Madison High School - Cauldron Yearbook (Madison, OH)

Page 16 text:

Eagles Have Trouble Flying Through Madison Line. Opposite Page — Madison fans and players will long re- member the fine condition of the Chardon field . Lower Left — Madison Grid- ders jockey into position to defend receiver. Lower Right — Service Club in action as season opens. Bluestreak Gridders Cop Third in W.R.L. Topple Pirates to Retain Little Brown Jug The season outlook called for a highly rated Blue Streak grid squad to be a strong contender for the Western Reserve League crown. Ironically, the Streaks developed into a strong contender only after dropping a 28-8 league clash to the crown favorite, Fairport. Prior to the contest between the two strong rivals the Streaks had started the sea- 12 son on somewhat shaky terms. A gratifying victory over neighboring rival, Geneva, was short lived. The Streaks were handed a pair of whitewashes and entered the league sea- son on a bad foot. The Madison gridders narrowed the margin in the first half of the Fairport game but lacked sufficient momen- tum to thwart the surging Fairport crew.

Page 18 text:

The Blue Streaks saw only 10 returning lettermen back to anchor any crown hopes. Veterans Tom Carr, Rex Reigert, Ross Rizzo, Rick Ames, Tom Stull, Larry Norris, Keith Beatty, Ken Brown, Ford Behm, and Gordon Miller were back to form the nucleus. Although the overall size was not large, the offensive and defensive lines were the heaviest in a long time bol- stered by some large juniors and seniors. Offensively the Streaks saw jun- ior Chuck Billington elevated to the quarterback slot, the out-look being for an aerial attack. His favorite targets became half-backs Ross Rizzo and Keith Beatty and ends Tom Carr and Ken Brown. The action via the air lanes grew somewhat overshadowed by a devastating ground attack launched mainly by Beatty and Rizzo. Ross ended the season with 673 yards and Keith 915. Keith rolled up 187 yards versus Perry to highlight the season's ground game. Jerry Harrison joined the two halfbacks in the backfield as a fullback. While the squad was sparked by the seniors, added interest came on the performances of many of the underclassmen. Soph- omore Rick Svagerko found him- self a permament member of the starting unit. Dave Pethtel handled the punting chores for Madison while place-kicker Mike Stewart represented the freshman class handling the kick-off duties and attempts at kicked PAT's. Following the loss to Fairport, Madison began to set a pattern of teamwork. A hard earned vic- tory over Jefferson was followed by a crushing win over Kirtland. The Streaks harshly welcomed the Hornets back into the league1. The potential was there and few expected it to erupt as it did against Perry and Harbor. Reten- tion of the Little Brown Jug was a result of the spirited rout of a highly rated Pirate defense. The same type of team effort had first been noted in the opening win over Geneva, 20-0. 14