Massillon and Glenville punch out clock late but Tarblooders prevail in overtime sensation
By Keno Sultan
Stark County Prep Press writer
MASSILLON--It was time for Massillon and Glenville to clock out for the evening at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers and Tarblooders preferred to work overtime for extra pay.
After both team traded missed field goals with Glenville's Arvell Nelson blocking a Massillon attempt and then Glenville's game-winning attempt sailed wide, both teams ventured into overtime. After the Tarblooders blocked a second Massillon field goal, it was Nelson in just five plays delivering a nine-yard bullet to receiver Joseph Saffold for the lone and decisive touchdown and the Tarblooders departed with a huge 33-27 overtime victory that had multiple momentum changes throughout the evening.
Massillon found themselves in jeopardy after the first half that saw them commit two turnovers which the visitors parlayed into a 19-7 halftime advantage. However, once the hosts found their rhythm, it made for an entertaining affair that showed why both schools entered the game with championship credentials, with the Tarblooders two seasons removed from back-to-back Division IV championships and Massillon a year removed from the 2023 Division II title.
For 29th-year Glenville veteran head coach Ted Ginn Sr., a devout and faithful gentleman, he was very ecstatic to depart with a momentum building victory, not before he honored his devout faith.
"All praises go to God. If God is not in it, you can't win it. This was an act of God, we had faith and we came out on top," Ginn Sr. said in his traditional low tone voice.
Under 11th-year Massillon general Nate Moore, Massillon has always been the team to impose their durability on teams if they were not actuating a running clock by the second half. On the Tarblooders first possession, they were more than gleeful to pilfer a page from Massillon's book.
Using a 16-play drive that consumed eight minutes off the clock with several of those being carries by sturdy tailback Romell Phillips, the Tarblooders ended the drive with a four-yard touchdown run by tailback Chris Newell leading to a 7-0 lead as the visitors conjured up five first downs on the lengthy drive.
It took Massillon only five plays to provide an equalizer to the Tarblooders drive when junior quarterback Mandwel Patterson connected on a 12 yard touchdown strike to 6'5'' junior receiver Gio Jackson Jr., whose frame is reminiscent of former 6'4'', 190 lb. Tigers receiver Rameir Martin, who was a top target that lined up with acrobatic and stylish receiver Desmond Carpenter 36 years ago.
The real adversity struck for Massillon as early in the second quarter when Nelson lofted a deep aerial to speedy receiver Pauly Sadler who got ahead of the Tigers secondary for a 55-yard touchdown catch that handed Glenville a 13-7 lead. A play later, Massillon fumbled leading to the first of their two turnovers and Nelson located London Hearn over the middle for a second touchdown and a 19-7 advantage.
Having faced a deficit like this before was nothing new to Moore who has witnessed his battalion of Tigers respond multiple times amid two touchdown deficits.
"We fought our way back in and I was really proud of our football team. We have a ton of football left to play. I'm proud of our guys, proud of our effort, and we gave ourselves a chance to win," he said.
Massillon's first possession provided a glance of hope as Patterson delivered a 48-yard completion and six plays later, found junior receiver Deontay Malone for a 25-yard touchdown in the left corner of the end zone truncating the Tarblooders lead to five. At the start of the fourth quarter, junior Savior Owens lived up to his name as he scored on an 11-yard jaunt up the middle issuing Massillon their first lead of the game at 20-19.
But just one play after the score, backup quarterback Chase Youngblood conjured up a play that will have elicited a smile on the face of former Glenville signal caller and national championship winning quarterback Cardale Jones and his former teammate Shane Wynn Jr.
Picking up a hard Massillon blitz, Youngblood lofted a safe pass to Chris Newell, who turned on the afterburners and was off to the races for an 81 yard touchdown catch and go, reminiscent of the play executed by Jones and Winn from the Tarblooders 2009 Division I state semifinal victory over Massillon.
Patterson of Massillon responded with a second touchdown pass to Malone that paved the way for the frenetic overtime session, the first overtime at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium since 2011, when Massillon needed three overtimes to topple GlenOak, who at press time lost to Dover and their first-year head coach Matt Rees, 18-7.
When asked was his team's return to Massillon merrier than their last appearance in Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, a 20-17 Division I state semifinal loss to Canton McKinley back in 2004, Ginn Sr. mentioned he had not paid attention to that.
"You know I'm always happy anytime we can win. I don't keep up with those stats and all that stuff so I don't remember that," he said. "Right now, I'm just thankful to God that he gave us a chance to win."
Glenville was led by the arm of Nelson, who threw for three touchdowns.
For Massillon, they will rue the two turnovers and blocked field goals that saw them lose a home opener for the fourth time in six years. But Moore came away feeling motivated from what he saw with a team boasting two new coordinators and several new faces.
With Patterson throwing for three touchdowns and Owens running for a touchdown, there is a bright future for the Tigers. One thing they have going for them is that they have not lost two consecutive home contests under Moore's tutelage and they will look to once again lean on that asset against a GlenOak team that will look to get into the win column under 17th-year head coach Scott Garcia, a GlenOak graduate and a former protege of Bob Commings, who coached at GlenOak for 12 seasons after a stint as Massillon head coach.
Moore opted to view the big picture and not the stat.
"We don't really look at it that way. We just want to have one foot in front of the other and it's week 2 and whether we are coming off of a loss or win, we have to be the same team no matter what and we have to have a great week of practice and we have an improved GlenOak team coming in next week," he said.
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