
strong line that just wouldn’t quit and have the ingredients of a mighty fine gridiron
team, possibly the best in the state of Ohio.
This team, the
Benedictine high Bengals of Cleveland, ambushed the football fortress of
Massillon before 14,488 fans in chilly Tiger stadium Friday night.
In beating the
orange and black 13-7, on the strength of a 45-yard drive to pay dirt in the
final period, here is what the giant-sized Benedictine high bunch accomplished.
Their first victory
ever over a Massillon team; their fifth straight win of the current season; and
at least runner-up ranking in the state poll.
Benedictine just
might find itself perched atop the heap at the season’s close. If it doesn’t make the top, rest assured
this history-making array will not be far off.
Right now many, many
Massillon fans will agree that it is the cream of the crop. It beat a good ball club last night.
* * *
THE
WORLD isn’t going to come to an
end nor are the Tigers about to give up the game because of the loss which
snapped a four-game winning streak. Not
yet anyway, the season is not a complete failure. The Tigers have five to go, with Mansfield here next, followed by
front running Warren, and they will have a few chances to salvage a great deal
of satisfaction from all their efforts.
We are all hoping
they will be in better physical shape than they were last night. The flu bug made its presence felt and our
heroes had a number of bad “breaks” but certainly nothing is to be taken away
from Benedictine.
On paper and on the
field the team coached by Augie Bossu was in supreme command. The Tigers lost to a good team and they’re
going to hit some more good ones before the finish. They should realize by now that any team on the schedule is
capable of yanking the rug from underneath them.
Nobody was more
upset over the defeat than Coach Lee Tressel, whose team appeared headed for
the state’s showdown scrap against Warren.
Yes, quite a few
things caused the Tigers’ downfall but Tressel wasn’t offering any
excuses. He called the Clevelanders
“big and strong with two fine backs and lots of determination,” and he told
them so in their dressing room when he congratulated them immediately after the
game.
“They had the desire
to go along with all that equipment. We
had a tough time trying to move them when we had the ball. They closed the holes fast. When we were on defense we were getting
moved around by those big boys and there wasn’t much we could do.
“The tackling wasn’t
good but I guess one reason for that was because they were so good,” he said.
* * *
TRESSEL
didn’t bring up the physical
condition of his charges but the Tigers were definitely sub-par.
Regular defensive
end Bill Zorn was sidelined because of an injury suffered two weeks ago…Joe
Brownlee, regular defensive tackle and Harold Slabaugh, regular offensive
tackle, practiced only once all week because of illness, flu and a bad case of
tonsillitis, respectively and yesterday afternoon Clyde Childers, the offensive
left end and kicker, was sent home because of illness.
Brownlee and
Childers were “in and out” most of the game while Slabaugh, apparently weakened
by his illness, went most of the way on offense. To make mattes worse, an injury slowed up hard-nosed Chuck
Beiter.
As we pointed out
before, the ball took a couple of bad bounces against the Tigers and probably
the toughest breaks were the fumble and the clipping penalty that thwarted a
bid in the second period. After
Benedictine went ahead in the first session the Tigers went on their prowl from
their own 29. Beiter, Ivory Benjamin
and Gene Stewart hammered at the enemy line to reach the Benedictine 25.
* * *
WITH
TIGER rooters begging for a
score, it was third down and one at that point. However, the ball was fumbled and when the whistle blew,
Quarterback Bob Getz had covered the pigpelt at the 27. Hopes rose as Stewart flipped a running pass
to Benjamin who raced 12 yards to the Benedictine 15. It looked like the Tigers were going all the way but a “hankie”
was down on the grass and the clipping call ended that. Mark Anthony replaced Getz at quarterback
and hit Benjamin with a short pass but Benedictine ganged up on the
swivel-hipped star and the play netted only six yards, 14 short of a first
down.
Had Benedictine not
had runners the likes of Sefcik and Hansley the Clevelanders might have been
easy pickin’s for the Massillon team.
This pair gave the 1956 Tiger team fits but they were mild compared to
the latest ones.
Benedictine gained
262 yards on land and in the air and Sefcik and Hansley accounted for 233
yards.
Sefcik, besides
being a fast and shifty runner, is a deadly passer and long-distance
punter. He carried the oval 20 times
and gained 82 yards, hit on three of four passes for 32 yards, caught one pass
himself for 14 yards and averaged 40 yards on three runs. Partner Hansley, a tank-like half-back,
toted the mail 22 times and carved out 105 yards. And he caught the three passes thrown by Mr. Sefcik, who was
paraded on the shoulders of happy teammates after the game was over.
* * *
THE
BIG Benedictine line, which did
a great job of containing theTiger attack except for some sensational runs by
Benjamin, gave up 187 yards on the ground.
Standouts of this line were Tackles Ron Skufca, 235, and Ted Zmarzly,
205 and End Stan Sczurek.
Benjamin almost
drove the visitors crazy. In a truly
outstanding performance, he ran like a man possessed, blocked well and was all
over the field on defense. He
personally accounted for all but 26 yards the locals made on the ground.
It was his
tremendous 50-yard sprint in the third period that produced the lone Massillon
six-pointer. He carried the pigskin 22
times and twisted and fought his way for 161 yards. He also caught a pass good for six yards.
Only other Tiger
ground gainer of any degree was Gene Stewart who made 21 yards in seven
trips. Because of his injury and the
fact that Benedictine was “laying” for him, Beiter did not occupy too many ball
carrying roles.
The team from the
lakefront gave an early example of its blocking and running abilities.
* * *
THE
FIRST time they had possession,
the Bengals marched 67 yards to touchdownland. They digested two offside penalties, but got an assist from the
identical penalty against the Tigers.
After the opening
kickoff the Tigers had to punt from their own 41 and Childers, hurried on the
play, booted out of bounds at the Benedictine 33. A penalty was called against the invading team after Sefcik had
gained seven and three plays later he was forced to punt from the 47. The punt rolled dead on the four but
Benedictine was able to keep the ball because the Tigers were off-side on the
play.
Then Benedictine
shifted to high gear. Sefcik and
Hansley picked up 13 before Sefcik hit Hansley on an option pass for 13 and the
blue-shirted boys were on their way.
Massillon stubbornly
gave ground and after Benedictine reached the three, Sefcik hit the right side,
did a dive and scored with 2:47 remaining in the quarter. His placement on the extra point try was
blocked by line-backer Roger Reese but Benedictine led 6-0 as the Tigers were
scored on first for the third straight game.
* * *
LOCAL
FANS expected their favorites to
come right back and they did only to see the penalty take the sting out of the
attack.
The kickoff was
returned to the Tiger 29 and on the last six plays of the first period the
Orangemen advanced to the Benedictine 43.
In the last minute of the second frame Benjamin darted around the right
side twice for 17 and Stewart gained on to make it third and one at the
25. Then came the fumble, and the
clipping penalty which combined to stall the Tiger attack.
Benedictine made
only one first down in that second period as Massillon controlled the ball,
thanks to the nifty running of Benjamin.
However, the Tigers
couldn’t uncover a payoff punch.
Midway in the
quarter Benjamin got loose for 25 yards after regaining his balance just past the
line of scrimmage. He and Stewart took
the oval to the Benedictine 29, and Tiger fans were calling for a tying TD but
Benedictine braced and held, throwing Tiger runners for two losses totaling
nine yards in the process.
A minute later the
Clevelanders had to punt with Sefcik’s kick from the Tiger 39 rolling out of
bounds at the 10. From the nine
Benjamin again got on his horse, this time whizzing 45 yards before Jim
Kubinski, Bengal end, who had a good angle, came in to make the stop at the
Benedictine 42. However, Getz was
thrown for an 11-yard loss and two more maneuvers designed for long-distance
gains failed to change the score before intermission. Getz’s sideline pass to Beiter was good for nine yards and on the
last play of the half the visiting team’s line was not caught by surprise and
Benjamin, on a draw play, was downed after a yard gain.
* * *
A PUNT that was fumbled and one that was blocked
gave Massillon a pair of opportunities in the third period but after the first
kick, the Tigers failed to move.
From his own 15
Childers punted (after Sefcik had booted one 51 yards following the kickoff)
and two Benedictine players had their hands on the swinehide before Benjamin
recovered at the Massillon 40. But four
plays later Childers was called on to punt again with Sefcik returning the
38-yard boot 10 yards to his 34.
Benedictine made two first downs before a holding penalty stalled the
drive and from the Tiger 45, Sefcik went back to punt.
This time middle
guard Hase McKey, who apparently played one of his better games, broke through
and blocked the kick. Guard Tom Heine
recovered at midfield and on the next play Benjamin cut the gap to 7-6.
Given a couple of
nice blocks, Ivory got around the right flank and turned on the gas. At the 15 three Benedictine boys had a shot
at him but he shot pass one, cut away from the other two and went in for the
score at 1:25. Sub Halfback Jim
Hershberger came off the bench and calmly split the uprights to deadlock the
count.
* * *
BENEDICTINE started from its own 43 after the kickoff
and advanced 24 yards on the last three plays of the quarter.
On the first play of
the final canto Hansley got off his longest jaunt, 23 yards, to place the ball
on the Tiger 10. But the Tresselmen dug
in and took over on downs at the four.
Childers punted out on fourth down and Benedictine, starting from the
Tiger 45, was not to be denied.
Hansley, the big gun
once more, checked in a 22-yard foray for one of the three first downs and from
the 13, Quarterback Ken Sprafka sneaked from two yards with his team needing at
foot for a foot for a first down.
Sefcik and Hansley carried to the one from where Sprafka sneaked
across. Sefcik’s placement was on
target and it was 13-7 with 4:37 remaining.
The Tigers gambled
but their final series fizzled out at the 24 and Benedictine moved to the nine
before time ran out.
Benedictine, using a
nine-man line a good bit of the time limited the Tigers to a single first down
during the second half. It came on
Benjamin’s touchdown run.
MASSILLON
ENDS – Childers,
Williams, Hagan, Snavely, Mitchell.
TACKLES – Slabaugh,
A Slicker, Halter, Donat, Brownlee.
GUARDS – Heine,
Heimann, McKey, Bednar, J. Kasunick, Cook.
CENTERS –
Williamson, Swartz, Reese.
QUARTERBACKS – Getz,
Anthony.
HALFBACKS –
Benjamin, Stewart, Pledgure, Clark, Allen, Hershberger.
FULLBACK – Beiter.
BENEDICTINE
ENDS – Sczurek,
Kubinski, Kozlowski, Marek.
TACKLES – Skufca,
Zmarzly, Grucza.
GUARDS – Baumbick,
Kucera, See, Liederbach.
CENTERS –
Kozlevchar, Coufalik.
QUARTERBACKS –
Sprafka, Kradisley, Kubinski.
HALFBACKS – Sefcik,
Hansley, Knapik.
FULLBACKS – Davis,
Jasinski, Blasé.
Score
by quarters:
Massillon 0 0 7 0 7
Benedictine 6 0 0 7 13
Scoring:
Massillon
Touchdown – Benjamin
Massillon
Extra point – Hershberger
(placement)
Benedictine
Touchdowns – Sefcik, Sprafka.
Benedictine
Extra point – Sefcik (placement)
STATISTICS
Mass. Ben.
First
downs, rushing 6 11
First
downs, passing 0 3
First
downs, penalties 0 1
First
downs, total 6 15
Yards
gained, running plays 220
226
Yards
lost, running plays 33 6
Net
yardage, running plays 187
220
Passes
attempted 4 8
Passes
completed 2 4
Passes had
intercepted 0 0
Yards
returned,
intercepted passes
0 0
Yards
gained passing 15 52
Total
yardage, running,
passing 202 272
Number of
kickoff returns 3 2
Yardage,
kickoff returns 51 32
Average
length of kickoff
returns 17 16
Number of
punt returns 1 1
Yardage,
punt returns 5 10
Average
length of punt
returns 5 10
Number of
punts 4 3
Total
yardage on punts 130 121
Average
length of punts 32 40
Number of
penalties 5 4
Yards lost
on penalties 35 30
Number of
fumbles 1 2
Own
fumbles recovered 1 0
Ball lost
on fumbles. 0 2