In the blue collar Ohio town of Massillon, the most important thing is high school football, and the frenzy around home team the Tigers is, as one resident observes, like “a cult... a religion.” Shot on high-definition video, former Massillon resident Kenneth Carlson’s documentary follows the three stars of the 1999 team, co-captains Ellery Moore, Dave Irwin, and linebacker Danny Studer, as they deal with problems like personal injuries and the pressures of their economically depressed town’s high expectations. As the Tigers lurch ahead through a winning 106th season, Massillon’s school system is challenged by bankruptcy, threatening teachers, education, even the team itself.

With its subject a town so obsessed with the sport that it is traditional to award a little football to each newborn male, this documentary could have been a comic indictment of the “athletics over education” fervor of small town U.S.A. Instead it works as both a tribute to American spirit and an anthropological document of the colorful ceremonies and celebrations of the people of Massillon. Carlson doesn’t shy away from criticism of his subject, but still manages to transcend a “warts and all” documentary approach to achieve a portrait of Americana that is exciting and inspirational.

In the blue collar Ohio town of Massillon, the most important thing is high school football, and the frenzy around home team the Tigers is, as one resident observes, like “a cult... a religion.” Shot on high-definition video, former Massillon resident Kenneth Carlson’s documentary follows the three stars of the 1999 team, co-captains Ellery Moore, Dave Irwin, and linebacker Danny Studer, as they deal with problems like personal injuries and the pressures of their economically depressed town’s high expectations. As the Tigers lurch ahead through a winning 106th season, Massillon’s school system is challenged by bankruptcy, threatening teachers, education, even the team itself.

With its subject a town so obsessed with the sport that it is traditional to award a little football to each newborn male, this documentary could have been a comic indictment of the “athletics over education” fervor of small town U.S.A.    more...