This week’s meeting between the McKinley High School Bulldogs and the Washington High School Tigers marks the schools’ 129th matchup. Football is so important to both communities, to the point that every year, each child born in Massillon, OH is gifted a stuffed Tiger from the Athletic Director at Washington High School. Both schools are having great seasons, with the Tigers currently undefeated and the Bulldogs with only one loss on the season. Look for an intense matchup that could come down to the final snap of the football to call it.

MVP

Jamir Thomas
Massillon

SCHOLAR ATHLETES

Cameron Sunkle

Massillon

Cameron is a two-year letterman on the varsity football team and will be a four-year letterman in swimming. He was a district qualifier in the 100 backstroke and on the All-Stark County Swim Team in 2017. He was a key member of the district qualifying medley relay team in 2018.Cameron is a four-year member of Student Council and a three-year member of the National Honor Society. He plans to attend Muskingum University and major in accounting and sports management.
Isaiah Shrake

McKinley

Isaiah has been a member of the football and baseball teams for four years and will be a second year letterman in football this year. He is a member of National Honor Society and has been on the Honor Roll throughout high school. He is undecided on where he’ll attend college, but eventually wants to own his own business.

HALL OF FAME

Tim Daniels

Massillon

Tim played in the 1976 and 1977 rivalry and won both. He was the stalwart on an offensive line that dominated play in both of those games. He earned All-Ohio and All-American honors his senior year, before heading to the University of Tennessee. After lettering his freshman year at UT, he required surgery for cancer which ended his playing career. However, his love for football did not end. Upon graduation from college, Tim entered the ranks of high school coaching. He began coaching at Doyle High School in Knoxville in the mid 80’s and coached football for the rest of his life. The majority of his coaching experience, as both a head coach and as an assistant, was in Tennessee. But there was a four-year stint where he returned to coach at his high school alma mater, Massillon. Tim suddenly died at home due to a pulmonary embolism in April of 2018. He was married for 37 years to his high school sweetheart, Debby, and together they had a daughter, Taylor Rae.
Antonio Hall

McKinley

Antonio played in the McKinley/Massillon rivalry from 1997-1999 and helped McKinley to three straight wins over Massillon along with back to back state championships. The all-county and all-Ohio selection continued his education and playing career at the University of Kentucky, where he earned All-SEC honors in 2002 and 2003. He finished his playing career in the CFL, where he was a member of the Calgary Stampeders’ 2008 Grey Cup Championship team. Enshrined in the McKinley football Hall of Fame in 2016, Antonio is currently a Social Studies teacher at McKinley and a coach on the Bulldogs’ staff. He is the proud father of Nicholas and Noah.

GAME SUMMARY

In a tight battle with McKinley, Massillon ended up coming out on top with a 24-17 victory. All that separated the teams was a one-yard touchdown run by Zion Phifer by Massillon with just under six minutes left in the game. The teams couldn't be separated early, each trading blows. In front of a packed house, though, the Tigers from Massillon would get that crucial touchdown late to put away the Bulldogs from McKinley.

GAME GALLERY