The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 25

DAVID WITKE, Executive Sports Editor, 515-284-8130 Neon for Deion? Wlien the Cowboys and 49ers meet, San Francisco's Deion Sanders might earn hut flashy nickname. Page 2D 4 Dcs Hloincs Sunbay Agister N'ovKMiiKK 13, 1994 Section UNI Explodes Northern i Wa routs Southern Illinois to finish 6-0 in Guteway Conference play. 1 Page 1CD UlfU A 2 4 TIE ffil(GDl Co IS. 1., vv Marc Hansen -x I I Final cheers, but few tears v. mes, la.

Jim Walden's last game on the Iowa State sideline looked, smelled. sounded and felt strangely like a bie-time cnllece TV 5 football game. Traffic began to back up as the cars approached the stadium. There were enough paying customers in the stands for a quorum. Best of all, the top-ranked team in the country did not sneak away without a challenge from its surprisingly worthy host.

Thanks in large part to 15,000 Nebraska fans a conservative estimate this was how a major-college football stadium is supposed to look on a fall Saturday. The Cyclones were not able to give Walden a going-away victory in this uncharacteristically electric setting. 1- cA 'ii 1 ti i The fans were cheering Saturday because the Cyclones gave them something to cheer about. In Jim Walden's final game, Iowa State gives Nebraska all it wants, but the Huskers score twice in the final period to win, 28-12. By RON MALY Register Staff Writkr Ames, la.

The Jim Walden coaching era at Iowa State ended the same way it began with a loss but at least the Cyclones don't need to burn the game films. For a while, they can savor memories of the big effort they gave in Saturday's 28-12 loss to No. 1-ranked Nebraska. Iowa State, inspired by a crowd of 45,186 largest of the season at Cyclone Stadium trailed by only two points early in the fourth quarter. But Nebraska got touchdowns from Damon Benning, on a 6-yard run, and Lawrence Phillips, on a '21-yard scamper, in the final 12 minutes 9 seconds to win its 1 1th consecutive game.

The Cornhuskers pushed their Big Eight record to 6-0 and clinched at least a tie for the conference title. Iowa State's last gasp was Todd Doxzon's 32-yard pass to Geoff Turner with 9:40 left that would have been a touchdown had it not been nullified by a holding penalty. The Cyclones came into the game as 35-point underdogs, and got so caught up with their strong showing and the emotion of Walden's last game that they sang the fight song in the locker room afterward. The only other time they sang the song was after a 31-31 tie Oct. 22 at Oklahoma State.

"I was the one who said, 'Let's sing the song said Matt Nitchie, a senior linebacker from Lincoln, Neb. "I could tell a lot of guys really wanted to do it because, after Coach Walden got through talking, a lot of guys weren't leaving." Nitchie said Walden "was kind of emotional" after coaching the Cyclones for the final time. "He was saying how proud he was of us," Nitchie said. "He was really, really happy with our effort, and so was I. "There's nothing we need to hang our heads about.

Here was the No. 1 team in the nation, and we were a couple of scores away. That's incredible." Nitchie had a role in a career-high 18 tackles tops among the Cyclones but only one was unassisted. Iowa State's record fell to 0-9-1 heading into the finale Saturday at Colorado. Another defeat will ISU Please turn to Page 8D v- 'J i 1 HARRY BAUMERTTheReCICTER With blocking from Ross Verba, quarterback Matt Sherman prepares to launch one of his 24 passes Saturday against Northwestern.

Iowa's Sherman flattens Wildcats By RANDY PETERSON Register Staff Writer to 929 yards. He needs 71 at Minnesota to become the seventh Iowa player to gain 1,000 yards and first since Mike Saunders got 1,022 in 1991. He also scored a touchdown on a 19-yard run. Wide receiver Harold Jasper extended his game-reception streak to 22 with six catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. Jasper, a senior, is ninth in all-time receptions with 104 and fifth in career receiving yards with 1 ,829.

Bo Porter recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown. Jason House blocked it "and I just picked up the garbage," said Porter, one of 20 seniors making final appearances at home. Porter also intercepted a pass. Fullback Ryan Terry, another senior, closed his home career in because Ryan Driscoll did a heck of a job while he was in there. It's kind of hard to make any guessing right now until we see both the guys healthy." The Iowa offense generated 602 yards, the seventh-best total under Fry.

The lOth-best of all-time is 615 against Kansas State in 1959. The Hawkeyes' best production of the season was 568 yards in a victory against Central Michigan. The victory improved Iowa's records to 2-4-1 in the Big Ten Conference and 4-5-1 overall heading into the 6 p.m. season finale Saturday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Northwestern fell to 2-5 and 3-6-1 and has lost the past 21 games to Iowa.

"We had a lot of guys do a lot of great things today," Fry said. Tailback Sedrick Shaw gained 1 14 yards, bringing his season total the 13th best passing game in Iowa history. The previous best starting performance under Fry was when Matt Rodgers passed for 276 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-21 victory against Iowa State in 1989. "I don't even want to get into that," said Sherman, who started the season No. 2 behind Ryan Dris-coll, played four games as a reserve and was sidelined much of the the season with a bone that is still broken in his right foot.

"I've still got a lot to learn, but this was a start." Was it good enough to earn him the starting nod in the spring ahead of Driscoll, who broke a collarbone Oct. 8 against Indiana? "I have to wait and see how Ryan Driscoll recovers from his injury, but they'll have at it next spring," Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said. "They'll have a good battle Iowa City, la. Someone among the mass of Iowa football players walking confidently off the field Saturday hollered something about a Sherman Attack. That was the phrase of the day.

Matt Sherman was just that, and more. The second-year freshman quarterback, in his first start, earned his second start next Saturday at Minnesota after passing for 331 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-13 victory against Northwestern in front of 66,532 at Kinnick Stadium. It not only was the best first-start performance by an Iowa quarterback since Hayden Fry became Iowa coach in 1979, but also IOWA Please turn to Page 6D Reason to Celebrate Thein Gets 245 Yards in Class 4-A Playoff Iowa City High stops Bettendorf 4- But they gave Nebraska a game, which is the next best thing, especially in this season shaped like a goose egg. Nebraska 28, Iowa State 12. That was the score Saturday.

Northern Iowa 28, Iowa State 14. That was the score on the first Saturday of the season. Does this make any sense at all? Two more victories for Nebraska and the polls will be closed for the season; the Cornhuskers will be declared the national champions of lege football. Northern Iowa, at best, will spend the rest of the season fighting for air time during the closing minutes of ESPN's SportsCenter. Stranger yet, the new Cyclone Stadium scoreboard only danced around the truth.

The game was never in doubt for Northern Iowa. Until the last few minutes, the game was a medley of doubts for Nebraska. If Todd Doxzon slides into the end zone on a two-point conversion try late in the third quarter, the score is 14-14. And if Iowa State isn't called for holding on Geoff Turner's touchdown, Nebraska's lead is only 21-19. Charlie McBride, the Nebraska defensive coordinator, attributed Iowa State's unexpected proficiency to the 15 Nebraskans on the Iowa State roster.

Their enthusiasm for this rivalry, he said, rubs off on the other players. Not bad. But how do you explain all those losses to Iowa with all the Iowa-bred Cyclones working up a healthy distaste for the Hawkeyes? You don't. McBride's hypothesis is as good as any. Much better than the one Walden offered afterward.

Why were the Cyclones so competitive today in a game that could have had the nation covering its eyes in horror? The fans were one reason, Walden said. They finally came alive. Instead of sitting in the stands like gold and red throw pillows, they cheered lustily. Which is something to think about, he said, for future reference in the new regime. Give Walden credit for consistency.

He went out the same way he came in eight years ago. Pointing the finger. Surely Walden wasn't implying that Iowa State's winning percentage through the years was tied to the decibel level of the Cyclone Stadium crowd. That's the reason some folks dislike Walden. That's the reason his detractors on the call-in show circuit refer to Walden as an "excuse machine." I can't explain it.

This is not a mean-spirited person. This is not Jim Criner with a sugar-cured drawl. This is a good-natured man with about as much guile as a golden retriever pup. As usual, Walden simply spewed forth his off-the-cuff opinion at 100 rotations per minute without first thinking it through. What he should have done, of course, was drop to one knee and thank the fiercely loyal core of 25,000 Iowa State fans still devoted enough to show up and support their winless football team.

But that's not the Jim Walden who requires more care and maintenance than an old Volvo. The truth is so obvious, it's almost not worth expressing. The fans were cheering Saturday because the Cyclones gave them something to cheer about. The question had to do with Walden's thoughts on his final home game. The answer had to do with fan HANSEN Please turn to Page 8D A 1 i i 1 si By DAN JOHNSON RwiisTEK Staff Writkk AT UN1-D0ME FRIDAY'S FINALS t- t-i 'i 1 fir v.

CLASS A 10:30 i.m. Winfield-Mount Union (12 0) vs WeM Bend-Mallard (11-1) CLASS 1-A 1:30 Hudson (11-0) vs Pocahontas (120) CLASS 4-A 7:30 Iowa City High (10-2) vs. Linn-Mar (Marion) (10-2) SATURDAY'S FINALS It i i 1 CLASS 2-A 10:30 Mount Vernon (11-1) vs Iowa Falls (11-1) CLASS 3 A 1:30 Spencer (10-2) vs South Tama (11-1) Tiff Iowa City, la. Rob Thein powered 245 yards and three touchdowns to lead third-ranked Iowa City High past No. 4 Bettendorf, 35-13, in a Class 4-A state football semifinal.

With 2,039 yards this fall, Thein is 74 yards behind the season school record Tim Dwight set last season en route to becoming an All-America back and leading the Little Hawks to the state championship. But Thein ends comparisons to Dwight as smoothly as he sheds a tackle. "He's still the best there ever was," Thein said. It was the third successive season the schools met in the playoffs. The winner of the previous two games Bettendorf in 1992, Iowa City High last year went on to win state titles.

Thein started at defensive end last season and was Dwight's backup at halfback. He doesn't have Dwight's blazing speed, but is a powerful runner good speed. "We've seen Robbie since he was a freshman and knew he was a great player," City High Coach Larry Brown said. "He would have started for anybody else last year, except for Tim Dwight. He's got good speed and he's extremely strong." Iowa City High accumulated its -m .4 I 1 points in three quarters.

Betten-dorfs defense hadn't allowed more than 30 points in any game and had upset No. 1 Davenport Assumption six days earlier. "Their tailback ran around us, over us and through us all day," Bettendorf Coach Merv Habenicht said. "Anytime they needed yards, he got them. He's a very outstanding player.

He's head and shoulders over anybody we've seen this year." Bettendorf got off to a quick start as Andy Viering returned the opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown. But the tide swung City High's way two plays later and remained at a low ebb for Bettendorf the rest PLAYOFFS Please turn to Page 4D BiaNEIBERGAUTHEREOISTER Dike's Dayna Depping, left, and Andrea Sher- feat Sumner for the Class 1-A volleyball wood celebrate the winning point as they de- state championship Saturday. STORY: 3D. A A 1 A ifTi ITIiM.