Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9410050068
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Down the middle of the field the same business that has been going on here for the past 25 years was happening, the tenure of Coach Norman Lineburg. The venerable field boss was in a hurry, barking orders in a tone very unfamiliar to those who know the soft-spoken and deferential man off the field.
In many ways, Lineburg's urgency and the desert of a field form a picture of Radford football since early December 1991, when if not for a play or two, it would have been the Bobcats and not Jefferson Forest playing for the Group AA Division 3 state title.
Then for the entire next season and part of last, what had been one of the state's most successful and feared programs, seemed lifeless.
Radford football had come to be as barren as its practice field.
And after all the glory, nobody would have blamed Lineburg for hanging up his whistle and gracefully easing into a new life as an exalted elder statesman. Worn down from what had been (until last year) a bitter and losing fight with some of his fellow citizens over whether, as Lineburg advocated, Radford should drop to Group A status.
Retirement never was an option, though.
``Nobody wants to leave a program in the shape our's was in two years ago,'' he said.
The Bobcats were in bad shape. In 1992, Radford lost nine of 10 games. The following campaign, the Bobcats went 4-7 and although the slate was more respectable because it included a trip to the playoffs and many of the losses were close ones, under .500 just doesn't get it at Radford.
Never has.
Never will.
Radford is in its first year in Division 2 and going into last Friday's game with Covington, is a solid 2-1 with wipeouts of traditional Group A powers Parry McCluer and Grayson County and a blood pressure-raising, last-minute loss to another consistent Group A stronghold, Powell Valley.
Like many teams that drop in classification, Radford has had a successful launch. But there's more to it than just games against similar-sized schools. The Bobcats clearly have a much better football team than they have had.
The one absolutely indispensable ingredient of Radford football is back: the lust to get out on the field and compete.
``We all want to be here,'' said quarterback Foster Ridpath, a first-year starter at quarterback as a senior. ``Two years, we had a lot of guys who would have rather been doing something else.''
Now, they'd rather do is go out and show people how tough they are.
Tough like lean junior Larnell Lewis, a running back and linebacker, who is playing with a hand covered in bandages about the size of a small football to protect broken fingers.
Tough like newcomer Elmo Dunbar, a 235-pound package of gristle who arrived from the mountains of West Virginia via the badlands of Oklahoma after the season started. Dunbar immediately earned a starting job at noseguard, where he's already recovered a fumble, scored a touchdown, and made 16 tackles.
Tough like Lewis and associate Jameel Hendricks, who have had crude relief sculptures carved into their muscular arms by means of a red-hot needle. Hendricks' reads ``J-Dog;'' Lewis' ``L-Dog.''
Tough like Ridpath, a converted defensive back who went into last week's game Timesland's sixth-leading passer. He's 23 for 43 (53.4 percent) with three interceptions for 324 yards. Ridpath has had to calm down. Some.
``I have to be wound up on defense,'' he said. ``You can say what you want.''
Ridpath hasn't changed all that much.
``He's still talking trash,'' Lewis said.
Tough like the heart of the blocking formation, juniors Chris Vicars and Kelly Underwood, a collective 514 pounds of steamrolling power.
``Our team may seem like it's big, but it's not,'' Ridpath said. ``But they're the biggest we've got.''
Guys such as Hendricks (5-11, 223), tight end Chuck Hubbard (6 feet, 208), and linebacker Lyle Morton (5-7, 209) aren't exactly petite. Not surprisingly, Lineburg has found plenty for all three to do.
Hendricks is the latest in a long list of oversized fullback-linebacker types at Radford.
As with any team, they come in all sizes at Radford. One is 5-3, 120-pound Tremond Hale, a wide receiver who has averaged 17.8 yards per reception. Lineburg calls him ``Halfman.''
Offensively, Radford has been able to both run and throw. Lewis and sophomore Marlon Wesley have carried most of the overland freight; Eddie Waldron and Hale have been the big-play aerial specialists, catching 12 balls for nearly 200 yards between them.
The defense has been inconsistent, witness the eight points given up to Parry McCluer and Grayson County and the 24 to Powell Valley. The secondary, in particular, has left Lineburg with furrowed brow.
Yet it's hard to complain about a plus-7 turnover ratio, especially since Radford's end consists of exactly one fumble in three games.
``That is pretty good,'' Lineburg was forced to concede.
So's the team, even if everybody isn't as reckless with regard to personal safety as the carved-up Hendricks and Lewis. Underwood nodded at linemate Vicars and indicated neither was going to be standing in line to be tattooed any time soon.
``We already have enough scars,'' he said.
by CNB