8 September 20, 1978 Drugs didn’t help E-town against Donegal Indians Eight E-town High football players have been cut from the team after school officials learned that they had taken ‘‘speed’’ (amphetamines) in an effort to boost their performance against Donegal two weeks ago. Donegal won that game 36-7. The suspended E-town players had heard rumors that Donegal players were taking similar drugs. They claimed to be taking the speed, which they thought would make them stronger, in order to even the odds against the presumably drugged Donegal Indians. DHS athletic director Roy Armold told the press that he knows of no such drug use among the DHS team. “There isn’t any need for us to use something like that,”” he pointed out. Mr. Armold was understating the facts. If every kid on the Donegal squad were dead drunk, and every kid on the E-town squad were flying . on the latest CIA superman drug, the Indians would still crush the Bears. The myth of athletic “wonder drugs’’ is not a new one in area high schools. A gung-ho county coach once fed aspirins to his team before every game, telling them that the pills were ‘‘the same stuff they use in the NFL,” according to a well-informed source. The impressionable football players swallowed both the story and the pills, and ran onto the field screaming like wild animals. Some E-town parents apparently think that their children were dupped in a similar way (although not, of course by their coach, in this case). Whether the dope was real or not, it didn’t work. E-town, in fact, played a very sloppy game. The more disciplined Indians made them look ridiculous. OFT ID ATHLETIC SHOES and APPAREL 438 LOCUST ST., COLUMBIA UP SUITS SHORTS WOMEN'S TENNIS CLOTHING ACKETS - COTTON & PILE LINED BIL 11; 11 CIE. S TRANSFERS & CUSTOM PRINTING ISCOUNTS ON BOWLING - BASKETBALL UNIFORMS) | £3 A band of young men in Lampeter-Strasburg varsity jackets were among the Indians’ noisiest fans last Friday, when-Donegal over- whelmed much-touted Leb- anon Catholic 27-0. ‘“Revenge!’’ the L-S kids yelled, and, less accurately, “We win!”’ Lebanon Catholic won the section 3 championship last year, on a technicality; Donegal and L-S seemed to be better teams, but they finished (officially, but probably inaccurately) in the number two slot. This year, Lebanon Catholic is very unlikely to win the section 3 crown. If the Indians keep playing the way they did last Friday, they will win section 3 easily. They may even be (unofficially) en- titled to the section 2 crown. The Lebanon Catholic Beavers looked slightly shell-shocked by the end of last Friday's contest. Sev- eral of them had to be helped onto the bus. The Beavers had ex- pected a tough fight. They hadn’t expected annihala- tion. Catholic does, in fact, have a very good-looking team; but they are not ready to play Penn State, and they were not ready for Donegal. After the game, Beaver coach John DeFrank made some singularly lame ex- cuses for his team’s poor showing. ‘‘It was tough to get the kids up after last week's game with Cedar Crest,” he said. ‘“‘Many of our kids feel that Cedar Crest is the game of the season.’’ Mr. DeFrank convenient- ly ignored the fact that the Indians had just finished trouncing their own arch- rivals, E-town and Colum- bia, both of which have good teams this year. Coach DeFrank gave credit for his loss to Donegal’s powerful offen- sive line; Randy Derr, Tom Weber, Jim Shrum, Bill Lambert, Floyd Runkle, and Frank Brommer. In fact, the line (with basically the same person- el) performed brilliantly on defense, too. So did the defensive secondary. Steve Meszaros did an outstanding job in the defensive secondary, sizing up Catholic’s strategy quickly, and rushing to the line often to assist with tackles. Keith Persun was equally quick. Brian Ney, who had been a safety in previous games, moved up to halfback and blanketed Catholic’s highly-regarded passing attack almost single-handedly, by nullifying their best re- ceiver. bably . win The Beavers were appar- ently gunning for Done- gal’s star fullback, Pete Splain, who had performed brilliantly against E-town a week earlier, and they held him to a paltry (for Splain) 49 yards in ten carries. They didn’t stop him from scoring Donegal’s first touchdown, in the second period. They also didn’t stop him when he grabbed a kickoff right after halftime and ran it 81 yards to the end zone. This feat didn’t show up in the official statistics, however—or on the score- board, for that matter. A clipping penalty cancelled the play. While the Beavers were jumping, with mixed re- sults, on Splain, the Indian halfbacks picked up plenty of yardage. Arlen Mummau gained 90 yards in 11 carries, and Scott Jones rambled 73 yards in ten ~C SUSQUEHANNA TIMES—Page 9 Donegal skins Beavers tries. Quarterback Brian Ney threw only three passes all evening, but all of them connected, and two re- sulted in touchdowns. Adams scored Donegal’s second TD when Ney tossed the ball to him in the general vicinity of the end zone (a nine-yard gain). Meszaros hauled in another bomb, picking up 49 yards and a third touchdown. Brommer grabbed a- nother toss, maintaining his perfect record as a pass receiver. He hasn’t missed a pass yet. A thirty-nine yard dash by Jones brought Done- gal its final score. The second half of the game belonged to Donegal. The Beavers, pounded by the Donegal line, lost their teeth and their eager-bea- ver enthusiasm. Be the 4th quarter, Donegal’s second string was on the field. Catholic was too tired to move the ball against them, either. So far this year, the Indians have gained 997 yards in three games. Ney’s passing accounts for 254 of those yards. The 743 rushing yards are mainly the work of Splain (282 yards in 47 carries), Mum- mau (251 yards in 33 carries) and Jones (120 yards in 19 carries). The defense has allowed only one touchdown this year. These statistics are more impressive than they look—Donegal has been playing very tough oppo- nents. Against weaker teams, it seems likely that the Indians will either; A) end up with scores like 50-0, or B) start sending in the junior varsity in the second period. Scott Jones [40], who had a great night, sweeps around Catholic’s line. Running interference is the formidable Jim Shrum [60], doing his convincing imitation of a battering ram. Central nervous but ready Next week’s game with Manheim Central (at Don- egal, Friday evening, 8 PM) will not count in either team’s struggle for its section title, because the teams are in different sections. At the moment, however, Central looks like the toughest opponent Donegal will have to face for the remainder of the season. ‘““Some other team may get better before we have to play them,’’ says Indian coach Gayne Deshler, ‘‘but right now, Central looks better than anybody else on the schedule. They'll pro- their own section. It looks like a race between them and War- wick.” Central coach George Male says, - ‘‘Next Friday will be the test as far as we're concerned. If we can stop Donegal from running all over the field, and all over us, the way they've been doing the last few games, then wec’ll feel pretty good. “We're glad we don’l have to play Donegal every week,” he adds. ‘‘Pound for pound, and man for man, they've got the best Donegal team we've ever seen. Everybody is good. ‘““They’ve got great backs. It’s not just Splain. And they've got a great quarterback. He’s really smart, and he throws the ball well, too. It's the whole team. ‘“We’ll have to play a really impressive game just to keep up with them.”’ Central’s defense is quite strong. The offense played impressively against Man- heim Township two weeks ago, and the team has had two weeks to prepare for Donegal, which may help their game. On the other hand, they may be a bit cold. It will be Friday’s big game in the L-L league, and a large crowd is expected.
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