Educators from school districts recall careers and rivalry ahead of big week
By Keno Sultan
Stark County Prep Press
www.starkcountypreppress.blogspot.com
CANTON--Losing has become a painful pill for Canton McKinley to swallow over the last eight years.
The taste of it is even more unbearable largely in part to the success of their archrival, Massillon, who has had a lot to do with that, especially also capturing their third and fourth wins in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in a two month span last season, the second one ending with an undefeated season and a Division II state championship on the Bulldogs field.
Losing doesn't venture into the mind of longtime Canton native and 37-year teaching veteran, Theresa Barbato.
The 1983 McKinley graduate has had many players who have been students in her classroom from all three levels, elementary, middle school, and high school and they have mostly gone on to compete as Bulldogs on the football field.
It has been 43 years since she was a high school sophomore when the 1981 edition of the Bulldogs stopped Massillon 9-6 to end the regular season 10-0 before netting three playoff wins, the last of those, a riveting 13-0 upset of Cincinnati Moeller to win the first state playoff title in the illustrious annals of the program.
She recalled the rivalry week against Massillon based on her experiences that was a fun moment in her life.
"The pride of the Bulldogs, it permeates the whole city. Downtown or whether you are by the high school, or you talk to former and current McKinley athletes, students, parents or fans, they all have the same passion for the red and black, it doesn't matter their age, it is just a lot of pride and passion," Barbato said.
As a current counselor at Stephanie R. Patrick Elementary School, she has come across many students who all have aspirations of one day being Bulldogs taking the field against the Tigers. Many of her students have fathers that have donned a McKinley jersey and the majority of her classmates are also fathers who have had sons wear a jersey as well.
It has been nine years since Fawcett Stadium was replaced by Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, the last time her alma mater rang the Victory Bell in the form of a 30-28 win over the Tigers that was secured when Dominique Robinson (now a Chicago Bears defensive lineman) scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge for the final score that overcame two Massillon kickoff return touchdowns by Keyshawn Watson and Deionne Harper along with an interception return for a touchdown by Dakota Dunwiddie.
Fawcett Stadium was also the home of the annual NFL AFC-NFC Hall of Fame Game every summer. What made that stadium special to Barbato was the fact McKinley was able to secure an undefeated regular season in a defensive tilt and the momentum carried over afterwards.
"I just remember being in the cheering section with my friends. We would go to every game dressed in red and black from head to toe and just the fact we could beat such a distinguished team, it was amazing, it was so exciting to see our team hold together and have the strength and power to just do it," she said. "We had cheered them on all season but that game was huge and we did it."
PROUD ALUM. McKinley graduate and Patrick Elementary School counselor Theresa Barbato (submitted photo)
---A WELL RESPECTED NAME---
For 44-year-old Massillon native Josh Hose, a loving father to two sons and two daughters, being born in a city where his father Butch became the face of Massillon administration over a 40-year tenure, education became his destiny.
The 1998 Massillon Washington graduate grew up following his father who was a receivers coach under the direction of John Maronto, who was the Tigers head coach from 1985-1987 before moving on to Florida and becoming a successful prep coach in the state.
Hose is no stranger to the rivalry himself having been a part of it from 1994-1997 where he was the Tigers place kicker who went on to kick collegiately at John Carroll University (the alma mater of 1995 McKinley graduate Josh McDaniels, who won six Super Bowl titles as an assistant coach with New England) and is in his sixth year as the boys head basketball coach at Massillon after a ultra successful eight-year run as Tuslaw girls basketball coach.
Butch Hose's famous tagline was always for students to "be the best student you can always be." And that is something the younger Hose recalled for students who had goals and hopes for wearing a Massillon jersey, especially the 10th week against the Bulldogs.
"I have experienced that being a part of the rivalry as my dad was a teacher and a coach. Every game against McKinley was a packed house and it is just a unique atmosphere," Josh recalled. "My dad used to hold me and my sisters to a high standard and demand nothing but the best of ourselves whether you are in a job of your choice be the best at it. He lived it as a coach, teacher and a parent and now I am experiencing that."
Hose was 1-3 against Canton McKinley in his career, the lone win coming in 1994, a 42-41 overtime heart stopper at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium as the Willie Spencer Jr. led Tigers sent Massillon residents home an ecstatic crowd well after 5 p.m., five hours before George Foreman created a massive temblor by becoming the oldest heavyweight champion at 45 with a seismic come-from-behind knockout of WBA/IBF champion Michael Moorer.
Although the Tigers came up short in Hose's sophomore through senior seasons, he recalled an emotional moment as head coach Jack Rose addressed the team one final time before facing a McKinley team that was ranked #1 in the nation. A year earlier, Massillon was ranked #2 in the nation before taking an unexpected 21-0 loss to the Bulldogs in a game that Massillon's vaunted running attack never got going at all despite having a stronger offensive line and being half of McKinley's smaller defensive front.
"Going into the McKinley game in 1997, we knew it was Jack Rose's last game as head coach and he just wanted to enjoy the week. He wanted us to enjoy it because four years goes by fast."
---SUCCESS FROM BOTH ENDS---
For Barbato, she knows what the week will bring in her hometown. She also knows how meaningful the game will be to the seniors who will play one final time with one last chance to end their losing streak to Massillon.
It has been 25 years since a visiting team captured the Victory Bell. The last team to do that was the 1999 Massillon Tigers who were led by ferocious and inspirational defensive lineman Ellery Moore. Massillon was in trouble after a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown by Preston Chavers that tied their contest at 7-7. The top-ranked Bulldogs had all the momentum before a 14-play drive that took eight minutes off the clock ended with a touchdown and the Tigers, who were ranked #3 in Division I powered their way to a 35-7 triumph and a 10-0 regular season.
Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's game, she wants every player, some of them she may have had to always remember the larger picture in terms of their futures after high school. If they don't have a pro career, that is OK but success is always at the top of the mountain and not just being a football athlete.
"I think whether a former student is a football player or in your case what you are doing, I have pride in my former students and especially for you. As far as the players in this game, I have seen them become athletes, seen them in band when they play, I see former students who message me and they are in all different careers so I am excited when any of my students do well and when they go on to have a professional career in athletics be it football, basketball, or whatever, I beam with pride that I knew them when they were young," Barbato said. "So I am happy to have known them."
Barbato admits that she too has been hurt by the Bulldogs eight-year losing streak to the Tigers. In four of those eight losses, the Bulldogs had momentum and the lead only to have Massillon snatch away the contest with a late drive in part to their durable offensive line that has used drives spanning eight or nine minutes that have all ended with Tigers touchdowns and leaving McKinley worn down.
The most painful of those losses was a 16-15 decision in 2017. McKinley seized a 15-9 lead only to have the Tigers march slowly and methodically down the field and ending a nine-minute drive with Aidan Longwell's eight-yard touchdown pass to Tre'Von Morgan to had Massillon their final lead. Sam Snyder's game-winning field goal hooked wide in a violent wind gust at the last second and McKinley's bid for an undefeated home season vanished and jumpstarted Massillon's ascension to where they are at as a program.
Since then, McKinley has not been able to overcome Massillon's durability. Barbato hopes that this will be the year her alma mater solves the Massillon labyrinth.
"I wouldn't lie if I say it, but it was devastating," she said of Massillon's 2017 win that really added to McKinley's troubles. "Anytime you attend that game it doesn't matter what the records are. Anything can happen so we know that. It is devastating because you keep thinking this is our year and we're going to get the bell back and we just haven't. We have had great teams we have had great coaches and we have had the ability to win those games. But I think this year we are going to do it.
Fortunately for Hose, he has yet to see Massillon lose to McKinley in football since he became the basketball head coach and an educator himself. The last time McKinley defeated Massillon in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium was back in the 2010 season when Massillon had two touchdowns taken off the scoreboard via questionable calls and a missed field goal in that span left Tigers fans booing their team off the field and an eventual 40-17 setback.
Massillon has won six in a row at home against McKinley since that deflating setback. Three of the six wins came in double digits, 31-21 in 2014, an emphatic 35-7 triumph in 2020, and most recently a 23-13 contest that really wasn't as close as the final indicated after Massillon raced out to a 21-0 lead on their first three possessions.
Hose recalled a year when the Tigers lost to McKinley and he saw his father embrace a player who was sobbing profusely and offering him words of care and compassion in his time of severe grief and sorrow.
Josh does not want to see that happen Saturday afternoon. He wants to see the Tigers obtain congratulatory hugs, the same he gave his basketball players five years ago when they took out two undefeated teams on back-to-back nights, Wooster and Ridgewood, who both were a combined 31-0 and ranked in the top 5 AP Division I and III polls respectively.
"That was Coach Hose (Butch) who felt for the player at the time. When you lose that game, it's like you let down your city and you have to wait 365 days to get another shot at them. No one wants a part of that," he said. "That moment I had with my players, I was letting them know I loved them and I cared about them and how I felt for them. That basketball team we had in 2019-20 was very special and those were great nights."
---FUTURE ASPIRATIONS---
After 48 minutes are completed, both the Bulldogs and Tigers will advance to their respective playoff tournaments, McKinley (6-3) in Division I and Massillon (7-2) in Division II. While emotions will definitely be running at a high motor for both squads, it will be imperative for each player to remember the city and schools they are representing and the fact they are playing for the men who played before them and the young kids in Barbato and Hose's cases will be playing after them.
How they conduct themselves will be a portent of something to come for a kid who is in elementary school or middle school.
Despite the odds stacked against McKinley, Barbato wants the players to believe in themselves and know that a victory is attainable if they can overcome the challenge that the reigning Division II state champion Tigers will bring not to mention a Massillon crowd that has become the Stark County version of the Pittsburgh Steelers through their ability to create false starts and delay of game penalties unlike any other team.
"I teach kids to believe in themselves. When they are young, they may not understand the law of attraction but thoughts are energy and as little as kindergarten and first grade, I teach them they have control over their thoughts, their anger, over their emotions and that's the first thing. And the second is to believe in themselves to know they are worthy, they are special and they matter and to this day whether I worked with kids in the high school, middle school and down to elementary, I've been down to all three levels and helps any child and that has been my mantra," she said. "Believe in yourself, love who you are. You do have control over your brain and your thoughts and that you matter and can make a difference and do whatever you can in life."
For Hose, it is pretty clear. He hopes to see a ninth win over McKinley and at the same time for the players playing to remember also that education is firstly and foremost.
"Education is very important in life. You have to have great pride being from Massillon. Every kid aspires to play in week 10 and to be the best on that day," he said.
Losing has never ventured in the mind of of Theresa Barbato. Being the best in everything ventures in the mind of Josh Hose. One thing is for sure: Saturday afternoon either McKinley will put a shimmering smile on the face of Barbato, a 1983 McKinley graduate or Massillon will have Hose, a 1998 Massillon graduate eliciting a smile from ear-to-ear for a ninth straight year.
Keno Sultan is a writer for Stark County Prep Press. He can be reached at 330-445-4575 or email at KenoSultan@hotmail.com.
