He's a game-breaker
By Steve Turcotte
Of the Emerald
Only so often does a player with game
breaking potential wind up on the
Oregon football roster.
This season, though, the Ducks do have
a player of that caliber in the form of Lew
Barnes. On Saturday against Houston at
Autzen Stadium, Barnes displayed some
of his big-play abilities in leading the
Ducks to a 15-14 victory.
Barnes versatility for the Ducks this
season will be a big plus. Against the
Cougars, he did a little bit of everything —
catching passes, returning punts and
blocking.
"Lew Barnes has proven he can make
things happen if we can get the ball in his
hands," Oregon coach Rich Brooks said.
After Houston took a 7-0 lead over
Oregon midway through the second
quarter, Barnes and his Duck offensive
teammates went to work. Taking over at
his own 26-yard line, quarterback Mike
Jorgensnen directed the Ducks on a
74-yard scoring drive.
Along the way, he completed three of
three passes, including the big strike — a
53-yarder to Barnes for a touchdown.
"It was a real good pass,” said Barnes,
who caught four passes on the day for 124
yards. "Right when I made my cut the ball
was there.
"I felt one guy hit me when I went into
the end zone. I knew I would have to
make a good cut after I caught it if I
wanted to get into the end zone."
But that was just the first of three big
plays by Barnes on the afternoon.
The next came late in the third quarter
with the Ducks trailing 14-6.
With 2:12 remaining in the quarter,
Barnes gobbled up a Houston punt at his
own 20 yard line, went from one sideline
to the other and made a 50-yard return to
the Houston 30.
"Really, I started to let it go and not
even bother with the return,” said Barnes.
"But when I first got it, I saw they were
running too deep on the left hand side.
“Everybody got good blocks and that
really got me going. There was just one
guy to beat and I didn't get by him, other
wise I could have gone into the end
zone."
Barnes' return set up the Ducks' second
score of the day — a 27-yard field goal by
Paul Schwabe.
"Lew Barnes on the punt return made
an incredible play," Brooks said. "It's just
too bad we couldn't get a touchdown out
of it."
Barnes' third and final big play of the
game set the Ducks up for the winning
score in the fourth quarter.
On a third and nine play from the
Houston 43 yard line, jorgensen hit him
on what looked to be a routine 18 yard
pass. However, what looked to be routine
turned out to be improbable.
Barnes fumbled the ball at the 25, sen
ding a mad scramble of bodies towards
the ball. Oregon's Kevin McCall tried to
pick it up, but couldn't. His momentum
sent the ball forward until Oregon tight
end Doug Herman fell on it at the two
yard line.
"The pass on the play was right on the
dot, but it just got knocked out of my
arms," said Barnes.
Ever since his arrival from San Diego
Mesa Junior College last spring, Brooks
has been counting on Barnes' ability to
make the big play and keep Oregon in
football games. A look at his statistics
shows the junior has not let Brooks down.
Barnes is near the top in the Pac-10 in
punt returns and receiving average. He
has returned eight punts for a 13-yard
average with a long of 50 yards. In addi
tion, he has caught 10 passes — second
best on the team — for 213 yards and a
21.3 average and a touchdown.
"It really feels good to be able to con
tribute to help the team to win," Barnes
said. "It's good to know I put in my part."
If the Houston game is any indication of
Barnes' talents on the football field, the JC
transfer may play a role in more than one
Duck victory this season.
Photo by Dave Kao
Lew Barnes is off to the races after catching pass from Mike Jorgensen. He
cruised 53 yards for Oregon's first TD against Houston.
Jim Hill strains for the finish line at the Carrie Franklin Memorial
Classic.
Hill shines in opener
By Rich Skeen
Of the fmfrild
jim Hill, Oregon's track and
cross country All-American, open
ed Oregon's men's cross country
season with an impressive win at
the Carrie Franklin Memorial
Classic at Lane Community Col
lege Saturday.
Hill, who won this same race
last year, broke away at the
halfway point to win the
10,000-meter race in a time of
29:45.3. Mike Blackmore was the
next Duck to finish, placing fifth
with a time of 30:45.
Despite the victory, Hill was not
happy with his race.
"We've only been working a
week and a half," said Hill, "I've
got a long way to go."
Other high placing Ducks in
cluded Dan Nelson, who finished
sixth, Harold Kuphaldt, who plac
ed seventh, Dub Myers, who
claimed 16th, and Matt McGuirk,
who ended up 19th. All four run
ners ran unattached in the non
scoring meet.
Duck coach Bill Dellinger didn't
feel the results of the meet helped
him indicate how good the Ducks
will be this year.
"It's kind of hard to tell what we
have from this,” said Dellinger.
The Duck coach noted that four
top Oregon runners — Brad Simp
son, Vance Blow, Chris Hamilton
and John Zishka — did not com
pete in Saturday's meet.
Dellinger has indicated all
through preseason that he will
use the first three meets of the
season to find his most com
petitive team.
"We'll see if any of our
sophomores can break into the
lineup in our first three meets
when they run unattached," Dell
inger said. "If they can't, we'll red
shirt them."
Had the meet been scored, the
runners representing the Ducks
would have been beaten by
Oregon State. But at this point of
the season, Dellinger is not con
cerned about team scores.
The Ducks' next meet is the
Oregon Invitational Oct. 8 at
Tokatee Golf Club.
Easterly quits
business post;
no substitute set
Mike Easterly, business
manager of the Oregon athletic
department, announced last week
that he has resigned from his post
effective at the end of this month.
"I just thought that things could
be managed more efficiently
without me in the future,” said
Easterly, who will remain here in a
consultory capacity through the
end of the year. He was appointed
athletics business manager in
1981.
Athletic Director Rick Bay said
the department will first decide
how to fill Easterly's position, then
consider whether to hire a
successor.
"I'm not sure if we'll hire so
meone else or find someone
within the department to act in a
dual capacity," Bay said.
Before coming to Oregon,
Easterly spent nine years gaining
business management experience
at Columbia University in New
York.
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