Updated: Saturday, November 7, 2009
A loss to their rival a week ago left them that way. If that wasn’t enough, the Tigers also were playing a Hoover High School team that ended their season a year ago.
“They caught us in a (ticked) off mood,” Massillon defensive coordinator Steve Kovacs said.
That helped the Tigers lock in for a 17-10 win over the Vikings in a fierce Division I, Region 2 quarterfinal game at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
Box score/recap
“After last week, they took it personal,” Massillon head coach Jason Hall. “It was an emotional game.”
Massillon (8-3) advances to play Twinsburg at Fawcett Stadium on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Hoover ends its season at 7-4, unable to duplicate last year’s run to the state semifinals.
“Give Massillon a lot of credit — players and coaches,” Hoover head coach Don Hertler Jr. said. “They really did a great job. I don’t know how our kids could’ve played any harder.”
A crowd of 6,898 watched Massillon take a 17-3 lead into halftime and hang on from there. Hoover pounded away with Erick Howard, the state’s reigning Mr. Football and Stark County’s first player to eclipse 6,000 rushing yards.
But as hard as Howard ran, the Tigers hit and tackled with an equal power. They limited him to 99 yards on 38 bruising carries.
“We challenged our guys to play Massillon football the way they know how to play,” Kovacs said.
The Tigers were fast and physical.
Free safety Bo Grunder led the charge, getting in on 16 tackles. Linebacker Clayton Mattox had a hand in 10 stops, and Jeff Myers anchored the interior with two tackles for loss. Josh Remark, Joe Studer and Spencer Leno also came up big.
“I didn’t see too many missed tackles,” Kovacs said. “The secret is to tackle (Howard) low and get a number of guys there.”
Hoover got within 17-10 after Howard scored on a 1-yard run with 6:42 left in the third.
The Vikings has several chances to tie it but couldn’t get it done. On their next two drives, they ran 14 plays inside Massillon territory but none found in the end zone. A great open-field, third-down tackle by Grunder on Howard at the 6 helped stop Hoover’s best chance.
The Vikings then had one last chance, starting at their own 6 with 2:02 left. Brett Tulodzieski kept the drive alive with completions on a fourth-and-10 and third-and-10 to get into Tiger territory again. But the game ended with the Vikings at the Massillon 41 as time expired after the Tigers dragged down Howard on a 6-yard catch.
“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Hertler said.
Massillon took charge early, scoring on its second possession. Jake Reiman scored from 5 yards out on a fourth-and-goal with 3:01 left in the first quarter.
Hoover responded with a 12-play, 38-yard drive ending in a 43-yard field goal by A.J. Sarbaugh.
Massillon came back with an 80-yard TD drive in 15 plays, converting a third-and-nine and fourth-and-seven along the way. Robert Partridge, who threw for 229 yards, found Grunder for each conversion.
Partridge ended the drive by lofting a 5-yard TD pass to Devin Smith on a fade pattern to the right with 5:06 left in the half.
Hoover tried to put together a drive late in the half, reaching the Massillon 29. But Remark made a nice interception at the 20.
Partridge converted two third downs with throws to Grunder and Justin Olack, setting up Jeremy Geier’s 24-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
A Massillon fumble early in the second half set up Hoover’s only TD, as Dan Leek made the recovery at the Tiger 49. Howard did much of the work, but a Tulodzieski-to-Dan Nettleton pass for 11 yards converted a fourth-and-seven to keep the drive going.
Hoover tried to keep the momentum going with a successful on-side kick. Leek came up with the loose ball again, but the Vikings couldn’t capitalize, turning it over on downs when the Tigers stuffed Howard on for a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-two.
“We told our guys,” Hall said, “to leave it on the field and we did that.”
