Sports
Thursday, October 27,1994 Page 7
Christo one play from spotlight
■y Twvor Pitta
Staff Reporter
Even though he’s been involved in
only six plays as a Comhusker, Ne
braska walk-on quarterback Monte
Christo has had an eventful career.
At Missouri last Saturday, Christo
got his first taste of playing time as a
Husker, and he said he enjoyed every
minute.
“It was amazing,” Christo said. “It
was a situation where we were already
on top, and I wasn’t going to do any
thing but hand off the ball anyway.
So I will always remember that first
play, and it will stick in my mind for
ever.”
Although he handed the ball off
every play, one resulted in a 2-yard
Damon Benning touchdown.
Christo, a freshman from Kearney,
said he had a stomachache most of
the game, and when it came time for
him to replace an injured Matt
Turman, he wasn’t prepared.
“It was a crazy deal because I
didn’t figure on playing,” Christo
said. “By the fourth quarter I had
undone my belt and my drawstring,
so I was just kind of hanging out.”
That wasn’t his only problem.
“I threw my helmet down after
warm-ups. I didn’t know where that
was. I didn’t have a mouthpiece there.
My thumb wasn’t taped, so I had five
or six things going against me right
off the bat.”
A major reason Christo was sur
prised about playing this season was
a severe thumb injury he suffered ear
lier in the year.
i Christo was quarterback for the
scout team when his injury occurred.
The 5-foot-U, 175-pounder hurt
his thumb the week following the
‘ “If somebody would have told me last year at this
time that I’d be the No. 2 quarterback in one of the
biggest games in college football, I’d have probably
laughed in their face. ”
■
MONTE CHRISTO
Nebraska quarterback
Kickoff Classic when rover Kareem
Moss came in to block a pass during
a blitz drill. Moss’s helmet hit
Christo’s thumb, tearing a ligament.
“His arm caught it and just ripped
it straight back to the forearm,”
Christo said. “It hurt a lot... I knew
it was pretty serious.”
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
he was happy with the way Christo
kept himself ready to play while he
was injured.
“Monte is a good player,” Osborne
said. “He kept up a good mentality
while he was hurt.”
The coaches had figured on
redshirting Christo, but with Turman
injured, Nebraska had only one
healthy quarterback.
“It was kind of a hard situation,
both on me and on the coaches,”
Christo said. “But with Matt prob
ably not going to be able to play this
week, then that makes me the No. 2
guy.
Osborne said usually a player like
Christo would have redshirted this
year with an injury as serious as his
thumb injury.
“Certainly in most years, he would
have been redshirted and would prob
ably be on the scout team,” Osborne
said. “This year it's not going to be
that way, so we’re going to tiy and
get him ready to play.”
Coming out of Kearney, Christo
said only two Division II schools —
the University of Nebraska-Kearney
and South Dakota — offered him a
scholarship.
But he made his choice to come to
Nebraska, hoping to receive a schol
arship in a couple of years.
Christo said he was more of an
option-oriented quarterback. How
ever, his skills aren’t limited only to
running.
“I can do bootlegs and the
rollouts,” Christo said. “I can throw
the ball pretty good too.”
Last year at this time Christo was
doing that in high school, preparing
for a game against Norfolk High
School.
Now because of injuries at the
quarterback position, Christo is just
one play away from playing against
No. 2 Colorado on Saturday.
“If somebody would have told me
last year at this time that I’d be the
No. 2 quarterback in one of the big
gest games in college football, Ird
ave probably laughed in their face.”
Volleyball middle blocker
to miss rest of season
From tiff Woporta
Nebraska volleyball coach Terry
Pettit said Wednesday that Jen
McFadden would miss the rest of
the season because of an injury
suffered in the Huskers’ three
Sme sweep over Illinois on Tucs
y night.
McFadden, a sophomore
middle blocker, tore the anterior
cruciate ligament in her right knee
during the first game of the match
in Champaign, 111. Pettit said con
tact did not cause the injury.
The 6-foot-2 Dubuque, Iowa,
native was a member of the Vol
leyball Monthly all-freshman
team last year. She also was the
1993 Big Eight newcomer of the
year.
McFadden, who has been
hampered by back spasms for
much of the season, will have sur
gery sometime next month.
She will be replaced in the
lineup by senior Peggy Meyer.
Junior middle blocker Allison
Weston was limited in practice
Wednesday because of a sore
shoulder. Pettit said Weston
would be fine for Saturday night’s
match against defending Big
Eight champion Colorado.
Jay CaMaron/DN
Nebraska quarterback Monte Christo throws the ball during
Wednesday’s practice. Christo will back up Brook Barringer
Saturday against No. 2 Colorado.
NU to travel to Lone Star state
From itafr Reports
The Nebraska women’s soccer
team will travel to Austin, Texas, this
weekend to take on Texas and Michi
gan after coming off a 4-2 loss to
third-ranked Stanford.
The Comhuskers will put their 11
3 record on the line Friday afternoon
when they face the 8-4-2 Texas Long
horns. Nebraska will then face the 5
4-1 Michigan Wolverines on Sunday
morning. All three programs are in
their inaugural seasons, as is Ne
braska.
Nebraska was tied with the third
ranked Cardinal 2-2 until the last 10
minutes of the match last weekend.
Then Stanford scored two goals to
give the Cardinal a 4-2 victory.
The victory raised Stanford’s
record to 13-1. Stanford’s only loss
of the year was to North Carolina,
which just had a 102-game winning
streak snapped last week.
Nebraska coach John Walker said
he was pleased with his team’s per
formance against Stanford.
“What our team did was a major
accomplishment,” Walker said.
“Stanford had only given up five
goals all season.”
All three of Nebraska’s losses have
come against ranked teams. The
Creighton Bluejays defeated the
Huskers 3-1 on Sept. 6 and 1-0 in
overtime on Sept. 27.
Walker thinks this weekend’s
competition should be tough, consid
ering that both Michigan and Texas
are first-year programs.
But the Huskers will be without
"What our team did was
a major
accomplishment.
Stanford had only given
up five goals all season. ”
■
JOHN WALKER
NU coach
freshman defender Brenda
Sieczkowski for the rest of the sea*
son. Sieczkowski injured her ham*
string against Stanford.
Injury bug can’t kill Huskers’ drive for national title
The injury bug has left Nebraska.
At least, that’s what the Nebraska
football team hopes.
The injuries have mounted after
each game, especially at quarterback.
In what was supposed to be a
storybook season culminated by Tom
Osborne’s first national title, this sea
son has taken a wrong turn.
But that wrong turn may turn out
to be a shortcut to the national title.
Penn State coach Joe Patemo has
said that Osborne would win the na
tional title when everybody least ex
pected it.
Why not now, when the
Cornhuskers are being led by a auar
terback who has started just three
games?
Nobody expects a team whose
backup quarterback is a walk-on to
win the national title.
Nobody expects this Nebraska
team minus Tommie Frazier to come
close to a national title, much less a
Big Eight championship.
Nobody expects this Nebraska
team, riddled by injuries at two of its
most important positions on the field,
to contend with anyone.
Nobody expects this Husker team
to win a championship of any kind.
But expect the unexpected.
And what Nebraska has experi
enced this season certainly has not
been expected.
It’s been a season in which the talk
has been quarterback, quarterback,
quarterback. Nothing but quarter
back.
After the Cornhuskers’ 31-0 win
over West Virginia in the Kickoff
Classic, everybody jumped on the
Nebraska bandwagon. Frazier’s name
was being mentioned in the same sen
tence as Hcisman.
Then came Texas Tech, and the
first quarterback made his departure
for tne season. Free safety Mike
Minter, the Huskers’ defensive quar
terback, was lost for the season.
UCLA was the Huskers’ next vie
Tim
Pearson
tim, and Frazier still was being show
ered with praise.
Pacific was blown out the next
Saturday, which was expected.
But then came the big blow that
threw all these great expectations for
a loop.
After Frazier’s season-ending
blood clot, everybody jumped off the
bandwagon. Then the auarterback
talk, as well as injury talk, started.
Brook Berringer suffered a par
tially collapsed Tung against Wyo
ming and again the next week against
Oklahoma State.
Against Missouri, Matt Turman
went down with a badly bruised
shoulder.
The rash of injuries this season is
not unusual, though.
Nebraska trainer George Sullivan
has seen it all happen before.
In 1970, when the Huskers went
on to win the national title under Bob
Devaney, Nebraska had the same type
of problem.
Both Jerry Tagge and Van
Brownson were fighting injuries be
fore the Huskers* second game
against Southern Cal. Nebraska came
out with a 21-21 tie against the third
ranked Trojans.
But Sullivan can’t remember a
season when Nebraska had so many
quarterbacks to go down to.
Look at the list of who’s taken
snaps at quarterback: Tommie
Frazier, Brook Berringer, Matt
Turman, Adam Kucera, Ryan Held,
Tony Veland, Clester Johnson,
Barron Miles, Monte Christo, Jon
Elder.
But the season has gone on no
matter who gets injured. And the
Huskcrs are sitting near tne top ot
both polls with an 8-0 record.
With the Colorado same coming
up Saturday, Nebraska tans may soon
forget about all the injuries at quar
terback.
Berringer will finally get the
chance to pitch a complete game. The
defense will go for the shutout.
Berringer's performance against
Missouri may have told the nation
that Nebraska wasn't just going to lie
down and forfeit the rest of the sea
son.
And if the injury bug stays away
from the Nebraska skies Saturday
morning, the Huskers' national title
hopes will continue to live on.
But maybe the injuries will finally
die.
Pcanon la a Junior newa-cdttorlnl major
and the Dally Nebraakan ■ porta editor.
