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10/2/05
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Tigers tbeat Ignatius in final seconds
Sunday, October 2, 2005 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By
Todd Porter Repository sports writer
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. Massillon defender Robert Morris (at right, 42) fights off a block by St. Ignatius’ Scott Biehl (32) to tackle quarterback Rudy Kirbus on Saturday.
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PARMA — At precisely 9:52 Saturday night, Shawn Weisend was ready to give away everything he owned. Everything except the feeling inside his chest, the one he will remember for the rest of his life.
Ditto that for the entire city of Massillon.
The 1,000-pound gorilla is off the Tigers’ back. Weisend’s 5-yard touchdown run with 10 seconds left at Byers Field gave the Tigers their first lead over St. Ignatius. Weisend’s 2-point conversion run made it 29-26, while Brian Gamble’s interception sealed it with three ticks left.
“Thanks, Coach, for the opportunity,” the senior quarterback said as he hugged first-year Tiger head coach Tom Stacy. “This is the best feeling in my life.”
Stacy nodded.
Weisend tried to blink away tears. There’s no crying in a high school football locker room, except when you were the 4-6 team that got trounced by Ignatius last year. The Wildcats came in having beaten Massillon in all eight games between the two schools.
“This is a great win for the new regime here, the program, the community,” Stacy said. “It’s a great feeling. ... What a fourth quarter.”
Massillon shut out Ignatius, 15-0, during the final quarter.
The win wasn’t how Stacy drew it up, but the emotion was exactly what he imagined.
Starting quarterback Bobby Huth took a pounding, eventually leaving in the middle of the game-winning drive. What would you do with 10 seconds left and a backup quarterback?
“We had confidence in Shawn,” Stacy said. “No doubt. I’m not surprised we won this game. Right now, our kids are playing with such confidence and resolve. They think they could beat anybody in the state. Without their belief, there is no way we come back from a 12-point halftime deficit, but we did.”
A Wildcat first-quarter punt pinned the Tigers inside their 5. Massillon’s offense sputtered, and the Tigers punted from their own end zone
That set up Ignatius at the Tigers 31. It took the Wildcats three plays to score from there as running back Scott Biehl went 13 yards for a 7-0 lead.
The ensuing kickoff was dropped, and Massillon started at its 4. A holding penalty negated Huth’s third-down conversion. On the next play, Huth was sacked in the end zone by Brian Neff. The Wildcats led, 9-0, and Massillon was reeling with 3:20 left in the first quarter.
But they never gave up. They never lost faith.
Weisend’s free kick after the safety put the ball at Ignatius’ 27. On third-and-21, Rudy Kirbus hit Nick Secure for a 26-yard gain to the Ignatius 45. Antonio James sacked Kirbus to force a third-and-20. This time it wasn’t converted. Still, Massillon started its own 11 with 8:53 left in the second quarter.
Then, the Tigers caught a break. As Weisend lined up to punt, the ball skipped back to him. Weisend picked up the football and hit the left corner for a 12-yard gain and a first down.
Huth completed his first pass on the next play, a 13-yarder to Zack Vanryzin. On third-and-8, Gamble took an option pitch for 10 yards to the Ignatius 47. The Tigers converted another third down when fullback Robert Morris broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage for 7 yards to the Wildcat 36.
Four plays later, with Gamble lined up in the right slot, Huth rolled left and hit Gamble on the right sideline for a 28-yard score. Steve Schott’s PAT made it 9-7, and Massillon was in the game.
Another touchdown and a school-record 50-yard field goal as the half expired, though, gave Ignatius a 19-7 lead.
“We talked about winning at halftime,” Stacy said. “The kids said we’d get it done. It was like that the entire game. When Shawn went in the game, he said, ‘Coach, don’t worry about ... I can do it.’ ”
Massillon started the second half with a 14-play, 77-yard drive in which the Tigers converted four third downs. The drive ended when fullback Quentin Nicholson scored from the 1, cutting it to 19-14.
Back and forth it went.
Ignatius scored on a 2-yard Jim Castrigano run.
Massillon answered on its first possession of the fourth quarter, a 16-play, 90-yard drive that ended with Gamble scoring from the 1. Huth connected on key passes, and Weisend threw a 10-yard pass on a fake punt for a first down.
“We gave them some new formations in the fourth quarter that we hadn’t shown before,” Stacy said.
It was 26-21, and Massillon needed a stop. Gamble broke up a huge third-down pass from Kirbus to Robby Parris. The hit jarred the ball loose, and Parris right knee bent awkwardly. He was taken off the field on a stretcher. Massillon had momentum.
With 2:38 left and the entire Tiger nation raising the roof, Massillon began a drive that will go down as one of the biggest in the program’s history.
Gamble ran for 19 yards on first down. On fourth-and-4, Lanale Robinson broke a tackle and gained 10 yards to convert. On fourth-and-15 at the Ignatius 42, Weisend hit Zack Vanryzin for 24 yards to the Wildcat 18.
Eventually, the Tigers worked inside the 5.
Weisend had the game in his hands. He saw Gamble open in the flat as he rolled right.
“I thought Brian had a 50-50 chance to get in, because the defender was trailing him,” Weisend said. “Then I thought I could get in. I had to do it for my teammates, for myself and for Massillon. It was like an out-of-body experience.”
That’s a feeling that won’t go away for a while for anyone, especially a backup, senior quarterback.
“Shawn,” Stacy said, “you made the most of your opportunity.”
You can reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail:
[email protected]4
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