The 137th renewal of Ohio’s most storied high school football rivalry was all Massillon on Saturday, as the Tigers shut out Canton McKinley 31-0 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium to win the rivalry game for the 11th straight time.
Massillon controlled the line of scrimmage from the opening kickoff in front of a sold-out crowd. The Tigers piled up 262 total yards — 233 of them on the ground — behind Michigan State-bound running back Savior Owens, who accounted for the bulk of the rushing attack as Massillon built a lead that put a running clock into effect for most of the second half.
The Tiger defense was even more dominant. Massillon’s front seven held the Bulldogs to negative-21 rushing yards for the afternoon, with McKinley’s longest run from scrimmage going for less than ten yards. It was the kind of defensive performance head coach Nate Moore has built his program on: run the ball, and stop the run.
The win was Moore’s 11th in 12 meetings with McKinley since taking over the Massillon program, and it pushed the Tigers’ lead in the all-time series to 79-53-5. The rivalry, first played in the 19th century, remains one of the most attended and most intensely followed high school football series in the country.
McKinley played shorthanded, missing its No. 1 running back, Kyelin West, and the Bulldogs could never find an offensive answer against a Massillon defense that capitalized on their mistakes throughout the afternoon. The shutout was Massillon’s most lopsided result in the series in recent memory and sent the Tiger faithful home celebrating long before the final whistle.
Both teams now turn to the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs, whose final computer ratings and pairings were released Sunday. Massillon, 9-1, earned the No. 3 seed in Division II, Region 7 and a first-round bye, and will open its postseason run in the regional quarterfinals on November 6.
McKinley, 7-3, drew the No. 7 seed in Division I, Region 1 and will host Brunswick (6-4) in a first-round game on Friday, October 30, with all playoff games kicking off at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs will have five days to regroup — and to hope for West’s return — before their season is on the line.
Photo: Sean P Bender, CC BY-SA 3.0