Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 75, Greencastle, Putnam County, 2 December 1983 — Page 6

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The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, December 2,1983

Greencastle and South have matchup problems

By STEVE FIELDS Banner-Graphic Sports Editor Greencastle and South Putnam are off to different starts, but face similar problems in Saturday night’s high school basketball games matching up with big opponents. Greencastle will host Terre Haute North at McAnally Center, South goes to Danville and North Putnam travels to Covington. Cloverdale is idle. “WERE CERTAINLY pleased,” Greencastle coach Doug Miller said of the 3-0 start. “We have played some ball clubs equal in talent and anytime you beat clubs equal in talent you have to be please.” However, the 1-1 Patriots appear to be a team with better talent and bigger people. Coach Gordon Neff’s second Terre Haute North team starts 6-7 sophomore Mark Jewell at center with 6-4 senior Brian Goff and 6-5 senior Mark Hopper at forwards and 6-3 senior Mel Irvin and 5-10 senior Greg Tyler at guards. While Irvin is one who can play inside or out, Hopper is the team’s best shooter. “He’s a very, very good shooter,” Miller confirmed. After two games Hopper is averaging 22 points and Irvin 21.5. NEFF’S CLUB opened the season with an 89-64 sixovertime loss to highly regarded Noblesville and came back the next night to beat Evansville Reitz 76-63. “I was very pleased with the kids,” Neff

Skating party canceled The South Putnam High School Lettermen’s Club skating party originally scheduled for Sunday night has been canceled, according to Athletic Director Jim Huter. Price nets 17 points INA, 111.-Jim Price scored 17 points, but Meramec defeated Rend Lake College 64-57 with a delay offense and eight-for-eight free throw shooting in the final 1:46 of the game. Price, a 1982 Cloverdale High School graduate and a starter on the 22-0 basketball team of 1981-82, hit six-of-12 shots from the floor and five-of-six free throws. He also pulled down 10 rebounds to help his junior college teammates win the boards 25-21. Sports schedule Monday Southmont freshmen at Greencastle, 6:30 p.m., basketball Greencastle at Brownsburg, 6:30 p.m., swimming. Danville girls at North Putnam, 6:30 p.m., basketball North Putnam at North Montgomery, 6:30p.m., wrestling South Putnam at Rockville, 6:30 p.m., wrestling Cloverdale girls at Staunton, 6:30 p.m. basketball Clay City Jr. High at Cloverdale, 6 p.m., basketball Clay City freshmen at Cloverdale, 6 p.m., basketball

All but four teams still have shot at making playoffs

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY c. 1983 N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK season ended Sunday, the six division winners would be the Miami Dolphins, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Raiders from the American Conference and the Dallas Cowboys, the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams from the National Conference. They would be joined in the tournament leading to Super Bowl XVIII by the Seattle Seahawks and the Cleveland Browns, who would play in the wild-card game from the AFC, and the San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Redskins in the wild-card game from the National Conference. Several of these determinations would have been made by the application of the NFL’s elaborate tiebreaking formulas. The Seahawks, for example, would have won the final wild-card spot in the AFC by edging the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos based on the fact that the Seahawks had a better conference record than Buffalo and had scored more average net points against opponents in the conference than Denver that being the sixth criterion necessary to break the three-way tie. But trying to determine now, with 3 games remaining, who the 10 playoff teams will be is impossible. Through the first 13 weeks of the season, only 4 teams have been eliminated from a chance to participate in the playoffs, and only two teams have clinched positions in the playoffs. They are the Cowboys and the Redskins, who are 11-2 in the NFC East and will play for a second time a week from Sunday in Dallas. The Cowboys won the previous game, 31-30, on the first Monday night of the season. Twenty-two of the league's other 26 teams are still eligible to qualify for the other eight playoff positions. Two teams leading their divisions can reach the playoffs with victories Sunday or with losses by other teams in their divisions. The Dolphins can clinch the AFC East with one more victory or with a loss by the Bills. The Steelers can clinch at least a wildcard berth with one more victory. But the Steelers could lose the division to Cleveland by losing Sunday to Cincinnati, if the Browns were to win their last three games, against the Broncos, the Houston Oilers and the Steelers. Before their game Thursday night against the San Diego Chargers in San Diego, the Raiders needed one victory or a loss by the Seahawks to clinch the AFC West. With seven teams in the NFC at 7-6 or 6-7, including the first

said of coming back to beat Reitz after the long game with Noblesville. “After the first two minutes we were never in trouble. Just because the Patriots have beaten two bigger schools doesn’t mean they’re going to over look Greencastle. “I worry about everybody. No one is so good they can’t be beat and we’re certainly a long way from that,” Neff said. “Greencastle has got a good ball club there. ’ ’ North should have a big advantage on the boards considering Greencastle’s tallest starter is 6-2 senior Jim Hunter. “We should be able to rebound, but that’s not the whole game. We have outrebounded out first two opponents though,” Neff said. THE PATRIOTS are also a pretty good shooting ball team and play Neff’s 3-2 zone defense with Irvin at the point. These two factors make this team similar to the Terre Haute South teams Neff guided to the IHSAA final four three years in a row. “This, right now, is one of my better shooting ball clubs. I don’t have some of the other things I had at South, but it is a good shooting team,” Neff admitted. Coach Miller hinted in preseason Greencastle can play a spread game if necessary. “We’ll have to control the tempo of the ball game to beat Terre Haute North. And I don’t mean we’re going to stall.

We’re going to have to be patient with the basketball and have the right people shooting the ball.” SOUTH PUTNAM coach Bill Merkel has two problems to consider-Danville’s size and his team’s execution. Danville will start 6-6 Nick Schoening at center with 6-3 Jim Surber and 6-3 Todd Clones at forwards and 6-0 Jon Rader and 5-10 Vi Nick Webb at guards. “I don’t know how we’ll match up with them. We’re just going to have to do something to counteract that. What, I don’t know,” Merkel said. The Warriors enter the weekend 0-1, having lost to Greencastle 69-67 in their season opener. Rader got 21 points, Webb 19 and Clones 15 during the conference setback. BUT RIGHT NOW, Merkel is more concerned with his team. “Right now we don’t have to be so much concerned with what Danville is going to do to us, as to what we are going to do to ourselves,” the coach said. Like he predicted, it’s taking some time for the Eagles to jell. Merkel has tried four different starting combinations and expects to experiment even more. “We’ve just got to start playing better basketball. If we execute then maybe we can make some adjustments (against Danville),” Merkel said. Through the first four games Mike McHugh is South’s top scorer with a 17.2 average. NORTH PUTNAM coach Bill Brothers is kind of excited about playing 2-1 Covington. “Size wise, this is the closest matchup we might have all

State's best basketball team in Hall of Fame Classic

By STEVE HERMAN AP Sports Writer The annual Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Classic has rightfully earned a reputation as the state’s top regular-season high school tournament, and Saturday’s matchups at Marion include three of the top four ranked teams and another whose only loss has been to the No.B- - power. N 0.2 Michigan City Rogers plays N 0.3 Evansville Bosse in the first game, then the host N 0.4 Giants of Marion take on unranked DeKalb, which lost by five points to eighthranked Fort Wayne Northrop. The third-place and championship games will be played Satur-. day night. Now in its sixth year, the Hall of Fame tourney normally provides the first big tests of the season for its participants. Last year, topranked Indianapolis Cathedral beat N 0.9 Richmond and eighth-ranked New Castle for the championship, and two years ago, N 0.13 Anderson Highland beat N 0.2 South Bend LaSalle

four teams in the Central Division, and another at 5-7-1, it is too early to determine which of them would have the better chances to win the remaining four playoff positions. The four teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs are the Philadelphia Eagles (4-9), the Giants (3-9-1), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-11) and the Oilers (1-12). Following is a rundown of the NFL matchups Sunday and Monday: American Conference Jets (6-7) at Baltimore Colts (6-7) The party may be over for the young Colts, who have lost three straight, all in similar fashion. Their offense has disintegrated, and the loss of the wide receiver Ray Butler to injury places an even heavier reliance on the running backs, Randy McMillan and Curtis Dickey. They shouldn’t be too much of a problem for the Jets, winners in their last two games. The Jets usually play the run better than the pass, and Baltimore’s passing game is not likely to bother anybody. Buffalo Bills (7-6) at Kansas City Chiefs (5-8) Because of the scrambled playoff picture, the Bills must win this game to stay in the running for a berth. But judging from their last four games, three of them losses, a victory against the Chiefs won’t be easy. The Bills’ defense has played inconsistently all year, and the offense has not produced more than 77 yards of rushing in a game in a month. The Chiefs’ big problem has been defense. Cincinnati Bengals (5-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (9-4) the last two games, both losses, the Steelers have not resembled the team that won its previous seven straight games, which included a 24-14 victory over Cincinnati. The offensive and defensive line play was poor in each game, as they lost to Minnesota, 17-14, and Detroit, 45-3, in their worst loss in 36 years. The Steelers are not likely to find the Bengals the same stumbling team they were earlier in the season. The Bengals had won four of five before losing to Miami Monday night. In each of the victories, the Bengals ran well and held the opposing team’s runners to fewer than 75 yards. Cleveland Browns (8-5) at Denver Broncos (7-6) —A victory by the Browns puts them in a strong position to win the Central Division if Pittsburgh loses a game between now and the final week of the season, when the Browns play the Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Browns have won three straight, playing their best defense of the season, and Denver is sputtering along, still in the running for the playoffs because it had won six of its first nine games. Lately, however, the Broncos’ defense has given up lots

year,” Brothers said of the Trojans. Covington appears to have a pretty good team. They lost a 57-55 overtime game to West Lafayette in the season opener, beat Rosedale 59-22 and slipped by Attica 56-52. “They’re a pretty good shooting team. The thing we can’t do is get into a running game. We’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities in front of us,” Brothers said. THROUGH THE first four games the Cougars have had that one really big quarter that brings the final score close, like at Southmont. However, so far North has been too far behind when that big quarter comes along. “We’ve got to stay close or get ahead so that when we have that good quarter we can take advantage of it,” the coach reasoned. Covington coach Mark James is surprised at his second team’s start. The Trojans lost two returning starters before the season opened, one by football injury and another from a fishing related accident. “So we’re really working with our six and seven players playing for us,” James said. SOPHOMORE SCOTT Woodrow leads Covington’s 59 per cent team shooting offense with a 17 points per game average. Behind the 6-2 forward is senior guard Todd Pearson, scoring at a 13 point clip. “We know North Putnam is going to be an aggressive and strong basketball team. We don’t worry that much about size, we worry about what’s inside the jersey,” James said.

and No.l Anderson for the title. Bosse will go into the game with Rogers with a state-best 41-game regular-season winning string. The Bulldogs opened the campaign with a 76-48 victory over Evansville Reitz on Tuesday. The last regular-season loss for Bosse was to New Albany in the final game of the 1981 season. Rogers, averaging 102 points a game, is 2-0 this season behind 6-foot-4 Delray Brooks, who has scored 77 points in his first two outings. Marion is 3-0 after Wednsday night’s 59-51 victory over Lawrence North. DeKalb is 1-1, coming off an 84-68 victory over New Haven following the loss to Northrop. The DeKalb-Marion game will be a rematch of last spring’s Fort Wayne Semistate final won by the Giants 64-63. “We’re very excited with the opportunity to play Marion again,” says DeKalb Coach Roger Hughes. “That wouldn’t happen ordinarily in the regular season. (Avenging last year’s semistate tourney loss is) certainly our goal.

Whatever Cloverdale High School wrestling coach Dave Kiley (left) told Rich Sawyer worked Thursday night. The 138pounder won his second match in a row, pinning Cascade's Scott Armor in the

Wildcats will try everything to stop IU

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky Coach Joe B. Hall says there’s no secret about his game plan for Saturday’s nationally televised game against the Wildcats’ old basketball border rival, Indiana. The top-ranked Wildcats will try to snuff the Hoosiers’ vaunted passing game with a man-to-man defense and a trio of shot blockers in Sam Bowie, Melvin Turpin and Kenny Walker. But if adjustments must be made during the game, the

of points and yards, and their passing game has grown less productive in each of their last three games. Miami Dolphins (9-4) at Houston Oilers (1-12) This game appears to be one of the biggest mismatches of the season. The Dolphins, who have won six of their last seven, scored 38 points against a good Bengal defense Monday night. The Oilers gave up 33 points in a loss to Tampa Bay, and the Buccaneers have had one of the lowest-rated offenses in the league all season. National Conference Atlanta Falcons (6-7) at Washington Redskins (11-2) No doubt many of the Redskins are thinking ahead to their rematch with Dallas next week. But if they lose to the Falcons, an explosive team that has won two straight close games, beating the Cowboys won’t mean so much. What may scare the Redskins is the Falcons’ occasional ability to throw for large amounts of yardage. Washington’s secondary is still somewhat suspect, although it usually gets plenty of opportunity to improve. The Redskins have won six straight, in most cases by shutting down the opposition running game and building an early lead. That forces the other team to abandon its running game, a tack that could work well for the Falcons, who expect to have Steve Bartkowski back. He missed the game last Sunday with a sprained a knee. St. Louis Cardinals (5-7-1) at Giants (3-9-1) The previous game between the Giants and the Cardinals was memorable for the ineptitude of each team. It ended in the only tie of the season, 20-20, largely because Neil O’Donoghue missed three field goals. There’s little reason to assume the Cardinals won’t fare better this time. In the five games since the tie, their record is 4-2, and they have scoredl42 points. The Giants have gone 1-4 and scored 81 points. Chicago Bears (6-7) at Green Bay Packers (6-7) The winner of this game will still have a chance to make the playoffs, and possibly win the Central Division. In recent weeks, success for each of them has come in different fashion. The Bears have won their last three games, giving up fewer total points, 17, than any team in the league. The Packers have split their last four games, scoring an average of 31 points. The key, however, may be that the Bears’ offense has steadily improved, and the Packers’ defense has difficulty stopping anybody. Los Angeles Rams (8-5) at Philadelphia Eagles (4-9) Philadelphia’s close game with the Redskins should be enough to make the Rams leery of them. The Rams also need a victory

second period. However, Cascade still won the meet 40-36. The Clovers are 1-1 for the young season. (Banner-Graphic photo by Steve Fields).

Wildcats will be ready, Hall said Thursday. “Miami (of Ohio) mixed defenses up and was very successful,” Hall said, recalling the Redskins’ 63-57 upset victory last week in Bloomington, Ind. When the Hoosiers bounced back with an 80-72 victory this week over Notre Dame, “we thought they attacked Notre Dame’s zone better than their man-to-man,” Hall said. “But that doesn’t mean it would be the same against ours.” “It always takes a good night

We think we can do it. ” Hughes said the Hall of Fame Classic is a “very important tournament.” “All coaches try as hard as they can to create interest in their team. I think this is a very great opportunity to do this statewide. We’re isolated up in the northeast corner of the state, and this is a good opportunity for our basketball program, which has been very succesful the last three or four years, to get statewide recognition. “All of the teams in the classic are of the caliber to reach the (state tourney) Final Four, and that’s our goal,” said Hughes. “I hope the pollsters are correct (about the 2-3-4 rankings of Rogers, Bosse and Marion),” he continued. “I think we’ll give a very good account of ourselves. We should have beaten Northrop. We’d be (ranked) up there then.” Howard Sharpe has his first coaching victory at North Knox. The 67-year-old veteran coach has compiled

in ail phases of the game to beat a good Indiana ballclub. That hasn’t changed,” Hall said. “The underdog role is an easy one to exploit to get your team together. Young players do well under those circumstances. ’ ’ Hall’s chief assistant, Leonard Hamilton, said after scouting Indiana that Marty Simmons, a 6-foot-5 freshman, “is going to be our most difficult matchup.” “I think he may be farther along than Randy Wittman,” Hamilton said, referring to last year’s Indiana scoring ace, who

a 705-300 record in 44 seasons most of them at Terre Haute Gerstmeyer and TerreHaute North and is 30 short of the late Marion Crawley’s state record 735 career victories. “I like the community, the superintendent has been excellent and so has the board. Everybody is behind me,” says Sharpe, who was out of coaching for a year after being fired at Terre Haute North. “It’s going to take us a year to get things going (at North Knox). People are just going to have to be patient,” Sharpe said. “They (the players) need fundamentals and confidence. They’re going to have to learn a whole new thing. The attitude is excellent. They want to learn and are improving.” —Coach Mike Sorrell of Crawfordsville won the 200th game of his career last week in a 73-56 victory over McCutcheon. Sorrell’s son, Ryan, scored a career-high 15 points, including eight straight points in the third quarter that broke the game open.

to maintain their one-game advantage over the Saints and 49ers. Stopping the Eagles, who have lost their last seven games, requires little more than putting pressure on the quarterback Ron Jaworski and knocking the receivers, especially Mike Quick, out of their routes. Most of their last seven opponents have done that. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-11) at San Francisco 49ers (7-6) Because of what happened last Sunday, it’s not unlikely that the Buccaneers can win a second straight game. Jack Thompson threw four touchdown passes as the Buccaneers beat Houston, 33-24, and the 49ers were generating 290 yards of total offense in a 13-3 loss to the Bears. That’s two straight losses for the 49ers, and four in their last five games. Because of the relative strength of the conference, they just about need victories in their three remaining games for a playoff chance. Interconference Dallas Cowboys (11-2) at Seattle Seahawks (7-6) As their record suggests, the Seahawks have played erratically, particularly on defense, most of the season. And that is precisely why they can be dangerous for the Cowboys. The Seahawks scoredsl points in defeating Kansas City by a field goal in overtime, and Seattle would have been the second highest-scoring team in the AFC without that game. Their main problem has been pass defense, so a lot depends on the type of game Danny White, the Cowboys’ quarterback, has. He, too, has been up and down this year, but mostly up. A bad outing could put the Cowboys in a must win situation in their following game, against the Redskins. New Orleans Saints (7-6) at New England Patriots (6-7) Both teams have outside chances for the playoffs, although the Saints have played better in recent weeks. The Patriots have suddenly lost their offense, having scored 0 and 3 points in losses the last two weeks. Running is the one element of the Patriot offense that has remained reasonably stable. Monday Night * Minnesota Vikings (7-6) at Detroit Lions (7-6) The winner will probably go on to win the NFC Central Division, and from the appearances over the last five weeks, Detroit has the better chance. The Lions are 4-1, the Vikings 1-4. The Lions have been playing better since the fifth week of the season, when they were 1-4, a record that included a 20-17 loss to the Vikings. Since then, they have lost only to Washington and, unusually enough, Houston.

Wrestling results

We*t Vigo 35, Greencaftle 32 98—Neil Maiten, G. Ift period pin, Phil Thome, WV. 105-Davld Singer, G, by forfeit. 112-Limey. WV, first period pin, Tom Catanese. G. 119-Frank Wehrhelm. G, 11-5 decision. Boyd, WV. 126-Chrlstman, WV, second period pin, Brian Singer, G. 132-Monty Beaman, G, 7-8 decision, Lansaw, WV. 138-McCTaine, WV. first period pin. Mike Catanese, G. 145-Jim Hayes, G, and Ramsey. WV, HMD draw. 155-Sollars, WV. 14-10 decision, Pat Meyer, G. 187-Bennett, WV, second period pin, Tim Dean, G. 177-Hunter, WV, first period pin, Randy Fenwick, G. 185-Brad Glock, G. second period pin, Presnell, WV. Hwt.-Tom Shuee, G. by forfeit. Cascade 40, Cloverdale 38 98-Steve Johnson, Ca„ third period pin, Greg Bayer, Cl. 105-Paul Lee, Ca.. first period pin, Darryl Willis, Cl. 112-Chrls Yeager, Ca., 10-1 major decision, Brad Sample, Ct. 119-Ron Speedy, Cl., first period pin, Richard Gregg, Ca. 128-Double forfeit. 132-Loren Bowman, Cl., by forfeit. 138-Rich Sawyer, Cl., second period pin, Scott Armor, Ca. 145-David Romer, Ca., 7-2 decision, Pat Henson, Cl. 155-Roberi Nud:'f, Ca., second period pin, Bob Reynolds, C . 167-Mike Poppe, Ca , 11-8 decision, Jarrad Hughes, Cl. 177-Greg Manlor, Ca., second period pin, Brian Curtis, Cl. 185-Wes Young, CL, second period pin, John Snider, Ca. Hwt.-Rob Young, CL, first period pin, Mike Barber, Ca.

was Atlanta’s No. 1 pick in the National Basketball Association draft. “He’s much more aggressive than Wittman.” Guard Steve Alford, another freshman, also drew Hamilton’s praise. “He handled the ball very well in some difficult situations against Notre Dame and he always wants to take the big shot,” Hamilton said. Hall said he would be watching for evidence of moving screens “illegal picks,” in basketball terms Saturday.