The Mail-Journal, Volume 20, Number 31, Milford, Kosciusko County, 17 August 1983 — Page 8

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THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., August 17,1983

Sports

New, young faces at Wawasee

By GARY LEWIS When the Wawasee Warriors take the field this Friday in their home-opener with North Wood, several question marks will probably be answered. And several more could still surface. That’s the sort of topsy-turvey pre-season prospectus head coach Myron Dickerson portrays in his fourth-year as mentor of the Wawasee football program. With many new and young faces making up the roster this season, not much has been made known during practices so far. , With one offensive and three defensive starters returning, trying to fill the gaps left by 14 graduates will be the primary goal this season. “As young as we are, our goal is putting a football team together,” Dickerson said. Wawasee will feature 15 seniors this season, but only 11 were letterwinners last season. Among the 14 returning lettermen are several athletes who were regulars on the specialty teams but saw limited action during the games. 1983 is not the best season to pick for a rebuilding year. The August 4 start, the earliest in Indiana football history, means even fewer days of practice to prepare for the opener Friday — practice time which is crucial to a young, inexperienced squad. “The early start is adding a few problems because of our youth and inexperience,” explained Dickerson. “The Indiana High School Athletic Association used poor judgement in making the start so early,” he added. Despite the early start and the switch to the cluster playoff season, this season is still foremost in Dickerson’s mind. Keep The Tradition “What we’re trying to keep from doing is losing the pace we’ve established for ourselves,” he said. “I think we’ll win some football games, I believe that. Some people looking at us may not think so, they’ll probably think we won’t win any, but we’ve got a nice group of young people coming up.” Dickerson said two areas have been concerning him the most: linebackers and the offensive line. “If you don’t have linebackers you don’t have a defense,” he said. Ryan Wuthrich, who Dickerson has etched as a starter, injured his bicep in Friday’s soap scrimmage forcing him to go with defensive end prospect Jeff Roberts. “It is just so hard for a young player to pick up on the proper reads at linebacker,” Dickerson explained. The offensive line has the only offensive starter returning from 1982 s 5-5 squad, center Jeff Morgan. Morgan will probably not even play center this season, a position he captured midway last season, because Dickerson may move him to guard to better capitalize on his experience and ability. The Quarterbacks Another key position yet to be filled is the quarterback spot. Two sophomores. Brad Traviolia and Steve Galegor, have been battling for the position throughout the summer and Dickerson seemed to be pleased with both performances. “The nice part with these young kids is you’re dealing with some very intelligent young men,” he said. He hedged on picking the starter for Friday’s contest. “It’s difficult to say ... (but) I’d be comfortable with either Galegor or Traviolia.” Traviolia has the edge in throwing ability, but Galegor handles the offense better. The starting quarterback for the freshmen team last season, Galegor might be the favorite because Traviolia did not play football last year. But both youngsters played heavily in the soap game last week, as Dickerson gave both a shot at leading the offense. Learning a new system in 10 days is a difficult chore, and for the young quarterbacks this Friday North Wood will make things even more difficult. The Warriors plan to take things slowly, by concentrating on the little things first. “I told our quarterbacks to concentrate enough to do the simple things,” Dickerson said. Running an effective, but simple offense, will be the Warrior

Probable Starters

INTERIOR LINEMEN — 5-10 senior Jeff Morgan (170), the only starter returning from the 1982 offense, will be moved from center to guard. Pat Inks, 6-0 (210), a defensive tackle almost exclusively last season, is expected to take over at center. 5-10 (190)Tim Fraser and Todd Yeager, 6-0 (180), are the leading candidates at tackle. The bicep injury to Ryan Wuthrich forces 5-9 (175) junior Tracy Ryman to play the other guard position. RECEIVERS — Team captain and senior leader Tony Blackburn, 5-8 (145), is going to play the flanker position while 6-3 (165) senior Kris Cox and 6-1 (155) junior Kevin Tracey have been looking good at tight end. Tony Troup, 5-10 (157), and first-time senior Ross Elias, 6-0 (170) are the top reserves.

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JEFF MORGAN

QUARTERBACKS — The most hotly-contested position on offense is the quarterback spot, where sophomores Brad Traviolia and Steve Galegor are currently battling neck-and-neck. The 5-7 (137) Galegor looks to have the edge since he played freshman football last season, while 5-11 (140) Traviolia was forced to the sidelines because of injury. Traviolia’s throwing ability has been impressive, says Dickerson, so both could see action this season. Brad Mitchell, 5-10 (160), who started as quarterback for the junior varsity last season, joined the team Monday. He is not expected to play early in the season, but should figure in if any of the youngsters falter.

OFFENSE

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PAT INKS

key Friday. “We’re going to have to play a solid game... this is a big game, we want to show we can get organized and show some good offense and defense,” Dickerson said. The Panthers look to be a cinch to capture a class AA playoff berth with an experienced offensive line and a solid running game with 6-0 (175) junior Jamie Lengacher and 5-8 (155) senior Todd Hartman, both who are speedsters. North Wood, under coach Jim Andrews, has not had a losing record in 12 years. The Panthers completely dismantled the Warriors in last season’s finale, 14-0. Even though Wawasee will not have to win against North Wood to keep pace in the cluster, the Warriors will be looking to avenge last season’s NLC loss. x’£: | Wawasee Warriors | No. Name Hgt. Wgt. Pos. Gr. •>X 7 Jack McDaniel 5’5 130 DB 10 X;< 8 Steve Gallegor 57 137 qb jo ;*•s; 9 Dave Melendez 5’6 135 DB 12 10 BradTraviola s'll 140 QB 10 n Kriswest s'io 137 db 10 12 BradMitchoii s'lo 160 db ii •X< 21 Mike Hernandez 5'6 150 DB 12 Xv vX 24 Ron Martin 5'5 130 DB ,12 wi :%• 26 Brent Atwood s'B 146 DB-RB 10 ;X : : 28 Mike DeWitt 5’9 155 DB 11 •X< 29 Joe Melendez s’l 130 DB 10 X-S ;X> 30 Tony Troup s'lo 157 E 12 31 Jeff Moore s'll 150 DB 11 Xv 33 Ron Schwartz 5'9 180 RB 12 X$ 34 Jeff Carden s'll 150 DB 12 S* XX 35 Bill Signorelli 5'5 136 DB 11 XX XX 40 Steve Yoder 5’7 155 RB-DB 11 SX : XX '( 41 Roberts s'lo 182 RB-E 11 XX 42 Ron Gerber 5'6 160 RB-DB 10 •$< Xv 44 Joson Keim 6’o 155 DB 12 Xv XX 45 Tony Blackburn 5 8 145 DB-RB 12 XX :$:• 46 Price Pounds 5'9 137 RB-DB 10 48 Drew Rosenbury 57 143 DB-RB 10 vX Xv 50 Jay Rhoades s'll 180 C 10 XX vX ’ 53 Jeff Morgan s'lo 180 C 12 XX 54 Shawn Hallinan s'lo 170 LB 11 Xv vX 60 Tracy Ryman 5'9 175 G-LB 11 $X XX 61 Ned Hunsberger s'B 150 G 10 XX yjX; 64 Richie Troup 5'3 150 G-LB 10 vX Xv 65 Travis Reiff 5'7 135 G 10 XX gx 66 Ryan Wuthrich 510 170 G-LB 12 $$ XX 68 JonZimmeman 5’7 215 T 10 ;XX 69 Brian Keim s'll 180 G 11 vX Xv 70 Oscar Pena 5'7 198 T 10 XX >Xv 72 Tim Fraser s'lo 190 G 12 XX XX 73 Rick Peterson s'B 200 T 11 Xv XX 74 Todd Yeager 6'o 180 LB-T 11 XX XX 75 Hector DeLafuete 6'o 215 T 10 vX Xv 76 Steve Sturgill 5'9 190 T 10 XX ;Xv 77 Ray Skelton 5’9 190 T 10 XX 78 Rob Hare s'lo 180 T 10 :$v 79 Pat inks 6'o 210 T 12 & ■sv 85 Kevin Tracey 6'l 155 E 11 XX XX 86 Ross Elias 6'o 170 TE 12 XX S;X 87 Lance Lantz s'll 160 E 10 XX 91 Mark Arnold 6'l 155 E 12 $v •$X 92 Kris Cox 6'3 165 E 12

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RON SCHWARTZ

RUNNINGBACKS — Dickerson says he is confident in both of his returning letterwinners at running back. 5-9 (180) senior Ron Schwartz and junior Steve Yoder are the candidates to replace the effective one-two punch of all-stater Ross Dahlstrom and Butler bound Todd Reiff. Both saw action last season. Schwartz rushed for 31 yards in 13 carries, and Yoder gained 57 yards in 10 attempts. Blackburn and senior Jeff Roberts, 5-10 (187) will also see action carrying the ball.

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JEFF ROBERTS

DEFENSE LINEBACKERS — Blackburn is the monster in the backfield, and is one of the few returning veterans. Both Roberts and Yeager are the candidates for the linebacking corps. Reserves are all sophomores, and until they gain experience after the first few games, a serious injury problem could put the defense in dire straits.

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TIM FRASER

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TONY BLACKBURN

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RETURNING LETTERMEN — The returning letterwinners for the Warriors football team in 1983 are, front row, Dave Melendez, Jeff Morgan, Tim Fraser, Ron Schwartz, Kris Cox, and

"A Conversation With

Myron Dickerson: The 1983 Football Warriors

NOTE: In his fourth year as head football coach at Wawasee High School, 1983 is expected to be the toughest challenge yet for Myron Dickerson. Finishing 5-5 a year ago, his best mark since arriving at Wawasee, Dickerson will have to prepare a team which is short on depth and size. The loss of 14 seniors, all regulars, will leave some gaping holes in a team which began to jell last season. Mail-Journal sportswriter Gary Lewis talked with Dickerson last week about the 1983 Warriors. LEWIS: What do you predict for the 1983 Wawasee football team? DICKERSON: It’s difficult to' say, it really is, because we are so very young. We haven’t given them a chance to do anything under fire yet, not even a scrimmage, (the team’s first scrimmage was last Friday at the annual “soap” game) I just don’t know. A lot on how successful we re going to be is going to depend on hf'w quick our young quarterbacks come around. I think running back-wise, we’re going to be in good shape. I think the first team offensive line will be good. I think we can come up with 11 gopd defensive players. But if you look at linebacker right now, we are just so thin, it is unreal. We only have about six kids out for linebacker, and I think we’re going to make some changes there. We always like to have a couple of days we do nothing more than hit, run the offense, and so then

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KRIS COX

INTERIOR LINE — The Warriors will be relying on the same 13-15 players to come through as regulars, and won’t have the luxury of experienced depth. Several of those regulars will be forced to go both ways, as evidenced in the defensive line .Tracey and Cox are scheduled to be the ends: Cox moving into the starting role to replace Roberts who moved to linebacker for the injured Wuthrich. Inks will anchor one tackle, and Fraser the other. Junior 5-8 ( 200) Rick Peterson is the noseguard. Reserves include Steve Sturgill, 5-9 (190), and Morgan.

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DAVE MELENDEZ

DEFENSIVE BACKS — Senior Dave Melendez, 5-6 (135), and 5-6 (150) Mike Hernandez will play the defensive halfback position. Melendez is one of the three return- ■ ing veterans from last season, while Hernandez, a senior, is playing football for the first time since junior high. Junior Jeff Moore, 5-11 (150) is the safety. „

we can move some men around Right now, we just warit to make sure that we know the proper way to block and tackle, and do things like that. LEWIS: What kind of effect does the loss of 14 seniors have on the team? DICKERSON: It means we must spend more time on teaching and we have to have a little more patience. You just can’t, right now, line the guys up, and expect them to be in a particular pass coverage because they don’t know it. We have to teach a basic pass coverage. So that’s the first obvious thing. We have to take more time teaching the very basics of our offense and defense. Last year, with those 14 seniors we had, who had been with me for a couple of years, they knew exactly what I was going to do. We just didn’t have to spend that much teaching time . . . you have to stop and figure, we might have 14 seniors or so, but there’s four or five of them who didn’t play football last year. LEWIS: Who will be the key players this year? DICKERSON: Undoubtedly, the key players are going to be Tony Blackburn, Jeff Roberts, Kevin Tracy, Tim Fraser, Pat Inks, Kris Cox, Ron Schwartz, Jeff Morgan, Steve Yoder — those I would say are going to be the key people. People who will probably have to go both ways. Tony Blackburn has done a great job leading, and we’ll need that from him, but those will probably be the key people for us.

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KEVIN TRACEY

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MIKE HERNANDEZ

Tony Blackburn. Back row, Pat Inks, Ron Martin, Steve Yoder. Todd Yeager, Mark Arnold, Kevin Tracey, and Jeff Roberts. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

LEWIS: How does the Northern Lakes Conference look to you this year? DICKERSON: Os course, the top team will be, and probably should be, Warsaw. With the returning people they have, and school-size — they are twice as big as some schools, close to three times as big as other schools, and the talent they have back, I think they should probably be the best. I think Plymouth has to be considered up there, along with Concord and Goshen, simply because Plymouth is going to have tremendous size. You always have to consider Goshen and Concord, not only because of their size, but because the coaching and the talent there. They have outstanding coaches there. If you had to narrow it down, and I had to pick the one team that I had to bet my arm and my leg on, I’d have to pick Warsaw, for the conference ... LEWIS: What’s your opinion of the new cluster playoff system? DICKERSON: It’s terrible, it stinks, and I don’t like it. I think the Indiana High School Athletic Association used poor judgement going to it as they did. That’s just my personal opinion. Along with using poor judgement in starting the season so early, I just think they could have done things differently if they weren’t so worried about moving a couple of basketball games, or something else, back a little bit. It does not affect Wawasee. I don’t say that it any bitterness in what it does to us. Because everybody in our cluster we play every year anyway, including Culver. So we had to beat those teams to do anything anyway. The cluster doesn’t hurt us at all. I just think that the cluster is unfair to some of the smaller schools, who are definitely playing a single-A or double-A schedule all the time, and now all of a sudden they are getting thrown in with the Dwengers, the Luers, the Mishawaka Marians, the South Bend Saint Joes. Those schools will be playing in the big city leagues and to make the state playoffs, they will have to play in a county school cluster. I don’t think that’s fair.

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THE BATTLE IS ON — Two sophomores, Steve Galegor and Brad Traviolia, are battling for the quarterback spot for this Friday’s home-opener against North Wood. Galegor, 'quarterback of the freshmen football team last season, has been praised by coach Dickerson for his mobility. Traviolia. who missed his freshman season due to an injury, has shown a strong passing arm and might ignite the Warriors aerial game. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

LEWIS: What will be the primary goal for Wawasee this season, the cluster or the NLC? DICKERSON: Our goal is to simply not lose ground. In my first year here we cut things down to 17 points, year after that to 11 and last year we cut it to 8.5, so we don’t want to lose ground. I don’t feel too bad about our turnout. Right now we have 49 boys out, for football and I read where schools like East Noble, with a 1,200 enrollment, are struggling with right at 50. What we don’t want to do during a young season, and we know its young, we want to be patient, is to not lose ground from what we gained. We want to continue doing some of the things we’ve done to bring us back to where we’re at — successful We see some things that could happen for us this year if the right things fall in place. If our young quarterbacks situation comes through, that will be a key. . . and we can’t have a rash of injuries. " IB FIRST INJURY — Wawasee senior Ryan Wuthrich gets the dubious honor of being the first seriously injured player this season. Wuthrich appeared to have injured his shoulder in last Friday’s scrimmage, but doctors say it was a torn bicep. He will probably not see action this Friday, however, he is expected to return for next week’s game at Glenn.