The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 13

Dickinson makes winning contagious in Gatorland By FRANCIS KELLEY News Sports Writer Winning is contagious in Galveston County's Village of Dickinson, homeland for Texas schoolboy football's Dickinson Gators. Head coach Dub Fan-is' Gators, paced by fullback Brian Rollins' two-touchdown scoring performance, styled in high fashion Friday night when they shut out Galveston Ball High's Golden Tornadoes 14-0 at Sam Vitanza Stadium in Dickinson. The battle was heralded as the top District 24-5A game thus far this season and, perhaps, the year. Both teams went into the confrontation with clean 24-5 slates. But it was Dickinson which emerged with a 4-0 district platter while Ball had to settle with a 2-1 mark.

Moreover, the Gators, ranked fifth in the state, enhanced their reputation by extending their season record to 6-0. Bail registers at 3-2 for the year. At Clear Lake, the La Porte Bulldogs extended their 24-5A mark to 3-0 with a 20-14 win over the Falcons. La Porte and Dickinson are the only unbeatens in the district. In other county games O'Connell thwarted St.

John's 19-14 for a successful Homecoming outing, Santa Fe came from behind to eke by Katy Taylor 7-6 in a District 14-4A battle and High Island massacred Apple Springs 48-0. Elswhere, La Marque journeyed to Pearland and unsurprisingly shackled the Oilers 33-14. In Alvin, the Yellow Jackets stung the Texas City Stingarees in a 12-7 upset. On Saturday the Hitchcock Bulldogs made a shambles of Mt. Carinel, winning 33-16.

After a scoreless first half, Rollins, a junior, ignited for an 18-yard touchdown on the first possession of the third period. Place-kicker Brent Bryson converted his first of two PATs to give the Gators a 7-0 margin over Ball with 8:45 left. Rollins (5-11, 200 pounds) assumed the spotlight again in the fourth when he raced for a 33-yard TD with 10:36 remaining. Reliable Bryson tacked on the PAT and Dickinson commanded the Tors 14-0. Ball penetrated to Dickinson's 10 in the first half and 25 yard line in the second half but couldn't score.

District 24-5A's leading rusher, Texas City's Byron Collins, was held to 37 yards in 14 carries as the Stings fell to Alvin. The Yellow Jackets capitalized on two Stingarees' fumbles by turning them into touchdowns. La Marque's Ron Francis erupted for 87, 59 and 8-yard TD prances as the Coogs peppered the Oilers. Francis, a 1980 All-District pick, gained 171 yards in only seven carries. On the island, O'Connell quarterback Kent Dodge rifled two TD tosses, both 35-yarders, to receiver Bryan Heffernan in the Homecoming win.

Running back Leroy Green scored the other Bucs' touchdown on a 17-yard spurt. Defensively, cornerback Sean Coughlin recorded three interceptions. Quarterback Chris Marullo sparked the Santa Fe Indians in overtaking a 6-0 Katy Taylor lead in the third quarter to even the warrior's District 14-4A mark at 2-2. Sports JL (iahiestott Section Page 1 Local, State, World Sports Monday Morning, October 12,1981 Sports Phone 744-3611 LA shuts out Astros Reuss paces deciding three-game sweep Safe! Houston Astro Jose Cruz slides safely into 2nd base on an error by Los Angeles Dodgers' shortstop BUI Russell (18). Russell dropped a short throw by Davey Lopes (15) early in the 49ers serve Cowboys meal of 'humble pie' UPI Telephoto fourth and final game of the Western Division Championships.

See 2-B for dope on NL East and AL East playoffs. LOS ANGELES (UPI) Jerry Reuss gave himself the gift he had wanted for the past six years a trip to the National League playoffs. Reuss scattered five hits Sunday to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-0 victory over the Houston Astros, clinching the NL West series three games to two after losing the first two games in Houston. The Dodgers open the NL championship series at home Tuesday against East champion Montreal at Dodger Stadium, where the Expos have lost 18 of their last 19 games. Reuss hasn't participated in a league championship since 1975, when he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He came to the Dodgers in 1979. "This was certainly my most exciting victory," Reuss said. "It's the most fulfilling win because we're going to the league championship series. I've been waiting a long time for this. Reuss compared Sunday's mat- chup against Houston's Nolan Ryan to last season, when the two faced each other in the regular-season finale.

Reuss and the Dodgers won that game, forcing a one-game division playoff that Houston captured 7-1. The Dodgers were sparked offensively by Steve Garyey, who scored one run and drove in another with a triple. He said the game proved the Dodgers aren't a team that quits. Leading the joyous celebration in the Dodgers' locker room was manager Tom Lasorda, who said over and over that he never lost confidence in his team even after the first two losses. "Friday night I knew we were going to win all three games," Lasorda said.

"I believed that more than I'd ever believed anything in my life. These guys don't know what it means to quit. I knew they'd doit." Across the hall, the Astros were subdued in defeat. Manager Bill Virdon said he was happy with the season, but to come so close and then fall short was frustrating. "We had a few chances to win the game today but we just couldn't get any runs," he said.

"We just couldn't take advantage of our situations. Any time you get this close, you have to be disappointed. But we gave it our best shot and we don't have to bow our heads at this season." Reuss, who finished the regular season with a 10-4 record, gave up singles in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings but only allowed one Houston runner to reach third base as he struck out three, all in crucial situations. The Dodgers had little early success against Houston's Nolan Ryan, but finally scored in the sixth inning on RBI singles by Rick Monday and Mike Scioscia and added a third run later in the inning on an error by first baseman Denny Walling. With one out, Dusty Baker walked and Garvey followed with a single to move Baker to third.

Monday then hit a Ryan fastball into right field, scoring Baker and moving Garvey to second. One out later, Scioscia singled up the middle, scoring Garvey to make it 2-0. Bill Russell then hit a grounder to Art Howe at third base, but Walling dropped Howe's throw with Monday scoring from second base to make it 3-0 and Scioscia moving to third. Ryan was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. In six innings, he gave up just four hits and three runs, two of them earned, while walking two and striking out seven.

He was replaced by Dave Smith. The Dodgers added their final run in the seventh inning when Ken Landreaux lined the ball off Smith's left ankle, with the ball bouncing into the seats for a ground-rule double and forcing Smith to leave the game with an injury. One out later, Garvey faced reliever Frank LaCorte and tripled off the left-field wall to score Landreaux. The loss was the 14th for Houston in its last 16 games at Dodger Stadium. Last season, the Astros came to Los Angeles for the final three games of the regular season needing just one victory to capture the NL West title, but Los Angeles who all three games before losing in a one-game playoff with the Astros.

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) The San Francisco 49ers served Dallas a slice of humble pie Sunday, and the Cowboys ate the whole thing. With Joe Montana enjoying one of his finest days as a pro quarterback and the San Francisco defense coming of age, the 49ers handed the Cowboys a 45-14 shellacking for their third straight victory. The 49ers, built from the ground up three years ago by Coach Bill Walsh, played their best game in recent memory and, in the process, handed the Cowboys, who came in with a 4-1 record and the favorites by 6 points, their worst beating since 1970 when th St. Loius Cardinals shut them out 38-0. Montana completed 19 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns and the 49ers converted two pass interceptions on Danny White and a fumble recovery on Drew Pearson into 17 other points en route to their first victory over Dallas in nine years.

"We ate humble pie," said Cowboys' star running back Tony Dorsett, who was limited to 21 yards in nine carries. "There's nothing I can say about this game," Cowboy Coach Tom Landry said. "I could talk all day, I couldn't change a thing. The loss was a combination of everything. Our offense played badly, our defense, our kicking, even our coaching I guess.

We played terrible, I can't explain it." With the 49ers holding the Cow- boys to 192 yards in total offense and keeping them out of their end all but two times, Walsh was almost beside himself, but at the same time he cautioned his team is in a developmental stage. "This win was gratifying for us," Walsh added, "because we had everything going our way for a change. It hasn't been that way for us in recent years. We know we've been playing well despite what you read in the press. The key is 1 Montana threw 1 yard to Freddie Solomon after marching the 49ers 61 yards in 11 plays with the opening kickoff and before the first quarter was over San Francisco lead 21-0.

It was all down hill from there. Dallas crossed the 50 only once on its own initiative. The other Cowboy touchdown came midway through the final quarter when Benny Barnes ran 72 yards with a fumble recovery. Montana's other touchdown pass was a 78-yarder to Dwight Clark in the third quarter and at that point put San Francisco in front 38-7. Paul Hofer ran 4 yards, Johnny Davis and Amos Lawrence ran 1 yard each for three other touchdowns, Ray Worsening kicked an 18-yard field goal and defensive back Ronnie Lott ran 41 yards with a pass interception.

The San Francisco defense played as well as the offense in the team's best all-around game in three seasons. Campbell, Stabler destroy Seaha wks UPI Telephoto Which way is up? Chicago Bears' running back Walter Payton is upended by a Washington Redskins' tackier after piling up yardage on a run during the first quarter of Sunday's NFL contest. Washington exploded to a 24-7 win over Chicago. See NFL standings on 2-B. HOUSTON (UPI) There wasn't anything wrong with Ken Stabler's passing arm that Houston Oilers halfback Earl Campbell couldn't take care of with his attention- getting runs through the Seattle Seahawks' defensive midsection.

When Campbell wasn't carrying on one of his team record-setting 39 carries Sunday, quarterback Stabler was faking the run to him and throwing his soft passes over the Seahawks heads. Together, the pair combined to put up five touchdowns en route to a 35-17 victory. Previously, the Oilers offense had been lackluster and Stabler had been worse, and after Houston broke out Sunday Stabler gave credit where it was due. Campbell ran better than he has all season, puncturing the Seahawks for 186 yards and two shorts touchdown runs. One week earlier he gained 182 yards on 37 carries and the Oilers barely beat the Cincinnati Bengals.

"No matter how great your running game is and ours is great," Stabler said, "you can't put all your eggs in one basket with Earl." Stabler didn't against the Seahawks, passing for 156 yards and three touchdowns of between 24 and 32 yards. "I said all along," Stabler said, "we were a much better offensively than we have shown. We actually went out and executed and showed that today." Despite the previous offensive problems, Head Coach Ed Biles said it was not Stabler who concerned him when the Oilers fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter. "I wasn't concerned about our offense. I was more concerned about our defense.

They (Seattle) executed well and we were down for a little while. But we hung in there and I felt from the beginning of the game we were going to move the ball," Biles said. Stabler's first touchwon pass, a 31-yarder to Ken Burrough late in the first quarter, came on a fourth-down-and-one-yard situation at Seattle's 31. Seahawks Coach Jack Patera, who had seen on films that Stabler passed only six times one week before, was surprised. Houston retained its share of the American Football Conference Central Divison lead with the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, both of whom won Sunday.

The three leaders have 4-2 records. Seattle, 1-5, remained in the AFC West cellar. Zorn, who passed for 145 yards on 19 or 30 passes, was removed in the fourth quarter and his replacement, Sam Atkins, tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Steve Largent with 5:18 left. Campbell did not play in the final seven minutes and his 39 carries, one more than he had ever attained in a game, was two short of the NFL record set by the Steelers 1 Franco Harris in a 1976 game. Texas triumph sets stage for SWC battle at Arkansas i i i i i rn An fit A Sw Tf i A Lint flTllV United Press International Donnie Little, who played a key role as quarterback in Texas' victory over Oklahoma in 1980, was fairly invisible as wide receiver during the Longhorns 34-14 triumph over the Sooners last Saturday.

But he enjoyed Saturday's game just as much as he did the year before and he even had a prediction for a hanger-on in the Texas locker room. "Come to Arkansas next week," Little, a Dickinson native, told Gov. Bill Clements. "You ain't seen nothing yet." Little may be right. The team that Before the season had a ques- tion mark at quarterback and an injury prone running back has suddenly become a threat to win the national crown.

But problems are on the horizon and the first one comes up in a hurry. Next Saturday the Longhorns travel to Fayetteville where the Arkansas Razorbacks will be hoping to stick a needle in Texas' fast-expanding balloon. Arkansas doesn't beat Texas all that often it's happened only twice in the last 14 years and just 15 times since the schools began playing back in 1894. But Arkansas wants revenge from the seuson opening, nationally televised setback against Texas last year which probably ruined the Razorbacks' season before it could get started. The Texas-Arkansas matchup will be the feature attraction in an attractive array of games that will include key contests in Houston and Waco.

SMU, unranked because of its probation but off to its best start in 31 years with a 5-0 record, will go to Houston to try the mysterious Cougars in the Astrodome. SMU won its second SWC game last Saturday, a 37-20 conquest of Baylor, but Houston (3-2) stumbled its way to a 7-6 loss at the hands of Texas If David Barrett had kept his feet in the end zone in the final minute of play he would probably have caught a two-point conversion pass and Houston would have beaten the Aggies. But now Houston has a conference loss in its diary and the Cougars have never been known to hancjje adversity all that well. Texas (4-1), meanwhile, will travel to Baylor (3-3) and the Aggies suddenly have thoughts of a conference title themselves. The other conference game has Texas Tech (1-4) hosting Rice (2-3) with'the Owls going after third consecutive victory.

Tech was overpowered by Arkansas last Saturday, 26-14, and Rice upset TCU, 41-28. TCU (2-3) will try to bounce back against Utah State in the next-to- last intersectional game of the year for the SWC. The conference's record against out-of-league foes is 18-7, tops in the NCAA. The Texas-Oklahoma game marks the symbolic midway point each year in the Southwest Conference and sometimes the results of that struggle can be deceiving. Last year the Longhorns came from Behind in the fourth quarter to down the Soohers and boost their record to 5-0, but they won only two more games the rest of the year.

Now, however, Texas looks to be for real. Quarterback Rick Mclvor has performed in a stable manner, halfback A.J. Jones is healthy and powerful as he showed against Oklahoma and the Longhorns' defense is in a continually nasty frame of mind. "Texas' defense does not read the play said Oklahoma quarterback Kelly Phelps. "They attack." "I've been at Texas for three years and never got to play before," said Mclvor, who took over from Little as this year.

"This is just a great feeling..