Northwest Herald from Woodstock, Illinois • Page 25

SPORTS NORTHWEST HERALD Sunday. November 3. 1996 Page College Football Mini come close again, fall to Iowa i The ASSOCIATED PRESS CHAMPAIGN Beating Illinois qualified. Iowa for a bowl berth and kept alive hopes of a high Big Ten finish. So why was coach Haydeii Fry so glum.

"I'm just glad the dad-gum game is over with," Fry grumped after the Hawkeyes' 31-2T defeat of Illinois. "I wasn't happy about the game. It wasn't well-played. Too many penalties, too many other things. It just wasn't crisp, smooth ball game." While No.

25 Iowa (6-2 overall. 4-1 Big Ten) turned three turnovers by Illinois (2-6, 4) into 17 points in the second half, th Hawkeyes also had three Mill turnovers and It) penalties for 85 yards. Many of thoe ealJs came during Illinois' final drive, when the Illi-ni made it to the' Iowa CONFERENCE Top 25 Report IAt Jacksonville, Georgia became the first team all year tq keep Florida from scoring on Its first possession. Small Danny Wuerffel broke the Florida career passing record and had four touchdown passes by halftime, and the Gators continued to make this once storied rivalry look awfully routine Saturday in a 47-7 victory. 3 At Atlanta, Florida State's defense put on another stifling display, keeping Georgia Tech out of the end zone and scoring twice themselves on Lam-ont Green's 56-yard interception return and Pete Boulware's blocked punt in a 49-3 rout.

4 At Corvallis, Terry Battle returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and set up another score with a 50-yard run as Arizona State beat surprisingly tough Oregon State, 29-14. 5 At Norman, Nebraska handed Oklahoma its worst loss ever, using a dominating defense and three touchdown passes by Scott Frost to beat the Sooners, 73-21 6 At Columbia, S.C., Peyton Manning threw for 362 yards and two touchdowns as Tennessee used big plays to beat stubborn South Carolina, 31-14. 7- At Columbia, Koy Det-mer, playing a week after getting a concussion, passed for a school-record 457 yards and three long touchdowns as Colorado beat Missouri, 41-13, for its school-record 1 0th consecutive road victory. 8 At Chapel Hill, Leon Johnson scored four times and Chris Keldorf broke a school record for scoring passes as North Carolina beat North 52-20. At Provo, Utah, Steve 1 Sarkisian shook off a JL fl slow start to fire two touchdown passes and James Dye returned a kickoff 100 yards in Brlgham Young's 40-18 victory over Texas-El Paso.

Roundup tut failed to score on AP photo three tries. Frv eruninieu tnat trie Cheerleaders hoist Notre Dame's leprechaun mascot, Ryan Gee, during Notre Dame's 54-27 victory over Navy on Saturday at Dublin, Ireland. Many of the native fans in attendance found the game confusing and amusing. Notre Dame-Navy game puzzles fans in Ireland penalized Iowa "even, time we breathed hard." "About the only thing 1 saw consistent this week was the officials throwing their flags at' us," Fry complained. For the second week in a row.

Illinois saw a close game against a ranked opponent slip away in the second half. "It was another tough day," said Illini receiver Jason Dulick. "We made some mistakes and they made some big plays." The turning point was Vernon Rollins' interception of a pass by Illini quarterback Scott Weaver early in the fourth quarter. Rollins snagged the pass at the Illini 20 and ran into the end zone for a touchdown. Michigan 45, Michigan St 29: At Ann Arbor, in 88 previous meetings between the old rivals, no Michigan quarterback had ever thrown more than three touchdown passes against Michigan State.

Scott Dreisbach ended that streak with four touchdown passes.and the ninth-ranked Wolverines, aided by five Michigan State turnovers, rolled to a victory. The Wolverines (7-1, 4-1) struck for three touchdowns in a 2:01 span of the second quarter thanks, in part, to an interception and a muffed kickoff on the part of Michigan State Ohio St 45, Minnesota 0: At Columbus, Ohio. Andy Katzenmoyer's 42-yard interception return for a touchdown helped second-ranked Ohio State rebound from a disastrous first half to beat Minnesota. The Buckeyes (8-0. 5-0) lost four turnovers and two key players in the first half, yet still led, 10-0, over the hapless Gophers (3-5, 0-5).

The loss was Minnesota's fifth in a row this year and 12th straight in the Big Ten. Wisconsin 33, Purdue 25: At Madison, Ron Dayne set a school freshman record with 244 rushing yards as Wisconsin ended a four-game losing streak by edging Purdue after nearly blowing a 24-0 lead. Dayne scored on runs of two and five yards and set up several other scores with huge gains as the Badgers (4-4, 1-4) won for the first time since Sept. 21. The Badgers were in danger of blowing a late lead for the third time in four games until free safety Kevin Huntley intercepted Rick Trefzger's' desperation pass in the end zone with five seconds left.

16 At Durham, N.C., Tiki Barber rushed for 125 yards and two touch its intention to play a medley of Irish tunes. "We might sing along with 'Molly Nah, they're playing it too slow," said Geoff Barry, from the southern Dublin suburb of Dun Laoighaire. "The band there seems to have got a bit mixed up between Scotland and Ireland," said Clare Connaughton, gesturing to Notre Dame's six in long Tartan kilts. "They don't seem to know their kilts from their Celts." Again, feelings for the Fighting Irish seemed to come down to that divisive Leprechaun Issue. "It's a bit patronizing having that leprechaun running around in front of us," said Russell Harris, a high school teacher in Wicklow south of Dublin.

Harris is an ardent football fan. particularly of the Minnesota Vikings, whose cap he wore. He brought along three friends who had little grasp of the game, and he spent most of the time explaining plays and sending them off for more hot dogs in moments of desperation. His explanations of pass interference, of option quarterbacks, of the down system generally left friend Barry Sheane nodding vacantly. "This punting thing.

Why don't they just keep the ball?" Sheane asked at one point. A little later: "I don't know why they're called the Fighting Irish. Are they Irish? A lot of them don't look too Irish. Is it because that leprechaun follows them round wherever they go?" By SHAWN POGATCHNIK The Associated Press DUBLIN, Ireland Many fans found the cheerleaders and the leprechaun more interesting than the game. About 20,000 Irish people mixed with another 20,000 devoted Notre Dame and Navy fans in north Dublin's Croke Park to see the Fighting Irish prevail, 54-27, in a contest that few locals understood.

It didn't seem to matter. "Excellent!" Tommy Phillips and Jenny McShane said in unison as Notre Dame's leprechaun mascot did pushups atop a pyramid of cheerleaders following one of the touchdowns. "I'd be a big fan of American football. I'm not quite sure why they throw all those flags, though," said Phillips, holding his girlfriend in his arms in Croke Park's Hill 16, a standing-room section in the north end zone that featured the most raucous and youthful section of fans. Notre Dame's sprinting, strutting, sign-waving leprechaun 21 -year-old Ryan Gee from Spokane, Wash.

was inundated with sincere and strange requests after the game as Dubliners waltzed onto the field. "Can you get me in to meet the players? Can you get me near them?" asked one middle-aged man. "Can I have your hat? Well your vest then?" asked a teenage girl. "How do you keep running around "It's a bit patronizing having that leprechaun running around in front of us." Russell Harris High school teacher from Ireland like that? Are you on speed or what?" asked Gareth Ringrose, of Leixlip outside Dublin. Gee already had given away his tie and didn't want to end up naked, but he did sign autographs and pose for pictures.

"I just couldn't believe that standing-room-only section," Gee said of Hill 16, which he sprinted down to command with NOISE and HEY signs throughout the second half. "We didn't know what to expect, because the Irish are new to American football. But their spirit was incredible." The stadium was surrounded by hawkers seeking to cash in. Fortunately the vendor offering "rainjackets for 1 pound" had little business as the stormy skies gave way, against predictions, "to spotty sunshine. The boosters of the Shamrock Classic assumed the real Irish would want to see a team called the Fighting Irish.

Surprisingly, many locals said they favored the underdog Navy, cheering as Midshipmen did pushups in celebration of points scored. By contrast, many groaned when the Notre Dame band at halftime announced downs, and Virginia used a 24-point second quarter to beat Duke, 27-3. 17 At Laramie, Brian Lee intercepted three passes and Wyoming extended the longest winning streak in Division l-A to 12 games with a 59-17 romp over Southern Methodist. 18 At Morgantown, W.Va., Phil Nash blocked two punts and Deon Mad dux returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown as Syracuse, taking full 'advantage of West Virginia's not-so-special teams, beat the Mountaineers, 30-7. 19 At Dublin, Ireland, Notre Dame, which had lost two of its three Hecklinski, WIU pass Gateway Conference test previous games, routed Navy, 54-" 27, in the first college football I game ever at Dublin's Croke Park.

WIU (8-1, 2-1) tied the score on a two-yard run by Brian who At Houston, Michael 20 Perry scored two touchdowns, including a 67-yard punt return, and dog Rice rushed for 496 yards in a 51-10 rout of Utah. ji hi suffered a leg injury and was sidelined for the day. Western Illinois, ranked 13th coming into the game, limited No. 9 Southwest Woodstock High School graduate Steve Beard was 14-for-29 passing for 193 yards for Northern Iowa as the Panthers gained 376 yards -183 rushing and 1 93 passing. Illinois 42, Austin Peay 7: At Clarksville, Justin Lynch ran for 155 yards and a touchdown in Eastern Illinois' victory over winless Austin Peay.

Jararey McDavid rushed for 102 yards as Eastern Illinois (6-2, 4-1 Ohio Valley Conference) gained 325 yards on the ground. Cent Florida 42, Illinois St Orlando, quarterback Daunte Culpepper led Central The ASSOCIATED PRESS SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Jeff Hecklinski passed for 243 yards as Western Illinois beat Southwest Missouri State, 23-17, on Saturday in a battle between two Division I-AA nationally-ranked Gateway Conference teams. Southwest Missouri (6-3 overall, 2-2 Gateway) opened the game with a 14-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a five-yard touchdown run by Michael Cosey. Cosey finished with 120 yards on 29 carries.

Midwest Roundup 10: At Youngstown, Ohio, Jeff Stoval rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns as Northern Iowa scored 16 unanswered points to defeat Youngstown State (6-3). Northern Iowa (8-1), ranked third in the Division I-AA poll, shut out the Penguins in the final 31:23. Stoval's one-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Panthers a 14-10 lead, and Matt Waller kicked field goals of 41, 22 and 29 yards in the second half. Florida (3-6) to a victory over Illinois State at the Florida Citrus Bowl, breaking the Knights' two game losing streak. Illinois State (2-7) was led by quarterback Lester Anderson, who finished with 22 completions for 171 yards and a touchdown.

Run-ning back Daryl Jones rushed for 76 yards. W. Kentucky 51, S. Illinois 37: At Bowling Green, Joey Stockton. scored four touchdowns, two on kickoff returns, and Antwan Floyd became Western Kentucky's all-time rushiQg leader in the Hilltoppers' victory.J 1 At Los Angeles, Corey rushed for 128 yards and two touch- BEARD downs pn a school-record 37 car-jrles, and Washington held USC "to minus-1 4 yards rushing for a 321-10 victory.

Missouri to six first downs in the second half. N. Iowa 23, Youngstown St Ok. At Philadelphia, Tremain Mack's work I mssL on special teams he Huskies' home skid reaches record 7 blocked a field goal attempt that was returned for a touchdown and had 205 kickoff return yards- helped Miami pummel Temple, BY JASON SCHAUMBURG Herald News Service Kent Baker's punt 81 yards for a score, giving Louisiana Tech (6-4) r57-ze. 1 ITk Al Hattiesburg, ZGgdiQJw' three touchdowns a 7-0 lead.

The Bulldogs offense took over from there. Quarterback Jason Martin hit wideout Troy -Edwards for touchdown receptions of 46, 47 and 21 it 71 yards for touchdown, capping a first half NIU coach Joe Novak would rather forget. "I don't have a lot to say, but the first half was embarrassing to us," Novak said. "The way we played in the first half was just awful." Freshman quarterback Randall Foster replaced Barker in the second half and led the Huskies to a pair of touchdowns. Two Huskies set individual records Saturday.

Senior linebacker Mandel Hester moved up to eighth on NIU's career tackles list with 349, and running back Charles Talley climbed to fifth on NIU's career rushing list with 3,012 yards after a 71-yard effort DeKALB It's nice to make the record books, but this is a dubious distinction. The Northern Illinois football team set a record for most consecutive losses at Huskie Stadium, dropping a 40-14 decision to Louisiana Tech on Saturday. The loss is the seventh straight defeat for the Huskies in DeKalb and marks the first time in NIU history a Huskies squad went winless at horne during a season. The Huskies (1-8) knew they were in for a long day from the outset After NTU's initial drive of the game stalled, Bulldogs wide receiver Dean Jackson returned passes, Including the game-winner with 5:12 left, as Southern Mississippi won Its seventh straight Sgame with a 21 -17 victory over Cincinnati. SO lyA lAt Auburn Dameyune Craig threw for 185 yards, Iran for 54 and accounted for two touchdowns as Auburn's no-; huddle offense clicked in a 28-7 victory over Arkansas.

'L Compiled from wire reports 40 14 Louisiana Tech N. Illinois yards, giving 1 the Bulldogs a 27-0 lead. APpho Louisiana Tech's Troy Edwards breaks away from Northern Illinois defensive backs William Trlplett (right) and Sallm Phillips for a 47-yard touchdown reception Saturday at DeKalb. With Yl seconds left in the half, Louisiana Tech cornerback Jonathan' Maxwell intercepted a Brandon Barker pass and returned.