Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 45

5 Minneapobs.rr Sports 1C Sunday September 12 1S71 a business i JL' -I Z3 bikings' Miami tz 24-0 rly, win By Merrill Swanson Staff Writer The Minnesota Vikings had Miami beaten Saturday night before the game was seven minutes old. Only nobody told the Dolphins. And as a result it became a long and often dreary night, while the Vikings tried to convince them. The Vikings came away with a 24-0 edge on the scoreboard. in their final exhibition game of 1971.

But they will have a tough time getting the Dolphins to admit the difference between the two teams was that great. And it probably wasn't. The Vikings got off the launching pad with a rush last night, but they soon ran into mechanical difficulties not serious enough to abort the mission, surely, but enough to cause some concern. The Vikings had a 7-0 lead just four minutes deep in the game, 10-0 with less than seven minutes played and 17-0 before the half was over. The second half belonged almost entirely to the Dolphins offensively at least although they failed to score.

Almost the entire reason for that is that is that Miami decided to gamble refusing to kick a field goal when within range and trying for a touchdown instead; going for it on fourth down while deep in their own territory. ball-control game the Vikings favor. But the difference last night from similar siutations in the past was that the Vikings could not make their opponent stay down. The Dolphins had no first downs and almost no yardage by the end of the first quarter. But they wound up with as many first downs and more yards than the Vikings by the time the game was over.

As usual, only some brilliant play by the Vikings' defense kept the Dolphins from getting too close. Ed Sharockman, Carl Eller and Carl Winfrey each inter: cepted Miami passes, each time in Viking territory. Vikings continued on page 9C It was that last gamble, in fact, that led to the Vikings' final touchdown. With 4:06 to play, the Dolphins faced fourth down and six from their 4-yard line and George Mira's pass was incomplete. Three plays later Norm Snead threw a 45-yard scoring pass to John Henderson when Henderson's defender fell down.

Snead, as a matter of fact, almost didn't get the throw away. He went down under a blitp just as the ball left his fingertips. Snead was a fourth-quarter replacement for starter Bob Lee, who had played a creditable game and had followed the Vikings' standard procedure when they have a lead. Lee completed 10 of 17 passes for 103 yards, was dumped once, was intercepted once. He stayed with the pound out 280 victory Gophers before today's game about just how our kids would per By Jon Roe Staff Writer --j 4'4i if is form.

But they really came through like veterans. The Gopher Front wall of sophomores Steve Neils, John Krol and Scott Irwin, junior Clayt Scheuer and senior Tom Chandler held the Hoosier running game to 109 net yards. They also put enough pressure on quarterback Greg Brown to allow two pass interceptions both by junior Tim Alderson and just 86 yards. Indiana was able to complete only eight of 22 passes and three of those completions came in the final two minutes of the game. The offense never generated a sustained attack, but was hampered by receivers not being able to latch onto Curry passes.

On four occasions, Gopher receivers were wide open behind the bunched Indiana defense and dropped accurate passes passes labeled touchdown. "When you win you have to be pleased," said Murray Warmath, who had labeled 1971 opportunity "But we made a number of mistakes. It showed the need for more The 1971 season for the University of Minnesota had been labeled the season of opportunity. The Gophers took advantage of their opportunities in the opener Saturday at Memorial Stadium, pounding out a 28-0 victory over Indiana. It had been labeled opportunity because the Gophers were going to rely on a number of untried sophomores to shore their defense.

And yesterday, before a sparse crowd of 28,459, it was the sophomores and that defense that showed the way to the first opening-game victory in years. Four times that defense, which started four new players, got the ball pr the offense inside the Hoosier-30-yard-line. And four times the offense was able to punch in a touchdown three on passes by Craig Curry. "I was a very proud papa," said a smiling Denver defensive line coach. "I was pretty scared work.

If our receivers had caught the ball better, who knows what the score might have been." Without those catches, the Gophers never generated a drive past the Indiana 31. But with Mike Perfetti's punting (nine for a 45-yard average including a 65-yarder) and that stiff defense, the Gophers didn't need much more. "I think all of us (on defense) were damn mad about all the talk of the defense," said Scheuer, the 252-pound middle guard. "Our coach is a father figure to us and he wouldn't be starting the guys he has unless he knew what they could do. It was like everybody was calling your father an idiot and it made us want to show what we could do." The defense got the Gophers going Perfetti falling on Rick Hoffman's fumble at the Indiana 30 on the second play of the game.

The offense faced fourth down and four at the Hoosier 24, and Curry threw to Doug Kingsri-ter at the sidelines for a 17-yarder. Two plays later, fullback Ernie Cook plowed in with the first of his two touchdowns. Another fumble recovery at the start of the second quarter, this time on a punt return, gave the Gophers the ball at the Indiana 12. Vern Winfield jarred Indiana's Dan Lintner, shaking the ball loose, and sophomore opportunist Todd Randall fell on it. Kingsriter grabbed an 11-yard scoring pass from Curry on second down and the Gophers had a 14-0 lead.

It quickly became 21-0 as Chandler, an erld from La Canada, broke through and blocked an Indiana punt. Sophomore Irwin pounced on it at the Hoosier 17. Three plays later Curry connected with Hamm on a 13-yard scoring pass. 1 Alderson, who earned special praises from Warmath, set up the last touchdown. He picked off a Brown pass at the Gopher 21 and dashed 53 yards down the sideline before veering out of bounds at the Indiana 26.

Two Curry passes one to Hamm and the other to Cook got the score. Cook took a swing pass in the left flat and plowed the final two yards to finish the 1 1-yard play. "Every time I came back to the huddle," said Chandler, "I'd look in and there'd be those guys (Irwin, Krol and Neils) clapping their hands and saying, 'C'mon, c'mon, let's keep it Man, they were beautiful." Now it's Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are beautiful, too. (Gopher scorecard page 6C) Associated Press Nicklaus growls PGA champion Jack Nicklaus frowned after taking a bad shot out of the rough behind the second hole Saturday during the opening round of the World Series of Golf.

Nicklaus wasn't the only unhappy golfer. Lee Tre-vino was angry with television officials. (News report 12C.) Nebraska crushes Oregon with three shots into the Oregon line. This established the opinion, already well informed, that if you give the Cornhuskers the ball they'll take it into your end zone." Outstanding element of strength is their offensive line. Its quickness and strength ripped the Ducks's defense to' pieces.

The left guard, Dick Rup- pert, went downfield for sharp blocks in the secondary which added to Nebraska's yardage. Right guard, Keith a cleared the way when the Huskers chose to plow straight ahead. The entire inside five in that line was devastating. Second strongest element in the Cornhuskers' versatile per formance was the secondary defense which intercepted passes, or cov- ered receivers so well the Fouts was compeled to throw the ball away much of the time. Nebraska was superior in every aspect of the game and, in addition, had abundant reserve strength which was of value in the scorching heat on the floor of this entirely enclosed stadium.

Nebraska Continued on page 6C Jackson's homer beats Twins 5-3 By Dick Cullum Staff Writer Lincoln, Neb. Relentless is the word for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It was with merciless precision that they inflicted a 34-7 defeat on Oregon before 67,437 Red clad fans Saturday. Relentless, well, consider this as a convincing example. Oregon returned for the second half standing 14 points behind.

The ducks launched a passing attack which took them to Ne-braska's 36-yard line. From there Oregon's fine passer, Dan Fouts passed toward Lee Glass but Nebraska's Jim Anderson intercepted it on his one-yard line where he was knocked out of bounds. It was first down and 99 yards to go and a touchdown would clinch the victory beyond the slightest doubt. Jeff Kenney carried three times for a first, down oh his 15-yard line. Quarterback, Jerry Tagge, ran left for 10 yards and right for 11.

He then passed to Johnny Rodgers for 25 yards and to Woody Cox for 8. He sent Kinney around left end for 24. Tne Gary Dix- on completed the drive Sports news inside Michigan 21, Northwestern 6 page 4C Michigan St. 10, Illinois 0 page 4C Gopher scorecard I 1 1 1 4 Cj page 6C By Special Correspondent Oakland, Calif. Reggie Jackson sent a pitch from Pete Hamm halfway up the bleachers in right center in the last of the 10th inning Saturday to give Oakland a 5-3 victory over the Twins.

Jackson's 27th homer, with Rick Monday on base, provided the A's with their second consecutive triumph over the Twins in their last at bat. Hamm, the fourth reliever Ohio Si. 52, Iowa 21 page 7C Wisconsin 31, N. Illinois 0 Staff Photos by John Croft Indiana quarterback Greg Brown (14) got the pass over Gopher defensive end Steve Nells (ball Is upper right) but the hard rush by the defensive end from St. Peter, produced an interception by defensive back Tim Alderson (background).

The Gophers turned it Into a third-quarter touchdown after Alderson returned the ball from the Minnesota 21 to the Indiana 28. used by the Twins, entered the game 'in the 10th. He rtired the first batter he faced, Campy Campaneris, but Monday then beat out a chopper to second baseman Rod Carew. Jackson's homer followed. The Twins, down 3-0 after the third inning, scored twice in the seventh on George Mitterwald's two-run single and once in the eighth on Tony Oliva's RBI double to tie the game.

The Twins did not have a hit until there were two out in the top of the fourth. Then Harmon Kil-lebrew pounded a grounder to A's third baseman Sal Bando, who got his glove on the ball but couldn't hold it. It was ruled a single. Leading off the fifth, Steve Brye got the second hit off Chuck Dobson, a Twins Continued on page 4C Team McLaren cars qualify 1-2 for Donnybrooke Can Am page 7C Big Ten standings 1 Pet Minnesota 1 0 1.000 Mich. State 1 0 1.000 Michigan .1 0 i.000 Ohio State 10 1X100 Wisconsin 0 0 .000 Purdue 0 0 .000 Northwestern 0 1 .000 Indiana 0 1 .000 Iowa 0, 1 .000 Illinois 0 1 .000 scries for 'unlimited sports cars.

The' bright orange M8F racers of Team McLaren will be side by side on the front row, with Peter Rev-son, the series points leader, having the pole position. Revson worked hard in Saturday's second qual all that this weekend." The fact that the two McLarens made the front row was significant because Patty McLaren, widow of the late team boss, Bruce McLaren, was Can Am ContinuecPon page 11C although Hulme won the race. Revson points out the jinx of being the fastest qualifier this year however. "The pole winner hasn't won a- race in any of the six races so far," he said, "bMt iljs the place to be ahid we'rping to change three-mile road course, which figures out to a 124.957 milcs-per-hour average speed. Hulme, after hearing that, went back-out -but couldn't improve his time as the McLaren partners engaged in a lit4 tie intramural battle with the clock.

Revson was also on the pole here last year, ifying session to catch up to the 1:26.959 time set by his tea mmat Denis Hulme, in 'the first session. Finally Revson got it, in the No. 7 car, recording three straight hot laps, capped by a 1:26.510 clocking around the By John Gilbert Staff Writer m. Brainerd, Minn. The front row will be all orange tor today's 2:05 p.m.

running of the Minneapolis Tribune Canadian-American at nn y-hrooke Speedway the seventh of ten races in the.