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10/8/05

Massillon catches its breath during 54-0 rout of Wilson

Saturday, October 8, 2005 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By TODD PORTER

MASSILLON
This wasn’t a tune-up. That requires grease, grime and sweat. This was spa and a facial compared to what Massillon went through a week ago.
The Tigers barely broke a sweat in Friday night’s 54-0 high school football beating of Youngstown Woodrow Wilson, which dressed 28 players. They did fix a few offensive blemishes, worked in a couple of new wrinkles and continued to build on last week’s win over St. Ignatius.
A week later, though, there was more drama during the Homecoming queen selection at halftime. For those keeping score at home, Caroline Fisher was crowned.
“I’m just glad this one is over,” Massillon head coach Tom Stacy said. “You’re always concerned coming off a week like last week, but we were able to rest some guys, work on things and get some things corrected.”
Massillon wasted no time getting started. Brian Gamble returned the opening kickoff 43 yards to the Redmen 40. Senior Shawn Weisend, starting in place of Bobby Huth (concussion) hit Trey Miller for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. Steve Schott’s PAT made it 7-0.
Fullback Quentin Nicholson scored from the 1, and Gamble added two more touchdowns on the ground. The 6-foot, 190-pounder had 113 yards rushing on 12 carries at halftime. Gamble, a junior, has 851 yards this season. Reserve running back K.J. Herring finished with 72 yards on just eight carries and a touchdown.
“I wasn’t real happy with the way we came out. I thought we were a little flat,” Stacy said. “I thought we missed some easy completions, but Shawn did a nice job considering the weather.”
Weisend hit fullback Robert Morris for a 15-yard touchdown before halftime to make it 35-0.
The night wasn’t a total loss for Wilson. Against Massillon’s starters, the Redmen stopped the Tigers on fourth-and-1 from the Wilson 17. It was the only first-half drive in which Massillon didn’t score.
The Tigers’ run-and-shoot offense unveiled a little more. There was a nifty triple reverse run by Andrew Dailey that went for 17 yards and gave future opponents something to think about. This game may have been more about setting up games down the road.
“We threw in some things to get a look at it on video,” Stacy said. “And we put in some things we’ve been working on to make some people we play down the road prepare for it.”
Stacy used his second team and junior varsity players most of the second half. This may be Massillon’s last chance to catch its breath before finishing with Warren Harding, Eastlake North and McKinley.
“The schedule set up nice to get a little breather, but we all know Warren Harding is going to be a much better opponent next week,” tight end Brett Huffman said. “We’ve got to get back to the focus we had because we can’t make the mistakes we did tonight against Harding.”
Mistakes? A shutout, with 478 yards of offense to 65? “It’s hard to complain after a win like that,” Stacy said, “but we want to get better, so there are things to complain about.” Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: todd.porter@cantonrep.com.
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