The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 28

6 Till COURIER JOLRML, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1971 71 1 II ih -nt iTtt CI T.fl(i TV rs Hi Hi fil czd XJ LL 6 scoring quarterback sneak two plays later. However things might have looked, said Fouts with tongue in cheek, the Chargers weren't picking on cornerback Ken Riley for the 116 yards Garrison recorded. "We weren't, working on anyone in particular," he said. "But Garrison is a good receiver, and (Cincinnati's Lemar) Parrish is damned tough on the other side." Riley was basically responsible for covering Garrison, although the Bengals often used a zone. He was impressed by the nine-year veteran from San Diego State.

"He's a clever, experienced receiver," said Riley. "A couple of times I was all drove for a 28-yard field goal by Ray Wersching. Tommy Casanova's 66-yard return of a Reid-deflected Wersching field goal attempt almost got the Bengals a touchdown on the last play of the first half. But ball-holder Don Horn survived Reid's block sind turned Casanova inside to set up Wayne Stewart's saving tackle. Cincinnati, though, drove 66 yards for a touchdown that gave it the lead and got a 34-yard field goal from Muhlmann that provided the 17-13 margin which looked safe after Green's coffin corner punt.

But then came the winning drive, highlighted by two key pass completions to the venerable Gary Garrison. Garrison's eighth catch of the day was a 17-yarder to the Cincinnati four. It set up Fouts' whatsoever. When someone takes the ball 98 yards to score the winning touchdown, you take your hat off to them. It was a piece of good football." It was not, said defensive tackle Mike Reid, a case of the Bengals taking San Diego lightly.

"They outplayed us, that's all there is to say," he snapped. Despite Reid's comment, the Bengals were flat at the beginning and San Diego marched 65 yards in 12 plays from the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Early in the second quarter, the Chargers turned Charles Anthony's interception into a 22-yard Dennis Partee field goal for a 10-0 lead. After Cincinnati struck back with an 80-yard touchdown march, San Diego down pass. Surely, the Bengals had it made.

But Purdue product Jim Beirne beat Jackson to the sideline at the 20, and so did Fouts' pass. Thus began the improbable 98-yard scoring drive that shocked the Bengals 20-17. It was a day of improbabilities. Cincinnati had won 14 straight games at Riverfront Stadium. Its quarterback, Ken Anderson, had gone six straight regular season games without an interception.

And its kicker, Horst Muhlmann, had made good on 14 straight field goal attempts. But all of those streaks ended yesterday. "They gave us a good whipping," said coach Paul Brown. "We have no excuses By GEORGE RORRER Courier-Journal Tlmti Staff Writer CINCINNATI There the Cincinnati Bengals were yesterday, poised to lock i Mp their second victory of the young Na-t tional Football League season. After a bruising, physical war with 20-6 point underdog San Diego, the Bengals IE needed but to deliver the coup de grace in the fourth quarter.

Cincinnati had clawed from behind for 17-13 lead, and Dave Green had drilled a perfect punt out of bounds at the San Diego two-yard-line. Throwing in desperation, San Diego I quarterback Dan Fouts twice missed his receivers. Cincinnati then sent in safety Bernard Jackson for a linebacker, the better to stop what had to be a key third over him, but he still caught the ball. On that play near the goal, 1 hit him just as the ball got there, but he held onto it." Fouts called the drive "perfect." "You have to be pretty perfect to go 98 yards," he said. "I remember going that far once in a street game, but that's all." Fouts' protection was perfect, too.

Cincinnati sacked Cleveland's Mike Phipps five times in last week's 33-7 victory but was unable to nail Fouts even once. "We were never in a position to let it all hang out and go after him," said tackle Ron Carpenter. "A lot of the stuff they were throwing was short, and he was getting rid of the ball in a hurry." So was Anderson, who completed 17 of 28 passes but none to big play-breaker Isaac Curtis and none for longer than 17 yards. After the last San Diego touchdown, Cincinnati had one last chance to score. But two straight Bengal boo-boos wiped it out.

One of them came on third and three at the San Diego 17. Big Boobie Clark got no blocking and was stopped for no gain. Then Wayne Clark, the reserve quarterback the Bengals acquired from San Diego in an off season deal, bobbled the ball slightly in setting it up for a 34-yard Muhlmann field goal attempt with 1:17 to play. "The ball was angled to the right," said Muhlmann in his heavy German accent. "There was nothing I could do.

You have to go through whether you get a good hold or not." Clark was among many Bengals who made a hasty exit, but Brown said, "Wayne came to me after the miss and told me he had bobbled the ball. "So the game was lost, and next week we play, who is it? San Francisco?" It is, indeed, and now the Bengals will-head for the West Coast needing to win more than ever if they're to develop, as predicted, into strong defenders of their American Conference Central Division championship, I1 A -1Y IX 11,0 i i SAN DIEGO reserve running back Bob Thomas hurdles teammate Doug 1 Wilkerson and the Bengals' Ken Riley while picking up yardage yester CHARGER Gary Garrison curled up with a Fouts pass at the Cincinnati four as Riley arrived too late to break up the reception. Following Thomas' run to the one, Fouts plunged into the end zone for the decisive score. Although Garrison caught no TD passes, the veteran wide receiver teamed with Fouts on eight aerials for 116 yards. day in Cincinnati.

Later, his three-yard touchdown in the Chargers' 20-17 carried the ball to the Cincinnati run helped set up the winning triumph. However, before Thomas one-yard line Destiny wins settle first NFL overtime game Besides the loss, the Bengals also received bad news in the injury department. Starting offensive tackle Vernon Holland received a broken bone in his left leg that is likely to sideline him the rest of the season. Offensive back Lyle Blackwood was knocked unconscious and hospitalized for observation. Statistic! Chirsert Bengali First downs 20 23 Rushes-yards 42-130 32-210 Passing yards 173 143 Return yards 141 130 Passes 17-28-1 Punts 6-38 5-41 Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-yards 3-25 430 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 7 0 7-20 CINCINNATI BENGALS 0 7 10 0-17 SD Bonner, run (Partee kick).

SD FG, 22. Par. tee. Cin Elliott, 16, run (Muhlmann kick). SD FG, 28, Wersching.

Cln Clark, 12, run (Muhlmann kick). Cln. FG, 34, Muhlmann. SD Fouts 1, run (Partes kick). Attendance 51,178.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Rushing San Diego, Edwards, 12-45, Bonner 14-42; Cincinnati, Elliott 11-66, Clark 12-48. Receiving San Diego, Garrison 8-116, Edwards 2-13) Cincinnati, Joiner S-57; Elliott 4-47. Passing San Diego, Fouts 13-24-0, 173 yards; Cincinnati, Anderson 17-28-1, 178 yards. la, ft 0 CPS Gilliam can't Associated press DENVER Some things are just meant to be, and apparently neither team was meant to win yesterday's football game between the Pittsburgh Steel-ers and the Denver Broncos. "This game was destined to be a tie," coach John Ralston said in the locker room after the nationally-televised con-Jtest ended in a 35-35 standoff.

It was the first regular-season game in National Football League history to require an extra session. The new sudden-death rule was established for the 1974 season. 4 RUNNING BACK Mercury Morris Photoi by Stin Denny tl? 13? Setup men for Fouts Roy Gerela attempted a 25-yard field goal, but Denver's Barney Chavous and Bill Thompson blocked it. Strong-armed Steeler quarterback Joe Gilliam engineered three scoring drives in the second half as the Steelers rallied from a two-touchdown deficit. "They got off to a very fast start," said Steeler coach Chuck Noll.

"I was very proud of the way we came back after being down 21-7." Ralston praised Gilliam, saying, "The way he played, he shouldn't have lost it. He was always able to make the big plays. I don't know if I've ever seen better." The tie kept Denver's record against the Steelers intact they've never lost to them. Denver won all three previously meetings. The Steelers appeared to have wrapped it up in the fourth quarter when, after taking a 35-28 lead, they drove to the Bronco 14-yard line.

However, Denver linebacker Tom Jackson intercepted and Otis Armstrong later ran 23 yards with a screen pass for the game's final score with 7:08 left in the fourth quarter. Armstrong, a second-year back from Purdue, got in more playing time than ever before as a pro. He responded as the game's leading rusher with 131 yards on 19 carried and also accounted for the most yardage among the receivers with 86 on five catches. Armstrong was on the receiving end of five passes. The Steelers' Franco Harris rushed 20 times for 70 yards to pace his team in that department and also caught nine passes for 84 yards.

Teammate Preston Pearson added 47 yards on eight carries. Early in the first quarter, he beat Steeler middle linebacker Jack Lambert, hauled in a pass at the 30 and outraced the secondary for a 45-yard scoring play to open the scoring. Denver's passing game was effective in the first quarter as the Broncos moved out to a 21-7 lead. Pittsburgh put together an 87-yard, 18-play drive in the second quarter, however, and Gilliam scored from the one-yard line to cut the deficit to 21-14 at the half. The Steelers then turned a pair of interceptions into scores in the second half behind Gilliam's accurate throwing.

The third-year pro from Tennessee State completed 31 of 50 passes for 348 yards and one touchdown. He was intercepted twice. Pittsburgh running back Steve Davis scored three times in the game. Two of his touchdowns came in the second half. Turner's third extra point gave him career points a plateau reached by just five other players in NFL history.

Statistics Steelers First downs 33 Rushes-yards 40-140 Passing yards 324 Broncos 20 37-146 176 73 12-27-2 7-44 1-1 KeTurn yaras Passes Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards 31-so-l 6-42 3-2 12-vl 7-61 PITTSBURGH STEELERS 7 7 14 7 0-35 DENVER BRONCOS 21 0 7 7 0-35 Den Armstrong, 45, pass trom Johnson (Turner kick Pit St. Davis, 61, pass from Gilliam (Gerela kick Den Moses, 7, pass from Johnson (Turner kick). Den Keyworth. 1, run (Turner kick). Pit Gilliam, run (Gerela kick).

Plt-St. Davis, 1, run (Gerela kick). Den Odoms, 3, pass from Ramsey (Turner kick). Pit-St. Davis, 1, run (Gerela kick).

Pit-Fuqua, 1, run (Gerela kick). Den Armstrong, 23, pass from Ramsey (Turner kick). Attendance 51,706. Other pro football stories on Pages 8-9. "Both teams played their hearts out," Ralston added.

There was no scoring in the 15-minute sudden-death session. Denver's Jim Turner missed a 41-yard field goal attempt that would have won it late in the overtime period. It was wide to the right. The Steelers also blew an opportunity to win as time expired in regulation play. Associated Press of Miami had the football and was 4Tiu, uiuiy, xage i-i o.j scoreboard YESTERDAY'S RESULTS San Diego 20, Cincinnati 17.

San Francisco 16, Atlanta 10. Miami 24, Buffalo 16. Cleveland 20, Houston 7. Minnesota 7, Detroit 6. New England 28, New York Giants 20.

St. Louis 17, Washington 10. Green Bay 20, Baltimore 13. New York Jets 23, Chicago 21. Pittsburgh 35, Denver 35, tie, overtime.

Los Angeles 24, New Orleans 0. Oakland 27, Kansas City 7. TONIGHT'S GAME Central Daylight Time Dallas at Philadelphia, 8 p.m. NEXT SUNDAY'S GAMES New York Jets at Buffalo, noon. Los Angeles at New England, noon.

Atlanta at New Orleans, noon, Baltimore at Philadelphia, noon. New York Giants at Dallas, 1 p.m. Detroit vs. Green Bay at Milwaukee, 1 p.m. Kansas City at Houston, 1 p.m.

Chicago at Minnesota, 1 p.m. Cleveland at St. Louis, 1 p.m. Oakland at Pittsburgh, 3 p.m. Miami at San Diego, 3 p.m.

Cincinnati at San Francisco, 3 p.m. NEXT MONDAY'S GAME Denver at Washington, I p.m. -safest- iL: trying to gain yardage when he suddenly wound up on the shoulders of wiaig iicax, Avuauu wuu Pro football AMERICAN CONFERENCE i Eastern Division W. L. T.

Pet. Pts. Op. New England .2 0 0 1.000 62 44 Wlaml 1 1 .500 48 50 New York Jets .500 39 45 Bu falO 1 1 0 .500 37 44 Baltimore 0 2 0 .000 13 50 Blii.l...U Central Division 1 0 1 .750 1 1 0 .500 1 1 0 .500 1 1 0 .500 I Cincinnati 65 35 50 27 28 34 27 40 noustpn Cleveland Western Division Oakland .500 San Diego 1 1 0 .500 Kansas City 1 1 0 .500 Denver 0 1 1 .250 NATIONAL CONFERENCE 1 Eastern Division Louli 2 0 0 1.000 Dallas 1 0 0 1.000 Washington 1 1 0 .500 Philadelphia 0 1 0 .000 New York, Giants 2 47 28 34 38 31 43 45 52 li 'o 'I 27 30 41 Central Division Minnesota 2 0 0 1.000 Ch cuao 1 1 P. Green Bay 1 1 0 .500 37 Defrlot 2 0 .000 15 Western Division Los Angeles l.Offl 1.000 .000 .000 aan r-rancisco New Orleans 0 Atlanta 0 i.

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