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LeopardsBy STEVE LUSE Itl (Iivid 11(11 StoryTimes Staff Writer JSMITHSBURGHAGERSTOWN - The ft«f*»oSouthern High Rams gave GmSmithsburg a lot of gifts wa.ner J i j3j !yesterday afternoon and the Ramsey u a 1*0Leopards already had a ! 2 55 5valuable “Gift” to start with ww* 4 10 2 5 0in the Maryland Class C smith. 1 4 4 0 'mPSUdillm game 8t .................** 'Senior speedster Earl Gift uomgot the Leopards rolling Receivingwhen he returned a pass ***•*«interception 45 yards to * g Jj •paydirt in the first quarter Ramsey 1 1? 12 0 0and then helped break the 4 n m •game open when he ran forthree more touchdowns in «Mydiw*wthe third quarter in Bosky 11 « 30 0Smithsburg’s 41-6 victory. J**! » » 43 06 J Hmetoaugh J J u %Scheffel 1 J -J 0The game was a battle of o*vim 1 i i ounbeatens despite the fact To*•', u ** M •the program had the Rams p«om» ,. , , . , _ . . an cmp yoi H) inilisted as being 9-1 in the uiier u 4 c i 4regular season. The Rams Bosiey 11 200 0had beaten 16 straight op- m a m 5 5ponents on the field for thelongest streak in the state mcydiawoMbut the state football jjwtt 3 n u 1committee had ruled they UmbJJ 1 J 20 0must forfeit the game to otvtm 1 7 7 0Keyser for using a player in S®**® 1 j j 0the varsity and jayvee ...............mui 1games in the same week.The Golden Tornado never' their first unbeaten cam-officially accepted the paign since the origination forfeit. of the playoffs asIt was the second title for Smithsburg finished with a the Leopards, who have 12-0 mark The other title competed in all six of the came in 1976 when the state tournaments and the Leopards beat Joppa to wne victory yesterday capped under coach Ray Montini.Gain ‘Gift-Wrapped’ StateRams, Without Cornish, Routed 41-6The YardstickA crowd estimated at about 2,000 turned out to watch the game in the rain, which started to fall shortly after the opening kickoff. But the fans who came to see Southern’s Paul Cornish do his thing were disappointed because the record-setting tailback didn’t even suit up.A sprained ankle suffered in practice Wednesday sidelined Cornish and kept him from displaying the talent that saw him run for a state-high 1,849 yards this season. He was also the Rams leading scorer with 114 points and had scored all of his team’s four touchdowns in the 26-16 victory over Snow Hill in the state semi-finals.And the Southern offense without Cornish is like a car with water in the gas tank It sputtered all afternoon and didn’t go anywhere very fast. And without their star tailback the Rams were forced to put the ball in the air more than they wanted, which resulted in four interceptions Southern also coughed the ball up twice on fumbles and a bad snap on a punt attempt saw the Rams lose the ball at their own 15.“I wish the Cornish kid could have played, it mighthave been a different game,” said veteran Smithsburg coach Carroll Reid. “But our defense did a tremendous job and was stopping the sweep all day We capitalized on a lot of breaks, but that’s what we hav4» done all year. We have a lot of togetherness and everyone did what he was supposed to do. We just have a bunch of great kids.”It was the first state title in four tries for Reid, who missed the 1976 and ’77 campaigns when doctors thought he had lung cancer When he returned to the Smithsburg helm last year he led the Leopards to the state finals where they lost to Havre de Grace. They avenged that loss with a 28-3 victory in this year’s semifinals.“We got beat by a better team and they beat a good team, said Southern coach Tom Woods “I’m not sure if we would play them 10 times we could win. The loss of Cornish hurt us more emotionally than ability wise We knew they had a great defense and without Paul we weren’t able to drive the ball the way we like to We were forced to pass more then we wanted and had more mistakes in one game than we had in the11 we won. I think not having prior playoff experience hurt our concentration a lot both in practice and in the game “A knee injury to Smithsburg’s star tailback Rick Ramsey in the early action slowed down the speedster, who rushed for 1,430 yards this season, so Reid decided to give Gift a ‘shot in the second half The little 5-6, 151 -pound senior, who saw very little action on offense all season, responded with touchdown runs of four, 11 and 58 yards on three of his five carries that resulted in 76 yards “Gift is a super athlete who would have started in most backfields,” noted Reid “He got a late start in the fall because of baseball and didn’t even get his regular job back on defense until the middle of the season But he is the kind of player who can come up with the big plays.”The game started out with both teams making mistakes Southern’s Delbert Liller had his second pass picked off by the Leopards’ standout linebacker Erick Bearinger, who was all over the field. Then following an exchange of short punts, the Rams’ Dave Goldsboroughpounced on a fumble by Kevin Smith at the Southern 39. But Smith got back for his miscue when he recovered a fumble by Southern freshman Ron Bosley at the Smithsburg 11.Gift then put Smithsburg on the board when he intercepted a Liller pass in the flat and raced 45 yards untouched with 1:04 left in the first quarter He then booted the extra point Liller, who completed six of 16 passes for 83 yards, then directed the Rams’ only scoring drive He hit tightened Wayne Scott with a 48-yard toss and two plays later found Scott wide open again for a 20-yard scoring pass to complete the 65-yard drive. A pass to Scott for two points was off his finger tips Smith, who had two interceptions to go with his fumble recovery, picked off a Liller pass at mid-field and returned it to the Southern 35 to set up the next Smithsburg touchdown Moore connected with Carl Hillsman for 31 yards and then on fourth down he took it over from the one foot out on a quarterback sneak with 1 09 left in the half Gift converted the extra point Woods felt the real turning point came early in the third quarter when Doug Devlin’sSouthernSmlttotaurg44... 3to... First Downs Total... *1Lost On Downs)20Passes Attempted91Passes Completed40 Passes Intercepted By4113. 7334Rushes Attempted24105Yards Gamed Rush224102995Net Yards Rushing19520026440Return Yardage744 24 7Punts Average4 20 742.. t-t4 22Penalties Yards5-45fumble on a Pascal Moore punt gave Smithsburg the pigskin at the Southern 32. Moore hit Bill Deneen with a 19-yard pass and following a delay-of-game penalty connected with Ramsey on a 11-yard toss. Gift then went up the middle from the four for his second TD with 7:32 left in the third quarter. His extra point made it 21-6The tough Smithsburg defense then stopped Southern at its own 18 and a bad snap on the punt attempt resulted in the Leopards getting the ball at the 15. Gift took a pitch around the right side and scored from the 11 on second down with 4:49 still remaining in the quarter The kick gave Smithsburg a 28-6 margin.Southern couldn’t move the ball again and on t'.*» first play after the punt Gut broke loose on his 58-yard sprint with 2:39 still on theTitleclock in the third quarter. Reid went to Dave Barnhart for the kick and it failed.Both teams used a lot of reserves in the final 12 minutes and Barry Walker capped the Leopards’ 51-yard scoring drive with a two-yard run with 3:15 remaining. Walker had a run of 43 yards in the drive. Barnhart booted the extra pointBosley, who filled in for Cornish, was the Rams’ leading rusher with 55 yards on 18 carries as Southern was held to a net 95 yards on the ground The Rams added 113 yards passing for 208 in total offenseThe Leopards had a net 195 yards rushing and 73 passing for a 268 total“If there’s a silver center in this dark cloud it’s the fact we have six starters back next year and a strong nucleus,” said Woods “We feel the program has turned around and is on the upswing. We’re looking forward to next year and our players know they were only one game away from a state title ”Southern 0 4 0 0—4Smlth«tourg 7 7 30 7—41SM Ear I Gift 45 interception return (Gift kick)S Wayne Scott 70 pass from Delbert Liller (passfailed)SM Pascal Moore l run (Gift kick) SM Gift 4run (Gift kick)SM Gift It run (Gift kick)SM Gift 58run (kick failed)SM Barry Walker 2 run (Dare Barnhart kick)
Newspaper Details
Cumberland Sunday Times
Cumberland, Maryland, US
Sun, Nov 25, 1979
Page 47
Full Page
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MD, USA 05 Nov 2024
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