[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Courtesy of JJHuddle...

The Massillon Tigers defeated the Warren Harding Raiders 13-0 Friday night in Massillon. Massillon improved to 8-0, while Harding suffered its sixth defeat of the season. Warren played a great game and the future is bright for this young team. Juniors Dan Herron, Sidney Glover, Chris Rucker and Marlin Parker were impressive players and next year should see the Raiders back in the mix with the best teams in Ohio. Coach Thom McDaniels is one of the best coaches in Ohio and he had a great game plan for the Tigers. In the end, however, the Massillon talent proved to be too much for Warren.
This match up was a defensive struggle all night with neither team able to muster much offense. The game remained scoreless until late in the first half when Massillon junior Andrew Dailey blocked a Warren punt. Teammate Brian Gamble picked up the loose ball and ran into the end zone, stunning the Raiders and giving Massillon a lead they would never surrender.
Dailey and Gamble are both listed in Ohio High magazine as two of the top juniors in the state. In this game, both players showed why they are so highly ranked.
Dailey, 6-3, 210 pounds, has performed at a high level all season at safety for the Tigers. He has drawn the interest of many of the top colleges across the country receiving mail from such schools as Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan and has been invited to attend home games by each.
Dailey's speed and hitting ability were evident the entire game. He is a sure tackler and has the ability to cover smaller players in space. He also plays wide receiver for the Tigers.
Gamble, 6-1, 190 pounds, rarely leaves the field as he goes both ways for the Tigers. As a defensive back he covers a lot of ground and shows great tackling ability. On offense, he gained 119 yards at running back and scored the only offensive touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Gamble is a game-breaker and is also drawing the interest of college recruiters and is also hearing from most of the top colleges in the country. He attended the Ohio State-Texas game as a guest of the Buckeyes.
On this night, Massillon's defense dominated the contest. Other key contributors were seniors Antonio James, Dirk Dickerhoof and Quentin Paulik. Tiger coach Tom Stacy was quick to mention Paulik in his post-game comments.
"Quentin is finally getting healthy and he played great," said Stacy. "He had injured his shoulder and it was bothering him although he kept playing. He made a great play on the reverse and was in their backfield all night."
When asked if the Warren effort surprised him, Stacy said not at all.
"Thom McDaniels is a great coach," said Stacy. "We knew they would be prepared to play a great game and they sure did. That has to be the best 2-6 team I've ever seen. They're going to be tough to handle next year. They really play hard. We weren't flat at all. We expected a tough game, and that's what we got. Sometimes you have to win games like this. This was a playoff-type atmosphere. It was a defensive game and that is why we play our best athletes on defense. Offensively we changed some formations at the half and it seemed to open things up a little bit."
This has been a magical season so far for the Tigers. They are coming off consecutive 4-6 seasons and the players are gaining confidence each week. In Stacy's first season as head coach, he has gained the trust of his players. Senior Brett Huffman, who has committed to play his college football at Duke spoke about the difference in the team compared to last year.
"This is like night and day," said Huffman. "This team has done a real 180. This ride has been the most fun thing in my life. The plan for the seniors was to clear our name. We know Massillon shouldn't have losing seasons and we wanted to change that. We've gotten good senior leadership and the junior class has been good also. Coach Stacy deserves most of the credit. He got started late, but he had our total respect from the start of practice. Coach Stacy has taught us to be a disciplined football team. He has made this a respectable football program again."
Andrew Dailey talked about just how tough Warren Harding was on this night.
"We knew they would play well," said Dailey. "Dan Herron might be the best running back we've seen this year. This is a great rivalry. They have such great speed and play so hard. We just knew they would be ready to come in here to try to knock us off."
Tom Stacy is proving to be the right man for the job in Tigertown. The Tigers will return to the playoffs this season after missing out the past two years. This season has seen the Tigers defeat Cincinnati Elder, Cleveland St. Ignatius and Warren Harding. The best could be yet to come. Stacy is proving that good guys can finish first and do it the right way.
There is a lot of football remaining, including a season ending meeting with rival Canton McKinley. How far can the Tigers go in 2005? That remains to be seen, but the Tigers are a fun team to watch and will be tough to beat the rest of the way.