Watseka High School - Watchekee Yearbook (Watseka, IL)

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Varsity Football Momence .... Milford .... Paxton . . Gilman .... Rantoul . . . Gibson City . . . Hoopeston .... Oakwood . . . We They . . 26 7 . . 89 0 . . 31 6 . . 39 0 0 6 . 0 27 . . 14 21 . . 14 6 On the Gridiron On the evening of September 14, 1956, Wat- seka inaugurated the grid season with the tradi- tional game against Momence, this year played at Momence. The game was highlighted by three sensational touchdown runs accomplished by Larry Harmon with the aid of exceptional block- ing by the VVatseka line. Although failing to score, Denny Harmon ran up some phenomenal yardage. Rounding out the scoring for Watseka was Wayne Roberts with a touchdown and Denny Harmon with two extra points. Final score-Warriors 26, Momence 7. Coming up against an inexperienced and young Milford eleven, the Warriors made full use of the entire squad and tramped the Bearcats 39-O. Scharlach, a quarterback, paced the Warrior attack with 12 points. Also scoring for the Warriors were Larry Harmon, 6 points, Denny Harmon, 7 points, and Warnie Wood and John Roberts with an extra point apiece. Another capable job was turned in by the line. Final score-Warriors 39, Milford 0. The Warriors continued their winning ways against a below average Gilman team. The Har- mon brothers, Larry and Denny, paced the Warrior offensive with two touchdowns for Larry and one for Denny. Wayne Roberts, right end, caught two touchdown passes from the Warrior quarterback, Bob Scharlach. Dick Cast, aggres- sive fullback, charged through the line late in the

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First Row: Paul james, Assistant Coach, Bob Scharlach, Dick Cast, Larry Harmon, Wayne Roberts, Mike O,Neal, Jerry Ferren, John Roberts, Ken Tucker, Randy Floyd, Coach Gordon McKenzie. Second ,Rows jim Gagnon, Manager, Denny Harmon, Paul Van Cleve, Mike Russell, Charles Schroeder, Delbert Dearth, Bob Feller, Denny Fox, Curt Sorenson, Ken Ahlden. Third Row: Terry Raymond, Charles Newman, Dale Decker, Ron Burnside, Mike Willms, Bill Griffith, Dave Voigt, Warnie Wood, Ron Emmert. '

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game for the final tally. john Roberts connected for two points after touchdown. Final score- Warriors 39, Gilman 6. The old familiar story was again repeated as the Warriors were unable to whip their old jinx, Rantoul. The WVarriors were unable to win due to a lack of co-ordination between the line and the backfield. Watseka failed to score but ended the first half with the ball in their possession on the Rantoul two-yard line. The score at the half was 0-0. The second half was a defensive battle except for one lapse in Watseka's defense when the Eagles scored a touchdown on a line plunge of eleven yards. Final score-Warriors 0, Rantoul 6. Although hampered by a mixup in signals and a poor caliber of playing in the first half, the Warriors sprung back in the second half to sub- due a pack of Mustangs from Paxton. The scoring was highlighted with two touchdowns each by Dick Cast and Larry Harmon. Denny Harmon scored one touchdown and john Roberts booted one extra point. Final score-Warriors 31, Pax- ton 6. WCHS's fourth annual homecoming was a gala celebration highlighted with a brilliant victory over a very tough Oakwood eleven. The game was the highpoint of the season and the best wit- nessed by local fans in many a year. It was a hard fought game between two determined teams. The game was marred by injuries to both of the Harmon brothers in the first half. In the second half Dick Cast, in the absence of his scoring partners, took over and led the Warriors to a victory which everyone will remember for a long while. Those forgotten men on the line turned in their supreme effort of the year, highlighted with savage blocking and tackling. Scoring for WVatseka was Denny Harmon with one touchdown, Dick Cast with one touchdown and one extra point, and Kenny Tucker with an extra point. The tragedy of this game was that Denny Harmon was lost to the Warriors for the rest of the season with a broken ankle, and Larry suffered an injured toe. Final score-Warriors 14, Oakwood 7. The Warriors ran up against a brick wall when they encountered a better team by the name of Gibson City. It was a bitter defeat and dashed the conference hopes of the Warriors. A powerful Gibson City machine methodically ran through the Warriors line all night long. Final score- Warriors 0, Gibson City 27. The Warriors rounded out the season by drop- ping a close one to Hoopeston by the score of 21-14. Evidently Watseka thought they had the game in the bag at the half, for in the second half it was a case of the Warriors giving the Gornjerkers points. Scoring for Watseka: Dick Cast, one touch- down on a tremendous 88-yd. run, and Larry Harmon with another touchdown. John Roberts connected for both extra points. Thus ended a satisfactory season over a vastly improved con- ference. Final tally-5 wins, 3 losses. FROSH-SOPHS The NVatseka Freshman-Sophomore team this year compiled a 6-1 record. They scored lopsided victories over all of their opponents, except Hoopeston, to whom they lost by one point. They simply overpowered most of their opponents. Some promising players from the second team are Curt Sorenson, who was moved up to varsity, Everett Lavoie, Dick Rhoades, Larry Donaldson, all backfield men, and Chuck Stone, a promising lineman. Junior lessee, a reliable quarterback, was lost from Watseka service when he moved to Milford at the end of the season. The season also brought out some outstanding efforts from some of the other team members. Watseka has some fine material to draw from for next season.