Quincy Nabs House Football Title

By the time Quincy House Master David Aloian '49 trotted onto the field, it was all academic.

With 38 seconds left in the House football championship game yesterday at Soldiers Field, the Q-House gridders already had more than enough points on the board to hold off the Eliot 11.

And although Quincy's aging placekicker missed his PAT attempt, his undefeated charges nonetheless blanked Eliot, 8-0, to cop the intramural title.

The red and gold Quincy wave rolled but never broke open the game against a gutsy Eliot squad. For the first three quarters of play the Q-manoids consistently drove to within striking distance without scoring, frustrating the 100 or so fans--most of them Quincy supporters--gathered on the sidelines.

The aerial combination of Quincy QB Ron Kind and all-purpose back T.J. Andre worked consistently in the first half, with Andre hauling in a number of key tosses to negate a strong Eliot defense.

Running back Jay McNamara did the bulk of the ground work for Quincy, and when Andre capped off a strong Q-House drive with a diving endzone catch early in the second quarter, it looked as though the Red and Gold would take an early lead.

A holding penalty nullified the score, however, so Quincy regrouped and tried again. But this time the stingy Eliot defense--which has anchored the 2-2 squad all season long--responded by stopping Quincy on downs at the 17.

After moving backwards three yards on three plays, however, Eliot was forced to punt. Three plays later, the charitable Quincy squad fumbled the ball back to its opponents.

Eliot House had the next turn in this game of gridiron hot potato, so on his first play from scrimmage quarterback Brian Hall--who admittedly did not have "a very good passing day"--lofted a bomb into the hands of Andre, who doubled as the Quincy safety. He returned the ball to his own 45, and the Q-House offense took the field with less than a minute left in the half.

Kind, aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty, drove his team down the field with completions to Andre and McNamara. Quincy lined up for a 30-yard field goal three seconds before halftime, but Eliot jumped offsides to get Quincy five yards closer.

Field general Kind then elected to go for six from the Eliot eight, but his bootleg run was stopped cold as time ran out on the first stanza.

Eliot took the second-half kickoff, and hard-nosed running back Mickey Voltz spear headed a strong offensive drive. But Voltz & Co. only got as far as the Quincy 45, where Hall fumbled the ball into the waiting arms of a swarming Quincy defensive line.

McNamara and shifty running back Adam Gorgoni led a grinding Quincy House series, which took only seven plays to bring the ball to the Eliot 27.

Turnovers were the order of the day, however, and this time Gorgoni was the goat, coughing up the ball to Kurt Chapman.

But Gorgoni went from goat to hero in a hurry. The Eliot offense was stymied on three plays, and with Chapman deep in his own end zone to punt, Gorgoni was ready to rush.

"They put a small guy on me," Gorgoni said after the game.

Big mistake.

Gorgoni took full advantage of the mismatch, sprinting in virtually untouched and blocking Chapman's punt through the end zone for a two-point safety.

Quincy got the ball back, and McNamara and Gorgoni alternated cutting through the Eliot defense. They delivered the ball to within 21 yards of paydirt with four minutes left in the game.

But Kind was kind to the Eliot squad, allowing a pair of defensive tackles to smash through the line and deflect a pass just as it left his hands.

Suprised Eliot defensive lineman Fran Duggan watched the ball fall into his arms, and Eliot had new life.

The first 20 yards were easy for the Eliot offense. But the drive stalled on the 41 after Hall threw a pair of incompletions.

Facing fourth and 11 with only 2:40 remaining, Eliot went for broke. Hall overthrew his Hall Mary attempt, however, and Quincy House took over, needing only to run out the clock to clinch the intramural crown.

Q-world did much more than that. Kind varied his cadence to consistently draw Eliot offsides, and effective running plays helped move the ball to the Eliot 25 with under a minute remaining.

Tidying Up

A McNamara sweep brought Quincy 10 yards closer, and a personal foul tacked onto that gave the Q-House 11 a first and goal from the eight.

McNamara then went off tackle and easily sprinted into the end zone to clinch the Quincy victory.

Leading 8-0, Aloian--who hadn't suited up in four years--attempted the extra point, but his kick was wide to the left.

"I wanted that one in the worst way," the champagne-drenched Aloian said after the game, "but I shanked it."

Quincy goes on to face the Yale intramural champion before the varsity showdown on November 21.