Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 95

last VOL. 4 NO. 24 East Suburban Edition of The Pittsburgh Pott-Gazette SEPTEMBER 1, 1983 Page 7 Fast start a must for Franklin Regional They have great players in the backfield and a huge, strong offensive line. I don't know if they have any weaknesses. "It's going to be a tremendous challenge for us, but we're looking forward to it.

They came over here and beat us last year. They beat us physically as well as on the scoreboard. I don't think it will happen again." The Panthers lost only five players from last year's lineup, and the returnees have benefited greatly from a year's growth and experience. Visnick says this team has "better skill people" and the biggest line" he's ever seen at Franklin. Furthermore, the Panthers are coming off of "the best two scrimmages we've ever had here." So, the Panthers are geared up for their Franklin, and it's going to add some new dimensions to our offense.

"Our biggest concern is in the trenches. We're bigger than we've ever been, our line averages 210 pounds, but we're a little green. The Panthers' talented backfield is led by returning starters RonJIenderson (quarterback), Tom Stinelli (tailback) and Don Conte (fullback). Flanker Alan Mongelluzzo, split end Chuck Sellers, and tight end Howard Fahnstock also return. "Henderson's going to be a major-college quarterback some day.

He's big, strong and can throw the football. He passed for over 800 yards as a sophomore last year," said Visnick. Stinelli rushed for over 500 yards in six v' games during bis sophomore season. Two key players, tackle Tom Ricketts and guard Paul Latshaw, return to the offensive line. Both are three-year starters.

Ricketts stands 6-foot-6, 255 pounds and is equally devastating on offense and defense. "He's made several lists of the top prospects in the East, and he deserves the recognition," said Visnick. "He's a very good player who's growing every day. He's receiving a lot of major-college attention." A win over Plum would do much to fuel Franklin's quest for a triumphant season. It would give the Panthers some momentum and confidence for their WPIAL Class AAA Section 2 opener at Churchill next week.

Churchill won the section title last year. (Continued on Page 8) LaFace's stock soars 7.w s-' Iwh I yM 1 A Winner Malcolm East, left and ronnenip Highland Park. un for ,7 Jv i By Bill Utterback Plum's Mustangs are a marvelous foot-ball team. They're big and fast and riding a wave of confidence generated by last season's trip to the WPIAL semifinals. The Mustangs would provide formidable opposition to any high school football team, which is exactly why Franklin Regional Coach Eli Visnick is looking forward to playing Plum this weekend.

The Panthers visit Plum tomorrow night in an exhibition game that opens the 1983 high school season for both teams. "Right away, we're going to find out where we stand. We're going to have a lot of our questions answered on Friday night," said Visnick. "Plum's a great football team. Penn Hills tries luck at soccer In Penn Hills, people are used to seeing a ball kicked.

The ball, of course, is a football, not a soccerball. But things are about to change. The' WPIAL's largest school district is not abandoning its successful football program, but it is adding soccer to its athletic family. And Coach Bill Groff is determined to make it a success. "I think it'll be in the vicinity of five years before we can compete with the big boys, which really isn't that long," Groff said.

"The kids we have now, the most experience any of them have is four years. But in four or five years we'll have kids coming from the youth programs with eight or nine years experience." Until then, there could be some lean years ahead for the Indians. But Groff will make I the most of it, thankful that Penn Hills decided to adopt a soccer program at all. Penn Hills has talked about a high school i soccer program for 10 years, but it took consistent community pressure over the last five years to make it a reality. The turning point might well have been the rapid growth of Penn Hills' amateur program.

Graff's summer tryouts drew 30 players. Some are good, but most are green. The best of the bunch appear to be senior striker Scott Russell and senior midfielders Bob Brawley and Gene Perbac. Each scored a goal in a 3-0 exhibition win over East Allegheny, another first-year team. Groff is also high on junior midfielder Jack Price.

The other starters are senior goalkeeper Mark Vogel, junior sweeper John Rocchi, senior stopper Jim Sites, senior outside defender Tony Galippi and Mike Schelly, freshman left wing Fred Zummo and senior right wing John Isett, Groff is not caught up in false optimisim. If anything, he might expect less from his young team than others will. "I don't foresee us finishing anywhere near .500," he said. "I'll be satisfied if I see the kids progress from now to season't end and use that as a basis for next year. Right now, I'm just teaching basic skills.

There's no point to teach them a pattern of passes when they're having trouble completing one." Groff played four years of collegiate soccer at Slippery Rock and did some coaching in the semi-pro Keystone League after that. He then became involved with amateur baseball, nearly giving up on soccer in Penn Hills until this year. In Penn Hills, winning is everything and the only thing. The football team has always been a power, the basketball and baseball I teams have made several playoff appear-, ances in recent years. Groff feels some Eressure to win, but says It doesn't bother im.

"Sure, there's pressure, but I don't mind," he said. "I'd rather the community have a winning attitude. I don't think they'll expect so much out of soccer so soon once they realize the amount of skill and experience it takes to play it." The Indians have a lot of young players in backup roles. Groff admits it was tempting to build for the future by stacking his lineup with the younger players, but he resisted such a move. "I work about six freshmen in as substitutes," he said.

"I just want them to watch and then put it together when they go out there. It was tempting to play the kids, but the older ones have advantages. They make up for lack of skill with speed and strength. It's the only year the seniors will get to play soccer at Penn Hills, and they deserve a shot" Penn Hills will compete in Section 5 of the WPIAL. Among league members only Fox Chapel is an established power.

That means that while the Indians won't be an immediate threat for the section championship, they should manage to keep close in most of their games. That's good news for Groff. (Continued on Page 9) opener. "We're where we should be at this point in the season," said Visnick. "We're not going to do anything fancy.

We're just going to play fundamental offense and fundamental defense. "We've been drilling and drilling the kids on playing mistake-free football. The only way to beat a team like Plum is to avoid making mistakes. We can have a good year if we keep away from mistakes and injuries." The Panthers' wealth of experience should do much to eliminate the mistakes Visnick fears. "We're optimistic," said the coach.

"We've got a good nucleus of players. We have the best skill people I've ever seen at A i' Gary Hofstetter congratulate each other fun shirts cut off at the sleeves am. sneakers frayed at the edges to mono-grammed shirts and mutli -colored running shoes. The field started to stretch out after a mile or so as the serious runners forged ahead of the pack. Malcolm East crossed the finish line in 30 minutes, 23 seconds, five seconds ahead of Gary Hofstetter.

"I was pleased with my time on this day," said East. "The time was fine. The same effort on another day would be at least a minute faster." A steady stream of runners followed East across the finish line as the digital clock mounted on a chair ticked off the minutes and seconds. "This is a race more for runners," said East. "The Great Race is more for joggers.

These people are having fun, and they're also competing." Eileen Petrone was the first woman to finish, posting a time of 38:19. She was followed by Leelee Geiser (38:49) and Games, the 5-foot-5 wrestler attracted lots of attention from curious on-lookers when, she arrived at Greater Pitt Airport. Darrow said she was not told of the American athletes kicked out of the games for using steroids while in Caracas. She did say steroids are readily available. "I don't know why they have to use them," not just steroids but drugs.

And they are not discouraged nearly enough," she said. "I know if I wanted to I could go to a doctor right now and get steroids for the purpose of competition." Darrow took up Sombo wrestling in February out of desperation. She had been a shot putter and discuss thrower at George Mason College in Fairfax, and had used up her eligibility. in diving Karen LaFace began the summer as merely the finest high school diver in Pennsylvania, but strong performances in three major August meets have enhanced her reputation to such a degree that son people now consider her to be a prospect for the 1984 Olympic team. "I used to think that Karen had a way way outside chance of making the Olympic team in 1984," said Julian Krug, the diving coach of the Pitt Aquatic Club.

"But this summer she has established herself as a real live contender. "It's not a probability, but it's a very real possibility." Last week, LaFace returned from New Zealand, where she participated in the world age-group championships. Competing in the 15-17 division, the 17-year-old Churchill resident finished second on the one-meter board, fourth on the three-meter board and sixth on the 10-meter tower. "I was pleased with the meet overall, but I could have done better," she said. "I wasn't 1 very happy with some of my dives.

I was consistent, but I wasn't very sharp. I did better at the United States senior nationals. I was more nervous for this meet, and that made a difference." Earlier, LaFace finished third on the three-meter board, ninth on the one-meter board, and 12th on the tower at the U.S. Senior National Championships in Oklahoma. At the age-group championships, she won the national title at one meter, finished second on the tower, and fifth on the three-meter board.

"I've always known that Karen had the' physical ability to become a great diver, but this summer she finally developed the men- tal toughness that she needed," said Krug. "She's been going to the national age-group championship for six years, and this is the first time she's ever broken to the front." Krug was especially impressed with La-Face's accomplishments at the senior meet. "She was just outstanding. She impressed a lot of people at that meet," he said. "She scored points in each event.

She was just 10 points away from our national championship on the three-meter board. "The Pitt Aquatic Club finished fourth in the team standings, our highest finish ever, and Karen was the only diver who scored points for us. It's incredible that an individual would have that much impact on the team standings." Krug credits LaFace's emergence to her three-month stay with the Longhorn Diving Club (in Austin, Tex.) this summer. "She was never quite sure of herself before, she was never convinced that she belonged in the national meets," said Krug. "I could talk to her until I was blue in the face, but that wasn't enough.

She had to hear it from other people." Mike Brown, the diving coach at the; University of Texas and the Longhorn Diving Club, saw LaFace's confidence blossom this summer. "When she came down here in June, she was diving very well," said Brown. "But she was putting a lot of pressure on herself. Being with other world-class divers took some of the pressure off. She was able to see that they made mistakes, too.

She didn't have to be perfect all the time. She learned to relax. She started to have fun." Brown noticed a difference in her attitude when she competed in August. "She looked comfortable and confident when she was up on the board," said Brown. "She knew she belonged.

She knew that she was as good as any other diver in the meet." LaFace is younger than most divers at the national competitions. "Most people don't reach this level of competition until their final years of college," said Brown. "It's incredible that she's done as well as she has. She still has a year of high school and four years of college to develop her talent. Brown said that LaFace's trip to New Zealand was an important step in her development.

(Continued on Page 8) important feature of sombo wrestling, she had never practiced it until after she learned she was going to Caracas. "I never thought I would go as far as I did, but I knew that because the sport is so new I could get to the top pretty fast," she said. Six weeks ago, she went to Colorado -Springs and qualified for the World Cup of Sombo to be held in Madrid in October. Now she is looking for a sponsor to help her raise money for the airfare to Spain. Her more immediate plans are to rest her bruised arm, find an apartment, and get a job.

She is interested in counseling, perhaps working with children. But what she's most interested in is getting back into Sombo competition. it If Harry Coughanour Post-Gazette after 10-kilometer race in Deresa Walters a 9-year-old from Etna and the youngest entrant in the race. Amy Adams won the 19-and-under event for women, Suzanne Sellers came in first in the 30-39 category, and Sue Stoehr topped the 40-49 division. For the men.TCevin Laney won the 20-29 division, Derrick Redd the 30-39, Robert Waltenbaugh 40-49, Jack Cagot 50-59, and Americo Mascio over 60.

Ken Turtin won the wheelchair division with a time of 40:58. But winning didn't seem to matter very much to the runners who continued to plod up the street to the finish, huffing and puffing as they sucked in breath for the final 100 yards. Late in the morning, after everyone else had either finished the race or quit along the way, a lone figure trudged up the road. A woman wearing red shorts and a white blouse half-walked and half-jogged the final yards, smiling with each (Continued on Page 8) "I was looking for a sport," she said. "It sounded strange enough to try." Although the Pan Am trials were held in March in Kansas City, she did not find out that she was headed for Caracas until the end of July when two weight classes the 176-pound class and unlimited weight class were added.

She entered the unlimited division. "Don't ask me my weight or I'll sit on you," she joked. Darrow, who won the 1978 Women's National Power-Lifting Championship for heavyweights, trained for 2Vfr weeks with Fred Hickson, the wrestling coach at Franklin Regional High School, and with a local judo expert before she left for training camp at Colorado Springs. Although judo is an Almost 2,000 enter 10-kilometer race; East wins By Phil Axelrod Post-Gazette Sports Writer To the blaring strains of the theme song from almost 2,000 men and women waited in Highland Park for the start of the city's newest 10-kilometer race. Highland Avenue, lined by green and white flags, was filled with people of all sizes and shapes, ranging in age from nine to 72.

At exactly 9:14 on a humid Sunday morning, the starter's gun was fired and the runners took off to the applause of friends and 4 family. With cameras clicking to record the event, runners wove their way through the streets of East Liberty and around the Highland Park reservoir, grabbing a gulp of water or a bite of an orange between strides. Men, women and children, bunched together in a common cause to finish pounded the pavement in a steady beat The outfits varied from faded tee- it sounds. She said she hurt her arm in competition before she went to Venezuela. During a match, she explained, "you bend the joint back until the other wrestler submits.

If you don't submit which is indicated by hitting your hand on the mat you can break a joint I didn't submit and chipped my bone." In her gold-medal match, Darrow said her opponent knew about her injured arm "and went after it. I tried to submit faster this time," she said. At first glance, Darrow might not appear to be the sort to argue with until she lets out her ready laugh and dispels any tough-guy image that may accompany her stance. Dressed in a red, white, and blue velour sweatsuit, matching bead-band, and a technicolor patch from the Pan American 3 Darrow's fast conversion to Sombo wrestling pays off By Lawrence Shulruff Post-Gazette Staff Writer She looked at the silver medal herself while showing it off to an inquiring admirer. Murrysville's Betsy Darrow returned to Pittsburgh from the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, last Sunday as an international "lucha" champion.

"Lucha" is Spanish for "wrestling," the 28-year-old Darrow explained. But she is not just any sort of wrestler, she is a Sombo wrestler. Sombo wrestling, a mixture of judo and free-style wrestling, is a new sport, only two years old. This was the first time it has been offered at the Pan American Games. With her right arm in a sling, Darrow probably would not argue that the sport is as tough as.