University of Virginia Library

wahoos scalp indians, 28-15

Helman has four tds
gains 148 yards

photo by bob gill

fullback gary helman bulls through line for some of 148 yards he gained against indians

Spurred on by the running
heroics of Gary Helman, Jim Lacey
and an unyielding defense led by
Paul Reid, Virginia overcame a
spirited William and Mary effort
and walked away with a 28-15
victory Saturday in Williamsburg.
The cocky Cavaliers almost blew
the game in the initial half when
penalties, fumbles and a lapse in the
defensive secondary resulted in a
7-7 tie. But the mistakes subsided
long enough in the third period for
the Wahoos to mount an
insurmountable 21-7 lead and spoil
the Indians' home debut.

Gary Helman, a second-year
man from Pennsylvanian, tallied all
four Virginia touchdowns to tie an
ACC record. He also rushed 37
times for 148 yards to tie Wahoo
great Johny Papit's school record
set in '49. Lacey, the other half of
Virginia's explosive second-year
tandem, carried 17 times for 93
yards and set up the go ahead
touchdown with a scintillating 29
yard run, the game's longest.

Reid led a stunting, red-dogging
defense with eleven tackles and one
assist.

Things did not begin at all well
for the Cavaliers. After losing the
toss and then ten yards on
infractions the Wahoos kicked off
and the tribe's Dennis Cambel
returned the ball to the 37. On the
very first play from scrimmage,
which went for no gain, the
Cavaliers' highly touted Tom
Patton was lost for the game when
he reinjured a hip pointer he had
received in the Duke game.

The Indians were forced to punt
and Bob Kelly returned the ball to
Virginia's 40. But on the first play
quarterback Danny Fassio pitched
out poorly to Lacey, who fumbled,
on an end sweep and W&M's Steve
Howard alertly pounced on the
ball.

These miscues set the pattern of
frustration for the Cavaliers as key
penalties and a costly fumble
prevented Virginia from scoring but
once in the first half. That score
came in the second period when
Fassio engineered a 48 yard, ten
play march. Helman bulled his way
across with 10:57 left in first and
goal. Jim Carrington booted the
extra point for a 7-0 lead.

Rookie Coach Lou Holtz's
Indians knotted the count with two
seconds left before halftime. Wes
Meeteer, a quarterback Holtz
employed as a halfback like Coach
Blackburn used to employ Bob
Davis and Tom Hodges, received a
short pass from Jimmy Laycock
along the left side line and simply
ran through the lone Wahoo
defender, Bob Rannigan, for the
score. After the tying PAT the
jubilant Indians recovered an
onsides kick, for posterity's sake.

George Blackburn must have
had some powerful words of
wisdom during the intermission for
the Cavaliers came out full of fire
and fury.

Virginia took the second half
kick-off and steadily marched 66
yards to pay dirt. With Lacey
carrying twice for 34 yards and
Helman seven times for 31, the
Wahoos scored with 11:31 left in
the period. Helman bulled his way
over from the two and Carrington
added his second of four
conversions for the 14-7 margin.

In the next three series of downs
penalties bedeviled the Cavaliers
and the Indians were held to no
gain. But on Virginia's next down
Fassio hit Bobby Bischoff on a
tight cross pattern for 20 yards to
the W&M 32. With Helman making
the yardage the Wahoos pushed to
the Indian seven where Helman fumbled
and the tribe's John Bilbo
recovered to stymie another scoring
threat.

But William and Mary could

only gain one yard and were forced
to punt to their own 43 from where
it took Helman, Lacey, and Fassio
only eight plays to score. Helman
burst over right tackle from the
two for the six-pointer. With 1:18
left in the quarter Carrington
converted to give Virginia a 14
point lead.

Then, with Mike Cubbage taking
snaps and drilling passes on the
sidelines, the tribe's Laycock began
threading the needle with his passes
and moved his team 78 yards in ten
plays to Virginia's ten yard line.
Tribe mentor Holtz opportunely
substituted Meeteer for Laycock,
and after a three yard gain, Meeteer
rolled out to the right, faked and
tossed a TD aerial to John Hibbs,
who was all alone in the end zone.

A Laycick-to-Hibbs combination
to the left also netted a two point
con version and suddenly the
partisan Cary Field crowd of
14,000 came alive.

Virginia took the ensuing
kick-off and marched to the Indian
seven, where Lacey fumbled the
ball away to W&M's Tom Duffey.

The tribe could not take
advantage of the opportunity, and
began a series of jockeying for
position through punts. They
wound up with the ball on their
own 37, mostly due to Meeter's
running ability. But Virginia's
defense rose to the occasion as
Meeter threw an incomplete pass,
and them was thrown by Al
Sinesky and company for
consecutive losses of nine, ten, and
13 yards to give the ball over on
downs at the six.

It took two plays for Helman to
tally his fourth touchdown, again
over right tackle.