The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 25

SportsPeople 2 Football 3 I Horse racing 4 Death notices 5 Classified 6 3ftb ffiilabetpto Inquirer sports section Saturday, Sept. 30, 1978 By BILL LYON irates sweep Phillies 1 i balk 7 Brusstar is victim in 2d loss iill Ed Ott slides into third in the The night Pittsburgh remembered -J first game, but the throw by By FRANK DOLSON said Kent Tekulve, the stringbean relief ace who wound up winning both of these heart-pounding games. "He's like a concert singer, like anybody. He gauges his success by the number of people who come to see And last night, at long last, the people of Pittsburgh came out to see Tekulve and Dave Parker and Willie Stargell and the rest of the Pirates. "I can't remember anything like this since I've been here," Tekulve said, Sports editor The walk-on runs to glory UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.

OK, this is the plot. All of these star players get hurt just before the big game so the coach has no choice. He's got to start some obscure kid. One of those guys who's cannon fodder in scrimmage everyday. The kid comes through.

The team wins the big game. It's on national TV. Afterward, the coach calls him a hero. The kid just lowers his head modestly and mumbles something humble and everybody goes away feeling warm all over. What happens to the kid? Well, I guess he just fades into the background again.

Back to anonymity, but what the hell, he had his moment in the sun, right? Besides, one miracle is enough per season. Fade out, flash up a misty seascape scene with the sun setting over the ocean and play something stirring in the background, like "You'll Never Alone." That ought to raise goosebumps on the most unfeeling flesh. So now meet John Bradley Scovill, reiUCiant lieiu, wuu iciuaeu uiaivc the trip out of oblivion one-way. Brad Scovill is that most persistent of athletes: The Walk-On. No scholarship.

No invitation. No clawing mob of coaches drooling over his high school films and then promising him I four-year ride. Had his doubts "As a matter of fact, my high school films were sent to Penn State," Scovill said. "But they didn't pursue it any further. I was recruited by a couple of other schools, but everything fell through.

The ones I could get in, they were smaller schools and I didn't especially like them. I wanted to go to a big school since I come from a small town (Wyomissing, near Reading). "After Penn State had looked at my films and indicated I wasn't good enough.T had plenty of doubts. But I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a try." He spent last season as a freshman impersonating a receiver for each 1 week's upcoming opponent. That means you gel to spend each after- noon being pummeled by the first- string defense.

At the end of the sea- son, the coaches told him to go home and work with weights over the summer, beef up and switch to tight end. Scovill dutifully pumped iron but could put on only five pounds, making him a less than robust 203. He didn't even rate a uniform num- ber in this year's press guide. Presto! A scholarship Scovill refused to be discouraged. And then, two weeks ago, Penn State went into its season-maker at Ohio 1 State all crippled up.

Guess who started at tight end? And caught two passes and blocked so well that afterward Joe Paterno said: "Scovill was the hero of the game for me. He built himself up, hung in there and just did a great job. I don't have a scholarship for him but I'm going to find one." That, of course, was supposed to be the end of it. "I felt that Coach Paterno oversta- i i 1 1 i i ieu ii a mue, tamuK me a utiu aim all, but it was nice to hear. If I hadn't made the team, it wasn going to be the end of the world.

I've got a lot of confidence, but I never thought it would happen this fast," he admitted. Still, it was assumed that with everyone healed, Scovill would re- turn to the speciality teams and warm himself this winter hero for a day. No more anonymity But last Saturday, against SMU, there was the kid who was supposed to be once more lost in the crowd and he was catching four more passes and blocking so effectively that on crucial short-yardage situations Penn State was running to his side. He is 6 feet 3 inches, only a 19-year-old sophomore, but he runs a 4.75 40 and he has dependable hands and now the Nittany Lions suddenly have a new dimension to their passing attack. "I'm still awful light for a tight end, but I've really worked on my blocking technique.

Obviously, I'll need finesse since I'm not going to push anyone around," he said. "I was surptised how open I was. Maybe Ohio State and SMU had looked at our films and saw we didn't throw to the tight end that much so they didn't worry about covering him." Well, today Penn State is hosting TCU, and the Horned Frogs have two Saturdays' worth of reels about the Wyomissing Walk-On. Brad Scovill's days of anonymity are at an end. He is now the fourth-leading receiver on the nation's No.

5 team. And a guy who was kissed off as a one-shot hero decided he liked the spotlight better than the shadows. It may start a whole new trend in By Larry Eichel Inquirer Staff Writer PIITSBURGH It was the terrible 10 days of 1964 compressed into a single night, the horrible ninth inning of last year's third playoff game stretched out over five hours. Twice the Phils entered the ninth inning tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates. And twice, as the largest crowd here all year went bananas, the Phils let a game slip away.

The first came on an error. The second came on a balk. The scores were 54 and 2-1. So the lead is down to a game-and-a-half, the magic number still two. And the one game the Phils had to win here this weekend remains unwon.

Randy Lerch takes the mound this afternoon against rookie sensation Don Robinson in an effort to end this nonsense, to erase the memory of a night of mistakes. Two of those mistakes came from a most unlikely source, Garry Maddox, the game's premier centerfielder, the secretary of defense. And two of those mistakes came at the worst time, the bottom of the ninth in game two. The inning began as an inning in this kind of game should begin, with Dave Parker facing Steve Carlton, quality against quality. But Carlton, who had been splendid, was overthrowing.

His first two pitches bounced five feet in front of the plate. And when the next one came over, the league's best player was ready. He crushed it up the alley in right-center. So Parker was on third with none out, credited with a double and an error. Ozark lifted Carlton, brought in Warren Brusstar and gave Bill Robinson and Willie Stargell intentional walks to load the bases, setting up the force at home.

The first pitch to Garner was a ball. Then Parker, leading off third, bluffed a break for the plate. Brusstar reacted by flexing his right leg. The Pirates coaches and the umpires started waving their hands. It was a clear balk.

Home plate umpire Terry Tata waved Parker home with the winning run as the Pirates raced to home plate to celebrate the fact that (See PHILLIES on 5-C) Baseball roundup Yanks win, but so do Red Sox Msjociated Press Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson and Lou Piniella delivered consecutive run-scoring singles in the eighth inning last night, rallying the first-place New York Yankees to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Cleveland Indians, to edge them a step closer to a third straight American League East championship. The triumph reduced the Yankees' magic number for clinching the division title to two. New York remained one game in front of Boston, which trounced Toronto, 11-0. The Indians had broken a scoreless tie in the eighth inning, nicking Jim Beattie (6-9) for the game's first run on a two-out RBI single by Rick Manning. In the bottom of the eighth, pinch-hitter Cliff Johnson coaxed a leadoff walk from starter David Clyde.

After Mickey Rivers sacrificed, Jim Kern relieved for the Indians. Willie Randolph beat out a twisting roller past third baseman Buddy Bell and then Munson ripped the next pitch into center field for a single, tying the score. Red Sox 11, Blue Jays 0 Jim Rice became the American League's first slugger to reach 400 total bases in a season since Joe DiMaggio in 1937 and relief specialist Bob Stanley allowed just two hits in seven innings in an unusual start as host Boston rolled over Toronto to stay one game back of New York in the American League East. Fred Lynn drove in five runs with a triple and two singles and Butch Hobson had two doubles, a single and two RBIs as the Red Sox won their sixth straight game. Padres 3, Dodgers 1 Rollie Fingers recorded his 37th save to tie a National League record as host San Diego rapped Burt Hooton (19-10) for seven hits and beat slumping Los Angeles.

Royals 4, Twins 0 Dennis Leonard (21-17) pitched five innings of two-hit ball and Luis Silverio tripled and scored as host Kansas City beat Minnesota in a rain-delayed game. If If If'1 I mfvmg i X- I fj Associated Press score the winning run They had lifted this team so high that you had to wonder if the Phillies could drag them back to earth before it's too late. There was Phil Garner, who was at bat for the Pirates when Warren Brusstar committed his fatal balk, dashing through the clubhouse hoi- lering, "Dammit, I can hit with the bases loaded, can't And there was the ever-optimistic manager, Chuck Tanner, saying, "I told you this series could be better than the World And above all, there was Dave Parker, the man who will almost surely win the National League's Most Valuable Player award, sitting at a table, surrounded by newsmen, explaining how he had broken from third, forcing Brusstar into his (See DOLSON on 5-C) Lehigh took a 3-0 lead midway in the first period on a 29-yard field goal by Ted Iobst. Penn then drove 35 yards in seven plays in the second period to lead, 7-3, but the Engineers went 86 yards in seven plays to go ahead, 10-7, and took advantage of a fumbled punt to score in the final minute of the half on a 25-yard field goal by Iobst for a 13-7 edge at the intermission that was delayed for 15 minutes by the first of two light failures. The second held up the game for 12 minutes in the third period.

Penn got its big break at the start, of the third period when Lehigi. fumbled the kickoff and Penn's Tim Trautman recovered 19 yards from the goal. It took the Quakers only four plays to score the winning touchdown, Avila going the final (See PENN on 3-C) Garry Maddox was wild, letting Ott lighting up a cigaret in a corner of that jubilant clubhouse. "I've never seenhis kind of reaction." You might have to go back to that day, 18 years ago, when Bill Mazeros-ki hit his World Series-winning homer against the Yankees at old Forbes Field to remember this kind of response to a ninth-inning Pirate victory. Only on this wild night, the Pirates did it twice.

Not on a home run, mind you, but on a high fly ball that should have been routinely caught in game one, and on a bases-loaded balk in game two. Frankly, home runs would have been easier for the Phillies to take. "I'll tell you," Bruce Kison was saying, "playing in front of a crowd like this is something else. When we go to the Vet it's like this all the time. Fans can give you a lift, no doubt about it." defense.

"Right along we felt our offense was going to be decent," he said, "but after the Dartmouth game there was some concern about the defense. But tonight when the momentum swung in our favor, they just weren't going to let it get away from them. You could feel it building at half-time." Gamble explained that he had told his team before the game, "You're a good football team and nobody knows it, and you may not know it, put I know it." Indeed, Penn did have the look of a good Ivy League team as it came from behind to win and even its record at 1-1 against a team which had destroyed Colgate last week for its 11th straight victory, including three this season. PITTSBURGH It is nearly mid night here now. Outside Three Rivers Stadium people are shouting and honking horns and celebrating.

They are acting as if the Pittsburgh Pirates a baseball team most of this city had ignored until last night have just won the championship of the Natonal League East. They haven't, of course. It just seems that way. The Team That Pittsburgh Forgot, the team that has attracted barely 900,000 fans despite winning its last 24 home games, is suddenly the toast of the town if only for a night. But what a night.

Think Veterans Stadium was noisy last October when Burt Hooton was pitching for the Dodgers in the playoffs? Well, this place this haunted house turned madhouse wasn't very far behind. "An athlete is like any performer," Area colleges Temple, Delaware a love-in? By Chuck Newman Inquirer Staff Writer We were all led to believe that this was a real rivalry; a hate-your-neigh-bor kind of thing. Coach hating coach, player disliking player, stale against state, city vs. country. That was last year and every year before when Temple met Delaware.

Now we are led to believe it's just another game between "friends." Just another game between friendly rivals. "All that other stuff started long before I got to Temple," Owls' Coach Wayne Hardin was saying about tonight's (7:30) Veterans Stadium game with the Blue Hens. "That was before Tubby (Delaware Coach Tubby Raymond) and I got to know each other. Now it is just a respected rivalry instead of an intense hate." And for the first time, Raymond is saying nice things about Hardin. "We always mutually respected each other," he says.

"We just didn't get to know each other. He's a much nicer guy now and we can play each other without fighting and hating each other." So now Hardin and Raymond are a mutual admiration society with each simply seeking to win a football game, to enhance a record. Delaware needs the win to keep its record unblemished, Temple needs a victory to maintain its level of respectibli-ty, built in close losses to Eastern powers Penn State and Pitt. "I really won't feel embarrassed if we lost to a Division Two team," Hardin says. "Right now a loss to anybody would hurt because we have lost as many games as we can afford to.

We need a win." Maybe 20,000 people are expected to view the "friendly" competition tonight, most of them from Delaware. "I'm sure that they will bring maybe 20,000 people," said Hardin. "If we don't fill the house, we're the culprit. Nobody owes it to us to come out but I think people are starting to think we're for real." Temple chased Penn State to the final minute of play before succumbing by a field goal and had a shot at (See AREA COLLEGES on 3-C) Philadslphu Inquirtr GERVASE J. ROZANSKI Tony Sciolla of Penn makes a short gain against Lehigh last night at Franklin Field Quaker sub quarterback Sciolla leads halt of Lehigh streak at 11 By Allen Lewis Inquirer Staff Writer Tony Sciolla tpok Penn's starting quarterback, Tom Roland, to the hospital with a virus yesterday morning, then took his place in the Quakers' home opener last night against NCAA Division II national champion Lehigh at Franklin Field.

Sciolla quarterbacked three touchdown drives and gained a career high 82 yards rushing as Penn upset the Engineers, 21-13. Sciolla had plenty of help on offense, particularly from workhorse fullback Denis Grosvenor and running back Phil Avila, who missed the opening loss at Dartmouth with a knee injury. Although the offense played very well, elated Penn Coach Harry Gamble gave even more credit to the.