Alumni and Friends of VMI:
Cyber Corps Numbers: 507
VMI Football: Closer but no cigar.
VMI remains mired deep in cellar's market / Keydets
can't handle lowly Wofford
WOFFORD 42 VMI 20
Sunday, October 11, 1998
BY SEAN RYAN
Times-Dispatch Correspondent
LEXINGTON -- For the first time in a month, Virginia Military
Institute
appeared to be playing on an even field with its opponent.
After dropping the past four
games to four ranked teams by an average margin of 44-10, the
Keydets
welcomed Wofford, their fellow Southern Conference
cellar-dwellers, for
a date at Alumni Memorial Field.
The result was much the same.
The Terriers, behind 327 yards rushing, handed VMI its 17th
consecutive
Division I loss with a 42-20 beating before a crowd of 6,541.
"It's very disappointing because regardless of what people
think, we
think we can win every game," Keydets receiver Teray Frost
said. "This
hurts -- especially when you lose a game we could have won. I
know we
could have won that game."
Early VMI ineptness prevented that.
After the Keydets took a 3-0 lead on Mike Harris' 34-yard field
goal on
their first possession, they were held without a first down the
rest of
the first half.
The Terriers (1-3 Southern Conference, 2-3) mustered only 47
yards in
the first quarter but got a lift from backup quarterback Travis
Wilson
entering the second. Wilson directed Wofford's option-based
running game
to three consecutive scores and a 21-3 lead at the midway point.
"We left our defense on the field entirely too long in the
first half,"
Keydets coach Ted Cain said. "You have to look at
yourselves. We have to
do a much better job of getting this team ready to play."
Wilson hit Bryan Davis with a 36-yard pass play that set up Tony
Hudson's touchdown run for the Terriers' first score. Wilson and
Davis,
who quarterbacked Wofford to a 23-13 come-from-behind win against
the
Keydets last year, tag-teamed to set up score No. 2 when they
converted
a fourth and 4 from the VMI 22 with a 10-yard completion. The
Terriers
converted again on fourth down the next series from the 5, and
two plays
later, Miles Lane scored the first of his three TDs. Wofford was
4 for 5
on fourth down.
"Before the game, he [Wofford coach Mike Ayers] said if it's
fourth and
10 on our 2, we're going for it," said Davis, who added a
35-yard TD
catch in the second half. "We're just a better team when we
attack. When
we're passive, we lose."
The Keydets, whose only win came against Division II
Lenoir-Rhyne, did
most of the attacking to start the second half.
VMI backup QB Aaron Mitchell, who replaced former Lee-Davis
standout
Robbie Chenault after the Keydets' 68-yard first quarter, settled
down
after Davis' score made the score 28-3. He hit Frost in stride on
a
hitch-and-go for a 69-yard TD -- the second-longest pass play for
VMI
this decade -- to get the Keydets to 28-10. His 21-yard strike to
tight
end Tom Boyer (Douglas Freeman High) made the score 35-17.
"I started calming down," said Mitchell, whose 264
yards were the most
by a VMI QB since Tony Scales threw for 284 yards against
Marshall in
1992. "I have faith in my line. I'm going to sit back and
try to pick
them apart."
Another Harris field goal gave the
Keydets hope, trailing 35-20 with 10:22 to play. But VMI went
three-and-out on its next possession, and Carl Wright sealed the
game
with a late score.
"I felt we started to put it together," said Andre
Curtis, who
registered a career-high 23 tackles.
After being outgained 209-80 in the first half, the Keydets
netted 203
yards to Wofford's 199 in the second half and looked better than
a team
0-4 in the conference and 1-5 overall.
"We scared them," Frost said. "We came out hard at
them. We pounded them
for a while. They knew we could beat them."
Wofford··············0 21 14 7 -- 42
VMI···················3 0 7 10 -- 20
First Quarter
VMI -- FG Harris 34, 12:09
Second Quarter
Wof -- Hudson 4 run (Martin kick), 12:55
Wof -- Lane 4 run (Martin kick), 6:24
Wof -- Lane 2 run (Martin kick), 3:14
Third Quarter
Wof -- Davis 35 pass from Thompson (Martin kick), 12:20
VMI -- Frost 69 pass from Mitchell (Harris kick), 8:04
Wof -- Lane 3 run (Martin kick), 3:55
Fourth Quarter
VMI -- Boyer 21 pass from Mitchell (Harris kick), 14:29
VMI -- FG Harris 35, 10:22
Wof -- Wright 1 run (Martin kick), :58
A -- 6,541.
Wof VMI
First downs························· 21
12
Rushes-yards·························
77-345 26-76
Passing yards·························
81 312
Passes························· 3-4-0
12-28-2
Return yards························· 61
15
Punts-avg.························· 5-34
5-35
Fumbles-lost·························
2-0 2-1
Penalties-yards························
7-59 6-61
Time of possession················ 39:02 20:58
Redshirts?: In the last couple weeks I've had a
couple folks ask me why VMI doesn't redshirt its rat football
players. Not that I'm the authority on VMI football or anything,
but I decided to ask around. Seems that VMI does redshirt some of
the rat players and has done so for a number of years. It does
not, however, house fifth year seniors outside of barracks like
I've heard is done at some other places (Citadel??). If anyone
can provide further clarification, I'd appreciate it.
Hazing Update: Here is the status of the hazing
incident involving three VMI cadets.
Judge rules 3 cadets should stand trial /
Virginia's anti-hazing law not too vague, jurist finds
Friday, October 9, 1998
BY REX BOWMAN
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Three Virginia Military Institute cadets could become the first
college
students in memory to be prosecuted under the state's anti-hazing
statute after a Rockbridge County judge used an unabridged
dictionary to
determine the law is not too vague.
Circuit Judge George E. Honts III, responding to a defense
attorney's
complaint that Virginia law does not properly define hazing,
conceded
the decades-old statute is "unartfully written," but
said a person of
average intelligence could catch the law's drift.
The cadets should stand trial, he ruled. In his six-page ruling
mailed
to attorneys this week, Honts said he couldn't find a clear
definition
of the word "hazing" in the dictionary generally used
by the court,
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, but he found a legally
adequate
interpretation in an unabridged volume, Webster's Third New
International Dictionary.
That dictionary defines the word haze as "to intimidate by
physical
punishment."
Defense attorney Tommy Spencer of Lexington was vexed by the
judge's
ruling, arguing that Hont's reliance on an unabridged dictionary
proves
that the term, and consequently the statute itself, is only
vaguely
understood.
"If we've got to go to an unabridged dictionary to find a
definition
that works, [do] we expect the average man of average
intelligence to
track down unabridged dictionaries to understand?" Spencer
said.
Spencer's clients are accused of hazing George Wade Jr. of
Henrico
County last year by striking him on the buttocks with
coat-hangers and
belts. The three cadets, who were
suspended, are Jonathan Gonzales of Mechanicsville, Thomas
Michael
Upshaw of Caroline County and Charles Travers Clemons of
Richmond.
Honts not only rejected Spencer's claim that the 70-year-old
statue is
vague, but also shot down the argument that the law gives undue
power to
the presidents of Virginia colleges. The anti-hazing law has
generally
been interpreted to mean that university presidents -- in VMI's
case,
Superintendent Josiah Bunting III -- must first determine that a
hazing
has occurred before a prosecutor can bring charges.
Spencer argued that the law unconstitutionally usurps the power
of
commonwealth's attorneys.
Honts, though, replied that the issue is not important unless the
commonwealth's attorney complains. Honts also noted that, in this
case,
Bunting never issued a finding of hazing: Special prosecutor
Michael
Irvine of Buena
Vista took up the case only after Wade's parents complained.
Spencer's third major argument, that the three VMI cadets are
being
unfairly singled out, also went nowhere with Honts.
The judge noted that his law clerk, along with Spencer's and
Irvine's
offices, failed to find a single instance of anyone ever being
prosecuted under the anti-hazing law; but he added that
"infrequency of
use of a statutory tool does not equate to selectiveness in
prosecution."
Spencer disagreed: "If I had a client charged with adultery,
I'd
certainly argue that he's been singled out, since no one has been
charged with adultery for years."
In 1993, a Virginia Tech senior was charged with hazing, a
misdemeanor,
but was not prosecuted on the charge. In a deal with prosecutors,
he
pleaded guilty to trespassing and four counts of providing
alcohol to
minors.
No trial date has been set for the three VMI cadets.
The Revised Breakout A Done Deal? Maybe Not: I
hear that the proposed march to New Market may have run into some
logisitical problems. Specifically, what to do about the athletes
that would need to be excused? Also, would everyone be physically
able to make an 80 mile march over four days? That's a pretty
daunting task even for the most physically fit. Stay tuned. More
later.
Rooming Arrangements: As usual the rats are
rooming by company. However, it seems that the thirds are also
rooming by company. From what I hear the seconds, thirds and rats
will be rooming by company next year. Seems the firsts will
always have the option to room with others outside their
respective company. Interesting.
That's it for this week.
Yours in the Spirit,
RB Lane '75
Last Updated: October 11, 2009
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