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The Martian Conquest -
Quakers Succumb, 10-7
by Chris Benfey
As the stands filled slowly
for the game with Mars Hill,
your reporter made a quick
analysis of the crowd.The
majority of football fans fit
into one of two categories.
There are fans who, like
theatregoers, hope to see one
of the teams get clobbered.
One group of fans goes for
ari, the other for flesh and
blood. Of course some fans
seem to go to football games
for no reason at all. Saturday
afternoon is a void,suspended
between last week's classes
and tommorow's studying.
Nature abhors a vacuum.
Among the theatregoers
one finds the analytical fan.
He (or she)ignores the brutal
sensuality of the sport, and
watches football as a mathe
matician listens to music,
reducing each piece to num
erical relations. The most
complex play sends the
analytical fan into transport of
frigid ecstacy. A solid handoff
up the middle bores her(or
him)to tears.
Administrators
and alumni turn up at each
game and try to appear
indispensable, but football
would be the same without
them. Or would it?
Finally there are those who,
like your reporter, go to games
out of curiosity, wondering
whether bullfighting is really
the only vestige of Roman
gladiator fights.
Saturday's game was meant
for the theatergoers. The
weather was exquisite. A light
wind was blowing. The seats
were all taken. The playbill
promised an epic perform
ance. Guilford versus Mars
Hill. The men of peace against
the men of war. The Mars Hill
team, however, was composed
neither of warriors nor of
Martians. For the second
week in succession, the
Quakers found themselves
"pitted against" the Lions.
The game was, for the
Quakers, a tragedy of errors.
The day belonged to the
officials. There were fifteen
penalties in the game,
accounting for 70 yards
against Guilford and 55
against Mars Hill. At one
point, two successive Guilford
plays appeared to be touch
downs, a lovely pass from
Butch Foley to Chris Paphites,
and a run by Reggie Kenan.
Penalties against Guilford
nullified both plays; and a last
ditch try for a field goal was
blocked.
The game was sloppy from
the beginning. On the second
play of the game a Mars Hill
back took a pitchout, then
tried a long pass. Guilford
intercepted. The Quakers
promptly fumbled and Mars
Hill took over at midfield. A
pass to the 14, an off side
penalty against Guilford, and
a quick run through the
middle brought Mars Hill the
first touchdown, less than four
minutes into the game.
The Guilford response was
immediate. Two minutes later
they had a touchdown of their
own, after a 37-yard pass to
Paphites, and a 20-yard run by
Kenan. The first five minutes
seemed to promise a high
scoring game, but there was
no more scoring until the
fourth quarter.
The rest of the first half was
frustrating. The Quakers
seemed to have scored twice,
only to have penalties nullify
both plays. The Lions tried the
same fancy lateral and pass
with which they had opened
the game, and for the second
time the Quakers intercepted.
The Guilford defense was
impressive, throwing the
Martian quarterback for big
losses. The Quaker offense
continued to use the same
plays - the option pitch out to
Kenan and the pass to the
sidelines to Paphites - both of
which worked often enough to
keep trying them. Kenan
gained 108 yards in the game
on 34 attempts. Paphites
covered 120 yards on only four
passes.
The half ended with the
score still 7-7, the same
halftime score of the week
before, against Concord. Your
reporter, according to custom,
tried to make friends with the
visitors. He discovered that
Mars Hill students are not
Martians, they're Baptists. I
explained that Guilford is a
Quaker School. The face of
one of the Mars Hill fans lit
up. "So that's why they're
called the 'Quakers'", he
said. This particular cluster of
fans knew Guilford for its
concert choir. What about
football; were they enjoying
the game? "It could be
better". I had to agree. Were
they impressed with the
Guilford team? "It's better
than it was two years
ago"...Again I agreed.
Less than two minutes into
the second half. Cliff
Hunsucker threw the Mars
Hill quarterback for a big loss;
then miraculously turned up
with the football in his hands.
He seemed as surprised and
delighted as the Guilford fans.
The Quakers took over but
The Giillfordiiui
Billy Whitley finds the going tough during Quakers 10-7 loss to Mars Hill.
Photo by Catoe
quickly fumbled. The fans
shook their heads in disbelief.
In the fourth quarter the
Lions seemed to realize that if
they wanted to score they had
to do it soon. They proceeded
to march almost the length of
the field, getting the neces
sary yardage on two important
third downs. Then Hunsucker
and Bunky James tossed the
quarterback for a big loss. The
Quaker rush was merciless.
Another loss stalled the Mars
Hill machine. A field goal
attempt failed and the
Quakers took over; but Mars
Hill had controlled the ball for
almost half the fourth quarter.
Then the Quakers stum
bled. Kenan fumbled on the
first Guilford play and the
Lions recovered, within scor
ing range. Twice the greedy
Guilford defense threw the
Lions for a loss. A pass failed.
The field goal unit came on for
a the second time in two
minutes. Curry, the star kicker
for Mars Hill, squeezed the
ball through the goalposts, 47
yards and into the wind. The
Martian cheerleaders stood on
each others' shoulders. With
six minutes to go the score
was 10-7.
A week earlier Guilford was
behind by the same score.
Then they scored two
touchdowns before "time
expired", as the sportscasters
so poetically express it. This
time the Quakers weren't so
lucky. They simply never had
the ball.
With less than two minutes
left in the game, Guilford had
a last chance. Joe Osborne
lefted a pass to Paphites for 34
yards, to the Mars Hill 27.
Then the Quakers stalled. A
surprise run on third down
didn't surprise anyone, except
perhaps the angry Guilford
fans. Foley missed the field
goal to tie Mars Hill "ran out
the clock" and won, 10-7.
"Curry Kicks Quakes"
by Steve Beck
There are a few guys around
campus who will be glad to see
Mars Hill College kicker Stan
Curry graduate next spring.
For the second straight year
Curry's fourth quarter field
goal has clipped Guilford. This
year's 47 boomer produced a
10-7 MHC victory.
Last year at Mars Hill Curry
kicked a 51-yarder in the
closing seconds to break a
21-all tie.
If it was Curry's foot that
won the game for the Lions, it
was penalties, fumbles and
offensive miscues that lost the
game for Guilford. Both MHC
scores were the end result of a
Quaker turnover.
Meanwhile the Quakers
must bounce back in a hurry
as they travel into the
mountains next week to play
Emory and Henry. E and H
are 0-2 this year, losing to
Mars Hill 9-0 and last week to
Georgetown 17-7, but always
play though at home.
Guilford coach Dennis
Haglan was naturally highly
disappointed at the loss, but
hinted that he still felt the
Quakers were the best team.
"The thing we try the hardest
to work against, mistakes,
beat us. We were beat by a
good football team, but we
beat ourselves."
Hoot Gibson, MHC's coach,
stated that he came within an
"eyelash" of punting the ball,
refering to Curry's kick.
It was a game in which
Guilford beat Mars Hill in
every offensive category
except the score. It was also a
game in which the Quakers
had seven legitimate scoring
opportunities and scored only
once.
Mars Hill got on the board
early in the game as Jerome
Durham's four-yard run cli
maxed a 46-yard drive that
took six plays. The drive was
started with a Quaker fumble
inside Guilford territory.
But the Quakers came back
strong and tied the game in
less than two minutes. Reggie
Kenan's amazing 21 yard run
capped a 65 yard drive. The
key play in the drive was a 37
yard pass from Butch Foley to
Chris Paphities.
Guilford then moved into
the endzone again,
have penalties take away
scores. Paphities had a 12
yard TD pass from Foley taken
away because of an ineligable
receiver and Kenan had a 17
yard score nullified due to
offensive holding.
Guilford later had three
more chances two score, but
missed on two field goals
while a third was stalled at the
12-yard line when the Quakers
failed on a fourth and three
from there.
The Lions finally gained
some momentum midway
through the final period.
Starting at their own 14, they
moved to Guilford's 28. Curry
came in and missed a 44
yarder to the right. The
Quakers had apparently eased
out of real trouble.
GC took over from their own
20, but on the first play from
there the Quakers fumbled
and MHC was in business.
Three plays lost eight yards
and this time Curry's kick was
a winner.
Guilford had two more
chances with the ball and the
final one produced some
excitement. Starting at the GC
38, they quicked moved to the
MHC 20 aided by Paphities'
pass reception of 34 yards.
With time running out Foley
missed on a 37 yard attempt
and the game was over.