The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 25

Stabler, Gambler Linked 2 Major League Baseball 4 Irtcin Increases Lead 5 The Pro, Am Scoreboard 6 Soccer Future Dim 7 FL Exhibition Games 9 SUNDAY August 30, 1981 Section WefS wAf' -k A r1f--Ei By TOM SQUIRES Teanessean Sports Writer CHATTANOOGA Never has it been so wet on the field and in the clubhouse here at ancient En-gle Stadium. Only moments after watching a thunderstorm wipe out a 6-3 Chattanooga lead and cancel a double-header with the Lookouts here last night, the Nashville Sounds got word on a final score from Knoxville. Savannah 5, Knoxvjlle 4. THAT WAS all that was needed to get the champagne flowing in the Sounds' dressing room. Nashville had clinched the second-half Southern League Western Division championship.

"Hot damn!" yelled Sounds' manager Stump Merrill as corks began to pop all over the room. "Are you kidding me? Knoxville lost again?" The Sounds had needed only a win on this final five-game road trip of the season or a loss by second-place Knoxille in its final six-game series at home against Savannah. "After the way we looked that first inning, I needed something to cheer me up," said Merrill. "We didn't exactly look like a championship team. But, the vP's vv -cs.

''jr -Staff photo by Bill Welch Hometown Favorite Former Montgomery Bell Academy star and now Yanderbilt sopho-lson during Fan Day at Dudley Stadium. The Commodores open their more Tom Moore signs an autograph for 7-year-old Michael Ander- regular season at home on Sept. 12 against Maryland. 7k Stump Merrill Celebrates Title game wasn't over and we had gotten back in the game. I think we would've come back and won it." MERRILL said winning the championship without finishing last night's game didn't tarnish the Sounds' celebration.

we sure didn't back into anything," said Merrill. "A win in July is just like a win in Aug- ust. We have the best record in the entire Southern League (80-59) for the second straight year and this bunch deserves to be in the playoffs. "We lost four straight in Memphis and the lead got to Vh games, but we came back and beat the top team in the Eastern Division (Charlotte) three out of four times to just about clinch it. It was just a matter of when it; became official." Merrill said this year's accomplishment means more than last year when the Sounds set a league record with 97 regular-season victories.

"LAST year was an extremely had a lot of penalties. Seven flags for 50 yards. But, the problem was not the offense, nor Taylor's leadership, but injuries in the line, according to Maclntyre. "With both Ken Hammond and Jeff Madden injured at quick tackle, we had to shift a guard from the other side, Rob Monaco, and we had some penalties while coach (Monty) Crook was telling him how to play," said Maclntyre. BY THE way, Hammond, Vandy's 278-pound All-American candidate, has a sprained ankle and was on crutches yesterday.

He is expected to be out less than opener Sept. 12, will determine Vanderbilt's chances of starting an upward climb, record-wise. Yesterday, a crowd estimated as high as 4,000, showed up for Fan Day, mingled with the Commodores for autographs, ogled the new Dudley Field stadium and then went into the stands to watch a game-condition scrimmage. Enter, Mr. Taylor of Shelby-ville.

No. 1 0, if you please. Taylor hit on eight of 12 passes for 198 yards and one touchdown a sensational throw to tight end Allama Matthews for 73 yards. He ran twice for 29 yards and engineered two other drives for touchdowns. ONE OF the drives was 78 By JIMMY DAVY Four years ago, former Vandy 1 coach Fred Pancoast vowed he must find a quarterback, the es- sential ingredient to any productive offense.

"I have one," he said, the day he signed Whit Taylor of Shelby-ville. Pancoast didn't have to fight off other Southeastern Confer- ence coaches on the Taylor front porch. Prospects shorter than 6-' feet don't draw a crowd. At 5-11, 178, Taylor isn't the prototype SEC quarterback to this day. But, for effectiveness, he's getting closer.

And, closer. HOW MUCH farther he comes in polish and confidence, between now and the Maryland to do. And, with the season now just two weeks away we'll start cutting down our offense to fit Maryland," Taylor said. "But, we're much better than last year at this time because of more experience and more determination. Determination is the best word I can think of.

We're determined to make this work." VANDY HEAD coach George Maclntyre said that he played Taylor, the only non-freshman quarterback at this point, for a long time by design. "He needs the work. And the team needs him to work. I was very pleased today with his performance," said the Commodore skipper. The Vandy first team offense yards in 11 plays and the other 64 yards in nine plays against the No.

2 Vandy defense. Hulking Ernie Goolsby, Vandy's 232-pound blockbuster fullback, scored both touchdowns on runs of 6 and 10 yards. When the day was over, and the crowd long-since dispersed by threatening clouds, Taylor had generated most of the 352 yards total offense for the No. 1 unit an average of eight yards per play in Vandy's jazzed-up attack. "I feel comfortable with the offense," said Taylor, who must direct a puzzling series of formations which often winds up with no setback and players spread all over the field.

"We still have some polishing talented and experienced club," said Merrill. "We had to earn everything we got this year. We overcame a lot of youth and inexperience and some big injuries at (Turn to Page 2, Column 3) (Turn to Page 9, Column 1) ew 4 1 4" sto -tmr fox Pud ley held v. 4 it Pff i if IT WAS A five-paragraph account of Tuesday afternoon's Vanderbilt scrimmage and other news of the day had squeezed it onto the fourth page of the sports section. But as the 1981 Commodore season develops, the routine "trainer" appearing in Wednesday morning's paper conceiveably predicted the most exciting offensive weapon of the year at Vandy.

In part, the item disclosed: Heflin, a senior from Atlanta, tossed a short scoring pass for the first touchdown of the afternoon and also fired il Wm" WITH A JOHN BIBB I At' I SPORTS EDITOR Br iff JtaMMHeHMUfJ f- 'ojf 4 4. I I a 63-yard bomb to Z-back Keith Edwards to set up a 2-yard dive by JL Staff photo by Dianne Milam Waiting Her Turn SHELBYYILLE Little Kristin Beech, 8, looks a I Threat in the Junior Riders on Show Pleasure little worried as she waits her turn aboard Mark of Walking class at the Walking Horse Celebration. Heflin for the second TD." The significance, of course, is the fact that Van Heflin is a Commodore tailback, transplanted to the position after three seasons as a quarterback. At 6-2, 211, Heflin has exceptional speed and power. His potential as a running back has long been Hi xGor iding In The Ring Doug Mathews With Sir Winston Pays Off Brown, whose playing career ultimately was curtailed because of injury, operated In a Commodore backfield that included tailback Doug Mathews.

Doug's running talents enabled him to lead all Southeastern Conference rushers. And, for the discussion at hand, it should be noted, that Mathews also developed into the most successful Vandy tailback passer since the 1940s and the single-wing. Mathews, who now serves as an assistant on the staff of John Majors at Tennessee, threw 10 times during the 1969 season. Four of those passes were completed for touchdowns. A fifth completion set up one of the touchdowns in the Commodores' memorable 14-10 upset of Alabama.

BROWN LIKES to describe Heflin's role in the Vandy offensive scheme as closely akin to that of a single-wing tailback. The big differ ence in the fresh offensive set is that Heflin gets the ball on a handoff or pitch rather than by direct snap from center. The truth is Heflin's presence as a potential passer, particularly in early-season games, is likely to be cause for concern among teams setting defenses for the Commodores. Even if he never so much as throws one pass, he poses a problem for opposing secondaries. The threat is always there.

Understand, please, Heflin isn't just another big, fast runner who might throw. The record books are full of halfback-pass failures. History tells us such a pass is just about as likely to be picked off by a defender as it is to be caught by the intended receiver. (Turn to Page 6, Column 4) recognized. His abilities as a passer are reflect- ed by creditable statistics established in the seasons of 1978-79 and part of 1980.

The spring practice surge demonstrated by Whit Taylor at quarterback eased the decision by the Commodore coaches to switch and Van's run-pass threat as a tailback adds a dazzling dimension to Vandy's sprightly offen-. sive plans. ITS BEEN years since Vandy utilized the halfback pass with any consistency. For that matter, not many teams have shown much efficiency with the play. For the record, not since 1969 has this particular offensive ploy been exploited frequently by the Commodores.

Interestingly, that '69 bunch was quarterbacked by Watson Brown, the newly-acquired offensive coordinator at Vandy. Now, the run-pass option by a tailback seems to be an established part of the Vandy attack. Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. Another juvenile blue-ribbon winner last night was Charles H. Merryman's The Copper Penny in the Walking Ponies 58 Inches and Under, Riders 14 Years and Under class.

IN OTHER late classes, Dude's Black Allen, with Donald Stamper up, won the Four Year Old Walking Gelding class; 10 year old Alicia Blackmon rode Pride's Rare Flame' to the blue in the Junior Riders on Walking Mares, (Turn to Page 7, Column I) By LARRY TAFT Tenoesseu Sports Writer SHELBYVILLE -Uncertainty is a way of life for Walking Horse exhibitors, even pretty, young lady exhibitors. Eighteen-year-old Missy Cool, who falls into that category, said she was very uncertain of just high she and mount Sir Winston's Riot would finish last night in the Division of the Junior Riders on Walking Mares or Geldings, Riders 15-17 Years Inclusive. Yet, when the judges had marked their cards, Cool and Riot were once again receiving the Freed-Hardeman College Challenge Trophy and the accolades which go to the winner, just as they did in the same class a year ago. "YOU NEVER know how you will tie (be placed)," Cool said after riding to the blue. "You just have to wait for the judges' decision to be announced, and that's an anxious moment." Ebony's Sun Lady, with 17-year-old Vicki Hughes of Burns-ville, N.C.

up, took first in the A Division of the class, the first on the third night of the 43rd annual.