The Mail-Journal, Volume 20, Number 33, Milford, Kosciusko County, 31 August 1983 — Page 8

8

THE MAIL-JOURNAL—Wed., August 31,1983

Sports

F' nS** ■■■ mLjun ■&£ Ik SV KSk Mbt IS f Z 3; w| wk wSSiI S HB «k kk pS ||>w - jOjMy j k JR I B "Jjffw k m ’** | . a| ggumfl Ip S

MILFORD MERCHANTS — Pictured above is the Milford Merchants softball squad which recently won a pair of championships in league play at Ligonier. In the front row are Gary Klinke, Bill Richardson. Mark Sumpter. Jay Kaiser and Dave Troup.

Wawasee wins first, dump Glenn 25-6

Rough road begins at Rochester

By GARY LEWIS From this point on, the road for the Wawasee Warriors will be getting tougher. The remaining games in 1983 do not include anymore John Glenns, and coach Myron Dickerson knows it. “The schedule doesn’t get any easier. In fact, it gets progressively tougher,” Dickerson said. After last week’s unimpressive 25-6 win against winless Glenn, the Wawasee coaching staff will be working this week to improve a defense which allowed 176 yards — 11 more than Wawasee’s game-winning offense — on the ground. “I was very unhappy defensively. After the first quarter, we stopped gang-tackling, none of our defensive front from end to end was playing really good football.” Dickerson said. “Our tackles were being trapped more than I can ever remember. Our linebackers were being caught inside . .. some of these things can be attributed to lack of experience,” he said. More disturbing than the inexperience showing through was the general intensity of the team, Dickerson said. “I didn’t think we had great emotional hustle in the game at all, but the mistakes that were being made I attribute directly to a lack of experience,” he explained. The defensive squad featured

1 \Tf UjN, !■ ■xnßbL Waw<«ms ad B B B

BAD NEWS — Junior Todd Yeager re-injured his knee in Friday's 254 win at John Glenn, and will not be in uniform for this week's NLC game at Rochester. Helping Yeager off the field are seniors Jeff Morgan (53) and Tony Troup (30). (Photo by Doug Walker)

several new faces last week, including senior Brad Mitchell at defensive end and Ryan Wuthrich at linebacker. For both of them, it was their first varsity game at the positions. Two other seniors, Jeff Carden and Jason Keim, played their first varsity game in the defensive backfield. Experience Teaches Playing time will be the key for most of the youngsters this season, and Dickerson would like to get as many persons initiated as soon as possible before the big games in September. “That’s part of our resposibility as a coaching staff is to give them as many looks as we possibly can to correct those situations. ” “We have to coach each team like it was a state championship team. Just because they are inexperienced, and young, and you don’t have the six-foot-six guys like a North Wood, doesn’t mean you stop coaching,” Dickerson explained. “We’ve got to coach them, but they’ll get better. I feel confident that they’ll get better.” he said. “We’re not making a lot of stupid mistakes at this particular point in time, which you have to give credit to the young men in the drilling that’s been taking place. We don’t have a bunch of offsides, motion penalties, and things like that and that’s to the young men’s credit I believe,” said Dickerson. John Glenn scored in the clos-

In the second row are Tim Yoder, Steve Troup, Larry Kaiser, Phil Stichter and Tony McDowell. Not pictured are Mike Sumpter. Brad Sorensen, Denny Lechlitner, Max Sumpter and Bob Sylvester.

ing minutes in the second stanza when halfback Mark Cain connected with Bratt Gouker from the Wawasee four-yard-line. The TD pass was Cain’s first completion in the contest. Cain, who rushed for 134 yards in 18 carries, threw the ball four times from his halfback position. He also had the longest run in the game, a 41-yard scamper. Change of Ways? While the defense was having its problems, the Warriors’ offense showed signs of gaining maturity through an uncommon means for Dickerson — the airways. “I’ve never felt comfortable with the passing game. You know there's that old adage, everytime you put it up three things can happen — and two of them are bad.” Despite his offensive philosophy; however, Wawasee will be going to the air this season more frequently because of its corps of talented receivers and the golden arms of part-timer quarterbacks Brad Traviolia and Steve Galegor. Tony Troup, Kevin Tracey, Tony Blackburn, Kris Cox, are all good receivers, says Dickerson, and he’s confident in their abilities. Against the Zebras this week, who are expected to play what amounts to an eight man line in the split-6 defense, the Warriors will be looking to throw the football frequently if the offensive line can hold the Zebras’ pass rush. Traviolia started at Glenn last week and looked sharp throwing the ball. He only completed three of 10, hitting Tracey on a 24-yarder for a score, but several passes were dropped. Galegor was l-for-2, hitting Tracey with a great pass, as the sophomore duo combined for 81 yards in the air —a banner day in recent

AN vSfISI&YI

TD GALLOP — Sophomore quarterback Brad Traviolia took things in his own bands last week when he elected to run the ball for one of Wawasee's touchdowns during last week's win at John Glenn.

Wawasee passing history. The ground game was led by Steve Yoder who carried the ball five times for 60 yards. Blackburn scored twice as Dickerson continues to switch the ball carrying duties among three backs. The offense still had plenty of growing pains. Wawasee had four fumbles in the contest, and had several scoring drives halted by dropped passes. Rochester Winning has not been in the Rochester tradition in the last several seasons, but third-year coach Mark Miller has a strong foundation to improve upon last season’s 1-9 finish. Rochester, 1-1 on the season, will be looking to win its first NLC contest in three years, and the first win at home in the last two, Friday. Rochester’s game against Manchester last week was mostly a defensive struggle, as the Zebras’ held the host Squires to 37 yards on the ground and 68 in the air for a 14-0 win. The Zebras returned 17 lettermen from last season, losing their opener to Plymouth, 35-0 The opening loss to the Rockies’ might have been a bit different if it weren’t for Rochester’s fumbles and pass interceptions. Wawasee dumped Rochester easily last season. 40-0, but should count on a much tougher contest this season. The Zebras’ will be running the same type of offense engineered by Glenn, but will be throwing the football more. Senior quarterback Rob Shafer returns this season, and will have as his primary target Bill Murhling (6-3, 200) at tight end. Murhling snared several Shafer passes against Manchester last week, one of which

Merchants win pair of honors The Milford Merchants softball squad recently won the two first place awards given in Division II of the Ligonier Men’s Slow Pitch Softball League. On August 11, the Merchants wrapped up the Division II title in a playoff game with Henerys’ of Ligonier, a team that was moved into Division I midway through the season. The Merchants were trailing 5-3 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning when Larry Kaiser hit a threerun inside-the-park homer to win the game. Ligonier’s Division II city tourney took place the following week. On August 16, Milford topped Sroufe of Syracuse 18-5. The following evening, the Merchants topped Lyon and Greenleaf of Ligonier 3-1. On August 18, a 15-1 win over the Ligonier Telephone Company moved the Merchants into the championship game, which they won, 13-9 over Thermogas. The Merchants also captured second place in the Kimmel Merchants tourney at Wolf Lake and finished second in the Ligonier Park Department’s Fourth of July tournament.

The team ended its regular season on August 19 with a 27-3 league record and a 44-10 record overall. The Merchants also captured the unofficial championship of Milford with a sweep of a triple-header against The MailJournal All Stars. A double elimination tournament is now being planned for September 10-11 at Kendallville.

went for 32 yards and led to Rochester’s second score. Among the returnees are most of the offensive backfield — fullback Craig Burton (5-11,170) and flanker Tom Coursey (64), 150) and offensive tackle Rob Gardner (6-3,226). Burton rushed for 71 yards against the Squires last week, and was joined by Blake Kesler in the backfield. The defense looks to be Rochester’s strong suit, with Coursey, Murhling and Burton playing both ways. An all-NLC performer at defensive end last season, senior Dave Timmons (6-1, 175), has been moved to linebacker. Jeff See (64), 180) will see action at both offensive guard and at linebacker, nose guard Jeff Bryant (5-10,175) is a defensive mainstay. Injuries Wawasee has made it through the first two games in good shape thus far, with the only serious injury sustained by Todd Yeager, the 64) (180) junior linebackertackle. Yeager injured his knee against North Wood, came back healthy during practice last week, but injured it again while on defense Friday night His knee was to be examined this week, but Dickerson has scratched his name from the potential starting list this Friday. Yeager’s injury will be felt the most in the linebacking department. “We need some linebackers. We have not seen anyone, a knight in shining armor, to help,” Dickerson said. The saviour was supposed to have been Yeager, but with his injury as it is, Yeager may be limited to playing offense the rest of the season. Junior Jeff Roberts has been improving his play at the position, but Dickerson still needs another to help.

The Warriors are I*l on the season, and travel to Rochester Friday for a NLC game. (Photo by Doug Walker)

/nk Ladies (MGalf Results BIG BOULDER BELLES After a rain date of last week the following scores are for August 24 play of the Big Boulder Belles: Low gross - Donna Beer, first; Suzy Knepp, second Low net — Maxine Johnson, first; Donna Beer, second Low putts — Ruth Beer, first; Suzy Knepp, second Scramble A best ball scramble was held at the Big Boulder Golf Course on Friday, Aug. 26, with the following resists: Low gross — Darrell and Evelyn Orn Longest drive on hole number one — Doug Brookins, male; Gayla Eash, female Low putts — Jack and Donna Beer Closest to hole on number eight — Doug McKnight, male; 'Evelyn Orn, female ' Lost most balls in water — Jim Pippenger Most putts — Doug and Barbara Brookins A potluck dinner was held after the scramble with awards being passed out at that time. MAXWELTON Maxwelton’s ladies golf results for August 24 are: Low net play of the day, June Lantz, first; Inez Beiswanger, second; and Patty Nauman, third, for nine holes of play. Winners for 18 holes of play were Maggie Smith, Lori Welty and Jane Musser, tied for first place, with second place awarded to Marge Heckaman. Barb Hostetter leads golfers to win Freshman Barb Hostetter shot a 48 to lead the Wawasee Girls’ Golf team to a a victory over Columbia City in a nine-hole competition on the road in their first dual match of the season. The Lady Warriors tied with the Eagles at the end of the competition with 205 strokes each, so the victory was decided on the score of each team’s fifth member. Shelly Rogers easily outdistanced Kay Marrisey, 56-62, to give Wawasee the victory. Other Wawasee finishers were Kathy Jones with 51 strokes, and Tammy Tranter and Becky Welty with 53 each. Julie McCoy paced Columbia City with a 50. Coach Rudy Cesco’s squad will travel to Warsaw to take on the Tigers and the North Wood Panthers on September 6. Tippy sailers compete Saturday The Lake Tippecanoe Sailing Club held races in moderate windsthis past week end. The Juniors reaced on Saturday and all were sailing Hobie 16’s. Finishing first in all three races was Stevie Black of South Bend, with Bob Adams as his crew. Matt Hamer of Carmel was second. In the Sunday races, Jason Davidson of Leesburg, with Jay Anglin as crew, took the Hobie 16’s class, and Howard Jobson of LaGrange, 111., with Ida Krause as crew finished second. In the open class competition, Dave Ponsler of Anderson finished first in a Hobie 14-footer.

Sports Comment —

Side Lines

WAWASEE PRINCIPAL HOWARD HULL shocked our panel of experts by getting an ace as guest picker in the weekly Side Lines “pick-em” contest. Culver Military’s relentless thumping of Wabash confounded two of the fearless forecasters — M-J reporter Gary Lewis and statistician Derk Kuhn — while the third member on the full-time staff, Doug Walker, was humbled with three misses Walker’s alma mater, Wawasee, downed Glenn and Concord destroyed La Ville leaving the former North Webster Wiffle Ball great with a horrendous percentage after the first week. Here are last week’s results: Warsaw 7, Plymouth 6; Valley 23, Eastern 0; North Wood 29, Bremen 20; Wawasee 25, John Glenn 6; Concord 27, La Ville 6; Goshen 21, Northridge 7, Culver Military 30, Wabash 7. UNLIKE THE DWINDLING WORLD of the print medium, this week’s guest is part of a growing giant, cable TV, and his presence in the Lakeland area has made many Syracuse residents avid cable viewers. Noble Cable TV’s resident Manager Technician Bob Kocher will be busy soon in Milford, as Noble Cable continues its growth in the region. A former prep football and wrestling star from DeKalb. 111., Kocher received all-conference honors as a defensive endoffensive guard for his school’s team. He is best known in the Lakeland area as executive producer of the now-defunct “War rior Review’’ program —a weekly televised show broadcasted over Noble Cable TV’s channel 6 highlighting the extracurricular events at Wawasee. This week’s slate includes three cluster contests, which are the first cluster games in “pick-em.” In Wawasee’s Class AAA Cluster 20, it’s Concord at Plymouth and Goshen at Culver Military. In a big Class AAAA Cluster 5 match-up, Penn travels to Warsaw. In other games: Southwood is at Valley, North Wood travels to Northridge, and Wawasee makes the trek to Rochester for a NLC match-up. GUEST (1.000) 808 KOCHER — Kocher’s expertise in community affairs allowed him the luxury to look for help in making this week’s selections, and from the way it looks, he has had some good advice. Kocher hopes to continue in the Hull tradition with these picks. Plymouth, Goshen, Penn, Valley, North Wood and Wawasee. KUHN (.855) — This Warsaw High School graduate has long since abandoned his Tiger stripes for the Warriors’ Green and Gold, and he has elected to pick against his alma mater this week. Banking on the possibility that Warsaw’s running sensation Chad Hopkins will miss this week’s game, he has Penn inked in as the winner in the showdown at Warsaw. His picks, in order, are: Plymouth, Goshen, Penn, Valley, North Wood. and Wawasee. LEWIS ( .855) — Em harassed by his decision to pick Wabash over Culver Military last week, Lewis hopes to keep pace with Kuhn with the exact same picks: Plymouth, Goshen, Penn, Valley, North Wood, and Wawasee. WALKER (.571) — Not one for school loyality, either, is Walker, who goofed last week when he went with John Glenn over Wawasee in a surprise pick. Walker picked two other upsets as well and all failed last week, and this week the Wawasee-Ball State graduate continues to look for the Warriors to lose. He also differs with the rest of the panel in the ConcordPlymouth match-up, electing to go with the visiting Minutemen in an upset over the oversized Rockies. ’ His picks are: Concord, Goshen, Penn, Valley, North Wood. and Rochester. —o— IT’S AMAZING WHAT A DIFFERENCE one season can make. Rochester will be looking to establish a lot of firsts when it battles the Warriors this Friday. Third-year coach Mark Miller has been working hard lately to improve his club's 1-9 mark a season ago with 17 veterans from the 1982 squad. Last season, Wawasee made Rochester’s visit to the Lakeland area an uncomfortable affair — smearing the Zebras 40-0. But with all of the losses Wawasee suffered this spring from graduation, this Friday should be an entirely different story. “We’re going into the game thinking very optimistic, thinking we can compete with them this year. We feel like we can be competitive,” said Miller. Rochester will be looking for its first NLC win in three seasons and its first win at home this Friday. After losing what Miller described as “the best running backs in the conference.” the Warriors’ inexperience make the Zebras feel better. “We feel better about playing them this year than in the last couple of years.” “The kids really want to win one at home for the fans this year,” Miller said. Miller described Wawasee s 1982 season as a disappointment. “1 was really disappointed on how they ended the season. I understand they had some injuries toward the end of the season, but I thought they were a very good football team.” Hungry, unheralded, and loaded with experience. Wawasee fans had better travel to Rochester ready for a real battle ..; And so should the Warriors.

OPEN 7 DAYS FOR »x Bowling „ " e "i®r ✓ Food OUr favorite Drinks C».i. Coill AwmilmMa f SPOTS J Till AVaiiaDlU For Bowlers On W AKSUfts! WAWASH ■W3r> bowl 457.3555 —SB 13$ SyracuM Open 7 Days — 9 A.M. -Midnight