Tracy Powers is what his coach Stokeley Fulton called "a good ol' determined country boy"

Powers was sos determined last week, in fact, that he carried 56 times for an NCAA college division record… not bade for a freshman who was a No. 3 tailback two months ago.

He will be the ball carrier Montclair State must contain Saturday afternoon at 2:30 in Atlantic City's Convention Hall if they are to end Hampden-Sydney's nine-game winning streak in the second annual Knute Rockne Bowl.

The Tigers of Hampden-Sydney, Va., (pop. 5,700) started off the season with a fleet young man named Bobby Long at tailback but decided to improve their passing game and moved him to split end for game No. 4

Since then, Long has caught 22 passes for 231 yards and three TDs, so Fulton has not complaints.

And, as he recalled yesterday in a telephone interview, "Our No. 2 tailback, Frosty Owens, did just fine."

"Just fine" it turns out was two games over 100 yards rushing but at the end of his second assignment, Owens pulled a groin muscle and Powers got his chance.

"Tracy was itchin' to get in there," Fulton noted. "And it doesn't hardly seem like anybody is going to get him out now."

In the last five games, Powers has racked up 685 yards in 160 carries and seems to get stronger each week.

"He's a horse… a good 'ol worker," Fulton says of the 19-year-old from Buckingham, Va, a rural community of 1,000.

Powers, of course, does not gain yardage all by himself.

"We try to give the boy a little help," Fulton explained, and while we're not very big, we have been movin' people around pretty good."

One of the players "who moves people around" is fullback Bobby Woltz, a senior co-captain who also carries the football occasionally (115 carries for 471 yards and six TDs) from the Power-I formation.

The Tiger tackles, small but very quick, are Vince Hardy and Barry Parsley. Hardy received Little All-America honorable mention last year as a junior and, if he doesn't do at least as well after this season is over, it will only be because Parsley has played well enough to take some of his press notices away.

Montclair State (8-1), of course, is a very strong defensive club and has yielded an average of 76 yards rushing per game. Powers had more than that last week in the first half of a 12-7 victory over Randolph Macon that gave the Tigers (9-1) a nine-game skein and the NCAA college division bowl bid.

Although the Tigers have gained twice as many yards on the ground as through the air, they do have a dependable little quarterback in 59, 165-pound Ricky Beale. He has thrown 157 times, completing 78 passes for 850 yards and 11 TDs.

In addition to ex-tailback Long, Beale has had considerable success throwing footballs to tight end Dave Shelor, who also has 22 catches (for 211 yards and two TDs).

The Hampden-Sydney team will arrive in New Jersey tomorrow morning and work out on the indoor grass field at 2pm in Convention Hall. The Indians of Montclair will drill at 4pm and it will also be their first time on an indoor field.