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Show 'I was happy9 SU.pass brings win By MIKE CANNON Record Reporter How did a Southern Utah State College football player feel when he caught a 51-yard touchdown pass to provide the winning victory margin of four points in SUSC's 17-13 win over Ft. Lewis Saturday? "I was happy," said receiver John North. Very short and sweet, just like the play action Ben Bubak to North TD pass play that occurred with only 4:30 left in the game. "It just was open," explained North. "I don't think the guy was expecting pass." North made the grab as the Raider defender went for the ball and came up with egg on his face. "I just ran as fast as I could," smiled North, and he outraced another defender into the end zone. According to Coach Jack Bishop, the Ft. Lewis secondary had been committing com-mitting itself during the entire contest and the play action pass was available several times, though the 'Birds couldn't capitalize. Though the offense clicked when it had to, the game belonged to both defensive units, especially Southern Utah's. "I thought our defense was super," exclaimed Bishop. "That was the best defensive game we played all year." Bishop also had praise for the defensive unit of Ft. Lewis, which was especially tough in the second half. "I thought Ft. Lewis had a real solid defensive football team," said Bishop. , "We felt fortunate to win." The Raiders held SU to only 248 yards total offense, one of their lowest outputs of the season. However the T-Bird defense held the Raiders to a scant 120 yards for the contest, with 114 coming through the air and only 6 on the ground. The 'Birds also recovered two fumbles and intercepted one pass. Defensive back Clifford Banks had the interception and also recovered one fumble. DB Dave Faddis recovered the other fumble. "That was big for me," said Banks, referring to his fumble recovery on special team coverage. "I just put all-out all-out and was in the right place at the right time. In addition to praising his defense, Bishop was also very pleased with the performance of the special teams. "We felt our special team play was very good," praised Bishop. In fact, he said it was the best effort from special teams this season. Curry Ancar also played well on the special units, returning four punts for a whopping 71 yards and covering well. "We try to give the offense as good of field position as possible," said Ancar. "The special teams always try to make things happen. We hustle our buns off to make things happen for the team." The T-Birds scored on their first posession of the game, following a big 55-yard run by Curtis Page that set up the TD. Five plays later Bubak scampered in from eight-yards out and, following a Randy Kerr PAT, it was 7-0. At the end of the half, Kerr booted a field goal to put SUSC up 10-0 at the half. In the second half, Ft. Lewis scored immediately on a 35-yard Steve Brown to John Wright pass. Brown hit Wright for 41 yards just prior to the touchdown. The Raiders missed the point after and it was 10-6. Brown again hit Wright with a touchdown touch-down toss of 14 yards with 5:38 in the quarter and Ft. Lewis went on top 13-7. "We've got to stop with the heart attack finishes and get it done earlier," said running back Gary Mason. Both teams battled to no avail until Bubak hit North for the winning score with 4:30 remaining. The SUSC defense continued tough in the final minutes and the 'Birds held on for the win. SUSC will battle a tough University of Southern Colorado team Saturday at 1 p.m. at Thunderbird Stadium. , y ' . ' ''-'. - , ? ' ' : - v ,,'-' - s- ;v , ' " ' ' " ' ; f; ' 'p; h ' - '' , tV f";.7 ' " : " J"'' r T 1 1 Tiff i " f :Af Np' f I j ?' j j f v I , , yl i j X V- - If v . Southern Utah State college defender Clifford Banks goes up for an interception in-terception against the Raiders of Ft. Lewis. The SU defense played very well in the 17-13 SUSC triumph. The 'Birds will host a tough Southern Colorado team Saturday. |