The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 17

Football Sunday Editor: Ken Patterson: 235-9242 Cije Amttston tar Sunday, November 16, 1997 Page 1C Tide' Football Scoreboard 04 Sim Ttowrt Auburn 45, Georgia 34 Mississippi St 32, Alabama 20 Florida 48, South Carolina 21 Tennessee 30, Arkansas 22 Kentucky 21, Vanderbilt 10 Notre Dame 24, LSU 6 By Phillip Tutor Star Sports Writer TUSCALOOSA At game's end, the maroon-clad victors rushed to their shivering fans for a celebration four decades in the making. It seemed worth the wait. They shook hands, they exchanged high-fives, they soaked in the feeling of a 32-20 win over Alabama, Mississippi State's first at Bryant-Denny Stadium since 1957. y- 1 III Vl i i 'W' Yes, the Bulldogs had reason to celebrate. "This team," said State tailback James Johnson, "was fired up when it got off the bus." The Bulldogs hugged.

They petted Bully the bull Miss. State 32, Alabama 20 Alabama is 4-6, 2-5. SW Texas 35, JSU 27 Stephen F. Austin 39, Nicholls St. 7 Northwestern St.

35, Sam Houston McNeese St. 10, Troy St. 7 Around tho stato UAB 38, Tennessee Tech 14 Kentucky St. 27, Alabama 20 Miss. Valley St.

34, Alabama St. 10 North Alabama 56, West Alabama 14 Samford 46, Eton College 32 Around tho nation Michigan 26, Wisconsin 16 Florida State 58, Wake Forest 7 Nebraska 77, Iowa State 14 Ohio State 41, Illinois 6 Penn State 42, Purdue 17 North Carolina 17, Clemson 10 dog mascot. They ripped up Miss. State is 7-2, 4-2. chunks of Bryant-Denny turf to take back to Starkville.

Coach Jackie Sherrill, sitting atop his players' shoulders, tossed his cap into the crowd. One player guard Randy Thomas climbed the conductor's ladder and led the State band in song, just as Tennessee's Peyton Manning had done at Legion Field a month ago. It's become a common sight for Alabama. Four times this season the Crimson Tide has played at its campus stadium, the same facility in which legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant lost just two games in 25 years. And four times Alabama has lost.

LSU won here. Louisiana Tech won here. Arkansas won here. Mississippi State made it a clean sweep. For a storied program unaccustomed to futility, going winless at Bryant-Denny might just be the biggest disappointment of all.

"It's atrocious," said Tide tackle Bubba Ray, a senior who'll never again play at Bryant-Denny. Please see Alabama Page 4C Associated Press Auburn's Fred Beasley, right, runs over Georgia safety Kirby Smart as he rushes for a first down Saturday night. AU rips Georgia, 4528 Today on TV Win eases memories of 1996's 4-OT loss The 56-49 loss after building a By Joe Medley Minnesota at Detorit, WBRC-6, noon Denver at Kansas City, WVTM-13, noon Washington at Dallas, WBRC-6, 3 p.m. Oakland at San Diego, ESPN, 7 p.m. 28-7 lead followed by a come-from-ahead loss to Alabama the following week doomed Auburn to a four-loss season.

Bowden endured offseason criticism. Round Auburn reeled on 24 unanswered points Saturday to take a Auburn 45, Georgia 28 Auburn is 8-2, 5-2. Georgia is 7-2, 5-2. I WO KL 24-7 lead at 10:24 of the second Get ready for round two of the Star Sports Writer ATHENS, Ga. The script recycled itself like a classic tragedy for Auburn football fans.

Auburn builds a convincing lead on Georgia. Georgia scores just before halftime to make it a game. It turned into a four-overtime Auburn loss in 1996, but the 16th-ranked Tigers ripped momentum back from No. 7 Georgia on Saturday and possibly saved a promising season, 45-28 at Georgia's Sanford Stadium. Auburn's Southeastern Conference win followed two losses in three games plus an open week.

The Tigers (8-2, 5-2 SEC) started the season A win over Alabama in next week's Iron Bowl coupled with a Mississippi State loss in one of its remaining two SEC games assures the Tigers a West Division title. The West winner will play the East's top finisher in the SEC Championship on Dec. 6 in Atlanta. "Our goals are that we're still playing for an SEC championship," Auburn coach Terry Bowden said minutes after quarterback Dameyune Craig and tight end Kevin McLeod dumped a cooler full of water on him. Memories of 1996 left Bowden worried if Auburn's goals for 1997 would be lost.

quarter. In 1996, the Tigers led Georgia 28-7 with 6:07 left in the half. Craig fumbled on Auburn's 34-yard line in 1996 and appeared to fumble on Auburn's 20 Saturday. One official awarded Georgia (7-2, 5-2) possession but was overruled. Still, Georgia's Michael Greer fielded a line-drive Jaret Holmes punt on the run and return 17 yards to Auburn's 41 with 2: 16 left in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs drove to Auburn's 1, where Robert Edwards jumped over the top for a touchdown to make it 24-14 with 27 seconds left in the half. Georgia's Torin Kirtsey scored on a 2-yard run at 0:37 of the second quarter in 1996, trimming Auburn's lead to 28-14. What happened after that will be the talk of the South 's oldest rivalry for years. Georgia wore down Please ee Auburn Page5C Alabama High School Athletic Association's high school playoffs. Complete listings of this week's pairings and scores from the first round.

See page 3C. Insldo Saturday's 2C Top 25 2C Top 25 summaries 2C SEC summaries 2C SEC roundup 3C Top 25 roundups 3C More on Alabama 4C More on Auburn 5C More on JSU 6C State games 7C Today's NFL games 7C NFL standings 7C i- "-WW'. rr r' 1- or-1 Iron Bowl Week Beginning Monday, The Star will offer a variety of Iron Bowl tidbits for fans to sink their teeth into. Analytical stories on the Tigers and Tide will come your way on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Friday reserved for our MVP picks and a colorful facts and figures section. Don't miss it.

Trent PennyThe Annlston Star Alabama fan Ben Wilson hides his face In a paper bag as he cheers the struggling Tide Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Most area teams look to 2nd round SW Texas runs over Gamecocks a A By Al Muskewltz playing good. The defense r- lint. result of i his blockers." Campbell backed up the words of his coach. "I feel played enough; well they with came up some big SW Texas 35, JSU 27 JSU is 1-9, 1-5.

SW Texas is 5-5, 2-4. stops. "We just let it slip again. By James Pendergrass Star Sports Writer There were a lot of fireworks in the opening round of the Alabama Athletic Association's prep football playoffs Thursday and Friday, and the coming week (promises to provide another round of sparkling performances. Nowhere in the state was the excitement any bigger than at Alexandria's "Death where senior running back Mac Campbell put on another performance for the ages with 276 rushing yards, and four touchdowns.

Even more noticeable, Campbell surpassed the national career touchdown mark of 141. Campbell had 1 38 career touchdowns heading into Friday's matchup with Wilson. His touchdown runs of 29, 12 and 49 yards in the first half tied the mark, and on his second carry of the second half he had an 84-yard touchdown gallop to claim the record. "I was glad he got the record and it was nice for him to get it at home," said Alexandria head coach Larry Ginn. "Mac has been a big part of our program and I don't think he has missed a game since he has been here.

He is a team player who knows a lot of his success is the Star Sports Writer JACKSONVILLE The loud, disembodied voice that bellowed through the fieldhouse as Jacksonville State's players barged through the door told the story. "Bad things just keep happening to this team," someone yelled. It has happened so many times this season, the situation has gone beyond frustrating. Saturday the Gamecocks seemed as close as they've ever been to getting their second victory of the season. But each time they closed on taking a commanding position on Southwest Texas, something went awry.

It always does. Finally, the Bobcats made JSU pay for not taking advantage when it should closed out the Gamecocks 35-27 in the final game of the season at Paul Snow Stadium. It was JSU's eighth loss in a row and sets up the prospect for losing more games in one season than any football team in school history and finishing last in its first year of eligibility in the tough Southland Football League. "I really thought we had this one," Gamecock quarterback Montressa Kirby said. "We were great about breaking the record," said Campbell.

"I wanted to get it behind me. Now the team can concentrate on bringing the state championship back to Alexandria. I would like to give my line credit for the outstanding way they have blocked for me this season." The next team on Alexandria's hit list is Pleasant Grove, which will host the Valley Cubs Friday. The Spartans came from two touchdowns behind to upset Emma Sansom Friday. Calhoun County and area playoff teams were very successful as Oxford, Anniston, Munford, Handley, Weaver, Lincoln, Clay County, Lineville, Woodland, Winterboro, and Cedar Bluff all advanced to second round play in their respective classifications of competition.

Oxford, 9-1 in 6A, will host J.O. Johnson, Anniston, 6-5 in 5A, will host Bradshaw, Handley, 8-2 in 4A, will host Montevallo, Munford, 7-4, Please see Playoffs Page 3C It's the luck of the draw and we got it bad inside like always." The game was set up as a battle between two of the SFL's biggest guns: Southwest Texas running back Claude Mathis against JSU's suspect run defense and Kirby against the Bobcats' young secondary. Mathis became the Southland ConferenceSFL's all-time leading rusher when he bulled over the Gamecocks for 308 yards and three touchdowns on 46 carries. He now has 4,606 career rushing yards and is three touchdowns shy of tying that Southland career mark. Kirby set JSU single-season records for passing yardage and attempts.

He completed 22 of 37 passes for 345 yards giving him 2,678 yards for the season with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Receiver Ronald Bonner Please see JSU Page 6C Bill WilsonThe Anniston Star Southwest Texas State's Claude Mathis escapes the grip of JSU's Tony Gordon, left, and Alton Murphy Saturday afternoon. Mathis became the SFL's all-time leading rusher during the game. The Gamecocks play rival Troy State in the l-AA version of the Iron Bowl Thursday at Troy's Memorial Stadium. The game was moved to midweek for television.

Since Troy fell to McNeese State 10-7 Saturday night, the game will be for last place in the Southland Football League..