Tigers, Panthers
in quickness match-up
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports
Editor
Tom Ross, Warren Harding head coach and the Tigers’ boss,
Mike Currence, both feel quickness will play a large
part in tonight’s All-American Conference football game to be played at Mollenkopf Stadium in
Kickoff will be at
OTHER LEAGUE games
scheduled for tonight are
“Our scouts feel
In order to best a will-of-the-wisp team like
“You don’t attack at the perimeter as much as you would
other teams,” he said. “When you get a
quick team in there, pursuit is so great you almost have to run at them a
little bit.”
The Tigers will also have to alter their defensive strategy.
“HARDING RUNS from an
unbalanced line,” Currence said. “We saw it a little bit in the preseason
scrimmage against Warren Western Reserve.
An unbalanced line poses a problem of being out flanked. Harding brings an end over, puts its wingback
on the same side and if you keep the nose guard on the center, like you’re
supposed to, they’ve got you out flanked.”
Currence has another worry in
playing a team such as Harding – the physical condition of his linebacking crew. Juniors
Steven Dottavio and Kurt Walterhouse are slated to
start. Dottavio
jammed a hand while replacing senior Gary Border (broken arm) last week.
Junior Scott Wilson was lost for the season due to an arm
injury sustained earlier this fall. The
remaining linebacker is junior Tim Horton.
Walterhouse calls the signals and if he should get hurt, the
“
BECAUSE THE TIGERS have
senior co-captain Anthony Grizzard at monster back,
another key defensive spot against a quick team like
“They’re going to run at one of the best monster backs
they’ve ever seen,” Currence stated. “If they come outside very much, they’re
going to have some problems. We put him
out there because we knew we had to have him there to plays teams like Warren
and Canton McKinley.”
Another plus is that the Tigers will have the weight advantage
– offense to defense.
Currence expects the fact that
“They drop back and cover the zone extremely well,” Currence said. “They
have not blitzed much. Ross wants things
covered well.”
If the Tigers can beat the Panthers, they’ll get over a
hurdle bigger than
Tiger,
TIGERS
Offense
ENDS – Mark Pringle (6-0, 150, Jr.); Rich Chovan (5-11, 171, Sr.).
TACKLES – Tim Tournay
(6-2, 270, Sr.); Tim Daniels (6-7, 230, Jr.).
GUARDS – John Hauser (5-11, 211, Sr.);
Mark Lauber (6-1, 212, Sr.).
CENTER – Mike Ramsey (5-8, 180, Sr.).
QUARTERBACK – Bret Traylor (5-10, 159, Sr.).
HALFBACKS – Jay Harper (5-5, 160, Sr.);
Mike Grove (5-8, 175, Jr.).
FULLBACK – Rich Cleveland (6-1, 180, Soph.).
Defense
ENDS – Frank Sweterlitsch
(6-1, 180, Jr.); Dave Engler (5-9, 180, Jr).
TACKLES – Tony Matie
(6-0, 210, Jr.); Jesse Toles (6-0, 190, Sr.).
MIDDLE GUARD – Carl Dorsey (5-9, 185,
Jr.).
LINEBACKERS – Kurt Walterhouse (6-0, 170,
Jr.); Steve Dottavio (5-8, 216, Jr.).
SECONDARY – Anthony Grizzard
(5-9, 168, Sr.); Randy Lash (5-8, 165, Sr); Bill
Henderson ((5-9, 160, Sr.); Van Jones (5-11, 155, Sr.).
Offense
ENDS – Rod
TACKLES – Mike Dixon (5-11, 193, Sr.);
Dave Allen (6-2, 205, Sr.).
GUARDS – John Epitropoulos
(6-2, 208); Ernie Epitropoulos (6-1, 208).
CENTER – Rick Core (5-10, 170, Sr.).
QUARTERBACK – Maurice Hall (5-7, 160).
HALFBACKS – Ivan Battee
(6-1, 170, Sr.); Ralph Goliday (6-0, 195, Sr.).
FULLBACK – John Hill (6-0, 205, Sr.).
Defense
ENDS – Allen and
TACKLES – Nick Ambeliotis
(5-10, 192, Jr.); Tom Megalis (5-10, 192, Sr.).
MIDDLE GUARD – Eric Lewis (5-10, 176,
Sr.).
LINEBACKERS – John and Ernie Epitropoulos.
SECONDARY – Lynn Robinson (5-7, 155, Sr.);
Rob White (5-10, 160, Sr.); Chris Gray (5-10, 165, Sr.) Eric Johnson (5-10,
150, Sr.).
Great second half effort
gives
Tigers 22-15 victory
By CHUCK HESS, JR.
Independent Sports
Editor
Motivation was the key Friday night at Mollenkopf
Stadium in
The Tiger offense took the opening kickoff of the third
quarter and carried the swinehide 66 yards for the
tying touchdowns.
SPURRED ON by their
mates’ example the “Tiger Claw Defense,” which had been like a sieve in the
first half, became like Ed “Strangler” Lewis during the final 24 minutes, threw
in the winning touchdown to boot and Washington High School had a 22-15 win
before 14,000 fans.
It didn’t come easy for the
Hampered by some key injuries sustained in the first half
and by another injury sustained in practice Thursday, the Panthers played in
the best tradition of Harding football teams.
They took a 15-7 halftime lead.
But the Tigers clawed more furiously after t he intermission
and came away with their sixth win against two defeats. Harding dropped to 5-3.
THE STAGE is set for a Massillon-Alliance
rematch next Friday at Mt. Union Stadium in
Warren raced up nine first downs to the Tigers’ three, 83
yards rushing to the Tigers’ seven and 51 yards passing (three for four), to
the Tigers’ 32 for a 134-39 advantage.
Harding converted five of eight third down attempts to the
Tigers’ two of four.
After the bands had entertained, the Orange and Black rolled
up five first downs to the Panthers’ one, 98 yards rushing to the Panthers’
eight, 37 yards passing (three for four) to the Panther’s none for a 135-8
advantage.
The Panthers converted no third down attempts in two tries
to
Three passes were keys in the drive. Flanker Goliday had
a seven-yarder and David Allen (shifted from tackle
to tight end), a 20-yarder and a 13-yard touchdown catch at
Lineacker Kurt Walterhouse
recovered an errant Harding pitchout on the panther’s five to set up a
touchdown for Rich Cleveland, working out of left halfback in Woody Hayes’
“robust-T” when the Tigers were inside the 10-yard line. Jerry Shafrath
handled fullback and Ken Nagle right halfback.
Halfback Jay Harper got hit a terrific jolt after catching a
pass on the Tigers’ 27 right after the start of the second quarter. Harding cornerback Chris Gray hopped on
Harper’s fumble just before it went out of bounds and
SEVEN PLAYS and three
penalties later fullback Don Henderson went off right tackle for the TD with
The Tigers thought they had stopped the drive when safety
Van Jones intercepted a pass on his five but middle guard Carl Dorsey got called
for roughing the passer, putting the ball on the 12.
The Warren TD came four plays later, following a sterling
11-yard third down run by Hill to the one.
eight-play, 66-yard scoring
romp. The big play was a 46-yard run by
Grove made a great diving catch of a Bret Traylor pass for
the tying tally.
LATER IN the period the
Tigers took a
Harper and Grove contributed 18 and 15-yard catches off
Traylor but Grove later fumbled on the one, trying to go over left tackle for
the score. Panther linebacker Joe DiLella recovered on the one but the Tigers held again.
Clouser kicked from his end
zone.
Hardwick kicked the final conversion.
Gray intercepted a Tiger pass on Massillon’s 40 later in the
period and ran it back to the 34, but the “Tiger Claw Defense” – in the person
of Anthony Grizzard – threw Henderson for a four-yard
loss to the 33 on fourth down.
“WE HAD A
long half time and we made adjustments,” Currence
said. “They ran us off the field in the
first half. They were the best team we faced this year explosive-wise. I got scared watching their tailbacks running
the first half. We couldn’t tackle them. We never faced anyone this year we couldn’t
come up and stick.”
“We had a couple of key fumbles – on a punt and on a
pitchout,” said
The punt fumble Ross mentioned came late in the fourth
quarter when Bob White, who had done a masterful runback job all night, miscued
and Tiger Van Jones hopped on the ball at the
Ross lost Allen when he got his bell rung in the first half,
defensive tackle Nick Ambleotis suffered a knee
injury in practice Thursday but it wasn’t determined until
GUARD ERNIE Epitropoulos received
a foot injury in the fourth quarter.
Ross moved inside tackle Mike Dixon to Allen’s outside
tackle slot when Allen was shifted to tight end, but didn’t get the blocking
from him that Ross got from Allen, a pre-season All-American pick.
“We couldn’t throw in the second half because of poor field
position,” Ross said.
Ends – Chovan, Pringle, Engler, Sweterlitsch, Clendening, Chovan.
Tackles – Tournay, Daniels, Matie, Toles, Dennison, Kovacsiss.
Guards – Lauber,
Hauser, Berquist.
Center – Ramsey.
Halfbacks – Harper, Grove, Carpenter,
Nagle.
Fullbacks – Cleveland, Shafrath.
Middle guard – Dorsey.
Linebackers – Walterhouse, Dottavio, Border.
Defensive halfbacks – Grizzard,
Lash, Jones, Henderson, Hickey, Letcavits, M. Longshore.
Kicker – Hardwick.
Punter – Westover.
Ends – Allen, Golden,
Tackles –
Guards – E. and J. Epitropoulos,
Cassakais.
Center – Core, Grodesky,
Bokone.
Quarterback – Hall.
Halfbacks – Battee,
Henderson, Goliday, Robinson.
Fullback – Hill.
Middle guards – E. Lewis, Di Lella.
Defensive halfbacks – Gary, White,
Robinson, Johnson.
Punter – Clouser.
SCORING SUMMARY
W – David Allen, 13 pass from Maurice Hall (Hall kick);
M – Rich Cleveland, 2 run (Mike Hardwick kick);
W – Don Henderson, 1 run (Hall run);
M –
M – Anthony Grizzard, 38 punt runback (Hardwick kick).
OFFICIALS
Referee – Frank Buhas.
Umpire – Al Collier.
Head Linesman – Hugh Davis.
Field Judge – Dave Landis.
Back Judge – Tim Murray.
ATTENDANCE –
14,000.
GRIDSTICK
M W
First downs rushing 4 6
First downs passing 4 2
First downs penalties 0 1
Total first downs 8 9
Yards gained rushing 140 139
Yards lost rushing 35 45
Net yards gained
rushing 105 91
Net yards gained
passing 69 51
Total yards gained 174 142
Passes completed 6-8 4-5
Passes intercepted by 0 1
Yardage on passes intercepted 0 0
Kickoff average (yards) 4-52
3-42
Kickoff returns (yards) 42 107
Punt average (yards) 4-36 5-33
Punt returns (yards) 36 9
Had punts blocked 0 0
Fumbles 3-2 2-2
Yards penalized 4-40 4-30
Touchdowns rushing 2 1
Touchdowns passing 0 1
Miscellaneous
touchdowns 1 0
Total number of plays 42 51
Total time of
possession
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
Player A G L N
Player A G L N
John Hill
9 41 1 40