| CTL Football Shocker: September 16, 1977 |
Quincy repels Cashmere, 8-6 |
| By
Dick Pieper Wenatchee World Sports Editor |
| CASHMERE - Yes,
the Quincy Jackrabbits are for real. The Jackrabbits, rising from gridiron obscurity, are unbeaten two weeks into the football season and performing like serious title contenders in the Caribou Trail League race. The Jackrabbits dominated the Cashmere Bulldogs in an 8-6 Quincy win that nearly turned into a nightmare for coach Pat Lippincott at the finish here Friday night. The victory was the first for a Quincy football team against Cashmere since 1961. But the Jackrabbit victory celebration was almost premature. With the clock winding down into the final 60 seconds, Quincy seemingly had an 8-0 victory safely tucked away. That's what the Jackrabbits were thinking. Eddie Ambriz, the Jackrabbits' dynamic little (5-7, 145 pounds) quarterback, sauntered through the middle on a quarterback sneak, consuming some time. Suddenly, out of the crowd, burst a Cashmere lineman, 185-pound sophomore Don Weedman, with the ball. Weedman, with a clear field ahead of him, out-ran his Quincy pursuers and rambled 50 yards to a touchdown, turning what appeared to be a gloomy night for Cashmere into one of hope. Just 44 seconds showed on the clock. Cashmere, naturally, went for the two-point conversion try, a running play, with Darren Davis sweeping wide. He was piled up at the five-yard line, and Jackrabbit fans breathed easier. A Cashmere onside kick attempt then fizzled, the ball rolling out of bounds, and the Bulldogs, in a rare reversal of form, were on the losing end of the score for the second time in two weeks. A week earlier, Cashmere had lost to Okanogan, 7-6, on the road. But Cashmere, with two key people on the sidelines, and employing, essentially young troops did well to hang in there with Quincy the entire night. Cashmere's do-everything tailback, Scott Shook, is nursing a bum ankle after being injured in the opener and did not suit up. Speedster Joel Clark apparently is out for the rest of the season with a recurring knee injury. The Quincy defense thoroughly contained the enemy attackers, keeping the Bulldogs pinned down in their own territory most of the evening. That fine Quincy defensive effort was led by Lorin Grigg and Terry Armstrong. Cashmere managed just three first downs in the first half, one of those on a penalty and another on their best gainer of the night, a 35-yard pass play. The Bulldogs penetrated no deeper than the Quincy 37-yard line during the contest. Quincy, meantime, was moving the ball all over the field, mainly through the air, but was denied repeatedly in its scoring bid. The lone points of the first half were attained on a safety when Cashmere quarterback Brian Stokes, rolling back from the five-yard line, slipped in the end zone, producing a 2-0 Quincy lead with 6:51 remaining in the second quarter. Clicking with amazing consistency on a succession of third-down plays, Quincy had moved the ball from their own eight-yard line down to the Cashmere five, before surrendering the ball just inches short of the first down. That length-of-the-field drive was keyed by a 38-yard passing gainer from Ambriz to sure-handed Bill Porter on a third-and-12 situation when Quincy was seemingly pinned down on its own six-yard line. Although, the Quincy drive was stymied at the five, it did lead to the two points. Quincy applied a bit of padding to that lead with an impressive ground march, spanning 73 yards, on their first possession of the second half. Jon Bishop, a 150 pound, junior, accounted for most of the yardage on that drive, including 32 yards on one burst up the middle. He went in for the score from the two-yard line. "We have a good tailback in Jon Bishop," an elated coach Lippincott said following the game. "He's quick, not real fast, but quick." Lippincott is ecstatic over the success Quincy has had, thus far, in his second season as head coach. "The program is so changed," he said. "It started back in April with a weight program," Lippincott said. "That got it going." He had special praise for Armstrong, among others. "He spent all night in their backfield." Lippincott said. Porter was just amazing as a receiver. He caught nearly everything thrown in his area to add to his first week's production of 11 catches for 157 yards. Porter is rather slow of foot, Lippincott conceded, but he has "tremendous concentration." Key to the Quincy scoring drive was running the ball opposite of Cashmere's defensive terror, Ken Collins. Ambriz, Lippincott revealed, was calling the play at the line of scrimmage on that nine-play ground drive, always going away from Collins, a devastating defensive force for Cashmere. Collins led a relentless rush in the first half that produced 70 yards in Quincy losses and left the Jackrabbits in with a minus (32 yards) rushing total at halftime. Walt Whitehall was a backfield workhorse for Cashmere in the first half and Davis handled most of the ground work in the second half. Kelly Riggin, a 5-8, sophomore, performed credibly in a relief role at quarterback for Cashmere in the late stages of the game. The lineman really got into the act for Cashmere. In addition to Weedman's heroics, tackle Lee Stephenson alertly gathered in the ball after a Davis fumble and picked up first-down yardage on one occasion. But Cashmere followers had few other moments of enjoyment Friday evening.
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