Eliot Shoots Down Winthrop, 23-0; Cabot-North Rings Lowell's Bells

Eliot House football's shotgun offense may not rival that of the Dallas Cowboys, but it accounted for two touchdowns in Eliot's 23-0 blowout of Winthrop House yesterday at Soldiers Field.

In the second game, a confident Cabot-North House squad shut out Lowell House, 17-0, using a potent combination of run and pass.

Cabot-North raised its record to 2-0 and Lowell fell to 0-2, while both Eliot and Winthrop are now 1-1. Coincidentally, all four NFL-conference (the division to which these four squads belong) games have been shutouts.

Eliot drew first blood early in game one when defender Ed Nekritz picked up a Winthrop fumble on the second play from scrimmage--setting up a quarterback sneak into the end zone by Brian Hall. Running back Dan Dowling lifted the score to 8-0 by running the ball in from four yards out for a two-point conversion, the first of two such conversions in the game.

Nekritz wasn't done for the day, however. On Winthrop's next possession, he ended a scoring threat by intercepting John Cullinane's pass on the 4-yd. line and returning it 31 yards.

His pickoff started an Eliot drive up the field that ended in a fumble--one of six turnovers committed by the two teams. But shortly before the half ended, Eliot's shotgun struck gold.

Beginning on his own 29-yd. line, Hall hit Dave Kulick with a pass from the shotgun for a gain of 50 yards. Several plays later, the Eliot q.b. threw from the same formation to flanker Mark Eggert for six more points (and an additional two on the conversion).

In the fourth quarter, everyone at Soldiers Field experienced deja vu, as Hall threw to Eggert for another touchdown out of the shotgun, raising the score to 23-0.

"It was the same play," Eggert said. "They were playing a zone, and their defensive backs covered the wide receiver while I went long with no one on me," the law tutor from Eliot said.

Coverage wasn't Winthrop's only problem. A disorganized Winthrop squad also had difficulty executing such simple tasks as making correct substitutions.

Furthermore, the Winthrop offense stalled or turned the ball over on all of its six possessions. With the exception of a long runback by running back-kick returner Tony Ashby, the Winthrop running game was effectively slowed down by a tough Eliot defense.

Cabot-North, like Eliot, seized control of the ballgame in the early going with a touchdown on its first possession--but unlike the first game's victors, it began the first drive in its own territory.

The running back tandem of Jerry Roper and Tim McMahon, devastating in last week's win over Eliot, led the quick march down the field. Roper capped the drive with a 12-yd. dash into the end zone. An extra-point by Daniel Magaud gave Cabot-North an early 7-0 lead.

Based on the performance of Roper and McMahon last week, and on yesterday's first drive, Cabot-North could have kept on running the ball. But in the second quarter, quarterback Steve Jacobs threw to wide receiver John Zurasky for a 40-yd. gain, down to Lowell's 19-yd. line.

Lowell's defense stood firm, though, so Magaud--playing his first year of football--came in to boot a 25-yd. field goal, boosting the score to 10-0.

In the fourth quarter, Ken Tsunoda replaced Jacobs as the Cabot-North signal-caller and promptly completed a perfect pass to Paul (G.O.) Vallone at Lowell's 4-yd. line. After a Roper touchdown was called back because of a holding penalty, Tsunoda pump-faked, scrambled out of the pocket, and lofted a touchdown pass to Zurasky.

With the 17-0 victory, Cabot-North extended its shutout string to two games.