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Show T-Birds shift into high gear; rout Mesa 44-3 coverage most of the game. But the offense was only half the story to this game. "The defense really played super," lauded Bishop. "Our secondary already has more interceptions in-terceptions this year than all last year." How does this year's team, off to a quick 3-0 start, compare with other teams Bishop has coached? "I'm not sure if this is the best team I've had talent-wise, but they have by far the best attitude." And we've seen what they can do when they play for four quarters! . -a Z. . , ; : . --. . . .......... - ,V. H ' v , ' "" ' ' . i -rl ' .'t ' ' ' ' y- v - , . ' i. By LKE WARNICK Record Editor For those, including this writer, who wondered what would happen if Southern Utah State College put four quarters of good football together, the T-Birds put on a convincing show, demolishing Mesa 44-3 Saturday in Cedar City. It was the 'Birds third victory in a row, but not the error- or penalty-ridden penalty-ridden performances so common in the first two wins. That SUSC had blown the Mavericks out was a surprise to begin with. The Colorado challengers had come into the game 1-1, having defeated Western New Mexico by 11, and played respectably against Southern Colorado, one of the finest NAIA teams in the nation. But that respectability lasted just one quarter in Cedar City, then melted like wax under the warm, September sun. After stopping the Mavericks on downs, SUSC took the ball for the first time from their own 30. Quarterback Dave Mollica tossed three of his eight receptions in the first drive, finally connecting with running back Curtis Page for a 5-yard scoring toss. Joe Wells missed the point after, his only errant kick in six PAT attempts. Mesa was still in the game at that point, and they put together two fairly good posessions, but missed on a 40-yard 40-yard field goal attempt early in the second period, in their only attempt to put up points. The T-Birds followed with another long drive, this one starting from their own 20-yard line. This time the ball was moved on the ground, the only ex ception being Mollica's 7-yard TD pass to Mark Holland. Two interceptions from the Mavericks followed, the second returned 38 yards by Trace Bur-ningham Bur-ningham for a touchdown, a score that seemed to spell doom for the visitors-they visitors-they played listlessly most of the rest of the game. After stopping Mesa again on downs, the 'Birds marched, this time 76 yards, v for their final score of the half. Freshman Fresh-man Gary Mason provided 50 of those yards on two runs. Mollica tossed his third, and final, scoring pass of the afternoon, an 11-yarder to tight end Mike Schiess. The T-Birds put together three more first downs, and were within reasonable scoring range again when time ran out in the first half. The 'Birds took the second half kickoff and marched it to the Maverick 27 before handing it over on downs. They stopped Mesa the next series, then gave them one of their few golden chances to score. Holland dropped a punt from the Mavericks, giving them the ball on the T-Bird 32. But a first down sack and two incompleted passes put them out of business. SUSC took over after a punt on their own 6, then uncorked their longest drive-94 yards-67 of them coming on a great run by Bob Verburg, and it was 34-0 midway into the third quarter. The 'Birds took it all the way one more time, ripping off one 10-yard run after another, Page finally taking it over. That capped the T-Bird's longest (time-wise) drive of the day-five and a half minutes. The third Maverick interception set up SUSC's final score, a 35-yard field goal by Wells. Mesa answered with their only score of the day, a 43-yard kick by Bruce Durham. Offensive stars of trhe day were numerous. The 'Birds piled up 597 total yards, five TD drives of 70, 80, 76, 94 and 89 yards, and an incredible 500 yards on the ground. Seven gained at least 30 yards. Mason, Mollica and Verburg all amassed over 100. Five different receivers caught the nine completions, three different ones nabbing scoring passes. "After the Mines game, we made some adjustments," said Head Coach Jack Bishop. "We decided we weren't putting enough pressure on the outside with our oiffense. We made a few blocking changes to open it up." Another of those changes obviously involved running Mollica more. "Dave is one of our best, if not the best running back we have," said the coach. Also starring was the freshman Mason, who piled up his 129 yards on just eight carries, and showed the Cedar City partisans some outstanding potential. Did Bishop expect a rout? "We were really leery going in. They played Southern Colorado tough. Mesa appeared ap-peared to be a good football team. Looking at the films, it appeared our kids were just extremely physical on the offensive and defensive line." Another area which obviously pleased Bishop was the diversity of his offense, which the week before seemed to revolve around receiver Holland. The speedy pass catcher nabbed just two passes this time, and drew double SUSC 44 Mesa 3 Mesa 0 0 0 9 S SUSC 6 21 7 1044 SUSC-Page 5 pass from Mollica (9:25-1), kick failed SUSC -Holland 8 pass from Mollica (11:32-2), Wells kick SUSC-Burningham 38 int. return (8:45-2), Wells kick SUSC-Scheiss 11 pass from Mollica (5:07-2), Wells kick SUSC-Verberg67 run (7:27-3), Wells kick SUSC Page 1 run (12:56-4), Wells kick SUSC -FG35 Wells Mesa -FG 43 Durham Mesa SUSC Offensive plays 58 75 First downs 12 25 Rushes-yards 44-117 57-500 Passes 6-14-3 9-18-0 Passing yards 35 97 Total yards 152 597 Return yards 163 118 Fumbles-lost 1-0 6-1 Penalties-yards 3-25 8-95 Punts-average 7-38.8 1-48.0 Posession 28:02 31:58 SUSC tight end Mike Scheiss is all alone as he hauls in this TD toss from quarterback Dave Mollica. The T- Birds trounced Mesa 44-3 to run their early season record to 3-0. ,v--'a, 'V t (-rtV -9 Eft" -Ml SUSG senior quarterback Dave Mollica looks down-field down-field in vain for a receiver during the 'Bird's' win over Mesa. Mollica passed for 94 yards and ran for 117 more in the rout. |
