Tigers Dump Lions
32-14
In Opener
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Charles
Dickens would have felt right at home at Tiger stadium Friday night. As he once said, ‘It was the best of
times. It was the worst of times.”
Massillon’s
Tigers got off on the right foot in quest of a third straight state
championship even if the step was a little shaky. The Bengals stopped Canton Lincoln’s Lions 32-14 before one of
the largest opening night crowds ever, 13,431.
* * *
THE BATTLE of the felines was the second game of the first double bill ever
presented at the stadium. Marion
Catholic and Dover St. Joseph, 1965 state Class A powers, battled in the opener
with Marion winning 8-6.
Massillon
played turnabout ball, jumping ahead 20-0 at the half, and was outscored 14-12
in the second. Total yardage also went in the opposite direction: from 228-66
in Massillon’s favor before the intermission to 120-92 in Lincoln’s favor
afterwards, as did the number of plays, 30-28 to 26-16.
Tiger
Coach Bob Seaman making his debut as the Bengals stretched their win streak to
29, thought complacency might have had a great deal to do with the poor second
half. “When you put points on the board
with 4 seconds to go in the first half, you’re bound to relax a bit in the
second.”
Lou
Venditti, who might have his finest team in his 6 years at Lincoln, was “proud
of the kids coming back after being down 20-0.”
Venditti
thought his team was hurt by 2 bad mental errors and a fumble at the wrong
time. There was one mental error and 3
bad breaks which hurt the Tigers, to say nothing of numerous penalties.
* * *
MASSILLON SCORED first when junior halfback Greg Evans went off left
tackle from
33
yards out on second and 8 with 9:35remaining in the welcome quarter. The drive covered 74 yards in 5 plays after
the opening kickoff. It featured 2
first downs and a big run by Evans over right tackle off a pitch, which carried
from the Tiger 29 to the Lincoln 35.
Senior
Craig Maurer, quarterback, missed on a rollout for the conversion.
The
next time Massillon had the ball a 40-yard run by Evans was nullified by a
clipping penalty.
Midway
in the first quarter, Lincoln threatened following Jim Krenzer’s punt from the end
zone after the Obiemen were put into reverse gear by motion and clipping
penalties, 2 of 16 on the night for 115 yards.
On
the first play following the punt, Lincoln’s senior signal-caller Tom Smith,
who was to have a great second half, rolled out, scampered from the Tigers’ 34
to the 21 and fumbled. Gigantic Mike
Sherrett, Massillon’s 6-7, 251-pound senior tackle, recovered, or as Venditti
said, the game might have been different.
As
the second quarter got underway, it appeared the Orange and Black were on the
way for a second score. With second and
(line
of copy missing)
Massillon
37 to the Lincoln 47 with the next punt and the Washington high eleven was on
the way to its second score. Seven
plays and 3 first downs later, senior fullback Will Foster went over left
tackle from the 7 with 3:41 left.
Foster made it 14-0 on the same play.
The
Tigers scored again just as time ran out in the first half. Maurer threw the “bomb” to Evans on second
and 5 from the 50 with 4 seconds remaining.
The little jackrabbit grabbed the pigskin on the 5 and went in on the
first of the Lion mental errors. Foster
found the center too tough for the conversion.
Lincoln
started on its comeback rampage immediately after the second half kickoff. Smith started to run wild on the keeper,
spelled at intervals by junior halfback John Franzone and junior fullback Greg
Wentz. The drive started on the Lions’
33, carried for 67 yards and 5 first downs.
Franzone
got the score with 7:17 left in the third canto. He shot off left tackle on first and 10 from the Tigers’ 28. Smith hit junior end Bruce Fowler in the
left side of the end zone to make it 20-8.
As
the quarter was about to come to an end, Krenzer dropped back from the Tigers’
19 to punt and found his attempted boot blocked, giving Lincoln the ball on the
14. In 6 plays Bengal fans were
starting to squirm.
* * *
WITH FOURTH and 2 on the 6, Smith hit senior end Scott Ricketts in the right
section of the end zone with 10:03 ;left in the goodbye chapter. Seaman said a linebacker incorrectly heard
the coverage call. Junior linebacker
Hoyt Skelton, junior tackle Bill Ricker and senior middle Earle (Stump) Beiter
brought Smith crashing to the turf short of the conversion.
A
wounded Tiger is dangerous and the Obiemen poured on the steam. Evans ran back 33 yards. Tommy (Scooter) James, senior halfback, rode
the wave of excellent blocking on power sweeps off the pitch on almost every
play in the ensuing 6-play, 4-first down, 57-yard scoring drive.
“Tailspin
Tommy” tallied from the 23 on second and 4.
He took 2 steps to the right, shot back over left guard and it was “TJ
for the TD.” Evans failed to get the
conversion on a pitchout.
A
once-in-a-lifetime occurrence cropped up next.
Foster kicked off out of bounds on the one. His repeat boot after 5-yard penalty sailed into the end
zone. A Lion back forgot to recover the
ball and sophomore Marc Malinowski, up from Lorin Andrews junior high, pounced
on the swinehide for a score.
Maurer
missed the conversion on the keeper for the second time during the night.
* * *
BUT LINCOLN wasn’t through driving from the Massillon 43, after a short kickoff by
Mike Gipp, to the Tigers’ 5, a distance of 52 yards.
There
junior linebacker Ron Ertle brought Smith down on a fake pass and run on fourth
and 6 to halt the scoring attempt.
Franzone and Wentz were the big boys on the 3-first down drives.
A
freak play cropped up along the way.
Fowler caught a pass from Smith after it bounced around off several
hands including those of at least 3 Tiger defenders. The play carried from the Lincoln 49 to the Massillon 26.
Massillon
will play host to Cleveland Benedictine next Saturday.
Ends
– Ricketts, Fowler, Sanderson.
Tackles
– Christy, Hastings, Predisik.
Guards
– Myers, McVehfl.
Center
– Wernecke.
Quarterbacks
– Smith, Best.
Halfbacks
– Flinn, Franzone, Breslin, McCoul.
Fullbacks
– Wentz, Behm.
MASSILLON – 32
Ends
– Moyer, Smith, Sterling, Gallion, Griffin, Richards.
Tackles
– Houser, Snowball, Ricker, Turley, Sherrett, Martin.
Guards
– Hausenstein, Russell, Ertle, Beiter, Porrini, White.
Centers
– Senften, Skelton, Kraft.
Quarterbacks
– Maurer, Young, Henderson, Malinowski.
Halfbacks
– James, Evans, Hannon, Fenton, McFadden, Muhlbach.
Fullbacks
– Foster, Gipp.
Punter
– Krenzer.
Lincoln 0 0 8 6 14
Massillon 6 14 0 12 32
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Evans (33-yard run and 35-
yard pass from Maurer),
Foster (7-yard run),
James (23-yard run),
Malinowski (recovered kickoff
in end zone).
Lincoln – Franzone (28-yard run), Smith (6-yard pass from Ricketts).
Extra points:
Massillon – Foster 2 (run).
Lincoln – Fowler 2 (pass from Smith).
Attendance: 13,431.
Referee
– Jack McLain (Columbus).
Umpire
– Bill Holzwarth (Louisville).
Head
Linesman – Bud Shopbell (Canton).
Field
Judge – John Dalrymple (Akron).
THE GRIDSTICK
Massillon Opp.
First downs – passing 1 3
Total first downs 14 11
Yards gained rushing 286 144
Yards lost rushing 1 6
Net yards gained rushing 285 138
Net yards gained passing 35 48
Total yards gained 320 186
Passes attempted 1 12
Passes completed 1 5
Passes intercepted by 0 0
Yardage on passes intercepted 0 0
Times kicked off 5 3
Kickoff average (yards) 47.0 41.0
Kickoff returns (yards) 41 58
Times punted 5 4
Punt average (yards) 26.5 37.5
Punt return (yards) 29 2
Had punts blocked 1 0
Fumbles 1 1
Penalties 16 3
Yards penalized 115 18
Touchdowns rushing 3 1
Touchdowns passing 1 1
Touchdowns by interception 0 0
Miscellaneous 0 0
Number of plays 46 54