Tigers’ destiny at Fawcett?
Wednesday, November 30, 2005 By Todd Porter REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER
Related Stories
They roar for the Tigers
MASSILLON - There have been several points this high school football season when it didn’t look good for the Massillon Tigers.
A 28-point fourth-quarter lead at Cincinnati Elder trickled to 21, then 13, then 6, as it appeared Massillon was self-destructing in the final quarter. The Tigers hung on for a 35-31 win.
That is when first-year head coach Tom Stacy started to believe this team could be special. They went into a hostile environment, had momentum shift against them, and still found a way to win.
There was a fourth-quarter comeback against St. Ignatius, marking the program’s first win against the Wildcats. There was a devastating 38-8 loss to McKinley only to be turned around two weeks later.
Massillon swung the scoreboard difference 48 points.
What about last week against St. Edward, another parochial school some believed the Tigers couldn’t beat? A 17-7 fourth-quarter deficit, in a state semifinal that Massillon hadn’t won since 1982, turned into a 21-17 win.
Team of destiny?
No way, said Stacy.
His players have earned their way into Saturday night’s Division I state title game against Cincinnati St. Xavier, the third parochial school Massillon will play this season.
“Destiny is something we haven’t talked about,” Stacy said. “When you play good teams every week like we are in the playoffs, I don’t think you can count on being a team of destiny. You’ve got to prove yourself every week.
“St. X is the best football team — offensively, defensively, special teams and coaching — we’ll have played. ... They’re not going to believe in that destiny thing. I don’t think our kids should either.”
One of the first things Stacy and his new staff worked on after being hired in June was to improved the players’ self-esteem. Stacy said they had to believe they could win again.
The Tigers have shown they believe.
“As good as we think we are, we have to keep playing to our expectations and expectations of our coaches,” senior co-captain Brett Huffman said. “There have been times when we were down, and we’re out there finding ourselves a way to fight through adversity.”
While destiny isn’t an invited guest in Massillon’s huddle this week, the Tigers do have an advantage.
Every Massillon player will sleep in his own bed Friday. The Tigers will go through a normal pregame routine of eating breakfast together at Washington High School, and later in the afternoon they will walk, two-by-two, through a fan-line tunnel from the school to the Paul Brown statue outside the stadium.
St. Xavier will travel 3 1/2 hours and stay in a hotel.
“I’ll be honest with you; if we can play in Stark County, that’s to our advantage,” Stacy said. “I’d be lying if I told you anything different. Hopefully we’ll use that to our advantage and our crowd will be a big part of that. It’s great we don’t have to travel, and we’re familiar with the surroundings.”
Fawcett Stadium hasn’t exactly been kind to the Tigers. Massillon brings a two-game losing streak into this game. The last time the Tigers won at Fawcett Stadium was a playoff game against Perry in 2002.
St. Xavier head coach Steve Specht isn’t using the traveling issue as an excuse.
“At this point in the season, we’d play in a parking lot behind any grocery store, just to be able to be a part of it,” said Specht, who’s 25-1 in two years at St. X and, like Stacy, is looking to win the school’s first state title. “Canton is a great facility to play in. Massillon was a great facility to play in when we played there.
“Would we rather not travel to be in the state finals? Absolutely. We’re going to make it like a regular away game ... and play hard.”
Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: todd.porter@cantonrep.com
TIGER TALES
DEFENSE, DEFENSE St. Xavier will bring one of the best defenses in the state to Fawcett Stadium on Saturday night in the Division I state high school football title game. The Bombers are allowing less than 6 points a game. St. X has shut out six of its 14 opponents and given up just a TD to four others. Those shutouts came against St. Ignatius, Fairfield, Colerain, St. Francis DeSales, Covington Catholic and LaSalle, which combined for a 47-20 record. In four playoff games, the Bombers have allowed 26 points, and 78 for the season. One reason for the Bombers’ success is a plus-24 turnover ratio. Massillon is plus-11.
TICKETS GO FAST By the time Massillon Athletics Director Jeff Thornberry arrived to man a ticket office booth before 6 a.m. at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, the line stretched from the gate near the entrance of the stadium all the way down Russel Boulevard. “It was crazy,” Thornberry said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” A sizable group of fans spent the night camped out in front of the ticket window. As of noon Tuesday, Massillon had sold all but 1 1/2 sections of the reserve seats on the visitors’ side of Fawcett Stadium. St. Xavier said it sold about 4,500 of its 7,200 allotted tickets. Thornberry was trying to get more tickets from the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Massillon has about 9,200 tickets. Thornberry was unsure how many were left, but plenty of tickets will go on sale today to the general public. Adult and student tickets are $7 presale, $9 at the gate.
SCOUTING Massillon head coach Tom Stacy sent a group of freshman coaches to scout St. Xavier’s state semifinal win. Tiger defensive coordinator Steve Kovacs was impressed with the information. “We got everything down to ‘What kind of hotdogs do they have?’ ” Kovacs said.
ST. X RUNNING GAME Running back Darius Ashley is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound sophomore who doesn’t play like one. Ashley has 1,480 yards on 226 carries (6.5 average) and 25 TDs. “I’m impressed with him and think about some of the tailbacks we’ve faced this year,” Kovacs said. Senior Chris Cionni played tailback last year, and Ashley was good enough to force Cionni to move to receiver. Cionni rushed for 1,500 yards last year and was offensive player of the year in the GCL last season. Ashley has 484 yards on 80 carries in four playoff games.
NUMBERS The enrollment at St. Xavier is 1,111 at the all-boys school. Of those, about 10 percent are on the football team. The Bombers list 110 players, with 60 seniors.
MASSILLON RECORDS The Tigers are on pace to set a handful of single-season records. QB Bobby Huth has thrown five interceptions and would go down as having thrown the fewest picks among Massillon QBs with at least 100 attempts. RB Brian Gamble needs 21 carries to set the record of carries in a season. His 1,499 yards will go down as the second-best rushing performance. Travis McGuire had 1,976 in 1991. Huth’s 62.4 completion percent is No. 2 and his 9.1 average yards per pass is tied with Dave Eberhart (1980). Punter Shawn Weisend is half a yard shy in average of setting the school record for punting average.
THIS AND THAT Booster Club President Bill Dorman pointed out a few key numbers for the Tigers this season. The 13 wins are more than any Massillon team in history, as will the 15 games being played by the team. “We lost to Lakewood St. Edward by 30 points last year and beat them this year,” he said. Also, Massillon has played 14 games this year, half on the road. The Tigers have played before more than 159,000 fans and are averaging more than 11,400 a game. ... DL Antonio James has added 10 pounds of “muscle” since the first game of the season, according to assistant strength coach Jason Jarvis. ... St. Xavier will play a 3-3 odd stacked defense. Massillon saw it against Mentor and Cincinnati Elder. “It emerged in college football to stop the spread offense,” Stacy said. “West Virginia runs one of the best odd-stacked defenses in the country.” The defense is designed to get a nickel or dime coverage package on the field, but also bring pressure from six or seven players using angles offensive linemen are unfamiliar with. — TODD PORTER
|