Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 7, 1993 TAG: 9311070163
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EMORY LENGTH: Long
Emory & Henry scored twice off Panthers mishaps and went on to beat Ferrum 16-13 in a non-conference game Saturday at Fullerton Field.
"It's tough, but that's the way it goes," said Norton, who retires with a 244-77-11 record after 34 years at Ferrum. ". . . They deserve all the credit. I thought we won the second half and they won the first."
The Panthers trailed 16-7 entering the fourth quarter but scored on a 1-yard run by quarterback Millard Vining to close the gap to three points. The extra-point attempt by David Waddell was blocked.
The Panthers forced E&H to punt on its next possession and took over on their own 11-yard line. Vining threw two incompletions before connecting with reserve quarterback John Poindexter, playing decoy receiver, on the left sideline. Poindexter turned upfield and dashed to the end zone. The officials ruled he was run out of bounds at the Emory & Henry 45-yard line.
Ferrum clawed its way to the E&H 5-yard line but fumbled the snap. E&H defensive tackle Shawn Duggan recovered the ball, and the Wasps began to run out the clock.
Vining threw another interception on the first play of the Panthers' next drive. However, Ferrum thought it would get another chance with 1:36 to play when it appeared running back J.D. Davis fumbled at the 50.
The officials, from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, ruled there had been no fumble, however, and said an inadvertent whistle had caused confusion.
"They ran eight seconds off the clock, it's our ball," Norton said. "It takes 15 minutes to decide whose ball it is. The official says it's our ball. Then the referee gets out there and gives us the home call.
". . . Of course, if I'm not going to fight for our kids, then I shouldn't be in it; I shouldn't be a coach."
Norton also was exasperated when the Panthers received a roughing-the-kicker penalty after E&H was forced to punt on fourth-and-two.
"At the end of the game, I thought we were the better team," he said. "The defense held them and then that roughing-the-kicker. With a minute left, I still thought we were going to win it."
The victory kept alive the Wasps' hopes for a berth in the NCAA Division III national playoffs. E&H (7-2), ranked sixth in the South Region, wraps up its regular season next week against Maryville.
"I don't think up to this point we've played very well," Wasps coach Lou Wacker said. "If we beat Maryville and a couple of teams ahead of us lose, we have an outside chance of getting in."
The Wasps played well enough in the first half Saturday to keep the Panthers guessing.
E&H scored six minutes into the first quarter on a 22-yard Wade Vidal field goal. Three-and-a-half minutes later, freshman defensive back Thomas Nelson returned an Eric Bates fumble 22 yards to make it 10-0, Wasps.
E&H continued to hammer away at the Panthers (5-4) by exploiting offensive mistakes. At the end of the first quarter, E&H's Ricky Webb intercepted a Vining pass and returned it 14 yards to the Ferrum 21-yard line. That set up another 20-yard Vidal field goal to make it 13-0.
"If you told me yesterday that we'd win by kicking three field goals, I'd tell you no way," said Wacker, a rival of Norton's since their high school coaching days. "That was a good football game and I'm thankful to win. But I think enough of Coach Norton that I almost hated to see us win."
Norton certainly wasn't going to go out without a fight. The Panthers made it 13-7 with 9:34 left in the second quarter when Vining, who was 9-of-22 passing, connected with tight end Brad Jones on a 17-yard throw across the middle.
But the Wasps made it 16-7 going into halftime when Jay Garbett hit a 38-yard field goal with seven minutes left.
"They made some big defensive plays. . . . They were sliding their linebackers, doing some things they had never done and we had to adjust. It took us a half to figure out what was going on and then we just couldn't do it," Norton said. "We had a winning season and that's a good way to go out. We beat some good teams.
"Of course, you'd always choose to win the last game and certainly to beat Emory & Henry. But they deserved to win. They came out with a good game plan.
"I thought at the end of the game, we were a better team. But things didn't go our way."
\ GAME NOTES: Norton was presented with a ring after the game, a gift from his 1968 junior-college national championship team. The ring had a "7" on the stone and the names of seven players on Norton's 1968 team who were killed in the Marshall University team plane crash in 1970 along with former Norton assistant Rick Tolley. . . . A crowd of 4,024 braved the weather to see the 10th meeting between the teams. The temperature at game's end was a biting 32 degrees, with a considerable wind. . . . The Panthers rushed 17 times for a net of 2 yards in the first half. Ferrum outgained Emory & Henry 269-245 in total offense. . . . This is the 10th consecutive winning season for the Wasps. \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB