"That was probably his best day [at Harvard]," Harvard Coach Joe Restic said. "He's a deceptive kind of runner. Once he gets out there, he turns it on."
Finding someone with the ability to "turn it on" has been one of Restic's primary concerns throughout the fall.
Without senior running back Rufus Jones--who has been lost to the Crimson all year long because of a leg injury--Harvard lacks the explosive outside speed Restic hoped his gridders would have in '87.
With Hinz, and fellow backs David Bunning and Bob Glatz, Harvard does have a tough inside game, but no real burners on the outside.
Slow Start
Hinz did not get off to a good start against the Green. In the first quarter, he rushed twice for a total of one yard. Three times in the opening frame, Yohe--who had only 10 incompletions the whole day--was unable to hook up with Hinz.
And the one pass that Yohe did complete to Hinz was fumbled by the 6-ft., 1-in. Great Falls, Mont. native.
But Hinz proved why you don't give up on a talented player too soon. When the second quarter came around, so did Hinz.
On his first carry of the quarter, Hinz broke off left tackle for a 21-yard pick-up.
On his second carry, he powered into the endzone from three yards out for the first of his two TDs.
And on his third carry, Hinz sprinted off right tackle for a 25-yard gain, setting up a Yohe-to-Bunning touchdown pass that put the game out of reach before intermission.
Then came the breakaway.
Hinz lined up as a wingback behind the tight end. Yohe faked to the fullback and handed off to Hinz, who broke left as his line moved right.
"He had a couple of other good runs earlier," Hershey said. "I was just hoping he would have enough to get on in there."
Hinz had similar hopes.
"When I get outside, I always think six points," he said. "You just turn on the jets, but you can't think TD too early. Once I got down to the 15, I thought I could make it."
"If he had been stopped at the 10, the team would have gotten on him on the sidelines," Hershey said. "They would have teased him, `You have no jets, you have no jets."'
Saturday, Tony Hinz had rockets.