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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 762056, member: 289"] THE GAME A crowd of 49,287, (including 8,000 boy scouts), the most that had ever seen a Syracuse regular season game, cheered as the hometown Panthers dominated the first three periods to build up a 7-14 lead and then held off a furious fourth quarter Syracuse rally to maintain that lead for the win. Jack Andrews in the Post-Standard: “Although mightly Pittsburgh, to all appearances, was far superior, Syracuse’s oft-dismayed Orangemen kept the tremendous crowd of 49,287 fans in doubt right up until the final second yesterday as the Panthers pulled out a 14-7 victory to sidetrack SU’s drive to national prominence.” Arnie Burdick in the Herald-Journal: “A clawing Pitt Panther squeezed the Orange into a pulp for three periods here yesterday at Pitt Stadium, then hung on grimly as the late-rallying New Yorkers battled in vain for a tie…The Panthers were a ferocious, snarling, ground-devouring lot until they earned their second score midway in the third period to take command for good. Up until this moment they swept the Syracuse end, especially the right flank, in a continuous crunching surge. The fury of their offense enabled the victors to hold the pigskin from the listless New Yorkers.” Syracuse actually struck first after a scoreless first period. Ed Coffin intercepted a Darrell Lewis pass and raced 55 yards for a touchdown. Syracuse got all three of its first half first downs on one drive. It ended when Chuck Zimmerman scrambled for 20 yards but fumbled and Pitt recovered on their own 18. Pitt drove to the SU 17 but Bugs Bagamery, (you gotta love that name), missed a field goal. After a Ridlon punt, Pitt had the ball on their own 45. “Coffin moved in to snatch Lewis’ pass on the first play and raced to the Syracuse touchdown. End Dick Lasse threw a beautiful block on Lewis to clear the way for Coffin.” Jim Brown kicked the point and SU was up 7-0. Was it the Maryland game all over again? No, it wasn’t. “But the massive Pittsburgh machine began clicking then, piling up tremendous yardage against a shaky, uncertain defense. “ Jim Theodore led a 39 yard, 8 play drive that ended in a Corny Salvaterra plunge for the tying score. Pitt later drove to the SU 31 but a Lewis pass to George Haley in the end zone was overthrown as the half ended. Although the game was still tied at the half, the Panthers had out-gained the Orange 161-64 and had 15 first downs to 3. Syracuse opened the second half by driving to their own 49 where Coffin was swarmed over on 4th and 1. Dick Bowen swept right for 19 yards. Four plays later he plunged for a first down at the 19. Then Lewis found Walton for a 19 yard pass that put the Panthers ahead for good. Ferd Kuzala led a drive into Pitt territory but threw “a high fly” that Salvaterra intercepted at the 18 and returned to the 45. Syracuse dominated the fourth quarter, usually a good thing. But here it failed to result in any points. First they drove from their own 25 to the Pitt 20, fueled by a 23 yard run from back-up Alan Cann. Schwartzwalder sent the first team back in to try to finish it off. Carries by Jim Brown, Jim Ridlon, Ed Coffin and then brown and Ridlon moved the ball from the Pitt 43 to the 20. “Second string quarterback Ferd Kuzala’s keeper play was messed up as he zigged when he should have zagged and Herm Canil and Dale Brown nailed Jim Brown on the 23. The clock read 2:32 when Chuck Zimmerman, soph quarterback hero of the Maryland coup the week before, was hustled in for a breath-taking aerial failure. He fired to the left of the goal to racing Dick Aloise, who had a tough, over-the-shoulder catch to make as Lewis and Ray DiPasquale crowded him and the ball fell harmlessly in the end zone….Zimmerman tried another pass that brown ran away with as the crowd leaped but Jim had trapped the ball on the 23 and it was ruled incomplete….Pitt took over on the 23 with only 2 minutes and 17 seconds left and the Orange crush apparently was accomplished. But there were more thrills to coB brown fumbling but recovering on the 33.” “With 22 seconds to go, the Panthers then got the scare of their rugged lives when Zimmerman heaved to Jim Ridlon for a 32 yard gain. Ridlon fell to the ground as though he was pole-axed, feigned or not.” Syracuse apparently out of time-outs. “The clock finally was stopped at 4 seconds and the Orange had one more play from the Pitt 32. Zimmerman went back to pass again and Bob Pollock threw him back to the 45 as the game ended.” Pitt rushed for 263 yard to 145 for SU. Jim Brown, how had been held to 28 yards by the Panthers the previous year, got only 52 in 14 carries in this game. SU had the edge in the air, 94-44. Pitt had 19 first downs to 12 for the Orange. Syracuse had 2 turnovers to 1. The game had been played under “near-perfect conditions” with the temperature 75 degrees. Actually that’s probably a little warm for football. Maybe the Panthers were the ones to fade a bit in the heat this time, allowing Syracuse to dominate in the final quarter, even though they could never get the tying score. The Herald American had a shot on its front page of Jim Ridlon who “dives, catches and falls after catching pass in the fourth quarter”. SU was in its white jerseys with blue letters and stripes, orange helmets and pants. Pitt was in blue jerseys with gold numbers, helmets and pants. Jim has the pass in both hands and but is looking skyward as he falls with two defenders on either side of him. Salvaterra is shown, (or at least the top of his helmet is) as he sneaks for the first score. His leaping interception for Kuzala’s “fly ball is shown next to it. The would-be receiver is also leaping but not as high. Don Althouse has a punt blocked in the second period. (Neither paper explained by the first Pitt scoring drive was only 39 yards but I suspect the block had something to do with it. Dan Ciervo is show sweeping for 5 yards in the fourth quarter. Zimmerman’s key fumble in the first quarter after his 20 yard run is depicted. The Pitt tackler has him by the back of the jersey. The ball is flying to the opposite side of the picture. It’s not clear what caused the fumble. A Pitt fumble is next to that, by Dick Bowen at midfield. But Pitt recovered that one. “Big Jim Brown of Bill Orange” breaks up a pass from Salvaterra to Charley Cost in the second period. Big Jim seems to have run at full speed past the intended receiver to get at the ball but could not intercept it. The Post Standard had the same shot of Zimmerman’s fumble on its front page. Jim Ridlon breaks up a Pitt pass into the end zone with a leap, looking like a basketball player blocking a shot. Behind him are two Pitt receivers who are both going for the ball. One guy is on the back of the other. A lack of communication appears to have been the problem. Next to that shot Corky Cost makes a 7 yard catch. But there will be a cost: he’s surrounded by no less than five Orangemen taking a bead on him. Too bad they didn’t take a bead on the ball. Below that we see a long shot of Joe Walton scoring what became the winning touchdown. He “was just a stride ahead of his nearest opponent as he crossed the goal line.” The end zone has a big “P” painted on it- not Pittsburgh, just “P”. I assume there was an “S” on the other end. Next to that is another shot from the back of the end zone of Salvaterra’s score, taken a second after the Herald’s shot. Jim Brown and Ed Coffin, who had been trying to get down to tackle Salvaterra, have now straightened up and we can see their numbers. Below that is another long shot of Salvaterra returning Kuzala’s pass. He’s running upfield with two teammates turning to block players behind him. There’s not an SU player in front of him for 10 yards. Next to that is “Darrell Lewis, clever Pittsburgh quarterback, being hauled down by a hard-hitting Syracuse tackler.” It doesn’t identify the occasion. Next to that is “ATTEMPTED LARCENY- Corny Salvaterra, Pitt quarterback, got a going-over from a Syracuse tackler who attempted to steal the ball on this second-quarter play yesterday.” It’s a remarkable shot, taken from in front of the play. Salvaterra and the tackler are both falling to the turf and the unidentified tacklers has an arm around the ball. The trouble is, it’s also around Salvaterra’s arm, which is around the ball as well. “PANTHER ON PROWL” is Jim Theordore, who led all rushers with 91 yards. He’s got the ball on his stomach with both arms around it and is heading for #58, SU’ s Joe Krivak. Dan Wiesniewski flies through the air to take out both Dick Lasse and another Syracuse play as Ray DiPasquale runs past them for 20 yards. Jim Ridlon is shown gaining 18 yards on a screen pass to the Pitt 38 in the second period. Unfortunately the next play was Zimmerman’s fumble. [/QUOTE]

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