South Eugene High School - Eugenean Yearbook (Eugene, OR)

Page 108 text:

Larsen leaps over an Indian Cottage Grove team had beaten a Eugene team, Roseburg looked a bit more hospitable at Hrst, but ruined everything later as they won 2lH-12. The first play of the game saw Kit Miller scamper 67 yards to set up the Axemenls first touchdown. Our blocking seemed particularly effective on this play as one could see a trail of sprawling Indians left in Miller,s path. By re-shuflling the lineup, Coach Loyd Amick came up with a fine passing combination in converted halfback Jim Muhr and end Dave Wetzell. Wetzell managed to get on the receiving end of Muhr's passes five times during the course of the evening. In spite of 35 yards of penalties, the Indians managed to tie the score up at six-all with the first quarter only six minutes old. The second period, also, meant a rash of penalties for the Indians, but as before, they man- aged to push over for another tally. Muhrls passing and the running of Wally Larsen sparked a 59-yard march after halftime. Larsen went over from the one to put us within one touchdown of the visiting Indians. The remainder of the game saw a punting duel between the opposing elevens with Eugene's hopes of victory vanishing in the mist when Muhr was tackled in his own end zone in the last minute of the game. Unfortunately, this was a league game and went down as a blow to the Axemenis title hopes. You can't lose lem all either, because we finally won one! Yes sir! We shot Albany down in flames, as can be seen by the 19-O score racked up by the rapidly improving Axemen. However, winning our first game cost us the services of our fine halfback, Wfally Larsen, who suffered a dislocated elbow after scoring our first touchdown and rousing the Axemen into a winning spirit. After gaining 51 yards in the Axemen's touchdown drive, it was Larsen who banged over from the two to set the Axemen out in front, right where we stayed for the remainder of the contest. After Larsen left the game, fullback Nick Carter and quarterback Jim Muhr carried on the of- fense. Each added a touchdown to the winning cause. The early moments of the second period also saw the Axemen take off for the promised-land once more. This time the drive covered 56 yards in just six plays with the Muhr-Wetzell combination setting the stage for the second tally. Wetzell twice snared passes for long gains, one for 29 yards and the other for 28 yards. Muhr then swept around right end for ll yards and the touchdown. Wetzell hauled in an- other Muhr pass to add the conversion. It was Carter who led the way for the last touchdown, climaxing a 55-yard drive by plunging over from the three. With the taste of victory still fresh in our mouths, the Axemen traveled up north to visit the Hudson,s Bay Eagles. Apparently deciding that this winning bit was one to pursue further, the Axemen punched out three sustained scoring drives to defeat the Eagles 21-14

Page 107 text:

FCOTBALL It might be said that the Axemen experienced in- experience. After the smoke had cleared, the Axemen emerged with a 3-6 record over-all and a l-3 rec- ord in district play. Overlooking these results, Coach Loyd Amick was quick to say that this year's team had shown the greatest amount of steady improve- ment throughout the season than any other team that he had coached. The Axemen's first encounter of the 1958 football season was with Beaverton. Due to the above men- tioned facts, we came out on the short end of a 12-0 score. The game was played in what you might call a tropical downpour, which made the football an object much to be desired by the Axe- men players. We would no sooner get our hands on the ball than it would mysteriously pop out of the hands of our touchdown-bound ball carriers. Things started out with a bang, however, with Gary How- ard's opening kick-off bouncing off the chest of a Beaverton player to be recovered by us on our own 44-yard line. We then proceeded to chew our way to the Beaverton one-yard line. This may be attributed to the running of Jack Calvin, Ken Tuttle, and Dave Hazlitt. But it was there that the hex began, we lost possession of the ball because of the Hrst of our disastrous fumbles. Eugenels touchdown hopes were revived in the last quarter when Wally Larsen rambled 42 yards to the Beaverton 34-yard line. But as before, the ball was lost as the result of a fumble. Next on the schedule was a jaunt down to Klamath Falls where we received a very rude welcome in the form of a l2-7 defeat at the hands of the Pelicans. One bright fact was that we managed to avert a second shutout by scoring our first touchdown of the season. To start the third quarter OH, Jack Calvin returned the kick-off to our own 45 and then ac- counted for 35 yards as the Axemen used 8 plays to reach the enemy'3 8-yard line. Quarterback Ken Tut- tle moved to the 6 on a keeper and then Calvin dashed into the end zone. Gary Howard booted the extra point to complete the scoring. Calvin was the leading ground-gainer in the contest as he covered 59 yards in seven carries. Some days it just doesn't pay to get up! As you might have guessed, I am referring to the morning of September 26, 1958. That night, the equivalent of the Eugene Emeralds beating the New York Yankees took place. The mighty Axemen of South Eugene lost to Cottage Grove by the score of 25 to ah. . . O. I guess it was just the Lions' night to roar as they pretty much ran the show. It was again a case of the elusive oval vs. South Eugene. 'We lost four of those babies! Whenever we did manage to get our hands on the ball for any amount of time, the offense looked quite effective, but all was to no avail as the ball would mysteriously and regularly disappear into the outstretched arms of a Cottage Grove player. This was the Hrst time in many, many moons that a Muhr makes a monkey out of a Miller r - 4 .i

Page 109 text:

in a non-league contest. It was the running of jack Calvin and Nick Carter that provided the Axemen with the material to make the touchdowns. Carter picked up two of the tallies with Calvin throwing the extra one in for good measure. The Axemen were nice enough to wait until the second quarter before start- ing our onslaught into Eagle paydirt. Taking over after the Eagles had driven to the Eugene 3l, the Axemen went 69 yards in 16 tries. Carter then plunged over from the one to chalk up our first touch- down. He then added the frosting to the cake by running the extra point. Later in the same period, Eugene again decided to score, going 80 yards this time in 11 plays, Calvin set up the second tally by running 40 yards to the Eagles three-yard line. Calvin did the honors this time with a three-yard dash. Adding insult to injury, he ran over for the extra point. Carter said that it was his turn next, so in the third quarter, he capped a 67-yard drive by sneaking over from the one. He was nice enough to let Bruce Daggett snag a Muhr pass for the conversion. The Eagles scored both of their touchdowns in the last half. Like I say, uWin a few, lose a few? Well, we lost this one. As you might have guessed, Marshheld did the dirty work. Everything was tried, but to no avail, as the Pirates ground out a convincing 34-0 victory. The valiant Axemen managed to close the fiood gates for a spell in the third quarter which was long VARSITY FOOTBALL SQUAD -4, N fi if r- c-if lpn- gan 1-. 1 -1--fi enough for us to mount our biggest drive of the even- ing. Jim Muhr intercepted a Pirate pass and returned it 37 yards to the Marshfield 40. Three plays later Muhr tossed from punt formation to end Dave Wet- zell for 20 yards, putting the ball on the visitors l5- yard line. However, this was as far as we got. Bitter after going down in defeat at the hands of Marshfield, the Axemen had blood in their eyes as they met the North Bend Bulldogs on the Bulldogs battlefield. Dumbfounding the oddsmakers completely, the Axemen upset favored North Bend to the tune of 14-6. An interesting note is that all of South Eugene's 252 yards were gained on the ground. Half- back Dave Hazlitt turned out to be the man of the hour as he scored both of our touchdowns and added one extra point. Nick Carter racked up the remaining conversion. After the Axemen had driven to the Bull- dog l8, we were stopped on downs. But the Bulldogs fumbled on the Hrst play resulting in an Axeman falling on the loose oval to put us in control again. It was then only a matter of time until we scored with Hazlitt sneaking over from the one-foot line. North Bend was finally allowed to score in the third period, but were denied their extra point by Kit Mil- ler, who did a fine job of blocking the kick. The Axe- men line held the Bulldogs from making a first down on a fourth and two situation, thus making possible a 50-yard touchdown drive. Again it was Hazlitt who scampered over from the two for the final tally. Late Stuart, Bob Nelson. ROW I: John Buflington, Ken Tut tle, Bruce Daggett, Fred Von Appen Bob Reed, Merle Bruce, Steve Wil hite, Kit Miller, John Read, Daw Wetzell. ROW 2: Bob Ferguson Phi Newman, Art Bish, lylelvin 'via thews, Marvin Mathews, Bo Blair Mark McCulloch, Dave Hazlitt J Muhr, Wally Larsen. ROW 3. How ard Egan, Dave Fluke, Nick Carter Barry Rubenstein, Bill Rhoda Gan Stocks, Dave Tobey, Jim White Bot 1