70 Points in a Game

[TanksAndSpartans]

In 1904, the Ohio League got a few national headlines when Massillon scored 148 in a game against the Marion Athletic Club. The clipping below was from a newspaper in Chicago. Several other papers picked up the same short note:

Screen Shot 2023-09-28 at 9.49.55 AM.png (93.91 KiB) Viewed 2624 times

Massillon scored twenty-six touchdowns and eighteen extra points. The local Marion paper reported on the game (beyond what was picked up nationally). The game account noted Bob Shiring (C) (among others) was one of the stars of the game. Who scored all those TDs may be lost to history though (unless someone here knows?). There was another high scoring game earlier in the season where one of Massillon's halfbacks scored 5 TDs. He played under the assumed name Riley, but I don't recall his real name off the top of my head. I could dig through my stuff and find it if anyone is interested. About 6 weeks later, Massillon added Ted Nesser as insurance for the championship game against Akron, but didn't start him. The local papers referred to Nesser as a star halfback, but he wound up only getting into the game at tackle when one of the starters went down with an injury. Massillon won that one by a much more modest score of 6-5.

[Bob Gill]

I went to the Massillon library once years ago to see what the Massillon paper had to say about the Tigers from 1915-19, and as I recall it covered the team pretty well. If that paper (can't remember the name of it) was around in 1904, it might have printed a better article. Given the small space generally allotted to football in those days, though, I imagine some of those 26 TDs went unreported no matter what paper you look in.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Bob! There have definitely been a few games where I wish I had the Massillon coverage. So far I’m making do with Canton, Akron, Shelby, etc. Newspapers.com doesn't seem to have a Massillon paper for '03-'19.

I think there was some kind of wire service at the time but what seems to get distributed is just short articles like the one above. The Marion Star actually did publish a box score (it just did so without the scoring part). Maybe everyone lost track

Screen Shot 2023-09-28 at 12.36.02 PM.png (191.28 KiB) Viewed 2602 times

P.S. Kerkhoff was the team's regular LG, but just noticed he isn't in the box score above, so I edited my first post.

[JohnH19]

My only thought is that this Mike McDaniel seems like one of those guys, who think the first 90 years of the NFL never happened and PFF created the Big Bang. Not an iota of respect or admiration for football history in him. I'm certain all of us here would've kicked the field goal. Not one of us!!!

I give McDaniel credit for not making a classless decision to set an essentially unimportant record.

[Brian wolf]

Why John? McDaniel already ran up the score ... might has well have been the first team to score 77 points, they had what, 6-8 minutes left in the game to do it? I remember reading one time where Bob Lilly would complain about the Cowboys offense running up scores in some games, then not scoring enough in games they needed to win. It can bite teams sometimes.

[JameisBrownston]

Whoa, was Marion even a pro team?! Why isn't that as well known as the 222-0 college game from the same era?

[TanksAndSpartans]

Whoa, was Marion even a pro team?!

I don't know much about the Marion team. I know they were an athletic club and not a high school or college. In 1904, they did schedule games against some of the other top teams in the region. They lost to Shelby by a more respectable score of 29-0 (also short halves though) for example. The game account in The Marion Star didn't complain the other team was payed more, just that they weighed more I think it's safe to assume they were locals though. You can see their lineup - I don't think they were going out and recruiting former college or pro stars with the hope of beating a Massillon or an Akron type club. At the same time, I'd bet some of their players had college playing experience - unless it was a team like Columbus organized around the fact they worked at the same place. I'm just speculating at this point.

[JohnH19]

Why John? McDaniel already ran up the score ... might has well have been the first team to score 77 points, they had what, 6-8 minutes left in the game to do it? I remember reading one time where Bob Lilly would complain about the Cowboys offense running up scores in some games, then not scoring enough in games they needed to win. It can bite teams sometimes.

I’m not sure what your Dallas example has to do with McDaniel’s decision not to kick a FG in the last seconds of a 70-20 game. Do you think giving yourself and your team a reputation as classless a-holes, with targets on your backs for the rest of the season and probably longer, was worth the three points to set/tie the record? The Dolphins scored their last points on a 67 yard run with seven minutes left. How is that running up the score?

[Brian wolf]

They look like A-holes anyway ... if 70 points doesnt sound like running up the score, what the hell does? I never said anything about kicking a FG ...

[JameisBrownston]

Yeah, I just said kicking the field goal because it was the thing that was handed to them on a platter. Personally, after seeing the 50+ yard run by the Brooks dude, I probably would've brought all the boys back on the yard for the last few redzone plays and sold my soul for a touchdown.