Help Wanted: Rising Sophomores

JOE YUKICA obviously doesn't believe in the sophomore jinx. Yukica is counting on eight sophomores to shore up the football team's defensive unit that was decimated by graduation losses last June. The coach, now in his fifth, season at the helm of the Big Green, hopes the young defenders' efforts will be a carbon copy of the progress made- by sophomores on the offensive squad last year when Dartmouth won its 12th Ivy League football championship, sharing the title with Yale.

"As you look at our offense last year, one of the stories was the play of about six sophomores who came through and had great years for us: nor only Frank Polsinello but Jack Daly, Mattey Lopes, Tommy Bruno, Mark Pare at center, and Tom Brodhead," observed Yukica. "Those guys all did remarkably well for sophomores. They were a big factor in the development of our offense. What we're looking for now is similar help from rising sophomores to shore up our defense,-which for the first time in a few years is the area that we are rebuilding. Normally, it's been the offense where we've lost people, and we've had to scramble hard: in" the early part of the season to bring them along as quickly as possible,"

Offensively, the squad lost only one player, starting flanker Shaun Teevens, from the ball-handling positions". The entire backfield will return intact. Polsinelio will have the inside track on the quarterback position. He became the team's signal-caller midway through the season when a knee injury and subsequent surgery knocked Rick Stafford out for the remainder of the season. Polsinello directed the team to victories in five of the six games he started. Yukica, early in August, said he didn't know what Stafford's status would be. His possible comeback depends on how well the knee holds up. Other quarterback possibilities include Mike Caraviello, a sophomore, and junior Rick Bayless, the team's all-Ivy punter. The first two tailbacks, Sean Maher and Peter Lavery, and first two fullbacks, Rich Lena and Tom Bruno, will be back while veterans Lopes, Daly, and John Olejniczak will be the wide receivers. Both of the team's tight ends, Buck Foote and David Brown, will also return.

"In our ball-handling positions quarterback, running back, and wide receivers we've got good experience and maybe as good a group of athletes as we've had if you look at them totally," Yukica said. "I feel our scoring potential should be greater, obviously, than it was early last year. At the end of the year we moved the ball and got points and reached our weekly objectives. So I would like to think that the two would fit and that an experienced offensive team should be a more explosive team, more capable of making bigger plays."

The team lost offensive right guard Jon Merriman and center Todd Markman through graduation, but neither of them played the entire season because of injuries. "As a result of those injuries, we did develop some key people who started for us: Mark Pare at center, Ike Schurman at guard, and Paul Fechtelkotter at guard. So we've got good experience at guard and center. And then we have Ken Ferree, Steve Quinn, and Tom Brodhead at tackle, and all three of those guys started at various points of the season," Yukica said. The offensive unit will not get much help from last year's freshman team. "We're going to put most of those people over on defense where we need help badly."

The lone returning defensive starter is senior co-captain Dave Neslund, a linebacker. Around him, the team lost four all-Ivy performers: Charles Wilson, a defensive back; Lee Sedberry, a tackle; Joe Fernandez, an inside linebacker; and Rob Carroll, a defensive end. "There's a lot of experience built around those four guys," conceded Yukica. "So where do we start? The guy who will take Fernandez's spot is Dave Fuhrman, who we think is as promising a linebacker as we've had in some time. He played very, very well for us as a sophomore, so we've replaced, we feel, one linebacker with someone who can do it. We lost both defensive ends in Joe Moore and Rob Carroll, and neither of those guys is going to be easy to replace. John Corbett and John Asher are going to be the guys who start there, but we're looking at those spots very carefully. We also have a couple of our key sophomores, Peter Wade and Keith Getter, at those two spots. They are up-and-coming, long-range prospects. The other upperclassman that showed us a little bit last year was Shawn Borgeson, and he'll be a factor there, too."

The interior line is very, very thin, Yukica said. Mike Lena will be at nose guard, where he played last year behind Kent Cooper. "I think Lena is a front-line player and can be as good as anybody in the league in his position," Yukica said. At tackle, Dartmouth has Bob Dell Isola and Chris Cogguillo, but the coaches are looking for a complete group of backup people. "You can see how prominent sophomores, rising sophomores, are in the interior and tackle and nose spots," Yukica said. "They figure strongly in our thinking. At this point, that is what we have. That's it. They've got to come through and play well for us. If you were to ask me who would be our starters going into the first game, I would say Neslund and Fuhrman at inside linebacker and Mike Lena at nose. Dell Isola and Cogguillo have the edge and Asher and Corbett have the edge. But note I said they have the edge at those spots."

A similar situation exists in the defensive secondary. The four starters, Scott Hacker, Barry Pizor, Lenny Jones, and Charles Williams are gone, as is Lou Grimmelbein. "We're counting on two guys who were injured last year: Jimmy Bloomer and Mike Patsis," said Yukica. Bloomer rebounded from a severe groin injury to play baseball while Patsis' hand injury healed so that he could play lacrosse. Right now, they would be the starting defensive halfbacks. Yukica expects either Fran Manning or Paul Willis, both seniors, to succeed Scott Hacker as the starter at strong safety. Dave Wachter, the number two safety behind Pizor last year, has the inside track at that position. Other upper- classmen who have a shot at those positions include defensive halfback Patrick Lavery, Peter's brother, and John Sontich, a mem- ber of last year's junior-varsity team. "There also are three sophomores who showed us enough playing freshman foot- ball and spring practice that they could be a factor in that secondary," said Yukica. So what we're looking at is about ten guys with quite a bit of varsity inexperience at that spot, but we like their athletic ability and the way they run. It's just a question of fitting them into the team concept."

Yukica said there are about eight sophomores who figure prominently on the defensive unit. He also said that bringing along a defensive unit is easier than developing an inexperienced offensive group. "You can bring the defense along a little faster than you can the offense," Yukica explained. "Starting out, we're in a better position because last year we had quite a bit to do offensively. This year it's reversed. I think we can bring that defense around just a little bit faster. We do have a tradition of playing defense well."

Dartmouth rarity: Polsinello was -the first sophomore to start at quarterback in 12 years.

Tailback Sean Maher outduels two Cornell Menders for a Polsinello pass. Maker was second-leading scorer in the league last year.