Evening star., 1961-11-01
West Virginia
To Show CIV
Rising Club
Victory Over Army
Proving Ground
For Mountuineers
By DICK SLAY
Star Staff Writer

The turning point in West
Virginia's football season, ac-
cording to the folks in Morgan
town, came in the last minute
Of the first half at Syracuse.
With the Mountaineers down,
21-0, Halfback Jim Moss inter-
cepted a Syracuse pass and ran
81 yards for a touchdown. West
Virginia scored again and the
game stayed at 21-14 for much
Of the fourth quarter, before
the Orange picked off a desper-
alton pass and wound up a 29-
IA winner.
1t was West Virginia's 18th
straight game without victory
including a pair of ties-but
Gene Corum. the patient coach,
foreSaw an end to that situa-
ton.
A $50 triumph over rival
Virginia Tech the next week
didn't surprise anyone close to
the Mountaineers team. Then
came the conquest of Pitts
burgh. 20-6; the 1875 surprise
loss to Boston University and
last weeks sumner, 7-3, over
Army.
Identical Records
That leaves a 3-4 record 60
ing into their invasion of D. C.
Stadium this Saturday, the
same as host George Washing
ton, but there's a vast differ
ence in comparative histories.
The game at Boston U. two
weeks ago was no fluke, as the
Terriers demonstrated here
last week in the 20-6 win over
G. w. West Virginia fumbled
over the goal to lose one touch
down, was on the one-yard line
at the finish and had a very
slight edge in statistics, but
lost.
The Pitt victory could have
been 40-6, or higher. The
Mountain Men were stopped
three times inside the 10, and
a 46-yard punt return by Moss
for an apparent score was
called back for a penalty.
West Virginia's three VIC
tories were so impressive that
on all three occasions one OF
its backs was selected Southern
Conference player of the week
Quarterback Fred Coward won
the honor for his performance
against VPI. and Roger Holdin-
sky. currently behind Moss at
left halfback, got the nod for
scoring twice in the third quar-
ter against Pittsburgh.
Outrushes Army Team
The week the honor goes to
Fullback Glenn HoIton, like
Coward a sophomore, who out
rushed the whole Army team,
121 yards to 104, after gaining
a mere 134 yards in his first
six games.
Holton is a rangy 6-foot-2
strong and a hard worker,
losing some is pounds down
to about 100 since the start
of season. He was considered
such a whale of a prospect
that, although he hadn't yet
played a varsity game, he
shared the cover picture with
Holdinsky on the schools foot
ball brochure.
West Virginians are boaSting
they did something at Army
that few teams have ever ac-
complished-Shutting up the
Cadet Corps while the visiting
team calls signals.
Quieting the Uproar
Corum played in West Vir-
ginia's 7-6 loss in 1941 and the
1910 setback to the Davis
Blanchard team in 1916, both
at West Point, and recalled
that he couldn't hear the quar-
terback count off for the noise.
So before the game last week
Corum asked the officials about
it and was assured that the
rule allowing a team to hear
its own signals would be up
held.
After the first three plays,
amid a deafening roar from
the stands, it was announced
that another occurrence would
bring a l5-yard penalty against
Army.
The crowd quieted and West
Virginia was buoyed by the
gesture. Moss fumbled the Sec
ond-half kickoff to set UP
Army's 40-yard field goal, but
not long afterward Corum's
boys got a break-a wild center
snap to the Army punter back
on the l3-yard line - and
Holton scored from the nine
fn,. tho oY1lyy %o,,oL la,,.-