The Mail-Journal, Volume 20, Number 52, Milford, Kosciusko County, 11 January 1984 — Page 8

THE MAIL-JOURNAL - Wed., January 11,1984

8

Sports

, Wysong concerned —

Inconsistency plagues Warriors

By MARK WEINSTEIN Sports Writer Wawasee’s boys’ basketball team entered its first doubleweekend action of 1984 with anticipation of picking up where it left off in 1983; winning. But after the dust cleared, the Warriors dropped a 74-59 Northern Lakes Conference decision to Plymouth, while being embarrassed by lowly West Noble the following evening, 62-61. With the twin-killing. Wawasee dropped its record to 7-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference. In both contests Wawasee head coach John Wysong had reason to be concerned with his team’s performance. “I am not pleased with our mental approach, attitude and discipline right now,” said Wysong concerning his team's preparation for the last two defeats. “We are going into games thinking we don't want to lose, instead of flaying the best we can and letting the wins and losses take care of themselves.” The Warriors' approach, along

Raiders, Vikes await Warriors

After a rugged two game swing last weekend, the Warriors will have no breather this time around as they must travel to Northridge on Friday and face the high-flying Tippecanoe Valley Vikings on Saturday. Northridge provides a stern test for the struggling Warriors as the Raiders’ crafty head coach Irv Pratt leads his team. “Northridge is a very tough place to play.” confirmed Wysong. "They are also playing very well at this time, and I’m sure they will be mentally ready for us.” ' Friday’s Affair with the Raiders will present Wawasee with a unique problem Northridge sw’itches its defensive maneuvers throughout the course of a game, and is also a well disciplined team If the Warriors escape Middlebury without many serious problems, they should be in

Sports comment — Calling the shots

THE ALBANY PATROON§ are a long way from being America’s team, but they are on the road to winning their division of the Continental Basketball Association. The CBA, for those of you who are not familiar, is the "other” U.S. professional basketball league. It sports teams in Lancaster. Pa.. Sarasota, Fla and other cities which are off the beaten path. Unlike football’s upstart league, the USFL, the CBA has not been able to attract any big name talent. Instead, it remains a curious mixture of aging ex-NBA players and college performers who never quite made it into the limelight. One of the notable names associated with the CBA is former NBA great Cazzie Russell. Russell is currently the coach of the Lancaster Lightning Expansion leagues often dream up new approaches to a sport, hoping that the promise of something new will lure fans away from the established league. In the CBA's case, this strategy has led to the creation of a new statistic; quarters won. In each game a team is awarded three points for a win, one point for each quarter won and one-half point for each quarter tied. Thus, it is conceivable that a team with an excellent winloss record and a habit of coming from behind at the end will not win its division. Is a team that comes from behind less deserving than a team which dominates the game? The CBA must think so. . . . WHS FOOTBALL MENTOR MYRON DICKERSON has been named the director-elect for Region 2 of the Indiana Football Coaches Association. According to Myron, the directorship, which he will assume in January 1965, involves chairing coaches meetings, organizing committees for playoffs and heading up the allstar player selection process. Region 2 covers a wide range of schools reaching from LaPorte and Michigan City to Warsaw. DOUBLEHEADERS ARE USUALLY RESERVED for baseball, but basketball fans will get a double dose of varsity action this Saturday night when the Wawasee boys and girls entertain Tippe Valley. The girls tip off the action at 6:15 p.m. In order to accomodate this switch the junior varsities will be playing on Thursday night beginning at 6:00 p.m. with the girls. Come out and give these teams your support.

with being uncharacteristically disorganized on the court, was never more apparent than when they took the floor against West Noble. Seemingly having matters well under control, the Warriors raced out to a comfortable 19-6 spread after the first But from then on the Warriors quickly went down hill. West Noble’s Mike Kendall, who has been averaging well under double digits throughout the season, inspired a Charger rally in the second stanza. Scoring 10 of his 14 points in the period. Kendall helped erase Wawasee’s 13 point first period margin, and sent the Chargers into a surprising 30-26 lead at the intermission. “We had a real letdown in the second period,” admitted Wysong “From that point, the game was really over. We let their non-scorers get into the scoring race, and that hurt us.” • Although Wawasee witnessed the lead slip through its grasp, the Warriors never gave up. Behind a balanced scoring at-

decent shape with the upstart Tippecanoe Valley Vikings. The Vikings, possessing one of the better teams in the area, have a potent offensive attack. Leading the fleet-winged Vikings are high-scoring forward Greg VanDeWater and quarterback Shad McConkey. Both are counted on by first year coach Bob Dußois to score, and lead the 7-2 Vikes. Valley, along with two of the top two scorers in the Three Rivers Conference also has a strong bench to carry the burden. "From top to bottom, Valley could be the best team we will play this year,” praised Wysong of his Saturday opponent. "They run with the ball well, and crash the boards, too." The Saturday game is part of a boys and girls doubleheader. The girls will see action at 6:15 p.m. and the boys’ contest is slated for an 8:15 p.m. start.

THE BREMEN LIONS HAVE QUIETLY built themselves a fine 7-3 record and have climbed into second place in the NLC. Dean Foster’s club wasn’t expected to do much this season due to heavy graduation losses. However. Bremen has already notched an impressive win over Plymouth. The Lions may just be worth watching down the home stretch. The Lions were among last week’s winners with a 66-51 romp over struggling Goshen. Other scores from the past seven dayswere Plymouth 74. Wawasee 59; Penn 59, Plymouth 51; Fairfield 53, Concord 42; Rochester 73, North Wood 66; Purdue 84, Wisconsin 65; Indiana 73, Ohio State 62; Washington 63, Notre Dame 61 (2ot). Does 1984 hold bad things in store for the Warriors? Several of our predictors seem to think that Wawasee is at least temporarily mired in a slump. Three of our four panelists have tabbed Tippe Valley to win the Saturday night clash. The remaining games on schedule are Plymouth at Concord, Bremen at Rochester, Warsaw at North Wood, Purdue at Indiana, Illinois at Ohio State and Michigan State at Minnesota. Charles (.631) — Don’t think the Fighting Illini are merely a threat in football. The U of I is also going to be a force in the Big Ten basketball race. Winners: Plymouth, Tippe Valley, Bremen, Warsaw, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan State. Kuhn (.667) — Although the Lady Warriors are not included in this week’s slate of games, Kuhn confidently predicts that “they will win in a romp (over Tippe Valley).” The front runner’s winners are Plymouth, Tippe Valley, Bremen, Warsaw, Indiana, Ohio State and Minnesota. Rhodes (.595) — Rich is going against the tide this week as he picks the Warriors to handle Tippe Valley on Saturday night. In addition he is going with the Hoosiers over the Boilermakers because “Indiana is an excellent team at home.” Winners: Plymouth, Wawasee, Bremen, Warsaw, Indiana, Ohio State and Minnesota. Weinstein (.533) — Harsh words this week from the pen of this M-J sports personality. “Valley has the horses to run over Wawasee. The Warriors seem to be their own worst enemy... .Valley in a rout,” predicts Weinstein. His winners: Plymouth, Tippe Valley, Rochester, Warsaw, Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State.

tack, and adequate defense inside, Wawasee provided its faithful following with something to cheer about late in the third period. Trailing since midway in the second quarter, senior Joel Rhoades ignited a offensive burst. Jon Vitaniemi added to the explosion by scoring six points, and fueling the Warriors past the Chargers 42-41 heading into the final eight minutes of action. But then, with the Warriors holding the momentum, their nagging problem, disorganization, cropped up again. This time Wawasee could not recover. Although Wawasee effectively stopped Kendall in the second half, it failed to stop another “non-scorer,” sophomore Tom Schermerhorn, and leading scorer Larry Somerset. y Schermerhorn, who averages less than eight points a game, poured in 14 points to aid in the upset. Incidentally, Schermerhorn’s 44 foot basket at the end of the third period provided the Chargers with the margin of victory. Somerset, averaging 15.5 points a game rattled in 16 points, eight in the final quarter, in securing the Chargers' second win of the year. Wawasee had ample opportunities to steal the victory from the Chargers in*the waning seconds, but three missed shots in the final 18 seconds sent the Warriors to their second straight defeat; the third loss in five games. “You have to give the guys who were in there at the end a lot of credit,” praised Wysong of his team’s final effort at winning the contest. “We had a great opportunity of winning the game, but the shots just didn’t fall.” Senior Kim Zurcher paced the Warriors with 20 points, while Vitaniemi finished with 18 points, despite fouling out late in the game. Brooks Koble chipped in with 12 points. Plymouth Friday night, the Warriors seemed to be on the threshold of coming from behind against Plymouth. But a couple bad breaks near the end of the .game sent the Warriors to their second NLC defeat. “Things s just didn't go our way,” said Wysong about his team’s defeat at the hands of Plymouth. “We had a couple of bad breaks near the end. so we had to gamble, and Plymouth’s a good team.”

By TOM CHARLES

After falling behind in the initial period 19-8, Wawasee put together an impressive march midway in the second quarter. Behind Vitaniemi’s 10 secondperiod points, the Warriors closed the large gap to 26-21 at half. Wawasee which was hurt by two long range shots during the weekend, saw Plymouth use the long distance route to its advantage prior to half. The Warriors used a Vitaniemi basket to cut Plymouth's lead to three with eight seconds left in the half. But seven seconds later, what momentum Wawasee had, was taken away on a desperation throw that found the bottom of the well. Plymouth’s Tony Plothow’s only shot in the first half came with a second remaining from the 34 foot mark. The junior’s shot sent the crowd into a frenzy as they stood in amazement. Plothow’s “shot” helped the Pilgrims gain the momentum they lost during the second period Warrior comeback. In addition, Plymouth expanded its slim margin to five at the break. The Warriors played even with the Pilgrims during the quarter, and even took brief leads throughout. But three costly infractions whistled against Wawasee halted a victory they should have claimed. Probably one of the worst infractions going against the Warriors came when senior Jeff Atwood made a steal of a Plymouth pass midway in the third period. However, Atwood was whistled for a foul and the Warriors did not get the turnover. 3 From that point, Wawasee never was in the game as Plymouth expanded its lead behind the inside performances of Jamie Johnson and Matt Starr. Both repeatedly took feeds from the Pilgrim guards to dominate action inside the paint. For the contest, Johnson led all scorers with 25 points while Starr added 21. Plot how chipped in with 14 for the visitors. Kim Zurcher paced the Warrior attack with 22 points, but received little help from anyone else. Vitaniemi scored 14 points, eight points below his scoring average entering the contest, while Koble finished with 11.

Bovs > Cons. Total Warsaw 4-0 10-2 Bremen 2-1 7-3 Concord 2-2 2-8 Plymouth 1-1 5-6 Rochester 1-1 2-8 Wawasee 1-2 7-3 North Wood 0-2 3-5 Goshen 0-2 1-9 Last week’s results* Rochester 73 North Wood 66 Bremen 66 Goshen 51 Plymouth 74 Wawasee 59 Warsaw 86 Columbia City 56 Fairfield 53 Concord 42 Games of the week Breman at Rochester Plymouth at Concord Warsaw at North Wood Tippe Valley at Wawasee Wawasee at Northridge

'Results listed are only for games of the week.

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GOING FOR THE BLOCK — Wawasee’s Bea Beer gets off the ground in an attempt to block a North Wood player’s shot in freshmen basketban actioa last night at Wawasee. Brett Traviola (25) keeps a close watch on the play. Wawasee dropped the A game, but putted off a victory in the B contest. The teams return to actioa Thursday night at Concord. (Photo by Tom Charles)

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NOT THEIR WEEKEND — The Warriors got off to a rough start in 1984, dropping two games last weekend. Senior forward Jon Vitaniemi, above deft, caught West Noble’s Larry Somerset off his feet on this play, but the Chargers emerged from Saturday’s contest with a 62-61 upset win. Coach John Wysong, above right, saw something he liked at one point during the Plymouth game on Friday. However, the outcome, a 74-59 Plymouth win, did not leave him smiling. Wawasee forward Joel Rhoades, below right, goes up for two of his eight points in the loss to Plymouth. The senior forward also pulled down five rebounds in the contest. (Photos by Mark Weinstein)

Around The NLC

Girls Cons. Total Wawasee 5-0 13-1 Bremen 4-1 10-3 Warsaw 3-1 11-2 North Wood 1-2 8-3 Goshen 1-2 8-5 Plymouth 1-3 4-8 Concord 1-4 7-6 Rochester 0-4 4-8 Last week's results* Bremen 54 Goshen 45 Concord 54 Rochester 37 Wawasee 57 Goshen 47 North Wood 46 Elk Central 31 Plymouth 62 Concord 54 Games of the week Rochester at North Wood Plymouth at Bremen Warsaw at Goshen Concord at S B. Riley Goshen at Concord

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Wrestlers blitz North Wood finish second at East Noble

By TOM CHARLES Sports Editor Despite dropping the first three matches, the Wawasee grapplers powered their way by North Wood to capture a 40-18 Northern Lakes Conference decision on Tuesday night at Nappanee. Chuck Cotton, Steve Yoder and Tim Fraser recorded wins via the pin route for Rich Welborn’s squad. The 6-1 Warriors dominated the meet, winning nine of the final ten matches. The only loss, a forfeit in the heavyweight division, was due to an injury. In junior varsity action, Wawasee held on to deny a strong North Wood challenge. The junior Warriors emerged with a 15-13 win. Albert Stricklin, Jeff Welborn and Jack McDaniel registered wins for coach Jim Jones. Summary 98 —Doug Eiden (NW) pin J.R. Noel, 1:19. 185 — Roger Ramer (NW) dec. Duane Turner, 11-4. * 112 — Dave Cutchin (NW) dec. Jeff Dunithan, 10-4. 119 — Chuck Cotton (W) pin Hanh Huynh, 5:59. 126 — Dave Melendez (W) dec. Brent Hartman, 10-0. 132 — Brad Traviola (W) dec. Fred Johnson, 12-2. 139 — Mike Hernandez (W) dec. Scott Eash, 8-1. 145 — Steve Yoder (W) pin Doug Hoover, 1:05. 155 — Jason Keim (W) dec. Jeff Shaw, 7-1. 167 — Lance Lantz (W) dec. Tom Herr, 14-4. 177 — Tim Fraser (W) pin Barry Curtis, 3:01. Milford boosters to discuss summer baseball program The Milford Boosters will hold a public meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 23 to discuss the organization of summer baseball in Milford. The meeting, which will be held at the Milford Elementary School, is open to any interested persons.

185 — Steve Sturgill (W) dec. Keith Eby, 12-2. Hwt. — Troy Hahn (NW) won by forfeit. Junior Varsity 105 — Albert Stricklin (W) pin Rob Rensberger, 1:15. 112 — Jeff Welborn (W) pin Sean Bolt, 1:35. 119 — Steve Cutchin (NW) dec. Chris Yoder, 15-6. 126 — Jack McDaniel (W) dec. Jim Anglemeyer, 6-3. 138 — Phil Hahn (NW) pin Rich Troup, 5:49. 155 — Gary Urendenick (NW) dec. Ned Hunsberger, 3-2. Wrong name The headline in last week’s wrestling article should have read “Hernandez leads grapplers to ninth at Mishawaka,” not “Melendez leads grapplers to ninth at Mishawaka,” as was printed. East Noble The Warriors four titles on their way to a second place finish in the East Noble Invitational last Saturday 7 . Wawasee compiled a team score of 147 points, second to DeKalb’s total of 156%. Jeff Dunithan was Wawasee’s

Athlete of the week

For his display of a fine shooting touch and team leadership during two tough losses, Kim Zurcher has been awarded this week’s MailJournal “Athlete of the Week.” Despite coming up on the short end against Plymouth and West Noble, Zurcher displayed great patience at both ends of the court. His 22 points paced Wawasee’s defeat against Plymouth, while his 20 points at West Noble kept the Warriors in the ball game.

first champoin in the one-day event. He spilled Carroll’s Mike Schmitz 14-2 to win the 112 class. Dave Melendez followed suit in the 126 class with a 10-3 decision over DeKalb’s Yogi Weimer. At 132 pounds, Brad Traviola continued his winning ways with a pin in the final match. The lanky sophomore finished off Lakeland’s Tom Tuttle in 2:52 for the title. The last Warrior to win an individual crown was Mike Hernandez at 138 pounds. Hernandez, who also won his division at the Mishawaka Invitational, downed East Noble’s Les Nivens 8-2 in the finale. Two grapplers captured the runner-up spot in their respective divisions. Rob DeSomer (119 pounds) and Steve Yoder (145 pounds) both dropped close matches in the finals. DeSomer fell to Carroll’s Pete Magsom and Yoder was bested by East Noble’s Eric Ray. Dewayne Turner (105 pounds) and Lance Lantz (167 pounds) both wrestled to third place in their divisions. The team standings from the meet were as follows: DeKalb 156%, Wawasee 147, East Noble 139, Prairie Heights 135, Carroll 116%, Lakeland 66, Garrett 31% and Angola 23%.

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