Banner Graphic, Greencastle, Putnam County, 5 September 1973 — Page 19

V '

»- —

Wednesday, Septembers, 1973

Banner-Graphic, Greencastle, Indiana

Notre Dame To Atone For Last Season’s Let Downs

B\ MIKE HARRIS Associated Press Sports Writer SOUTH BEND Ind. (AP) — If 1972 was a rebuilding season for the Notre Dame football team, then 1973 is rebounding season. Ara Parseghian’s ninth Irish

squad went through last season with an 8-3 record and national ranking. But that group, hindered by injuries and the rap of a pushover schedule, lost the two big ones. National champion Southern California bombed the Irish 45-

World’s Fastest Outboard

Jim Merten of Oshkosh, Wis., heads for a new world onthonrd speed record of 136.381 mph on the Fox river at kankanna. is. The feat, which broke the existing record by more than 5 mph, was witnessed by officials of the Union of International Motnrhoatin<r and American Power Float Association. The new record is now pending official certification by UIM. His l*oat was a Twister-Craft cabover threepoint hydro, powered l»y a 100-eubic inch Mercury outboard motor. Tlie previous record speed was 131.051 mph, set in March 1966 by Gerry Walin of Edmonds, Wash.

23 in the regular season finale, then Nebraska walloped Notre Dame 40-6 in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day. Those losses left Notre Dame with a passable record for the tradition-minded school, but a definite bad taste in the mouths of those connected with the team. The 1973 schedule is not filled with powerhouse opponents, either, but Michigan State, Purdue and Southern California will spruce up an otherwise drab cast. Another tradition at the South Bend school is big, strong defensive linemen in the mold of graduated senior Greg Marx. Sophomore Steve Niehaus, a 6-foot-5. 270-pound tackle, appears ready to take over the role. Niehaus drew raves in the first four games last season when he and Marx keyed a defense that gave up only 30 points and held two opponents scoreless. The youngster then injured a knee in practice and missed the rest of the season. . . only one of a series of injuries that made a good defense become average. Now, Niehaus is back, along with 13 other regulars. The offense looks solid, with quarterback Tom Clements and running backs Gary Diminick

and fleet Eric Penick returning to the backfield and guards Frank Pomarico and Gerry DiNardo, tackle-turned-tight end Dave Casper and split end Willie Tow nsend also back. The offensive tackles and center are key positions that are being hotly contested by a group of youngsters with virtually no game experience. The defensive backfield. bolstered by /eturnees Mike Townsend^ Reggie Barnett and Tim Rudnick, is solid, but the linebacking corps and Niehaus’ mates in the front four are question marks. The front four was clobbered by injuries consistently last year and never did recover. The best bets to start along with Niehaus appear to be senior George Havduk and sophomore Jim Stock, both 6-3 and 225, at ends, and either 6-6, 270pound junior Mike Fanning or 6-4, 265-pount junior K evin Nosbusch at the other tackle spot Junior Drew Mahalic. a starter and quarterback of the defense at middle linebacker last year, is back. But Jim Musuraca and Jim O’Malley are gone and Parseghian is going to have to replace them with untried players. Parseghian, facing the first two-game losing string in his years at Notre Dame, isn’t

pushing the panic button because of the team’s inexperience or the poor finish last year.

“We’re a year older now, a year more mature, a year more experienced.” He added, ‘Notre Dame has

been a leader in team defense seven of the nine years I’ve been here, and we hope to return to our usual quality of de-

The Irish open at home against Northwestern Sept. 22.

Schedule More To His Liking

By JERRY LISKA Associated Press Sports Writer CHAMPAIGN 111. (AP) Football fortune for Coach Bob Blackman seems to ?ig when his University of Illinois team zags. The Ulin; have shed the early bear-trap schedule that crunched them for six straight opening defeats in Blackman's debut season of 1971 and seven straight last season. But now that the Fighting IIlini have a fighting chance right off the bat schedulewise. Blackman is playing eenie-meenie-minie-mo for a takecharge quarterback. And his All-American split end prospect, Garvin Roberson, is sidelined indefinitely with hepatitis. Graduated is towering Mike Wells, who might have ignited a fairly solid Illini squad to success against such early foes as Indiana, California, West Virginia and Stanford. So Blackman is pondering over no fewer than four candi-

dates to direct what he describes as the strongest running corps he’s had since arriving at Illinois from a long and highly successful career at Dartmouth. Momentarily the best quarterback bet is 6-3, 200-pound Jeff Hollenbach, who is built and throws like Wells, but can’t run like Wells and is a varsityreserve graduate. The most seasoned of the sig-nal-calling quartet is senior Tom Me Cartney, who played 75 minutes the past two seasons as backup man for Wells and did heroically last fall against Southern California despite a 55-20 Trojan trimming of the Illini. The other two quarterback contenders are Terry Ormsby, w ho got in for eight plays last season, and Jim Kopatz, who led the frosh to a 3-2 record. “I've never seen four quarterbacks so close in ability,” commented Blackman. “All do some things very well and vet

With th^ coupon

22-oi. Pkg.

Betty Crocker

Pie Crust

Sticks

With »hi» coupon 16-or. Bottle Liquid Vanish

Windex Aerosol

Instant Tea

994 25 II 45 11 69

Kroger Coffee $£69

Margarine 49

SaU ( ect io local a»d state sales tai • hru Sat . Seo'emfcer 6. H71

at k'oter Stores

Subject to local and state sales tai Vairi thru Sat . Seotember 8. H7J

at Kroger Stan

Citrus Punch 49

ru Sat.. Seotembcr |, i at Kroger Stores

PRICES

ptos TOP' TOP VALUE aMe , STAMPS *

Only Krofr offers you tho bonus unrlngt of Top Value Stamps Over 3,000 gitte to choOM from in tf*o Top Value Gift Catalog Furnithingi for home and family. Giftj for all occasions. A veritable department store between covers. And every gift is FREE for Top Value Stamps.

all have an area of weakness.” But the Illini seemingly would need a quarterback who does everything well if they are to improve their 3-5 Big Ten record last season for a sixthplace tie with Indiana. One favorable schedule factor is that the Illini this season don’t have their back-to-back assignments against Ohio State and Michigan until November. By that time, the Illini will have played four Big Ten games — Indians, against whom they open away Sept. 15, Purdue, Michigan State and Iowa. The past two seasons, the IIlini’s only conference test before the Ohio State-Michigan confrontation was Michigan State. In between, the Illini were rocked by North Carolina, Southern California and Washington in 1971 and by Southern California, Washington and Penn State last season. The loss of Roberson, fifth-

best receiver in Illini history, is bound to take the edge off Blackman’s passing attack and put more emphasis on a running game hubbed around two of the Big Ten’s finest rushers, George Uremovich and Lonnie Perrin. Ed Jenkins, Roger Coleman, Steve Greene and Tracy Campbell also can ramble in an offensive unit with seven holdover starters including linemen John Gann, John Levanti, Bruce Dobson and Gerry Sullivan. Linebacking and secondary are strong with such returning starters as Ken Braid, Chuck Kogut, Greg Colby, Bruce Beaman, Mike Gow and Bill Uecker. The defensive front line, however, is a companion problem to quarterbacking. With tackle Mike Waller lost by back surgery only Mark Peterson, Mick Heinrich and transplanted linebacker Octavus Morgan are seasoned performers.

Green Bay Packers Expect To Be Bigger And Better This Year

By MIKE O BRIEN Associated Press Sports Writer GREEN BAY Wis. (AP) - The ancient axiom that no team can win a National Football League crown without a t o p-flight quarterback has failed to temper the heady talk of Super Bowl around what used to be called ‘Titletown, U.S.A.” The Green Bay Packers, in a steady decline since they won the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968. surprised even their insatiable fans by transforming a 4-8-2 record in 1971 to 10-4 and a playoff berth last season, Dan Devine’s second year as coach and general manager. After a year’s familiarization process with the NFL, the former University of Missouri coach rid himself of the few veterans who refused to accept him. He rebuilt the Packers through shrewd trades that brought running back MacArthur Lane, linemen Malcolm Snider and Alden Roche and safety Jim Hill and draft picks that produced runner John Brockington, cornerback Willie Buchanon and kicking sensation Chester Marcol. Green Bay won the NFC’s “Black and Blue" Central Division despite, statistically, the league's second poorest passing attack. Second-year quarterback Scott Hunter completed only 43 per cent of his 199 passes and rookie Jerry Tagge, whose development was slowed by a preseason injury, connected on 10 of 29. The Packers’ title ingredients were a ball control offense built around Brockington and Lane, best rushing tandem in the conference with a combined 1,848 yards; Marcol, who led the league in scoring with 128 points and converted 33 of 48 field goal attempts, and a defense that led the NFC with 248 yards allowed per game. “This team, as a team, got as much out of its collected ability as, maybe, anybody ever has, ” Devine said. But he hastens to add he expects even better things in 1973. “I expect this team to be a better team this year if for no other reason than it is a young team with an added year of experience,” he said. “Whatever losses in personnel we’ve had have been balanced by our draft and trades.” Devine has declared Hunter his No. 1 quarterback “until somebody beats him out,” and believes both Hunter and Tagge have profited from offseason work. Devine acquired Jim Del Gaizo from Miami in mid-Au-gust, and the former Dolphin taxi-squad member will be given a long look at quarterback. The only other question mark is at strong side linebacker, where former all-pro Dave Robinson has left by trade. Otherwisf, the squad has fewer holes to fill than at any time since the three successive championships of the mid-60s. Rookie Tom MacLeod appears to have won Robinson’s old job.” With guard Gale Gillingham and tight end Rich McGeorge— the former an all-pro and the latter a budding star—back from injuries that shelved them most of last year, the Packers have healthy competition at all positions. Snider, who filled in more than adequately for Gillingham may push Bill Hayhoe out of a starting slot. Center Ken Bowman, guards Gillingham and

Bill Lueck and tackle Dick Himes comprise the rest of a solid offensive line. Devine believes the passing game will improve because of added experience for Hunter and Tagge, the return of McGeorge and addition of wide receiver Barry Smith of Florida State, Green Bay’s No. 1 draft pick. Unless Smith wins a regular job, starting wide receivers will be Leland Glass, who caught 15 passes last year as a rookie, and 35-year-old Carroll Dale, who has lost some speed but none of his ability to get open. The front four of Clarence Williams, Bob Brown, Mike McCoy and Roche anchored a defense that forced 19 fumbles, tops in the NFC, and sacked quarterbacks 29 times. Aaron Brown, six-year star at defensive end for Kansas City, may push Williams or Roche out of a job and Carleton Oats, eight-year veteran picked up from Oakland, lends depth at tackle. The secondary of Hill and A1 Matthews at safety and Buchanon and Ken Ellis at quarterback led the league in fewest touchdown passes allowed with seven. Hill, who will be 27 on Oct. 21, is the oldest of the four.

Once Proud Hunting Dog Now Just Pet By ARTHUR MAX TEL AVIV (AP) - A dog’s life is changing in the Middle East. The Saluki, once the monarch of the desert and a proud hunter, is now nothing more than a pet to the nomadic Bedouin of the Sinai desert. But tradition still accords the Saluki a position of veneration, even above the multipurpose camel. To Europeans and Americans, the Saluki is a racing dog and a rare attraction at dog shows, like its cousins the Greyhound and the shaggy Afghan. E'er centuries, Saluki dogs hunted gazelles and wild goats for the Arabs of Sinai. By tradition, a Moslem may eat the meat brought down by a Saluki but not by any other dog. But now there are few gazelles in the desert and wild mountain goats have all but disappeared. The reason, says Israeli naturalist Yigal Selah, is that the desert is getting drier. Wild game, abundant in the days when Moses crossed the wilderness from Egypt, has grown almost extinct with the drying sources of fresh water. In recent years, hungry Bedouin hunting with firearms — sometimes with Israeli-made submachine guns — have nearly exterminated the remaining game. “Now the dog hunts only for hi^ own survival, usually for rats. A family of Arabs will have only one or two Salukis. There isn’t enough food for more,” Selah said in an interview.