Massillon Beats Defending D-1 Champs St. Edward in Lakewood

The Tigers rolled into Lakewood and beat defending D-1 champion St. Ed’s for the third consecutive year on Friday night. Massillon’s defense stood strong in several critical situations late in a back-and-forth game, and the Tigers took home a 31-21 victory.

First Quarter

The Tigers defense forced a punt on St. Edward’s first drive of the game after Isaac Maxheimer and Logan Allman stuffed a third down run. Massillon was unable to move the ball on their end, and punted the ball back to the Eagles. St. Ed’s drove deep into Tigers’ territory, but the Massillon defense forced a field goal attempt after Tra’Yon Williams blew up an option play. Deontay Malone got a hand on the ball and blocked the field goal, giving Massillon the ball. Ja’Meir Gamble had a big run that set the Tiger up near the goal line. At the end of the first, the game was a scoreless tie.

Second Quarter

St. Ed’s made a stand and forced the Tigers to attempt a field goal. Tigers’ kicker Mateo Herrera nailed the kick and put Massillon up 3-0. The Tigers’ defense once again stood strong, and Joseph Karder blocked the Eagles’ punt, setting Massillon up in St. Edward territory. The Tigers drove down the field, but faced a fourth down. Ja’Meir Gamble took the ball up the middle and broke away for a 15-yard touchdown. The Eagles responded quickly with a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Thomas Csanyi, making the score 10-7. Massillon was forced to punt, and Csanyi rifled a ball into the arms of receiver Zach Hackleman, giving St. Ed’s a 14-10 lead. Massillon’s offense came out on the field with 1:48 left in the half and played excellent two-minute offense. Jalen Slaughter picked up a first down on a scramble, and recovered his footing to throw a strike to Deontay Malone to put the Tigers at the Eagles’ 7. Slaughter tossed a touchdown pass to Braylyn Toles on the next play, putting the Tigers up 17-14 at the half.

Third Quarter

The Tigers’ offense started out quickly in the second half. A Deontay Malone first down catch set up another touchdown run by Ja’Meir Gamble— this one going for 47 yards. On the defensive side, the Eagles were quickly stopped after Jadyn Williams flattened a blocker to get a sack. The Tigers fumbled on their possession, and St. Ed’s was able to score despite an Isaac Maxheimer tackle for loss, narrowing the Tiger lead to 24-21. Massillon punted the ball back to the Eagles as the third quarter clock wound down.

Fourth Quarter

St. Edward drove the ball down inside the Tigers’ 40-yard line, and faced a 4th-and-two from the 35. Massillon’s defense stood up the Eagles’ run, as Jadyn Williams and Mylen Lenix smashed through and swarmed St. Ed’s running back Tyrese Buchanan. The Tigers went 3-and-out, and left it up to the defense once again to get a stop. The Eagles were stopped again, and punted the ball back to the Tigers. Massillon threw an interception on a fourth down play, and the Eagles drove the ball into Tigers’ territory. The defense made another stand, as Mike Wright and Vito McConnell stopped Ed’s on 4th-and-one for no gain. The Tigers converted a fourth down on their end on a Mylen Lenix play; Lenix would sprint 39 yards to the house for the game-clinching touchdown. St. Edward attempted a last-second effort to move the ball down the field, but a fourth down pass fell incomplete in the end zone, and the Tigers took a knee and took home a 31-21 victory.

*Final attempt falls incomplete for St. Edward*

Interesting Stats

Offense: Ja’Meir Gamble rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Mylen Lenix rushed for 64 and a touchdown. Deontay Malone led the Tigers in receiving with 54 yards. Braylyn Toles had the Tigers’ lone receiving touchdown. Jalen Slaughter went 14-22 for 106 yards— he had one touchdown and one interception.

Defense: Jadyn Williams led the Tigers with 16 tackles, including 3 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Daylan Pringle had 9 tackles. “Big Mike” Wright had 7 tackles, including 1.5 for loss; Tyler Hackenbracht had 7 tackles as well. Mylen Lenix and Logan Allman had 6 tackles; Allman had half a sack and half a TFL. Tra’Yon Williams had a tackle for loss and Isaac Maxheimer had 1.5 TFLs. Lucas Shertzer also had half a TFL. Overall the Tigers had two sacks and 5 TFLs.

Postgame Interviews

Coach Moore: On the defense…“I’m really proud of our defense, they played lights-out. Three or four fourth down stops, they stepped up with their backs to the wall”.
On the run game… “Ja’Meir played great, he hit some seams, a couple he almost had but credit to Ed’s for locking it down. Mylen’s touchdown pretty much sealed the game which was huge.” On the win in Lakewood… “Everyone feels good; winning is hard, especially at the level that we play at, so you can’t take it for granted. I’m proud of our kids and our staff.”

Mylen Lenix: “We were prepared all week; we made sure we fixed our little mistakes. Our O-linemen just went out there and dominated, on the defensive I had to fix mistakes that I’d messed up on last week, so I just came out there, thought about what the coaches told me, and did my job.”
On the fourth down plays: “I was out there screaming, ‘Y’all, it’s that time; if you want to win this game, you’ve got to make this stop’. I knew they were going to run the ball, just reading what they were doing— and then boom, we got the stop. Good physical defense.”