TJ Minor gets fired up after the Big Walnut defense makes a big stop. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
Special teams plays set up two touchdowns and the defense came up with timely stops down the stretch to help Big Walnut hold off uber-talented Massillon in a thriller.
Zanesville, OH – When it comes to blue bloods in Ohio high school football, they don’t come any bluer than the Massillon Washington Tigers.
Since its inception in 1891, Massillon has accumulated some 968 wins – second in U.S. history behind Valdosta, Ga. (969) – with 24 state poll titles and nine national crowns before the Ohio High School instituted a playoff system in 1972. Since then, the Tigers have captured one state title (2023) with seven runner-ups and 17 final fours.
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Paul Brown and Earle Bruce both cut their coaching chops there.
Since coach Nate Moore took over in 2015, Massillon has been on a real heater with 119 wins (10 straight over arch-rival Canton McKinley) and eight consecutive seasons of advancing to the regional final or beyond.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
So what does all of this say about Big Walnut, which knocked off the mighty Tigers in a Division II, Region 7 championship game Friday 27-21 for a second straight season? Those so-called experts who post odds on prep games had the top-seeded Eagles as prohibitive two-touchdown underdogs.
“Beating them feels great for many reasons, but the one that stands out right now in this moment is that we feel very disrespected in spite of everything we’ve achieved the last couple years,” Golden Eagles junior running back Nolan Buirley said. “No one expected us to win tonight so we feel vindicated in a way. They thought last year’s win (14-7) was a fluke. This proves that it wasn’t.”
Once again, Big Walnut (12-1) will tangle with top-ranked Cincinnati Anderson (13-0) in a state semifinal Friday at a site to be determined. Anderson edged Big Walnut 28-24 in 2024 on the way to losing the state title game to Avon.
Nolan Buirley tries to hurdle Massillon defender Lennox Lemon.
On paper, Massillon (9-4) appeared a tad more formidable only because of its power-packed schedule that included five out-of-state opponents, highlighted by regular-season wins over Lakewood St. Edward and Canton McKinley before playoff routs of DeSales and North Canton Hoover.
But on this night, Big Walnut excelled on special teams and made just enough stops to hold off the explosive but mistake and penalty-prone Tigers in the waning seconds to take home its third regional title trophy.
“Style points don’t matter,” exuberant Big Walnut coach Curtis Crager said while addressing his players in the postgame huddle. “You guys found a way and that speaks volumes about what you’re made of.”
While Massillon outgained Big Walnut 416-201 in total yardage, due in part to Savior Owens gashing the Eagles’ stout defense for 290 yards rushing on 32 carries and three touchdowns (29, 44 and 58 yards), Big Walnut came through when the chips were down.
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On the opening series of the game played rainy conditions, a punt snap sailed over the head of Massillon’s punter and Eagles linebacker Cole Hysell recovered at the Tigers 5 yard-line.
On third down, Eli Stumpf hit Brody Hatfield in the corner of the end zone for a 3-yard TD.
Cole Hysell blocks the punt attempt of Rasmus Haines, leading to a Big Walnut score.
As the half wore on, Massillon dominated up front, allowing Owens to take over the game. The Tigers took a 14-7 before a huge momentum swing occurred – again on special teams.
In the final two minutes of the half, Hysell roared off the edge to block a punt and teammate Cole Swonguer recovered at the Tigers 11.
“That was something we worked on week in practice,” Hysell said. “Coach expects perfection from us in all three areas and we hoped we could gain an edge on them in special teams.”
Stumpf called his own number for a 6-yard score to tie it 14-14 with 1:50 left in the half.
After a defensive stand, Big Walnut used a short field to regain the lead on a 28-yard field goal by Owen Pyles.
Riding that wave of momentum into the second half, Big Walnut pieced together a seven-play, 66-yard scoring drive, capped by a 1-yard sneak by Stumpf.
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Owens hit paydirt again to cut the deficit to 24-21. Pyles added another short field goal to set up a wild but scoreless final quarter.
Massillon’s Savior Owens goes airborne over Big Walnut defender Brody Hatfield.
Big Walnut’s defense finally stiffened, make two drive-ending fourth-down stops.
But with 1:30 left, Massillon took over at the Big Walnut 44 and, thanks to a couple desperation passes, proceeded to reach the Eagles 12 with 1.7 seconds left.
Sophomore defensive end TJ Minor came off the end and got a strip-sack of Tigers quarterback Mandwel Patterson to end the game.
“We made some adjustments in the second half to try to shut down their running back,” said Minor, who had a monster game with nine tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack and one forced fumble. “It sounds simple, but we just had to hit him low and not let him break through the first wave of tacklers.”
Eli Helton had 12 tackles (10 solo) and Brody Taylor made his 10th interception of the season to aid the Golden Eagles’ defense, which came in with three straight shutouts.
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Buirley, the Central District co-offensive player of the year, picked up 109 hard-earned yards on 24 carries to pace the offense. He entered with 2,072 yards and 30 scores. Stumpf ran for two scores and made a handful of clutch throws.
“Since third grade, we’ve all grown up in the same school system so it feels really special, almost unreal, to make the final four again,” Buirley said. “I was pretty nervous on the sideline during that last drive, but I knew deep down our guys would come through when the chips were down.”
Gavin Harrington goes up and pulls down an Eli Stumpf pass deep in Tigers territory.
Crager, in his third season at Big Walnut after long stints as defensive coordinator at Dublin Coffman and DeSales, was so hoarse he could barely speak afterwards.
“These guys just fight and believe, that’s about all I can say,” Crager said. “Make no mistake about it, these players are the ones making it happen. They’ve got a lot of special qualities.”
Massillon amassed 419 yards rushing, but couldn’t get much going through the air when it needed to. The Tigers also were penalized 10 times for 156. One of their holding penalties negated a 70-yard yard run deep into Eagles territory.
Owens’ career-best performance (he had 215 yards and three TDs against DeSales a week ago) left him with 1,569 yards and 21 scores for the season.
“Going in, we knew we had to the stop the run to beat these guys, and it didn’t come together exactly as we hoped it would,” Crager said. “We’ve got a lot of things to address and fix before the next game. But the bottom line is we made the stops and we made the plays when it mattered.”
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