Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 11

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 1995 SAMPRAS WINS Pete Sampras plays flawlessly to beat Todd Martin in the Gila River Casino Tennis Jackpot. C6. KENDALL LEADS Skip Kendall takes third-round lead at the PGA's B.C. Open. C5.

Editor, Kathy Tulumello 271-8641 Cats struggle with double loss lame lev Team honors Terrell, falls to Illini INSIDE TERRELL Honored by his teammates in Champaign, former Arizona tight end Damon Terrell is buried in Los Angeles. C8. Terrell, who died Sept. 7 after collapsing last month during conditioning drills. On bended knee, with their helmets pointed skyward, the players spelled out the letters "DT" as the announced crowd of 57,134 stood and cheered.

And it was Parnell who proudly held up Terrell's jersey for all to see. It would be the last time fans would have something to cheer about until Illinois (1-2) and Arizona (2-1) scored all 16 points in the last 12 minutes to turn what was an otherwise boring game into a thriller. It looked like the Wildcats might pull it See ARIZONA, page C8 Your week-to-week guide to the NFL. Look to today's Game Day Extra in Section for: Is there any way to stop Barry Sanders? A preview of the Cardinals' game with the Lions. A look at the rest of the day's action.

By Dale Hajek Staff writer CHAMPAIGN, 111. Football, school, girls, life. Arizona's Shawn Parnell and Damon Terrell talked about everything together. After all, that's what close friends the kind you count on one hand are for. But Parnell was at a loss for words Saturday.

How could he tell Terrell, in his own way, that the' l'th-ranked Wildcats couldn't hold on against Illinois and lost, 9-7, at Memorial Stadium? "I'm sitting here, and it's hard trying to find ways to explain to him why we didn't win," Parnell, said softly while cleaning out his locker. "This was one of the teams he really wanted to beat. "When he saw Illinois on our schedule this year, he knew they had Simeon Rice and some other good outside linebackers. He really wanted to play this team because he knew this was the game he could get to the NFL on if he performed well." The play of the game came before the opening kickoff, when the Wildcats used one of their three timeouts to honor DAVID CASSTEVENS Republic Executive Sports Editor Of mice and men and football eskeirs mie the Devil. 8 INSIDE RECORD GAME: NAU receiver ties touchdown record held by Jerry Rice, among others.

C9. OREGON: The Ducks come back and hold on to beat UCLA. CIO. HUSKY BLUES: Ohio State runs over Washington. Cll.

BAD DAY: For the first time since 1988, No. 5 Auburn and No. 13 Alabama lose on the same day. Cll. OSBORNE: Nebraska coach sorry for last TD.

C8. SATURDAY'S SCORES NAU 62 Abilene Chr 0 Florida State 77 N.C. State 17 Texas 52 Tulsa 9 Florida 62 Tennessee 37 Colorado 66 NE La 14 Southern Cal 45 Houston 10 Miami (Ohio) 30 Northwestern 28 k. Vf v- 7 i if 1 )xL. if V.

'Ct Complete Michael ChowStaff photographer coverage, C7-11. Nebraska running back Clinton Childs drags the Arizona State defense with him Saturday on his kickoff return. The host Cornhuskers ran all over the Sun Devils, 77-28. The memo is typed on company stationery and posted on the locker-room bulletin To: All Cardinals employees From: William V. Bidwill Because of the severe problem we are now encountering in the facility, it becomes necessary for all of us to eliminate any food source that we have in our office.

Therefore, effective immediately, all food, including candy, popcorn and cakes, will no longer be permitted in any area. Bidwill must feel like the biblical Job. His team is 0-2. His new quarterback is in a funk. Fans are booing the head coach.

Defensive stars Eric Swann and Eric Hill are hurt. Next Sunday, the Cardinals play Dallas. As if that's not enough, the club's $11 million complex is inhabited by rodents. Mice. Lots of them.

It is unclear whether the pest is the common house mouse (mus musculus) or the dreaded NFC East cellar mouse. Understandably, the Cardinals haven't put out a news release detailing the infestation. Whatever the variety, and there are hundreds, the unwanted guests took up residence in and around the Cardinals' headquarters during the summer, and the problem is serious enough that the owner dictated a company memo that, in effect, is a declaration of war. "There's a plague on the Big Red," one player confirmed. Hide 'n s-eeek! Many of us can relate to the Cardinals' annoyance.

Last year, a mouse moved into our house. Every night for weeks, I lay awake in the darkness, all ears, listening to the maddening patter and scratching behind a bedroom wall. It was like something out of Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. And that was only one mouse. Imagine scores of them, platoons offense, defense and special teams moving in, and living rent-free.

At the team's Tempe facility, the rodents are about as welcome as the media, that also mate year-around and eat almost anything. The Cardinals shouldn't blame themselves for the problem. The organization is vigilant in its efforts to keep out those who don't belong. Reporters and other visitors who approach the "RESTRICTED AREA" are required to halt outside a heavy iron gate, push a button and announce into a speaker his or her name and affiliation. If approved, the gate is opened electronically, the lock giving way with a metallic click.

The procedure is similar to entering a maximum-security prison to visit a loved one on death row. The mice beat the security gate and the surveillance cameras. In retaliation, the Cardinals contacted an exterminating company. The mice busters recently nabbed 60 in areas around the practice field, believed to be an NFL record. They reportedly caught a dozen more in the building, around vending machines.

A couple were found in the coaches' offices. Avoiding cat-astrophe Coach Buddy Ryan appears unconcerned. Ryan is accustomed to the sight of the little gray vermin with their black unblinking eyes. He has mice at his horse farm in Kentucky. "I got a couple of barn cats," Buddy said.

"They take care of 'em pretty good." But cats wouldn't be a practical solution to the Cardinals' problem. Professional football is a mental game. Preparation demands total concentration on and off the field. Coaches try to eliminate all distractions. Imagine Ryan standing in front of the chalk board, drawing X's and O's.

In the middle of his lecture on the theory of the "46" defense a tomcat streaks across the meeting-room floor, chasing his squeaking prey. Around the baseboards they go, like a Tom Jerry cartoon. Who could pay attention with all that going on? How could anything be accomplished? Fortunately, the Cardinals appear to be winning the rodent war. Kicker Greg Davis said he hasn't seen a single mouse in the locker room and very little escapes his watchful eye. 4.

My advice is to continue using traps and bait. But capture half a dozen mice alive and grow them with protein supplements and steroids. If the Cardinals don't start moving the ball on the ground, this team is going to need a whole new offensive line. ASU stunned by 77-28 blitz 3d. 3" ft 39-yard touchdown pass to third-string wide receiver Lance Brown with 38 seconds remaining.

Just by coincidence, that allowed the Cornhuskers (3-0) to match top-ranked Florida State's point total in a 77-17 romp over North Carolina State. Florida State and Nebraska are the two leading contenders to meet for the national championship in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 in Tempe. Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder had sharp words for Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne at midfield after the game. Snyder, miffed over Nebraska's last touchdown, See HUSKERS, page C8 By Bob Eger Staff writer LINCOLN, Neb.

Those darn Nebraska football players just can't seem to stay out of trouble. After a week of turmoil caused by off-the-field incidents, the Cornhuskers committed a mugging Saturday in front of 75,418 witnesses. The second-ranked Cornhuskers scored touchdowns the first seven times they had the football en route to a 77-28 thrashing of Arizona State at Memorial Stadium. And they created some hard feelings when third-string quarterback Matt Turman threw a Arizona State receiver Ricky Boyer goes up for a reception, but Nebraska cornerback Darren Schmadeke deflects the pass. 1 Michael ChowStaff photographer Race for 4th position in playoffs is wild indeed WILD-CARD RACES AMERICAN LEAGUE Chavez outlasts Kamau Julio Cesar Chavez (left) flails away with David Kamau on Saturday night at The Mirage hotel in Las Vegas.

Chavez retained his World Boxing Council super-lightweight title. Story, C2. Pet GB Team 69 62 .527 Seattle New York Kansas City Texas Oakland Milwaukee 1 2 2 6 6 68 63 .519 66 63 .512 67 64 .511 63 68 .481 62 68 .477 1 -G NATIONAL LEAGUE Team Pet GB Aaron Mayes Reuters By Don Ketchum Staff writer A year ago, The Show was silent. Matty's bat. Junior's glide.

Fantasy statistics. All went by the wayside. No Harry Caray warble wafting through Wrigley ivy. Not a single hot-dog wrapper to be tossed to the wind. Now the 144-game asterisk hangs around its neck a labor albatross but at least baseball has a pulse.

Believe it or not, with two weeks left, things should get a little wild. As in wild-card race. "I looked in the paper the other day, and I almost couldn't believe how many teams still had a chance to be the wild card," Colorado General Manager Bob Gebhard said. "That is outstanding, good for baseball." And certainly good for the Rockies. In only their third season, the power-hitting Rockies (three players with 30 or more homers and a fourth on the verge) are in the thick of the National League West battling the Los Angeles Dodgers down to the wire.

Even if they don't win Los Angeles Houston Chicago Philadelphia 69 62 .527 67 63 .515 1V4 64 65 .496 4 65 66 .496 4 63 67 .485 5Vi San Diego Ryder Cup, nationalism a nice pairing San Francisco 62 68 .477 6Vi drive. Tears have flowed. Players have fallen to their knees in agony and ecstasy. And fans have forsaken the polite golf for flag-waving and words of insult and encouragement. Can this really be the staid world of professional See RYDER, page C6 By Bill Huffman Staff writer They have been dubbed "Patriot Games," and with good reason.

National pride, not money, fires the flame of the biennial Ryder Cup matches. Since the Europeans upended the Americans in 1985, ending a 28-year losing streak, the Ryder Cup has gripped the golf world like a John Daly the West, the Rockies could be the league's wild card in the expanded playoff format that was supposed to begin last year. Other contenders for the NL wild card See BASEBALL'S, page CIS.