Navy Goes Nowhere
Defense leads Frogs to win

By Danny Horne
sports editor

Defense was the name of the game Saturday in Annapolis, Md. Neither team was too adept at moving the football on offense, but TCU was the only team that managed any points.

In the Horned Frogs’ 24-0 victory over Navy, TCU’s defense, which is currently ranked second in the nation, held the Midshipmen to 120 total yards, including eight yards passing.

Senior middle linebacker Shannon Brazzell said discipline was the key to stopping the Navy offense.

“You have to be disciplined against this offense,” Brazzell said. “If you don’t blow your keys, you can do what we did today.”

Navy senior quarterback Brian Broadwater returned from a fractured larynx that kept him out against Boston College the week before. He was virtually ineffective, completing just two of three passes for eight yards and rushing for 36 yards on 15 carries. The Navy offense has scored just 26 points this season.

Navy head coach Charlie Weatherbie said his team was never able to get on track.

“We just didn’t seem to have any rhythm,” Weatherbie said. “We have to find a way to make plays on both sides of the ball.”

Sharon M. Steinman/Fort Worth Star-Telegram Senior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson runs for the lone rushing touchdown for the Frogs on Saturday against Navy. Tomlinson ran for 121 yards on 33 carries.

With a struggling offense, Navy needed to play well defensively to stay in the game. The Middies did just that by keying in on senior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson. Before the game, Weatherbie said he wanted to hold Tomlinson to less than 100 yards on the ground.

He was close.

Tomlinson carried the ball 33 times for 121 yards and one touchdown. He averaged 3.7 yards per carry, which is his lowest average of the season.

Tomlinson credited Navy for its effort, but said it became frustrating.

“(Navy) did a great job of getting a lot of people around me,” Tomlinson said. “But eventually, those guys are going to have to back up. I mean, at some point, you have to start thinking about winning the game.”

Navy did manage to slow Tomlinson, but another contributor to the running attack managed to emerge.

unior fullback George Layne had seven carries for 78 yards and also managed a 23-yard touchdown catch that gave TCU a 24-point lead.

“If somebody’s game plan is going to be to just stop him, that opens a lot of holes for other people,” Layne said. “That’s good for all the rest of us. It’s fun.”

Sophomore quarterback Casey Printers took advantage of the focus put upon Tomlinson and the running game by throwing for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He completed a season best 14 of 17 passes.

When referring to dealing with what the defenses give, head coach Dennis Franchione said, “We just scratch where it itches.”

Danny Horne
bravestcu3116@mindspring.com

By Ram Luthra
skiff staff

The TCU men’s and women’s cross country teams provided a mixture of individual and team success Saturday at the 62nd Annual Oklahoma State Jamboree Classic in Stillwater, Okla.

The women’s team, ranked third in the South Central Regional Coaches Poll, captured the team title with 61 points as four individual Horned Frogs placed in the top 15 in the 5000 meters.

“We ran very well in all areas, but this team has a capability to do more,” head coach Dan Waters said. “We want to feed off that success and improve ourselves in time for the Western Athletic Conference Championships and the NCAA Championships.”

Junior Glady’s Keitany captured the individual title as she ran the 5000-meter course in 17:16. With the victory, Keitany has won three consecutive individual titles this season. Keitany is a two-time all-WAC player and was the WAC Newcomer-of-the-Year in 1998.

Special to the Skiff TCU junior Glady’s Keitany runs away from the pack in one of her three individual titles this season. Keitany won the Oklahoma State Jamboree Classic last weekend. She ran the 5,000-meter course in 17:16.

“Glady’s performed very well today,” Waters said. “She is running consistently on a high level and today she demonstrated that she can compete with anyone in the country.”

Following behind Keitany, junior Robin Schacht finished third in the race with a time of 17:58. Schacht has finished second, third and fourth in all three meets she has competed in this season.

The team score of the meet is based on the times of the top five runners. Junior Katie Singleton finished 12th, clocking in at 18:29, freshman Allie Koons finished 15th in 18:36 and junior Georgeanne Biancardi rounded out the pack finishing 34th in 19:16. All three runners finished the race in season-best times.

“Their performance demonstrated the ability to beat top-notch runners,” Waters said. “Their times are reflected upon the competition they raced against; in this case it was good competition if you look at their times.”

The men’s squad, ranked 10th in the South Central Regional Coaches Poll, finished the race 13th with 322 points but got impressive individual efforts by juniors Eliud Njubi and Herbert Mwangi in the 8000 meters.
Njubi finished second in the race in a time of 24:12, only 14 seconds behind the winner. Mwangi ended the race in fourth place, clocking in at 27:24. Mwangi and Njubi are transfers who were members of the Junior College Championship team at Dodge City Community College. Njubi has finished first and second in the two races he has competed this season. Mwangi has finished second and fourth.

“(Njubi and Mwangi) ran on an optimal level against the best runner in the nation, with the likes of Arkansas and Oklahoma State,” Waters said.

Waters said the weekend performance by both the men’s and women’s squad established great respect for the program around both the region and nation and it could be directly reflected in the weekly South Central Regional Coaches Polls.

The men and women will run next at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Invitational on Oct. 14 and some individual runners will compete at the Pre-National Meet in Ames, Iowa the same weekend.

Ram Luthra
r.d.luthra@student.tcu.edu

By Colleen Casey
skiff staff

There were no surprises for the Volley Frogs during their five-game victory against Tulsa on Saturday. TCU knew it needed to play strong all-around to win, and this confidence would prepare them to earn its fifth consecutive victory over the Golden Hurricane.

The win over Tulsa improved TCU’s record to 10-7. The Frogs also maintained their undefeated Western Athletic Conference record, currently 2-0.

Tulsa’s loss marked its first loss at home this season. Overall, the Golden Hurricane fell to 11-3 and 1-3 in WAC play.

“There really weren’t any advantages for either team,” assistant coach Chris Rudiger said. “It was just a matter of who was better at playing their game.”

Head coach Sandy Troudt said she is proud of the way the team played.

“We played relaxed, and we weren’t pressed,” Troudt said. “We won some good games against a strong team.”

Troudt said the senior leadership really shined through, especially in senior outside hitter Bethany Toce. Troudt said Toce was able to show how valuable she is to the team.

Toce played in all five games and had 12 kills and 36 total attacks on the night.

Toce’s fellow senior, outside hitter Amy Atamanczuk, led the team with 21 kills and 20 digs. Atamanczuk is only the third player in school history to record 20 kills and 20 digs in a single match.

Atamanczuk said the team’s confidence drove the team to the win.

“We knew we would win from the start,” Atamanczuk said. “We need to go into every match thinking that way.”

Troudt said the Frogs’ aggressive play was a decisive component of the victory, and the practices before the game helped improve on any weak spots.

“They hit our middle and came on us strong with powerful serving,” Troudt said. “But we were able to bring some improvements to our serving game, and we played really well against them.”

One of the goals of TCU’s defense was to defend against Tulsa senior Kristien Van Lierop, who Troudt said did a nice job with kills. Troudt said Van Lierop was responsible for Tulsa’s persistent comebacks throughout the match.

Although the Frogs started with an early lead in the first game, they weren’t able to hold on, and Tulsa won the first game, 15-11.

The Frogs were able to take the second and third games quickly, as they overpowered Tulsa 15-9 and 15-6.
Troudt said she was pleased with the way the team rebounded during games two and three.

“We showed ourselves that we could win,” Troudt said. “It was a good opportunity for us to get fired up.”

However, the Volley Frogs slowed down their attack as the Golden Hurricane woke up in the fourth game. Tulsa took the fourth game 15-11, overcoming a six-point deficit.

Troudt said junior middle blocker Allison Lynch provided the highlights in the Frog’s victory.

“Ally was the best I’d ever seen her,” Troudt said. “You just can’t beat her stats on the night.”

Although Troudt said she thought the fourth game was a missed opportunity for a win, she said the team recovered for the night’s real highlight, the fifth game, which was a 15-11 TCU victory.

Troudt said she was pleased the team came back to win game five and didn’t succumb to the pressure of the hotly contested deciding game.

“Rallies should be the fun part of the game, and we really had a blast during the fifth game,” Troudt said. “We were really happy to have something to get excited about.”

Colleen Casey
c.m.casey@student.tcu.edu

The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999, 2000 Credits

Contact Us!