The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 76

Sunday. August 21. 1988 D10 The Pittsburgh Press FOOTBALL North Hills still has some muscle Grossman changes in mind and body rti Andy StrosTh Plttburgh Press Jack McCurry calls timeout on unbeaten season Walker, who retired to devote full time to the athletic director's job. Kmec, who was Walker's defensive coordinator, has nine starters returning from a team that lost, 21-0, to North Hills in the WTIAL final. Heading the list is Matt Smith, who started at safety last season and will be at quarterback this season.

There is also tight end Dave Clements and running back John Donoghue, who gained 531 yards on 104 carries. North Allegheny, which lost to North Hills, 10-0, during the regular season and 28-0 in the WPIAL semifinals, also should challenge. Brian Monaghan, who is being touted as one of Western Pennsylvania's top linebackers, leads what should be a sturdy defense. Upper SL Clair had most of its skill players, including two-year starting quarterback Brian Schi-pani and tight end Scott Hondru, graduate. But Coach Jim Render has linemen Jim Mansfield and Ronnie Cortes returning and expects to challenge for one of the conference's four playoff spots.

Baldwin didn't win a game last season, but Coach Vince DelGreco has quarterback Brian Gelzheizer, who completed 82 of 228 passes for 1,155 yards, returning along with seven starters on both offense and defense. Ringgold was 10-1-1 in Class AAA last season, losing to New Castle, 25-21, in the WPIAL semifinals. Two-year starters Wally Mahoney and William Tolliver return at running back. Bernie Storer takes over as coach at Bethel Park and has a talented player in running back-safety Duce Williams. He also has linebacker Wes Richardson and junior defensive tackle Doug Su-soski, 6-4, 345, returning from last year's 3-7 team.

Trinity has gone 10-2 and 7-3 the past two seasons, but running back Tom Wormsley, who rushed for 1,394 yards, has graduated and Coach Bob Johnson doesn't know what to expect. "I'm hoping our success the past two seasons will help us some." Shaler finished 2-8 in Wes Berger's first season. Berger has good skill people returning, including quarterback Brian Henne. Butler was 3-6-1 in Tim Nunes' first year and has four, starters returning. Inexperience will be Butler's biggest problem.

(TOMORROW: Class AA Allegheny Conference) By Rich Emert The Pittsburgh Press (Eighth in series) Signs proclaiming the North Hills High School football team as the 1987 national champion have started popping up along roads in Ross Township and West View. They are a reminder of last season, but Coach Jack McCurry is concerned with the future. A future that isn't as bright as it once was. McCurry realizes his team will not be as talented as last season, when it went undefeated in 13 games and shut out its final seven opponents en route to the Class AAAA Quad West Conference title and the WPIAL championship. No coach could have players such as Parade Ail-American linebacker Eric Renkey, Big 33 defensive back Chris Cisar, running back Pat Carey, quarterback Greg Morris, linebacker Tom Cohan and linemen Brian Kagle, Gary Gora-jewski and Marty Stanton graduate and expect to be as good the following season.

"It's impossible to replace a group of players like that," McCurry said. "That was last year and this is this year, but we do have some talented kids." T.J. Schmitt is one and was expected to anchor the defensive secondary, start at running back and return kickoffs and punts. But Schmitt injured a knee in practice early last week, underwent arthroscopic surgery Friday and will be out indefinitely. Schmitt rushed for 501 yards on 66 carries last year, was in on more than 60 tackles and intercepted three passes.

"Where we will really miss him is on defense because he has played back there for two seasons," McCurry said. "With him I think we had a chance to be right there (WPIAL title game) again. We'll still be competitive, but I don't know what that will mean in the way of wins and losses." Even without Schmitt, North Hills will challenge for the conference championship. McCurry's teams have handled adversity in the past. Winning the conference will not be easy, however.

The Quad West was expanded from eight to 10 teams in the WPIAL's realignment, with Trinity and Ringgold moving up from the Class AAA Big 10 Conference. But McCurry has a trump card in running back Duane By Gerry Dnlac The Pittsburgh Press JOHNSTOWN First, the physical transformation of Burt Grossman: Last year he weighed 248 pounds. This year he is 27S. Last year he bench pressed 345. This year it's 410.

Last year he ran a 4 9 in the 40. This year he ran 4.7. See Burt run. In the 100-yard gassers that routinely follow Pitt football practice, there is Grossman, cruising, on automatic overdrive, 10 yards ahead of the pack and barely puffing. See Burt move.

His vertical jump is 30 inches. His standing broad jump is 9 feet, 11 inches. And in what strength coach Buddy Morris calls the 20-yard shuttle, a series of side-to-side maneuverings testing speed and agility, he has been timed in 4.1. "That," Morris said, "is tremendous. One of the best in the country." Now, the mental transformation of Burt Grossman, subtitled the maturation of a reformed flake.

No more pet snakes. No more house alligators. No more pit bulls. Just focus. One-mindedness.

No more clowning around. "Burt will always be Burt," said Frank D'A-lonzo, Pitt's defensive line coach. "He is still a clown when he needs to be, but it's more control. What you have is a serious dominant approach to the game. I think everyone will be surprised." Here he is, the new Burt Grossman, fresh on the market, bigger, stronger, faster and more in demand than ever.

In Philadelphia, near his hometown of Bala Cynwyd, they talk more about his half-sister, Margo Adams, who has filed a paternity suit against Boston Red Sox star Wade Boggs. In Pittsburgh, they care none about that. They see the latest Grossman model, the one the National Football League Draft Report lists as the top defensive end in the country, and they envision the player they had hoped for, not the one they had seen the past three years. "Me and Tony (Siragusa) came out as sophomores and we were All-East and I sort of rested on that," said Grossman, a 6-6 senior who might have the option of petitioning another year of eligibility. "I didn't work out as much.

I had good games on talent, not because of work. I'd get by on that stuff. I wasn't where I should have been. That's why I had bad games." Grossman is coming off a year in which he had five sacks, four fewer than the year before, and 80 tackles, a figure inflated by the IS tackles he registered against Temple. True, he was bothered by a shoulder injury, but not enough to keep him from playing more downs than any Pitt defensive lineman.

"I was light last year, I wasn't in shape. I was mostly playing at 245 pounds," Grossman said. "Pro-wise, I needed more weight. I needed more weight to feel more comfortable. "I was so light I was using all my effort just to get past the tackle.

I used so much effort I didn't have anything left to tackle the quarterback. That was the thing I had the most problem with." So Grossman went into the gym, increased his bench press, improved his leg strength and lowered bis speed. "I move like I'm 180 but I'm 270." The end product is almost scary. "Ii you looked at him perform in the spring, he went out there beating people every day," said middle linebacker Jerry Olsavsky, Grossman's roommate and best friend. "It was like he was saying, 'This is what I can do.

I'm going to show people what I I think some of the incidents have helped him mature." Olsavsky's reference was to an incident outside an Oakland bar two years ago involving Grossman and Siragusa, the injured defensive tackle who is sitting out the season. When the case went to trial, Grossman and Siragusa were charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor. "He's a very sensitive kid," D'A-lonzo said. "These outside things did affect him. There is a change and it's all for the positive." Pitt is considering appealing for an extra year of eligibility for Grossman, who contracted mononucleosis and sat out most of his freshman season.

According to the Pitt press guide, Grossman played four games in 1985, but it has to be determined if the amount of time constituted 20 percent of the season, the NCAA's mandated percentage for redshirts. "It will end up my decision, anyway," Grossman said. "If we won and had a great year and went to a Jan. 1 bowl, there isn't any reason to stay. I don't see why I wouldn't leave.

All that remains to be seen." So, too, does the performance of the new Burt Grossman. NOTES The Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Pitt Panthers kickoff luncheon Tuesday at noon at the Sheraton, Station Square. Tickets are $20 and available by calling 392-4507. Players to watch Here are some top Class AAAA Quad West Conference players: Baldwin QBDB Brian Gelzheiser, 6-2, 19S, Joe Ciaffoni, 6-3. 255, LB Ed Albert, 6-2, 230, GLB Bill Yur-kovich, 6-2, 225.

Sr. Bethel Park RBDB Duce Williams. 6-2. 190, Ted D'Alessandro, 5-10. 160, LB Wes Richardson, 6-1.

175, Sr. Bntler TE Drew Ecklund, 6-2. 215, Jeff McAnallen. 6-3, 255. Brian Prentice, 6-3, 235, DE Bryan Schnur, 6-1.

180, Sr. Mt. Lebanon QBDB Matt Smith. 6-3, 180. DTG Mike Hoffman.

6-4. 220, TEDT Dave Clements. 6-2 230. Sr. North Allegheny TELB Brian Monaghan, 6-2, 220.

FBDE Augie Leon, 5-9, 165. HBDB Ned Bruns.6-1. 180, Sr. North Hills RB Duane Hitchcock, 6-0, 170, RBDB T.J. Schmitt, 6-1.

175, OLDL Mark Lasky, 6-2, 225, OTDT Jim Lash, 6-2. 270, Sr. Ringgold RBLB Wally Mahoney, 6-0, 205, RBDB William Tolliver, 5-9, 170, Sr. Shaler QB Bryan Henne, 5-10. 180, Dan Boehler.

6-0, 190, Sr. Trinity RBDB Tim Morgan, 5-10, 165, TEDE Marc Cimino, 6-3, 210, GLB Fred Junko, 6-1, 210, Eric Cooke, 6-3. 220. Sr. Upper St.

Clair MGC Jim Mansfield, 6-1. 225, Ron Cortes. 6-2. 235. LB Mike Thelk, 6-0, 195, RB Chris Cardello.

5-8, 170, Sr. Schmitt and Geoff Bender, 6-2, 175-pound junior, will be at quarterback. The line will be anchored by returning starters Jim Lash and Mark Lasky. There also will be a changing of the guard at Mt. Lebanon, where Paul Kmec takes over for Art Hitchcock and a group of players who have benefited from North Hills' trips to the WPIAL title game the past three seasons.

Hitchcock gained 931 yards on 138 carries and led in scoring with 96 points. Junior Brian Hinter-leiter probably will replace Smizik Jrom page Dl NEW LOW PRICES ON Firestone brand tires for every car io iJ9 LESS! 'f A 'AS 3 effk Certainly West Virginia must have thought itself a favored opponent. Its rivalry with Penn State dates to 1904. The teams have shared home dates since 1954. When the current contract expires in the middle of the next decade such an arrangement will be terminated.

Essentially, West Virginia has been asked to play six of 10 games at Penn State. Unlike Syracuse, West Virginia seems agreeable to such an arrangement. "I can appreciate what Penn State is trying to do," West Virginia Athletic Director Fred Schaus said. "I don't blame them. I think we would all like to be in that situation." Old friendships and long-standing rivalries be damned.

Penn State is proud of its sports program and will not see any of its teams, be it field hockey or volleyball, disappear. "I don't want to be remembered as the athletic director who started dropping all the sports," Tarman said. And so Penn State rules. In doing so this irony should not be overlooked: If Paterno's dream had materialized, if there was an all-powerful Eastern league, Penn State would indeed be partners with its competitors and therefore in no position to dictate, as it does today, when and where football games will be played. year.

We never want to have less than 13 home games in a two-year period." Syracuse and Penn State have played every year since 1922 with the exception of 1943, when Syracuse did not have a team. Almost without exception, the series has been home and home. After Syracuse balked at playing six times in 10 years at University Park, it countered by offering to play eight games with Penn State in the 1990s, four at the home of each school. It would back off the schedule for two years to allow Penn State to schedule other teams that might be willing to play at University Park. Penn State declined the offer.

The schools will stop playing in 1990. There are no plans to play again. Syracuse Coach Dick MacPherson was bitter about the way Penn State treated his school. He might have become more bitter when Paterno intentionally or not salted the wounds of Penn State's Eastern opponents. "I would have hoped people would have said, 'Hey, thanks for all you've done for Eastern We led the way in facilities because we wanted to compete on a national level and people had to follow suit to keep up." That's Paterno's version of history.

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lowest-priced steel-belted radial for domestic cars, but with Firestone-brand features like curvilinear tread long-wearing rubber compounds. PRICE Penn State, well, for sure they won't. Neither will West Virginia, Rutgers or Temple, other teams that were to join the new league. In an impressive flexing of muscle, Penn State has let it be known who is really No. 1 in Eastern football.

Unless your name is Pitt, if you want to play Penn State in football, you do it on Penn State's terms. The Lions already have dropped Syracuse from their schedule because Syracuse would not agree to a scheduling arrangement in the 1990s that would have it play Penn State six times at University Park and four times at the Carrier Dome. Boston College already has agreed to give Penn State an additional home game next decade. West Virginia is mulling over such a proposal and seems certain to agree. Temple and Rutgers long ago agreed to play the majority of their games with Penn State at University Park.

Temple will play five of its next eight games against Penn State at University Park. Of the nine games played or to be played between Rutgers and Penn State between 1982 and 1990, six will be at Penn State. Only Pitt has escaped the power of Penn State for now. "We have not talked at this point with Pitt," Penn State Athletic Director Jim Tarman said. "I say at this point because I don't know if we will or not.

It has not been discussed. I think Pitt being an in-state school, it is a little different situation. It is not a comparable situation to a lot of other opponents." Penn State needs to make more money from football to support its 28-sport intercollegiate program. The best way to increase football revenue is to increase home games. Beaver Stadium seats 83,000 people and is a mighty provider of revenue.

"We want to get as many home games as possible over the next 10 years," Tarman said. "We want to have six or seven home games every WAS $32.95 41.95 Whitman P15580R13 P16580R13 P17580R13 P18580R13 P18575R14 P19575R14 P20575R14 NOW $72.95 73.95 41.95 63.95 65.95 66.95 75.95 77.95 78.95 80.95 89.95 90.95 93.95 95.95 WAS $89 95 9595 79 95 81 95 87.95 8995 9395 9895 10295 109 95 113 95 118 95 122 95 128.95 SIZE P16S80R13 P17580R13 P18S80R13 P18S75R14 P19573R14 P20375R15 P20575R15 P21575R15 P2257SR15 P23575R15 OFFER EXPIRES AUGUST 27, t88 P185'75R14 P19575R14 P17570R13 P18570R13 P19570R13 P2057OR13 P18570R14 P19570R14 P20570R14 P21570R14 P21570R15 P22570R15 P23570R15 P24570R15 NOW $29.95 36.95 38.95 39.95 43.95 44.95 46.95 50.95 51.95 54.95 43.95 4495 4895 5095 54 95 56.95 5895 60.95 P20575R15 P21575R15 P22575R15 Compared to March '88 nationally advertised regular pricing an OFFER EXPIRES AUGUST 27, 1 988 on all coupons L.niiii.p..m.imiii wium.iu iku yMiiji.il jii. ti ii iiiii i in bmiji uiu i ui mm Air Conditioning Checkup Front-End Alignment Lube, Oil Filter I I iifiaiiB All adjustable angles set to Kionuloclnrer's original $W88 88 $01881 Complete system check Pressure! leak tests Up to I lb. refrigerant Chassis lubrication Drain old oil Add up to qts. new oil New Firestone Oil filter specihcations ii i No ertra charge for con with factory oir or torsion bors All types ol cars pickups Ml OFFEK EXPIRES AUGUST 27, 1988 OFFER EXHRES WES AUGUST IT, 1988 0 OFFER EXPIRES AUGUST 27, 1988 BHaiinHHHBBIIBBBB 1 rll -ft Flush Fill STATE INSPECTION Maintenance Tune-up New resistor plugs Idle speed adjustment mm and EMISSIONS Flush rust con taminants from radiator cooling system $M88 Mil Kf Timing set Battery charging system tests Key engine systems Inspect belts, hoses, a nans niunuvii $0188 4 electronic ignitions water pump Refill up to 2 gal.

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