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Show Thursday quarterback SUSCvs, Western State to giving up yardage by passing.- Their average allotment to opponents was only 67.3 through their first four games. That means that Southern Utah's number seventh ranked (in the conference) passing attack may have big problems. The second frightening WSC figure is their average passing output of 142 yards per game. SUSC normally gives up 111.8 yards per game to opposing passers and receivers. CEDAR CITY - The first "big one" will be the task for the Southern Utah State College football team Saturday at 1 p.m. in Gunnison, Colo., when the Thunderbirds challenge Western State College. KSUB Radio (590) will carry the game live. "We are in a pretty good position right now," Jack Bishop, SUSC coach, explains. "We have only one loss, and the way the schedule is, the other title contenders could easily carve each other up and help us." Then, however, Bishop is quick to recognize that three of his final four games are on the road and that Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams have had a terrible time winning on the road this year. Traditionally, SUSC has also had trouble on the road, particularly against the three remaining away opponents: Western State, Colorado Mines, and Adams State. That's why this weekend's battle in Gunnison is tabbed by the T-Bird coaching staff as "the first big one." A glance through the statistics for the two teams indicates that Saturday's matchup will probably pit Southern Utah's strength against Western State's weakness. Before the Thunderbirds start celebrating, however, a second glance reveals that Western State may be throwing its strength against the T-Bird weakness. One of the Southern Utah strengths is rushing offense. The T-Birds crank out an average of 208.8 yards on the ground. They rank fourth in the RMAC in that category. Western State hasn't been particularly effective ef-fective to date in stopping the rush. The Mountaineers Moun-taineers rank dead last among conference teams in ' defensing the rush; they give up close to 240 yards to enemy runners. That fact brings joy to the 'Birds. - Not so calming are two passing statistics for the Gunnison team. First, the Mountaineers are the second stingiest team in the league when it comes CHS vs. Springville J 5 Cedar is apt to get thumped by Springville jtpmorrow night on the jrpad if they read too Jrjiany complimentary iewpaper stories and let tjiem go to their heads, j 1 A CHS win tomorrow jlight will show Redmen fans this year's team isn't tine that will play jrneclioere' football when the chips are down. Springville will be Hough. I "They're really big," jsays Dave Jenson, jRedmen coach. "It's 'going to be a good ballgame." j According to Jenson, the Red Devils have an excellent running game and one of the best -linebackers in Region 8. iThey have lost only one region game, a last-Jsecond last-Jsecond affair against 'Carbon, and a win .against the Reds will 'leave them in a tie with j Cedar. I If Springville should Avin, they would go into . the playoffs as the 'number one team from - Region 8 because they vhad beaten Cedar, the . other region co-champion. co-champion. A Cedar City win would give CHS outright posession of first place in the region and two home games in the playoffs if they advanced that far. Even with a loss, Cedar would get one home playoff contest. Cedar's tough defense will be tested to the limit by a very potent Springville offense, and the Redmen line will be up for all they can handle against some beefy Springville gridders. The success of the Red's offensive and defensive lines will be the success of the Redmen in tomorrow night's encounter. en-counter. Another key factor in the game will be Cedar's ability to get their passing game on track. The Reds should be able to run against the Red Devils, with their excellent ex-cellent running attack, but they will need their passing game clicking to help offset the size of Springville. The game has all the makings of an outstanding out-standing match-up and with the region title on the line, anything could happen. Pmvs.MUford Milford will invade : Ramland tomorrow . evening at 7:30, and, if the rumors floating around are correct, the game could be interesting. in-teresting. PHS coach Scott Doubek has been in- formed by other coaches that Tiger quarterback ; Chad Hardy has been injured and will not play tomorrow. "That will make it interesting," expressed Doubek. "It will make Milford a little more equal with us." Milford has had a potent offense with a good passing attack, but without Hardy the Tigers are much less effective. They were destroyed last week against Kanab 47-6. Because Hardy will probably not play, the Rams have worked hard defending against the run throughout this week. They will be keying on stopping the Tiger ground attack tomorrow and hope to mount some offense of-fense of their own. Several things could work in Parowan's favor tomorrow. They will be at home, and it will be the last game for seniors on the team. Doubek feels that could help psychologically and get his team up for the encounter. en-counter. Also, Robbie Stevens should be back from an injury he suffered several weeks ago. Stevens started at the quarterback quar-terback slot earlier in the season for the Rams and could get the nod tomorrow, depending on his physical condition. This combination of factors should make tomorrow's game much closer for both teams than their games were last week. |