Tigers beat Big Red
in 20-12
thriller
By CHUCK HESS,
JR.
It was one of those games
during which you’d like to jump out of your skin or see the nearest doctor for
a tranquilizer.
Using a great fourth quarter
drive, the Massillon Tigers came roaring back from a 12-point deadlock to a
20-12 win over long-time rival Steubenville at rain-soaked Tiger stadium Friday
night.
The season’s smallest crowd
(10,500) was held spellbound until the final tick of the clock wrote a finish
to a great effort on the part of two powerful football teams.
The win was the sixth
consecutive for the Washington high eleven since an opening game defeat to
Mentor and gave the Tigers a 3-0 slate in the All-American conference (AAC),
putting them two victories away from third consecutive title and their fifth in
the six-year history of the league.
* * *
THE BIG RED’S third loss in seven games left them alone in the AAC cellar with an 0-3 rating since alliance (0-2) played out of the league.
Steubenville’s lefty
quarterback Craig Misselwitz found end Bob
Washington, all alone in the center of the end zone on a fourth down pass from
the five to know the count with 7:10 left in the game.
After Misselwitz
missed end Ron Styles on the conversion try, Marc Malinowski
ran back the kickoff 22 yards to start a 51-yard pay dirt drive, which chopped
six minutes, two seconds off the clock.
Tailback Jim Smith carried
on 10 of the 13 plays gaining yardage in excruciatingly short snatches. He fumbled on the two but tight end Tom
Robinson recovered on a disputed call.
“There was nobody else
around,” Robbie said later. “I saw the
ball lying there and grabbed it.”
* * *
ON THE next play Smith scored the last of his three right-side,
off-tackle touchdowns from the two.
Time remaining was 1:02 as quarterback Marc Malinowski
faked to Smith and skirted right end for the 19th and 20th
points.
Smith intercepted on the 50
shortly thereafter to end
“A combination of things
occurred on that last touchdown desire,”
Seaman remarked, “That’s
probably true and the line did not do that bad of a job either. We wanted that touchdown badly and blocked
like crazy.”
Smith’s other off –tackle
scores were from the one and two in that order.
Near the end of the first quarter, Keith Autrey’s
disputed fumble, Keith Autrey’s disputed fumble
recovery on the Steubenville 45 sent the Tigers to their first score with a
non-frequent Malinowski to Smith pass-run combination
for 12 yards, helping to set up the tally, which came with 6:48 left in the
second canto.
Malinowski’s pass to tight end Mike James was no good.
* * *
EARLIER LONG drives by both teams had fizzled, Chuck
Stoner’s fumble recovery on the
Dave Doll grabbed off a
fumble on the Big Red 17 shortly after the second half kickoff. Smith’s second tally came with 9:15 remaining
in the period.
McDew missed on a left tackle conversion try.
Gary Rapella
snared a Tiger fumble on Massillon’s 33, took
advantage of a personal foul penalty and sent fullback Bob Sims in on fourth
down from the half-yard line with 3:07 left in the third chapter.
“I think we had it stopped,”
Seaman said, “but Sims appeared to roll off the pile and into the end
zone. They did a good job pounding at
us.”
* * *
MISSELWITZ’
PASS to Dennis Madama on
the conversion attempt was nixed by Keith Autrey and
Bert Dampier.
After one post-kickoff
series,
“I rhought
we had
The big back battle never
materialized as Smith carried 28 times for a net 119 yards to preserve his
margin over Sims for first place in the AAC.
The Big Red piledriver carried 19 times for 87
yards but
“I’ll say again,” Seaman
reiterated. “It takes a heckuva fine team to turn the momentum of the game as we
did.
* * *
HE SAID that Sims was a fine back that
Both coaches said their game
plans had been changed due to the rain, with Seaman having decided to run
outside and Bryan hoping to rely on a pro-type offense because of
Seaman thought an opponent’s
line once again beat his to the punch in the first half.
“I don’t think I’ve ever
seen us lose a game before when I was able to tell the kids I was real proud of
them,” he said. “They put forth a real
great effort.”
Ends –
Mavromatis,
Radakoyich, Wesley.
Tackles – Brown, Muklewitz.
Guards – Patterson, Jakcson, Trimmer, Magyar.
Centers – Barren,
Quarterbacks – C. Misselwitz, Repella.
Halfbacks – R. and
K. Smith, Perine.
Fullbacks – Sims, Williams.
Ends – James, Engler, Robinson, Dampier, Conley, Dorman,
Cline,
Tackles – Harris, Laase, McGeorge, Midgley, Doll.
Guards – Couto,
Harig, Whitfield, Hout, Indorf,
Arnott.
Center – Cocklin.
Quarterbacks – Malinowski, Fromholtz, Lombardi.
Halfbacks – J. Smith, McDew, Shumar, K. Autrey, Stoner,
McLin,
Sheaters, Miller, Gamble, Hodgson.
Fullbacks – M. Autrey, Streeter, Johnson.
Touchdowns:
Extra
points:
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
Player Att. Net. Ave.
Malinowski 7 5 0
M. Autrey 5 34 6.8
J. Smith 28 119 7.3
McDew 10 38 3.8
Streeter 8 49 6.1
Player Att. Net. Ave.
Misselwitz 0 0 0
Sims 19 87 4.6
K. Smith 8 23 2.9
Mitchell 8 25 3.1
Culbreath 8 26 3.3
OFFICIALS
Referee – John Cseh.
Umpire – Harold Rolph.
Head Linesman – Chuck
Hinkle.
Field Judge – Beauford Hatfield.
THE GRIDSTICK
M S
First downs – rushing 17 12
First downs – passing 1 3
First downs – penalties 0 2
Total first downs 18 17
Yards gained rushing 258 171
Yards lost rushing 22 11
Net yards gained rushing 236 160
Net yards gained passing 12 38
Total yards gained 248 196
Passes attempted 4-1 14-4
Passes intercepted by 1 0
Yardage on passes
intercepted 4 0
Kickoff average (yards) 4—45.2 3-41.1
Kickoff returns (yards) 26 15
Punt average (yards) 3-43 2-41.5
Punt return (yards) 0 7
Lost fumbled ball 2-4 3-4
Yards penalized 3-33 1-15
Touchdowns rushing 3 1
Total number of plays 65 61