T-I or T-Y: Mansfield Senior, Massillon set to renew historic rivalry
MANSFIELD — It is a rivalry that dates back 113 years.
And Friday night will only be the latest chapter in one of the oldest meetings between two Ohio high school football teams in the state.
The Massillon Tigers visit Arlin Field, home of the Mansfield Senior Tygers, for the first time since 2005 to renew a rivalry that features 52 meetings since 1909.
“It is a blessing for our kids,” Mansfield Senior coach Chioke Bradley said. “There is nowhere else in this area where you can go and get this opportunity to play in a game of this magnitude against a team with a rich tradition. It is a wonderful opportunity for our kids and our program and both communities. It is going to be packed out on Friday. I just thank God to be given this opportunity.”
Massillon comes in sporting 24 state championships, but none since 1970 and none since the Ohio High School Association implemented the playoffs in 1972. It has had historic coaches like Paul Brown, the founder of the Cleveland Browns, and Earl Bruce, the former Ohio State University football coach.
Six times the Tigers have played in the state finals during the playoff era and have come up just short each time, including the 2020 season when the Tigers fell 35-6 to Akron Archbishop Hoban.
The Tygers have played for one state championship, in 2019, losing 14-7 in overtime to Madison Trotwood.
The head-to-head matchup doesn't resemble a heated rivalry. Mansfield Senior is just 4-43-5 all-time against Massillon, with the last win for the Tygers coming in 1998 when now Mansfield Senior Superintendent Stan Jefferson coached his team to a 21-0 win at Arlin Field. The Tygers also won in 1995 in a close one, 21-20, beating Massillon for the first time since 1956. In all-time meetings, Massillon has outscored the Tygers 1,692-359.
But, in 2022, the last thing Bradley is talking to his kids about is the numbers.
“We don’t talk about numbers around here,” Bradley said. “We have never been that. Even in the state championship year. Aurora was undefeated and we had to go play in their own backyard. They went right out of their kitchen and played in their own backyard, but we never talked about the numbers. We didn’t talk about how they hadn’t lost. We just go play the game and prepare our kids Monday-Thursday and get the chance to watch them go take a test on Fridays.”
The Tygers' four wins over the Tigers came in 1949 (16-12), 1956 (14-6) and the two in the '90s. The two teams tied in 1937 (6-6), 1941 (6-6), 1946 (12-12) and 1955 (12-12), 1966 (0-0). In 1912, Massillon won 87-0, handing the Tygers their third-worst loss in program history behind a 99-6 loss to Akron Central in 1912 and an 88-0 loss to Toledo Waite in 1913. The first-ever meeting came in 1909 with Massillon winning 18-0.
But this is 2022 and the Tygers are as excited as they have ever been to get the opportunity to renew a rivalry that has laid dormant since 2005.
“The coaching staff was over the moon to get in here and start working on this,” Bradley said. “We spent a lot of time over the weekend preparing for this, and the time is finally here.”
Bradley knows playing against Massillon will only make his players better.
“This is the toughest team on our schedule and we will not play another team like this one for the rest of the year,” Bradley said. “To come out here and cut your teeth against a team of this caliber, you can’t do anything but get better. It is like when you were a kid and playing basketball with the adults — you couldn’t help but get better. It is an opportunity for us to play a juggernaut program in the mighty Tigers, and we will take everything we can away from it.”
The Tygers coaching staff got right to work after the win over North Canton Hoover to prepare for the Tigers. Sunday, Bradley and defensive coordinator Sean Adams met in the coaches office and filled a whiteboard from top to bottom and left to right with everything they saw Massillon do in its first two games — a 49-31 loss to Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller and a 35-7 win over Canton GlenOak.
“Not to take anything away from Norwalk or Hoover, but this is a special one,” Adams said. “We are taking them as they come. This is the Massillon Tigers of Stark County with a ton of tradition and we are looking forward to having the opportunity to play them.”
Mansfield Senior offensive coordinator Jacob Owens didn't skip on the work either, drawing up new plays that could work against a very good Massillon defense.
“This is what you hope for and wish for when you play high school football — an opportunity to go out and play a very talented and very well-coached team like Massillon,” Owens said. “At the end of the day, I think we are talented and well-coached, too, so it is a great matchup for us to go out and compete at a very high level.”
There will be talent all over the field and, as always, the score will settle who wins on Friday night.
But there will always be two things that will never be settled in this rivalry. First, who won the 1949 state championship? Back when the state title was determined by the Associated Press, there is a banner above the trophy case at Mansfield Senior High School with a team photo and the words "State Champs" in bold. On the Ohio High School Athletic Association website under All-Time Association Press Poll Champions, Massillon is said to be crowned the champions, and even on the Tigers' website, they lay claim to the title despite Mansfield Senior winning the regular-season meeting 16-12.
The other factor that will never be settled is exactly how the name that both teams share is spelled. After the 2002 game when Massillon beat Mansfield Senior 56-0, the Massillon Independent newspaper published a game story with the headline "It’s Tigers … spelled with an 'I'."
But in Mansfield, there is a debate about that.
“T-Y-G … E-R-S,” Bradley said with a smile.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Tygers, Tigers set to meet in rivalry that dates back 113 years
