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Yappi.com writer MASSILLON—The Canton McKinley Bulldogs arrived at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium having defeated nine teams by their style of football: leading with hostile intentions and finishing teams off with intimidation. The Massillon Tigers were in no mood to become victim number 10. Not against a team that knew this was their most dangerous game of the season and their playoff hopes resting on the result of this game. Buoyed by Bobby Huth’s 29-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Trey Miller, a 47-yard field goal by junior Steve Schott and a superb effort on defense and special teams, the Tigers were every bit as forceful as they denied Canton McKinley a second straight 10-0 season by downing the visitors 10-7 in front of 17,950 inside Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The win vaulted the Tigers into the playoffs for a second straight season, where they will most likely meet a familiar foe in the Perry Panthers next Saturday at Perry Stadium. Massillon forced the Bulldogs into four turnovers and never allowed them to get into a rhythm the rest of the way after fullback George Tabron’s 23-yard touchdown run gave the Bulldogs the lead at 7-0 after the first two minutes and 29 seconds of the first quarter was played. For the Bulldogs, that would be the last time they would score as the rest of the day belonged to the Tigers, who are now 3-1 against Canton McKinley this decade at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, two of those three coming under former Massillon commander Rick Shepas in 2000 and 2002. For second-year Tigers boss Tom Stacy, this is a win that once again he can take pride in, including the fact that they have now outscored the Bulldogs 31-10 in the last two meetings. “This was a great game today. Both teams gave it all they had all day and Canton McKinley is a very good team,” Stacy said. “It came down to turnovers and we had 10 points off of turnovers.” However, this game might have been a lot worse than 10-7. Massillon had a touchdown catch called back by an ineligible man downfield penalty and lost a chance for more points when running back Morgan Williams fumbled a punt that was recovered by Massillon’s Andrew Dailey but Williams was ruled down afterwards before halftime. When asked if the final score could have been 24-7 or worse, Stacy wasn’t too compassionate about that thought. “I don’t know how you can say that but a win is a win. This game came down to turnovers,” he said sharply with a brief glint in his eyes. “Both teams played hard and both teams had a lot of class.” “This was clearly a Massillon-Canton McKinley classic.” Going into the contest, Canton McKinley was assured of a home playoff game no matter what happened while Massillon had to fight for every ounce of glory to qualify for the postseason. Consider their mission accomplished. The first quarter of this contest between the two teams looked like it would end in Canton McKinley’s favor in the early going. Following a Williams run of 29 yards to the Massillon 23-yard line, that is when Tabron bulled his way untouched into the end zone for the first score of the game. Zach Campbell kicked the extra point and the Tigers trailed 7-0. For most of the first quarter, both teams traded punts before the Massillon special teams came up humongous. Corey Hildreth blocked a punt attempt from Campbell that was recovered by senior Cody Colly. Two plays after the Bulldogs special teams blunder, Huth found Miller as Canton McKinley defender Will Sheeler slipped on the wet turf and Miller was unchallenged for a 29-yard touchdown that tied the game at 7-7. The hosts were poised to assume their first lead of the contest when Huth rolled out and found superstar sophomore phenom Justin Turner for a 29-yard touchdown connection. But the penalty was negated over a questionable call regarding an ineligible player downfield. The partisan Massillon crowd lustily booed the call and booed even more when a recovered fumble on a McKinley punt didn’t go the way of the Tigers. After halftime, Massillon came out the second half poised as ever. Senior linebacker Antonio Scassa sacked Canton McKinley quarterback Dan Grimsley and caused a fumble that was recovered by Colly at the Bulldogs 47-yard line. Four plays later with the wind behind his back and the outcome depending squarely on his shoulders, Schott delivered the biggest score of the game in the form of a 47-yard field goal that was perfect through the middle of the crossbars. Massillon led 10-7 and the defense rose to the occasion. The powerful Canton McKinley running game, bolstered by Williams and Sheeler stalled greatly and Grimsley was forced into a day full of incomplete passes as he could only convert two of them. Credit for the Massillon defense on this day truly went to defensive coordinator Steve Kovacs. Having served as a defensive coordinator for one year under Cross, it was an asset that Kovacs knew Cross and the Canton McKinley offense inside and out. But don’t try and sell him the fact that he prides on himself as being a defensive genius. “I don’t consider myself to be a defensive genius. It is not just me, we all as coaches work hard and this is the best staff I have been across. With guys like Jamey Palma, Mike Babics, Scott Garcia, Jeff Falkner, and Brian Pachis, we do our jobs and we do it as a team,” Kovacs said. “We spent hours looking at film on Canton McKinley and it paid off today.” The finality was decided when Massillon got the ball in Canton McKinley territory after Denis Vargas recoved the second of two muffed punts in the game. Huth then converted a fourth and two situation by finding fullback Tommy Leonard for the game deciding first down. One kneel down by Huth and Massillon players went wild as they located the Victory Bell and wheeled it back to the sideline as they were mobbed by their coaches, cheerleaders, students, and fans while Canton McKinley players returned to the locker room in shock over a loss that they did not see coming after nine weeks while their fans filed out of the stadium with their heads down after the clock read 0:00 to secure the finality of the 115th meeting between the two schools. How dominating was the Massillon defense? Williams ran for 160 yards but didn’t do much in the second half and the Canton McKinley passing game was way off target as Grimsley only completed two out of 10 passes attempted all day thus holding the powerful Bulldogs to seven points, a far cry from the 34 they averaged all season. “Everybody played well today and this was a team effort. Scassa played really well today and everyone stepped up today,” Stacy said of his charges. “Have we hit our peak? I sure hope so, now it’s time to get ready for the playoffs and make a run to return to the Division I state title game.” “This was a very good Canton McKinley team we defeated today.” The Massillon Tigers were in no mood to become victim number 10 to Canton McKinley. Their reward came in the form of the Victory Bell and with it, a second straight playoff appearance in a row. |
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