It was a rare miss for Geiser, noted for his glue hands. Spielman took a pitchout and launched a wobbly‑but‑on‑target strike to a wide‑open Geiser, who lost control of the ball.
Whether the injury caused a lapse of concentration or not, the Tigers lost a quick seven on the very next play.
Brad Offenbecher and Pfisterer split quarterback duties the rest of the way. Serious injury was feared, but he left the field under his own power and later returned for a punt. The only downer of the night came on the Tigers’ next possession when DeWitz took a vicious blindside hit and fell unconscious to the ground. The 23-yarder made it 24-0 with 6:23 left in the third period. The Tigers’ advanced to the Berea six, but played it safe and relied on the steady foot of Pfisterer for a field goal. Pfisterer’s kick made it 21‑0 at halftime.īerea received the second half kickoff, but Tiger linebacker George Ziegler got the ball right back with an interception, returning the ball to the Berea 31. With 13 seconds remaining in the half, DeWitz fired over the middle to Conley, who put on the best open‑field running exhibition of the year in sidestepping defenders en route to a 13‑yard touchdown. With 1:42 left in the half, Conley’s receiving and defensive backfield cohort, senior Jim Geiser, intercepted a halfback option pass and returned it deep into Berea territory at the 21. The perfectly‑executed 28‑yard scoring play ended with the Tigers leading 14‑0. DeWitz stepped back and unleashed a perfect strike to senior receiver Gary Conley, who enjoyed his greatest night as a Tiger. The capper came on a first‑and‑23 play following a holding penalty. Bronc Pfisterer added the conversion kick.īerea was forced to punt again, and this time the Tigers moved 60 yards to score in eight plays. The score came on a three‑yard linebuck by Spielman with 8:44 remaining in the half. The only pass was a 22‑yarder from quarterback Brian DeWitz to Spielman to end the first quarter. It took the Tigers’ 12 plays to move the length of the field. Led by the big, bad boomers known as the Massillon front line, the running combination of junior Chris Spielman and senior Jim Bushe ground out steady chunks of yardage. So did Berea, with quarterback Davis’ kick downed at the Tiger one‑yardline.
The Tigers received the opening boot but had to punt. Conditions were less than perfect an intermittent drizzle fell from the heavens while a steady wind made the temperature seem colder than it was. Passing wasn’t much better, as Berea quarterback Bill Davis completed only eight of 30 attempts as the Tigers’ hard‑hitting and strong rush resulted in a flurry of hurried passes and some ill‑timed drops.Ī crowd of 15,250 showed up at the Akron Rubber Bowl. With star running back Rod Witlow hobbled, the Braves’ running game was nonexistent. On the Tigers’ second possession, they marched 99 yards Braves for the first score of the game, eating up almost eight minutes of the clock.īerea was expected to struggle offensively a shutout certainly concedes the point. The Braves were allowing barely 100 yards a game defensively. The Tigers almost matched that in a single night no other team had ever even scored twice on the Braves. Perhaps in this case, a great team made them.īerea entered the game having allowed only 36 points in 11 contests. The only response to that comes from “The Sports Writer’s Bedside Companion of Cliches and Alliteration” ‑ a good team makes its own breaks. AKRON ‑ Was Massillon head coach Mike Currence kidding?Īfter Saturday’s 31‑0 thrashing of Berea, Currence commented, “We were lucky tonight.
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