Warren Hands Tigers
Fourth Defeat 20-7
Bengals’ Wide-Open Game Plans
Bog Down In Harding Field Mud
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
The weatherman
refused to cooperate with the Massillon Tigers Friday night at Warren and took
one half of their offense away. With no
passing game possible and unable to consistently get through a line which
outweighed them about 18 pounds per man, the Washington high school football
team dropped a 20-7 decision to the Black Panthers.
“A crowd of 14,500
fans – more than capacity for Harding field – watched as the two teams battled
each other in a sea of mud. The game
was close for three quarters. But the
Panthers scored a clinching touchdown in the final stanza.
The loss dropped the
Bengals back to a .500 season with a 4-4 mark.
The last time a Massillon team lost four games in one season was in 1947
when the Orange and Black ended with a 6-4 record.
Coach Leo Strang has
failed to win at Warren in three tries.
Warren now stands at
seven wins and an opening game tie. The
Panthers are still very much in the running for the state championship.
* * *
FIVE
INCHES of snow were cleared off
the field in the morning. A drizzle
fell in the afternoon making playing conditions almost impossible.
“It was the worst
field I’ve ever seen,” said Strang. “We
worked all week on a wide open game and then we get this kind of mess. We gave it a real effort though.”
The skipper thought
that Warren had a “good, big, strong team.”
Their penetration on defense was good,” he said. “That caused a couple of our fumbles. They hit us as we were handing off.”
Commenting on his
defense, Strang said, “Due to their heavier line we had to gamble on defense
and got caught zigging when we should have zagged at times. They caught us on a deal to the opposite direction
on their second score. We were dealing
on almost every play.”
Warren Coach Ben Wilson
refused to single out any one person for praise, saying, “We had a real team
effort.” He patted Massillon on the
back with, “They did a good job. Strang
deserves a lot of credit for the coaching he had done on the Tigers. They’ve come a long way.
* * *
MOST
OF THE football was played from
tackle to tackle with both teams punching out short gainers after short
gainers. The footing was too
treacherous and the ball too wet for much else. This is what Warren is good at.
The playing conditions were made to order for the Panthers.
They ground out 240
net yards rushing to Massillon’s 132 which pretty much tells the story. Both teams lost almost an equal amount of
yardage, the Orange and Black 22, Warren 23.
Where Warren got the five and six-yard gains, Massillon got only ones
and twos. First downs had Warren ahead
9-6. One of Massillon’s came via a
penalty.
There was no passing
yardage which isn’t out of the ordinary for Warren because the Panther are a
strictly power team. But the Tigers
have thrown a good deal this year.
Warren didn’t try any passes.
Massillon threw only three but failed to connect.
The play that was a
big turning point for Massillon came in the third period. Junior linebacker Paul Fabianich recovered a
Warren fumble on the Panthers’ 27. And
the Tigers moved to the seven in eight plays and two first downs with senior
quarterback Mike Koenig, senior tailback Ron Davis and sophomore fullback Jim
Lawrence taking turns diving straight ahead.
With
fourth-and-seven and Warren leading 12-7, Koenig tried to pass. His cold hands and the slippery ball never
permitted him to get the pigskin to junior tailback Bill Blunt who made a good
try but couldn’t hold on. The Bengals
never got within striking distance again.
Had they gotten this
score and an extra point or points to go ahead, the outcome might have been
different. But it wasn’t to be as the
Orange and Black got out of its territory only six of the 12 times it had its
hands on the ball. Warren was on the
Massillon side of the 50 on eight of 13 chances.
However, five of
these occurrences came on four fumbles and a blocked punt. Two of Warren’s scores came after fumble
recoveries.
* * *
THE
FIRST incident came early in the
initial quarter. Koenig attempted a
pass from his 49 on second-and-nine. He
was hit hard by an onrushing lineman, the ball was jarred from his hand and
rolled back to the 38 where senior tackle Carl Cohen fell on it.
It took Warren four
plays to score. Senior halfback Reedy
Thomas raced around left end to the 18 and a first down. A five-yard motion penalty occurred. Then Thomas skirted the same end on
second-and-11 from the 19 with 8:06 remaining in the period. His run for the conversion failed.
Massillon elected to
kick from its own 49 on third-and-12.
Senior center Denny Yanta broke through and became the first one to
block a Wil Paisley punt this year.
Warren took over on the 39 but lost the ball on downs.
The Orange and Black
got the ball back on its nine after the punt and got its only sustained drive
of the night going. The Tigers picked
up three first downs and moved to the Warren 46 in eight plays. Davis, Koenig and Lawrence again did a lot
of running from tackle to tackle. A
10-yard loss forced a punt from the Tiger 44 on the ninth play.
Blunt ran back the
Panthers’ next punt 15 yards to the Warren 35.
But disaster struck again a minute later. Yanta recovered a fumble on his 30 on second down.
* * *
WARREN
ran three plays, fumbled, and
senior halfback Ron Sullivan recovered a fumble on the Panthers’ 41. He kept on running but the defensive team
can’t advance a fumble.
The Tigers fumbled
on the next play. Senior fullback
Darryl Zupancic recovered on the Massillon 41.
Warren got nowhere on its next series.
Neither did Massillon.
Then the Wilsonmen
took over on their 32 following a punt.
Senior halfback Wendell Smith streaked off right tackle for a 68-yard
score. The score came at 2:56. Junior halfback Charlie Williams failed on
the conversion.
The Tigers’ lone
score came on its next series. Taking
over on its own 44, the Orange and Blafck moved for the tally in four plays and
two first downs with 50 seconds remaining in the half. The big play was Davis’ 46-yard run off left
guard on the dive from the Warren 49 to the 43. Senior halfback Wendell Smith just made the tackle from behind on
the three.
Junior tailback
Terry Getz scored from the three off left tackle. Senior Wil Paisley booted the extra point.
* * *
WARREN
DROVE from its 13 to the
Massillon 21 late in the third canto and early in the fourth in 10 plays with
three first downs. Thomas did most of
the running on slant plays off the left side of the line.
Smith made one long
run on a slant the other way from the Warren 15 to the Massillon 44, a distance
of 41 yards. Thomas had a run of 14
yards from the Tigers’ 32 to the 18 on another slant play.
Late in the fourth
period senior end Charlie Grounds hopped on a Massillon fumble on the Orange
and Black’s eight following a Warren drive from the Tigers’ 33 to the 11 after
a bad punt. The fumble came on first
down.
Then Zupancic went
over three plays later on third-and-inches at 3:34. Quarterback Bill Mink, a senior, added the conversion for the
final 20-7 score.
The Bengals now
return home for their final three games of the season, starting next Friday
with Cleveland Benedictine. Akron
Garfield and Canton Lincoln follow in that order.
MASSILLON – 7
Ends – McAllister,
Jones and Franklin.
Tackles – Profant,
Clendening, Mercer, Tarle, Miller, Fabianich and Morgan.
Guards – Castile,
Geckler, McDew, Paflas, Mathias, Roderick, Rivera and Swisher.
Centers – Bradley,
Scassa and Paisley.
Quarterbacks –
Koenig and Swartz.
Halfbacks – Getz,
Blunt, Davis and Eckard.
Fullbacks –
Lawrence, Toles and Sullivan.
WARREN – 20
Ends – Snyder,
Grounds, Keller, Ferrance and Ochtyun.
Tackles – Fender,
Cohen and Crites.
Guards – Measures,
Windle, Salem and Hood.
Centers – Yanta,
Kostraba, Maudy and Crawford.
Quarterbacks – Mink
and Stredney.
Halfbacks –
Williams, Grishon, Thomas, Shimko, Turner, Owens and Pagano.
Fullbacks – Zupancic
and Koscaka.
Massillon 0 7 0 0 7
Warren 6 6 0 8 20
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Getz (three-yard run).
Warren – Thomas (19-yard run); Smith (66-yard run);
Zupancic (one-yard run)
Points
after touchdown:
Massillon – Paisley (kick).
Warren – Mink (run).
Officials
Referee – Fritz Graf
(Akron).
Umpire – Clyde Moore
(Rittman).
Head Linesman – Bud
Shopbell (Canton).
Field Judge – Andy
Chiebeck (Louisville).
GAME STATISTICS
Mass. Opp.
First
downs – rushing 5 9
First
downs – passing 0 0
First
downs – penalties 1 0
Total
first downs 6 9
Yards
gained rushing 154 263
Yards lost
rushing 22 23
Net yards
gained rushing 132 240
Yards
gained passing 0 0
Total
yards gained 132 240
Passes
attempted 3 0
Passes
completed 0 0
Passes intercepted
by 0 0
Times
kicked off 2 3
Kickoff
average (yards) 29.5 34.0
Kickoff
returns (yards) 64 37
Times
punted 3 3
Punt
average (yards) 31.0 35.2
Punt
returns (yards) 30 0
Had punts
blocked 1 0
Fumbles 4 2
Lost
fumbled ball 4 2
Penalties 1 1
Yards penalized 5 5