Marvelous Massillon pillages North Canton in savage performance
By Keno Sultan
Stark County Prep Press writer
www.starkcountypreppress.blogspot.com
MASSILLON--The motto of late legendary undisputed middleweight boxing champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler was "destruction and destroy."
For North Canton Hoover, they were feeling like Alan Minter after the night was over.
After an early John Collins 73-yard touchdown strike to Jack Andes 51 seconds into their Division II, Region 7 quarterfinal to issue the visitors a lightning quick 7-0 lead, the Tigers delivered an assault eerily reminiscent of Hagler's bloody third round TKO of Minter 40 years ago that lifted the title from Minter's grasp and the end result was a 62-7 shipwrecking of the Vikings in the confines of Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
Any hopes North Canton had of advancing were immediately squelched in just three plays as junior running back Savior Owens dashed for a 53-yard touchdown to tie the contest and then a possession later, Owens scored on a four-yard touchdown to hand the hosts a lead that went unchallenged the rest of the evening, eventually leading to a running clock in the second half, compliments of a 28-point second quarter that parlayed into a 49-7 halftime advantage.
Massillon will travel next week to Columbus to oppose St. Francis DeSales in what will be the first meeting between the two high schools in a regional semifinal. The Stallions downed Ashland on the final play of their second round contest 33-29 when quarterback R.J. Day threw a touchdown that was caught by the tight end, who snatched away what nearly was a game-ending interception for the Arrows. Had the Arrows held on, Massillon will have been at home for another week.
North Canton Hoover concluded their season at 9-3 while Massillon improved to 8-3. Dating back to 2016, Massillon is now 26-1 against Federal League football teams.
Massillon head coach Nate Moore was highly unfamiliar of Hagler's dominance in the middleweight division in which all but one of his 12 defenses all ended via knockout. When asked about the Hagler mentality of his team in how they let their durability and determination be the judges, Moore put that in perspective.
"When your opponent starts to wobble a little bit, that is where you have to end the fight and we certainly did that tonight and that's something we have to do a better job of but I think over the course of the season we put it all together tonight," he said.
Quarterback Manny Patterson threw four touchdown passes two of them going to Jadyce Thigpen with Deontay Malone and Giorgio Jackson Jr. catching the others. Anthony McMullen had a 42-yard touchdown run. The defense also got into the scoring column as Noah Jenkins returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown that was a part of the Tigers 21 point first quarter. Massillon also scored 28 points off of turnovers and picked off Collins three times on the evening.
The scoring for Massillon concluded when senior quarterback Eli Moore, the son of Massillon's 11th year field general scored on an 11-yard keeper much to the delight of Tigers fans. Speaking as a father, the elder Moore couldn't help but to gush at the poignant life moment.
"I was super proud of him. He has put in a lot of work to be a team captain and you know it's hard enough to be a team captain when you're not a starter on offense or defense. But he earned that honor and I'm really proud of him," he said. "His leadership hasn't wavered all season and it didn't waver when he lost the quarterback battle, it didn't waver at all this season and as a dad, it was really nice to take the headset off there and watch my son score for the Massillon Tigers. I can't imagine anything better than that."
The motto of Marvelous Marvin Hagler was "destruction and destroy". Massillon's dominance lived up to that billing and it's one that Hagler will have been proud of.
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