IL
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Sports
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The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
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November 20,1987
q,
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Rutter on Sports
By DAVE
RUTTER
MD must reload while Tigers
figure to be loaded in 1988
Frank Will and his Mater Dei football Wildcats
discovered the down side of being No. 1.
Ralph Weinzapfel and his Memorial football
Tigers suffered the price of one jolting error.
Although Tell City and Jasper fans can rejoice
in making the state's final four in their respective
divisions, local rooters are left with another winter
of what-might-have-beens after last weekend's
dream-ending defeats.
On the gloom scale, Tell City's 12-7 ousting of
Mater Dei gets a "10." Memorial figured to have a
tougher assignment with Class 3-A's No. 1-ranked
Zionsville Eagles, but ironically, that defeat might
have been even more upsetting.
The Wildcats left Perry County knowing they
hadn't played well enough to vindicate their rank-
ing, but the Tigers exited with the knowledge they
bd been their own worst enemies.
"The bad part of the season is that, if we don't
'win the whole thing, everyone's going to dwell on
that last game," said Will. "These kids played
some super football. And regardless of what hap-
pened Friday, it was exciting. And I think
everyone has to consider the season. I didn't know
we could win 10 straight. We had one of the
toughest schedules at Mater Dei since I've been
here. When you play the city teams across the
board, toss in Castle and Henderson County; that's
a pretty tall order."
The Mater Dei streak had been built on last-
second wins over Henderson County, Memorial
and Reitz, and the No. 1 ranking turned into a
large bulls-eye on the Wildcats' helmets. "Yes, I
think being No. I was a disadvantage," said Will.
"We got that before the Memorial game and it
means everyone's shooting at you. Everyone,
regardless of their class, wants to test how good
you are. That's how it works."
Tell City might not have needed any extra
motivation to play well against Mater Dei but tak-
ing a crack at the No. 1 brass ring has become
something of a Marksmen trademark the last three
years. "They did a very nice job on us, and we
didn't respond very well," added Will. "We had
our last chance, but we turned it over with about
seven minutes to go. We had played so well that I
hoped we could get to Indy to see how we match-
ed up. When you don't play well, there's always a
team waiting in the wings. But both teams really
came to play, and we hurt ourselves with
11
Joseph Becher to coach
Marian Heights basketball
Joseph Becher of Fezdinand
will coach the Marian Heights
Academy Girls Basketball Team
during the 1987-88 season.
Becher, who is a member of
the academy maintenance staff,
will work with the supervision
Df Jorene Brewer, MHA athletic
lirector.
His experience includes
:oaching girls softball for seven
mars and he has acted as MHA
ymnasium and field manager
:or the past two-and-a-half
tears.
Assisting Becher in coaching
he varsity team will be Robin
raughn, who will coach the
nior varsity basketball team.
NEIDIG
JOSEPH BECI-I]Ht
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penalties."
Self-injury by penalty flag is something Wein-
zapfel can more truly appreciate now.
The most agonizing play in Memorial's season
came with the Tigers leading 7-0 and apparently in
firm grasp of an upset. Brian Holt's pass had car-
ried inside the Eagles' 15 and set the stage for
what might have been a psychological knockout
punch. The Eagles were not accustomed to a face-
to-face knucklebasher and a 14-0 lead would have
been significant.
But that pass was wiped out by a penalty. Fac-
ed with a second down and 30 hole, Memorial
eventually fumbled, and Zionsville rolled in for a
7-7 standoff. That one sequence irrevocably chang-
ed the game's tenor.
"Yes, I agree 100 percent that play turned
things around," said Weinzapfel. "Going up 14-0
certainly would have been a burden on their backs,
assuming we could get the last 8-9 yards. We
became disoriented after that, and the kids were
very upset with themselves."
Now each coach turns attention to next fall
where the situations could harcily be more
different.
Except for 1,300-yard passer Scott McDurmon,
tackle Rob Weightman and a handful of
underclassmen, Mater Dei must rebuild from the
very bottom.
"Yeah, we're starting over," says Will.
"That's the way it happens. You just hope the
sophomores and juniors grow a little, lift a few
weights and get stronger. We lose our tailback
(Todd Lehman) and both fullbacks, so it's hard to
tell how we'll even line up."
Among the likely future choices are
sophomore quarterback Daryl Adler and linebacker
Larry Beard, a hard knocker who helped lead
Mater Dei's reserves to a co-city title.
Will says he expects McDurmon to return as
the starter, even though Adler is gifted enough to
play quarterback. "He's a pretty good athlete and
he'll play somewhere."
Memorial has the luxury of returning running
back Ken Mills and 15 or so lettermen, including
Holt who developed admirably as the season ex-
pended itself.
But Weinzapfel still must solve what turned
out to be an unsolved anxiety this season.
Although Mills scored 25 touchdowns and ran for
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1,800 yards, how much more can be expected of
him? Probably not much. And that means the
Tigers will need another running back to make
defenses play honestly.
"We certainly relied on him, {Mills), but we
spent probably 60 percent on other aspects, par-
ticularly the halfbacks," says Weinzapfel. "If we
could have an outside threat besides Mills, it
would help. We worked at that a lot this year, but
it didn't work as well as we had hoped. Bill Mon-
tgomery had some bright spots, and he really
wanted to play."
Weinzapfe] says he has considered switching
to the "I-formation" in order to give Mills max-
imum opportunity to run, but though better of it.
"It's a good offense, but if your tailback gets in-
jured, you're in trouble. Still we'd probably want
to give him the ball 25 or 30 times. Really though,
we averaged about 35 points a game and that's not
bad for high school. Personnel is really what
makes any offense go."
The Tigers could have a little more "go" next
year if junior-to-be Carl Lyles, a lithe, whippet-
quick 160-pounder stays healthy. Lyles had won
the city spring title as a freshman, and Weinzapfel
had expected him to contend for the other running
back spot with Mills.
But Lylas suffered a back injury while punting
in practice and was out most of the year. "lie's an
excellent athlete, and has got outside speed," says
Weinzapfel. "He has the capabilities to be one
beck of a high school player. He seems to be pretty
well OK now. But for much of the season, he had
terrible pain with back spasms."
As for the rest of his troops, Weinzapfel is
already looking ahead to 1988. "In two or three
weeks, all those not involved in other sports will
start working," he says. "We're going to wear out
those weights. As far as pressure next year, that's
no problem. In fact that's great."
Yes, the pressure. Mater Dei expected to
challenge for the state title this year and did until
the roof caved in.
It's not inconceivable that Memorial might get
consideration for No. 1 early in next season's poll.
And the Tigers might deserve it.
But as Frank Will can attest, standing on the
top of the hill alone is a trying existence. And win-
ning the 14th game of the season can be the
toughest one of all.
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