Alexander Love didn’t start the game and he didn’t even see the field until the second half, but the sophomore came up with some big rushing numbers in helping his team to a 69-13 victory over Cincinnati Western Hills. With the offensive line opening some gaping holes in the Mustang defense, Love was able to rush 16 times for 120 yards and three touchdowns. In the process, he served notice that the running back position at Massillon is in good hands for at least the next two years.

As expected, Western was no match for the Tigers in this one, but still it was a good tune-up for next week’s grudge match against Canton McKinley. Nearly every player saw the field, there were no serious injuries (by either team) and the offense was able to run 57 plays, a good number for this kind of game.

Defensively, the Massillon was superb. The Mustangs mounted little yardage on the ground, 7 in the first half and 23 for the game. They did manage to accumulate some aerial yardage, but most of that was in the second half when the backup units were in. Here were the first half possessions for Western:

-15 yards, punt
8 yards, punt
6 yards, punt
4 yards, punt
6 yards punt
14 yards, stopped on downs
37 yards, stopped on downs.

The Tigers got on the board just a minute and half into the contest following a mishandled punt snap by the Mustangs at the five. On the first play from scrimmage, KJ Herring took the handoff and literally walked into the end zone. Ball State-bound Steve Schott’s kick was good and Massillon led 7-0.

After a 3-and-out by Western, the Tigers set up shop at the 48, needing just four plays to cover the distance. After Devoe Torrence rumbled to the Mustang 18, quarterback Chris Willoughby connected with Brandon Pedro for the score from 12 yards out. On the play Willoughby dropped back, looked left and then found his tight end wide open over the middle. Midway through the first, it was now 14-0.

Again Western failed to move and punted to their own 45. But three plays later the Tigers were kicking their third extra point of the afternoon. This time it was Herring picking his way through the defense and scoring from 19 yards. The TD was set up by a Willoughby-to-Brendon Baker pass that covered 27 yards.

The Tigers struck again on their next possession when Willoughby passed for his second score of the afternoon, this time to Giorgio Jackson. Willoughby rolled left and found Jackson at the 20. After gathering in the ball, Jackson sped all the way across the field and cut it up to out-run the secondary, just making it in at the right corner of the end zone.

After recovering Schott’s pooch kick at the 31, Justin Turner took his turn at quarterback. Taking the snap from the shotgun position, Turner twice looked for gaps in defense, carrying for 13 yards on the first attempt and 18 yards on the second, the latter being for a touchdown.

Then with 2:59 to play in the half, Jackson caught his second TD pass of the day, this one a fade route to the corner of the end zone covering 14 yards. The TD closed out the pre-intermission scoring at 42-0 in favor of the Tigers. The stats also favored the home team at this point, as they led in rushing yards 182-7 and total yards 307-74.

Love did all of his work in the second half, scoring on runs of 2, 1 and 38 yards. Cody Nickels also went over from 13 yards out. The Mustangs found a way to score some points against the Massillon backups. The first was a 78-yard pass from Tharon Gardner to Armondo Thomas and the second, a 25-yard toss from Keenan Nelson to Shed Gilliard.

With playoff hopes dashed, the Tigers will wrap up their season next week when they travel to Canton McKinley. Although neither team sports a great record at this point (Massillon 5-4, McKinley 3-6), Massillon has shown of late that they are far from struggling, having won their last three games in convincing fashion. But it’s still a rivalry game and that should elevate the play of both teams, nevertheless.

GAME STATS

Opponent___0___0___6___7___13
Massillon___21___21__13__14___69

_________________MASS____OPP
First Downs__________22_______7
Yards Rushing_______324______23
Yards Passing_______178_____201
Total Yards__________502_____224
Turnovers_____________1_______2
Yards/Rush__________7.4______1.2
Yards/PA___________13.7______7.4
Yards/PC___________16.2_____15.5
Yards/Play___________8.8______4.9

Massillon Scoring
Herring 5 run (Schott kick)
Pedro 12 pass from Willoughby (Schott kick)
Herring 19 run (Schott kick)
Jackson 30 pass from Willoughby (Schott kick)
Turner 18 run (Schott kick)
Jackson 14 pass from Willoughby (Schott kick)
Nickels 13 run (kick failed)
Love 2 run (Nickels kick)
Love 1 run (Schott kick)
Love 38 run (Schott kick)

Individual Statistics
Rushing: Love 16-120, 3 TDs; Torrence 5-75; 1 Herring 9-64, 2 TD; Turner 2-36, 1 TD
Passing: Willoughby 6-7-72, 2 TD, 0 int; Adkins 3-3-79, 1 TD, 0 Int; Partridge 2-3-27
Receiving: Jackson 4-44. 2 TD; Pedro 2-39, 1 TD