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Show 'BIRD SPORTS THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL • SOU'l'llDN U'l'AH UNIV!JlSITY • l'JUDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1995 'BIRD OFFENSE 'BIRD DEFENSE SE 16-Kevin Cuthbertson ~ ~ 20-Ryan Bishop CB 24-Brock Turner 3-Sean Holifield LT 50-Chuck Day ~ 68-feff Rud ~ ~ E 97-Jef( Galyean ~ 33-Don Carter LG 68-JeJf Rudy ~ 66-Buck Brown :. TB '23-D avid Mc.Co vy 2c,~ ,, « ;,t•;:_: :': ~ rA.M 47-Garret Atkin 52-Cbnnce Larsen 22-Marcu Burgess RG 73-Chri Hinto n 78-Sam Lutui THUNDERBIRDS J-,. ~ 67-A lani Pahulu ~ SB-Ruben Tog/ ala 1£ 73-CluisHin to~ - FB 27-Brook Mad en SOUTHERN UTAH'S .A "'M.; Q8 12-Rick Robins • • RT 62-Adam Black TE 32-M icah Decka.rt 34-Chri Gana 56-Matt Larsen . : ~ 77-Eric Mortense1~ vs. ~ ~ T 9'2-Gauett Moo.n d. ~ ~ 9-Benji Nels~!m Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Coliseum of Southern Utah BB-Curtis Cook '1)91 GciUith 4-Mil<e Brown 8-Marlan Bacon ~ · • FL 2 1- am Pater on 25- Tony Evans . · FS 37,Brandon WlL 40-Jim McMahon 76-Ryan Ross K 17-Jason Has~ f( 31-Rich Murray Bl-Robbie Gunter ~ NEBRASKA-KEARNEY ft S 8-Marlan Bacon 13-Brandon Drapei P 10-Van Woerkom • " B I -Mike Johnson ~ 11 -RonTalbot SU locks up with the Lopers in Homecoming game The 'Birds will try to end a four-game losing streak tomorrow against little-known Nebraska-Kearney Southern Utah Univer ity's football team will be looking to celebrate Homecoming Week by breaking out of a foill-game kid when the Thunderbird host the Univer ity of Nebraska at Kearney in a 1 p.m. game Saturday in the Coli eum of Southern Utah. After a 1-1 tan, VU ha seen it record drop to 1-5, thanks to the current slump, the T-Birds' longest lo ing treak since 1975. The '75 team also had a four-game Iosing_streak before fini hing with a 3-6 r cord. UNK's Lopers are 3-2-1 and on a two-game winning treak alter topping Wayne State (Neb.), Ja t week in Kearney, 24- L4, in the Loper 'Homecoming gam . SUU is coming off a -20 d feat at the hands of American West Conference foe Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. That game wa n t d cidcd until the final minutes as Cal Poly cored a touchdown with I :09 remaining to seal the T-Birds' fate. This will be the fir t meeting between th SUU and Nebraska-Kearney. After opening with an 0-1-1 record in the fir t two games, the Lopcrs have won thre of the la t four, including two straight. UNK i 3-l at home, 0-1-1 on the road. As a team, UNK averag 21 .3 point per game, while allowing 15.7. The Lopers have a balanced offense, averaging 214 yard through the air and 160 on the ground. Defen ively, UNK has allowed an average of 176 passing and 142 rushing yards per game. Individually, Mike Lodice (6-2, 195, Fr. ) leads the team in rushing, with a 118-yards per game average. Mike Smith (6-1, 195, Soph.J is the top receiver and second-leading ru her, with 27 receptions for 408 ypds and three TDs a well as 47 carries for 229 yards abd a TD. Chad Rutar (6-4, 210, Jr.) calls the plays for the Lopers. Rutar has completed 68 of 145 pass attempts (46.9%) for 736 yards and four touchdowns. Other than Smith, Ru tar's favorite target has been I Ryan McCabe (5- 11, 185, Soph.], who has pulled in 25 passes for 310 yards and two IDs. On the defensive side o( the ball, NT Matt Bruggeman (6-2, 275, Sr.) lead the way with 44 tackles (27 solo) and 10 tackles for Io ses, while LB Todd Price (6-1 , 215, Sr. ) has 40 tackles (27 olo), four acks and five tackle -for-los . "I expect Nebraska-Kearney to be a lot like a Western State or an Angelo State; a very tough team we can't look at as a Divi ion U we only need to how SU, led by linebacker Chris Garza, takes on the NebraskaKearney Lop_ers tomorrow in the conseum. up again t," said Head Coach Jack Bi hop La t week NKU beat Wayne State 24-14. After spotting WSC a 7-0 advantage, UNK scored 17 straight points and never trailed in picking up a homecoming win and running its record to 3-2-1. QB Joel Staehr, in his firs t start of the eason, completed 21 of 45 pass attempts for 289 yards and two TDs for the Lepers. After one game FB Brook Madsen lead the T-Bird ground attack, averaging 43 yards per game. QB Rick Robins is averaging 177.8 yards per game through the air, while TE/WR Micah Deckart is averaging 4.3 catches and 68.3 receiving yards per game. LB Chris Garza leads the team in tackles with 5 l I18 solo), while DE Jeff Galyean i the team-leader in ack and tackles for losses, with nine and five, respectively. FS Brandon Griffiths is the team interception leader with two. Three Thunderbirds are listed amon the nation's leaders this week. SUU punter Craig VanWoerkom (West Valley City/Granger HS) ranks eighth at 41 .5 yards per-punt, moving up from LOth. Tight end Micah Deckart (Sr; St. George/Dixie HS/ Dixie JC) is 40th in receiving yards per-game (68.3). Kevin Cuthbertson (Sr; Green River, WY) rank 47th in punt return avg. (8.5). In other American West Conference news,Cal Poly moved to the top of the AWC ra~kings with its win over the Thunderbirds. This week the Mustangs travel to Sonoma St. Cal tate Northridge travelled to Southwest Texas and came away with a 43-14 loss. CSN ho ts Western New Mexico this week. Cal State Sacramen to hosted nationally-ranked Hofstra. CSUS hosts Southwest Texa Saturday. "Most importantly for us are A: our health; and B: we need to r turn with the aggressiveness and intensity we played with against Cal Poly - that can't ju t be a one-shot deal. We need to con tinue to improve and continue to play with intensity. We are getting healthier again. We've really been hit by injuries, and we miss guys like Duston Connaughton (SS, the team' top tackler when he went out with a sprained ankle), Benji Hoskins (FB, the team's top rusher when he went out with an calf injury), Sam Lutui (OG, sprained ankle) and Wayne Arner (OG, pneumonia). Hopefully, we get those guys back this week." After tomorrow's Homecoming game, the 'Birds will hit th e road again. Next week SUU will challenge St. Mary' s College. .. .... |