Massillon Perry 24 - Hoover 20
October 16, 2004
Perry rallies to stop North Canton
Josh Weir, Canton Repository
NORTH CANTON — 2004 Hoover vs Massillon Perry Game Summary.
After a first half that could have made your stomach turn, the Perry High School football team put on a delicious performance.
The Panthers shut down Hoover’s spread offense, and Jeff Tallman had a big second half as Perry came back for a 24-20 win on a cold and wet Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
“We did just about everything wrong you could do wrong in that first half,” Perry coach John “Spider” Miller said. “It wasn’t pretty. But we made some adjustments at half. Defensively we played a little bit of man. (Offensively) we moved the ball out of our unbalance. Our kids fought their butts off.”
Perry (3-5, 2-4 in the league) turned the ball over five times and had 80 yards of offense before intermission. Compare that to Hoover and quarterback Jason Foote, who got loose on the Panthers’ defense.
Foote threw for 175 yards — including an 80-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Logan — and ran for another as the Vikings built an 18-3 lead. Foote finished with 227 yards on 18-of-43 passing.
“They really came out and took it to us in the second half,” Hoover coach Don Hertler said. “It’s been the story of our season. We haven’t executed in the second half well, especially the fourth quarter.”
The loss gives Hoover (1-7, 1-4) its worst record since 1953, when it finished 0-8-1.
Miller pushed all the right buttons after half time, including a fake punt on fourth-and-1 from midfield. He also took a late safety.
Tallman ran 30 times for 108 yards — 82 in the second half — and caught five passes for 49 yards. He hauled in a 33-yard scoring pass from Griffin to get the Perry offense rolling on its first second-half possession, cutting the deficit to 18-10.
Tallman’s second TD — an 18-yard run with 4:05 left in the third that made it 18-16 — was set up by a Steven Ehret interception. Griffin hit tight end Luke Kolic for the 2-point conversion, and the game was tied.
Tallman carried eight times — including a 7-yard run on the fake punt — to set up the go-ahead score. On the ninth play, Griffin rolled out and hit Kolic in the left flat. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior broke two tackles, then hurtled himself across the goal line with 7:03 left.
“I knew I had to score,” Kolic said. “I’m not seeing anyone. I just put my head down and ran straight ahead.”
The extra point was blocked, and Perry led 24-18.
Hoover’s offense was non-existent in the second half, its fun-and-gun look handcuffed by a stiff wind and Perry’s blitzing defense.
The Vikings turned the ball over on downs at Perry’s 14 with a little more than two minutes left. After three Panther plays amounted to nothing, and facing a fourth down deep in their territory, Miller ordered punter Derrick Semilia to run out of the end zone for a safety.
“(The coordinators) were yelling in my ear, but I already had it in my head,” Miller said.
Kolic blasted the free kick, and Ehret made a great tackle in coverage to pin the Vikings at their 34 with no timeouts and 1:10 left.
Hoover advanced to Perry’s 46, but Jake Karam picked off a Foote pass with less than 10 seconds to play.
Game Notes:
Logan finished with 10 catches for 164 yards for Hoover.
Sean Kostelnik added five grabs for 58 yards.
Source: fridaynightohio.com