Victories Elude Miners In a season that saw a little of everything, one thing that did not h appen for the UMR football team was a Miner victory. It was only the third time in school history that a UMR football team concluded a winless season. The 0- 10 year lengthened the nation's longest losing streak to 19 games, extending the school record. But despite the apparently poor performance, there were quite a few good things that h appened along the way. The Miners were on the verge of victories in six of the losses, but failed to execute the necessary plays to pull off the victories. For example, the Miners led in the fourth qu arter 17- 14 over both Northeast Missouri State a nd Southeast Missouri State (the MIAA's second and third place teams, respectively) but carne up shorthanded in both games. In addition to these key chances, honors bestowed on team members proved to be uplifting. Two juniors, linebacker Mike Swinford and offensive guard Todd
Young, and senior defensive end Mike Chandler were named to the MIAAAll-Conference second team. Anotherjunior, defensive back Mark Diamond, made third team as defensive back. Diamond and fellow defensive back Don Huff also earned Academic All-District Honors for District 7, also making them eligible for Academic All-American Honors. Besides the outstanding efforts of these players, the performance of certain other individuals also provided bright spots. Although he left for personal reasons eight games into the season, running back Vincent Banks fmished among the nation's leaders in punt returning. Others who had a solid year included sophomore running back Rick Henry, the team's leading rusher with 464 yards; senior linebacker Mike Noble; junior defensive lineman Kevin Riggs; soph omore wide receiver Chris Alverson; and senior offensive linemen BillJohnson and Dave Christensen.
-- Courtesy of UMR Athletic Department and John Kean
UMR Foot ball: First Row : Bill Johnson. Todd Parks. Dave Christensen. Mike Swinford, Mike Noble, Dan Herzberg, Kevin Riggs. Tom Oberle, Chad Hamilton. Jarret Dace. Mlke Chandler. Jason lllum, Gary Gibbs. Mike Moran, Jason Huelsing, and Art Matthews. Secon d Row: Chris Kennedy. Mark Wojtal. Eric Crumpecker, Anthony Hudson. Shawn O'Donnell, Chris Long. Brian Sitton, Todd Young. Rob Noble, Chris Overton, Rob Hribar. Tom Sullivan, Chris Alverson. Malcolm Thompson. Mlke Wise. Craig Sorensen, and Reil Barron. Third Row: VIncent Banks, Greg Brown. Pat Risner. Brett Goodman. Greg Dennis, Mark Diamond. Don Huff. Tom Hasenstab. Malt Schwent. Barry Almond. Tom DeGonJa. Clint Couse. Rob Graves. Jeff Buss. Kevin Hug. Fred Finley. and Carlos Cain. Fourth Row: Todd Althoff. Jason Lewis. Stacey Ward, Ed Button. Kurt Daniels. Doug Fulton. John Whitworth. Robert Ives. Curt Courtney. Brad Flavans. Joe Galley. Randy Russell, J ason Crawford, Lemont Chambliss. J.R. Smith, Don Newbeny, and Rick Henry. Fifth Row: Asst. Coach Jeff Stephens. Student Asst. Tom Minnick. Student Asst. Carl Roth. Asst. Coach Joe Keeton. Student Asst. Ron Tyson, Asst. Coach Travis Boulware. and Head Coach CharlJe Finley. Photo by Jason McHaney. 144 ~