m - Canton Public Library

Sports
Brad Emoni, Chris McCosky editors/591-2312
©bseruer £seuispapers
Thursday. December 8, 1983 O&F. (P.C)IC
' C.J. Risak
This could be
Cards' year
I
with
T'S NOT LUCK. It's more Like divine
intervention.
An opinion Saginaw Valley football coach
George Ihler doesn't necessarily disagree
"It might appear that way." was Oiler's answer
when asked if he had a special connection with
someone upstairs
Which is as good a way as any to describe the
incredible season the Cardinals experienced And
still are experiencing
Saturday they shoot for a berth in the NAIA
finals when they tackle Carson-Newman in
Jefferson City, Tenn. The winner meets either
Central Arkansas or Mesa College for the
championship.
That Saginaw Valley is in the final four is not the
result of a single upset win. Or even two. Nope, this
string of stirring comebacks and surprises spans
the entire season
It's enough that the story of the team would
make good material for "That's Incredible." Right
up there with the man who leaps speeding cars
THE CARDINALS are 9-2 at tbe moment. And if
the season did end Saturday, it wouldn't upset Ihler
too much
After all, he's only in his first season. He was
hired away from Saginaw MacArthur High School
after the Cards stumbled through a 1-9 season a
year ago Ihler's objectives for his first season were
modest.
"We were looking to get to 500. to rebuild the
program," he said.
The rebuilding didn't take long. Last week,
Saginaw Valley eliminated Oklahoma Central
State, 14-13, in the NAIA tournament's first round
The Cardinals did iUn typical fashion. They
trailed 13-0 in the final quarter when the big-play
players came through.
Notably, two that filled key roles for Saginaw
Valley played high school ball at Plymouth Canton
and Plymouth Salem, respectively: Rusty Mandle.
the Cards' quarterback, and Dairy 1 Bartkowiak, a
linebacker
Mandle started the rally by scrambling eight
yards for a touchdown on a third-down-and-goal-togo
play early in the final quarter.
That cut the lead to 13-7. But Saginaw Valley's
offense was still struggling. With 1:28 to play, the
Cards had the ball at Central State's 48 facing
another third down, with 15 yards to go for the first
down and no more time outs left.
"I WAS THINKING of a 12-yard out pattern, but
we still would have been short of the first down,"
Ihler said. So he mulled it over, then decided to use
a play they had used just once before this season
"Their defensive backs were coming up hard and
fast on our receivers," Ihler said in explaining the
play called. "And they did it again."
But this time there was a new wrinkle. As Troy
Shannon hauled in Mandle's 16-yard completion
and the Central State defender charged toward
him, Shannon pitched the ball to tailback Byron
Krukowski Krukowski sped the final 30 yards
untouched for the winning score .
Central State had one last gasp left. Bartkowiak
knocked that from tbe losers by intercepting a pass
at the Saginaw Valley 20 and returning it 35 yards
It was his fifth intercept of the season A fullback
at Salem. Bartkowiak still knows bow to run with
the ball — he leads the team in interception return
yardage with 90
"He is a real competitor and a tough young man,
Ihler said of the 5-11, 215-pound Bartkowiak "He's
put his heart into this season."
Bartkowiak also had two solo tackles and seven
assists as the defense limited Central State, ooe of
the nation's best rushing teams, to 90 yards on the
ground
But. as well as the defense played, it was Mandle
who got things going — as he has dooe all season
"He's our leader," Ihler admitted. "He makes our
program go He can really do everything Of all the
great athletes we've seen, he's the best *
THIS IS evidenced by his statistics He leads the
team in total offense and rushing yardage And he
helped the Cards win six games in tbe final 90
seconds Tbey have outscored their opponents by a
mere eight points — a ooe touchdown and twopoint
conversion difference
Oddly, Mandle, a quarterback his freshman and
sophomore years, played defense last season That
was one of the first changes Ihler instituted
"I wanted him at quarterback." the coach said
Now Mandle is an institution He was named the
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Most Valuable Player as Saginaw Valley won the
conference crown.
His passing statistics aren't overwhelming. He's
completed just 45 percent of his throws. But the
only stat that counts is the ooe on the scoreboard
And this season. Mandle has pot the greater
number of points by his school's name most often
Ihler summed it up best
11magine there's someooe calling us locky Bat
we're still playing and they're not"
Mercy blocks Rocks
By Chris McCosky
staff writer
Plymouth Salem basketball coaches
Fred Thomann and Bob Blohm coaxed,
cajoled, schemed and scratched 21 victories
out of a smart, experienced,
scrappy, but_ extremely small contingent
of players this season
The lack of size finally caught up
with the Rocks last night and their season
came to an end in the quarterfinal
round of the state Class A girls' basketball
tournament.
Farmington Hills Our Lady of Mercy
(24-2) used a 28-9 rebounding advantage
and a solid man-to-man defense (a
Salem trademark) to defeat the Rocks.
37-25. in front of nearly 1.000 spectators
at Southfield High School.
"In tbe first quarter we were able to
effectively get inside," said Mercy
coach Larry Baker That's what Salem
had hoped to prevent.
MERCY CENTER Mary Rosowski
and Amy DeMattia combined for eight
first-quarter points, all from short
range, to send the Marlins ahead early,
11-6.
"Then, in the second quarter, we got
some key turnovers." Baker said.
Mercy seemed to take control of the
game in that second quarter At one
point, the Marlins built up a 20-8 lead.
But the Rocks came storming back
with a 8-3 surge to close out the first
half.
"We never stopped going after
them." Thomann said. "At the half I
felt we had an opportunity to make a
good run at them We had to hold them
to seven or eight points. We got within
10 and 12 points, but that wasn't close
enough "
Sarah Basford, Mercy's lone senior
and a potential All-Stater, was checked
on just one point in the first half by the
tough Salem defense. She began finding
the mark In quarter No. 3. She drained
three jumpers to help Mercy to a 10-2
third-quarter advantage.
SALEM COULD hit on just one of 10
And they're off
Erich Hartnett (above) led the Salem
Rocks boys' basketball team to an opening
night triumph over Southfield Tues-
shots in that third quarter. Poor shooting
plagued the Rocks all night — they
made just nine of 39-shots from the
floor. Credit that stat to the Mercy defense.
"I can't really single out any individual
defensive performances. We did a
lot of switching. It was good team defense."
Baker said
The Rocks, trailing by 15. really
went after Mercy in the last eight minutes.
The Marlins didn't score a point
for the first 7:14 minutes, and Salem
had cut the lead to 31-21.
Salem's Fran Whittaker provided the
offensive spark Her deceiving quickness
enabled her to shake free of the
Mercy defense. She led the Rocks with
10 points, eight in the second half.
In the last 46 seconds, Mercy answered
two long Dawn Johnson jumpers
with six straight free throws to ice
the victory.
THE FINAL SCORE may have read
37-25. but the players from both sides
looked as if tbey had survived a war —
they had.
"This was the first time in memory
that I've seen us this pooped out at the
end of a game." Baker said "There
were some very tired girls on the floor
at the end."
The reason for the fatigue was nonstop
pressure. Both teams play as aggressive
and unrelenting a man-to-man
defense as there is in the state.
DeMattia (nine) and Rosowski (eight)
pulled in 17 of Mercy's 28 rebounds.
Terri Ford and Basford each scored
nine points to pace the Marlins. Basford
and Annette Ruggiero each had
four assists Ruggiero and Ford each
had three steals.
For Salem. Whittaker's 10 points and
three rebounds were tops. Johnson
scored eight points. Salem's potential
All-Stater Pam McBride was held to
one point
Mercy, tbe defending state Class A
champ, advance to the semifinals Friday
night. They will most likely play
Flint Northwestern (24-1) at 8:30 p.m
at Western Michigan University's Read
Fieldhouse in Kalamazoo
MINOV aAUND€RS/ti««
day. The Canton Chiefs were ousted by
Ma Nature. Stories on page 3C
Salem's Fran Whittaker (in white) finds
the baseline closed off by Mercy-center
Mary Rosowski in last night's quarterfinal
girls" basketball contest at Southfield.
• • - BU.k BRESt€R'sl8tf photograph"'
Mercy prevailed over the feisty Rocks and
earned a trip to Kalamazoo and the state
semifinals.
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