Tiger Gridders
Defeat
Akron South 28-0
But Played Game Close To Vest
That Massillon Tiger football fans and all others
among the crowd of 12,256 at Tiger stadium went home Friday night with mixed emotions
just could be an under-statement.
After the 1958 band of Bengals clipped the wings of
a spunky Akron South club 28-0, some folks seemed contented with a hot-and-cold
running performance that marked the debut of Coach Leo Strang.
Others, like the good citizens of Missouri, want to
be shown.
There were quite a few people, apparently, who were
not satisfied with the margin of victory.
They came expecting a real show of razzle-dazzle football and there were
many, too, who pictured the Tiger clan running the Cavaliers right out of the
stadium. Before too much
second-guessing, fans perhaps should keep three things in mind:
(1)
That the Tigers played it close to the vest; (2)
that they need a little more time to
synchronize the attack; and (3) that South has a
better team than lots of people figured.
* * *
STRANG’S GANG
struck for three touchdowns in the first half and from there on out they played
under wraps. True, the Tigers used
several plays from the spread formation and kept things interesting with a
sharp passing attack but as a whole, they didn’t reach into their bags of
tricks. They didn’t have to.
South helped matters along, favoring the
nattily-attired host crew with a fumble, a poor punt, a penalty and a deflected
pass that paved the way for three Massillon TDs.
Aside from the gifts, the orange and black made many
fans happy with a 63-yard march for their third touchdown. A 72-yard run by co-captains and Fullback
Dave Dean had them buzzing too but after Dean rambled to the South 18, the
Tigers could go no further than the 16 in four plays.
This run went to waste midway in the third period
but before the fourth quarter arrived, a bad South punt made a fourth Tiger
six-pointer possible.
Quarterback Joe Sparma, who hit on seven of 10 passes
for the night, tallied the last touchdown.
The others were made by Dean from the seven after Massillon recovered a
fumble at the Cavalier 24; big Bill Zorn who was standing in the end zone when
South’s Jim Turner deflected the ball into his hands (on a Sparma pass) in the
first stanza; and the other giant end, Bob Vogel, whose catch of a Sparma
aerial on a play covering 14 yards climaxed the 63-yard drive late in the
second quarter.
* * *
VOGEL MADE the
first two and only extra points and thus became the first Massillon player in
history to rack up a two-point conversion.
Under the new rule he scored four points, twice converting Dean’s
touchdown by going across on an end-around play and then after Zorn’s score by
hauling in a jump pass from Sparma.
Other “first” of the new campaign had Dean scoring
the first touchdown and carrying the ball for the first time. Halfback Cornelius Clark making the first
tackle on the game-opening kick-off, Zorn receiving the first pass on the
second touchdown, Sparma throwing the first pass on the same play, and Clark
recovering the first fumble on the second play from scrimmage.
Ultra-important, naturally, was the first digit in
the win column. Victory No. 2 will be
sought next Friday night when Canton Lincoln comes here. Lincoln will open its season against
Cuyahoga Falls at Fawcett stadium this evening.
If everything goes right, the forward pass will be a
big threat against the Lions and all other future foes.
Coach Strang, miffed at some of the mistakes the boys
made but realizing the need for more work, found no blame with the air arm.
Sparma’s seven completions (two others were almost
caught by Vogel who made an extra big effort both times) were good for 68
yards. The two touchdown plays and two
other snags by Zorn gained over 12 yards each, while three shorter connections
were made.
* * *
ZORN GOT his hooks on two
pegs, one for 13 yards and the other for 14 during the
63-yard drive while another end, Jerry Mitchell,
made a nifty catch for eight yards during a final quarter march that ate up 62
yards before it fizzled out due to a fumble.
The 68 yards through the air and 220 by rushing gave
the Bengals a net of 288 yards. South
collected 141 on the ground and 20 yards in its only completed pass. Most other statistics favored the local team
with first downs being 12-9.
South ran the ball 38 times and for some strange
reason, remained on the ground after it was three and four touchdowns in
arrears.
The Cavaliers provided the Massillon offense with
somewhat of a problem at times. Their
defense was sparked by guard Mose Burrell who was all over the field much like
South’s 1957 star, Owensby Pearson.
The Bill Hawkins-coached outfit suffered a cruel
blow when Jim Brooks, a tough defensive end, sustained an injury in the third
period. He had ligaments in his knee
torn and apparently is through for the season.
Massillon came out of the fracas with two injuries.
* * *
THE DEFENSE
of the Tigers wasn’t the same after middle guard Hase McKey retired in the second
quarter because of a leg injury. He did
not play at all in the second half.
Guard and linebacker Gail Karrenbauer received a cut on the cheek, which
required two stitches. Both boys should
be in shape for the Lincoln contest.
The game was only about a minute old when the
diminutive Clark pounced on a fumble at the South 24-yard line. In five plays and at 8:52 Strang’s combine
clicked for its first touchdown of the season.
Dean ran three times for 17 yards and after Tailback
Jim Hershberger was held for no gain.
Dean cracked the middle for six points.
On the conversion, the Tigers completely fooled the invaders with the
end-around. Vogel made it good although
he fumbled in the end zone.
On the kickoff that followed, South was penalized
15-yards for clipping but it got one first down before being forced to
punt. A host of Tigers blocked the try
by Halfback Danny Spencer and it was Massillon’s ball at the Cavalier 26.
* * *
THE TIGERS also
took advantage of this break. Dean,
Hershberger and Wingback Jim Wood made a first down and after an in-motion
penalty, Dean and Wood carried to the 13 from which point the Sparma-Zorn
combination worked for six – with a stroke of luck. The pass, coming on fourth and one, was knocked up in the air by
Turner but Zorn, behind Turner and Leon Harris, was there to catch it as it
came down. Vogel took Sparma’s jump
pass and it was 16-0 with 1:54 left in the quarter.
The next time Massillon had possession Hershberger
quick-kicked 33 yards. South moved from
its own 28 to the Massillon 36 before a fumble, with Zorn recovering, ended the
drive.
Mixing up pass plays and power slants, the Bengals
went all the way in 10 plays. In
addition to a catch by Zorn, for a total of 28 yards, Hershberger had a
seven-run blast and Dean rammed for nine.
At the 14 it was fourth and one when Sparma found Vogel all by his
lonesome in the end zone. Dean was
stopped shy of the goal line on the conversion attempt with only 38 seconds
remaining in the half.
After an exchange in the third panel, it was
Massillon’s ball at its own seven.
Corky Pledgure, in at tailback, picked up three before Dean got loose.
Dave hit off the left side and saw daylight at the
25. He cut toward the sidelines and
appeared to be going all the way but Harris caught him from behind at the
Cavalier 18.
* * *
THE 72-YARD jaunt
went for naught because of what happened in the next four plays. Hershberger made two. Sparma’s pass was just
out of the reach of Vogel near the final stripe. Wood lost a foot on a reverse. On last down Sparma whipped a jump
pass to Wood but the latter, boxed in as he made the reception, was stopped
after a three-yard gain.
South made little progress due to a penalty and a
fumble and the Akronites had to kick. Spencer’s
poor punt was caught by sub Fullback Bob Morrow at the 25, where he was
promptly earthed. But a 15-yard
clipping call against South put the oval on the Cavalier 10.
Hershberger rolled to the one-foot line and then was
held at the line of scrimmage before Sparma sneaked across as play in the
quarter ran out. Pledgure swept to the
left on the PAT attempt, was halted short of the Promised Land, and that was
the final score, 28-0.
In the last session the Tigers went on the prowl in
a fine way. They barreled from their
own four (following a clipping penalty on a South punt) to the enemy 33. Enroute Pledgure checked in with a 13-yard
pickup, Dean ran once for 10 and a pass, Sparma to Mitchell made eight. On third down at the South 40, Sparma fumbled
with Spencer recovering for the visitors.
That was that.
After a pushing penalty against South, a
delay-of-game penalty against Massillon, three runs good for 31 yards and a
pass which made 20, Strang’s debut and Assistant “Ducky” Schroeder’s 100 consecutive
game here went into the history books.
STATISTICS
First
Downs – Rushing 8 6
First
Downs – Passing 4 1
First
Downs – Penalties 0 2
Total
First Downs 12 9
Number
of Rushing Plays 50 39
Yards
Gained – Rushing Plays 228 141
Yards
Lost – Running Plays 8 20
Net
Yardage – Running 220 121
Passes
Attempted 10 1
Passes
Completed 7 1
Passes
Had Intercepted 0 0
Yards
Returned –
Intercepted
Passes 0 0
Yards
Gained – Passing 68 20
Net
Yardage – Running and
Number
of Kickoff Returns 1 4
Yardage
– Kickoff Returns 31 57
Average
Length of Kickoff
Returns 31 14.2
Number
of Punt Returns 2 0
Yardage
– Kickoff Returns 9 0
Average
Length of Kickoff
Returns 4.5 0
Number
of Punts 1 3
Total
Yardage on Punts 33 102
Average
Length of Punts 33 34
Number
of Penalties 5 8
Yards
Lost on Penalties 35 70
Number
of Fumbles 3 3
Own
Fumbles Recovered 1 1
Ball
Lost on Fumbles 2 2