Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Week seven in Ross football history....1961

ROSS 20, LORAIN SENIOR 14

Week seven of the 1961 football season saw head coach Mal Mackey and his Little Giants make the road trip to Lorain to take on the Steelmen of Lorain Senior at George Daniel Stadium. The state-ranked Little Giants had their hands full with the Gold and Brown Steelmen before winning 20-14. Mackey felt his charges were looking ahead to a league-title showdown the following week with then-powerful Marion Harding.

Junior back Jack Ziemke and Senior quarterback Guy Nufer led the purple and white to a 20-8 lead over Lorain in the first two quarters. Ziemke had a 53 yard run in the first quarter to put the Little Giants in business at the Steelmen 26. The Ross junior put the ball in the endzone from four yards out six plays later. The two point PAT was good and the Fremonters led 8-0 with 4:01 left in the first quarter.

Lorain looked as though they would strike back with a drive deep into Little Giant territory. The Steelmen bulled their way to the Ross 18 yard line. The key play in the drive was a 50 yard pass from QB Chick Breeden to Dave Van Tresca. The Steelers pushed the ball to the Ross 12 where Little Giant defender Jay Mackey snuffed out the threat by falling on a Lorain fumble.

The next Little Giant drive was 88 yards that started in the first quarter and rolled on into the second. The key plays in the drive were a 15 yard Nufer pass to end Russ Sale and a 42 yard Ziemke TD run to put the purple and white up 14-0.

The Steelers got on the board quickly after that when Breeden took the Jerome Brudzinski kickoff back 81 yards for a TD. The two point PAT was good and Lorain trailed 14-8.

Ross answered the Steeler score with a 70 yard drive that was capped by Larry Kelly bulling his way over from the four. The PAT was no good and the Little Giants went into the locker room at the half up 20-8.

The Steelmen controlled the game in the second half with the highlight being a 75 yard drive. The drive was capped by a Fred Wilson score from within the one on a fourth down play. The PAT was no good and Ross led 20-14.

For the night Ziemke had 191 yards on 19 carries. The win put the Little Giants in line to win their first Buckeye Conference crown since 1957. Ross was 4-0 in the league and 6-1 overall. The Little Giant would face Marion Harding the following week for the BC crown.

No comments:

Post a Comment