The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 13

THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1986 SECTION MO Astros rally in 9thB-3 Greenberg rememberedB-4 Faust wins Akron debutB-8 0 o) Walker, Kelly on the spotB-10 Who's No. 1 in Spinks, Tyson winB-1 5 mi EDITOR: GREG NOBLE, 3S9-1917 Tim Sullivan For Bengals, Kansas City at last At a glance Since the team convened for the mini-camp in May, Wyche and the public have geared the Bengals for opening day. "I'm so sick and tired of hearing 'Kansas City, Kansas quarterback Boomer Esiason said. "I feel like I should know the zip code and have an address there "He has totally emphasized the importance of this first game, as I'm sure (John) Mackovic has done to the Chiefs," Esiason said. "He hasn't even mentioned the other 15 clubs we're playing." "I think we heard it more during mini-camp than training camp," receiver Cris Collinsworth said.

"But the whole attitude has been a little different (From the first week in camp), he has tried to keep us focused on the fact that Kansas City was closer than we thought it was last year." As the day of decision neared, Wyche eased off the "must-win" approach. Earlier in the year, he said he'd put "pressure" on the team to win the first game instead of just starting fast. This week, he said, he avoided the word "pressure," preferring the more positive approach of gaining momentum. "This is not a make or break game," he said. "No game is make or break until you get to the game that will mathematically eliminate you.

(Please see BENGALS, Page B-8) BY MIKE DODD The Cincinnati Enquirer KANSAS CITY Kansas City, here they are. For four months now, the Cincinnati Bengals have been singing about their Sept. 7 visit to the land of crazy little women and red-helmeted football players. It's here. Sam Wyche's target date officially kicks off at 4 p.m.

today when he opens his third season as Bengals' head coach against the Kansas City Chiefs. In the ensuing three hours, Wyche can bury, perhaps forever, the specter of the club's miserable starts in his regime. Or he can see it rise more ominously than ever. WHO: Cincinnati Bengals (0-0) at Kansas City Chiefs (0-0). WHEN: 4 p.m.

WHERE: Arrowhead Stadium. RADIO: WKRC-AM 55 and the Bengals' Network (Phil Samp and Dave La-pham). TV: WLWT, Channel 5 (Len Berman and John Hannah) ODDS: Bengals are favored by 1 Scouting report, Page B-12. Rosters, Page B-12 iami routs Ball State, 45-7 Swarn breaks school record on 6-yard run BY BILL FORD The Cincinnati Enquirer OXFORD, Ohio Tailback George Swarn sped into the Miami record book before halftime, as expected, Saturday, but if you were not eated for the opening kickoff you missed the booster shot that propelled the Redskins to a 45-7 rout of stunned Ball State University. Standing at his goal line, junior Chris Thomas moved up to the 4-yard line to receive the Ball State kickoff.

He moved up the left side behind a wedge of blockers. At his 35, Thomas broke into the clear, with only kicker John Diettrich between him and the goal. Tight end Dave Dauch took care of Diettrich, and Thomas was on his way to a 96-yard touchdown run, 14 seconds into the season. "I really didn't need it (Dauch's block). I knew I was gone when I went through the (Please see MIAMI, Page B-8) Scoreboard What a finish for UC Last-minute TD beats Tech, 24-20 BY TOM GROESCHEN The Cincinnati Enquirer BLACKSBURG, Va.

The Immaculate Reception revisited, a career school rushing record for Reggie Taylor, a game-winning touchdown with 14 seconds left in the game. Not to mention career-best performances from quarterback Danny McCoin and split end Joe Hice. It all happened here Saturday night, as the University of Cincinnati scored a 24-20 upset victory over 8V2-point favorite Virginia Tech in the season football opener for each team. A crowd of some 22,700 watched on a crisp, clear evening as the Bearcats snatched the most improbable of victories from under the Hokies' disbelieving noses. "We had it lost," said McCoin, the poised junior right-hander who pulled his passing trigger 47 times and hit 30 completions for 350 yards (all personal bests) and two touchdowns.

UC's Scott Tackett, a sophomore reserve fullback from Beechwood High School who was filling in for injured starter Robert Williams, stole some of the thunder from Taylor. Tackett caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from quarterback MCoin to give UC the game, 24-20, with only 14 seconds left. Tackett, who replaced Williams when Williams went out with a broken leg early in the third (Please see UC, Page B-8) MW -iU JWJMIUHHIH I 1 7 -s i "Vt tm MY in- Oi i Difficult ripening of a coach i CITY Sam Wyche, amateur magician and professional football cach, has added a trunkful of hard truths t( his endlessly entertaining bag of tricks. He has learned that the most painful thing about coaching is not always the agony of defeat. I "A year or two years ago, I think I and a the coaches were a little more protective of the guys that we had grown close td," the Cincinnati Bengals' head coach said.

"We gave them a little more benefit of; the doubt than we probably should have. This year, we have been much more objective in our decision-making, much nore cold-blooded about it. If it hurts, it hurts." This afternoon, as the Bengajs begin trieir third season of the so-far uneven Wjche era, no fewer than 14 new players will line up for the national anthem. Last ylar's leading interceptor has been cut. A starting tackle has been traded.

Three fcjrmer first-round draft choices have been unceremoniously sliced from the roster since the end of last season. Wyche, the fallow who was supposedly too soft-boiled succeed in pro football, has spent the summer auditioning for the Danny DeVito in NFL Films' remake of "Ruthless People." J. It is not altogether a new part. Though he has most frequently been painted only in the most pleasing and primary colors, Sam Wyche is a man of several shades. If he has seemed unusually protective and overly apologetic for his players in the past, he has sometimes raged at everything around them.

Occasional aberrations I Besides the standard coaching skir-rrjishes with officials and reporters, Wyche has found himself in needless feuds with Pittsburgh coach Chuck Noll over a failure to. shake hands and with Paul Brown's biographer 6ver an innocent compliment oj: the New England Patriots. Twice, he made headlines by battling law enforcement officials who dared to prosecute his players. He presented the picture of a brilliant young coach equipped to handle every situation but himself: an artistic tempera-rrtent with a whistle. "I was too sensitive," Wyche says now, "and not necessarily to what was said about me.

I was sensitive to what was said about Kenny Anderson, to what was said about the defense. Now, I know if it's something that's going to be negative, I don't even read it because I'm not going agree with it "You have to put weights to what is important. When you do that, there are some priorities that become real apparent to you. What I have tried to do this year is to put more weight on the finite, definable things that win and lose football games." J- Fastening his focus on the field may rnake no difference to Wyche's continued employment in Cincinnati his Bengals' contract runs through 1988 but it could determine some of his ability to succeed. This year, rather than tilting at windmills, Wyche has taken a more active and constructive interest in repairing his defense.

The windmills will wait. The unseen key "There's a lot of pressure on a head coach," Bengals' assistant general manager Mike Brown said, sympathetically. "Handling the pressure is something that is one of the keys to the job. He's been through it now for a couple of years and I tjunk he has a better handle on it, really on himself. "He's not going to be without moments of irritation and anger.

He's going to flare dut on occasion every coach I've ever seen does but you've got to be able to control that." It is, at best, a gradual process. The evolution of a football coach is seldom as sjrift as that of a player. The lessons are less clear. "I can remember other head coaches telling me when I got this job that by the end of your first year you're going to think you have had a tremendous learning experience," Wyche said, "and that by the end of the second year you realize that you didn't learn too much the first year." i I He was asked if he felt unusually vulnerable this year, if any of his changes or his lack of changes on the coaching staff had exposed his neck. I "No," Sam Wyche said.

"My neck's as far out as it can go. When you say, 'Okay, I'll take the they stretch it just as far as those dad-gum ligaments will let it go and then you live your life. It's a high-risk business: a lot of rewards and a lot of chances to be criticized." Jim Sullivan is Enquirer sports columnist. Region UC 24, Virginia Tech 20 Miami 45, Ball State 7 AP Top 20 (1) Oklahoma 38, (4) UCLA 3 (2) Michigan did not play. (3) Miami 23, (13) Florida 15 (5) Alabama 42, Vanderbilt 10 (6) Penn State 45, Temple 15 (7) Texas did not play.

(8) Nebraska 34, (11) Florida St. 17 (9) Ohio State did not play. (10) Tennessee 35, New Mexico 21 (12) Baylor 31, Wyoming 28 (14) Auburn 42, Tenn-Chat. 14 (15) LSU did not play. (16) Georgia did not play.

(16) Washington did not play. (18) BYU 52, Utah St. 0 (19) Arkansas did not play (20) Michigan St. did not play. No.

1 Oklahoma crushes UCLA, 38-3, Page B-6. Shaffer throws 3 TD passes in Penn State romp, Page B-8. The Cincinnati EnquirerMichael E. Keating George Swarn broke the Miami rushing record second quarter. Swarn played little in the second Saturday with a 6-yard run off left tackle in the half and finished with 77 yards in 21 carries.

Mecir knocks Becker from Open Lendl and Navratilova complete all-Czech finals 1 7 ft." 'KW A 7 i i Power quells Cubs Impressive again in 5-1 victory BY GREG HOARD The Cincinnati Enquirer The marvel of Ted Power continues. After a terrible start as a reliever, Power has found new success in an old position as a starting pitcher. Power allowed five hits through seven innings Saturday night and combined with reliever Ron Robinson to hand the Reds a necessary 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. With Houston taking a 7-6 victory over St. Louis at the Astrodome earlier in the day, the Reds had to beat Chicago to remain seven games back in the standings.

Power gave the Reds just what they needed a superior start his fourth straight impressive effort. In the process, he established himself as a leading contender for (Please see REDS, Page B-5) the same foreign country. Navratilova, however, became a naturalized American citizen in 1981 and Lendl lives in nearby Greenwich, Conn. "This is the first time I did well here," the 16th-seeded Mecir said. "Maybe next time I can play even better on this surface.

I'm just trying not to lose." Against the hard-serving Becker, Mecir played marvelous tennis. He handled the West German's booming serve with ease, used his groundstrokes to move Becker from side to side, and hit his serves so deep that Becker had trouble handling them. "I can serve my best serve and he can make a winner of it," Becker, seeded third, said of his conqueror. "No shot is for sure. "He's very unpredictable.

So man times you're off-balanced. (Please see OPEN, Page B-13) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK Czechoslovakia's Miloslav Mecir upset Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, Saturday night to set up a men's singles title match against defending champion Ivan Lendl at the U.S. Open tennis championships. In a women's singles semifinal Saturday, top-seeded Martina Navratilova fought off three match points before surviving against West Germany's Steffi Graf, 6-1, 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (10-8). Navratilova meets seventh-seeded Helena Sukova at 1 p.m.

today, while the Lendl-Mecir final follows at 4. Earlier in the day, Lendl gained the men's singles final on the hard courts of the National Tennis Center for the fifth consecutive year by beating Sweden's Stefan Edberg, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3. All four singles finalists are natives of Czechoslovakia, the first time in the history of America premier tennis event that all four finalists have been natives of Graf p.ishes Navratilova to the brink. Page B-13. a Lendl I as easy time with Edberg, Page B-13.

The Associated Press Miloslav Mecir upset Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, Saturday night in the U.S. Open semifinals..