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Show SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE, CEDAR CITY THE THUNDERBIRD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1989 PAGE 10 Golf season ends Experience gained this fall will be invaluable to the SUSC golf team when it resumes play next spring, said Tom Kingsford, veteran Thunderbird coach. We have an awfully young team one sophomore with everyone else having only freshman status so the experience we get in the fall should really help us improve, said Kingsford. The Bird golfers closed the fall season by struggling against top flight competition in the Falcon Invitational hosted by the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo., and finishing in the middle of the pack against lesser competition at the Colorado Mines Invitational at Golden, Colo. SUSC finished 24th in a field of 24 at the Falcon. At the Colorado Mines competition, the Birds were fifth in a field. University of California Berkeley won the Falcon with a team score of 880. The Golden Bears also had the medalist for the meet, Ben Furth, who shot a 212 over the 54 holes. SUSCs team score was 1,006. Freshman Jason Reynolds led the Birds at Colorado Springs with a 244. Air Force grabbed first at Golden with a 638 team score. SUSC shot a 652 and was led by Jared Barnes, a freshman from Cedar City. He shot a 159 for 36 holes. 12-tea- m Defensive Coordinator im Dawson has been tuning up his aggressive defense for Saturdays contest with Weber State College. The Birds will concentrate on the pass rush, which resulted in five sacks last week. , Birds ready defense for WSC Bird Wvtch Two football teams will be attempting to break different losing streaks Saturday at 3:05 p.m. when Southern Utah State challenges Weber State in Ogdens Wildcat Stadium. The Birds of SUSC have come close a couple of times, but they have not been able to defeat Weber State since the two schools moved up to four-yecompetition. SUSC, 3 overall, has sojourned to Ogden four times, and four times they have come back with a loss. We would really like to break through and pick up that first win over Weber, Jack Bishop, SUSC head coach, said. To win at Ogden is one of the goals of this years team. We are excited about our chances this year. Weber, on the other hand, is attempting to break its own losing streak. The Wildcats have not won a football game this season in five tries. Major emphasis has been put on sharpening up the pass rush by the Thunderbirds in defensive drills this week. We took one look at the Weber statistics, both for the season and in their game at Montana (a 31-- 6 loss) last week, and decided an effective pass rush would be key for us this week, said Bishop. The Wildcats are getting just under 95 percent of their offensive yardage by passing. Per game, Weber averages only 18.4 yards on the ground and 316.2 through the air. Those figures are knocked somewhat out of kilter by the negative 43 yards that the Cats had at Montana. Most of the Weber passing yardage is generated d from the arm of Ryan Schmidt, a quarterback who transferred from Ricks College. Schmidt has completed 105 of 215 attempts for 1,321 yards, 264.2 yards per game. His favorite receiver is Peter Macon, a veteran d tight end. Macon currently leads receivers with 46 catches NCAA Division for 443 yards. good A couple of special teams showdowns are also possible this week. Webers Brent Chuhaniuk has kicked good on four of six field goal attempts including a 50 yarder. Southern Utah will counter with Herkey Marxen who has booted eight field ar 2-- 6-- 2, 6-- 3, 220-poun- 200-poun- goals in 11 attempts. in punting Chuhaniuk also leads Division with an average of 43.3 yards per kick. Again, SUSC has an answer. Bird punter Steve McDowell average 3 a solid 41.5 yards per boot. The keys for us are to keep the Weber offense off the field, to move the ball consistently (and then score), and to prevent the big play, Bishop explains. After a great job early in the season, we have had some problems with turnovers in the last couple of games. Well have to get that under control. Offensively, SUSC has been much more balanced than Weber. The Birds average 189.2 yards on the ground and 200.4 in the air. Teams keying on SU running backs, particularly Kelvin Minefee, have allowed a more effective air offense, according to Bishop. GRID NOTES: The string has ended for SUSC place-kickHerkey Marxen. In each of the first four games of the season, Marxen kicked at least one field goal while compiling a perfect eight for eight record. Last week in SUSCs 28-2- 1 win over Santa Clara, Marxen went zero for three on field goal attempts, missing from 58, 41, and 23 yards. As expected by SUSC recruiters, a pair of College of Sequoias linebackers have shored up the Bird defense. John Alcorn (6-235) and (6-Jason Thornburg 230) were expected to be bookend outside linebackers. It didnt quite work out that way. Saturday, Alcorn will start at the strong outside backer spot, and Thornburg will be alongside at strong inside linebacker. Alcorn leads SUSC in tackles with 62 (12.4 per game). Thornburg has 33 tackles, three passes broken up, two pressures, and two interceptions. SUSC Head Coach Jack Bishop calls senior inside linebacker Damon Olsen the glue of the defense. But Olsen may describe himself as jinxed. He suffered a knee injury at Idaho State September 16. He returned to the lineup against Santa Clara last week, but broke his hand. He is listed as questionable against Weber State. er FOOTBALL: This weekends showdown with intrastate rival Weber State at Ogdens Wildcat Stadium will be televised live in the SUSC Library. A transmitter that will receive the signal live via microwave, will broadcast the game which begins at 3:05 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The game will be shown in the Library Seminar Room 213. The rooms capacity is 50 persons, so it will be shown on a basis. However, those who miss the live telecast can catch a tape delay broadcast on SUSCs Cable 9 at 6 p.m., or immediately following the end of the game. SOFTBALL: The Lady Birds will try to improve on their record Saturday as they host BYU in a doubleheader clash, beginning at 1 p.m. SUs softball squad boasts a new offensive crunch and pitching depth to balance its attack. MISCELLANEOUS: Football Head Coach Jack Bishop goes after win number 50 this week against Weber State. He enters the game with a record halfway through his 10th season, all with SUSC. first-com- e, first-vie- 1- -1 49-38- -2 WFC STANDINGS CONFERENCE ALL GAMES 3, 3, Last Weeks Results Southern Utah State 28, Santa Clara 21 Portland State 55, Cal Poly SLO 26 Cal State Northridge 34, Cal Lutheran Cal State Sacramento not scheduled 33 w |