• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1983-09-22_Vol48_No07_06

Bits & Pieces What a weekend we have coming up! Not only is it Mountain Heritage Day, but it's also our first home football game and our first conference appearance. If you've never been to Mountain Heritage Day, or to a WCU home football game, you don't want to miss this weekend... WWCU—FM announced this week that it will continue to play a big part on the promotion ofthe home football games this year. 91-FM will broadcast a live pre-game show beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday, and will do periodical reports during the game from the stadium. Chris Faw and myself will be the hosts of the "CATAMOUNT TAIL GATE SHOW," and we encourage you to listen in... THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE will get its first network television football exposure since 1981 this Saturday when CBS—TV televises the APPALACHIAN STATE—CITADEL game from Charleston, S.C. The game is reported to bring the conference some $600,000 in revenue, and looks to be a tough contest... TWO Southern Conference teams are ranked into the latest NCAA DIVISION I—AA poll this week.FURMAN is ranked 5th, and APPALACHIAN is 18th. SOUTH CAROLINA STATE, the team that defeated FURMAN in the season opener, is ranked NO. 1... WCU'S STREAK of scoring in 64 CONSECUTIVE GAMES, the LONGEST in the conference, was snapped by WAKE FOREST last Saturday night. The last time the Cats were shutout was by the CITADEL (20-0) in the third game ofthe 1977 season... PERHAPS it's GOOD LUCK that out 1983 FOOTBALL TEAM has scored only one touchdown in its first two games ofthe season. The last time this occured was in 1974 and that team finished regular season play with a 9-1 RECORD, advancing to the NCAA DIVISION II PLAYOFFS... The missed field goal by DEAN BIASUCCI in the WAKE FOREST game snapped the senior specialist's streak of eight consecutive field goals. Come on DEAN! It's time for you to set another record!... WCU STUDENTS are reminded of the ADMISSION POLICY for the HOME football games this season. Students will be admitted at ANY gate to Whitmire Stadium upon presentation of a VALIDATED ID CARD. Those students who have not picked up their ID card, or have not had their ID validated are urged to do so by no later than FRIDAY at DODSON CAFETERIA. Only validated ID cards will be accepted for admission to home games. You are also reminded that STUDENT SEATING is located in the area BELOW the rails in the lower sections of Whitmire Stadium. Kickoff of Saturday's game is set for 7 p.m.... WCU'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM is off to the best start of any WCU athletic team. The Lady Cats are now 5-2 on the season after defeating LENIOR RHYNE, EAST TENNESSEE STATE, HIGH POINT, MARS HILL. COACH TRISH HOWELL and crew are in RALEIGH this weekend to play in the N.C. STATE TOURNAMENT Friday and Saturday. Keep up the good work team! TRANSFER PHIL ROBERTS of our WCU CROSS COUNTRY TEAM is obviously glad that he's eligable to run this year. He had to sit out last year after transfering from HIGH POINT COLLEGE, and took the medalsit honors in his first meet as a Catamount last week. PHIL, by the way, went to my high school (EAST GASTON HIGH) and ran the socks off of everybody there. This week the Cross Country team is at the GEORGIA STATE INVITATIONAL in ATLANTA, and Roberts, along with ROBERT BAKER, are expected to be the top Catamount performers... Have you ever won anything? If you're like me, the answer to that question is "no." But how would you like to win a 1983 MUSTANG CONVERTABLE in a raffle? No, I'm not crazy. WCU'S BIG CAT CLUB announced this week that it will raffle off the new CAR during the 1983 FOOTBALL SEASON, and will give it away during halftime of the last home game with ASU. The raffle starts THIS WEEK and all you have to do is fill out one ofthe raffle tickets issued by a Big Cat Club member at the gate of E.J. Whitmire Stadium. Then, all you do is either mail the ticket in with $5, or drop it in one of the DROP BOXES located in the stadium. Just imagine, winning a new car on a $5 raffle ticket! This year may be your year to win ... ETSU Update Cats Looking To End Costly Mistakes Get It Together Cats! An obvious sign of disbelief fills the face of this dedicated Catamount fan as she observes a disappointing loss at Wake Forest. Despite an improved performance, Western fell hard last week to the Deacons, 21-0. (Photo by Mark Haskett) WCU Office of Sports Information Western Carolina and East Tennessee State will be searching for different things Saturday night when they meet in WCU's E.J. Whitmire Stadium in the all- important Southern Conference football schedule opener for both teams. Both teams played against non-conference opponents in their first two games this season, but they had drastically different experiences. Western took on a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference schools - Clemson and Wake Forest- on the road and lost 44-10 and 21-0 respectively. The Catamounts and veteran coach Bob Waters are searching for an end to the myriad of mistakes that have aided in the defeats. Meanwhile, ETSU took on a pair of teams from the more compatible Ohio Valley Conference and split. The Buccaneers played defending NCAA 1—AA champion Eastern Kentucky to the final horn before losing 21-15 and then opened their home schedule with a 14-7 win over Tennessee Tech. New coach Buddy Sasser will be looking for momentum for the improved Bucs. The game will climax a festive day on the WCU campus as the ninth annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held and is expected to help bring a near capacity crowd into 12,000 seat E.J. Whitmire Stadium. Waters sees the game as "critical" for both teams. "We need it to turn things around. They need it to build momentum. And we both must win if we are going to figure in the Southern Conference championship," he explained. Waters says mistakes are killing his team. "Our mistakes have as much to do with our losing as does the play of our opponents. We played a lot harder at Wake Forest, but simply beat ourselves with penalties, dropped passes and mental errors," he explained. "Our offense has got to do things better...run harder, catch better, block longer...and our defense has got to get healthy. We have too many key people not on the field or playing hurt," Waters noted. For the record, the Catamounts suffered five major penalties on kicking situations in the Wake Forest game and three led to Deacon touchdowns; dropped six catchable passes; fumbled inside the five; and missed a short field goal. . Four key Catamounts are suffering from serious injuries that also have Waters very concerned. All- Southern Conference defensive end Louis Cooper missed the Wake Forest game with a nagging hamstring; co-captain tight end Eddie West was out with a sprained knee; starting bandit Bernard Jones has a knee and ankle injury; and starting defensive end Clyde Simmons is suffering from hand and back injuries. All are listed as either questionable or doubtful for Saturday's game. Looking towards this week's opponent. Waters says the Buccaneers "in no way resemble last year's East Tennessee State team that we beat." "They have an aggressive defensive team that plays with a lot of emotion and the type quarterback and running backs to make that wingbone offense explosive" he added. The Catamounts came from behind three times last year- to edge ETSU 27-25 when Dean Biasucci kicked a 21 yard field goal with 0:09 to play. The Game: Western Carolina Vs. ETSU THE GAME: Western Carolina University's Catamounts (0-2) open their home schedule and Southern Conference schedule against East Tennessee State University's Buccaneers (1-1) who will also be opening their Southern Conference schedule. SITE: E.J. Whitmire Stadium (12,000 seats) on the WCU campus in Cullowhee. A crowd in excess of 10,000 is expected. AstroTurf playing surface. KICKOFF TIME: 7:00 p.m. (EDT) SPECIAL EVENT: Mountain Heritage Day, an all-day celebration that includes mountain music, dancing, cooking, arts and crafts will be observed on the Western Carolina University campus this Saturday. Last year's event drew an estimated 20,000 visitors. RADIO: The Western Carolina Football Network will broadcast the WCU- East Tennessee game throughout western North Carolina with Stan Pamfilis behind the play-by-play mic and Dan Greene providing the color. Affiliates for this game are WWNC (570 AM) in Asheville; WRGQ680 AM) in Sylva/Cullowhee; WAAK (960 AM) in Dallas/Gastonia; WPNF (1240 AM) in Brevard; WKYK (940 AM) in Burnsville; WRFR (96.7 FM) in Franklin; and WAGY (1320 AM) in Forest City. Chip Kessler calls the action for the Buccaneers. WJCW in Johnson City is the flagship station for ETSU football. THE SERIES: Saturday's game will be the 24th meeting between Western Carolina and East Tennessee State on the football field. ETSU leads the series 13-9-1. Since the schools joined the Southern Conference, Western has won four of the six games. The Buccaneers won on their last trip to Cullowhee, 34-23, in 1981. LAST SEASON'S GAME: Western Carolina rallied three times to pull out a 27-25 win over East Tennessee State at Memorial Center in Johnson City. Dean Biasucci's 21-yard field goal with 0:09 to play brought the Catamounts from behind for the third time and the Southern Conference victory. Western fell behind 10-0 in the first half, came back to tie, 10-10, fell behind 17-10; regained the lead 24-17 on the first play of the fourth quarter, fell behind again, 25-24, with8:10 to play, then drove 51 yards in the last three minutes ofthe game to set up Biasucci's winning field goal. Ronnie Mixon passed for 233 yards; Anthony James rushed for 66 yards; Melvin Dorsey rushed for 59 yards and scored twice; and Eric Rasheed totaled 164 all- purpose yards for the Catamounts. Quarterback Robert Achoe had 169 yards of total offense (98 rushing, 71 passing) for ETSU and running back Henry Latham rushed for 90 yards and scored twice. KEY PLAYERS: Western Carolina's offense has been directed jointly by quarterbacks Jeff Gilbert and Willie Perkins. Gilbert, a junio, has started both games and has completed 25 of 49 for 199 yards and Perkins, a sophomore, has connected on 17 of 31 for 188 yards. Senior tailback Leonard Williams has rushed for 129 yards on 30 carries. Junior Eric Rasheed, all-Southern Conference last season, is WCU's leading receiver with 10 catches for 98 yards. Defensively, safety Richard Dukes (23 tackles) and linebacker Ricky Pate (19 tackles) led the Catamounts in defensive points. East Tennessee State's "wingbone" offense is quarterbacked by Robert Achoe (173 total offense). Fullback Vince Redd and running back Henry Latham have rushed for 149 and 112 yards respectively. The Buccaneer defense is led by linebacker Gary Ingram (33 tackles) and tackle Calvin Thompson (22 tackles; 3 for losses). Punter Bobby Boodwin is averaging 46.8 yards on 13 punts. OFFENSES: uses a pass-oriented Multiple I offense. In the first two games of the season, the Catamounts have thrown 41 times a game while running 27 times. East Tennessee State employs the wingbone offense, a variation of the Wishbone, and has run an average of 50 times per game and passed 9 times a game this season. DEFENSES: Western Carolina calls it defense a Multiple 50 but lines up in a four-man front with two inside linebackers, a bandit and mover on the outside and a three deep secondary. East Tennesse State has a 5-2 look. Pro Scene Doug Irwin Players Of The Week For their performances against Wake Forest last week, Ricky Pate, Richard Dukes and Mike Herndon were selected as Catamount players of the week. Dukes and Pate were defensive selections, while Herndon was selected for his play on the offensive line. While the major league baseball season is winding down, the pro football circuit is finally getting cranked up. A few years ago, the National Football League played a six-game "pre-season" schedule. That's what the league called them, but in reality they are no more than exhibition games. Fans called them meaningless games. They still do. Of course, they consider everything meaningless if it doesn't count on their teams' won-lost records. Now, they just play four of these "pre-season" games, which means the first two regular season games are really preseason games that just happen to count. Right? Not really, but the way some teams played the first two weeks would lead some to wonder. After two weeks, nineteen of the league's 28 teams had one win and one loss. Three of the five teams who started out 2-0 are teams who always seem to have some kind of advantage anyway: Dallas, the Los Angeles Raiders (formerly of Oakland), and Miami. Denver and the other L.A. team, the Rams, were early surprises. Of course, there were the early doormats: Tampa Bay, Cincinnatti, New England, Houston and St. Louis. Now that week number three is completed, only New England has managed to get out from under the mat. They surprised the disappointing New York Jets, 23-13. The only other real surprise was the Seattle Seahawks defeating the San Diego Chargers, 34-31. The Seahawks, long obscured in loserville and mediocracy, may have found a winner in new coach Chuck Knox and his first round pick, running back Curt Warner. I The Los Angeles Raiders continue to win on M onday night. They have an incredible track record playing under the lights. I guess some teams are fired-up by Humble Howard's incessant gawking. The Raiders just manhandled the Miami Dolphins, who had been undefeated before Monday night. L.A. linemen threw their Dolphin counterparts around like tackling dummies... Meanwhile, the major league pennant streaks along. The American League race is more or less history. The Chicago White Sox has a 97 game lead on the second place team in the west, who last won sometime last April. In the East, the Baltimore Orioles have all but wrapped up that division title. The Yankees, who were supposed to challenge for -the pennant, saw their chances die when the Orioles won three out of four in New York. Two of those victories came in a doubleheader sweep. Bye, bye, Billy ball. The Oriole-White Sox series should be a good one. The National League division titles are still up for grabs, but it doesn't seem that anybody wants them. While the Braves are falling in the West, the Dodgers are not exactly running away with the pennant. If the Braves can keep it within three games and then sweep the Dodgers in their upcoming series (something they have been unable to do this year), they could take the title again. The NL East race is about the wildest pennant race I have ever witnessed. Only the Phillies seem consistent enough to take the title, but it seems that the Expos, with all their talent, should be running away with it. Not so. The Pirates are still in the running, but they can't seem to win the big game. The defending champ Cardinals have already packed it in and flown south for the winter. If the Braves cannot pull it out, that will mean there will be four different teams in the playoffs than last year. Parity?

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1983-09-22
  • Date digitized: 2019-01-31
• Extent
  • Dimension: 15" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 8 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1983-09-22_Vol48_No07
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library