The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 83, No. 4, Ed. 1, Wednesday, September 7, 1994 Page: 6 of 8
eight pages : illus. ; page 11 x 8 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
t i h a
iifcwaaMW
lansisiii
Sports
v.
fl'.S
i'
Wildcat miscues fatal in 48-0 loss
Sf -
I
$
j
1
i
"1
BY TRAVIS WHISENANT
SPORTS EDITOR
-r-i -
A rain-soaked field and the
University of North Texas
football team helped start the
ACU football season at 0-1.
However neither factor had as
much of an effect as the Wild-
cats themselves. Plagued by
turnovers and a tendency to give
up the big play the Wildcats
beat themselves in their opener
TJiurday night before a crowd of
17459 at North Texas.
The Wildcats fumbled six
times losing five and were
unable to overcome their own
mistakes against the Division I-
AA Eagles. The Wildcats made
matters worse by giving up a
series of big plays on defense
including five touchdowns of 40
yards or more. ACU head coach
Bob Strader said "The five tum-
bles and quick touchdowns were
pretty demoralizing. We
couldn't build any momentum in
the second half."
.Actually ACU began the game
-'in an impressive fashion. The
Wildcats dominated North Texas
for most of the first half and
' appeared to be heading into half-time
down only 7-0 when
; things simply fell apart.
With 1:46 left in the first half
: Barry Reese senior from Abi-
" lene punted to the North Texas
41 -yard line. From there the
" Eagles took two plays to cover
62 yards ending in a 59-yard
touchdown pass by UNT quar-
terback Mitch Maher. After the
ensuing North Texas kickoff
" disaster struck again when Ser-
gio Gomez freshman from Ch-
orus Heights Calif. fumbled
5 after an 18-yard run. Maher then
""completed passes of 16 and 12
yards before throwing another
ACU vs. North
ACU 0 0 0 00
NonhTexa 0 21 13 14 48
Scoring Summary
UNT DcU Huikaby i run (Toby Gowln kick)
UNT Much Maher 59 past to David Drown (Gowin kick)
UNT Maher 1 1 past lo Brown (Gowin kick)
UNT Bo I larrison 47 run (kick failed)
UNT Maher 39 patt lo Troy Rcdw inc (Gowln kick)
UNT Harrison 71 run (Gowin kick)
UNT Jason Mills 46 run (Gowin kick)
ACU
7
189
UNT
13
297
First downs
Rushing yards
Cross country teams approach
-ji 1994 season in nation's top 10
BY KIT MORGAN
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Although competitive sea-
sons are expected from both
the football and volleyball
teajms only one Wildcat fall
spqrt is expected to contend for
a; national title: men's and
wojnen's cross country.
''Our expectation is to place in
the top three at nationals but
our goal is to win a national
championship" said Peter
Engelbrecht senior from South
Africa and a leading member of
the men's cross country team.
Those are strong words con-
sidering the men's team finished
tenth at last year's meet.
"Last year tenth was a very
very big disappointment"
Jngelbrecht said. "We had a
bouple key injuries going into
lii; meet. At regionals we fin-
yijitd in front of Western State
'ito finished third overall at
Kjtionals We were ranked scc-
' iMjci nationally going in.
j&JiVe eat sleep and dream
jiaoaut winning a national cham-
trGlSnship" Engelbrecht said.
jgiVe'll do what it takes.
:-iThe conference is not very
.sftong so our main competion
&erall is Adams State and
!Vfctern State hoth Colorado
schpols" Engelbrecht said.
EjDceess is expected 01 ootn inc
touchdown this time going 11
yards. This left North Texas
ahead 21-0 at halftime.
The sudden change in momen-
tum was devastating to the
young ACU team which started
five true freshmen. The devasta-
tion carried the Wildcats into the
second half. After 20 third-quarter
points North Texas pushed
the game out of reach eventual-
ly scoring one fourth-quarter
touchdown for certainty.
"To beat a team like North
Texas we have to play as good
as we can for four quarters"
Strader said. "We played good
enough for periods and didn't
score. That was discouraging."
ACU was not without its
bright spots however. Tailbacks
Andre Johnson freshman from
Lindalc and Gomez rushed for
58 and 85 yards respectively.
Overall the highly acclaimed
Wildcat rushing attack was
effective gaining 189 yatds.
Unfortunately the lack of a con-
sistent passing game and the five
fumbles limited this effort. The
Wildcat passing woes however
were not the fault of quarterback
Andy Newberry freshman from
Tyler. Newberry had two long
tosses called back by penalties
one of the tosses a 21-yard
touchdown to Angel Alvarez
junior from Mission and only
eight passing attempts all night.
"After seeing the video we
could've and should'vc thrown
the ball more" Strader said.
Undoubtedly the biggest high-
light for ACU Was the play of
defensive end Victor Randolph
junior from Medon Tenn. Ran-
dolph led the defense with six
tackles one for a 3-yard loss
and a sack. In particular Ran-
dolph made an impressive first-
quarter effort in which he single-
Texas game statistics
Passing yards 7 207
Comp-Att-ln! 1-8-0 9-15-0
Punis(numbcr-avcragc) 9-347 3-37J
Tumbles-lost 6-5 2-1
Penalties-yards 5-73 13-112
men's and women's teams this
year. In an NCAA Division II
cross country poll College
Sports magazine ranks both
teams fourth overall entering the
fall season.
In cross country each team
fields seven runners and the top
five finishers on the team figure
in the overall scoring.
"We did not lose anyone from
last year's men's or women's
teams" head coach Jon Murray
said. "Last year was the first
year for both the men's and
women's teams to qualify for
nationals. We should do it again
this year."
The women placed sixth over-
all at nationals last fall. Both
Bigna Samuel sophomore from
Kingstown St. Vincent who
finished seventh at last year's
mee; and Elisa Franco freshman
from Anson who finished ninth
will return. Rounding out the
top five arc Ruth Jaime junior
from Huancayo City Peru; and
Stephanie Duke freshman from
Utopia.
"We're ranked fourth so I'm
pretty optimistic" Duke said.
"There is a lot of depth and it's
a good team."
The top five competitors for
the men are Engelbrecht;
Thomas Korir sophomore from
Eldoret Kenya; Joseph Ten-
gelei senior from Eldoret
t. 'Hie JIViraH flHHHHK9MV5SHHflHHilHHHr' 1 !iw V
1' mitr fV'l ''ltfH " ftHWHi irfflWIBMMiP tmr vt Btf BBSSBB9l9Hi99BnOTBBflBBBB7 iiBMt L BH
TKauSftBv ?!BJBJBlBBMBBWBMfcr. " vRr&VpmHGW aHHflflflHHHIHiilHHL'VuH
BBBBBBbKVS TBJfvr VHfnflHP mwwfUUr BWMB1 BKTJBBBMMBBBBBBBWBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBl
jBU wuM9HB0bk JfeWft!&W WfiHBblJBi
K&' - - jHBBHBHIiIhhBk SK jlJZTBBwBc:'mZ3Bmm-'11 " "" "" H 3BBBBBBBBBBBBwiifg "
BBBBBBBBBBBMWP'W-'v '- .. - . : l!i(PBBBBBBBBBBWBBPll(K-;' 4H?tTfiwBJBBBl A
WbmHbwbpjwSwM teagT wti . vgjg'iv . . TqBlgPBWfwsr..' jawaraBfiiy .sMlMMM
Running to daylight
Sergio Gomez freshman from Citrus Heights Calif. Is sprung Into open field by the blocks of Chris Gillert
Victor Diaz junior from Coppel.
handedly turned away the North
Texas offense.
Following an ACU fumble
North Texas drove the ball to the
ACU 16-yard line and appeared
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing ACU: Gomez 21-85 Johnson 14-58 Harris 9-21.
Green 2-13 Newberry 2-12. Alvarez 1-0. UNT: Harrison 6-131 lluckaby 7-
75. Mills 4-58 Anderson 1 1 -25 Maher 4-8.
Passing ACU: Newberry 1-8-0 7 yards. UNT: Maher 9-14-0.
207 yards; Mills 0-1-0 0 yards.
Receiving ACU: Nichols 1-7. UNT: D. Drown 4-95 Red.
wine 2-79. Harrison. 1-12. D Smith 1-13. lluckaby 1-8.
Kenya; and Jerome Vcrmeulen
junior from Germiston South
Africa. Tengelei finished second
at the national meet last year
and Korir placed 16th.
The first meet for the Wildcats
is Friday in Abilene behind
Sherrod Residential Park.
"It will be the first meet for
everybody so it will be a little
low-key" Murray said.
"We compete with a lot of top
Division I programs" Murray
said. "We'll see a lot of them
when we race at Arkansas."
The Arkansas Cross Country
Festival will occur Oct. 1 in
Fayetteville Ark.
"At the Arizona State Invita-
tional our women will get a
chance to run against Cal State-
Los Angeles the top women's
Division II program" Murray
said. The Arizona State Invita-
tional will occur Oct. 14.
Although other ACU men's
and women's teams have won
23 national titles in indoor and
outdoor jirack the cross country
team has yet to earn such a title.
"Eventually our goal is to win
a triple crown. That's a national
title in cross-country indoor
track and outdoor track" Mur-
ray said. "No one has ever done
that before on the Division II
Iqvel" The first step to winning
a triple crown will be deter-
mined after a Nov. 19 meet.
to be on its way to scoring.
From there Randolph tackled
UNT tailback Etcka Huckabcc
for a 3-yard loss. On the next
play Randolph sacked Maher
Varsity and junior varsity
volleyball teams compete
in Howard Payne tourney
BY JENNIFER FIERRO
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Kent Wieb almost got what
he wanted.
But ACU's head volleyball
coach didn't get to see both the
junior varsity and varsity teams
playing each other for the
Howard Payne University vol-
leyball tournament in Brown-
wood Friday and Saturday.
Each team went into the quar-
terfinals but only the varsity
squad played for the champi-
onship finishing in second
place. The junior varsity team
placed second in its pool.
Rather than entering one
strong team Wieb said he
entered two teams of equal
strength in the tournament.
"Neither one of them was our
stronger team. Neither one of
them was our varsity team"
Wieb said
The terms varsity and jayvee
were used only for reference.
"We just called them that to give
them names" he said.
As for the importance of the
tournament Wieb said he did
not treat games as real games.
"This for us was just a scrim-
mage. None of this counts for
anything as far as season
record" he said.
The head coach said he was
more concerned with strengths
of individual players and how
they contributed to the team.
Among the results from the
tournament include the roster for
the Alaska-Anchorage tourna-
ment in Anchorage Ala Wieb
will take Jennifer Pennington
junior from Springtown; Kara
Rapp junior from Sedalia
- Colo; Shalon Taylor freshman
for an 11 -yard loss pushing
UNT to the ACU 27. Randolph
followed this effort by blocking
the UNT field goal attempt kil-
ingl the Eagles' drive.
from Brcckcnridgc; Angela
Cooper freshman from Crane;
Julie Gash junior from Santa
Rosa Calif.; Jessica Mayes
sophomore from Thorton Colo.;
Dixie Frank freshman from
Round Rock; Emily Worley
sophomore from Aurora Colo.;
Kym Killion freshman from
Weatherford; Heather Adcox
sophomore from Arlington; and
Emily Hale freshman from
McPhcrson Kan.
It takes a lot of
time for a team
to connect.
KARA RAPP
Wieb however said every
player on his team still has the
potential to play varsity volley-
ball. "Anybody on our squad
could play varsity. Everyone on
our squad has the ability to play
varsity" he said.
Six or seven players hit over
.300 including Cooper Frank
Killion and Hale Wieb said.
"Those girls hitting that kind
of percentage is outstanding"
the head coach said. .
However Wieb said work still
needs to be done. "Our weakest
area was our blocking and
defense" ie said
The Wildcats played a com
WAWood
freshman from Athens and
"There were a lot of positives
and a lot of things we have to
work on" Stadcr said. "This wasi
a good learning experience that'
should prepare us for the LSG"
bined 21 games and lost only tfr
of them. The varsity team
defeated Dallas Baptist in
straight sets 15-1 15-10. Its
next victim was Austin CollcgdP
15-10 and 16-14. The Wildcats
beat Howard Payne University
but a final score was not record-
ed. Huston-Til lotson lost to the
Wildcats but again a final scorc'A
was not recorded. The varsity
team then faced Texas Lutheran
for the championship but lost
15-7 9-15 and 6-15. (
Final scores for the junior var-
sity were not recorded.
Marc Johnson assistant coach
and junior varsity coach sail
the game-playing experience
was the key. "It was good for us
because we got to see a lot of
games" Johnson said. fl
Johnson said the level of conv
petition was not as strong as in
the Lone Star Conference. "All
in all it was a little under the
competition level" he said.
Players also were positive
about the experience and said
they were not worried about the
wins or losses as much as being"
able to work together.
Pennington said. "We have a
good team. We learned what's
going to work."
As far as the Alaska-Anchorage
tournament Pennington
said "It's going to be tough
competition. We can win if we
go out there to win."
Rapp said the lournnASnt
"was a learning experience. It
was time for us to get together
and play as a team. It takes a lot
of time for a team to connect."
The JV plays McMurry ii-
versity at 2 p.m. and Wayland
Baptist at 4 p.m. Wednesday in
Hunt P. E. Center at McMurry
ft
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 83, No. 4, Ed. 1, Wednesday, September 7, 1994, newspaper, September 7, 1994; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92244/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.