MASSILLON — Massillon has made a habit of reaching the Division II regional championship football game.
It’s a habit the Tigers had no intention of kicking on Friday night at Arlin Field.
Massillon scored first, last, and every time in-between in dominating Big Walnut 38-0 in the Division II, Region 7 semifinal at Arlin Field. The fourth-seeded Tigers will be playing in their fifth consecutive regional championship game when they challenge Green next week.
Massillon took an early 7-0 lead when Freddie Lenix Jr. scored on a 21-yard TD dash in the first quarter.
A fake punt spearheaded another scoring drive that Darrius McElroy capped from 23 yards away with 4:27 showing in the half. The Tigers went 70 yards in just 38 seconds, with McElroy’s 5-yard scoring blast finishing the march with just 27 seconds to play before intermission.
That made it 21-0 as Massillon’s defense forced two early fumbles to short-circuit Big Walnut’s attack.
In the third period, freshman Jalen Slaughter fired a 64-yard touchdown pass to Ardell Banks at the 9:04 mark for a 28-0 bulge. Shane Rue’s 20-yard field goal pushed the gap to 31-0 with 4:07 showing on the third-quarter clock.
The remainder of the game was played with a running clock.
Slaughter’s 13-yard TD pass to Kurtis Miller finished the scoring with 2:40 remaining.
No. 1 seed Big Walnut finished its season with a 12-1 record.
Massillon takes an 11-2 mark into next week’s regional finial against seventh-seeded Green (10-3). The Bulldogs beat Wooster 21-14 on Friday night.
