The Mail-Journal, Volume 20, Number 32, Milford, Kosciusko County, 24 August 1983 — Page 14

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THE MAIL-JOURNAL—Wed., August 24,1983

Sports

Unknown Glenn greet WHS after enlightening 27-14 loss

By GARY LEWIS A second-half rally, sparked by the quarterbacking of rookie Brad Traviolia and a superindividual effort by senior Tony Blackburn, gave the Warriors plenty to be positive about after last week’s 27-14 loss to North Wood. After getting thumped 21-0 in the first two quarters of play, Wawasee began to show signs of improving upon its sluggish offense and error-proned defense by dominating play in the opening minutes of the third stanza. The timing between quarterback and center, few penalties, ' and the work of both Traviolia and Steve Galegor, who started at quarterback in the first half, were pleasing points for head coach Myron Dickerson. “I was

i I S3* SPECIAL FLAG — Wawasee’s flag corps proudly displays the flag which flew over the US Capitol building this spring. The Wawasee band attended a band contest at Washington, D.C., and was honored for the trip with an American flag. The marching Warriors presented the national anthem prior to the start of last week’s home-opener against North Wood. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

» MARCHING WARRIORS — Perfect formations on a hot afternoon must have been hard to come by, but members of David Blackwell's marching Warriors were up to the challenge. The band performed before the game and during halftime of last week’s home opener against North Wood. (Photo by Gary Lewis) 4

Former Warrior standout assistant coach at Pembroke

Former Wawasee High School standout John Hamilton, a coach at Frankton High School for the past three years, has been named the new assistant basketball coach at Pembroke University in Pembroke, N.C. He is the son of Mrs. Clyde Hamilton of Milford, and the late Clyde Hamilton. “John Hamilton comes to us with an excellent basketball background,” said Pembroke head coach Billy Lee. “He has proven to be very knowledgeable and should be able to broaden our recruiting ground.” Hamilton has worked various

very happy the way we came back after being down 21-0, but unhappy about the fact that we gave up the easy score on the punt return,” Dickerson said. A strong Wawasee following battled the heat and humidity in probably one of the warmest games on record Friday night. The players seemed to be prepared for the tropical-like conditions and did not show signs of weakening. “People talk about heat being the factor, but if you stop and think about it, the heat should have been more prominent during the second-half of the ball game,” he said. But the final two quarters were the best for the Warriors, who seemed to be much more inspired in the last half of the contest. “Where we made our big mistakes was in the first half

basketball camps during the summers and has helped build a winner in each of his coaching positions. This past season he led the varsity to a 17-5 record and a 45-21 mark over the past three years. Prior to that, he led his Franklin Middle School team to a 30-7 twoyear mark. During his high school career at Wawasee, Hamilton lettered in basketball for three years. He was named to the Northern Lakes Conference first team for two years, and the all-sectional team one year. He was the team’s Most Valuable Player in his junior and

when we gave up a couple of easy scores that we just shouldn’t have done. So really, heat is really not a factor,” Dickerson added. The Panthers perfected the big plays all night long, most of which came after the efforts of junior Jamie Lengacher. Lengacher led all rushers with 93 yards in 10 carries, and hauled in a Kris Cox punt and ran 68 yards for North Wood’s second score. The Panthers took :51 seconds to draw first blood, promptly firing a 26-yard TD strike after the Warriors’ Ron Schwartz coughed up the ball on the very first play from scrimmage for Wawasee The third score came on a tricky halfback pass when the Panther’s Todd Hartman connected with receiver Kary Hunsberger who was wide open in the end zone. Hunsberger suckered two of the Warriors’ inexperienced defensive backs on the play. “The (first) pass that was completed was over an experienced

BLACKBURN BLASTS — Wawasee’s Tony Blackburn (45) is shown here fighting the efforts of two North Wood Panthers attempting to make the tackle. Brad Traviolia (!•) looks on. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

iSfll mA. SB r THIS IS THE WAY! — Wawasee football coach Myron Dickerson points to a weakness in the alignment of the Warriors during action in last week’s home opener which saw the Warriors fall to North Wood, 27-14. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

senior years and was the school’s career scoring leader with 1,232 points while also setting the record in career assists with 292. In addition, he was secondteam All State as a senior and offered 100 scholarships to play college basketball. He played at the University of Detroit and then played two seasons at Ball State University. Hamilton received both his bachelor of science and his master’s degrees from Ball State. He is 29 years old, married, and the father of one son, John Wesley, age two.

defensive back, so there’s no excuse there . . . the punt return was due to a lack of hustle from the punt team, by the interior linemen, to get down and support the two upbacks, so we’re going to work on that.” The Warriors will also be working on improving the defensive pass coverage. “The halfback pass we have to contribute to lack of experience. We had some inexperience on that side. We had one young men who hasn’t played football since he was a freshman, and those kind of things are tough to read, even when you’re an experienced football player, and when your not it can make you look bad. So that’s the only one we can attribute to lack of experience,” he said. Trav Tough Traviolia came out firing in the second half, connecting on scoring strikes of eight yards to junior Kevin Tracey in the third quarter and a 14-yard beauty to senior Tony Troup in the fourth. Wawasee quarterbacks com-

Ridinger Lake makes strong comeback after fish kill

Two years after a devastating fish kill, game fish populations in 136-acre Ridinger Lake, near Pierceton, have recovered according to the Indiana Department of Resources. Numbers of bluegills and crappies have returned to levels present prior to a June 1981 fish kill. More largemouth bass are present now than before the kill. Yellow perch and other sunfish populations are also returning. “We’re pleased and somewhat surprised to see Ridinger Lake’s fishery recover the way it has,” said Jed Pearson, DNR fisheries biologist, who has monitored Ridinger Lake since 1978. “Bluegills, crappies, and perch were nearly wiped out in 1981.” Pearson said normally after fish kills, only undesirable nongame fish such as carp and suckers increase. These species are more tolerant of poor habitat conditions. They in turn curtail reproduction and growth of game fish species. Fortunately, this hasn’t happened at Ridinger Lake, he said. Rough fish populations haven’t increased. Game fish are successfully spawning and growing well. Because Ridinger Lake’s game fish populations have returned, the DNR has cancelled plans for a fish eradication and restocking project. Pearson and his crew collected 461 bluegill and 372 crappies at Ridinger Lake during a three day survey in early August. Last year, with an indentical amount of sampling effort, they captured only 146 bluegills and 122 crappies. Immediately after the kill in

pleted 11 of 21 passes, for 92 yards. Galegor completed two of five and had one intercepted ior 18 yards, and Traviolia fired 16 times, completing nine, for 74. Dickerson has yet to decide who will be the starter against John Glenn this Friday, but it will probably be another shared duty with Traviolia getting the start and Galegor coming in relief in the second half. “I probably will be doing that quite a bit, really, depending on game situations. They are both young kids and they are both my quarterbacks,” Dickerson said. Galegor and Traviolia shared the hot spot again this Monday in the junior varsity football against the Panthers, which ended in a 6-8 tie. Friday wasn’t only a night for rookies to shine. Two seniors, kicker Cox and Blackburn, displayed a good showing as well. Blackburn was all over the field all night, playing the Warriors “monster” position on defense exceptionally well, sparking the team as a running back, and fielded every punt and kick-off return. Cox proved to be an offensive weapon punting, booming the ball seven times for a 42.4 average. He also kicked both of Wawasee’s extra point attempts — possibly showing signs of shoring up a sore spot for Wawasee all of last season — and kicked the ball into the end zone on kick-offs. John Glenn Wawasee and John Glenn should match-up well this Friday at Walkerton in both size and in numbers. Coach John Hastrawser had only 30 boys report to summer camp, so Wawasee should fair a little bit better in platooning. Few Panthers played both ways last week, while nearly every Warrior was pressed for double-duty. Knox clubbed Glenn 40-7 last week, which means Dickerson has only a small indication of what to expect. Glenn will play a double-slot formation and a standard 5-2 or 5-3 defense.

1981, the DNR biologists could find only 13 bluegills and caught no crappies. “There are two strong year classes of bluegills in Ridinger Lake right now,” explained Pearson, “consisting of one and two-year-old fish, ranging up to 64 inches long.” Fishermen can expect to begin catching more bluegills this fall and next year as these fish get a little older and larger. The crappie population is dominated by white crappies measuring fiveseven inches long. These fish are two-year-olds. Pearson said black crappies are also returning. A strong year class of one-year-old black crappies, four-five inches long, is now present in the lake. Yellow perch also spawned successfully last year and four-54 inch perch are now present in the lake. Perch should be big enough to interest fishermen next year. Pearson said Ridinger Lake contains a lot of bass. During one hour of “electro-fishing” (sampling using an electric boat mounted generator), 88 bass ranging from 2y 2 -17 inches were collected. Largemouth bass, Ridinger Lake’s principal predator fish, were not affected by the 1981 kill. The lake has always had a good bass population and bass got off to excellent spawns in 1981 and 1982. Pearson said Ridinger Lake’s abundant bass population may have been the key to keeping nongame fish populations from expanding and has allowed time for game fish to come back.

C »A Softball

In the first round of the CTB tournament, Woodling pounded Thornsbury 19-4 and McDowell edged Douglas 9-8. Vance then topped Woodling 21-11 to advance to the championship game against McDowell. In the championship contest, McDowell put good defense to use and edged Vance in an extra inning thriller 9-8. Mike Anglin and Brian Dawes each had a grand slam homer in the tournament.

viewpoint Along with rider education, proper motorcycle licensing is one of the best countermeasures for reducing motorcycle accidents. A motorcycle licensing examiner is the last checkpoint before a new rider gets out on the highway. With effective licensing tests, the licensing examiner can spot a rider who does not possess the skills necessary to ride safely. In the past, in many states, it was possible to obtain a motorcycle license by weaving through a few traffic cones and coming to a stop without losing control of the motorcycle. Other states had no licensing test at all. e After three years of research, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation developed a standardized motorcycle operator testing procedure. Research shows the test works. In comparison with an existing state test, the Motorcycle Operator Skill Test (MOST) showed a 15 percent reduction in accidents. When coupled with a rider training program, accidents . were reduced 21 percent. In the past, many states believed that no special license was necessary to operate a motorcycle. This is simply not true. Riding a motorcycle requires even more skill, coordination and alertness than driving a car. Thus, a special license is necessary to ensure that all riders possess needed skills for safety.

B ** '■ A'- W assess ,w 4MI. 1 ywliw B. ■-<-■•• •■W. "I.J- flk. JW Jk '•■' ■. #*, j7wj w\ a . ifc. ,< 5 x -, ■>*w -It* 1 ■ 1973 WARRIORS — Members of the 1973 Wawasee High School football squad were reunited at the Warrior game Friday night, to be honored on the 19th anniversary of their outstanding campaign. The 1973 team finished with a 9-1 record under coach Hal Traviolia and advanced to the Indiana AA playoffs in the first year the ISHA set up playoffs based on classifications of school shes. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

IlT* i *W'-.88 MTI jIMB MB MM TlTj 5 . « Ki cj B ■■Wk RETURNING SWIMMERS — These seven girts will make np the nucleus of coach Cindy Peterson’s girls’ swimming team this season. The swimmers open the season next Tuesday at LaPorte. The returning letterwinners are. front row. Julie McDaniel, Maurine Eagon, and Lisa Haney. Back row, Pam Foyle. Criss Baumgartner, Brenda Messenger and Steph Eldridge. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

Sports Comment - Side Lines THE FOOTBALL COACHES have been low key about the possible addition of a starting fullback from Rushville High School, a member of one of the several families moving here because of a Dana closing there, but it would appear any experienced addition to a young and inexperienced roster would be welcome. As of Tuesday morning, head coach Myron Dickerson said he had not seen the potential addition to the backfield in full contact practice yet, but he did mention the challenge the youth will have to face. “He’ll have to beat out Schwartz, Yoder and Blackburn to start. If he doesn’t, then he’ll just be another player,” Dickerson explained. But “another player” is something the Warriors dearly need, as witnessed by the number of athletes going both ways in last week’s home-opener against North Wood. The Rushville senior’s ability to make it as a regular in the offensive backfield may be secondary to his contribution elsewhere. MANAGERS ARE SOMETIMES NOT well-treated by athletes. In fact, they are just forgotten completely at times. But the Wawasee football staff has one very hard-working young man this season, and if the coaches are smart, they had better see to it he’s happy. J.R. Nolles was all over the sidelines Friday night, running the water out to the field during the frequent water breaks, repairing equipment, and keeping the game balls dry. As the coaches and players did their thing, J.R. quietly worked like an experienced professional. Keeping things in order during an often hectic and quick-tempered sidelines is a difficult chore, but if J.R. sticks with it, the Warriors may have themselves a real expert. J.R. will be a freshman at Wawasee this fall. IT JUST NOW SEEMS TO BE the weather for football, so Side Lines thought this would be as good a time aS any to debut the weekly “pick-em” column this football season. Each week, our staff of fearless forecasters, M-J reporters Doug Walker, Gary Lewis and M-J statistician Derk Kuhn will be picking the top games of the Class AAA Cluster 20 and area schools Warsaw, Tippecanoe Valley and North Wood. A guest forecaster will be joining in on the Side Lines staff of experienced professionals, and this week’s guest is a fitting person to begin the 1983 season. Dr. Howard J. Hull, principal of Wawasee High School, said his appointment as guest forecaster is the fulfillment of a lifetime dream. “I was always wanted to be a picker,” an emotionally-choked Hull said as he accepted this week’s assignments. I'his week’s slate includes: La Ville at Concord, Northridge at Goshen, Culver Military at Wabash, Eastern at Tippe Valley, North Wood at Bremen and Wawasee at John Glenn. Three of our four forecasters picked the exact same slate of winners. The only man out was Walker, who said he had a “journalist’s gut feeling” that LaVille and John Glenn would score upsets. A Wawasee graduate, Walker says he doesn’t believe in emotional choices, preferring to go with his professional instincts. WALKER: LaVille, Goshen, Wabash, Warsaw, Tippe Valley, North Wood, John Glenn. LEWIS: Concord, Goshen, Wabash, Warsaw, Tippe Valley, North Wood, Wawasee. KUHN: Concord, Goshen, Wabash, Warsaw, Tippe Valley, North Wood, Wawasee. HULL: Concord, Goshen, Culver Military, Warsaw, Tippe Valiev North Wood, Wawasee. *