Strangely, beating St. Edward comes back to haunt Massillon football vs. Hoban in OHSAA state semifinal

AKRON — In terms of raw postseason winning, these are the good old days for Massillon football.

In terms of raw satisfaction, the Tigers keep ending on the note of a Rolling Stones tune dating to before the OHSAA playoffs were born 50 years ago.

They try. And they try. They succeed quite a bit. In the end, they can't get any satisfaction.

In the frigid final moments of a 41-20 loss to Akron Hoban on Friday night, quarterback Jalen Slaughter turned the open end of his orange helmet toward a blast roaring from a tubular heat blower.

Sluaghter had another series to play. He popped his warmed helmet on. But it was too late.

He was replaced at the heat blower by a teammate, who sighed and said, "Maybe next year."

Akron Hoban, 14-1, advanced to Thursday's state finals in Canton, against Toledo Central Catholic. Massillon, 12-2, dropped the Division II semifinal in front of an estimated 8,000 at the University of Akron.

"We have a great group of kids who played their tails off all year," Massillon head coach Nate Moore. "I'm proud of them."

It seemed plenty plausible the 50th anniversary of the start of Ohio's playoff system could bring the Tigers their first tournament championship.

Their 12-game winning streak featured a 31-28 win over defending Division I state champ Lakewood St. Edward. It was St. Ed's only 2022 loss, and the Eagles are back in the D-I title game after trouncing Gahanna Lincoln 31-7 Friday.

Hoban, on the other hand, fell 41-20 to St. Edward in a regular-season finale.

"Our heads were really big at the time we were going into the St. Ed game," Hoban head coach Tim Tyrrell said. "I talked to them all week about the difference between being arrogant and confident. We were arrogant.

"Our coaches get mad at me for saying this, but St. Ed needed to whip our butt. If we had beat Ed's, I don't know if we'd be here at right now.

"And I think it helped St. Ed that that Massillon beat them. Ed's has not looked like that since then. Sometimes undefeated is not the best thing."

Did somebody mention good old days?

At the 40th anniversary of the OHSAA playoffs, when Massillon competed exclusively in the OHSAA's big-school division, the program's postseason record was 27-20.

Across the last 10 seasons, since the Tigers went to Division II, the record is 25-9.

Few in Ohio in any division have been as hot as the Tigers, who have won 23 postseason games across the last six years under Moore.

"We can definitely play with anybody," Moore said. "We had to go out and play well tonight. We just didn't play well enough.

"Credit to Hoban. They're really good."

The Tigers struggled against two Hoban seniors, Ohio Mr. Football finalist Lamar Sperling and 6-foot-3 receiver Jayvian Crable. Through three decisive quarters, Sperling had 226 rushing yards; Crable had 139 receiving yards.

Crable transferred from Massillon to Hoban before the 2020 season. The son of former Massillon All-Ohioan Shawn Crable, Jayvian Crable played quarterback last year before transfer JacQai Long claimed the position this year.

"JacQai is a really good quarterback," said Crable, whose 2022 positions are receiver and linebacker. "It was great playing against Massillon and some guys who are my friends, but the goal was to get to the state championship game. That's all I was thinking about the whole time."

The Tigers fell to 1-3 in playoff games against 10th-year Hoban pilot Tyrell, who has a slight connection to Tigertown. It traces to Lee Tressel, who was Massillon's head coach in 1956 and '57.

Lee's son Jim was two weeks short of his fifth birthday when Joe Sparma ran for a touchdown and threw for another in Massillon's win over McKinley in the '57 season finale.

Jim Tressel was head coach at Youngstown State in 1997 when the Penguins beat McNeese State 10-9 in the NCAA Division I-AA national championship game. The No. 1 tight end, Tyrrell, set up the game's only touchdown with a 22-yard catch.

More on Tim Tyrrell:Hoban football's Tim Tyrrell was influenced by Ohio State great Jim Tressel

Friday's scene was a flashback to 2019, when the Tigers beat Hoban 17-14 in a regional final at the University of Akron. The other two recent meetings, both in state championship games, were a 35-6 Hoban win at Massillon in 2020, and a 42-28 win at Canton in 2018.

Play action − fake handoffs to Sperling − put the Tigers in a 14-0 hole before the game was eight minutes old. Two Hoban receivers got incredibly wide open over the middle, and Long, under no rush pressure, put long throws right in their hands.

The first TD, to Deon Rodgers, covered 50 yards. The next went for 64 yards to Crable. It was 14-0.

Hoban's domination through one quarter extended to defense, including a slobberknocker hit by Knights linebacker Eli Lee when QB Jalen Slaughter, who had been getting blitzed, tried to scramble.

Slaughter got the offense unstuck with two completions to Braylyn Toles, which unlocked the running game and led to a 20-yard TD run by Willtrell Hartson.

Toles finished with 11 catches for 135 yards, as Slaughter threw for 200 yards.

Hartson gained 58 yards rushing on 20 carries, becoming the first Massillon player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, as he finished with 2,034. He also finished with 3,976 career rushing yards and 55 total TDs to finish second all-time at Massillon in both of those categories.

Hoban answered. Crable stiff-armed his way to a long catch and run. Sperling ran 11 yards for a touchdown that built the lead to 21-6 midway through the second quarter.

As the temperature dove toward 30, Hoban made a defensive stop and got a couple of showy runs from Sperling, but the Tigers stayed in the hunt on a missed 41-yard field goal as the first half ran out.

A turnabout to open the second half made it "game on."

Hoban was driving for a put-away score before the Tigers got the ball on a fumble recovery by linebacker Cody Fair. A 68-yard drive ended on Dorian Pringle's 7-yard TD run, followed by a Ja'Meir Gamble catch for the two-point conversion that made it 21-14.

Sperling killed the mood when he broke into the second level and sprinted down the right sideline on a 55-yard TD run. Hoban controlled the night from there.

"We didn't finish the way we wanted to last year," Sperling said. "This was a step to where we want to finish this year."

Hoban fell 21-10 to Winton Woods in last year's D-II state finals.

"We have 13 seniors this year," Tyrrell said. "They wanted to give it another shot. Now we get another shot"

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Massillon football season ends in OHSAA state semifinal loss to Hoban