The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 35

TheCbufief-Neuus Local D-5 Classified D-6 Business D-10 MM IS Or sip By JOHN BELIS Courier-News Staff Writer NEW YORK It was the perfect ending. Frank Viola was on the mound last night when the Mets were officially eliminated from the National League East pennant race. Viola's 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs mathematically ended the Mets' chances of catching the runaway Pirates. What could be more fitting? Viola, who's probably the most frustrated Met, was the ideal choice to put the finishing touch on this frustrating season. Somebody asked Viola whether he would have believed that the Mets could be eliminated with 2Vi weeks left in the season.

"Why not?" he snapped. "When you've got seven guys out of position, you never know what's gonna happen." Viola (12-15) suffered his seventh straight loss. He's dropped 10 of his last 11 decisions and he hasn't won a game since Aug. 8 back when the Mets were still very much alive. "This is the most frustrating season of my career," he said.

"I consider this one of my peak years and it's a shame not to take advantage of it. But it's a learning experience. When I come out of it, I'm gonna come out of it hard." Manager Bud Harrelson suggested Viola might be ready to throw in the towel and call it a year. "I'll be talking to Frankie about it," said Harrelson. "It's up to him.

We're already eliminated. But it might be important to him to continue pitching to see if he can get it together." Viola bristled at that suggestion. "I'm not a quitter," he said. "Go back and tell (Buddy) that I'm gonna keep plugging away and it will end eventually." Viola, who can become a free agent in a couple of weeks, was an All-Star pitcher this season before everything caved in during the second half. Last night's game was typical.

Doug Dascenzo led off with a bloop single to center and Mark Grace followed with a broken bat looper to right. After Ryne Sandberg walked, Andre Dawson hit a hard grounder to third where Gregg Jefferies hesitated before finally stepping on the bag instead of going home for the force play. George Bell then grounded an RBI single to left. "That's how things have gone," said Viola. "A blooper, a broken bat and a ground ball.

What are you gonna do? You're down two runs and it's tough to come back. "I don't think I'm pitching bad. The only mistake I made tonight was the pitch Bell hit for a single. Even that, I'll take." Viola's record against the Cubs has been especially disappointing. He's 1-7 lifetime against Chicago, including six straight losses since his only victory on April 16, 1990.

At Shea Stadium, Viola is 0-5 against the Cubs with a 6.36 ERA. This year, the numbers are even worse. He's 0-3 with a 7.73 ERA in his three Cubs starts. Dascenzo did most of the damage yesterday, going 4-for-4, including three hits against Viola. "Tonight was the first time I've been in the lineup against Viola," said Dascenzo.

"Until now, I've just been watching him from the bench. "You know he's a great pitcher with a great changeup, a slow curve and a fastball that moves all over the place. I just tried to concentrate. Actually, I'm doing the same things I was doing right after the All-Star break, when I went 0-for-35." The Cubs put away the game with two runs in the fifth as Dascenzo grounded a single up the middle, Grace tripled into the right field corner and Dawson lined a two-out RBI single to left. 'X Courier-Newt photo by Kathy Johnson Rutgers' players Dan Under (9) and Rob Johnson, right, battle with Fairleigh Dickinson goalie Mark Rakauskas during yesterday's game.

Rutgers survives pesky FDU By BARRIE DAWSON Courier-News Staff Writer CARL BARBATI Courier-News Staff Writer Gentlemen Perantoni recalled The obituary was in last Thursday's newspaper, with the headline Frank Perantoni, councilman, architect, pro football player." As with any obituary, the words on the page couldn't scratch the surface. I never met the man. Most of you never met him, either. Those that knew him, though, will tell you that he was something special. He was born in the small Somerset County borough of Raritan and he became an Ail-American football player at Princeton University.

That was right after he'd taken 33 months off from school to fly B-24s with the Army Air Corps in World Warn. He came back home in time to be the captain of Princeton's 1946 team, then he was the captain again in '47, when the Tigers won the Ivy League championship. With his Princeton degree in architecture under his arm, Perantoni went out and played center and linebacker professionally for two years with the New York Yankees in the old All America Football Conference. The Cleveland Browns played in that league in those days. So did the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Colts, along with the Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Chicago Rockets and the Los Angeles Dons.

After two years' worth of cuts and bruises, Perantoni took his degree out of the drawer and joined an architectural firm in Somer-ville. In 1950, he was a founder of a new Somerville firm, Shive, Spin-elli and Perantoni. He retired as a partner in 1979, but continued to serve as a consultant until his death. At various times in his life, he'd been a Somerville borough councilman, a trustee of a local bank and a member of many civic, service and church groups. When you talk to people who knew him, though, it's not his many accomplishments or his many affiliations that come up first.

"He was a very humble person. He never, never, never talked about himself," said former state senator Ray Bateman. "He wasn't a flashy person," said legendary former Somerville High football coach Al "Boomy" Male-koff. "He was very quiet, very humble." Sometimes, Perantoni would leave his architectural office and head over to the high school practice field. "He wasn't pushy about it or anything like that," Malekoff recalled, "but he would ask me if there was anything at all he could do to help.

He had been a great football player at the high school and college levels and even in the pros, so, naturally, I was happy to have him work with some of our kids over the years. "The funny thing was, whatever he did for us, he always did it in the background. He never wanted any credit. He would take a kid and go off way off on the sidelines, or he'd work with a kid on off-hours. He was never looking for any accolades.

He just loved football and wanted to help the kids." Bateman remembered growing up in Somerville and looking up to Perantoni, who was several years older and already a star on the high school team. "He was a sensational football player," Bateman said. "He was the player you watched, no matter where the play went on the field. club played more like team No. 77, or No.

777. "That's as bad as a Rutgers soccer team has ever played," said Reasso. "We were horrible. First of all, tactically we never got accomplished what we tried to accomplish. "We weren't working and playing solid defense, so we had to do so much extra useless running.

We just didn't play intelligently." For Rutgers, the first sign of trouble came about five minutes into the match when Nazor, ahead of the pack, raced in on goal. Rutgers keeper Bill Andracki came out and forced Nazor and his scoring attempt to the right. By then, Rutgers See RUTGERS on Page D-3 bar as 4-1 Rutgers hung on for a 1-0 victory at FDU Stadium. The loss left Fairleigh Dickinson at 1-3-1. "Unfortunately, we couldn't put enough together in the attacking third of the field to get the goal we needed," said Fairleigh Dickinson coach Tom Lang.

"I'm very proud of my boys. They came back after losing a bad game to Seton Hall, 5-1, then came back against the number seven team in the country and showed they belonged." Passucci's shot was one of many Fairleigh Dickinson scoring chances that didn't pan out. FDU constantly pressured the Rutgers defense late in the game, but never really threatened. Rutgers may be the No. 7 team in the country, but Coach Bob Reasso thought his TEANECK It started as a murmer, but when the ball was passed to Brian Nazor, and then to Alex Passucci, a sense of excitement swept through the crowd.

Struggling Fairleigh Dickinson, in its home opener, needed a goal to tie seventh-ranked Rutgers and the lonely Passucci had the ball at the top of the penalty area with 5:53 left. For more than 10 minutes, Fairleigh Dickinson had pressured the Rutgers defense without result. Passucci, from Scotch Plains, was in prime position to change that. He didn't. His blast sailed over the cross I Cerone says his Met days overD-4 Rutgers receiver has fresh outlook Giants' line key in team progress By BARRIE DAWSON Courier-News Staff Writer i 'A myself out of shape, even in the otf-season, because what I consider an off-day is six or seven games of basketball, full court.

"In addition to the swimming, I was running sprints, doing some distance work, jumping a little rope, and I was running a lot of (pass) routes. I feel good now and I'm ready to go." Judging from his 11 catch, 113-yard performance at Duke, Guaran-tano's already going. The same can't be said for Rutgers, which lost, 42-22. "I didn't really have any mixed emotions at all," Guarantano said of his post-game feelings. "We lost.

I felt drained. I felt I left everything on the field. "I really don't look at the stats until maybe the next day, or on the bus afterwards, so I was pretty much just down. I knew I caught a few balls, but I had no idea what was going on. It just felt like I did it all for nothing." What made Guarantano feel even worse was that he dropped the first pass thrown to him.

"I didn't just drop the ball" said the business-management major, who hopes to manage a hotel and casino some day. "It was a situation where we had them right where we wanted them in the right coverage, one-on-one. I tried to take off without it. "I don't know. Maybe it was the best things that happened.

If I'd have caught that one, I'd have been gone down the sideline." Gone down the sidelines. That's something Rutgers fans have expected from the elusive Guarantano since his career began in 1988. He tantalized them in the spring game that year by catching four passes for 104 yards. He didn't play in 1988, and in 1989 he caught only 14 passes for 184 yards in 10 games. Last season, Guarantano caught eight passes for 155 yards at Pittsburgh, but that was about 40 percent of his output for the By MARK CANNIZZARO Courier-News Staff Writer EAST RUTHERFORD Giant's coach Ray Handley didn't have to pause after posed with the question.

"Ray, was there an improvement in the play of your offensive line from the Rams game two weeks ago to last Sunday in Chicago?" "Dramatic," Handley quickly shot back. The Giants' line must continue to play well as it did in last Sunday's 20-17 loss to Bears if the team is to be successful against the Cleveland Browns at Giants Stadium, according to Giant coaches. Game time is 1 p.m. In the Giants 19-13 loss to the Rams two weeks ago, there was no continuity, far less ball control than usual, shaky pass protection and poor yards-per-carry production from the running backs. Though the Giants lost to the Bears, their ball control ratio went up dramatically (they controlled the ball for almost 15 minutes more than Chicago), their pass protection was consistent (quarterback Jeff Hostetler was sacked only once and knocked down only two times) and their rushing game improved (they gained a season-high 132 yards on 33 carries).

Against the Rams, Giants running backs rushed for just 96 yards on 27 carries (excluding a 20-yard Hostetler run), an average of fewer than four yards per carry. Against Chicago, the Giants backs rushed for 123 yards on 30 carries (excluding Hostetler's nine yards rushing on three scrambles), an average of better than four yards per carry. "Everyone along the line played more aggressively in the running game and they did a good job in pass protection," Handley said of the Bears' game. logical progression this week. "They played well Sunday," Hand-ley said cautiously.

"That's all I'll say." Giants offensive line coach Fred Hoaglin liked what he saw last week. "I thought they were more physical," he said of his unit. "In pass protection we were a little better and we wore (the Bears) down with the running game." The the biggest improvement on the line from the Rams game to the Bears game has been left guard William Roberts, who missed all of training camp because of a contract holdout Roberts was noticeably rusty in the first two games, Handley said. "He played a lot better," Hoaglin said of Roberts. "He was better at pass blocking and run blocking.

If he keeps playing like that (the way he played in Chicago), he's going to have a real fine year." Said Roberts, "We clicked better. We made the holes we needed for the backs and we wore (the Bears) down. The game is won at the line of scrimmage. Whoever dominates the line of scrimmage is going to win. "We like to play with that dominating attitude," Roberts added.

"We improved," center Bart Oates said. "We stayed on our blocks, that was the biggest key. When we do that, good things are going to happen with our running backs." Because of the end result, Oates and the rest of the Giants line will not forget the Bears' pivotal goal line stand last Sunday, which ultimately stopped Ottis Anderson on a fourth-and-goal-from-the-one play in the second quarter. On the play, the Giants missed a back-side block, which was supposed to take out Bears linebacker Dante Jones. Jones, unblocked, met Anderson in the air and kept him out of the end zone.

Giants' notebook0-3 Tfc The new Jim Guarantano eaught a career-high 11 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown Saturday at Duke. The new Jim Guarantano wants to be the receiver of choice when Rutgers quarterbacks know a particular pass must be caught. The new Jim Guarantano never felt better about himself. He was never more confident, never in better shape. Why, he wouldn't have minded if they'd turned up the heat Saturday in Durham, N.C.

Now, the new Jim Guarantano has his sights set on a repeat performance Saturday when 0-1 Northwestern ventures into Rutgers Stadium at noon. Channel 7 will be there to televise the action live. How did the Rutgers senior become the new Jim Guarantano? By spending the summer swimming underwater and holding his breath for as long as possible, of course. "It was work, but it was really fun," the 5-foot-9, 168-pound Guarantano said. "I spent time in the swimming pool doing a cardiovascular workout some friends put me on to underwater swimming to expand your lungs and be able to take in more air.

"I saw a big difference immediately. With other conditioning, sometimes you don't feel it until a week or so later. I felt immediately that I was able to breathe easier and run without losing breath." Guarantano would take a big gulp of air, swim underwater as long as he could, resurface for more air, and go back under. He repeated the regimen for more than two hours each day. When he was through, he felt exhausted and often headed straight to bed.

"It was hurting me more than the running program that (the Rutgers coaching staff) gave me," the Lodi "There were only four high schools around here in those days, and the Jim Guarantano new man "Now, I feel I've arrived. I feel like a new person. It's just everything building up and it starts in the summer. I felt I had a good summer and hopefully I'm just ready to hit that peak and go very consistently." It won't take too many more 11-catch afternoons for Guarantano to become a marked man. At Duke, he apparently wasn't Rutgers quarterbacks realized he was the hot receiver and continued to throw his way.

"If I had to say, I guess that was it," Guarantano said. "We had some plays that were designed for me, but that's the usual gameplan. There was nothing special in the plan. "I feel good about it I'm glad I was able to put my two cents worth in there. I made some mistakes, which I watched on film.

I feel I olaved hard Guarantano passed that one with ease. Now, he must pass the test that requires him to make the key catches and big plays from game to game, not season to season. "Right now, I want them to put a load on my back," Guarantano said of his coaches and teammates. "When you're feeling good about yourself, that's the time to do it" That's why he's the new Jim Guar-antano. He never felt better.

Neck injury sidelines PresleyD-3 games were big events. You didn't have television then. The thing to do was to go out to the games, and everybody knew all the players' names." Bateman said that, in recent years, Perantoni, 67, was an avid fisherman, and Malekoff was proud he got the chance to coach one of Perantoni's sons at Somerville High. "He was the type of individual you wanted kids to look up to," Ma lekoff said. "He was not your everyday, run-of-the-mill type of guy." Not the type who could be summed up with a few words in an resident said.

"I don't ever considy season. obituary. 7 i.