Fired-Up Tiger defense
stops
GlenOak
16,359 see
Massillon win
By STEVE DOERSCHUK
Independent Sports Editor
You
didn’t read it here, but the Massillon Tigers heard it somewhere that their
defense was a chunk of Swiss cheese headin’ for a raging kiln.
They
took it personally.
When
it got out that somebody was picking us to give up 34 points in our home
opener, it fired us up,” said Massillon linebacker Craig Turkalj.
The
defense was superb in a 16-6 victory over GlenOak before a Paul Brown Tiger
Stadium mob of 16,359, which probably will stand as the best crowd in Ohio this
opening weekend of the high school football season.
“We
showed the people saying how bad we are that they’re wrong,” said Turkalj,
whose team out-gained the Golden Eagles 331-123 in total offensive yards.
“They
got one score, but it was a cheapie.”
GlenOak
took a 6-0 lead after the Tigers fumbled on their first play from scrimmage,
setting up a 15-yard Eagle scoring drive.
The
point-after kick failed, allowing the Tigers to take a 7-6 lead with a
touchdown midway through the second quarter.
Ryan
Sparkman scored from a yard out, following a wall of blockers packed so tight
it looked as if they were making sure no one would get left out of a
photograph. Tiger fans, remembering last
year’s troubles on conversion attempts, cheered loudly when Gary Miller
connected to make it 7-6, Massillon, with 6:28 left in the first half.
A
bone-jarring tackle by Tiger end Mike Martin created a safety and a 9-6 lead at
8:23 of the fourth quarter.
Tight
end Doug Harig out-maneuvered a pack of defenders to catch a 17-yard touchdown
pass from Lee Hurst in the corner of the end zone with 1:35 left.
“I
made what Coach (Tom) Stacy calls a sight adjustment,” said Harig, who caught a
touchdown pass in last year’s season-ending overtime win over McKinley. “Their guy jumped too soon and Lee put the
ball in a perfect spot.”
Miller,
who has a set of goalposts in his yard at home, connected again to close the
scoring.
GlenOak
never got in the same zip code as the end zone after its first scoring, taking
no drive further than the Massillon 41-yard line.
“We’ll
have to see how good Massillon is going to be,” said GlenOak head coach Bob
Commings, who was gridmaster at Massillon from 1969-73. “They looked awfully good to me
tonight. Their defense played extremely
well.”
The
physical contest took a toll on the Eagles, who already have lost all-county
tailback Kenne Boyd to grades but now face at least three weeks without Boyd’s
heir as featured ball carrier, Brian Frenz, who suffered a separated shoulder
in the first half.
Frenz
rushed eight times for 38 yards before getting hurt.
Todd
Dean, GlenOak’s best receiver, kept playing despite being noticeably slowed by
a sprained ankle suffered during the game.
Dean’s
replacement as the go-to ball carrier, 140-pound sophomore Reggie Brown, got a
rude introduction to Division I varsity football. Tiger defenders left no room for Brown to get started in holding
him to two yards in 10 carries.
The
game was supposed by some to become a shoot-out between teams with talented,
experienced offenses. It turned into a
defensive struggle.
“I
didn’t anticipate that we would have to play such great defense and that our
offense would put us in such a hole because of turnovers and poor execution,”
said Massillon head coach Lee Owens.
Owens
said Tiger fans shouldn’t fret over the offense.
“It
will get there,” he said. “I’m sure it
will.”
The
defense, riddled by All-Ohio Akron Buchtel back Rickey Powers in a scrimmage
last Friday, was there when the bell rang against GlenOak.
“We
said all week that the films of the Buchtel scrimmage looked better than the
live action, and that there weren’t major causes for concern,” Owens said. “I think some people found out tonight that
we have one of the quicker defenses around.
That’s its strength. Quickness.”
“We
weren’t worried about the Buchtel scrimmage,” Turkalj said. “We didn’t show our whole defense against
them. Our guys were confident we could
do the job. When Coach Commings said
GlenOak has one of the area’s best passing offenses, we wanted to show we could
stop it.”
Commings
has been a “running coach” through most of his GlenOak career but notes he
passed 50 percent of the time in the 1960s at Struthers.
On
Friday, GlenOak tried 23 passes and 22 runs.
Quarterback
John Vesley, a returning starter, completed nine of 22 passes for 82
yards. He also was victimized by two
key second-half interceptions by Joe Pierce and Keith Rabbitt at times GlenOak
was only a big play away from taking the lead.
Hurst
connected on 11 of 18 passes.
MASSILLON…………16
GLENOAK……………. 6
Here
are the probable starting lineups for
tonight’s
game between the Massillon Tigers
and
GlenOak Golden Eagles. Kickoff is at
8
p.m. in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
Quarterback
– No. 15 Lee Hurt, 6-3, 180, Sr.
A-back
– No. 44, Lamonte Dixon, 5-9, 185, Sr.
B-back
– No. 34, Ryan Sparkman, 5-8, 175, Sr.
Flanker
– No. 8, Troy Manion, 6-0, 180, Sr.
Wide
receiver – No. 21, Rameir Martin, 6-4, 170, Sr.
Tight
end – No. 83, Doug Harig, 6-2, 195, Sr.;
No. 87, Steve Brown, 6-5, 195, Jr.
Center
– No. 57, Nick Hill, 5-10, 165, Sr.
Guards
– No. 65, Mike Silverthorn, 6-1, 230, Sr.;
No. 60, Jim Goff, 6-0, 180, Sr.
Tackles
– No. 74, Ray Kovacsiss, 6-4, 265, Sr.;
No. 66, Tom Menches, 6-0, 240, Sr.
Tackles
– No. 80, Chris Roth, 6-6, 225, Jr.;
No. 77, Brent Bach, 6-1, 225, Jr.
Ends
– No. 94, Jeff Perry, 6-1, 180, Jr.;
No. 95, Mike Martin, 6-1, 185,
Jr.;
Inside
linebackers – No. 37, Craig Turkalj 6-2, 206, Sr.;
No, 55,
Mark McGeorge, 5-8, 205, Jr.;
So. Eric
Wright.
Outside
linebacks – No. 9, Joe Pierce, 6-2, 190, Sr.;
No. 22, Kevin McCue, 6-3, 167, Sr.
Backs
– No. 20, Keith Rabbit, 6-4, 170, Sr.;
No. 5, Chad Buckland, 6-0, 185,
Jr.;
Eddie Williams, Sr.;
No. 23, Don Blake, 6-1, 165, Jr.
Quarterback
– No. 14, John Vesley, 5-7, 155, Jr.
Running
backs – No. 40, Brian Frenz, 6-0, 205, Sr.;
No. 44, Mike Williams, 5-11, 217, Sr.
Split
ends – No. 11, Mike Herman, 5-11, 165, Sr.;
No. 13, Todd Dean, 5-9, 155, Sr.;
No. 15, John McMullan, 5-10, 173, Sr.
Tight
end – No. 17, Cory Jackson, 6-3, 189, Jr.;
No. 48, Glen Hartman,
5-11, 195, Sr.
Center
– No. 53, Brian Villono, 5-11, 230, Sr.
Guards
– No. 64, Dave Halter, 5-11, 190, Sr.;
No. 67, Jeff Mathot, 6-1, 220, Sr.
Tackles
– No. 72, Scott Esporite, 6-3, 235, Sr.;
No. 74, Tom Hawthorne, 6-3,
225, Sr.
Nose
guard – No. 44 Williams.
Tackles
– No. 74, Hawthorne; No. 70, Brent
Bruckner, 6-2, 215, Sr.
Ends
– No. 8, Ed Kinney, 6-3, 186, Jr.;
No. 64, Halter.
Linebackers
– No. 49, Cedric Cimmons, 6-1, 207, Sr.;
No. 42, Darrin
Duncan, 6-1, 205, Jr.
Safety
– No. 11, Hermann.
Halfbacks
– No. 18, David McDowell, 5-11, 150, Jr.;
No. 13, Dean.
STATISTICS
First downs rushing 7 3
First downs passing 9 4
First downs by penalty 3 1
Total first downs 19 8
Yards gained rushing 177 53
Yards lost rushing 31 12
Net yards rushing 146 41
Net yards passing 185 82
Total yards gained 331 123
Passes attempted 19 23
Passes completed 12 9
Passes int. by 2 3
Times kick off 3 2
Kickoff average 48.7 44.0
Kickoff return yards 30 58
Punts 3 4
Punting average 32.7 34.3
Fumbles 3 0
Fumbles lost 2 0
Penalties 4 8
Number of plays 64 46
Time of possession 25:03 22:57
Attendance 16.359
Massillon 0 7 0 9 16
G
– Williams 1 run (kick failed)
M
– Sparkman 1 run (Miller kick)
M
– Safety (Vesley recovers fumble in end zone)
M
– Harig 17 pass from Hurst (Miller kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
(M)
Dixon 15-60, Sparkman 23-107.
(G)
Frenz 8-38, Williams 3-0, Brown 10-2.
Passing
(M)
Hurst 11-18-2 177, Wolford 1-1-0 8.
(G)
Vesley 9-22-2 82, Kinney 0-1-0 0.
Receiving
(M)
Sparkman 1-6, Martin 5-99, Manion 3-26, Harig 3-54.
(G)
Dean 1-17, McMullen 3-21, Brown 1-5, Herman 2-18,
Jackson
2-21.