When it comes to recruiting, Ohio State has always protected its borders

[obie7661]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/story/155740.html

...The secret to Ohio State’s success? It’s not much of a secret. A recent national census, from 2005, ranked Ohio as the seventh most populous state, with 11.4 million residents – almost twice Washington’s population of 6.2 million.

Then there is football’s status as Ohio’s de-facto state religion. Ohio is the birthplace of the NFL (Canton), home to a famous Cradle of Coaches (Miami, where Hayes made an impression on an offensive tackle named Bo Schembechler) and site of America’s first prep dynasty (Massillon, where Paul Brown’s Washington High team once went an entire season without punting....)

[MTown]

Ok historians...did we really go an entire season without punting? What year was that?

[longtimefirsttime]

From the Professional Football Researchers Association:

"Paul Brown, with his cerebral approach to the game, gave pro football another facelift in the late-40s when the All-America Football Conference was born. Ridiculed as "a high school coach with a high school team" because of his incredible success at Washington High in Massillon, Ohio, (he once went a season without having to punt, and Ohio high school coaches lobbied to get him the head coaching job at Ohio State so they would have a chance of winning a state scholastic championship),"

I would guess that it was 1940, where the Tigers only gave up six points all season. And that came from the Bulldogs in the final game. The Studers might know. It's difficult because punting stats at the high school level oftern were not recorded back then.