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Show T-birdsend'76 Football Season; garner Honors in RM AC and NAIA The helmets and shoulder pads are put away for another season at Southern Utah State, but the 1976 year won't soon be forgotten. forgot-ten. The young T-Birds at one point during the season were 2-5 after a 56-7 thrashing by Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champ Western State. The T-Birds, T-Birds, however, instead of folding, came on like gangbusters to knock off three teams that had winning records to finish the year at 5-5. "The young kids really came back the way I knew they could," says Head Coach Tom Kingsford. "Those youngsters deserve a lot of credit for coming back the way they did, and I feel it will help to start next season off on the winning track," adds Kingsford. As a team SUSC finished second in defense against the rush in the RMAC and NAIA District 7 allowing just 137 yards per game. In the T-Birds' last three games the "Bandit" defense held the opposition to a mere 159 total yards on the ground and sacked the quarterback quar-terback 28 times. Nine T-Birds received honors from the RMAC to cap the 1976 season. Leonard Walterscheid and Mike Shaw were both named to the first team defense. Walterscheid, senior from Moab, was selected as the league's best return specialist for the second year in a row. Walterscheid had a 27.6 average for 20 kickoff returns and a 8.9 average for 21 punt returns. The ail-American was also named second team offense wide receiver and second team defense as a defensive back. Shaw, senior noseguard from Las Vegas (Rancho High School), led the T-Birds in unassisted tackles with 37 and finished second on the squad in total defensive points with 176. Shaw was also picked by his teammates as honorary co-captain co-captain for the 1976 season. Defensive standouts Terry Lundberg (senior tackle from Roosevelt) and John Lundstrom (freshman linebacker from Sandy) were selected to the second team. Lundberg was in on 88 tackles and had 11 quarterbacks quar-terbacks sacks. Lundstrom led SUSC all year long in tackles and finished with 136 which helped him to finish second in NAIA District 7. Five other T-Birds gained honorable mention from the RMAC. They include Rich Hernandez (junior split end from Placentia, Calif.), Kit Janes (sophomore center from Kanab), Wayne Ritter (senior fullback from Aztec, New Mexico), Lane Martino (freshman defensive end from Price) and Gilbert Rodriguez (junior defensive tackle from Los Angeles.) Hernandez led the T-Birds in receiving with 23 catches good for 279 yards and four touchdowns. touch-downs. He also punted 556 times for a 38.4 average. Ritter topped SUSC rushing for the second year in a row with 673 yards and three touchdowns. He is now the T-Birds third all-time leading rusher. He was also selected honorary co-captain by his teammates. Martino led the defense with 14 quarterback sacks while Rodriguesz was third on the squad with 101 tackles and 160 total defensive points. |