Tigers Set Stage For McKinley Title Duel

 

Kanner-Paige Passes Trounce Eastlake 36-0

 

By STEVE HAPANOWICZ

 

The stage is set. . .  Massillon and Canton McKinley meet head on for the state championship next Saturday afternoon in what the politicians call an eye-to-eyeball confrontation.

 

Both won their ninth straight game Friday night, the Tigers beating Eastlake Willoughby North 36-0 and McKinley romping over Paul Cary’s Cuyahoga Falls team 53-0 at Fawcett stadium.

 

Massillon and McKinley have run 1-2 in the Associated Press poll most of the season.  The poll and its emblematic state championship are at stake in next week’s annual classic between the schoolboy and grid giants.

 

“We’re looking for McKinley,” said Tiger Coach Earle Bruce in the post game meeting with reporters Friday night.  “They want us and we want them.  The state championship is on the line Nov. 14,” Bruce said.

 

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NEXT WEEK’S GAME, the 69th meeting between the 2 schools, is already sold out.  More than 22,000 fans are expected to jam Tiger stadium to witness what promises to be one of the greatest games in the long series.

 

And the final audience, which sees the clash, may go well into the millions if plans to have the game televised materialize.  Adding to the pre-game hoopla is the visit of ABC television coming to make a special feature on the Tigers and the game itself.

 

The week promises to be one of the most hectic and exciting in Tiger history.  But there was a game played last night. 

 

The Tigers started out sluggishly and were never as sharp as they have been in past games.  “We were flat,” said Bruce.  Massillon didn’t get on the board until 4:38 left in the first quarter after failing to move the ball the first time it had possession.

 

Willoughby had the ball twice moving once from its own 29 to its 36.  The second time the Rangers went from their own 31 to the Massillon 47.

 

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THE SECOND TIME the Tigers got the ball, they wasted little time.  On the very first play, Steve Kanner hit end Rick Paige with a pass at the Willoughby 42 from his own 28 and the big end went all the way on a 72-yard play for the first of 3 touchdowns he was to score.  A kick for the extra point by Dave Paul was wide to the left.

 

Massillon got the ball again on its own 11 after a punt by Willoughby’s Chuck Hoban.  It took the Tigers 11 plays to cover the 89 yards before Kanner found Paige in the end zone again from 21 yards out for the score, making it 12-0.  The drive was highlighted by a 14-yard run by Brock Herring.  Jim Lawrence, who was to score 2 touchdowns, picked up the extra points on a run around end.

 

Willoughby got the ball on its own 15 and moved it to the 19 when Hoban went back to kick again.  A bad snap from center wound up in the Ranger end zone and Hoban tried kicking out but the ball went out of bounds at the Willoughby 13.

 

Dave Sheegog came in to quarterback and in 2 plays he carried to the 1 from where Lawrence plowed over to make the score 20-0.  Sheegog hit Paige with a pass for the extra points.

 

Willoughby had the ball for 3 plays when halfback Bob May fumbled at the 29 with Tiger linebacker Paul Marks recovering at the 33.  Sheegog hit Walt Lemon with a pass and the junior back carried it to the 18.  Three smashes by Terry Manson and Lawrence put the ball at the 7, then Lawrence went over the left side.  A pass for the extra points was incomplete and the 28-0 score stood at halftime.

 

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BRUCE SALTED his lineup liberally with second-liners and Willoughby, finding its pass receivers held up, went to the ground game.  The Rangers moved from their own 29 to the Tigers 24 before running out of downs.  Neither team scored in the third quarter.

 

The Tigers got the ball for the second time in the fourth quarter with 8:04 left to play.  From their own 11 the Tigers went 89 yards in 13 plays with the help of a 5-yard penalty.

 

Runs of 11 yards by Don Schenkenberger, 16 by Hewitt and 15 by Kanner sparked the drive.  With a third and 11 on their own 16, Massillon scored its final touchdown when Kanner connected with Paige again.  The pass bounced off Willoughby’s safety Bill Nose with Paige getting the bouncing ball about the 2 and taking it in.  Paul Shanor ran the extra points, with the clock showing 2:06.

 

Willougby Coach Vic McIntire blamed the loss on “big mistakes—The long bombs, the bad snap, the fumble.”

 

“The long bomb has never happened to us this year.  Our boys missed their keys,” he said explaining the long passes.

 

“Masillon has a fine football team,” McIntire said.  Not having seen McKinley, and just on what he has been told by others, McIntire said, “If McKinley does a job on defense, they can beat Massillon,” when asked how the Tigers would fare against the Bulldogs.

 

Massillon gained 359 yards to Willoughby’s 97 and had 16 first downs to the Rangers’ 6.  The Tigers hit on 4 of 9 passes while Willoughby hit 4 of 12 for 22 yards.  On the ground the Rangers made 75 yards.

 

Attendance at last night’s game was 9,363.

 

                                   EASTLAKE WILLOUGHBY NORTH – 0

Ends – Hoban, Kerschensteiner, Nose.

Tackles – Effron, Dodds, R. Carter.

Guards – Fordyce, Zaharewicz, Beccia.

Centers – Mikulak, Flavin.

Backs –J. Carter, Pintaric, Stenot, Noggy, R. Infalvi, Howarth, Lunder,

             D. Infalvi, R. May.

 

                                                     MASSILLON – 36

Ends – Paige, Goodnough, D. Whitfield, Crone, Williams, Gilmore, Franklin,

            Garcia, McGuire.

Tackles – Morgan, Binge, Hartley, Petroff, Paul, Croop.

Guards – Laursel, T. Whitfield.

Center – Muhlbach, F. Williams, Rambaud.

Backs – Kanner, Sheegog, Pribich, Frieg, Doolittle, Manson, Herring, Hewitt, Lawrence,

              Lemon, Schenkenberger, Conti, Marks, Shanor.

 

Massillon……….. 6      22      0      8 – 36

Willoughby……..  0        0      0      0 –   0

 

Touchdowns – Paige   3 (72-yard pass-run from Kanner; 21-yard pass from Kanner;

                         16-yard pass from Kanner); Lawrence 2 (runs of 1 and 7 yards).

 

Extra points – Lawrence 2 (run); Paige  2 (pass from Sheegog); Shanor  2 (run).

 

Officials:

Referee, Howard White (Cincinnati).

Umpire, Robert Strimer (Delaware).

Field Judge – W.P Shaughnessy (Akron).

Head Linesman – George Pappas (Akron).

 

                      Statistics

Mass.     Eastlake

First downs—rushing           16         6

First downs—passing             4         0

First downs—penalties           0         1

Total first downs             20         7

Yards gained rushing         245        87

Yards lost rushing            10        12     

Net yards gained rushing     235        75

Net yards gained passing     124        22

Total yards gained           359        97

Passes attempted                9        12

Passes completed                4         4

Passes intercepted by           0         0

Times kicked off                6         1

Kickoff average (yards)      45.5       42

Kickoff returns (yards)        19      101

Times punted                    3        5

Punt average (yards)         38.3        30

Punt returns (yards)           19        10

Had punts blocked               0        0

Fumbles                         2         4

Lost fumbled ball               0         1

Penalties                       7         2

Yards penalized                55        20

Touchdowns rushing              3         0

Touchdowns passing              3         0

Total number of plays          55        48