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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-11-16, Page 102SI'GNA L STA 135 YEAH -46 111111111111111111111111.11111111111101111111111111.1111111.01101111.111111111111111111111111.1111 ECREATI GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16,1983 Junior b.iskettall team. h01s one game lead BY TO The GDCI junior Vikings hold a one game lead going into this week's Huron Perth girls' basketball finals by virtue of them 48- 31 victory over Stratford Northwestern here Thursday. The series, a best -of -three affair, continued this week with game two Tuesday and game three, if necessary, in Stratford. The Vikin _ reached the finals by defeating Listowel 43-17 in sudden -death semi-final play here last Tuesday. The pressing defence and all-out hustle of the Vikings took the game away from the taller Listowel team. Jennifer Peters led Gederich with 16 points. Sarah Alexander 'had eight while Tammy Gihhnnc and Katharine Mnrnhv had SECOND SECTION Vikings are number one again BY TD To say that GDCIJsenior Viking football coach Ray Donnelly has created a dynasty would not be an overstatement. The Vikings won their third straight Huron -Perth Conference championship here Saturday by defeating the Stratford Northwestern Huskies 20-1. And if the other members of the Con- ference think the Viking dynasty might come to an end soon, they may have to look again. Donnelly and his assistant coach Chris Connor have approximately 20 of this year's 25 senior Vikings returning next year. Add to that the strong contingent moving up to the Vikings from this year's cham- pionship junior team and you have "Dynasty" with a capital D. The "D" might also stand for defence, the strong point of chis year's Vikings. The Vikings allowed only 13 points in their eight consecutive victories this season and the Viking "D" had their finest hour Saturday. The Vikings stopped Northwestern's vaunted sweep running attack and shut down their quarterback Mike Evans' rollout passing game. The strong defensive effort hinged around special assignments given to the Viking corner linebackers and defensive ends to take away the Huskies prime of- fensive threats. These four; Dave Smith, John Lanlonde, Shawn Doherty and Lee Frisby did an excellent job in containing the Huskies. The Huskies had some defence of their own Saturday, stopping the Vikings' inside running attack which has been their key offensive weapon all season. The Vikings, however, showed their versatility by going to the air for two touchdowns. Jeff Feagan, who had scored earlier on a 50 yard punt return, went 45 yards on a pass from quarterback John Thompson in the second quarter for one touchdown and Grant Garrow scored on a 35 yard pass and run play in the fourth quarter. Joe Melady and Thompson each kicked one convert for the Vikings. The Huskies lone point came on a 35 yard single kicked by Mike Evans in the first quarter. The versatiltiy demonstrated by the Vikings was typical of their play this year. They have been able to run inside or outside and go to the pass because of their good mixture of offensive talent. The well -drilled Viking specialty teams were also a key to the Viking victory Saturday. Down 1-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Vikings got started when Jeff Feagan, running behind some excellent blocking, returned a punt 50 yards for the first touchdown of the game in the second quarter. Feagan, a three year starter on both of- fence and defence, will be one of the few Vikings graduating this year. Another is sure -handed receiver Andrew Telford. Tackle Ray Vanstone, who has had a strong season both ways for the Vikings, is another who will likely not be returning next year. Coach Donnelly commented that the season had been an enjoyable one for him and his assistant, Connor, "especially in pracitces," said Donnelly, and as any good coach knows, practices are where cham- pionships are won. Just ask the Viking Dynasty. six apiede and Shelley Teal, Jenny Allen and Pam Wilkinson had two points each. It was basically the same story against Northwestern. The Viking press kept Stratford from bringing the ball up -court and when they did manage to, the Vikings were able to keep the Stratford girls from gettingshigh percentage shots. The Vikings also controlled the defensive boards. Tanury Gibbons had 20 points to pace the Vikings' attack. Katharine Murphy and Jennifer Peters had eight apiece and Shelley Teal and Sarah Alexander chipped in with six points each. Tracey James was Northwestern's top scorer with 12 points. Ed Craig tries to get as many yards as he can before being tackled during Saturday's football finals from which Goderich walked away as champions. They defeated the Strat- ford Northwestern Huskies 20-1. (photo by Anne Narejko) r :;-3 33 Y • 4'Sd n 0,• a i.(�fe.•.Woj7j/y •�y, 0 ""10. Viking quarterback John Thompson jumps in the air so he can release the ball before the two Huskiescan sack him. Thompson, who was playing with a sore foot, performed well throughout the regular season and in the playoffs. (photo by Anne Narejko) WE'RE NUMBER ONE! The Goderich GDCI Vikings took the traditional ride on the fire trucks after they won the Huron -Perth finals on their home field. The Vikings faced the Huskies last year Sweet revenge for junior Vikings BY TD In some circles, the winning of the Huron - Perth junior football championship by the GDCI Vikings might be regarded as an upset, but the Vikings had no doubts about their ability to defeat the Exeter South Huron Panthers Saturday. The Panthers had finished undefeated in league play, edging the Vikings 2-1 in their regular season encounter, but the Vikings got•their revenge Saturday defeating Exeter 21-16 on the Panthers' home field. The game was a see -saw affair on the scoreboard as the teams took turns scoring but the Vikings were never behind and were full -value for their championship victory. Dave Almasi put the Vikings on the board with a seven yard reverse run in the first quarter, set up by a fine block by Todd Jeffrey. A 40 yard single kicked by Scott Stokes put the Vikings up by seven but the Panthers' Sean Whiteford scored on a two yard dive in the second quarter and Brian Topp's convert tied the score. At that point the Vikings put together a drive which turned the game around. Going against the wind, the Vikings moved the ball down field on their own 17 yard line behind Rob Gibbons the strong blocking of the offensive line to score the go-ahead touchdown on a four yard blast by Rob Gibbons. The drive saw the Vikings pick up seven first downs, three of them on successful third down gambles. The drive also ate up eight minutes on the clock, negating Exeter's wind advantage in the quarter. Shawn Larder's convert put the Vikings on top 14-7 at the half. The Panthers came back to tie the game once more in the third quarter on a 30 yard sweep by Bill Fisher and another convert by Topp. Dan -en Connelly, who proved to be the Vikings' secret weapon, scored the winning touchdown on a two yard dive in the fourth quarter. Shawn Larder's convert was good. Connelly had been moved into a running back spot for the first time and took the pressure off Rob Gibbons, usually the Vikings key ground gainer. Gibbons missed the regular season game between the two teams, but his reputation preceeded him and the Panther defence keyed on him all afternoon, holding him to just 72 yards. Connelly was able to punch out 108 yards and add a new dimension to the Viking ground attack. Late in the fourth quarter the Vikings conceded a safety touch to improve their field position and the strong Viking defence contained the Panther attack to preserve the victory. Kevin Telford was the defensive star for Goderich, recovering two fumbles and in- tercepting a pass. Strong efforts along the line and solid work by inside linebakcers Scott Stokes and Dave Almasi helped to nullify the Panther's chief offensive threat, the running of Bill Fisher. Another key play was a 23 yard pass reception by olvingback Rod Nurse on a pass from quarterback Steve Bugler in the fourth quarter. This gave the Vikings the first and goal situation that resulted in their winning touchdown. The championship was a rewarding one for Viking coaches Bill Garrown and Bruce Baker. Their teams have been in the finals in each of the last six years, winning four of those, but both coaches regarded this as the sweetest victory. The Vikings had to overcome many obstacles to win, including a number of injuries to key players but when it all counted on Saturday, the Viking spirit prevailed. in the finals and edged by them with a 14-13 score. This year they took the championship with a 20-1 victory. ( photo by Anne Narejko) Juveniles win another The Goderich juvenile Signal Stars won 4- 3 on Sunday when they met Lambeth on homeice, making their record stand at five wins. The juvenile team was to play St. Marys on Friday, but St. Marys did not show up for the game because they were short of players. The scoring see -sawed back and forth with Goderich getting on the scoreboard first. Dave Gallow netted the puck in the opening minutes of the first period when he took a pass from Pete Willems. Five minutes later l.aiuuein ueu the game but uoderich netted one more- before the period was over. Phil Wood scored after receiving a pass from John Thompson. Goderich was also first to score in the second period when Keith Hallman found an opening behind the Lambeth goaltender, but the Lambeth team came right back to trail by one goal. Jeff Sargent put Goderich ahead 4-2 with his goal, but Lambeth had the last say in the game when they scored. One goal wasn't enough as Goderich won with the final score of 4-3. Bantams split games BY C.B. On Saturday evening the Goderich (Elevator) Bantams played host to their rivals from Exeter and squeaked out a 5 - 4 win. Scott Garrow opened the scoring for Goderich assisted by Tom Bean and Byron Bowman. Twenty-three seconds later, they made it 2 - 0 when Bean scored while sliding along the ice on his knees with assists going to Byron Bowman and Rod Nurse. Exeter rebounded with their first goal and the period ended 2 -1 in Goderich's favour. Shortly after the beginning of the second period, Goderich's Mark Burbine took a long slapshot that rebounded off the boards behind the Exeter goalie, hit the goalie on the back of the pads and went into the net. Exeter scored their second goal before the period ended. The third period saw both teams notch two goals. Scott Garrow and Shawn Larder were the marksmen for Goderich with assists going to Byron Bowman and Scott Garrow. Although the Goys seemed to have trouble getting organized at times, overall they played a fairly consistent game and evened their series with Exeter at one game each. On Sunday the boys played host to St. Marys for their first meeting this season and lost by a score of 5 - 2. St. Marys overwhelmed the locals in the first period. They scored two goals before the first two minutes were played and add- ed another two before the period ended. From this point on it was a different game. The boys started checking harder and closer and as a result came up with their first goal in the second period. Byron Bowman clicked on a nice passing play from Scott Garrow. However, St. Marys added their fifth and final goal before the period ended. In the third period Goderich continued to press and came up with their second goal. Tom Bean passed the puck to Bowman who shot and Garrow deflected it in. Coach Dave Wilkinson felt that it was the best game his team has played so far this season.