The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 50

4 THE COURIER-JOURNAL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1980 COLLEGE FOOTBALL ooze's shining moment is upstaged by Boise's heroics i By STAN SUTTON Courler-Jeurnal Staff Writer SACRAMENTO, Calif. For most of this football season, Eastern Kentucky's David Booze felt like a lonesome end. Not reminiscent of the old days at West Point, where Bill Carpenter wouldn't rejoin the huddle but would stand near the sideline between plays, but lonesome nevertheless. Booze hasn't been late for a huddle all season. But in Eastern's early games he was the best-kept secret Eastern had.

He was catching fewer passes than a fat girl at a sorority dance, and pro scouts don't look at Inactive receivers. The fact that Booze also had missed the final five games of the 1979 season with torn knee cartilage didn't make him any more visible on pro scouting reports. So what if he had 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash, or that at 6 feet 3 and 185 he was an inviting target? Yesterday, in Eastern's 31-29 loss to Boise State in the Camellia Bowl, Booze regained his Identity. He only hopes the pros were watching. The senior from St.

Petersburg, caught eight passes for 105 yards and one touchdown. The one score would have made all the anonymity worthwhile if it had not been followed by another one that upstaged his. The 60-yard pass from Chris Isaac to Booze that seemingly had given Eastern its second straight national championship was to be followed by a Boise State touchdown with only 12 seconds to go. And suddenly, the sight of Booze standing triumphant in the end zone, waving the ball to pro scouts and any one else who wanted to watch, was as outdated as a DC-3 in a war zone. "We had been hitting the short man, and I was able to get behind them," Booze said of his score, which had given Eastern a 29-24 lead with 55 seconds to go.

It seemed to make an Eastern breakdown moments earlier insignificant, taking the heat off Steve Bird, who had been unable to handle a snap from center and tried to run when Eastern was in point-blank field-goal range. "I saw the free safety come up and pick up (Jerry) Parrish," said Isaac, who threw the ball perfectly to Booze between two stunned Boise State defenders. Ironically perhaps, Isaac could share the glory with Booze after being one of the sources of his receiver's early-season problems. After playing last season as a reserve behind Bill Hughes, Isaac was under heavy pressure starting this season. Hughes was the most notable graduation from the offense, and Isaac was slow about picking up the ball and running with it.

Eastern coach Roy Kidd patiently stuck by his junior quarterback but at midseason admitted that he was considering switching to Tuck Woolum. "It was pretty discouraging because I wasn't catching any passes," Booze said. "I was just hoping that pro scouts would notice things like my blocking." After Eastern lost to Western Kentucky 13-10 on Oct. 25, Kidd made a change that apparently benefited both Isaac and Booze. He had been calling the plays by signaling from the sideline but started relaying the calls by rotating his receivers.

"I think one thing that has helped us was that after our Western game we decided to quit signaling our signals," Kidd said. "Isaac seemed to be concentrating so hard on what play we were giving him from the sideline that we were getting a little bit of mis-communication. "For example, in the Western game time was running out at halftime, and we signaled for a bomb. He runs it up the middle. So we decided that we'd just send the plays in.

I think that's given him more leadership. After a play now he can get the guys together and say something because he knows the play's coming in. And just as soon as the play's over, he doesn't have to start looking at the sideline and see what the next play is. That's helped relax him, and I think he's been playing better ever since." Isaac had appeared very relaxed of late, brilliantly quarterbacking Eastern past Lehigh last week in a first-round playoff game. Yesterday he completed 16 of 25 attempts, half of them to Booze.

Even after Boise State scored its closing touchdown, Eastern had hope. Duane Dlouhy had spiked the ball after the score, and Boise was assessed a 15-yard penalty on the kick-off. Any kind of return by the fleet Parrish could have set up a realistic pass play or perhaps a 50-yard field-goal try by David Flores. But Parrish could return the kickoff only to his own 18, and with six seconds to go, Isaac tried the same pass play with Parrish as the intended receiver. It fell in the mud, which was where Eastern's dreams were lying.

This one got away is if A -ai 'A-x i 1 i i 1 xrt -2 Eastern Kentucky quarterback Chris Isaac (16) fumbled in the fourth quarter and Boise State recovered during yesterday's NCAA Division I-AA championship game in Sacramento, Calif. Six plays later, however, Eastern regained possession on an interception by linebacker David Hill. Boise rallied to win 31-29 on Joe Aliotti's touchdown pass to Duane Dlouhy with 12 seconds left. STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL COERS it 4j 4 yMJtL fy i Statistics BOISE STATE 0 14 10 7-31 EASTERN KENTUCKY 3 7 13-29 EKy FG Florej 26; Boil Bedard 5 pass from Alloftl (Camerud kick); EKy Braxton 7 run (Flores kick); Boil Hughes 1 run (Camerud kick); Bls AAlnter I run (Camerud kick); EKy Isaac 11 run (run failed); Bols FG Camerud 24; EKy Braxton 2 run (pass failed); EKy Booze 60 pass from Isaac (Flores kick); Beis Dlouhy 14 pass from Aliottl (Camerud kick). Boise State Eastern First downs 34 19 Rushes-yards 45-152 49-147 Passing yards 358 250 Return yards 10 21 Passes 24-41-1 16-25-1 Punts 6-32 6-39 Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-2 Penalties-yards 8-78 4-26 INDIVIDUALS RUSHING Boise State, Mlnter 22-105, Zahner 8-39, Hughes 4-23.

Eastern, Patton 944, Issac 13-40, Miller 11-38, Braxton 13-26. PASSING Boise State, Allotti 24-41-1 358 yards. Eastern, Isaac, 16-25-1 250 yards. RECEIVING Boise State, Bedard 11-212 ytfrds, Hughes 4-35, Zahner 4-13. Eastern, Booze 8-105, Curtis 3-36, Parrish 3-36.

iff Boise State's comeback shocks Eastern 31-29 in Camellia Bowl jv I Si v- 3Ky A i mm imnmiin i U1uiilit ii 1 i fTw-k iff (3 'A Wt Sf? 11 -V MM v. Ci kickoff and started from its own 11. But the Colonels distinguished themselves by marching 89 yards in 12 plays, the drive ending on an 11-yard run by Isaac. The junior quarterback had launched the drive with a 14-yard pass to Cris Curtis and had a big 16-yard pass to fullback Dale Patton late in the advance. Trailing 21-16, Eastern tried for a two-point conversion, but Jerry Parrish came up a yard short while running a reverse to the short side of the field.

Continued from Page One fake field-goal attempt Boise State thought it had won. Eventually Boise did win 31-29, but not before Eastern snatched victory from the jaws of defeat only to have it snatched back. With 55 seconds left Eastern's Chris Isaac threw a 60-yard bomb to wide receiver David Booze for a touchdown. Boise was down 29-24, and Eastern's bench was in hysterics. Disbelief settled in on the Boise players as thickly as had a first-half fog that made visibility difficult.

But emotions can be fleeting, because in 43 seconds Boise had marched 80 yards and scored the winning touchdown, the clincher coming on a fourth-down pass from the 14 first quarter on a 26-yard field goal by Flores, but Bedard took a five-yard pass from Aliotti at 7:43 of the second period to put Boise ahead. The lead shifted again with 3:35 left in the half on a seven-yard run by Eastern's Tony Braxton, but Boise State went ahead 14-10 with a one-yard scoring run by fullback David Hughes with 1:11 before the intermission. Both field position and field condition were big factors in the first half. The misty fog had left the poorly sodded field muddy before some second-half sunshine helped dry it out. In the first half.

Eastern had taken position at its own eight-yard line, its 16, its 14 and its three. Except for one Eastern punt which George Floyd downed at Boise's one, the Broncos were near midfield four times. "We're our own worst enemies," Kidd told his team at halftime. The Eastern coach then admonished his team to go onto the field "and make something happen for us." The Colonels did just the opposite, On the second play of the half Braxton fumbled and Boise recovered at Eastern's 45. With brilliant tailback Cedric Minter doing the chores, Boise State scored 22 minutes into the half for a 21-10 lead.

Minter carried four times from scrimmage, scoring from the one, and also caught a 37-yard screen pass that put the ball on the two. Eastern created further adversity when it was caught holding on the with only 12 seconds left in the game. Boise State's Joe Aliotti had scrambled several seconds before finding teammate Duane Dlouhy in the end zone. Booze, so jubilant a short time earlier, perhaps put it best: "I feel like the grinch came in and stole Christmas," he said. Both teams finished with 10-3 records.

"It was a play-action pass to the wide side of the field with crossing patterns coming back into the sideline," explained Boise State coach Jim Criner. "It was actually a flood situation, three guys against the sideline kind of thing. The quarterback just read the three different levels of the flood. "It was the same pattern that they hurt us with several times in critical situations." But nobody from Eastern had inflicted damage the way Aliotti did yesterday. He completed 24 of 41 attempts for 358 yards and two touchdowns.

His favorite target, Kipp Bedard, caught 11 passes for 212 yards as Eastern's pass defense had its second straight subpar game. "It was a great offensive game, but we didn't do a very good job playing Minter, who rushed for 105 yards on 22 carries, helped Boise threaten again. The Bronchos reached Eastern's 28, where linebacker Alex Do-minguez stacked up a screen pass, and Boise's Kenrick Camerud barely was short with a 42-yard field-goal attempt. On Boise's next possession, however, Camerud hit from 25 yards to make the score 24-16 with 43 seconds left in the third period. A short kickoff got Eastern started at its 43, and Isaac hit Tron Armstrong for 23 yards and Alvin Miller for 13.

But Isaac then fumbled at the Boise 21, and Ralph Esposito recovered for Boise State. "He just kind of stripped the ball from me," said Isaac, who completed 16 of 25 passes for 250 yards and also gained 40 yards rushing. The turnover was reversed six plays later when Eastern linebacker David Hill intercepted an Aliotti pass at the Boise 35 and wasn't tackled until he reached the 14. Braxton and Patton took it the rest of the way, with Braxton scoring from the two to close Boise's lead to 24-22 with 11:15 left. Camerud missed his second 42-yard field goal of the day with 8:07 left after Boise had marched from its own 17 to Eastern' 26.

From Boise's 25, Aliotti found Bedard 15 yards in the clear and only a saving tackle by Rodney Byrd prevented a touchdown. Eastern then launched its sustained drive, which went 71 yards before the planned field goal by Flores failed to come off. Boise's Criner said any attempt to block Flores' kick, had it occurred, disappeared when his designated kick-blocker. Rick Woods, slipped in the mud. "But that was a blessing in disguise because he was able to get up and make the tackle," Criner said.

Criner, a former aide of Dick Vermeil's at UCLA, said he couldn't remember a more exciting game. "Those kind of things happen when two great teams get together," he said. Reed hits for 24 in Indiana State win I pass defense and it hurt us," said Eastern coach Roy Kidd. "Their quar TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) Senior guard Steve Reed scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the second half last night leading Indiana State over Pepperdine 83-73 in a non-conference basketball game.

The Sycamores, capitalizing on a 42-36 rebounding edge, were ahead for most of the game. A rebound tip-in by sophomore Learando Drake put Indiana State ahead for good 22-21 with 5:20 left in the first half and Pepper-dine never caught up. Reed, who made two of four shots before intermission, was 7-for-10 in the second half. Most of his shots came on jumpers from the top of the key. He also had eight assists, giving him 32 for the season and placing him just 18 shy of the school record.

1 terback scrambled and got out of the pocket, and sometimes you lose your man in a situation like that It's a shame it happened on fourth down." Bird said the snap from center was inaftr- hmhhhT iMiWMiWiiii itm-r' fl.tunr.mm.mii jmn-iii i 'a good one on his attempted run. "I just couldn't grab it. We practice it so Associated Press if it's mishandled I run outside and yell for someone." Eastern had taken a 3-0 lead in the Eastern's Tony Braxton dived over from the two within two, 24-22, with 11:15 to play. Boise State, to score in the final nnartpr tn null t-1-io PnlnnJo tini.rr HVVV1.VC1 1 wciil uu lu wiji mc vameiiia rowi Ji-zy. A.