sports ions confident despite lackluster 15-12 win By GREG LODER Collegian Sports Writer "A win's a win." It was these words that were echoed by many of the Penn State players looking on the bright side of a disappointing 15-12 victory for the Lions over Rutgers on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. In a game which saw a lackluster Penn State offense struggle to only 50 yards passing and 15 points on the scoreboard, there were some doubt ers to these words of optimism. But with a game against lowa next week (after the Hawkeyes de feated lowa State 59-21 on Satur day), the best thing to do is find something positive to say. "It was a win and we are happy about it," Center Nick Haden said, summing up the players attitude. In the positive category besides the final score, was an aggressive Lions' defense that held an explo sive Rutgers offense to 202 total yards. The Penn State defensive front put constant pressure on Scar let Knight quarterback Eric "Rus ty" Hochberg, a State College native who threw for 159 yards com pleting 16 of 41 passes. Penn State Head Coach Joe Pater no said his defense, which shut out Rutgers in the second half except for a safety Lion punter John Bruno took to run the clock out with seven seconds remaining, accomplished its goal. "I think we put the pressure on them and made them throw the ball away a few times when he wasn't ready to throw," Paterno said. "They hung in there in the second half. I think they played the second half with more confidence." "lowa may prove me wrong, but I think we are a better football team defensively ( this year)." It was the defense that broke the 1040 deadlock at halftime. After Penn State turned over the ball in the third quarter when Lion fullback Tim Manoa was stopped cold on a fourth and two at the Rutgers four-yard line, Hochberg dropped back to pass in his end zone. The ball was knocked loose by Penn State defensive lineman Dan Morgan and in a "it's mine, no it's yours" struggle for the ball, Lions' Todd Moules and Shane Conlan knocked the ball over the end line for a safety. Linebacker and co-captain Car men Masciantonio said the Penn State defense, which sacked Hoch berg three times, suffered from opening game-itis in the first half. "After the first couple of plays we looked less confident because there were a few 'Nervous Nellies' out there," Masciantonio said. "We wanted to dictate what their offense did and I think we did that." While the Penn State defense took command in the second half, it was the Lions' offense that made many think it was going to be a Penn State romp early. On the first Penn State possesion, tailback D.J. Dozier, who had 97 yards rushing on 12 carries, took a handoff from quarterback Doug Stiang and bolted down the left sideline for a 43-yard touchdown run. Two possessions later, Penn State drove to the Rutgers' three behind runs of 10 and 12 yards•by Manoa and finished the drive with a Nick Gancitano 20-yard field goal. Dozier, however, pulled a groin muscle in the third quarter and didn't return to the lineup. A quick 10-0 lead had perhaps too many people sitting back compla cent, Paterno said. "I think the whole team may be a little bit nervous, they got ahead 10-0 and that's the worst thing in the world," Paterno said. "I hate to get ahead like that .on a big play and then there's a tendency of everyone to relax a little." Strang, who completed a frustrat ing seven of 20 pasSes, agreed with Pa terno. • "I know the offense felt the same way, like this was going to be an easy day." Strang said. "We scored and kind of relaxed." There may be other adjectives than "relaxed" to describe the Penn State offense for the day, but at this time that may be the best. Strang and his inexperienced re ceiving crew constantly had trouble getting together as passing routes were: off and - Strang-was -underth-: rowing. But even though the passing game was extinct, Paterno still had praise for his quarterback, who sur prisingly ran for 63 yards. "He took the bull by the horns and ran with it," Paterno said. "He really got banged around. Strang's a great competitor and he was frus trated with himself and his passing, so he ran." After the game, a battered Strang said running the ball so much re minded him of high school." "I felt like I was going back to my high school years where you would do anything to win," he said. "Ev erybody tells me to keep my head up, and I say don't worry about, me because we're coming out with a win and a wins a win." Besides the Lions' offense having trouble with inexperienced receiv ers, the offensive line missed some crucial blocking assignments on un successful short yardage plays. "Our timing was off," Paterno said. "Once or twice a back didn't go the right way and that draw play didn't work and we might of broken another one. "That's first game stuff, but, it's particularly true with new combina tions out there." There was another "new" combi nation that might have also dealt a blow to the troubled Lions' offensive unit. Rutgers Head Coach Dick Ander son, who was the offensive coordina tor for the Lions for 11 years before taking his new job in January, may have known Penn State personnel more than expected. At least Strang felt that way. "I think it was a combination of things and Dick Anderson knowing exactly what we were going to do." Paterno had praise for the Rutg ers' defense that bottled up Lion receivers. "I think Rutgers played sound defensively," Paterno said. "They were in the right spot a great deal of the time. I expected a tough football game and I'm glad it worked that way. "They played with great enthu siasm and they are going to be a very-good team." But after the game, Paterno said his confrontation with Anderson be -fore the-gaMe-wai-almost-as-tough as the one after the opening kickoff. "The only time I got a little bit uptight is when I saw Dick for the first time with his team," the 19- year Penn State head coach said. "I Penn State reserve tailback Tony Mumford (12) slashes past two Rutgers defenders for short yardage during third quarter action Saturday at Beaver Stadium. Mumford, playing primarily in the second half after D.J. Dozier left the game after suffering a groin injury, gained 66 yards on 20 carries. . - . . wasn't quite sure what I was going ver Field,?' " Paterno joked. Anderson said. "We lost the game to say to him. After the game, Anderson took his and I'm not happy." "I said to him, I'll ask you one return to Beaver Stadium hard. - When it was all over though, it more time that question, 'How do "I thought Penn State played the may have been Paterno's return you feel about coming back to Bea- game the way I thought they would" that was the tougher of the two. The Daily Collegian Monday, Sept. 10, 1984 Penn State/ Rutgers Statistics Team Statistics First Downs Rushes-yardages Passing Yardage Passes-att.-comp.-- int. Total offensive yardage Average Gain Per Play Return Yards Fumbles lost Punts (number- avg.) 8-36.9 10-37.9 Penalties-Yards 8-74 6-73 Sacks by 3 2 Third Down Con versions 6-20 2-18 Possession-Time 35:35 24:25 Scoring Summary PSU Dozier 43 yard run (Gan citano kick) PSU Gancitano 20 yard FG RU Angstadt 40 yd FG RU Hooper 3 yard pass from Hochberg (Angstadt kick) PSU Safety Hochberg sacked in endzone and fumbles PSU Gancitano 36 yard FG RU Safety Bruno runs out of endzone Final individual statistics Rushing Penn State Dozier 12- 97, Mumford 20-68, Manoa 12-51, Strang 11-63, Smith 3-4, Clark 2-4, Bruno 1-(-22) Totals 61-262. Rutg ers Williams 14-44, Smith 3-11, Hochberg 4-(-22), Hooper 5-9. To tals 2643 Passing —Penn State Strang 7-20- 50. Rutgers Hochberg 16-41459 Pass Receiving Penn State Campbell 2-12, Smith 1-15, Bella my 1-12, Dozier 1-6, Manoa 1-3, Mumford 1-2 Totals 7-50. Rutgers Pendergrass 3-71, Drake 4-49, Baker 3-20, Hooper 2-8, Williams 2-9, Cobb 1-4, Smith 1-2 Totals 16- 159. Punting Penn State Bruno 8- 295-36.9. Rutgers Liska 10-479-37.9 Field Goals Penn State Ganci tano 2-2 Rutgers Angstadt 1-1, Punt Returns Penn State Woods 2-13, 'lsom 1-4. Rutgers Young 4-42. Kickoff Returns Penn State Isom 2-17. Rutgers Hooper 2-30. Interception Returns Penn State L. Hamilton 144. Rutgers Twamley 1-27, Cummins 1-7. PSU RU 10 19 61-262 26-85 50 159 20-7-2 41-16-1 312 202 1-1 2-1 Rutgers' program enters new era under Anderson By CHRIS LINDSLEY Collegian Sports Writer Some things just go well together _like peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs and Penn State and football, just to name a few. But Rutgers and football haven't always been recognized as a pair, until now. "If I tell someone Igo to Rutg- Take for example Anderson's ers, their first question is 'do you decision to go for a fourth and one play football at Rutgers?' And I with the ball . on the Lions' 45 say yes, but somehow it just during Rutgers' first possession of doesn't seem to click like it would the game. if I said that I played at Penn While many coaches would have State," Rutgers - offensive tackle punted the ball away, Anderson Tony Rigole said after the' game. gave the offense a vote of confi "l live in Long Island, an hour dence early on, and although they and a half from Rutgers, and didn't convert on the ensuing play, people still don't know about us. the message was clear. But we have to start somewhere, Another decision Anderson and this game is a step toward made, or didn't make, that of that." keeping ineffective quarterback Actually, the first step Rutgers tooko to revamp its football pro-' gram was to hire former Penn State Assistant Coach Dick Ander son as head coach, a decision already paying dividends. On the field Saturday, the Scar let Knights exhibited a tenacious defense, an offense that never gave up, and, more importantly, it showed a togetherness that has been missing in New Brunswick, N.J., for some time. "We knew we had to play togeth er," linebacker Tyrone Stowe said. "They had everyone back on offense, so we knew we had to play tough. You can't feel good, be cause we lost. But the program is on the way up . . . This (game) is just, he beginning. With the Scarlet Knights coming into the game as 21-point under dogs, a three-point loss might seem like a moral victory to most people, but not to Anderson. "There's no such thing as a moral victory," Anderson said., "We lost the football game. We came here to win it, not to look good." It's this attitude which has been prevalent • in the Rutgers camp since the ,day Anderson arrived, and his squad's post-game reac tions attested to this fact. There were no smiling faces in the Rutgers locker room. No one, was talking of how close they had come, just of the mistakes or missed opportunities that cost them the opening game of the 1984 season, a sign that what Anderson is trying to instill in his players is already taking shape. Tigers sweep series from Jays By The Associated Press The Detroit Tigers left Toionto with things in as good a shape as possible for themselves as they swept their three-game series with the Blue Jays with a 7-2 victory Sunday.' - The successful weekend trimmed Detroit's magic number to nine and left Toronto 11 1 / 2 games behind the leaders of the American League East. Kirk Gibson hit a 450-foot, three-run homer in the seventh inning and John Grubb added a solo shot in the sixth to back Milt Wilcox, 16-7. In other AL games Sunday, Cleve land beat Oakland 7-5, Baltimore defeated Milwaukee 4-0, Boston swamped New York 10-1, Texas crushed Minnesota 9-3 and Kansas City edged Seattle 6-5. California was at Chicago in a night game. rooters shut out Rams, 3-0; play WVU tomorrow Penn State co•captain and stopper Gerry Moyer (5) dribbles the ball is a Rhode island defender trys to make a sliding tackle during action Friday night at Jeffrey Field. Penn State shut out the Rams 3.0 for the second consecutive year and will play Its first road game tomorrow night against West Virginia. "The team's more confident this season, and we have a positive direction," punt returner Harold Young said. "Coach is showing us the way to go and he's showing us how to get there. We're more aggressive as a team, and he's changed our overall attitude. Now we know we can win, and we won't be satisfied with anything less." Rusty Hochberg in during the sec ond half showed the faith he has in his quarterback. Hochberg, who was 12 of 27 for 140 yards in the opening 30 min utes, lost his touch in the second half, completing just four of 14 passes for only 19 yards. But he was in there down the stretch, a move which gives the whole of- , fense confidence in knowing who ' its leader is in crucial situations. After the game, Anderson was subdued; In his first year at a school that was 3-8 last year, a school that lost most of its key defensive players to graduation, was without the services of his best tight end and had his quar terback just coming back off knee surgery. But he was still not happy stay ing within three points of Penn State. And Rigole said this is the type of leader Rutgers needs in order to re-establish its football program. "He's a very good coach, and he's the type of coach we needed here at Rutgers," Rigole said. "With Coach Anderson we came into the game a lot more prepared than we would have without him. He's established a whole new dis cipline, a wholt new feeling in that `we're Rutgers, a team that can win,' and we needed that very much." It has been 66 years since the Scarlet Knight team defeated Penn State. But under the guidance of Anderson, football and Ru.gers may go well enough to gether to end that string in the near future. In the National League, Philadel phia needed 11 innings to down Mon treal 6-5, St. Louis edged Pittsburgh 2-1, New York beat Chicago 5-1, San Diego blasted Houston 8-4, Cincinnati defeated Los Angeles 5-1 and San Francisco downed Atlanta 6-4. Gibson left the hospital for the series with the Blue Jays as he was suffering from intestinal flaand been fed intravenously in a Detroit hospi tal just five days , before the Toronto series began. Baltimore's Mike Boddicker tossed a seven-hitter for his foui•th shutout of the season and became the AL's first 18-game winner. Cal Ripken, Jr. hit his 24th home run of the season to snap an 0-for-14 streak. Charlie Hough improved his career record over the Twins to 8-0 as Minne sota dropped from first place in the AL West. Young Lion defense shines in win By JEFF SAUKAITIS Collegian Sports Writer When Penn State opened its football season Saturday with just two seniors in the starting defensive lineup, there was some concern that Rutgers quarterback Rusty Hochberg would pro vide the inexperienced Lions with a tough early challenge But defense turned out to be the shining point of the contest for the Lions in their shaky 15-12 win. And the unit had little margin for error since the lackluster offense never got its passing game untracked. Head Coach Joe Paterno said he felt all along that Penn State had to drastically improve its pass rush this season. A simple comparison between Saturday's game and last year's battle with Rutg ers shows that the Lions may have taken huge strides to achieve that goal Last year, Hochberg fhrew for 367 yards against Penn State's generous pass defense before an injury forced hiin out of the game in the fourth quarter. But on Saturday, Hochberg completed only 16 of 41 passes and the Lions held him to 159 yards. The Penn State defense also recorded three quarterback sacks on the afternoon, and Paterno said the pressure from the Lion rush forced Hochberg to make errant throws. "Somebody in there must have been putting some pressure on because Rusty had to throw that ball away several times," Paterno said. "Some of those passes he threw away he just let go because he didn't want to eat the ball." With the score tied at 10 going into the second half, the defense began to take matters into its own hands. With Rutgers at its own four-yard line at 12:47 into the third quarter, Penn State took the lead for good when defensive end Dan Morgan sacked Hochberg, knocking the ball out of the quarterback's hands. It appeared the Lions would recover the fumble for a touchdown, but defensive tackle Todd Moules and linebacker Shane Conlan both dove for the ball and pushed it beyond the endline for a safety which put the Lions up 12-10. The defense sparkled in the second half, allow ing just five yards rushing, 19 yards passing and no first downs. Penn State linebacker Carmen Masciantonio said once the inexperienced de fensive players got into the flow of the game in the second half, their anxiety subsided and the unit played solidly "The first couple plays, you haven't been in a game for a while, and we played with less confi dence (early in the game) maybe because we just had a few nervous nellies in there," Masciantonio McEnroe crushes Lendl for 4th Open title By 808 GREENE AP Sports Writer NEW YORK With an awesome display of his talent, John McEnroe crushed Czechoslovakia's Ivan Lendl 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 yesterday to capture his fourth U.S. Open men's singles title, then warned his fellow tennis players that "I can get better than that." The victory, his first in America's premier tennis event since 1981, ce mented his position as the world's greatest tennis player and handed Lendl his third consecutive title match defeat here on the hardcourts of the National Tennis Center: 'l've gotten better this year," said McEnroe, who has let his racket do the talking. And it has been talking loudly. For McEnroe, the victory was a measure of revenge for his loss to Lendl in the title match of the French Open earlier this year. "He wasn't going to have time to hit passing shots .like he did then," McEnroe said of the difference be tween the slow red European clay courts of Paris and the Deco Turf II surface at Louis Armstrong Stadium. "And being tired made me concen trate better. "I played the big points well when I needed to. I had a couple of good breaks, good reflexes. Rutgers Fullback Vernon Williams is tackled after a short gain by Penn State outside linebacker Rogers Alexander (95) as teammates Bob White (34) and Darrell Giles (28) lend assistance during the Lions 15.12 victory Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The swarming Lion defense limited Rutgers offense to 202 total yards. said. "We're going to get better, I was happy with our aggressive pass rush. We didn't let Rutgers dictate, like they did last year." Conlan agreed that the aggressiveness and awareness the defense showed on Saturday will give the defensive unit reason to be confident about the remainder of the season. He said that last year, Penn State's defense sat back and tried to read the opposition's offense instead of making things happen. The Lions did not try to dictate the direction of the game and potent offenses took advantage of that. Now, Conlan said the Lions' improved defensive pursuit will force opponents to often stray from their game plan. "Everyone was swarming as a defense," Conlan said. "Everyone was going for the ball. If one guy misses a tackle, there's four other guys there to make it. Everybody was hustling and everybody wanted the same thing. We were all working together." Another apparently successful aspect of the defense was the play of Moules and Morgan, two athletes who worked on the offensive line last season but were switched to the defensive front this year. Moules finished the game with three tackles and Morgan recorded five, including the A happy John McEnroe raises his fist in victory after pounding Ivan Lendl in straight sets, 6.3, 6.4, 6.1, to win the men's final of the U.S. Open yesterday in New York. "If I hit it well enough, it doesn't matter what the other guy's got," he said. "I don't change my game. I hit my shots." The world's top-ranked player said his marathon semifinal struggle Sat urday night actually helped him. "I feel exhausted unbelievable By TOM FLYNN Collegian Sports Writer The soccer team finished its season-opening three game homestand Friday night with a resounding 3-0 triumph over Rhode Island. As in the Lions' first victory last week over Navy, Penn State took an early lead and never looked back. Forward Niall Harrison opened the scoring at 4:24 of the first half, taking a pass from forward Larry Miller and depositing the ball past Rami' goaltender Mike Saalfrank. Penn State Head Coach Walter Bahr was happy for the speedy sophomore from Sligo, Ireland, who had his problems offensively last year. "It's nice to see him get a goal," Bahr said. "At times last year he felt that he couldn't buy one." In three games this year, Harrison has tallied five points on two goals/and an assist, compared to last season's five goals and three assists in 20 games. Miller also assisted on freshthan Troy Snyder's first goal at 24:14 of the first half. On both goals, Miller nicely handled crossing passes from forward Thomas Greve before setting up the Lion tallies Midfielder Kevin Jennings closed out the scoring at the 58-minute mark with a diving header across the goal mouth, with Snyder notching his, first assist.. Bahr said that the crowd of 2,200 at Jeffrey Field saw some of the best soccer from his squad in the first half. "For the first half-hour, I think that we played the best soccer up to this point," he said. However, the Lions did not keep up this high standard of play, according to Bahr. "In the last 15 minutes of play in the first half, we got careless. We let up and let them get back in the game," Bahr said. Although he considered the three Penn State tallies "very good goals", Bahr felt that his squad could have added to that total. "We should have had five or six goals tonight," he said. Although Penn State registered two shutouts in its first three games, Bahr felt that his defense is not as impres sive as,the two shutouts would indicate. "The defense played fairly well in spots, but there's still and tebrible at the same time," he said. "In the third set my body said, `That's enough.' "The difference (was) I was able to get on top of him. He was coming in a lot. Maybe he wanted to end the points early I don't know. "I didn't get angry at anything. I lots of work to do," the 11-year head coach said. Bahr credited senior goalkeeper Greg Kenney with preserving the shutouts, and praised sophomore Arturci Elmore for his steady play at a position that Bahr was "a little concerned about" before the season. Elmore joined his coach in praising Kenney. "Greg deserves a lot of the credit for the two shutouts. He's really been playing great back there," he said. Kenney passed credit for the opposition's inability to score goals to fellow captain and stopper Gerry Moyer: "Gerry and I seem to have been back there for so long that we help each other," said Kenney, who also praised Moyer's leadership role on the team. Kenney also lauded the Lions' quick offensive burst as a major factor in the game. "Those two early goals really, took the life out of them,'•' he said. Once again, the Lions encountered some physical play, with referee Adrian Pagano issuing three yellow cards for unsportsmanlike .conduct. Lion sweeper Steve Potter picked up one at 16:39 of the first half, with Rams' Joe Tavares and Steve Paladino being warned later in the period. Freshman Greve, who suffered a bruised knee in the Navy game that was reinjured by a Rhode Island player, said that rough play is an occasional hazard of the game,. but not one that he plans to get accustomed to. The Lions will play their first road contest against West Virginia tomorrow night on astroturf, which Bahr and Elmore both say makes for a different type of soccer. "It's a much faster type of game on the turf," Elmore said. Bahr said that a match played on artifical turf presents a challenge for a coach like himself whose team plays on the natural surface "It's a completely different game on the turf," he said: "It's tough to prepare for a game on the turf, because it changes the game completely." Bahr plans to hold practice on the football team's AstroTurf field today. LION NOTES: Last year, the Lions defeated West Virginia 4-1 . . . Penn Statehosts Drexel Friday at 7:15 at Jeffrey Field. The Daily Collegian Monday, Sept. 10, 1984-11 crucial sack which led to Penn State's safety. Paterno said both of the converted offensive players showed signs of becoming solid perform ers on defense. "It was a calculated risk putting Moules and Morgan on defense," Paterno said. "But I felt that we had to get back to playing a good, Solid defensive game so we could have some control of the football game." For Moules, a successful conversion to defensive tackle should be less difficult since he has already played the position at the collegiate level two years ago. But for Morgan, the defensive end position is a new challenge. Although he played fairly well in his first outing, Morgan said the Rutgers game did not provide a true test of his defensive capabilities or the ability of the Penn State defense in general. "Since they didn't establish the run against us, it wasn't a real tough game," Morgan said. "It was tough from the point of the pass rush, but it wasn't tough to the point when we were getting out there and banging heads. You can't really compare this with the lowa game (this Saturday) because lowa will come at us a lot more. We'll have to continue to get a lot of pressure on the passer." wanted to conserve my energy." Unlike the last two years, when he, was conquered by Jimmy Connors, on this day Lendl did not fold. He was simply crushed, mutilatated and torn by the brash left-hander from New. York who finally received the cheers and encouragement from his home town crowd. "I attacked his serve more," McEnroe said. "That's the way to beat him, and that's the strong part of my game." It was "McEnroe the Magnificent," coming off an epic five-set struggle: against Connors in the semifinals Saturday night, who won the U.S. Open for the first time since his three year streak was capped in 1981 with a victory over Sweden's Bjorn Borg. "It's been a few years," McEnroe said. "I'm really happy to be here once again, especially in New York." And it continued the mastery of American left-handers McEnroe and Connors have won every U.S. Open since the championships were . moved •to the hardcourts of the Na tional Tennis Center in 1978. Lendl, obviously disappointed, told the crowd: "I hope to get it some= time." It took McEnroe 33 minutes to capture the opening set and one hour, 40 minutes to grab the match.
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