Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 20, 1995 TAG: 9510200028
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
That's why Miriello looks at W&L's game Saturday at Sewanee as a turning point. With a win, the Generals improve to 3-2-1. If they lose, they're 2-3-1, with no chance to reach the goal of six wins they set at the beginning of the season.
``For the first time in a long time, we feel if we play well, we can win every game,'' said Miriello, a nine-year W&L assistant who took over as head coach when Gary Fallon died in April. ``It's not a feeling we've had here a lot.''
Miriello looked at the schedule in blocks, hoping to win one of W&L's back-to-back road games with Hampden-Sydney and Sewanee. That changed when the Generals beat Hampden-Sydney 21-7, although W&L faces a nine-hour road trip to Sewanee, located in southeast Tennessee, in a series in which the home team has won 31 of 40 games.
``The statistics say, `Woe to you,''' Miriello said, ``but this is a good football team we have here and one that's proven it can play on the road, witness its play at Randolph-Macon [in a 24-21 loss] and Hampden-Sydney.''
The Generals (2-2-1) have been led by quarterback Brooks Fischer and tailback Seth McKinley, who has rushed for 337 yards despite missing two games, a 7-7 tie with Centre and the loss to Randolph-Macon.
``We played two great games without him,'' Miriello said, ``and I kind of underestimated him a little bit. We saw, once he got back, what an impact player he was.''
by CNB