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Show The Thunderfrird Tuesday, October 25, 1983 Page 11 Ouidr Spr$$ Sidelines BY PAUL HUSSELBEE Grid tempers subside Ive really got to hand it to Don Conrad and his coaching Theyve worked a small miracle in the past two weeks that will save the respectability of our football program this staff. year. It did not surprise me when the lowly Fort Lewis Raiders handed our Thunderbirds their first home loss in three years a few weeks ago. As I moved up and down the sidelines with my camera hanging around my neck, I knew we were going to lose. I am not usually a pessimist, and though sports writers (and in this case, photographers) are supposed to maintain total objectivity, no one roots harder for the than I do. Unfortunately, the attitude on that sideline was not the attitude of a winning team. Black players criticized white players, Samoans swore at black players and coaches yelled at everyone. Racial slurs were not uncommon. The defensive unit did not appear to have any confidence in the offensive team. On more than one occasion, when the offense took the field, particular defensive players would look at me ?nd say something like, You watch...they wont be able to hold the ball.. .in four plays well be back on the field again. A lot of the players were playing for themselves. That was evident. They got mad and threw their helmets, along with various degrees of temper tantrums, when they got pulled out of the game. Players were not playing for the team. They were playing for me. I dont know what motivated them, but it was not a common cause, such as winning the game for the team. The coaches themselves did not help matters of team unity. Players were cursed and yelled at when they came to the sideline after making mistakes. Some of them, I feel, were so rattled and under so much pressure that they could not have performed much better than they did. . At the same time, however, I feel they might have played better under less strained conditions. I've been involved in collegiate sports at other schools. As a junior college scout and a graduate assistant basketball coach, I have seen such morale problems before. Without exception, teams with those kind of difficulties dont win ball games. With the help of some concerned people, Conrad, Larry Wilson, Joe Lopour and Ed Croson worked a small miracle with their players. The change was first apparent to me just before the opening kickoff of the Southern Colorado game 10 days ago. The team spirit was so thick on the sidelines one could have reached out and touched it. Players of all races urged one another on. Even when SUSC fumbled the opening kickoff and the visitors scored a touchdown on the ensuing play, the positive attitude didnt falter. The coaches no longer yelled. They gathered their respective units on the sidelines when they came off the field, complimented them on good plays and offered constructive criticism. The defensive team rooted the offense on and congratulated it heartily following each series of play, whether a touchdown had been scored or not. (continued on page 13) Volleyballers win another match by Brooks Washburn The SUSC Lady Birds had a smashing evening when they met and defeated the Ricks College Vikings three games to one in a match Thursday night in the War Memorial Fieldhouse. In the first game, aided by the hard spikes of Lisa Stolk and the blocking of Paula Burgoyne and Lisa Ballantyne, SUSC managed to take an early 1 advantage. Ricks managed to fight back to make it a 4 game and the Lady Birds knew they had a battle on their hands. SUSC reeled off four straight points to take a 4 advantage but the Vikes refused to fold and came back to take the game In the second game, Ricks took a lead but Ballantyne was able to start things off for the Lady Birds when she unleashed a wicked smash into the Ricks back court. The battle was on. SUSC came back to make it but costly mistakes on the part allowed Ricks to increase the lead SUSC then took a time out to regroup; the strategy worked because from then on it was all SUSC. 5-- 5-- 9-- 15-1- 2. 3-- 0 3-- 2, 6-- Led by the blocking of Burgoyne, Hawkins, and also some fine slams by Stolk, Ballantyne, and Grover, the Lady Birds managed to come back and take a 14-- 7 lead. Ricks then tried to come back, but it was too little and too late, as the Lady Birds iced the second game 15-With the match tied, the final game turned out to be a real dogfight. , SUSC managed to take a lead but not without a stiff battle from the Vikings. Both teams then fought back and forth until SUSC managed to take control of the game for an 8 lead. The Vikes made one last run for it. Aided by mistakes from the and some fine play, the Vikes managed to fight back to make it a 0 game, but SUSC held off the Vikes to post a 0 win. In all three games it was no easy victory for the Lady Birds. The Vikes exhibited excellent potential, keeping the game interesting and challenging. Coach Joy Petersen said, I was pleased with the overall performance of most of our players but the consistancy of play needs to improve. The next meet will involve Snow College and Adams State in Cedar City on Oct. 24 at 7 pm. 8. 3-- 0 11-- 13-1- 15-1- Gridders prepare for Western State and dont those who Young players get as much playing tine will get their chance to shine around the football practice fields this week at Southern Utah State College. The took the weekend off from action. The next SUSC game doesnt come until Oct. 29 when the travel to Gunnison, Colo., to challenge Western State. However, we did work, hard last week, Don Conrad, SUSC head coach explained. We tried to spend some of our time locking at players who havent had as much playing time as others. We planned a major scrimmage last week. We taped.,. , the scrimmage so we could evaluate some of those people to see how they are coming along. Conrad and his staff also prepared for the Western State game, which could provide the a chance to climb up in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings from their current number seven position. Western State lost to Fort Lewis last ) week; a week earlier Fort Lewis dumped SUSC (24-1in Cedar City. This week Western State will play at Pueblo, Colo., against Southern Colorado, a team the last upset, week in Cedar City. (39-28- 32-2- |