NINE LIVES! Massillon formulates early lead, sustains it in triumph over archrival

 NINE LIVES! Massillon formulates early lead, sustains it in triumph over archrival

By Keno Sultan

Stark County Prep Press

www.starkcountypreppress.blogspot.com

MIGHTY MIKE. Mike Wright Jr. holds the Great American Rivalry Series championship trophy after Massillon's 16-7 win over Canton McKinley in the 135th meeting between the two longtime behemoths. (Keno Sultan/Stark County Prep Press)

MASSILLON--A cat having nine lives to many is a superstition. It's not a superstition to the Massillon Tigers.

In a contest that was nearly a carbon copy of the 2016 and 2022 contests, Massillon was able to obtain a significant lead and put the contest in the hands of their defense. As much as Massillon has been praised for their unbelievable durable offensive line to wear teams down in the second half, the defense wanted a part of that praise too. 

Consider it obtained.

Saturday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,000 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Massillon used two touchdown passes from quarterback Jalen Slaughter to Braylyn Toles and Jacques Carter and it virtually was all the scoring they needed as they leaned on their defense the rest of the way and the end result was a physical but fruitful 16-7 victory over a resilient Canton McKinley team that made the Tigers work hard for the victory.

For the Tigers it is their ninth straight triumph over the Bulldogs and it pushes Tigers boss Nate Moore to a sensational 9-1 against McKinley while former Bulldog standout and head coach Antonio Hall is now 0-4 against the Tigers. The last coach to lose four straight against Massillon was current East Canton patriarch John "Spider" Miller, who was 0-4 against Massillon from 2000-2002, his losses coming to Rick Shepas.

Massillon flies into the Division II playoffs with an 8-2 record while McKinley descends to 6-4 on their way to the Division I playoffs. For Massillon general Nate Moore, this was everything according to his testimony of what a rivalry game is all about.

"This game was definitely physical and you have to give credit to McKinley. They made it very hard for us to run the ball today and we had trouble at times sustaining blocks," Moore said. "There was so much in this game today and fans got their money's worth today in the city of Massillon."

It may not mean anything to the McKinley regime but this contest was more competitive than last season's 35-0 decision and a lot of that had to do with a Massillon team that was just a buzzsaw that the Bulldogs were unable to defend against and everything traversed the Tigers way on their way to a state championship.

McKinley offered an inspired challenge today and showed no lingering effects of last week's loss to Jackson. However, spotting the Tigers two first half touchdowns was a little too much to overcome for a team that sorely misses the Victory Bell.

Despite the final outcome, Hall was upbeat about the effort of his team that was a year improved from last season's temblor.

"I do believe we can play with anybody. Ultimately the difference of the game was execution and we had untimely penalties and breakdowns at times," he said. "We just can't have missed opportunities or situations with penalties and turnovers. Our special teams I thought played well and our defense was lights out today."

BRITT FOR SIX. McKinley wide receiver D.J. Britt celebrates his 12-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Kam Montgomery in the second quarter of Saturday's contest at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. (Keno Sultan/Stark County Prep Press)

The game couldn't have started out any better for the hosts. After an early fumble by the visiting Bulldogs, Massillon immediately went into attack mode 13 seconds into the contest. Slaughter found Toles over the middle for a seven-yard scoring bullet and Mateo Herrera kicked a successful extra point that handed Massillon a lead they sustained for the rest of the afternoon.

When Slaughter connected on his second touchdown pass to Carter, despite Herrera's missed point after kick in part to a controversial personal foul, Massillon was up 13-0 and a single touchdown from possibly burying McKinley for good.

To the Bulldogs testament, they did not come to Massillon just to fold up and fail on a series of power punches from the Tigers. Evidence of that came late in the second quarter when the Bulldogs converted three consecutive third down completions from Kam Montgomery who found receiver D.J. Britt, who split past two Massillon defensive backs for a 12-yard touchdown pass and they had the momentum as they edged within six points of the hosts at 13-7.

Whatever momentum McKinley had was squelched when Herrera barely but successfully kicked a 36-yard field goal to put Massillon up 16-7 at halftime. Multiple McKinley players complained that the kick was wide. Hall didn't think the kick was successful as he felt it hooked by at least a half-inch.

"Guys were telling me he missed it but they said it was in so it is what it is," Hall lamented.

McKinley had one serious chance in the fourth quarter to possibly throw a scare into the Tigers but Daylan Pringle snagged an interception at the Bulldogs six-yard line to effectively terminate any hope of the Bulldogs mounting a potential comeback as the Tigers eventually flushed the clock down the drain and with it, the Bulldogs bid to repossess the bell that will once again have a Massillon residence to it.

FUN FOR ONE. Massillon wide receiver Braylyn Toles celebrates his tone-setting seven yard touchdown pass while McKinley's Daimere McClellan disconsolately stands in the end zone during the first quarter of Saturday's contest. (Keno Sultan/Stark County Prep Press)

Despite Massillon's victory streak over McKinley reaching nine, one streak did fall for the Tigers. Their five-game winning streak of defeating the Bulldogs by double-digits ceased. But at the same time they extended their home winning streak in the rivalry to seven and have won 12 of the last 14 at home against their rival dating back to the 2000 season and now have a wave of momentum going into the postseason at 8-2. 

Since Moore's winning streak against McKinley was constructed in 2016, Moore's teams have not won no fewer than seven games to end the regular season, a 16-15 win that finished the Tigers regular season at 7-3.

Moore loves the direction his team is headed as they open defense of their state title next Friday at home against a team to be determined via press time. 

"Our team is battle tested with a difficult schedule. We definitely are battle tested going into the playoffs," he said.

For McKinley, they will enter the Division I playoffs in a region that is wide open. They have not advanced to a regional final since the 2009 season when Massillon turned them away 10-7 as both schools competed in Division I at the time.

Hall saw a vast effort from his Bulldogs today. It is now a matter of turning that effort into a winning situation where it is survive and advance moving forward.

"We had a really great week of practice this week and this game showed that today. We really did. We just have to bounce back and get better from this. Region 1 is wide open and if we play like we did today, we can compete with anybody," he said.

A cat having nine lives according to many is a superstition. A nine-game winning streak over Canton McKinley is no superstition to the Massillon Tigers, who truly showed today that they have nine lives.

Keno Sultan is a writer for Stark County Prep Press. He can be reached at 330-445-4575 or email at KenoSultan@hotmail.com.