Massillon rolled into Zanesville and rolled Ashville Teays Valley last Friday. The Tigers performed well in all three phases of the game and came out with a 48-14 victory.
Tyler Hackenbracht was the man of the night. All season he has excelled on multiple sides of the ball. He has continued to flip the field with his punting duties, put the Tigers into great field position with his kick returns, and play lockdown defense at safety. He draws well-merited comparisons to Austin Brawley, the Tigers’ ultimate “all-around” player from just a few seasons ago. On Friday the Tigers had no need to punt with the first string, but they most certainly needed to return punts from Teays Valley. Tyler Hackenbracht stepped up and had the best return night of his career. He took three kicks back for touchdowns– one 50-yard punt return, one 81-yard punt return, and a 100-yard kickoff return. Tyler returned three punts for 129 yards (second all-time behind Austin Brawley’s 140) and a kickoff for 100 (second all-time behind John Francisco’s 105 [100+ yard returns are not legal today as these kicks are automatic touchbacks]). Together this 229-yard performance shatters the Tigers previous record of 172 return yards (Keyshawn Watson in 2015). In addition to this feat, Tyler also played his usual stellar game at safety, recording 4 tackles and a pass breakup. This all-time night led to the Tigers only running four plays in the first half and possessing the ball for only 1:22. The Tigers would score on 3 of those four plays and 6 of the 8 times that they had the ball in their hands (including special teams). For this incredible performance, Tyler Hackenbracht is this week’s spotlight player.
