MANSFIELD — Chioke Bradley couldn’t wait to get back to work Saturday morning.
There were plenty of teachable moments after Friday night’s 33-0 loss to Massillon, and Mansfield Senior’s veteran coach wanted to get started as soon as possible.
“I can’t wait to watch tape in the morning,” Bradley said after the Tygers were shut out for the first time since a 35-0 loss at Massillon Perry in the first round of the 2015 playoffs. “It’s a learning experience. It’s what not to do.
“You break the film down. You don’t demoralize the kids. You show them the tape and you show them, ‘This is what you were supposed to do and this is what you did.’ If we can move forward from that and make a new mistake and not make the same mistakes going forward, then we’ll be solid.”
There were plenty of mistakes for the Tygers (2-1) to choose from Friday night. Mansfield Senior committed an uncharacteristic eight penalties, was limited to negative-29 rushing yards and had all sorts of problems on special teams.
“I really honestly believe we had way too many guys not ready to play,” Bradley said. “We had too many talkers tonight. We had too many guys talking tonight and not playing and that’s on me.
“I take full responsibility of my team not being ready to play. I take full responsibility of the undisciplined football that we saw tonight and that’s something I’m going to get fixed.”
Massillon (2-1) scored its first touchdown of the night courtesy of a blown defensive assignment by the Tygers. Running back Willtrell Hartson got loose behind the Senior High secondary on an unguarded wheel route and quarterback Jalen Slaughter hit him in stride for a 43-yard touchdown with 7:18 remaining in the first quarter.
Massillon’s next touchdown came early in the second quarter when Maverick Clark blocked a Lala Owens punt and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead. Hartson added a 7-yard touchdown run with 5:36 remaining in the first half to push the Massillon advantage to 21-0.
Things didn’t get any better after halftime.
The Tygers went three-and-out to start the second half and a bad snap on the punt attempt gave Massillon the ball at the Senior High 15. Mansfield Senior’s defense stiffened, however, and held the Tigers to a 27-yard field goal by Vinny Keller.
“Defensively I thought we played with a tremendous amount of heart,” Bradley said. “We were given some short fields, some really bad field position through special teams debacles and our offense giving us absolutely nothing. When you put your defense in those types of predicaments, you’re not going to be very successful.
“All-in-all I thought those guys did a really good job of coming out there and fighting under some really adverse situations.”
Massillon triggered the running clock when Slaughter hit receiver Ardell Banks on a short out and the rangy 6-foot-4 senior did the rest, making a Senior High defender miss before racing 51 yards for a touchdown and a 30-0 lead. Hendricks booted a 37-yard field goal midway through the fourth for the final score of the game.
Senior High will travel to Millersburg next week to take on reigning Ohio Cardinal Conference champion West Holmes. The Knights, who advanced to the Division III state semifinals last fall, clobbered Licking Valley 56-14 on Friday and are 3-0.
“After tomorrow, we’re going to turn the page on this one and we’re going to focus on the league,” Bradley said. “It’s conference play. We played a tough non-conference schedule. Now we’ve got to get into conference and make it happen.”
Hartson led the Massillon rushing attack with 100 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Slaughter completed 10-of-16 passes for 146 yards and two scores, while Banks had three catches for 58 yards and a TD.
Duke Reese completed 14-of-23 passes for 126 yards. Amarr Davis had six catches for 55 yards, while Owens had two grabs for 42 yards.
