The Mail-Journal, Volume 21, Number 41, Milford, Kosciusko County, 24 October 1984 — Page 8
THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., October 24,1984
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Sports
Beat North Wood, Goshen — Great comeback lifts spikers to title
By TOM CHARLES Sports Editor The “Cardiac Kids” are back! Evoking memories of the Lady Warriors comebacks in last year’s sectional and regional basketball tournaments, Wawasee’s volleyball team staged a furious rally of its own Saturday in sectional action at Northridge. In a turnaround that sent Wawasee fans into hysterics and left the North Wood cheering section stunned,, the Lady Warriors rallied from a 14-4 deficit in the third game of their semifinal match to post a 16-14 win over the Panthers and gain a berth in the championship contest against Goshen. The Redskins, however, were little match for the Lady Warriors as Wawasee cruised to a 15-9, 15-4 win and its third sectional championship in school history It is the second sectional title for coach Barb Brouwer
H' 3 JUBILATION — Members of the Wawasee volleyball team show their emotions after clinching the sectional title with a win over Goshen. Pictured from left are Cindy Nelson, Darlene Justice. Lori Galloway. .Michelle Harter. Belinda Whitridge, Sandy Payne and Shelly Harris. (Photo by Mark Weinstein)
Warriors lose 31-13 as — Hopkins' foot, Tiger defense stops Wawasee
B> M ARK WEIXSTEIX Sports Writer Although Warsaw entered last Friday’s, contest at Wawasee with a 2-6 record. Myron Dickerson knew his team had to playgood football if they expected to beat the Tigers But playing good football was the only thing Wawasee did not do against Warsaw Instead. Warsaw capitalized on two Wawasee turnovers and easily ran past 'the Warriors 31-13. Wawasee drops its record to 3-6 Overall, and 3-3 in the Northern Lakes Conference Warsaw now stands at 3-2 in the NLC. •We didn’t play well." said Dickerson That was our worst effort this year, by far We have played good football teams all year, and that is not to take anything away from Warsaw, but it was just not a good all around effort by our kids.” M Evidence of Wawasee’s poor performance took place on the opening kickoff Warsaw’s Chad Hopkins boomed a long, but returnable kick just short of the end zone that Steve Yoder fumbled Warsaw’s Brian Smith recovered the loose ball at the Wawasee 19 yard line and Warsaw was in business Ironically, the only two kickoffs that Hopkins failed to kick into the end zone resulted in bad breaks for Wawasee. The other return by Wawasee pinned its offense at the 10 yard line. The remaining four kicks sailed into the end zone and were not returned. Warsaw Scores After Warsaw took over in fourdown territory, it wasted little time. Three consecutive plays were nfn by the Tiger offense without the benefit of a huddle. Still, that just brought the visitors closer to paydirt. Then on the sixth play of the drive, Warsaw’s bruising fullback, Rich Seitz, turned a simple off tackle dive into a 10-yard touchdown run. With Hopkins' point after touchdown, Warsaw quickly led 7-0. That first scoring drive left a bad taste in Dickerson’s mouth. “The way we played defense in
Amazing Recovery The championship was definitely anticlimatic after the thrilling semifinal match between the two best teams in the tournament. The Panthers had beaten Wawasee in a tough threegame match late in the season and Saturday’s encounter was every bit as tense. After the Panthers captured the opening contest 12-10, Wawasee rallied to post a 15-5 victory in game number two. Both contests ended after time had expired. That set the stage for the third and deciding game. North Wood breezed out to a 14-4 lead and appeared to have Wawasee down for the count. The Lady Warriors, however, gained a side out and Amy Bucher — who was filling in for an injured Shelly Harris — ripped off seven consecutive service points to close the gap to 14-11. The teams traded side outs before Christy Speicher nailed an Anita Swope set to make it
the first series was not an indication how we played it all year,” said Dickerson "We have had bad quarters and halves this year, but against Warsaw we were just bad completely." Warsaw's first score, and its kicking game proved to be fatal for the young Warriors on their first offensive series. "1 said earlier that the kicking game would be very important in this game, and it was,” said Dickerson. "They have a great kicker in Hopkins and Steve Sturgill is not a great punter He’s good, but not great.” After Hopkins landed one of his non-returnable kicks well into the end zone, Wawasee attempted to gets its offense on track, and tie up the score. ; It never happened Instead. Wawasee started at its own 20 yard line and could never get its running game moving. Because the running game was taken away. Warsaw keyed on the throwing arm of Brad Traviolia. and took away any potential drive. Frustration continued to linger along the Wawasee sideline as the host team failed to gain respectable field position. Wawasee started its first four possessions deep in .its own territory, starting at the 20, 10, 20, 22. A 13-yard punt by Sturgill gave Warsaw great field position on its second series with the ball. And as the case in its first offensive attempt, Warsaw put the ball in the endzone. Seitz bolted over from one-yard out and when Hopkins converted the PAT, Warsaw had all the points it needed for victory. Comeback Effort Although Warsaw added a late score just before the half, Wawasee never gave up, and at one point, looked as though it may challenge Warsaw at the end. defense provided the spark needed to get the offense rolling in the third quarter when Brad Mitchell intercepted a Steve Yeager pass at Warsaw’s 43 and returned it to the 30 yard line.
From there. Wawasee marched to the Tiger 19-yard line when Steve Yoder came up with the biggest offensive play, to that point, of the night for Wawasee. Facing a second-and-seven situation at Warsaw's 16, Yoder dashed past several Warsaw defenders for 11 yards. The blast gave Wawasee a much needed first down as the ball rested at the five. At that point. Traviolia took the troops into the promised land. A nifty quarterback option propelled Traviolia and Wawasee into the end zone as several Tiger defenders were left standing in disbelief. Wawasee trailed 21-6 as Mitchell’s PAT conversion sailed wide to the right. Wawasee Optimism With the slim home crowd seemingly getting back into the game. Wawasee turned in one of it best defensive performances against Warsaw following the kickoff. Although Warsaw picked up a first down in the ensuing drive, Wawasee allowed Warsaw just three more offensive plays before forcing them to punt. A four-yard loss by Seitz was the key defensive play of the series, although stopping Hopkins on a two-yard run closed the door on the Tigers. The Warriors scored one more time against Warsaw, but the Tigers added a 23-yard field goal by Hopkins to seal the win. Traviolia connected with Lance Lantz on a 24-yard strike with time running out for Wawasee’s final touchdown. Lantz became Traviolia’s prime target after Kevin Tracey was forced out of the game with what appeared to be a hip-pointer. Tracey’s status for tonight's game with John Glenn will not be decided until game time. Dickerson noted that a decision will be made Wednesday after a medical « report is provided. “I will not play anyone if they are injured,” said Dickerson. “We hope to have him (Tracey) but at this point I don’t know if he will play.” Warsaw attempted a gameending 45-yard field goal, much to the dislike of the Wawasee faithful. Hopkins holds the school
14-12. Time ran out during the next point, but Northwood’s Ronda Klotz hit a spike long to make the score 14-13 and send the contest into overtime. Another Speicher kill made it 14-14. At that point, referee Loren Carswell whistled North Wood for an illegal substitution. The penalty point gave Wawasee a 15-14 lead. Speicher followed on the next point with her 11th kill of the match and the Lady Warriors celebrated their 16-14 win. “When you’re down 14-4 and you come back like that, it means you’re playing with a lot of heart,” said an elated Brouwer after the match. “We talked about it during one of the time outs that we just had to come back one point at a time and that’s what we did.” “There was no excuse for us not getting the last point,” noted North Wood head coach Jan Schrock. “I also think the official made a crucial mistake at the end. The rule (on substitutions) was relaxed last year so that this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.” 4 The Final The Lady Warriors took the lead from Goshen at 7-6 in the first contest and never looked back the rest of the match. Speicher and Sandy Payne were provided the power down the final stretch of the contest as Wawasee cruised to a 15-9 win. In the second contest, Wawasee jumped out to a 5-0 lead and lead streched it to 13-2 before settling for a 15-4 win. The Redskins’ ; top hitter, Marcy Bixler, was held in check for most of the match as Goshen failed to sustain its offense in the second game. “Our play tonight was typical of our season,’’ said Goshen coach Rose Kettlebar. “We were very up-and-down. We’ve played well in spurts, but you can’t do that against a solid team like Wawasee. I don’t think we used Bixler to the best of our ability, but I still think she had a good night.” Despite having to regroup in a short period of time following their emotional win over North Wood in the semifinal, the Lady Warriors did not suffer a letdown in their level of play. “I could tell in warmups that the kids still had their intensity,” said Brouwer. “Goshen has beaten us the past two years in the sectional and our motto going into the championship match was that ‘the third time is the charm.’” Great Feeling The semifinal win over North Wood was especially gratifying to Brouwer due to the fact that her team has taken some knocks for not being able to come from behind. “I know that we’ve had trouble coming from behind this year,” Brouwer said. “But I think that the win over Bremen after we were down 12-1 gave the kids some confidence in themselves. Then, once we started rolling off points against North Wood, we thought we could win. ” “I was impressed that the kids didn’t let down when they lost the serve in that third game,” she added. “We just kept hitting away and I think Nor-
record with a 46-yard threepointer. “I am not going to complain about something like that.” said Dickerson, concerning Warsaw's late try for a field goal. “Believe it or not. we will be in that position in the years ahead. And when that happens. I hope the other coach won’t complain, because I haven’t.” Statistically, Warsaw held nearly every edge on paper. The Tigers outgained Wawasee 289-115 and had nine more offensive plays from scrimmage. Traviolia was the main weapon for the Warrior offense as he was nine-of-21 in passing for 89 yards. The key to his statistics is that he threw no interceptions. Hopkins paced the Tiger attack with 105 yards rushing. Protect bark Protect the tender bark from sun and winter wind on newly planted trees by wrapping from the bottom limb to the ground.
CROSSCOUNTRY AWARD WINNERS —The Lakeland Junior High Cross Country team had its awards banquet Monday, Oct. 22, at Wawasee High School. The team members are pictured above with their trophies. Front row, from left to right: Rod Coy, Kendra Douglas, Jason Douglas, Stuart Ough, Matthew Hoffert and Chad Hoffert. Back row: Jeff Carey, Brian Jones. Cuong Reed, Julie Fulp, Susan Harnan. Jennifer Titus and Chad Jones. Jeff Carey received the Most Valuable Runher award, and Eric Stookey was named an honorary member of the 1984 Lakeland Jr. High Cross Country team. Not pictured are Eric Stookey and coach David Stookey. (Photo by Jo Sturgis)
thWood got a little conservative and didn’t play to win.” ; j Team Effort Several players contributed to both wins with some impressive statistics. However, the sparkling play of first-time starter Amy Bucher was definitely one of the high points of the night. Bucher, who received the starting nod when Shelly Harris sprained her ankle in the Thursday night win over Northridge, played well in the back row and was the team’s leading server in both Saturday matches. “We tried several several people in Harris’ spot in practice,” said Brouwer. “Bucher just seemed to step in there and take charge. She did a great job for us in the sectional. She played with confidence and gave 100 percent.” Payne and Speicher were almost unstoppable in the front row. Using their good court sense and spiking power, they riddled Goshen’s defense and kept the Lady Warriors in contention throughout the North Wood match. “Payne was amazing,” Brouwer said. “She is an excellent leaper and has excellent timing. I also thought she looked like she wanted to kill the ball each time she went up to spike.” “Speicher is a smart hitter,” complemented Kettlebar. “She does a good job of changing pace on the ball and can do just about what she wants with her spikes.” On the night, Payne had 39 spikes and 11 kills. Speicher added 66 spikes and 24 kills in the two matches. Swope, the backbone of Wawasee’s offense, had an amazing 108 good sets out of 109 attempts in the North Wood match. She also had 49 good sets against Goshen. Bucher served 10-of-U attempts with two aces against Goshen. She was even better against North Wood, nailing 19-of-19 attempts with six aces. Wawasee advanced to Saturday’s play with a 15-2, 15-9 win over Northridge. The Panthers beat Fairfield in the opening round and Goshen advanced to the finals with a two-game win over Bethany/ Regional Wawasee now advances to the Mishawaka Regional on Saturday. The 16-3 Lady Warriors meet 18th-ranked Mishawaka Marian in the first game at 2 p.m. St. Joseph’s and Prairie Heights meet in the second contest. The winners return at 8 p.m. for the championship match. “Marian’s passing is not that great,” said Brouwer, “but they have an excellent hitter in Debbie Lynch. She hits well out of the middle and we are going to have to work on our blocking techniques this week in practice.” Marian knocked off defending state champion Mishawaka, Concord and Elkhart Memorial to gain a berth in the regional. The Knights are 24-3 overall. Tickets for the regional are now on sale at the high school. A single-session pass is $2.50 and a season pass is $4.00.
Glenn Falcons The Warriors own the only win in this series, a 25-6 thrashing last year at Glenn. * If Wawasee expects to win. they must play better that it did against Warsaw, says Myron Dickerson. The Falcons, 2-7, resemble the Warriors throughout their lineup. The only difference that is noteworthy is the option/pass capabilities of Mark Cain. According to Dickerson, he can pass and run, and will do so throughout the contest. One major problem facing Glenn is the size of its team. Only 28 players make up the Falcon team, but 12 are seniors. Perhaps the big key for Wawasee is how well the passing attack will be without Kevin Tracey. The outstanding senior suffered a l hip-pointer against Warsaw and is expected to be lost for the I season. ' TIME/LOCATION: 7:30 p.m., Wawasee SERIES RECORD: 1-0. Wawasee LAST YEAR: 25-6, Wawasee WAWASEE LAST WEEK: Lost to Warsaw, 31-13 GLENN LAST WEEK: Lost to Jimtown, 35-7 SEASON RECORDS: Wawasee (3-6), Glenn (2-7)
■I JL W tty SPEICHER SLAM — Christy Speicher slams an Anita Swope set passed two North Wood blockers in volleyball sectional action on Saturday. Speicher and her teammates downed North Wood 10-12,15-5, 16-14, and Goshen 15-9, 15-4, to win the sectional title. Also pictured for Wawasee are Swope (9) and Greta Hilker (5). Covering the spike for North Wood are Terrie Klotz (32), Tracy Eby (22) and Kami Gessinger (20). (Photo by Mark Weinstein)
Swimmers knock off Warsaw; NLC next
Wawasee’s girls swim team seems to be growing stronger as the season goes on. Should this pace continue, the Warriors could be a force to reckon with in this weekend’s Northern Lakes Conference meet at Concord. In a recent NLC meet with Warsaw, the Warriors dominated much of the action, and at the end came away with an impressive 95-76 victory over the Tigers. With the win, Wawasee improves its overall record to 8-4-1 and 4-3 in NLC standings while Warsaw drops to 5-6 and 2-5 in the conference. Pam Foyle was the leader in the victorious effort for Wawasee. She earned an individual honors in the 50-yard freestyle while helping the 200 freestyle relay team to capture first.In addition, she placed second in the 100 butterfly for Wawasee. Joining Foyle on the parade of champions were Jeanine Gunn, diving; Criss Baumgartner, 500 freestyle; and Chris Neff, 100 breaststroke. In diving, Gunn outdistanced teammate Julie Schmahl with 225.8 points. The one-two combination has placed in this manner consistently throughout the season. But one surprise in the meet was Michelle Berger’s third place berth. She was an easy winner over Warsaw’s lone diver.
—-Sports shorts Turkey Trot scheduled at Manchester College on Nov. 10 Manchester College will hold its fifth annual Turkey Trot, a cross-country race for men and women, on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 1:30 p.m. The run is jointly sponsored by the Manchester crosscountry teams and the college admissions office. The men will run a five-mile course and the women are scheduled to run 5,000 meters. Winners in each age division will receive turkeys. Check-in time is noon to 1 p.m. at the college s Physical Education and Recreation Center. More information on the race may be obtained by calling (219 ) 982-2141. Smith, Clouse, Daniels active in college sports Three Wawasee High School graduates have continued their athletic careers on the college level. Todd Smith, son of Clark and Sue Smith, Camelot Lake, placed fifth in the jump competition at the Collegiate National Water Ski Tournament in Sacramento, Calif., on Oct. 13 and 14. He is a member of the Purdue University team. Carla Clouse, daughter of Tony and Connie Clouse, Milford, is also involved in Purdue athletics. She is running on the women’s cross-country team and has a personal best time of 18:58 for the 5,000-meter distance. Ron Daniels, son of Jerry and Bev Daniels, Syracuse, was a member of the Manchester College varsity tennis team .While at Wawasee, Daniels played on the 1983 squad that finished second in the Elkhart sectional. Milford girls successful in recent volleyball matches The Milford “A” volleyball team defeated Warsaw and North Webster to close the season on a winning note. Cindy LeCount, Shanna Bushong, Rhonda Stookey, Saby Vale and Donna Miller were team leaders in the 15-7,15-13 win over North Webster. Vale, Stookey, Bushong, Dawn Speicher and Mel Klotz supplied the leadership in the 15-11,15-7 win over Warsaw. The B-team lost to Warsaw 15-2,15-13 despite the efforts of team leaders Kristin Robbins, Sonya Andwson, Krussy Eisenhour and Letty Zuniga. The team defeated North Webster 15-8,2-15,15-2 to end the season. Zuniga, Anderson, Robbins and Krista Zimmerman were the top players.
Baumgartner earned her first 500 freestyle honor of the season by knocking off seven seconds from her previous personal best. She kicked her way to the finish in a time of 6:17.6, well ahead of Warsaw’s Mary Fisher. Steph Berkey placed third in the event for the Warriors. Stacy Boles provided coach Tim Caldwell with some excellent swimming as she won the 100 freestyle. Shawn Anderson placed third, several seconds behind Boles’ winning 1:02.0 clocking. In the 100 breaststoke, Neff was head and shoulders ahead of her competition. Her 1:17.9 clocking surpassed the efforts of Warsaw’s Karen Sadenwater and Robin Brandt. Although Wawasee earned just a handful for first place finishes, several other Warriors performed admirably. Baumgartner added a second place in the 200 freestyle while Boles was jsecond in the 50 freestyle event. Julie McDaniel was a third-place finisher in the 100 butterfly and Danielle Iwankowitsch placed second in the 100 backstroke. Wawasee, along with Warsaw, with compete in the NLC swim meet beginning Thursday evening at Concord High School. The Warriors’ next regular season meet will be Thursday, Nov. 1. at Manchester.