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Show - I THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL• SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY• MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1994 'BIRD SPORTS ~- ~Jll 'Birds dog Greyhounds; UC Davis is next foe By JOHN McCLOSKEY JOURNAL SPORTS EDITOR Southern Utah's football squad will be looking for its third consecutive win Saturday when it travels to California to slug it out with former conference foe UC Davis. The ' Birds and Aggies tied for a share of the American West Conference championship last season, so this game may put a period at the end of the 1993 sentence. The 'Birds won their second home ga me of the season Saturday when they knocked off Division TI, No. 19-ra nked Eastern New Mexico, 24-10, to even their record at 2-2. And, although UC Davis is no longer a member of the A WC, Head Coach Jack Bishop says the Aggies w ill be " up" for the T hunderbirds. The Aggies would ha ve finished the '93 season undefeated if no t for a gutbusting 28-27 loss at the hands of the Thunderbirds. After losing three games by a tota l of seven points, SU finall y came out on the good end of a close game to get its firs t win of the year ba ck in October. Both teams finished at 3-1 in the conference as in its inaugural season the A WC recognized co-champions. Bishop says Davis will give SU "a big 'We just need to keep winning 'em one at a time, ' says Head Football Coach Tack Bishop. challenge," but after sh utting down two previously unbeaten Top-20, D-11 schools [Western State-4 1-26, and ENMU-21-10), the T hunderbirds appear more than ready for another challenge. Bishop says the ' Birds won't change much when they tackle Davis t his weeken d and because he says the Aggies are n ormally a big passing team, the T hunderb irds won' t need to chan ge a thing about their pass defense. Saturday the 'Bird D shut down the G reyhound airwaves as ENMU completed just 5-of-16 attempts for a lowly 49 ya rds. SU also recorded two sacks and bro ke up fo ur passes, fo rcing the Greyhounds to travel by land for most of the game. SU's win against Eastern N ew Mexico was due in la rge part to the large bodies in the middle. T he Thunderbird offensive line moved what Bis hop considered a big defensive lin e backwards all night. The 'Birds also decided to rest their wings and walk the ball downfield as SU picked up 202 yards on the ground and quarterback Rick "Baskin" Robins had plenty of time to connect with his many different flavors for 175 yards. The past two weeks have been a complete reversal for the 'Birds compared to their opening two games. While SU could only gather 412 yards in total offense in its first two games, the 'Birds racked up 891 yards in their second pair of contests. SU scored 31 points in games one and two, but they more than doubled that number as well, putting 70 points on the scoreboard in games three and four. This trend will need to continue against the Aggies. "From what I hear, it sounds like [UC DavisJ has a strong defense," says Bishop. "A good thing about our team is that we have a good ability to do what it takes to win." The ' Birds had what it took Saturday as they again utilized four backs to pound out the 202 rushing yards against Eastern New Mexico. C urtis Lindsey led all SU rushers with 80 yards on 11 carries, while Shawn Jones added 49, Benji Hoskins gathered 40 and Gary Perkins had 21. Robins used five feathered friends to help his 175-yard outing. Micah Deckart led the team with four ca tches totaling 77 yards, while Melvin Lowe and Kevin Cuthbertson each caught two passes for 27 yards. Robbie Gunter onl y had one reception, but it was good for a 28-yard touchdown, his first of the season. Robins' second TD pass also covered 28 Yards and was a lso a firs t touchdown catch of the year for Deck art. Defensively the ' Birds had four players in double figures in tackles. Senior free safety Donnie Yantis led with six solo tackles-12 total. Matt Labrum and Clint Baird also had 12 tackles, and Labrum added a pair of fumble recoveries to his tally sheet . James Bleak and Jeff Galyean had nine and seven tackles, respectively, while also picking up one QB sack apiece. Things weren't all roses for Bishop's 'Birds against ENMU as the kicking game continued to struggle. Benji Nelson missed one field goal and for the third straight week had another attempt blocked. The T hunderbirds ended their gam e agai ns t the Greyhounds with an interception, two fumbles and a personal foul for rough ing the passer. T hose fo ur mistakes combined to make what Bishop called one of the worst finishes he's ever had while still walking away with a win . Overa ll, Bishop was very pleased with his team's performance and joked about their poor finish saying, " I hope those were the mistakes we were going to use next week." Qualifying for post-season action is a possibility for SU, according to Bishop. "If we can finish the season at 9-2 or 8-3 we could make the playoffs, " says Bishop. "We just need to keep winning 'em one at a time. " I Clint Baird(19) hustles after a loose ball early in the second quarter against Eastern New Mexico Saturday. Baird would recover the fu mble, the second recovery for the Thunderbird defense in the first half. Two plays later Rick Robins connects with Micah Deckart(below) on a 28-yard touchdown pass to put SU on top of the Greyhounds, 14-0. |