Gridmen Blow Hot and Cold

By J. EARLE DUNFORD, JR., '48

l"I 7 ITH NEARLY HALF its schedule gone,

V Vthe Spider football team, strangely, had its followers still wondering how good it was.

The record read 2-2. First, there were surprisingly easy wins over East Carolina College and Randolph-Macon. Neither team was conceded a prayer of beating Richmond, but the final scores were 40-7 over ECC and 40-0 over Randolph-Macon.

In what was considered one of the toughest games on the schedule, the Spiders bowed only 12-7 to a University of Dayton team that scored in the final two minutes and then barely halted a Richmond drive goalward.

But the Spiders got their lumps the next week at City Stadium in a game that from the U.R. standpoint was as miserable as the damp, raw weather. Richmond teams have been noted for their defensive play for the past six years, but seldom in that time has a Merrick-coached team looked so pitiful on defense. Final score: V.M.I., 28; Richmond, 6. (As THE BULLETIN went to press, the Spiders lost to The Citadel, 26 to O.-Ed.)

The week before the V.M.I. game Spider alumni were glowing over the performance against Dayton. The two games contrasted strangely as the gridders came to the break in the season. After an open weekend, there were games away against The Citadel, Rutgers and V.P.I. and at home against George Washington, Davidson and William & Mary.

Despite the performance against the Keydets, there were some bright points and reason for optimism.

Junior halfbacks David Ames and Mickey Marinkov, a pair of elusive 170-pounders who stand under six feet, had scored 18 and 26 points, respectively, and had shown plenty of speed. Joe Biscaha, a junior end, was developing into a steadier player and had scored at Dayton on a spectacular pass play.

The line play, which disappointed against V.M.I., was magnificent at Dayton as again and again the Flyers were stopped short of the goal line.

Freshman Bob Buffman, 230, was a standout as were veterans like co-captain Dick Eaton, Sonny Deane, Fred Wilt, Gene Barkocy and Pat Lamberti.

Game-by-game, here's the way the Spiders went:

RICHMOND, 40; EAST CAROLINA, 7-It was much the same story as last year, when the Spiders romped, 45-7. This year five Richmonders got into the touchdown act in the game at Portsmouth. Joe Biscaha scored first, taking an 11-yard aerial from junior quarterback Jerry Landis four minutes after the start of the second quarter. The next TD came in the same period, as senior quarterback Jim Hoffman completed a 66-yard drive with a 38-yard pass to Marinkov.

The Spiders scored three times in the third period. Landis tossed a lateral to Ames who dashed 40 yards for the first score. Four plays later Lamberti recovered an ECC fumble on the Pirates' 20. Then junior fullback Buddy Davis bulled his way to the 9 from the 25 after a Richmond penalty. Marinkov scored from the 2 three plays later. The third TD of the period came as sophomore quarterback Joe Rossetti went over from the 1 after a 17-yard drive, featuring a 54-yard yard dash by John Boggs, a freshman fullback. Art D' Arrigo, a freshman halfback, picked up the final touchdown, in the fourth period on a 1-yard plunge . The Spiders had gotten the ball following an ECC fumble on its own 20. Marinkov kicked three extra points, and Lamberti, one.

ECC scored its lone TD in the fourth period as Bob Maynard scored from the 2 and Carlton Math ews converted.

RICHMOND , 40; RANDOLPH-MA CON, 0- Unfamiliar Spider names were in the news as UR, in its first home game, reeled off its first touchdown within two minutes and scored in every quarter.

Mickey Marinkov skirted end for 33 yards for the first TD and David Ames counted twice-once on an 11-yard run and once on a 49-yard runback of a pass interception - but the youngsters accounted for the rest.

Bob Dunnington , a 170-pound sophomore from Richmond, tallied from the 2 early in the third period to cap a 70-yard drive. Earlier in the game, Dunnington had pulled one of the most spectacular plays of the night. He hauled in a Jacket punt on his own 40, eluded several would-be tacklers and crossed the goal-to no avail, as a holding penalty cancelled the score. The fifth UR score was by another local boy, freshman Carlton Rowe, a 200-pound halfback. Rowe smashed over from the 3 after Richmond several plays earlier had recovered a Randolph-Macon fumble deep in Jacket terri-

(Continued on page 10}