The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1992 Page: 15 of 20
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SPORTS
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1992 15
Owls nip Bears for third straight win
Richardson field goal puts dose game away as Rice improves to 5-4
by Randy Block
In the most emotional contest Rice
Stadium has seen in years, the Rice
football team defeated the Baylor
University Bears, 34-31, last Saturday.
Darrel Richardson scored the win-
ning field goal with only four seconds
left in the game.
"Under pressure, there's not a
cooler guy in the world than Darrel,"
said Head Coach Fred Goldsmith fol-
lowing the game, the Owls' third vic-
tory over Baylor in four years.
Rice secured its fifth victory of the
season and rose to 4-1 at home. Star
running backTrevor Cobb assembled
185 yards of total offense and scored
twice, once again elevating himself to
Heisman Trophy consideration.
Cobb's efforts gave Rice the win-
ning edge. With the score tied on the
last drive of the game, Cobb rushed
for 44 yards, bringing the Owls close
enough for a 27-yard field goaL
"Trevor just makes big play after
big play," said Goldsmith. "He made
big plays against Baylor as a receiver,
as well as rushing for 128 yards. He
scores running the ball and catching
the balL
"He's the best back in the coun-
try," he added.
The leadership of quarterback Bert
Emanuel also made a difference in
this game. Time after time, he and
Cobb teamed up to make the plays as
Baylor continued to come back against
the Owls.
Emanuel had a huge outing. Along
with career highs of223 yards passing
and two touchdowns, he rushed for 89
yards and another score. His record
as starting quarterback is now 5-2.
More impressive was the fact that
Emanuel missed three practices with
a hurt shoulder.
"I threw my first couple of passes a
little soft, but after that it d idn't bother
me at all," said EmanueL
Goldsmith had high praise for
EmanueL "He's a tremendous com-
petitor that really gets involved in his
preparation for the game.
"You just cant weigh how impor-
tant he is to our football team If we
continue to win, he deserves all-con-
ference as much as anyone else," he
said.
The game was a benchmark for
Rice, giving them four wins in the
Southwest Conference for the first
time since 1980. It is also their first
three-game conference winning streak
Rice quarterback Bert Emanuel unleashes a pass in Saturday's victory over Baylor.
since 1973. The win puts Rice in posi-
tion to have the winning season that
has eluded them for 29 years.
The win over Baylor was really
satisfying," said Cobb. "Part of my
decision to return to Rice for my se-
nior season was to go out as a winner.
Now we're so near to that goal."
Rice almost missed its chance to
win the game when Baylor drove to
the Rice 35-yard line with four min-
utes to play. On a fourth-and-one situ-
ation, Baylor decided to go for it and
had running back Robert Strait at-
tempt the extra yard. Strait failed.
Rice'sjoey Wheeler and Shane Hollas
stopped him, retrieving the ball for
the Owls.
"We thought they might run the
fullback up the middle because they
only needed six inches and they were
getting four or five yards every time
he ran the ball," said Wheeler. "So, we
keyed on him. I was able to make a
primary hit and the guys behind me
helped me bring him down."
"Being here four years, this is the
most glorious victory since I've been
here. This game means a lot—it's the
cornerstone for the future of our pro-
gram," he said.
Though Baylor's rushing attack
racked up 354 yards, quarterback J J.
Joe knew which team was better.
"We've got to give all the credit to
Rice. They came out and played a
great game. It was a dogfight between
two teams. And I knew whoever had
the ball last would win. And they had
it," said Joe.
Navy stands in way of first
winning season in 29 years
by Jason Kate
For the first time in 29 years, the Rice Owls football team has an
opportunity for a winning season. Yet in order to reach their goal, the
Owls must get by a battered Navy team which hopes to salvage its
disappointing season.
The Navy Midshipmen enter tomorrow's game at 1 p.m. with a 1-8
overall record. After being shut out in their first three games of the
season, Navy has fallen at the hands of such powerful teams as the
University of Notre Dame, the University of Virginia, and the Air Force
Academy. Their only victory came over Tulane University, 20-17.
"Though Navy has lost many games this season," said Wee Head
Coach Fred Goldsmith, "They have not lost to easy teams. Six of their
opponents were legitimate bowl teams."
The keyword in Annapolis is injury, and the Navy offense typifies this.
After starting three different players at quarto-back in the first three
games because of injuries, the Midshipmen have come to rely upon
starting tailback Jason Van Matre for their aerial assault Yet with a mere
663 passing yards this season, it is not the Navy passing game that Rice
coaches and players are worried about At the quarterback position, Van
Matre is the team's leading rusher with 623 yards this season.
"Van Matre is the fastest quarterback well see this year," admitted
Goldsmith. "He is very similar to Bert EmanueL"
As for other Navy offensive threats, the casualty list is growing. Two
of their top four returning running backs have been lost for the season
dueto injuries and senior fullback Duke Ingraham isquestionableforthe
game tomorrow.
The Navy receiving corps are also suffering this season. While it isn't
injuries that hamper this unit inexperience and lack of depth do. The
Midshipmen are led by split end Tom Pritchard, who has 23 catches for
298 yards this season. Only two other receivers, however, have caught
more than ten passes on the season.
Though, like its offense, Navy's defense has been bothered by injury,
it seems that it is finally reaching full strength. The Midshipmen are led
by All-American candidate Javier Zuluaga. Zuluaga, a junior linebacker,
is currently tied for ninth in the nation in tackles per game with 13.7. Also
an All-American candidate, senior defensive end Bob Kuberski leads the
team in tackles for losses with ten on the season.
The Owls close out their home football season, entering tomorrow's
game with a 5-4 overall record, 4-2 in the Southwest Conference. After
their stunning defeat of the Baylor Bears, they are focused on achieving
one goal a winning season.
This is our chance," said Goldsmith. This game is our season. Hie
Houston game will be our playoffs."
Rice has not played Navy since 1967, when the Owls won 21-7. The
key for the Owls is to not look past this game and underestimate the
Midshipmen.
"I dont think we will take Navy for granted," said Wee center Tom
Hetherington. This is still an important game for us. They've lost to a lot
of great schools and I'm sure they're a good team."
Yet it is difficult to overlook the possibility for a bowl bid should the
Owls defeat Navy and, later, Houston. Goldsmith said of Rice's bowl
prospects, "I don't even want to talk about it Right now, after 29 years,
with our primary goal in sight, the winning season is all I want to think
about That's all I want our players to focus on. It is paramount"
From the seniors' perspectives, this is their last home game.
Senior defensive end Shawn Alberding described the attitude of the
seniors, saying, This is exciting. We came here four years ago to turn
this program around, and we are right on the verge of it Everyon e always
asks, 'Can you win at Rice?" We are finally showing them that it can be
done."
SPORTS
Rugby club upset by Sam
Houston State at Rugby Fest
Aleskowitch in NCAA cross country meet
Team finishes third in region behind Arkansas, Baylor at District VI meet
by Theo Mallinson
by Jamey Fmdling
The Rice rugby club roared into
Nacogdoches proud and confident,
but trudged away with sagging spirits
after once again failing to win the
Annual East Texas Rugby Fest last
weekend. In a tournament they have
never won, Rice was again turned away
by a fired up Sam Houston State Uni-
versity club.
Interestingly, Rice went to Sam
Hou ston earlierthisyearand whipped
them soundly, 31-3. "When you beat a
team like that, you dont expect to
have a problem with them," said sopho-
more James Waldron.
However, after steamrolling the
SouthwestTexas State University sec-
ond side in their opening game, 41-0,
Rice failed to get motivated for their
second match of the day.
"Weplayed so well in the first game
that afterwards we all lay down for an
hour and a half and got flat for Sam
Houston," admitted Waldron. "We just
weren't interested in the game."
Contributing to the loss were the
tournament-shortened halves, which
were only 25 minutes long instead of
the usual 40 minutes. "We started to
come together during the last 15 min-
utes or so, but we just didn't have
enough time," said sophomore Troy
Thacker, who led the team with four
tries during the tournament.
On the brighter side, however, the
team came back to win both its games
on Sunday, resulting in a third place
finish overall.
The team started slow against
Southern Methodist University on
Sunday morning, failing to score in
the first half. However, speedy Dan
Rosen turned the game around with
two second half tries, and the final
margin ended up being 17-0.
By Sunday afternoon, the team was
SEE NUQBY, PAGE 18
Senior N icole Aleskowitch led one
of Rice's strongest and most cohesive
women's cross country teams ever to
a third-place finish at the District VI
meet last weekend in Denton. Finish-
ing eighth overall, Aleskowitch indi-
vidually qualified for the NCAA cham-
pionships, which will be held Nov. 23
at the University of Indiana in
Bloomington. The team's year of hard
work paid off with national recogni-
tion as Rice was ranked 25th in the
nation.
Assistant Coach Jim Bevan was
pleasantly surprised by the national
ranking. "I did not expect it," he ex-
plained, "because our region is not
that highly regarded nationally. The
cohesiveness of our team benefitted
us greatly, I think While other bigger
schools nave Large pools of talent to
draw their runners from, our size
forces our girls to be that much more
responsible, because the team de-
pends greatly on the individual perfor-
mances they give."
Rice's main rival through the sea-
son, Baylor University, also fared well
in Denton, earning second place in
the region and 22nd in the nation.
Aleskowitch took advantage of
Baylor's strength.
"I tried to hang on to [Baylor's]
Sally Geis during the duration of the
run. She and [Baylor runnerj
Catherine Hall have been running in
front of me all year, but I knew that
Geis was a more consistent runner
than Hall.
"I stayed with her up until the sec-
ond mile, she was up with the front of
the pack, and then I lost her. Coach
Bevan yelled, You can get Sally, you
can get Sally,' with about a half mile
left to go, so I turned it up,"Aleskowitch
recounted.
Geis, however, managed to finish
two seconds ahead of Aleskowitch,
coming in seventh place with a time of
17:47. Aleskowitch finished eighth in
17:49. She added, "Hanging on to her
gave me a focus during the race that I
think I gained from."
0 f the other six Rice ru n ners in the
meet, Bevan noted that Stacey Swank
and Emily Massad,who finished 13th
and 15th in 18:22 and 18:24, respec-
tively, had their best races of the sea-
son. Following closely was Candace
Lessmeister, finishing six seconds
behind Massad in 16th place in 18:30.
Erica Ievine and Riva Rahl also fin-
ished close to one another, earning
24th and 26th with times of 18:45 and
18:50. Lynn Sherry closed out the
team's runners with a 54th-place fin-
ish and a time of 19:37.
Rice's finish also earned them third
place within the region, passing the
University of Texas at San Antonio, a
team Rice had not ran against during
the season.
They come on strong at the beg in-
ning of the season and then sort of fall
apart We're the opposite, building up
the whole year towards conference
and region," said Aleskowitch.
Rahl said, "I saw these two UTSA
girls in front of me with about 400
meters left Coach Bevan was there
yelling really loudly, very enthusias-
tic, just going crazy. He was telling
Erica Levine to go all out and pass the
two Baylor girls in frontofher. I knew
there was no point in beating Baylor if
UTSA came in front of us, and I real-
ized part of it was up to me. I fought
them off in the last few hundred
meters." UTSA's Maria Ramirez and
Carmen Vega finished one and three
seconds behind Rahl.
"Our girls have always gotten a lot
out of themselves. People like Riva,
Erica, Nicole, the whole team, these
are people that not only run for Rice,
they're running for themselves,"
Bevan said. "That's why we do so well
even being a small school. Nicole was
the fourth Rice runner to qualify indi-
vidually and we're all really proud of
her." Rice last qualified as a team in
1987.
Aleskowitch said she has no ex-
pectations for the national meet, but
reflected, "It's a great way to end a
season and running for Rice."
Aleskowitch and Bevan travel to
Bloomington tomorrow.
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Kim, Leezie & Carson, Chad. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1992, newspaper, November 20, 1992; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245826/m1/15/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.