Page 28 - 1987 VES Meteor

8
by Jim Parrott
The final half of the Bishops'
football season made evident the large strides of improvement the team had made over the long haul of the season. Except for one game, each performance exceeded the last.
Emerging from a forty-two point loss tends to break down the morale of a team. V.E.S. was placed in a position somewhat more difficult than this following our forty-two to nothing loss to Woodberry. It was hard enough coming out of he starting gates of practice
after the loss, but what made it more difficult was the thought that Fork Union, our next oppo- nent, had crushed Woodberry in the same manner we had been beaten by Woodberry. So, it ap- peared that if the song remain- ed the same, we were in for a long game the upcoming Saturday.
Luckily the season's momen- tum changed for both squads,
surpnsmg everyone on the field. Coming out of the dressing room, F U M.A appeared flat.
ThPir f1rst few drives went un- productive due to a pumped up
V.E.S. versus Collegiate ly able to punch in two more
touchdowns, as opposed to a single field goal made by the Bishops. The score was mis- leading; the Bishops had proven themselves by holding their ground against a team of su- perior size, strength, and
reputation .
We arrived at the game
against St. Christopher's on the coattails of our performance against Fork Union and the ex- citement provided by home- coming and alumni weekend. Remembering the weak Bishop
teams of past years, St. Christopher's stepped onto the field without apparent intensity or concern.
The game began as St. Chris- topher's expected. They drove the ball thirty yards without
substantial resistance. How- ever, the Bishops were given a break as St. Chris' halfback fumbled into the hands of a
V.E.S. defender. We still could not seem to get our heads into the game, producing no yardage on the next drive. The Saints of
St. Christophers drove the ball down the field deep into the Bishops' territory once again. And once again their halfback lost control of the football into V.ES ' hands.This became the
turning point of the game. The Bishops began to drive the ball down the Saints' throats play
aft.Pr play, while our defen. ere- the Samts any production
whatsoever The
Iy brok _the zero-zero tiP in the>
then a field goal to ice the cake. As the clock finally ran down, we had beaten the Saints for the first time in nine years, and had increased our record to two and
two in the Prep League. V.E.S. was rudely knocked off our high horse by a dreadful per-
formance at Trinity the next week. Trinity caught us way off guard with a successful onsides- kick the opening play of the game. This play was symbolic of the remainder of the day. The Bishops entertained Trinity's homecoming crowd with mistake after mistake . Our de- fense simply could not stop the pesky and persistant running at- tack presented by Trinity. Late in the second half we began to reveal signs of life through an ef- fective passing attack. The Bishops scored two quick touch- downs, closing the margin to
somewhat of a psychological edge. The Cougars were ac- customed to opening up the score early in the first half. Fail- ing to do so frustrated them. Un- fortunately , we could not capitalize on the mental ad-
vantage given to us. Collegiate eventually broke our defense's stronghold to score the game's first touchdown on a fifteen yard struggle into the endzone. Ear- ly in the second quarter the Bishops bounced back. Stuart Langely faked a sweep to Brian
Rash around the right side, pull- ed up, and hit Skip Vest seven yards down field. Stiffarming
the defender to his knees, Skip turned and sprinted sixty-four yards for the tying touchdown.
The teams headed into the locker rooms at a seven-seven deadlock. Undefeated and first in the Prep League, Collegiate realized that they had a lot to lose, and they showed it from the first whistle of the second half. Collegiate's powerful backs begain to break down our defense. Eventually, our defense gave in, opening the floodgates to twenty-six un- answered points. Having played well, the Bishops had no reason to hang their heads, victim to the powerhouse which had clinched the League title.
Many Bishops walked onto Johnson Field for the last time in our game against Blue Ridge ; seventeen Bishops would never suit up in garnet and white again. And more significant than that, almost all would see life behind the facemask for the final time of our lives on this Saturday.
Well, we stepped onto the field apparently wishing that Col- legiate had been our last game, flat and mentally lost. Blue
Ridge jumped to a quick lead, which drove the Bishops into a shell. The Barons' halfback ap- peared to meander at will all about the field . In addition to our less-than-restraining defen e,
incessant walls rather than gap- ing holes gave Brian Rash no- where to run . At halftime, down twenty-seven to six, we receivt'd
some second half performance.
He gained one hundred ninety-
eight of his two hundred forty-
three yards and had two touch-
downs in this half alone. The po-
tent rushing attack paved the
way for an effective passing at-
tack as well. Skip Vest was all
over the field with five catches
for seventy-three yards and one
touchdown. But the second half
domination was not quite
enough. Although V .E.S. out-
scored Blue Ridge nineteen to
twelve in the second half, our ef-
fort had fallen short by a final
score of thirty-nine to twenty- •
SIX .
V.E.S. came into this season
considered anything but con- tenders . This perhaps played to our advantage, as other teams often strolled onto the field over- confident. Developing slowly
throughout the season, by the cond half the Bishops were sur- prising many football forces. We won on the road for the first time in five years, and avenged a nine
year legacy of losses to St. Christopher's. By the year's end we proved we could hold our ground against anyone who stood across the line from us.
Tracking_
Continued from Page 7
group realized that nature is very dynamic. Being exposed to things rarely seen by most peo- ple has enabled the group to view the outdoors differently and helped them to appreciate
what is around them.
Field Hockey
Bishop defense . Karl
Sjolund had couted Fork Umon's vic- tory over St . Chris the previous wePk and producPd an apparent r~'mPdy for F.IJ M A '11 Iough dt·fen ,. The nPw overbalancPd ofiPn h presPniPd provPd to
legiate had
selves as the dominant force in
be qUite effective, a
found hcJIP. aft~>r holP 10 lh~> I<' lJ M A dPfPn . i"lJrk IJnum
llowed Bnan thi fr ~>dom un· tal w nearf'd the goal hn ,
w r
Our del n& wa
801twick, B01twick, one of
wher~> " pl~>tely
shut tiown com fortunate, allowm two t.ouc;h
Johnston
tered the morale of
for Brian a It helped the
10 t quarter, but
fJ I half Th
early m t
ran out of
ly m th t
handa of VK. ·ond half, th
rII
Brian
th1rd MAI
•
I' rom the outaet, neither could really In
down with Ont other
•
final Pcond half w1th a nmg
PrPp League. Well, the
pass to S oil touchdown t-
the mom ntum becam
lh1rly· 1ght
w1th another touchdown, and
trol ol
w had
Brian
lit up
an •
THE METEOR
December 14, 1987
twenty to
the surge was too little, too late.
fourteen .
Trinity supressed the Bishops'
attack, enabling them to walk off the field the victor.
During the week before the
by The first
Col•man
' field hockey
game, V.E .S. presented once more with cir-
following the loss to Woodberry . By this time in the season, Col-
was cumstances similar to those
Collegiate
team at V.E.S. completed ita season with a record of 1·3. The girls, most of whom had not played field hockey before
ing in September,
with the outcome ol the
season.
A total of three scored the
established
the Prep League, man-handling
opponents. W had second to last placed t am in th
all of
just been hardily defeated by th
mane to our 'gra nd
inour
finalt'', and decidt'd
T ara
and Anne Mouldin.
rid much worst' than the bus rid back. Our worrying had been blown way out of propor·
tion Th Cougars wer not th unb atable giants who had formed m th back of our
to do something about it. And w did.Th lm beganto clos the hoi through wh1ch
Blue R1dg 's halfback had wandered, wh1l our
up wa
captaina, the Hnior and wW
• but about
However,
them -
me old 'in- peech ; but this lime it sank in. Many of u re lized that we did not want for·
on
f
Coach Obrecht's
tegrity'
lin opened
had not 1n the flrat half