Sunday, September 26, 1999

The 'Berg flattens Hiram

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

What a debut for Brian Frank as the starting quarterback for Heidelberg College.

Frank, a graduate of Calvert High School and sophomore at the 'Berg, threw for a school record-tying five touchdowns in a 50-6 romp past Hiram College at National Field at Frost-Kalnow Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The 6-1, 195-pound Frank, who had played just sparingly in the first two Heidelberg games, both losses, completed 10 of 16 passes for 209 yards and suffered two interceptions. His five touchdown passes tied the school record set by senior Reid Geibel, who accomplished the feat in 1997 during a 52-37 win against Marietta College.

"I was real anxious and nervous when I first got out there," said Frank. "The coaches had a game plan that they knew I would be comfortable with. We ran a lot of plays which I had worked on quite a bit in practice so I really was pretty comfortable with them."

Frank, who was 5 of 9 for 49 yards and one interception coming into the game, completed his first four passes of the game before being intercepted. He came back with two more completions before his next incompletion with just under 14 minutes remaining in the first half.

His first two completions went to junior wideout Steve Reser, also a Calvert graduate. They hooked up for 20 yards on a second and 11 from the Hiram 33. Three plays later, he found Reser for 10 yards over the middle for a touchdown at the 11:51 mark. John Woolridge added the conversion and the 'Berg took a 7-0 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

"It felt good to connect with Steve the first couple throws," said Frank. "It felt pretty comfortable throwing to him, because we worked out a lot over the summer. I thought all the guys ran great routes to get open and the guys up front were giving me the time I needed to find a receiver."

Reser finished with 4 receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown.

"Brian did a real good job in his first start," said Heidelberg second-year mentor Larry Shank. "He's a very confident young man. We've been saying all along that someone needed to step up from the quarterback position and take charge of the team. Brian got his chance today and stepped up and did a very nice job for us."

Heidelberg, 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, reached the red zone on its first five possessions and came away with points on four of them.

Their second possession of the game ended with an interception by Hiram's Brian Rafferty at the goalline, which he brought it out to the Terriers' 22-yard line.

But, the 'Berg answered with scores on their next three possessions.

Woolridge split the uprights for a 26-yard field goal with just 46 seconds to go in the first period as the 'Berg pushed the lead to 10-0.

After a Hiram fumble, the 'Berg took six plays to go 21 yards with senior Jeff Brock hauling in a 3-yard pass from Frank to cap it off with 13:21 left in the half.

The 'Berg took over following a Hiram punt and it took just three plays to reach paydirt again. After a pair of incompletions, Frank found Chad Intihar streaking over the middle and he hit him in stride despite getting hit by a Hiram defender as he released the ball. The result was a 66-yard scoring strike.

The 'Berg would add one more score before halftime, and it came in quick fashion. Frank found James Denegall in a crowd and the junior wideout streaked to the end zone for a 58-yard scoring play as the lead went to 29-0 with just 2:34 left before intermission.

"I didn't want to put a lot of pressure on Brian early," said Shank. "We were hoping to establish Brock early with our running game because we've been running the ball pretty good. Brian completed a couple early and we were able to build momentum off it. We were just trying to take what they (Hiram) would give us."

Denegall had three receptions for 75 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Intihar had two for 79 and a score, Jake Moore caught two for 22, Zach Scuderi caught one for nine and Brock, who also had 102 yards on 25 carries, caught one for three yards.

"The receivers did a very good job. We've got a nice bunch of receivers. They're quick and they put pressure on people. Reser just did a tremendous job. They're good blockers in addition to running great routes," said Shank. "I'm sure Hiram came in with the idea of taking away our split end run so we went to the tight end run and (Joe) Craddock and Moore (Hopewell-Loudon graduate) really did a nice job along with guard (Sam) Almazan.

"Defensively, they played together as a unit and that's something we needed. We've been playing as individuals and today we played as a unit. We needed a win right now," said Shank.

Heidelberg added a pair of scores in the third quarter as Denegall scored on a 10-yard pass from Frank and Kelly Rapp scored on a 4-yard run to push the lead to 43-0.

Hiram, 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the OAC, got on the board with 2:42 to go in the third quarter on a 33-yard pass from Mike Sandy to Joe Datchuk.

The 'Berg added a final score just five seconds into the fourth period on a 4-yard run by Kyle Gibson.