Tigers Beat
Tough
Roger Bacon 12-0
First Time On
Home Field In Three Years
By
CHUCK HESS, JR.
CINCINNATI – The Massillon Tigers got what they came
for. They beat Roger Bacon high school here
Friday night and proved to the fans of southern Ohio that the focal point of
high school football in the state is Stark County without a doubt.
For the second year in a row the Bengals shut out an
outstanding Bacon eleven, this time 12-0, before an overflow crowd of 10,000
fans at Bacon stadium. It was the first
loss for the Spartans on their home field in three years.
The bleachers on the north side of the field and
both end zones were jammed. Fans were
standing two deep around the perimeter of the field. A steep hill on the north side was packed with spectators.
Although his charges notched their sixth straight
victory of the season and took a giant step toward a third straight
championship, Coach Leo Strang was not all smiles.
* * *
“WE SHOULD HAVE
scored more points for the yardage we gained,” the skipper said. “We played hard but we also made some
mistakes. Bacon had a fine team.” The Tigers had a fumble at an inopportune
time and were hurt by penalties.
The Tigers gained 374 total yards while holding
Bacon to 159. Again it was a tremendous
defensive effort by the entire team which was so important in the victory.
Bron Bacevich, Spartan mentor called the Tigers,
“What we feel is the best high school team in the midwest and certainly one of
the best in the country.” He continued,
“We played as well as we could except we made too many errors. I was happy that this one was a clean
hard-hitting game.”
The Tigers played possession football, grinding out
the yardage on the ground with Charlie Brown doing most of the carrying. As last week, Brown garnered a lot of real
estate between the long side end and outside tackle on the fake ridge
play. He picked his opening well.
Brown gained 165 yards in 23 carries. This figures to an outstanding 7.2 yards per
carry against a rugged defensive line which out weighed the Tiger blockers by
at least a 10-pound average.
* * *
ALTHOUGH it’s tough to
single out any one boy for opening up the holes, Long Side Guard Charlie
Whitfield and inside Tackle Larry Strobel came in for a lot of praise from
their area coaches.
The Tigers lost the toss again for the fifth time in
six weeks so Bacon had the first opportunity.
The Spartans opened up a drive that carried from their
own 28-yard line to the Massillon 42 where Safetyman Bob Baker hauled in an
aerial tossed by Sophomore Quarterback Pat Case, intended for Jim Teed. The Tigers took over on their seven.
Bacon didn’t reach Massillon territory again until
late in the final period. The Spartans
opened up an aerial attack, which was stopped on the Bengal six.
The Tigers moved to their first score after Baker’s
interception. It took the Bengals 20
plays to cash in with their first tally.
They got six first downs in the 94-yard jaunt.
Brown carried on 12 of the plays. The big run was 21 yards from the Bacon 34
to the 13 on a second and three situation.
* * *
BUT AN EVEN
bigger play was a fourth down gamble on the Tiger 44. Massillon had one yard to get, Brown made three.
The final score came on a fake into the line and
pitch to Fullback Fred Philpott who swept the short side from three yards out
with 9:01 left in the second period.
The Tigers caught Case playing too tight at cornerback and that was all
they needed.
Philpott tried the same run for the extra two
points, but this time Case played him right.
Bacon carried from its 25 to the 47 on the next
series. Here their attack stalled and
Case punted.
After another Massillon series failed to get the
Tigers anything (unreadable) fumbled on first down, and the Bengals took over
on the Spartan 33. The Tigers drove for
another TD only to have it called back due to holding.
* * *
ON THE FIRST
play after the fumble, Alexander hit Ron (Glue Fingers) Schenkenberger, senior
Wingback, on the hook on the 25. Schenk
carried to the five.
This was the first of several fine catches by the
little toehead who is fast becoming a great receiver.
Brown went through on his pet play inside the long
side end for the score. But the penalty
nullified a fine run.
Set back to the 20 and stymied for two plays Alexander again tried to hit Schenk, this time down the middle on the “banana,” but Dan Westerbeck intercepted in the end zone. The half ended a few minutes later.
Massillon scored its other TD in the third period
and controlled the ball so well that the Spartans had only two series in that
canto.
The Tigers got their other score so quickly in the
third period that the Spartans didn’t know what hit them. Baker ran the kickoff back from his 10 to
his 40. Then came the score.
BROWN SHOT
off the short side and with the help of a fine block by Center Ben Bradley
scampered 60 yards for the six-pointer at 11:26. Philpott was caught on a pitch to the short side, and the
conversion attempt backfired.
Then came Bacon’s only series of the quarter. The Tigers took over on their 27 after a
punt with Brown doing almost all of the carrying. They got four first downs.
A penalty in the middle of the drive nullified a long gain.
The Bengals took another gamble on fourth down in
their own territory. But this time,
with a two-TD lead, they could afford to tempt lady luck. Needing two yard from their 35 they called
on Ken Dean. He got the deuce.
Schenkenberger made a tremendous catch while falling
backward to help the drive move from the Bacon 43 to the 16.
Bacon put on a tremendous stand with its back to the
wall and stopped Massillon with fourth and one from the seven.
The two teams exchanged fumbles in the last
period. The Spartans bobbled on their
48. Massillon on the Bacon 37.
Bacon moved from its 33 after the Tiger fumble, to
the Bengals’ 12 on a combination of passes and sweeps only to be stopped by the
Tigers on a great stand in the shadow of their goal posts.
The Tigers took over and ran the clock out.
MASSILLON
ENDS – Ivan, L. Ehmer,
Garland and Pierce.
TACKLES – Strobel, Spees
and Mercer.
GUARDS – Clendenin,
Whitfield, Migge, Poole and Radel.
CENTER – Bradley.
BACKS – Alexander,
Schenkenberger, Brown, Philpott, Dean, Baker, Snively and Davis.
ROGER BACON
ENDS – Henninger, Tood
and Plum.
TACKLES – Schmidt, Fein,
Puiskamp and Workman.
GUARDS – Butts and
Norton.
BACKS – Sexton, Anthony,
Hobbin, Galiagher, Meyer, Westerbeck, Case and Fitzpatrick.
Score by Quarters
Massillon 0 6 6 0 12
Scoring
Touchdowns – Philpott (three-yard run);
Brown
(60-yard run).
OFFICIALS
Referee – Harry Meyer.
Umpire – Jim Heieradurfer.
Head Linesman – Vic Kauffman.
Field Judge – Russ Kemper.
STATISTICS
Mass. Bacon
First
downs – rushing 12 8
First
downs – passing 5 3
First
downs – penalties 0 0
Total
first downs 17 11
Yards
gained rushing 257 112
Yards
lost rushing 3 6
Net
yards gained rushing 254 106
Yards
gained passing 120 53
Total
yards gained 374 159
Passes
attempted 8 6
Passes
completed 3 4
Passes
intercepted by 1 1
Times
kicked off 3 1
Kickoff
returns (yards) 28 8
Times
punted 1 2
Punt
average (yards) 48
39
Punt
return (yards) 0 38
Had
punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 2 3
Lost
fumbled ball 1 2
Penalties
3 1
Yards
penalized 35 5