big victory
The Tigers bounced back from
last week’s upset loss to
With the collective running
of Chris Spielman and Craig Johnson, and a stingy
defense that forced 11 Harding punts and allowed but five Panther first downs,
Putting it bluntly,
“We had to play a good
defensive game to win and as it turned out we did,” said
“Their defense was very
quick and we were not able to sustain any blocking,” said Harding head coach
Frank Thomas. “We got some blocking in
the early part of the game, but we could not keep it going.”
The Tigers got their first
score on their second possession of the game.
After a 28-yard Harding punt
The Tigers calmly moved
inside the Panther 20 on the running of Johnson and Spielman. Once inside the 20, however, the Tigers ran
into some problems.
A clipping penalty negated a
pass from quarterback Bronc Pfisterer
to Bruce Spicer on the four-yard line, sending the ball all the way back to the
29-yard line.
The Tigers got some of it
back two plays later, when Tom Gruno was interfered
with on the 15-yard line. Spielman took it to the five on two carries and then
Johnson took a pitch at the five and angled right on a sweep for the score.
Pfisterer added the conversion and the Tigers led 7-0.
The Johnson—Spielman running show continued after the Panthers punted
to the Tigers on their next possession.
The Tigers drove 80 yards on
nine plays – all running plays – to mount the 14-0 lead they were to take into
the locker room at halftime.
In the ‘all rushing’ drive
Johnson carried five times for 28 yards and Spielman
three times for 43 yards. On a
fourth-and-two from the three-yard line, Spielman
took the ball—as well as a wall of tacklers – into the end zone for the score.
After shutting out the
Panther offense the first half, the Tiger defense really earned its stars the
second half.
Harding did not manage a
first down until the fourth quarter and was forced to punt eight times the entire
second half. The Panthers did not
penetrate midfield the second half.
What permitted the Panthers
to get the ball so many times the second half was their defense, which posted
shut-outs in their first two games and forced five Tiger turnovers, four in the
second half.
“They (Harding) have a good
defense and an exceptionally good secondary,” said Currence. “Bronc played a
good game at quarterback. He threw a
couple interceptions, but they were on tips.”
“Those are the kinds of
things that will happen, though. Having
thrown those interceptions will teach him to back off a bit. You gain your experience by making mistakes,
and Bronc is coming along fine,” he continued.
“Already playing the whole
game against
Harding’s No. 1 quarterback,
Maurice Reid got injured against Youngstown East last week, missed the
“Reuben was playing injured,
too,” said Thomas. “He’s been troubled
with bad ribs since the first game.
There was no miscalculation in timing between Reuben and the rest of the
first unit. Their defense was just so
darn quick.”
Turning in solo sacks for
the Tigers in the second half were nose guard John Franke
and defensive end John Brown.
Pfisterer added a 30-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and Spielman ran a punt back 53 yards with 30 seconds left in
the game to conclude the scoring.
Tiger offense
back
in high gear
By NORM WEBER
MASSILLON – Take away the five turnovers against Warren Harding, and it appears
as if the Tigers have established an offensive game, one that future opponents
are sure to fret over.
It was former Ohio State
Buckeye coach Woody Hayes who made the words, “three things can happen when you
put the ball in the air and two of them aren’t good,” famous.
Although the Tigers scored
24 points on the previously unscored on Warren
Harding defense, they could very well have had more points than that.
Three times in Friday’s game
the Tigers were driving in Panther territory and had passes intercepted to stop
the drives, not to mention one other drive that was stopped at the three
because of a fumble.
But it was the running game
that overshadowed the turnovers.
Tailbacks Chris Spielman and Craig Johnson,
along with the help of their blockers, put on one fine show of running.
Spielman carried 13 times for 77 yards and Johnson 20 times for 116 yards.
The Tigers’ second scoring
drive showed how potent the Johnson-Spielman combo
really is. So potent
that they didn’t need a single pass to score in the 80-yard drive which took a
tad over four minutes.
Not only did Spielman and Johnson display some nifty running in the
drive, but the play selection by the coaching staff was also excellent.
In nine plays, neither Johnson or Spielman
carried the ball as much as twice in a row in the diverse attack.
“It was clicking,” said
Tiger head coach Mike Currence. “All the plays we called seemed to
click. We were trying to go outside
whenever it looked as it they were pinching up and going inside whenever we
thought they were going to overload on one side.
“It all clicked for us on
that drive. But it can go both
ways. There were times when they
overloaded on one side and we went that way and didn’t get much.”
In the drive Spielman had one run of 25 yards, which should have been
only a 10-yard gain, but Spielman carried a tackler
or four and maintained his balance to get the extra yardage.
Spielman scored the touchdown on the drive from three yards out. On a fourth-and-two from the three, Spielman went into a wall of tacklers and it appeared as if
he didn’t have the first down, but somehow he squirmed out of the stack for the
touchdown.
While Spielmans’
forte was brute strength and shear desire, Johnson’s was the deceptive moves
and quick stops. On one run in the third
quarter, Johnson literally ‘danced’ for a 23-yard gain.
He almost scored in the
fourth quarter on a 36-yard run, with blockers in front, behind and next to
him. Center Dave Morelli,
running behind Johnson, stepped on the back of his shoe top on one of those
‘excuse me’ moves, Johnson tripped down at the 13-yard line
***********
Spielman had the dubious distinction of throwing an interception from the same
yard line he had intercepted the ball from.
In the waning seconds of the
first half Spielman intercepted a pass at the Harding
41-yard line. Two plays later, with the
line of scrimmage the 41-yard line, Spielman threw an interception to Harding on a halfback
option pass.
***********
Tiger No. 1 quarterback
Brian Dewitz, who has been injured since the first
game, will probably see action next week against
“We might have been able to play him against Harding,” said Currence. “But we want to give him as much rest as possible. He will probably play some next week.”
************
Warren Harding coach Frank
Thomas was a tad disturbed by Spielman’s 53-yard punt
return toward the end of the game, but at the same time was astonished by the
execution of the run.
“If they want to get their
No. 1 tailback hurt by having him run back punts with seconds left and a
17-point lead that’s their choice,” Thomas said. “But then if you get blocking like he got on
that run you don’t need to worry about getting him injured.
************
The Tiger Booster Club
experimented with a new idea for Friday’s game.
Referee Gordon Schutt wore a microphone on his belt, so that the fans
could get an audio aid to go with the non-verbal signals on penalties.
As it turned out, the ‘mike’
came in handy. The scoreboard clock was
not working and Schutt was able to inform the crowd
of the official time via the mike.
“I think it’s a good idea. It wasn’t much trouble for me,” said Schutt. “I just made
that one mistake when I said the player’s number on a holding call. I wasn’t supposed to do that.
The booster club plans to
use the mike for future games.
STATISTICS
M H
First downs rushing 10
1
First downs passing
3 2
First downs by penalty 2 2
Totals first downs 15 5
Yards gained rushing 213 61
Yards lost rushing 19 43
Net yards rushing 194 18
Net yards passing 58 35
Total yards gained 252 53
Passes attempted 15 15
Passes completed 5 2
Passes int. by 1 3
Yardage on pass int. 00 00
Times kicked off 5 1
Kickoff average 52.0 42.0
Kickoff return yards
9 70
Punts 4 11
Punting average 42.3 27.5
Punt return yards 59 00
Punts blocked by 0 0
Fumbles 5
1
Fumbles lost 2 0
Penalties 6 5
Yards penalized 68 30
Touchdowns rushing
2 0
Touchdowns passing
0 0
Miscellaneous touchdowns 0 0
Number of plays 53 47
Attendance 9,014
HARDING 00 00 00 00 – 00