Tigers shake
off Iggy loss,
turn eyes
ahead
By JOE SHAHEEN
Joe.Shaheen@IndeOnline.com
Rick Shepas had one admonition for his charges following Massillon's 37‑12 loss to St. Ignatius at Byers Field in Parma Saturday night.
"Don't
feel sorry for yourselves," Shepas said in the postgame huddle at
midfield.
The
Tigers don't have time for self‑recrimination. On Friday they play host
to No. 8‑rated Lakewood St. Edward, which is coming off a 37‑0 win
over Huntington (Ind.) North on Saturday.
"We're
4‑2 and we've got a decision to make on how much better we're going to
get," Shepas told the Tigers, who can give their playoff hopes a huge lift
with a victory this week over computer points rich St. Eds.
"This
is what we want," Shepas said. "We've put ourselves in a playoff‑type,
atmosphere during the regular season. It's going to be a great opportunity for
our kids to show what they can do. It will be a great opportunity for us to
play well and have a chance to get in the playoffs as well.
"But
one way or the other, our team is going to come out of this with a lot. We're
going to benefit from this one way or the other."
A
cardinal sin against any team boasting the talent that St. Ignatius puts on the
field is falling behind early, but that's the fate that befell Massillon. The
Wild cats scored on a botched punt snap then converted a 21‑yard punt
return off a Tiger three‑and‑out series into a 21‑yard Brian
Hoyer touchdown pass less than four minutes into the game.
"You
can't come up here and go down 13‑0 to a team like St. Ignatius and
expect to do anything," Shepas said.
"The
last time we were up here that happened. It happened again tonight. It's just
up to us as far as the way we play, the way we coach."
Joe
Palcko's short touchdown run capped a 10‑play St. Ignatius drive to make
it 20‑0 with 10:03 until halftime.
The
Tigers countered with a four‑play, 76‑yard scoring drive that
featured a 19‑yard Steve Hymes to Erie Copeland aerial and a 46‑yard
catch and run by junior tight end Wayne Gates.
Caleb
White caught a perfectly thrown swing pass from Hymes and sprinted 16 yards for
the score.
"We
just started catching the football and making some plays," Shepas
explained.
But
St. Ignatius iced it after the Tigers turned the ball over on downs at midfield
late in the half. Two Hoyer to Josiah Kedzior passes netted 36 yards and then
Hoyer carried it in himself from 10 yards out to make it 30‑6 at the
intermission.
"Early
on we felt like we had a really good game plan," Shepas said. "We did
stop their run in the first half. We thought we put our guys in some pretty
good situations tonight. For the most part our guys played hard. We were a
little bit disappointed at the end. We have a young football team. We're going
to get better from being in situations like this against a great football team
like this.
"For
as many distractions as we have in Massillon I think our kids did a great job.
St. Ignatius 37
Massillon 12
Mas SI
First downs rushing 3 9
First downs passing 12 12
First downs by penalty 1 0
TOTAL first downs 16 21
Net yards rushing 1 214
Net yards passing 276 195
TOTAL yards 277 409
Passes attempted 37 28
Passes completed 21 14
Passes intercepted 0 0
Punts 6 4
Punting average 31.3 36.2
Fumbles/Lost 1/1 1/1
Penalties 5 2
Yards penalized 25 18
Massillon 0 6 6 0 12
St. Ignatius 13 17 0 7 37
SCORING
SI
‑ Gallagher 19 fumble recovery (Kedzior kick)
SI
‑ Ramella 21 pass from Hoyer (Kick failed)
SI
‑ Palcko 3 run (Kedzior kick)
M
‑ Caleb White 16 pass from Steve Hymes (Kick failed)
SI
‑ Kedzior 30 FG SI ‑ Hoyer 9 run (Kedzior kick)
M
‑ Relford 4 pass from S. Hymes (Kick blocked)
SI
‑ Palcko 5 run (Kedzior kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Massillon rushing: C. White 6‑19, Tuffy Woods 7‑15, Steve
Hymes 11‑14.
St. Ignatius rushing: Palcko 20‑80 2 TDs, Stancus 8‑71, Hoyer
4‑50 TD.
Massillon passing: Hymes 21‑37‑276 2TDs.
St. Ignatius passing: Hoyer 14‑28‑195 TD.
Massillon receiving: Wayne Gates 6‑101, Eric Copeland 6‑96,
Billy Relford 5 41 TD, Caleb White 2‑21 TD.
St. Ignatius receiving: Kedzior 9‑117, Ramella 3‑54 TD.