By Ryan buck

rbuck@vindy.com

warRen

A night for celebration and throwback regalia became a first half throwdown before Massillon ran away from Warren Harding 35-14 as the Raiders celebrated the return of hometown hero and football Hall of Famer Paul Warfield Friday night at Mollenkopf Stadium.

The Raiders (1-2) erased a 14-point first quarter deficit before the Tigers (3-0) responded with 21 unanswered points and dominated the second half.

“In the first half, we showed our resolve to come back,” Harding coach Steve Arnold said. “We spotted them 14, but we’re not a good enough team to spot a good team 14 points.”

Danny Clark, Massillon’s freshman quarterback, engineered the Tigers’ efficient opening drive, highlighted by a 30-yard pass to Marcus Whitfield inside the Harding 10-yard line. On third-and-goal, JD Crabtree walked into the end zone untouched from one yard out.

It was back to Crabtree on Massillon’s next possession. With excellent field position following a Harding three-and-out, the senior running back carried three times for 26 yards. Another 1-yard touchdown left Harding with a 14-0 deficit as the first quarter came to an end.

Harding’s offensive line found a rhythm in the second quarter and opened up the field for running backs John “Buddah” Coleman and Keemari Murry.

Murry, who rushed for 179 yards on the night, capped the 11-play drive with a 34-yard touchdown run.

He appeared to be stopped at the line of scrimmage, but broke through two tackles and outran the Massillon secondary.

“We were grinding it out,” said Arnold. “We looked, at times, like how we want to look offensively.”

Hobbled by a foot injury through the first two weeks of the season, Lamar Carmichael looked more than healthy on Harding’s next drive.

Facing fourth-and-six at the Massillon 16. Carmichael rolled out, spun out of what looked to be a second straight sack and fired a perfect strike to Nate Walls, who was crossing the middle of the end zone to tie the game at 14.

“That’s what we missed,” Arnold said of his starting quarterback. “That’s his game-breaking ability.”

The tie was short-lived, however. Whitfield returned the following kickoff 45 yards to the Raiders’ 33. On the only play of the drive, Massillon receiver Reggie Rogers snuck behind the Raiders’ defensive backs and hauled in Clark’s pass to give the Tigers a 21-14 lead with 3:31 remaining in the half.

“You have the crowd back into it, we’re on an emotional high and we give them the score right before halftime to put them up 21-14,” Arnold said. “They took the wind out of our sails on that one.”

After forcing the Raider to punt quickly on their first drive of the second half, the Massillon offense continued right where it left off. On third and long from Harding’s 33 yard-line, Whitfield took Clark’s quick screen pass 30 yards and Lyron Wilson scored on the next play.

Massillon’s quick-strike abilities and superior abilities at the skill positions showed itself in the game’s critical moments.

“I knew right away I wanted to come back,” said Massillon coach Jason Hall. “[Harding] had a good little drive there and tied it up. We got that good return and it was definitely a chance to come out and take a home run shot to Reggie.”

Crabtree scored his third touchdown of the night with 5:21 left in the third quarter.