by The frozen tundra of Byers field was the venue for the night as the Massillon Tigers defeated the Lake Blue Streaks in the regional finals 24 to 6. The Tigers held the Blue Streaks to only one touchdown on the day when the game was out of reach.
Massillon got the ball first to start the game as their run heavy offense forced its way down the field despite the tough play from Lake defense. Lake put five defensive linemen down and filled up the box with safeties and linebackers to stop the run.
Massillon worked its way to the door mat of Lakes endzone, the Blue Streaks got a stop on the goal line, giving them nothing to work with when they got the ball after the turnover on downs. On their first and only play of the first quarter, Lake fumbled and recovered in their own endzone giving the Tigers a two to nothing lead.
Massillon received the ball right back after the safety on the positive side of the field. They continued to hand the ball off to Willtrell Hartson who was the work horse for the entire first half. Harston was the man who waltzed into the endzone from four yards out to give the Tigers a nine to zero lead.
Lake ran three straight plays losing yards on each play they ran. Lake could not find their way into the endzone the entire first half. Massillon had a chance to tack on more with seconds left until QB Jalen Slaughter fumbled with 15 seconds left as Lake ran the clock out of the half.
Lake received the ball to start the second half but had to punt due to a three and out giving Massillon ball with a short field to work with. Hartson was the man once again for majority of the possession until it was time to give the ball up to Pringle to punch another run home for the Tigers 16 to zero.
The dagger on the day came when Jalen Slaughter scrambled out of the pocket to connect with Dorian Pringle for a short yardage touchdown to make the score 24-0. Lake scored with 1:22 left in the game due to a run from Matthew Sollberger.
The player of the game is Willtrell Wartson who was a workhorse for the Tigers with 40 rushes for 175 yards and 1 touchdown.
