Tigers Defeat Garfield 32-6
Stout Defense Plays Prominent Role
In Bengals’
Second Win
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
There’s an old adage, “The best offense is a good
defense.” That statement was never
proved more convincingly than at Tiger stadium Friday night before a crowd of
12,904 fans.
The Washington high Tigers sprung a blitzing defense
on Akron Garfield that had the
two-time defending Akron city champions completely
befuddled and demoralized. The
hard-charging defense, outweighed by Garfield, wore the fleece of the Golden
Ram down to fuzz. Its horns were dulled
to a nubbin.
The result was a 32-6 victory for Massillon, the
second win of the season, and the ninth straight triumph over Garfield.
It was an outstanding Garfield team that invaded the
stadium, hoping to upset the Tigers and go on to a state championship. But the Bengals out after a third title in a
row were not to be denied.
“Garfield has a fine team,” said Tiger Coach Leo
Strang amid the happy post-game scene in the Bengals’ dressing room. “We just caught them by surprise with out
changing defenses and never let up.”
* * *
IT WASN’T
only the line and line backers’, that did an outstanding job, the secondary’s
coverage of pass-receivers kept the Rams on the ground. Quarterback Denny Boothe was unable to throw
with the result he was tossed for losses several times by Tiger defenders. Unable to loosen up the defense by
occasional passes, the Rams’ ground game suffered.
Leading the hard-charging Tigers were Willie Poole
and Charlie Whitfield. Joe Snively, Bob
Baker and Charlie Brown did the covering of the pass-receivers.
Strang gave his coaches who did the spotting from
the press box and scoreboard a big pat on the back for their fine work. They had Garfield pegged to a T both
offensively and defensively. Nick
Vrotsos, Nick Coso and Jack Robb were in the press box. Frank Domokos was in the scoreboard.
The Tiger offense had Garfield guessing all
night. The Presidents played a wide
6-2-2-1 most of the time. This left the
middle open and it was here that the Bengals made the most of their yardage.
However, when the Rams closed up the center, Strang
had his backs sweeping the ends.
Garfield just couldn’t adjust to the changes.
“You just can’t make mistakes against a team the
caliber of Massillon.” Garfield Coach Dan Flossie said. “We did and it cost us.” Flossie added. “The Tigers are a great team and they play good, clean, hard
football.”
* * *
WHEREAS the Tigers threw a
lot last week, this time they stuck to the ground, gobbling up 313 yards to
Garfield’s 48. Garfield out passed the
Bengals 73-39. Total offense was 382 to
121.
The Tigers gained 15 first downs to Garfield’s two
on the ground each had three in the air.
Totals were 18 and five.
Freddie Philpott for the second straight week,
showed real stuff from his fullback spot.
He scored two touchdowns and gained 154 yards in 13 tries for an 11.8
average.
Charlie Brown scored one TD. Ron Schenkenberger one and short side Guard
Bob Clendenin one on a fumble-recovery.
The Tigers had trouble scoring conversions
again. Ron Davis scored the lone
two-pointer, after the second TD.
* * *
FOR THE SECOND
straight week the Tigers lost the toss and were forced to kick. Garfield ran two plays, after Dave Mosely
had run the kick back 11 yards from his 30.
Then Boothe fired down the middle to End Mike Yovanovich, who grabbed
the ball on the Massillon 25 and raced 14 before being tackled.
Here the Rams lost a fine opportunity to score. A fumble on the first play of the second series
was recovered by the Tigers.
The Bengals then moved to their 49 in 11 plays,
picking up two first downs in the process.
They took a daring gamble with fourth and one on their 23. Ken Dean, playing his first game, went
through the middle for six yards and the first down.
Two plays later Brown picked up six yards on a
third-and-three situation from the 36 with a sweep to the right to keep the
Tigers in possession. But the Bengals
weren’t destined to score during their first series. They ran out of gas on the 49 and Jim Alexander punted to the
Garfield 13.
The Rams went into a T spread on the first
play. Boothe fumbled, Ed Radel, also in
his first game, came charging through from his linebacker’s spot and recovered
on the 11.
It looked like a sure score for the Bengals coming
up. However, they lost the ball on
downs on the five.
* * *
GARFIELD had
one series, punted and Massillon took over on the President’s 40. Philpott burst through the middle on the
first play and with the aid of a fine block by Clendenin, scored with 26
seconds remaining. Dean tried the
middle for two more points but missed.
Then came Garfield’s lone TD. Tony Besesi grabbed Charlie Williams’
kickoff on the Rams’ 22 and ran it back to the Massillon 47. On the next play Ray Matthews, the
Presidents all-everything back, swept left end for 32 yards to the Tiger 15 as
the first quarter ended.
On the first play of the second period, Jim Sims
blasted off right guard for the score with only five seconds gone in the
quarter. A pass to End Dick Byerly on
the try for the conversion failed.
Massillon came back after the kickoff, following
Brown’s 21-yard return to the Tiger 43, for its second marker. In nine plays covering 57 yards and three
first downs, the Bengals led 12-6,
The Tigers almost missed this score. Philpott blasted through the middle from the
seven on second and three, was hit on the two and fumbled. The ball squirted into the end zone. Clendenin jumped on it for the score at
7:34. Davis swept right end for the 13th
and 14th points.
* * *
MASSILLON’S
next TD came near the end of the half.
The Tigers stopped Garfield on the Bengal 28 after Byerly had recovered
a Massillon fumble three plays earlier on the 36.
In a 72-yard drive covering six plays and three first
downs, the Bengals had scored again.
The TD was set up on a 38-yard pass play, Alexander to Wingback Ron
Schenkenberger on a ride action with a hook pattern to Schenkenberger.
On the next play Brown swept around right end for
the score with 31 seconds remaining. A
repeat effort failed to score the conversion.
The Tigers’ fourth score came on the first series
following the half time intermission.
Schenkenberger took Matthews’ kick on the 17 and returned to the
40. Six plays, 60 yards and two first downs
later the Bengals hit play dirt again.
Once more it was Philpott lugging the pigskin. He went through the middle from the 28 on
third and nine with 9:17 showing on the clock.
Brown missed the conversion, trying to go over right tackle.
* * *
THE TIGERS
missed another opportunity in the third canto.
They took over on the Garfield 33 when the Rams gambled on fourth and
one and lost. However, the Bengals were
unable to go further than the 30 in four plays.
The Rams got a long drive going at the end of the
third period and beginning of the fourth to dent Massillon territory for the
only time during the second half. The
feat was accomplished only four times during the night. Garfield was in control for 12 plays
covering 57 yards to the Tiger 15. The
drive included four first downs. An
incomplete pass on fourth down put an end to the Rams’ efforts for the night.
Massillon’s last score came right after the
turnover. The Bengals rolled 85 yards,
utilizing 14 plays and getting four first downs in the process.
Alexander passed to Schenkenberger down the middle
on an out-and-in pattern from the 17 on fourth and 10. Alex tried to hit Larry Ehmer for the
conversion but couldn’t connect.
The Tigers got over their first big hurdle Friday
night, but there are nine more facing them before another state championship is
theirs.
AKRON GARFIELD
Ends – Price,
Yovanovich and D. Byerly.
Tackles - Postiach, Dyser,
Kovacevich, Zeh and Bodash.
Guards - Breitenbach,
Buchanan and Gaines.
Centers - Kiggans and
Romacae.
Backs - Matthews, Sims,
Boothe, Butash and Mosely.
MASSILLON
Ends – Ivan, Ehmer,
Garland, McDew and Pierce.
Tackles – Spees, Strobel,
Brenneman, Mercer, C. Bradley, Dekan and Profant.
Guards – Clendenin,
Whitfield, Relford, Radel, Poole and Migge.
Centers – B. Bradley,
Heine and Heckathorn.
Backs – Alexander,
Philpott, Schenkenberger, Davis, Brown, Snively, Baker
Getz, Jarvis, Lash, Dean, Kanney and Franklin.
Garfield Scoring
Touchdowns – Sims, 13-yard run.
Massillon Scoring
Touchdowns – Philpott, 40 and 28-yard runs;
Clendenin,
fumble recovery;
Brown,
five-yard run;
Schenkenberger,
17-yard pass from Alexander.
Conversions –
Davis
Referee – Andy Moran.
Umpire – Frank Westfall.
Head Linesman – Tom Bender.
Field Judge – George Donges.
STATISTICS
Mass. Opp.
First
downs – rushing 15 2
First
downs – passing 3 3
First
downs – penalties 0 0
Total
first downs 18 5
Yards
gained rushing 324 66
Yards
lost rushing 11 18
Net
yards gained rushing 313 48
Yards
gained passing 69 73
Total
yards gained 382 121
Passes
attempted 7 6
Passes
completed 3 2
Passes
intercepted by 0 1
Times
kicked off 4 2
Kickoff
average (yards) 38.5
36.0
Kickoff
returns (yards) 35 126
Punt
average (yards) 36.0 37.0
Punt
return (yards)
4 0
Had
punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 4 5
Lost
fumbled ball 1 2
Penalties
9 2
Yards
penalized 55 10