DII (Massillon) Washington (6-0) @ DI (Austintown) Fitch (6-0)
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coyotes22
Perfect in the Record books, but far from Perfect on the field
As the 2013 season continues to play out, the Tigers are far from where they want to be, as far as execution and play on the field. Through 6 games the Tigers have not been impressive when it comes to making mistakes. In fact, the only flawless game they have had this year, came in Week 3 when the Tigers traveled to Warren. They had no fumbles, threw no Interceptions and only committed 2 penalties for 10 yards. To date, Massillon has lost 7 fumbles and has thrown 6 Int’s. But, the most disturbing stats, comes in the Penalty column. The Tigers have committed 47 penalties for a whopping 362 yards.
Last week, Massillon had 10 yellow flags fly for 105 yards, the most penalty yards so far this year, against a team that should have been a practice game to work on controlling mistakes. Not to take anything away from Firestone, but this past Friday, Massillon shot itself in the paw so many times, Obie is still at Massillon Hospital with bandages wrapped around all four feet. She is recovering fine, and Doctors say she will be up and running around by Monday. But, seriously though, the Tigers have got to start playing better, as they reach the final 4 game stretch.
Firestone has been a tough competitor all season, giving the other team fits at times. They may be 0-6 in 2013, but they have been hanging in there, in every game. And last Friday was no different, as the first string Tigers had to battle the entire first half. The Massillon Coaching staff has to do some major soul searching this week at practice, and the team will have some work to do, to try and minimize the mistakes. The next four games for the Tiger football team, includes 3 teams who are 6-0 on the season thus far. St V’s is Division 3 this year, and they look on pace to be a Title contender. On the year so far, SVSM, has outscored their opponents 274-45, including 2 shutouts this season. The fewest points they have scored was in the 25-0 win over Mooney.
Massillon will be traveling to Austintown this weekend, to take on the 6-0 Fitch Falcons. Some may argue to this series being a storied rival or not. This writer says that it can at least be a top five rivalry. Sure, we have not played each other for 60 years, and there may not be many huge games that one can recall. But since 1985, these two teams have been battling, and have seen some close games. There was a short break in the action from 2003-2011, but before that, the Falcons and Tigers played for 18 straight years, and in the beginning, the Falcons seemed to have complete control of the series.
In 1985, former Massillon Tiger lineman David Hartman (1964), then Fitch Head Coach, brought his Falcons into PBTS with a 4-1 record and looking to improve to 5-1 and keep their playoff hopes alive. The Tigers came into this game also 4-1, coming off of a come-from-behind win the previous week against Barberton. John Maronto took his Tigers into halftime with a 12-7 lead, but that would soon fizzle out as Austintown would mount a rally and win the first matchup 21-19. Fitch would out gain the Tigers 333-182 yards in that game.
The Falcons would go on and win 5 of the first 8 games, from 1985-1992. The Tigers would be 0-4 in those 8 years, playing in Austintown, losing close games in ’86, ’88, and ’90. All 3 loses came by less than a touchdown, and in 1992, the Fitch Falcons would hand Massillon their worse loss of the year. It would be the only time Massillon was shutout all season, going to Austintown and getting a 14-0 smacking. This game would also be the ONLY shutout in the entire series. First year Head Coach Jack Rose, did not see much success that ’92 season, as they would finish 5-5. The Fitch loss, would be the 3rd in a row, of 4 straight losses that season, and Coach Rose was behind the 8 ball early in his Tiger coaching tenure.
Since that ’92 season blanking by Austintown, Massillon, has gone on an 11 game winning streak and has taken a series lead of 14-5. 2001 has seen the largest margin of victory by any team, as the Tigers won 54-14 in PBTS, but it would also be a year that the Fitch Falcon fans would soon hope to forget. The Tigers on the other hand, had a magical year then, under 4[SUP]th[/SUP] year head coach Rick Shepas. It was a year that the Tigers seemed to dominate almost every team they played and They would make a State run that year, only to come up one game short of the State Championship game, getting beat by St Ignatius.
2012 saw a renewing of the series between the Fitch Falcons and the Massillon Tigers. It would be played in PBTS, and the Tigers picked up right where they left off, winning 34-14. This year the Tiger will travel an hour East to play in Austintown, for a 7:30 pm kickoff. Massillon only has a 5-4 record when playing in Falcon Stadium, and of their 5 wins there, the largest margin of victory is only a 12 point win, in the 2000 season.
This week, will once again, be a test for the Tigers and a measuring stick of how much they have learned about themselves. The “Tiger Keys for Victory” this week:
Penalties- The Tigers have got to work on the false start and holding penalties, if they want to have any success this week. Austintown has always proven to be a tough place to play for the Tigers, so they will need to button up and play hard.
Turnovers- Massillon is only +1 right now in the turnover ratio, and they need to change that this week. Stop giving the ball away, and start causing more on Defense. Going into week 7, the Tiger defense has forced 9 fumbles and only 5 Int’s.
Drives- The Tigers need to sustain long drives in the game this week, to help the Defense and to take time off the clock. Keeping the Defense fresh and rested will be what makes or breaks the Tigers Friday night. Through 6 weeks this season, the Falcons have only given up 33 points, with 3 shutouts. Keeping the high powered Fitch offense off the field, will be a major factor in keeping the game close this week. Massillon must take advantage of every opportunity, and keep the fans in the game. Playing on the road is always a challenge, and the Tiger faithful could make up the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Key to Victory.
Contributing websites this week:
Team stats, and Game history- Massillontigers.com
Computer Points Standings- Joeeitel.com
*No Tigers were really harmed in the writing of this article, or the game last week. -
coyotes22
Here is a look at the teams schedule's, through 6 weeks:
Austintown-Fitch 2013 Football 8/30 A Warren G Harding (4-2) [1:1] W 48-0 9/6 H Archbishop Hoban (3-3) [3:7] W 27-12 9/13 A Brunswick (4-2) [1:1] W 28-14 9/20 H Dover (4-2) [3:9] W 41-7 9/27 A Boardman (1-5) [2:3] W 27-0 10/4 H Youngstown East (1-5) [1:1] W 39-0 Massillon Washington 2013 Football 8/29 H Perry (0-6) [1:1] W 35-7 9/5 H GlenOak (3-3) [1:1] W 23-20 3 ot 9/13 A Warren G Harding (4-2) [1:1] W 35-14 9/20 H Lake Catholic (1-5) [3:8] W 35-6 9/27 A Steubenville (5-1) [4:13] W 37-21 10/4 H Firestone (0-6) [2:4] W 28-14 -
coyotes22
Here is a look at the point’s standings through 6 weeks of play:
Division 1 Region 1:
Division 2 Region 4:Rank W-L ID # City School Average Level 1 Level 2 L2 divisor 1 6-0 740 Hudson Hudson 18.6333 38.0 123.0 100 2 6-0 1346 Lakewood St Edward 18.3833 35.0 125.5 100 3 6-0 306 Canton Canton McKinley 16.1156 37.0 97.5 98 4 6-0 148 Austintown Austintown-Fitch 16.0333 36.5 99.5 100 5 5-1 385 Cleveland Heights Cleveland Heights 13.4667 31.0 83.0 100 6 5-1 970 Marysville Marysville 12.7500 30.0 77.5 100 7 5-1 1671 Westerville Westerville Central 12.6333 29.0 78.0 100 8 5-1 1016 Mentor Mentor 12.4000 31.5 71.5 100 9 5-1 1492 Stow Stow-Munroe Falls 12.2000 31.5 69.5 100 10 4-2 1354 Cleveland St Ignatius 11.8197 25.0 75.0 98 11 5-1 532 Elyria Elyria 10.9500 28.5 62.0 100 12 4-2 1428 Solon Solon 10.8000 24.0 68.0 100 13 5-1 1606 Wadsworth Wadsworth 10.6167 29.5 57.0 100 14 4-2 268 Brunswick Brunswick 10.4833 24.5 64.0 100 15 4-2 1498 Strongsville Strongsville 8.8333 24.5 47.5 100 16 4-2 670 Green Green 8.3667 23.5 44.5 100
Rank W-L ID # City School Average Level 1 Level 2 L2 divisor 1 6-0 710 Medina Highland 15.4333 36.5 93.5 100 2 6-0 150 Avon Avon 15.3833 35.0 95.5 100 3 6-0 1116 Macedonia Nordonia 14.8500 36.0 88.5 100 4 6-0 1624 Massillon Massillon Washington 12.8500 36.0 68.5 100 5 5-1 152 Avon Lake Avon Lake 12.1500 31.5 69.0 100 6 6-0 528 Akron Ellet 12.1000 33.0 66.0 100 7 4-2 1248 Perrysburg Perrysburg 10.1833 23.0 63.5 100 8 4-2 1350 Toledo Toledo St Francis DeSales 9.2167 23.5 53.0 100 -
Falcons53Good luck to the Falcons! In the early days of this series, it was a very good rivalry. If some better decisions had been made in the hiring of head coaches, it would have continued. Some very dark years for the Falcons took the luster off of what had been a very solid program with play-off success in the late 80's - early 90's. I recall some very good games at both Falcon Stadium and PBTS. I hope that the Falcons recent success is sustained like the 12 year run ('82-'93) that Coach Hartman had. I believe he won 99 games in 12 years. Just about any school would take that kind of success!
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Gardens35coyotes22;1513920 wrote:Perfect in the Record books, but far from Perfect on the field
As the 2013 season continues to play out, the Tigers are far from where they want to be, as far as execution and play on the field. Through 6 games the Tigers have not been impressive when it comes to making mistakes. In fact, the only flawless game they have had this year, came in Week 3 when the Tigers traveled to Warren. They had no fumbles, threw no Interceptions and only committed 2 penalties for 10 yards. To date, Massillon has lost 7 fumbles and has thrown 6 Int’s. But, the most disturbing stats, comes in the Penalty column. The Tigers have committed 47 penalties for a whopping 362 yards.
Last week, Massillon had 10 yellow flags fly for 105 yards, the most penalty yards so far this year, against a team that should have been a practice game to work on controlling mistakes. Not to take anything away from Firestone, but this past Friday, Massillon shot itself in the paw so many times, Obie is still at Massillon Hospital with bandages wrapped around all four feet. She is recovering fine, and Doctors say she will be up and running around by Monday. But, seriously though, the Tigers have got to start playing better, as they reach the final 4 game stretch.
Firestone has been a tough competitor all season, giving the other team fits at times. They may be 0-6 in 2013, but they have been hanging in there, in every game. And last Friday was no different, as the first string Tigers had to battle the entire first half. The Massillon Coaching staff has to do some major soul searching this week at practice, and the team will have some work to do, to try and minimize the mistakes. The next four games for the Tiger football team, includes 3 teams who are 6-0 on the season thus far. St V’s is Division 3 this year, and they look on pace to be a Title contender. On the year so far, SVSM, has outscored their opponents 274-45, including 2 shutouts this season. The fewest points they have scored was in the 25-0 win over Mooney.
Massillon will be traveling to Austintown this weekend, to take on the 6-0 Fitch Falcons. Some may argue to this series being a storied rival or not. This writer says that it can at least be a top five rivalry. Sure, we have not played each other for 60 years, and there may not be many huge games that one can recall. But since 1985, these two teams have been battling, and have seen some close games. There was a short break in the action from 2003-2011, but before that, the Falcons and Tigers played for 18 straight years, and in the beginning, the Falcons seemed to have complete control of the series.
In 1985, former Massillon Tiger lineman David Hartman (1964), then Fitch Head Coach, brought his Falcons into PBTS with a 4-1 record and looking to improve to 5-1 and keep their playoff hopes alive. The Tigers came into this game also 4-1, coming off of a come-from-behind win the previous week against Barberton. John Maronto took his Tigers into halftime with a 12-7 lead, but that would soon fizzle out as Austintown would mount a rally and win the first matchup 21-19. Fitch would out gain the Tigers 333-182 yards in that game.
The Falcons would go on and win 5 of the first 8 games, from 1985-1992. The Tigers would be 0-4 in those 8 years, playing in Austintown, losing close games in ’86, ’88, and ’90. All 3 loses came by less than a touchdown, and in 1992, the Fitch Falcons would hand Massillon their worse loss of the year. It would be the only time Massillon was shutout all season, going to Austintown and getting a 14-0 smacking. This game would also be the ONLY shutout in the entire series. First year Head Coach Jack Rose, did not see much success that ’92 season, as they would finish 5-5. The Fitch loss, would be the 3rd in a row, of 4 straight losses that season, and Coach Rose was behind the 8 ball early in his Tiger coaching tenure.
Since that ’92 season blanking by Austintown, Massillon, has gone on an 11 game winning streak and has taken a series lead of 14-5. 2001 has seen the largest margin of victory by any team, as the Tigers won 54-14 in PBTS, but it would also be a year that the Fitch Falcon fans would soon hope to forget. The Tigers on the other hand, had a magical year then, under 4[SUP]th[/SUP] year head coach Rick Shepas. It was a year that the Tigers seemed to dominate almost every team they played and They would make a State run that year, only to come up one game short of the State Championship game, getting beat by St Ignatius.
2012 saw a renewing of the series between the Fitch Falcons and the Massillon Tigers. It would be played in PBTS, and the Tigers picked up right where they left off, winning 34-14. This year the Tiger will travel an hour East to play in Austintown, for a 7:30 pm kickoff. Massillon only has a 5-4 record when playing in Falcon Stadium, and of their 5 wins there, the largest margin of victory is only a 12 point win, in the 2000 season.
This week, will once again, be a test for the Tigers and a measuring stick of how much they have learned about themselves. The “Tiger Keys for Victory” this week:
Penalties- The Tigers have got to work on the false start and holding penalties, if they want to have any success this week. Austintown has always proven to be a tough place to play for the Tigers, so they will need to button up and play hard.
Turnovers- Massillon is only +1 right now in the turnover ratio, and they need to change that this week. Stop giving the ball away, and start causing more on Defense. Going into week 7, the Tiger defense has forced 9 fumbles and only 5 Int’s.
Drives- The Tigers need to sustain long drives in the game this week, to help the Defense and to take time off the clock. Keeping the Defense fresh and rested will be what makes or breaks the Tigers Friday night. Through 6 weeks this season, the Falcons have only given up 33 points, with 3 shutouts. Keeping the high powered Fitch offense off the field, will be a major factor in keeping the game close this week. Massillon must take advantage of every opportunity, and keep the fans in the game. Playing on the road is always a challenge, and the Tiger faithful could make up the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Key to Victory.
Contributing websites this week:
Team stats, and Game history- Massillontigers.com
Computer Points Standings- Joeeitel.com
*No Tigers were really harmed in the writing of this article, or the game last week.
The short version of all this is 30-27 Fitch. -
GoChiefs
LolGardens35;1516654 wrote:The short version of all this is 30-27 Fitch.