Tuesday, September 29, 1981
The Clarion
Page 7
tornado
SPORTS
Sports Feature:
Soccer Tornado David Mobley
By Scott Merusi
While watching the Brevard
soccer Tornadoes in their
preview scrimmage a couple of
weeks ago, I noticed a player on
the field whose play and hustle
made him somebody to be
reckoned with whether he had the
ball or not. The match ended in a
1-1 tie, but that was really not the
issue;’ this player was. I had to
find out who he was and what he
was doing at Brevard. I tracked
him down last weekend, and
David Mobley and I talked about
what a twenty-year-old high
school dropout, college drop in
was doing at Brevard. His goals
and pursuits, from both an
academic and athletic stand
point are discussed in this week’s
Clarion sports feature.
David Mobley has led a life of
ups and downs. At 17, an ac
cumulation of bad grades and
family problems forced Mobley
to drop out of high school. Mobley
joined the Army, and in his two
year hitch he saw people with no
goals in their lives, but he wanted
to be somebody, a soccer player.
While serving in the Army, David
played for the Ft. Bragg, N.C.
club team and the Fayetteville 18
and under team. Biding his time
until his hitch was up, Mobley
had two things on his mind. First
he wanted to finish his high
school education, then to realize
his dream of playing college soc
cer. After leaving the Army, he
enrolled at Vandalia Christian
High School where he earned his
diploma. While attending this
school, he scored 29 goals for
their team and was named to the
All North Carolina state soccer
team.
Upon graduation, Mobley had
set his sights to play big time col
lege soccer at a four-year school,
but this was not to be. Most of the
bigger Universities shyed away
from Mobley because of his high
school -academic record. Not
wanting to let his dream go to
waste, he decided to play for
Brevard, passing up numerous
opportunities to attend smaller
four-year schools.
Coming to Brevard has not
been at all easy for Mobley, but
being the achiever he is, his
academic goals are set as high as
his athletic ones. Mobley feels
that playing soccer and getting
an education “are the best ways
to go through school, as well as an
honor.” The classroom has not
been the only tough transition for
Mobley; he is also playing on a
predominantly sophomore team.
At first he felt tension not only
because he was a freshman, but
because he wanted to hold his
own and score goals. But time
has melted the freshman-
sophomore gap, turning things
from a rivalry into more of a
comradery. David has scored
five goals in the first two games,
but says he still feels pressure to
score just because of the position
he plays and the way he feels.
Mobley considers twenty goals
to be a productive season for him,
but he wants to “be able to say I
was part of a team, and fit in with
everybody else.” He feels a good
season for a team standpoint
would be to go as far as the na
tionals and to be ranked national
ly-
If the two games already
played in the Tornado season are
any indication of Mobley realiz
ing his goals, he is off to a good
start. Brevard stands, 2-0-0, hav
ing outscored their opponents
13-2. David Mobley may be living
a life of ups and downs, but for
now it is all ups. Any more ques
tions?
When it comes to soccer, David Mobley gives it his all.
(Photo by David Jenkin).
Sports Journal
Dan’s Diary
m
%
by Scott Merusi
“Perhaps after this victory
these four-year schools will show
us a bit of respect, and not take a
junior college team so lightly,
especially a team which was
runner-up in the nation in cross
country last year.” Dan
Clay, a runner for Brevard’s na
tionally ranked cross-country
team. Clay will be sharing his in
sight into what goes on in a
racer’s mind, not only individual
ly, but from a team standpoint.
As the season progresses, he will
hear from in a race-by-race cap
sule called Dan’s Diary,
by Dan Clay
Sept. 10, 1981
Bellarmine International
Louisville, Kentucky
8000 meters (5.0 miles)
Sunny 60 degrees, slight breeze
Grass course, small hills,
moderately difficult.
Our team went into this meet
with a more competitive attitude
than in the Milligan meet. Our
most significant improvement
was in our team concept. We
functioned as a unit for the first
time this year, ran together, and
gave each other encouragement.
Our top six went out fairly easily,
running the mile in 5:08. We held
The Cross Country Team-Doing what they know best. (Photo by David Jenkm).
Cross Country Wins 36th Meet
By Randy Ward
Sweeping the top five places for
the second year straight, the
Brevard College Cross Country
Team dominated the Bellamine
Invitational with 15 points to
Bellamine College’s 52, Universi
ty of Louisville’s 77 and Hanover
College of Indiana’s 96 at the
September 19 meet in Louisville,
Kentucky.
Early in the race, the runners
took to the lead and stretched it
out over the hilly five-mile
course. Freshman standout Brad
Albee broke away late in the race
and copped first place with a
26:06 clocking, just one second ott
the course record. Following
Albee in second and third places
were sophomores Dan Clay with
26:20 minutes and Randy Ward
with 26:35. The perfect score was
continued by fourth and fifth
place freshmen runners Gerald
Hutchinson with 26:42 and Jeff
Muth with 26:44. Other outstan
ding performances aiding the
strong BC showing were Jim
Hickey in sixth place with 26:53,
Mike Peveto, 16th with 27:47 and
Brian Batten, 20th with 28:06.
Taking turns with the lead, the
team ended with a vastly improv
ed strong 38-second pack, with
one minute considered good. The
team will travel to the hills of
Knoxville to take on the Universi
ty of Tennessee’s J.V. on October
3 to look for their 37th straight
victory.
Soccer
Update
Brevard’s soccer team took
two big steps forward and one
small step backward this week
The week started with two im
pressive Brevard victories, over
Erskin 6-0, and Milligan 7-2. This
included five goals by David
Mobley.
Later in the week the Tor
nadoes traveled to Columbia, SC
to meet the South Carolina
Gamecocks. A combination of
missed plays on goal, and two
critical defensive lapses cost the
Tornadoes a 2-1 decisior^^
a fifty-yard lead over our closest
competitors as we were talking
and helping each other out. Spec
tators were standing on the
course, watching open-mouthed,
in awe of this spectacule of team
unity. In cross-country, this is the
object of the sport, to bunch your
runners up in front and get them
to help each other out. All six of
us knew that we had control of the
race. I felt a smooth, relaxed, ef
ficient, and confident feeling, in
stead of the scared, choppy feel
ing I felt against Milligan. Our
front six ran together through 2.5
miles, then we began to separate.
The outcome of the meet was
never in doubt, but Gerald Hut
chinson had an exceptionally fine
performance; and Jeff Muth,
fighting off the effect of a bad,
lingering cold, came through for
us at the finish to give Brevard a
sweep of the five.
The overall feeling of the team
about this meet can be summed
up in the fact that when these
schools scheduled us, they took us
Ughtly and underestimated our
strength since Brevard is a junior
college. Perhaps after these vic
tories these teams will show us a
little bit of respect.
Swimming
All students interested in a
swim club please meet briefly at
8:00 pm, Wednesday, September
30, in MG 139.
IFor Your Honiccomiiif! Corxrifrri
‘Fcruv Socisons
FLORIST & GIFTS
BREVARD, N.C. 883-3031
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