Gridders win again; whip Huskies 34-3

Gridders win again; whip Huskies 34-3

Athletics Football

This article describes a football game against Bloomsburg, won by WC.

Ed Miller and Michael Sommers

Quad Angles

Special Collections, Francis Harvey Green Library, West Chester University

10-15-1974

Randall Cream

https://digital.klnpa.org/digital/collection/wcnp01/id/15193

Chalk up another win for West Chester, as the Rams ran all over the Huskies of Bloomsburg, 84-3. That's five straight wins. "Let's go defense!" the cheerleaders cry. Don't waste your breath on the West Chester defense, girls, it's a mighty machine that has stopped every opposing team dead in their spikes. Renee, Corinne, Kathy — try this one: "Let's go offense!" Coach John Furlow was more than a little upset at the sloppiness of his offense, although it seemed to be offset by his pleasure at the defensive performance. Still, the Ram offense seemed to be plagued by a bad case of sluggishness most of the afternoon. The game started off brightly enough, as the Rams scored during their first possession of the ball. As a matter of fact, they TD-ed twice, but only one of them counted. Three plays into a 67 yard steamrolling to the goal line, Chip Zawoiski tore off for a 54 yard run into the end zone — only to have the ball taken back to, the West Chester thirty-one because of a clipping penalty against the Rams. Undaunted, quarterback Warren Mays calmly regrouped his players and forged ahead. Big gains by Guy Van Alstine and Zawoiski, a Bloomsburg penalty and one of those beautiful Mays to Bob Hartshorn passes set up Warren Sothern's five yard scoring blast at 8:14 in the first quarter. Steve Cook's kick was on target and the Rams were ahead, 7-0. Bloomsburg had trouble advancing anywhere, thanks to the efforts of John Barr, Kevin MacAneny, Mel Hinton and friends, and the Rams took over again. Two plays later, the West Chester defense again took to the field because of a Ram fumble. Mike Green and Hinton refused to let the Huskies through and Bob Hughes came on to attempt a long field goal attempt, which dropped short. The Ram offense took over on their own two yard line, and again went into action. The combined efforts of Sothern and Van Alstine got the ball to the nine yard line and then — and then all hell broke loose. It was the good old give and take partnership of Mays and Hartshorn, and it resulted in a spectacular 91 yard TD pass, with Hartshorn shedding the Huskies' last tackler on the twenty. Cook's extra point attempt went wide and the Rams were now perched up, 13-0. The Huskies took over at their twenty, got as far as the thirty-two, then as quarterback Stan Gurecki dropped back for a handoff, there was a fumble and it was picked up by the Rams' Mel Hinton at the Bloomsburg twenty-five. All well and good, but the Rams immediately fumbled and possession went back to the Huskies. Still, it was nowheresville for Bloomsburg as they vainly struggled with the likes of Green, MacAneny and Mike Fitzpatrick. And so it went for awhile, as the West Chester offense couldn't score either, though Zawoiski, Sothern, Van Alstine and Mike O'Connor painfully moved the ball forty-four yards. Ball back to Bloomsburg.But a desperation pass from Gurecki was intercepted by Barr at the Bloomsburg forty-seven. Then it was Mays to Hartshorn for 45 yards, and a Van Alstine bop, skip and jump for the score. Cook's kick was good and it was 20-0. The entire football game seemed to go that way: either stagnation or eruption. For the remainder of the second quarter and the entire third, the West Chester defense was the story. Fumbles and •mistakes were the rule of play for the offense.offense. The defense, however, refused to budge and Bloomsburg's only possible scoring threat for awhile was a 47 yard field goal attempt that dropped way short. Finally, towards the middle of the third period, the Huskies got on the scoreboard — barely. Up to that point (or rather, three points) the Rams had completely stopped Bloomsburg, who couldn't score despite a first and goal situation. Frustrated Huskie kicker Hughes booted a short field goal for a score of 20-3. As if sparked by the absolute gall of the Huskies daring to score against West Chester, the Ram offense caught fire. Three carries by Zawoiski and a 34 yard pass to O'Connor gave the Rams a welldeserved first down on the Huskie twentyeight.After six running plays that took things down to the three yard line, Sothern bulldozed his way in for his ninth touchdown of the season. Cook added his foot's worth to the ball for the extra point, and things stood 27-3. The Huskies went exactly nine yards before turning the ball over to West Chester's offense, which could only acfvance twelve yards. Bloomsburg, after taking Cook's punt at their own ten, got pushed back to the eight and Line Welles' punt only went as far as his own thirtyeight yard line. West Chester brightened up again as Herb Mills carried the ball and half the Bloomsburg defense down to the ten yard line. Zawoiski then carried for the first down at the five yard line, and two plays later, quarterback John Newman threw an 8 yard scoring strike to Zawoiski. Cook's extra point — as it usually is — was good and the Rams stared down from a lofty pinnacle of 34-3. There was a chance of another Ram score, but the drive was halted by a penalty. Chuck Menas threw to Mills who dragged the ball (and Huskie defender Mark Schweiker) down to the one yard line. But an ineligible receiver downfield nullified the play and the Ram offense was pretty well stymied the rest of the game. The unbeaten Rams outgained the Huskies 452 yards to 206 yards with the defensive unit of Hinton, Green, Bucelli, Fitzpatrick, Jim Polli, et al staunchly refusing to allow the befuddled Huskies from crossing the goal line. With their 3-0 conference record, the Rams appear well on their way to a sixth straight Eastern Division crown, with Kutztown and the reportedly tough Cheyney on the schedule for the remaining conference games. It's American International this week, all the way in Massachusetts. After doing so well on the Pennsylvania soil, it would be interesting to see how the Rams do up in New England. Perhaps it might be an indication as to how things will go in Delaware.