Sports
October 10, 1991
Page 9
To go for two
or not for two
Ted
Toomer
* X i
tma. i& iJf
The two point conversion in
college football has been a
debatable issue ever since
Princeton defeated Rutgers in the
very first college football game.
With the game ending, what
should a coach do? The win or the
tie? Many a good coach has faced
that question.
Leon Hart faced that difficult
decision in Elon's last game
against Lenior-Rhyne. With Elon
down 28-27 and one minute and
thirty seconds left in the game.
Hart elected to go for the tie and
overtime instead of going for the
win.
Ara Parseghian, former Notre
Dame coach, faced the same
question in the 1965-1966 football
season. With the game on the
line, Parseghian decided to go for
the tie in a key game against
Michigan State. Notre Dame tied
the game and went on to win the
National Championship. So it
turned out that Parseghian made
the right call. Even though he is
still second guessed by critics for
his decision to tie.
On the other hand, Jimmy
Johnson, former Miami
University coach was once quoted
as saying that he would never go
for the tie.
The two point option sets
college football apart from the
NFL. What makes the two point
conversion so difficult is that a
head coach always stands as a
point of criticism. All sports fans
seem to have a secret desire to be a
coach and here is the perfect
opportunity to second guess the
coach.
Now let's think for a
moment. The SAC 8 conference
has overtime. So if Elon had
Wade the extra point the game
Would have gone into overtime.
Elon was definitely on a roll and
Would have won the game. There
is no question that Elon had the
Momentum the entire fourth
quarter.
However, you'll always
Wonder what might've happened if
Ihe Christians had gone for two.
The Elon volleyball team is now 10-2
Winning ways
Elon defeats Belmont-Abbey in straight sets
Keith Parsons
The Pendulum
Using their height advantage
and superior defense, the Elon
College Lady Fightin' Christian
volleyball team easily defeated
Belmont-Abbey 15-6, 15-4, and
15-11 Tuesday night in East Gym.
With the non-conference
victory, Elon raised their record to
10-2. Belmont-Abbey falls to 5-
13 with the loss.
"I thought we really played
well, although we served poorly in
the first game," said Elon head
coach Sue Leonard. "We missed
eight serves in the first game.
The girls said the ball was floating
out on them."
Elon had control virtually the
entire match, and never gave the
Lady Crusaders a chance in the
first two games. In the third
game, with reserves filling out
much of the Elon line-up,
Belmont-Abbey stayed close, but
the Fightin' Christians held them
off to took the sweep.
"(Elon) has really good ball
control," said Crusader coach Tim
Leary. "We stayed in several
points, then just got out-athleted
by a girl with a 40-inch vertical
leap."
That girl was Velma Degree.
She consistently pounded the ball
over the shorter Belmont-Abbey
team, and finished the game with
an Elon team-high 12 kills.
"Velma is really fun to
watch," Leonard said. "She has
been playing well the past week,
and she seemed ready tonight."
Leonard also cited the play of
Cheryl Spivey and Tracy Herring,
who led the Elon defense.
"Cheryl and Tracy are
probably two of the best defensive
players in the district," Leonard
said.
Herring was not satisfied with
her performance.
"I don't think I played up to
par," said the 5'8 sophomore. "I
try to take pride in my defense
because that's all I do."
Jill Taylor led the Fightin'
Christians with three aces.
Priscilla Awkard finished the game
with an Elon-high 19 assists,
while Spivey had two blocks.
Sue Taylor, no relation to Jill, led
the team with 10 digs.
Elon has the weekend off
from conference play because they
will travel to Milligan College for
the Fall Classic. The Lady
Christians jump back into
conference play next week, and
hope to catch the undefeated
Presbyterian Lady Blue Hose.
Leary thinks they have a chance to
do just that.
"If they play like this all of
the time, no one will beat them,"
he said.
OOW BE/hm.
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Sports letters
To the Sport's Editor:
In response to the article
entitled "JGUTS continue to
dominate flag football" written by
Keith Parsons, there were many
facts left out. Everybody has the
right to express their own
opinions. But with comments
like "they're ripping through Elon
intramurals like Sherman went
through Atlanta", maybe Mr.
Parsons should spend more time at
the intramural field instead of
history class.
Maybe the JGUTS are ripping
up their own respective division
(which isn't that strong). Have
they played a team with a winning
record yet? Have they played any
of the five pre-season top ranked
teams?
Maybe this article did some
good though. We hoped it gives
the JGUTS enough confidence to
make it far enough in the playoffs
to play us or any of the strong not
in their division. Then we’ll see
how good they "really" are.
If we're not mistaken JGUTS
stands for "Just Give Us The
Shirts." Since we've won the
shirts the last three years, if the
JGUTS want a shirt so bad. I'm
sure we could spare one; we’ve got
enough of them. We’re waiting.
The Righteous Brothers:
Scott Scheldt
Jon Slaunwhite
Don Stillwell
DrewPeden
Tony Harahan
Tim Semanchik
Gary Juhl
Jon Theis
Dave Strother
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