Massillon football hires to prove advantageous to Tigers
By Keno Sultan
Stark County Prep Press writer
www.starkcountypreppress.blogspot.com
MASSILLON--Christmas arrives once a year as the month of December is transitioning into January and a new year is on the horizon.
Although it is seven months away, Christmas has come once again, this time for the Massillon Tigers football regime. And this time, it may prove advantageous.
If receiving nine straight home games along with the possibility of not departing Stark County till after the 12th week of the 2025 season was a blessed present, their next present got even greater in the offseason.
The Tigers added to their staff two new coordinators that are grand slam hires. Former Massillon Tiger football standout Evan Berbari and assistant coach Jeff Kent were hired respectively as the Tigers offensive and defensive coordinators for the upcoming season.
11th-year Massillon patriarch Nate Moore, who doubles as the school athletic director was very elated with the background of the new hires, which he figures to be a continuation of what former coordinators Alex Wood and Spencer Leno brought during their times in the Tigers kingdom.
Berbari, a 2014 graduate was a former Massillon two-way starter on the offensive and defensive lines who played under Moore's predecessor, Jason Hall was part of the Tigers first Division II competing team. The highlight of that season was an emphatic 34-7 road victory over an undefeated Canton McKinley team that possessed the county's top-ranked offense and dynamic joystick quarterback in Eric Glover-Williams, whose play reminded many of the once-dynamic Michael Vick in his early days with the Atlanta Falcons. That win allowed the Tigers to witness football after the 10th week.
Since that game, Massillon as a Division II school against McKinley is a wealthy 11-1 against the Bulldogs (Berbari was 3-2 against McKinley in his Tigers career). And Berbari, who worked on the Ashland staff with former Massillon head coach Tom Stacy, who coached the Tigers for three seasons will love nothing more to extend that number in the left hand column and no one is more ecstatic about it than Moore himself.
Last season, the Tigers offense scored 487 points, for an average of 34.7. That number may improve a few notches.
"I was happy with the hires. Evan brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from Ashland University and a college background he brings to the Massillon Tigers offense. Being a Washington alum, he brings a deep knowledge to Massillon football," Moore said of Berbari.
Defensively, the Tigers are still going to be an attacking force under Kent, who comes over from the southern part of the U.S. and has amassed productive experience having attained success at various schools.
Last year's Massillon's defense yielded just 171 points, an average of 12.7 Two years ago in their state championship season, the Tigers defense was reminiscent of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens as they allowed 116 points all season for an astonishing average of just seven points and had shades of the 2019 Tigers who were similar to the 2023 team in just surrendering the same average of points.
With the defense expected to be strong again, opposing teams may be experiencing nightmares again venturing into Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
He may not be Clark Kent as Superman but one thing is for sure: Jeff Kent prides himself on steel tough defenses and the Tigers figure to be not just according to Moore, "men of Massillon" but also the men of steel.
What previous defensive coordinators Craig McConnell and Leno (now the head coach at Perry) have accomplished with the Tigers defenses over the years is something Kent will continue with steely focus.
"He has done really well at the high level in the Georgia and Tennessee areas and also at Colquitt County and Valdosta," Moore added. "He now brings that experience to Massillon and our defense with a level of attention to detail with also our inside linebackers, which is very unique."
Moore has infused his staff embedded with Massillon grit and girth. Overall, there are nine Tigers on the staff who all competed in the orange and black, with two of the nine being part of an undefeated regular season, Jason Jarvis and Danny Studer, who both along with an inspirational performance from Ellery Moore helped the Tigers stun #1 state ranked Canton McKinley 35-7 in 1999 on the road to not only annex the Victory Bell but swing the pendulum of the rivalry.
This coming season, the Tigers will be at home for the first nine weeks, starting with an August 22nd contest against Cleveland Glenville. It will be the first meeting for the two schools since the 2009 season, a 31-17 Tarblooders victory in the Division I state semifinals when eventual Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones engineered two scoring drives that stifled Massillon's momentum after they had tied the score at 17-17 going into the fourth quarter.
Overall, Massillon will compete against out-of-state schools in Rabun Gap Nacoochee (GA), Buffalo Bennett (NY), Cornerstone Christian (San Antonio, TX), Clarkson North (Canada), and Cardinal Ritter College Prep (St. Louis, MO). GlenOak, Lakewood St. Edward and Warren Harding complete the home slate for the Tigers.
"That is a challenging schedule with a lot of national matchups and we get to play inside Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and there is no place I would rather be," Moore said "We get nine home games and we don't take that for granted or lightly."
Berbari and Kent will also have their presence felt also when the annual Steve Studer Lift-A-Thon arrives this Saturday. According to Moore, he attests that is when the start of football season begins. And it may be a year that just may likely end with a second title in three years for Massillon but for right now, they are concentrating on the now.
"We have the Steve Studer Lift-A-Thon coming up this Saturday and to many in Massillon, that is the beginning of football season and we hope to give everyone in attendance a good showing," Moore said.
Christmas arrives once a year in December. And for Massillon, Christmas came very blessed and early for the Tigers in the form of two new and experienced coordinators along with nine home games inside the football colossus named after Paul Brown.
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