The Daily Register from Red Bank, New Jersey • 21

SHREWSBURY MONDAY DECEMBER 8 1975 The Daily Register 21 of moiMitam9 Buies exrolode to top a Ha -v- vvv. A'iV 'J) VJr i a 4vVj 11. UD-'- WW-V Ti i.VtOj&'X Xn 4fen -Vt 14 Av.TA W'A ft jt 1r? yf AW IrsTi -s nv. 4' ju. By JONNI FALK LITTLE SILVER Those who were there are already calling it the greatest high school football game ever played in this state.

For four action-filled quarters, the Hightstown and Red Bank Regional teams tore at each other like fighting roosters However, when the clock finally killed the action, Red Bank Regional had won the Central Jersey, Group II title, 46-44 A state sectional title something that was denied to the Bucs last year, a 28th straight win the longest winning streak in the state, an 11-0 season, three straight Shore Conference titles Red Bank Regional owns them all now I feel like Ive climbed the mountain and now I can see whats on the other side, a relieved coach Bob Strangia hoarsely said. My God, what a game! They are everyhtmg they are supposed to be offensively. They (Hightstown) made some of our kids look slow. In an offensive explosion unmatched in a championship game, it was the Buccaneer offense which stole the show by amassing 348 yards rushing and another 80 in the air. That was just enough to nip the Rams, the states leading offensive artists, who ran for 179 yards and picked up 99 passing The teams together gobbled up 706 yards from scrimmage, and that does not include the 80-yard touchdown kickoff return by the Rams Brian Ishman.

Despite the offensive fireworks, a defensive play on the Rams final attempt at a two point conversion put the title in the bank for the Bucs. Hightstown had scored its final touchdown with 2.16 to play on a 24-yard pass from Mike Radies to Ishman, who had beaten Buc safety Maurice Hayes in the corner of the end zone. That made the score 46-44, and that was to be the final tally. On the conversion attempt, Radies rolled right on an option, and decided to run when he found nobody clear. However, linebacker John Semhatschenko came up fast to dnve him out of bounds on the one.

That one yard prevented a test of the states complicated tie rules. But the Rams werent done yet. Darren Spady recovered his own onsides kick after the ball had bounced off a Buccaneer. Radies fired down the middle to Ishman, who was downed on the Buc 20. However, the Rams were pushed back to the 35 by a clipping penalty.

At that point, the Red Bank Regional defense, the Bucs pride over the years stung repeatedly by the quick Rams, asserted itself. On the next play, Radies was sacked for a 10-yard loss by Mike Nesci and Ray England. A screen to John Martini jA? i i irVW Vi-- X4 R9Uter staff pfeots by Dm Lord! Rich Ashton (31), while teammates Kevin Brown (26) Nate Stathum (87), Jerry Agee (51), and Dave Harrison (60) pursue the ball. Hightstown quarterback Mike Radies (11) is on the ground, as is Brian Ishman (32). UP IN THE AIR The ball and lots of players are up in the air after a Hightstown fumble during Saturdays Central Jersey Group II championship battle between Red Bank Regional and Hightstown, In flight is Bucs Scoppetuolos kick was good, but a Hightstown penalty moved the ball to the one, and a try for two by Johnson failed Hightstown ran three plays, the only three it ran in the opening period, and got a touchdown from its ensuing punt, a 56-yarder by Radies Richard Sims fumbled the ball at the seven, it rolled into the end zone, and Spady fell on it for a Ram TD Radies promtply hit Martini with a pass over the nuddle for an 8-6 lead As it was to be all day, the Bucs stormed back, going 64 yards in seven plays Lewis, from the 13, scrambled around untd he found Scoppetuolo open at the 10, and the AU-County tight end ran in for the touchdown However, Slick Ashtons try for two faded Ishman ran the ensuing kickoff back 80 yards to put the Rams ahead, 14 8 The pass for two failed, and again Red Bank started back This time they went 60 yards in seven See Bucs explode, page 23 gained only two yards, and a draw with the dangerous Dana Shelton carrying lost two Radies, on fourth down, was intercepted by Jerry Agee with 29 seconds to go, and the game was over.

Hightstown reputation for having an explosive offense was fully justified, but that same reputation may have awakened the sleeping giants of the Red Bank Regional offense The two teams traded touchdowns like they were handling a crate of last years eggs Six times Red Bank took the lead, and Hightstown came back. Four times Hightstown had the lead and the Bucs snarled back There were five touchdowns in the first period, three in the second, one in the third and four the fourth Red Bank never punted in the game and scored seven touchdowns in its eight possessions Hightstown punted twice, but got the ball back after the second on a roughing the kicker penalty The first accounted for a Ram score Shelton, the states leading rusher, hurtled at the Buccaneer line 32 times, gained 131 yards and scoied three touchdowns However, he was more than matched by Red Banks Albert Ashton, who had 15 carries for 118, Lewis, who gained 115 yards and scored three touchdowns in 12 jaunts and Timmy Johnson, the junior fullback who hammeied for 85 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries Lewis also passed for a pair of TDs, and Hightstown could not match that balance But conversions played a big part in the game The Rams were successful on four tries for two, and that gave them an edge until the Bucs, unsuccessful in the first half, got two PAT kicks fi om Steve Scoppetuolo and a very important rollout run from Lewis after their final tally. The crowd of about 8,000 was still coming into the stadium when Red Bank went 64 yards after the opening kickoff with Johnson blasting off left guard from the six for the score Giants skid hits five; mirations showing started chanting for (Mike) Wells Bleep the fans, Morton murmured I cant explain all this stuff that has been happening Some of it is unbelievable Im getting paid to do a job, and right now Im not doing it. Things this crazy have never happened to me before, but Im sure not giv--ing up Its a long road for us. A few of us are overpaid There are no excused for the mistakes." Johnson, who has a long history of problems with the front office, is playing without a contract this year.

That means he has taken a 10 percent cut from last year's salary, but he denied that that had anything to do with his attitude Id just rather not play at someplace else next year. I threw my helmet out of frustration at myself, Van Horn said You try to do thmgs and when you dont get them done, it is frustrating Its been happening for a long time." The Baltimore defensive line broke its record for sacks by nailing Morton eight times for 62 yards, and that helped account for Van Horns frustration. We just didnt do our jobs, he said We get paid to protect the quarterback I got beat today, everybody got beat today Morton was removed infavor of Carl Summerell with 11 08 to play after the crowd had been chanting for the second-year man for two periods After Summerell threw his first incompletion, the fans By JONNI FALK NEW YORK Frustration followed defeat for the New York Giants at Shea Stadium here yesterday as Baltimore coasted to an easy 21-0 win, and the eighth straight for the Colts It was the fifth straight loss for the skidding Giants, and most of them did not take it lightly. Guard Doug Van Horn showed his anger by slamming his helmet on the ground several times; quarterback Craig Morton, who was benched in third period, gave a salute and uttered an expletive at the fans, and running back Ron Johnson, who watched mBst of the game from the sidelines, said he would rather be playing Spirit 1 Vv1 'y 4 0 A 3 IH AP wirtphoto NG STAMPEDE Baltimore Colts Ly- ter romping for a 26-yard gain during yesterdays is surrounded by New York Giants at- NFL game in New York. Cards turn Hart loose to pin down Cowboys il all than go through another year like this one.

It hasnt been too much fun Im sure there are a tot of places where I can make a contribution, and if no team feels that way, then Id hang it up. It hurts more to be on a team and not play than to be at home in another occupation The defeat, the first time the Giants have been shut out since Nov. 4, 1973 when Oakland turned the trick, 42-0, also brought a challenge to the team from coach Bill Amsparger. For the next two weeks we play people (New Orleans and San Francisco) like ourselves, people with problems. It will be interesting to see what happens, he said Our football team has not been good enough to beat a contender, he continued, We have played seven contenders and lost them all.

The game itself was over by halftime and hinged on a combination of early Giant mistakes On the first play of the game, Doug Kotar, playing in place of Johnson, fumbled a pitchout, and John Dutton recovered for the Colts at the New York 33 Six plays later, Lydell Mitchell, who became the first Colt to ever go over 1,000 yards in a season, swept right end for a nine-yard touchdown Later in the first period, Morton threw a little circle pass to Joe Dawkins, and Stan White intercepted it. He returned it 23 yards for the touchdown Morton led the Giants to the Colts 10, but on the second play of the second period, bis pass bounced off Dawkins' hands to Colt linebacker Jim Cheyunski on the four The Colts then went 96 yards for the game's final score, but the Giants played a helping hand Jim Stienke was nailed for running into punter David Lee to get the dnve started, and Pat Hughes was hit with a personal foul on a thud down pass from the 42 that had already been dropped by Roger Carr. Bill Olds finally got the touchdown from the Morton was 10 for 21 and 172 yards, but at one time he was sacked three straight tunes Summerell avoided the young Colt line, but was only two for seven (23 yards) Paradoxically, the Colts showed little They got 92 yards passing and 148 yards rushing, but Mitchell had 119 of those ground yards Cincinnati 31, Philadelphia 0, New York Jets 30, New England 28; Los Angeles 14, New Orleans7; Minnesota 24, Green Bay Chicago 25, Detroit 21, and Houston 27, San Francisco 13 In St. Louis, the Cardnals marched to a score with the opening kickoff, a pass from Hart to Terry Metcalf covering the final 30 yards After a Dallas field goal, the Cardinals came right back and this time Hart hit Mel Gray with a 49-yard scoring bomb Then the Cardinals marched 65 yards with Steve Jones scoring on a one-yard plunge before Hart and Gray teamed up again on a six-yard scoring play. By then it was 28-3 and Dallas could not recover.

The Washington victory was the fifth time in the last six weeks that a Redskin game was decided on the games final play. Once again, it was Billy Kilmers last-minute heroics that did it. The Falcons' Nick Mike-Mayer tied the game at 27-27 with 61 seconds left with a 44-yard field goal. Kilmer, who completed 25 of 38 for 320 yards and three touchdowns despite playing with a broken bone in his foot, completed five passes for 56 yards to move the Redskins into position for Moseleys winning kick. Mitchell rushed for 119 yards in 23 carries and scored a touchdown as Baltimore won its seventh straight game to stay in playoff contention The performance raised his seasons total to 1,008 yards, breaking the club record of 963 yards he had set in 1973 Fran Tarkenton came within one touchdown pass of tying Johnny Umtas all-time career record of 290 when he threw three of them in the Vikings easy victory over Green Bay.

Two of the scoring passes went to John Gilliam and one to Chuck Foreman The Steelers found themselves behind Cleveland when the Browns struck for two touchdowns in a 14 second span of the first half. But Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann hooked up on a pair of third quarter touchdown passes and the Steelers had their 10th straight victory. In Philadelphia, Kenny Anderson had another big day as the Bengals swamped the Eagles 31-6 He completed 20 of 35 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown and directed an offense that accounted for 481 yards The victory gave the Bengals a 10 2 record and set up next week's showdown with the 11-1 Steelers Los Angeles used defense to earn its 10th victory. Defensive end Jack Youngblood tackled New Orleans quarterback Archie Manning in the end zone for a safety and reserve linebacker Jim Peterson rumbled 67 yards for a touchdown with a fumbled punt By The Associated Press For once in their lives, the St. Louis Cardinals decided not to wait around for Jim Bakken to win one in the last few seconds.

Yesterday, they turned quarterback Jim Hart loose early, and the Dallas Cowboys were never close. In what Dallas Coach Tom Laundry called an exercise in excellence," Hart fired three first-half touchdowns passes and directed an explosive offense led the Cardinals to a 31-17 victory in the National Football Leagues biggest game. There were two others of major importance. Washington used Mark Moseleys 39-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to boost the Redskins to a 30-27 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. And Miami, playing well despite an incredible run of injuries, defeated Buffalo 31-21 as third-string quarterback Don Strock threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score.

Those games weighed heavily on the NFLs two'hot division races. The St. Louis victory boosted the Cardinals into sole possession of first place in the National Conference East Division with a 9-3 record. Dallas and Washington are tied for second with 8-4marks and the winner of next week's showdown between the two seems likely to win the conferences wild card berth and join St. Louis in the playoffs.

Jf 4, a The Miami victory gave the Dolphins a 9-3 record and kept them a game ahead of the Baltimore Colts in the American Conferences East Division. The Buffalo loss put the Bills two games back and probably dropped them out of playoff contention. Elsewhere in the NFL, Baltimore slammed the New York Giants 21-0 as Lydell Mitchell became the first Colt ever to gain 1,000 yards in a season. And San Diego avoided becoming the first league team to ever lose 14 games In a season when the Chargers came from behind to nudge Kansas City 28-20 for their first victory. In other games, it was Pittsburgh 31, Cleveland 17; AP wlra9t STEELER STALLED Pittsburgh bteelers Franco Harris (32) Is brought down from behind by Cleveland Browns Dick Ambrose (52) after a seven-yard gain in yesterday's NFL game in Cleveland.

Harris gained 103 yards as the Steeler defeated the Browns, 31-17..