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Show I t Page Possible state berth Sun Chronicle SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS Thursday, February 5, 1976 Royals ready for Weber cage contest by Keith Duncan Success is a failure turned inside out The silver tint of the clouds in doubt And you can never tell how close you are; It may be near when it seems afar; So stick to the fight when youre hardest hit Its when things seem worst that you mustnt quit Author unknown This combination of words best fits the situation that the Roy Royals are finding themselves m at the moment After a 4 overtime loss to the undefeated Bear River Bears in far away Tremonton, the Roy team must rebound fast and do it well, for they must face the leader in Region One, Weber, this Friday at home The loss to the Bears dropped the Royals overall league mark to 4 wins and 4 losses The Bears, who are of classification, but competing and beating much larger schools, are currently leading the northern most region in the state with and impressive 64) mark Roy had won two straight games in succession before meeting the strong Bear River squad. It was a game that featured many of the leagues leading scorers and some of the top rebounding strength. It was a contest that matched the wit and zeal of two of the finest head coaches in Region One basketball. All in all, it turned out to be what many loyal fans have described as the best high school basketball game played in decades If the Royals had pulled out the nip and tuck, and fully exciting contest, the greatest gung-h- o game played would have been that much sweeter. heart-wrenchin- g 66-6- 4-- 3-- Royals :good at anything By Keith Duncan Its midyear now at the Royals sports den Roy Highs superb overall athletic strength this sports calendar year would tend to associate them with the powerful Bruins Particular teams, such as the Jacklin led grid-iroheros overshadow the old Green Bay Packers in every far out immaginable way possible Some standout players have made even the Six Million Dollar Man, 0 J Simpson, Dave Cowens, and Mean Joe Greene look silly, ha ha The executives in the front office, men like Principal Darrell K. White, athletic directoi, Dean Oborn, and the Royals Booster Club president, George Nichols ought to petition for Piesident of the United States Their chances for victory would be as good as the Oakland Raiders winnings a Super Bow And the cheerleaders, Royalairs, the flag twirlers, oh, oh, they lank light up there with Farrah Fa."cett and Olga Koibit in every way dreamed And, so far this seasons coaches have exemplified qualities that Vince Lombardi and John Wooden wouldnt have any notion of thinking The list goes on and on, but it doesnt get any duller In every truthful detail though, Roy High is experiencing success on the field, track, court, mats, beams, and yes, even on paper The school is having a very similar year to the one that Bonneville High had a year ago The Lakers were legion champs in football and basketball and track They eventually won the state track title Harry Burchell, the athletic director won the top award as the best man in that field n 1 Athletic plans revealed In sitting down with Dean one morning, the both of us went ovei some pietty knowledge, facts, things that most of us ought to know Both giils spoits coaches, Janet Johnson and Jan Parrish weie leceiving only $400 00 a year for the sports they were coming befoie school and after school to coach Title IX, I learned, was a very needed thing Mrs Johnson spends neai ly 12 to 14 hours a day at Roy High in keeping up with the flagtwn lei s, girls basketball and gym classes In dividing up eight or nine athletic events between the two of them and then turning around and handing each $400 for it, was a bit out of this world Moving on, the school has spent $5,Cj00 plus this year on girls sports equipment! More will be spent next season as it is needed In purchasing the parallel unevens and a floor exercise mat, it cost over $4200 Mr Oborn stated that he doesnt know what Roy would do without the Complex Those people supply us with ample room, equipfacility ment, and no hard feelings What more could you ask for Petsonally I dont see how all the other schools are going to make it, he said Roy High uses the complex from 9 30 to 4 00 every day The Royals will use the gym facility in the mornings on some occasions A big headache that confronts the Poyals and many schools in the area is the fact that three basketball teams, three wrestling teams, girls basketball varsity and junior varsity squads, and a gymnastic team all are trying to make good seasons at once It takes tremendous amounts of money and space to make champs At times all those sports include 10 to 40 members per squad That kind of situation can create a lot of confusion. But then again, that is the idea, to get as many kids involved in after school activities as possible, said Oborn In talking to the athletic trainers, Dean discovered that the school has gone through as much as 25 cases of athletic tape so far this season First aid is one of the largest accounts in the total sports budget at any school Football is the biggest user with basketball consuming large amounts, too Thus far, the school has gone through several pounds of Deep Heat, a vital need in sports AH this can get to be very expensive Next year we since it is publicly financed through taxes have to have regulation volleyball standards for the girls and even stands for the judges Thats a $500 whack right there The Booster Club offered to make the standards, but they have to be of a certain kind. Within three years, every football helmet at Roy High has to have been inspected by the government officials Coach Jacklin says that the school is taking the route of buying special cushioned helmets a brand that he thinks is the best you can get Each helmet will cost an additional $30 Oborn becomes involved in program Having a lot to do with the Royals success this season, has been Oborn himself He works with each coach personally and is the overseer of the total athletic budget Each coach woiks with his own small budget, but they all work toward the large one with Dean Dean has lesponsibility over the entire sports department, He compiles everyones including the girls program schedule in the school and acts as the middle man at times He works close with Principal White on problems that the coaches and himslef cant find a solution to Dean is in charge of eligibility for every athlete in the school Besides responsibilities m the school, Mr. Oborn is a cooi dinatoi between the other two Weber County schools, the Club He calls newspapeis, radio stations, and the Booster full time a his work with the booster job. They have been headed by George to club Dean says referring super, Nichols, They have made many very valuable expressions that have helped us in many cases They also donate much time and items to our program Just recently they offered to purchase a new set of scales for the wrestling team Earl Henmnger, who was sitting in on the conversation validly spoke up, I think everyone this season has had a super attitude The kids have been super and are really easy to woik with Why, this year lor the first time I can l emembei , the sophomores didn't have to go through all that initiation fooling around The kids are neat and they have one of the best studentbody officer groups that this school has ever had Their slogan this year has fit right into their actions If go first class jour going to go Oboi n commented about how dedicated the faculty members have been this season saying that the number of faculty at games is the best he had ever seen it. Our band is I don t the best around and nobody will argue with that imagine How about the Royals chances for a State tournament berth Now tied for second place in the region, the team must win at least two of their final three contests to even be considered Those four formidable foes include Weber, Logan, Skyview, and Bonneville Thats a couple at home and two on the road Region One is alloted three teams to the state tournament this season, and with Bear River and Logan going the route, the Royals chances seem much brighter. Coach Smith has never failed to take a Roy team to the wigwam at the University of Utah, and dont bet that he wont this year. It has been a struggle through league pky, but at the tournament it will probably turn to a situation of the purely impossible, putting it lightly Every win can help you m the future, said Coach Smith. This statement is the pmacle of truth in every sports situation, but many fail to realize it. If, for instance, the team failed to make the playoffs, a win or two would give them added confidence for the coming year. The Bear River game is boiling down to at least one critical play, at least thats the way the Royals playbooks have it Coach Smith felt that his team had played well enough to win It was a game in which neither team could mount any kind of sizeable lead upon each other. Roy held a six point lead at one time, and that was the extent Roy was one point down with just a minute remaining m the important confrontation. The Royals then went into a freeze, and kept the ball away from the hungry Bears Doug Porter was fouled and he quickly sank two freethrows that weighed with tons of pressure packed pounds. At that point, Coach Smith gave it the thought that his team had finally pulled this one out Not that he sat back and relaxed, because he was on the edge of his chair yelling out offensive instructions. It was then that the genuine frenzy of the game was brought to a temperature-boilin- g high. Rich Stonehocker brought the ball to the attack zone and Mass confusion was whistled for double-dribbl- e quickly set in and Bears were the ones who seemed to find their way through the thick clouds the best. As the clock slowly wound down, Mark Weese was fouled by a Royal player on an inbound play Tenseness seemed to grip everyone in attendance, while Weese pumped in one of two freethrows to tie the contest up and send it into a three-minut- e 3-- pops in two of his 19 points against the Bears. Here Dale Thompson, the in overtime. center attempts to block shot. Bears won the game DAN SMITH Bear River 66-6- 4 overtime thriller I cant even remember what happened in the overtime, it flew by so fast I guess I was still fuming from that call made on Rick In that overtime stanza we switched defenses but I dont think we played it the way we should havp Stonehocker touched the bottom of the nets with a couple of freethrows and that was the extent of the Royals scoring in the overtime setup Brad Cutler who eventually finished with 24 po.nts, hit a key jumper to tie the score Brad Thompson layed in a shot spell off the Royals m a 4 fashionable way Dan Smith was high man for the Royals with 19 points, Porter had 18, Nichols 14, and Stonehocker 11 the Roy players m double figures 66-6- Home Game of the Year with Warriors George Nichols, president of the Boosters Club and father of starting forward, Greg Nichols, says the Weber tilt this Friday at 7 30 is the Home Game of the Year and not too many could disagree with him Coach Smith is all primed up for a victory over Weber, saying, Im just hoping we can play well and have the spirits high The kids are playing well and despite having to come back from a tough loss up north, I think they are going to be ready We were able to hold the Bear River big men pretty well last Friday and well have to do it again Rulon Jones and John Schumers will be the keys for Weber Weber is a physical team and has pretty good outside shooting Weber is a team that can explode on you, something that the Royals found out the last time the two played at each others throats And the Warriors are a team striving off second efforts. Roy w ill be relying heavily on the first shot in the very, very crucial region battle. Roy was beaten by 16 points in the first meeting between the two strong Region One clubs and Mr. Nichols feels that this will have nothing to do with the final outcome He claims the Warriors are a hot and cold ball team just as the Royals have been sometimes He does sincerely believe though that this is one of the Royals best cage teams in the history of the school He said losing the kind of game they lost to Bear River was like jerking the heart right out of you Porter leaves baseball, becomes top eager By Keith Duncan Once upon a time, in the clean city of Roy, there lived a little boy who loved baseball In fact, just about all he ever did was play third base and run the track events The little boy was very happy until one day he performed poorly at third base So poorly, in fact, that his coach sent him to right field But he was horrible there, too I cant seem to bend over and pick up ground ball, he said sadly He tried and tried and tried But no matter how hard he tried, by the time he finished bending over, the ground balls always were gone So he did the only thing he could He ran away from right field, and lived happily ever after That little boy went on to become the best small-cente- r basketball player in the history of Roy High School Hes an excellant outside shooter, a quick jumper with excellant timing and has excellant quickness for a guy his size, said Ted Smith, his head coach He has great intelligence and is a complete offensive player Defensively, he still has a great deal to learn, but thats not surprising For one thing, hes often asked to guard people who outweigh him by 30 pounds and who are 6 or 7 inches taller Ever since Doc Naismith first fastened a peach basket to a balcony support and supposedly invented the game of basketball, there have been gunners, runners, dribblers, and, every so often, a defensive whiz like Bill Russell to add ever changing facets to the truly American sport But when you try to put em all together and come up with a player, the odds againt success go up like a roulette wheel with a pair of double zeros Doug, said Smith with a crisp firmness that only he truly can claim as a trademark of one of the most successful coaches in the state, can do it all Work, hard work, thats what makes him so good He handles the ball well, screens, passes, sets up other guys as well as himself, can bring the ball down against the press, is an excellent freethrow shooter and what else can you say9 The only way I know is to work You have to woik for anything you really want Theres really not any time for other fun things Maybe Ive missed some things is school because of basketball, but I dont regret it a bit I love basketball so much Id play it all the time If someone came up to me after one of our games and said, Lets go out and play some more, 1 might be dead tired, but Id go right out and play Asked about the Royals chances in state and even getting to the tournament, Doug replied, I think were all trying a little harder, working more and getting prepared so if we have a chance to go all the way like we might have done last season, well be ready Thats the biggest difference between this years team and last, we know what it takes and we want to be ready if we have the chance to w in it all (league title) If you play for Coach Smith, defense is the first thing a caoch looks for when he decides who is going to play the and it didnt game for the Royals take Porter long to learn that basic fact champs It was in ninth grade that he eventually gave the sport up, but he claims that he is going to make a run for the baseball team this season He played junior high cage ball at Sand Ridge where he started in every game under Coach Smith, who moved up to the high school the same year Porter did So actually, this is the third season that Doug has had Smith as a head coach He played junior varsity as a sophomore and in his junior year, was able to start two games with the varsity squad and got a heroic chance to play in the coveted state games at the University of Utah Between me, Rick Stonehocker and Hamblin, we scored 20 points at one time against Granite and gave them a good run for their money SEE PORTER, PAGE N of life Like most athletes, he shrugs off the and possibilities injury problems and goes right back to the thing he loves most, basketball The very first championship team that Doug participated w ith w as back in sixth grade with the county baseball AP European History and basketball make life hit for 18 points against Bear River. Porter pleasurable. DOUG PORTER 15 13 |