The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 53

SUNDAY, NOV. 22, 1987 For the record Your Time Off College football 4-5 The News-Leader To report sports news, call 836-1187 SECTION askeiball EDDLEMON SPORTS 'We're either going to get pretty good pretty quickly or we're going to lose some course, it was the same way when Winston (Garland), Greg (Bell) and those guys came here two years Coach Charlie Spoonhour r-- the same way as here, the passing game and pressure defense," Jackson said. "But the difference here is on defense. Coach Spoonhour wants us to make our man push the ball to one side, and then drop back. It challenges you." While small differences, they are keys to keeping pressure on opposing guards and taking other teams out of their offenses.

The Bears led the nation in defense last season, allowing 58 points per game. SMS' top three returning players forwards Stan Worthy, Clay Holt and center Kelby Stuckey are limited, too. "It's pretty hard, because they (the guards) control the game," Worthy said. "I just try to let them know when they should slow it By Ron Sylvester The News-Leader After two seasons of exceeding anticipations, Southwest Missouri State enters its sixth NCAA Division I basketball season with guarded expectations. Lost are five players who led SMS to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Among them: Winston Garland, SMS' leading scorer the past two years, leading rebounder Greg Bell and point guard Basil Robinson. Of the new players, the guards face perhaps the toughest tests. Juniors Doug Lewis and Keith Jackson will try to make up for the loss of Garland and Robinson. In this day of the big centers in college basketball, SMS coach Charlie Spoonhour's passing offense and harassing defense are predicated on the guards. "After watching Winston and Basil last year I thought they wanted the guards doing most of the shooting," Lewis said.

"But Coach wants us to find the open man and pass to be the leaders." Lewis came to SMS from Mesa (Ariz.) Community College, third-place finisher in the junior college nationals. Jackson transferred from juco champion College of Southern Idaho. "My junior college team played Sooners show who's boss By Mike Lopresti Gannett News Service LINCOLN, Neb. No, Tom Osborne has said and said again, the national championship is not his obsession. Teams get bids for bowl wars4G But Oklahoma may be.

Tom, what about Oklahoma? down, things like that. But I'm a senior and being a leader is a role that's been given to me." Said Stuckey: "A leader can be anyone who takes the responsibility of making the team go forward, when there's something missing. I'll probably be expected to do more things than last year." Lewis and Jackson said the veterans have provided them pointers in adapting to SMS game plan. Jackson, Lewis, Worthy, Stuckey and Holt are expected to start in SMS' exhibition game against the University of Windsor, Canada, at 7:30 Monday night in Hammons Center. Spoonhour said Worthy or Holt could move from Please see SMSPage 6G Football Bears fall in finale By Ron Sylvester The News-Leader BATON ROUGE, La.

The defenses controlled the game Saturday night, but Milowe Klienpeter kicked two field goals to help Southern University take an 8-6 non-conference football victory against Southest Missouri State's Bears Saturday night. Klienpeter, who saw one field-goal attempt blocked by the Bears, kicked field goals of 26 and 27 yards, as Southern raised its record to 6-4. SMS kicker Chris Potthast's 48-yard field-goal attempt sailed to the uprights before falling wide to the left with 32 seconds remaining as the Bears finished the season at 5-6. Kleinpeter kicked what turned out to be the game winner from 27 yards with 7:15 remaining. It followed an eight-play, 64-yard drive by the Jaguars.

While SMS could not move on offense, defensive star Ken Braden took over once again. Braden, a senior linebacker, scored the Bears' only touchdown to give SMS a 6-5 advantage. The Bears blitzed Southern quarterback Nate Harrison, who threw a sharp pass that hit Braden in the stomach. Braden, who had laid back as his teammates blitzed, cradled the pass in his arms and returned 44 yards with 2:48 left in the third quarter. It was the second time this season and the fourth time in four years that Braden had scored off an interception return.

Southern linebaker Rufus Porter, however, tripped quarterback DeAndre Smith, as SMS attempted a two-point conversion. Southern's defense, No. 1 among Division I-AA teams against the run, stuffed the Bears in the first half. But the Jaguars found playing against SMS' defense wasn't so easy, either, taking a 5-0 lead into halftime. MU's finish should save Widenhofer Missouri's Tigers probably would win the Gateway Conference football championship.

Kansas' Jayhawks might not make first division. Therefore, you can see that the Bengals' 19-7 victory over KU on Faurot Field in Columbia on Saturday was somewhat routine for most of the 32,202 in attendance. It wasn't routine for Coach Woody Widenhofer, who could point toward the win and the pre-vous week's strong showing against No. 2-ranked Okalahoma as evidence of a strong finish by his third squad at MU. It wasn't routine for Coach Bob Valesente, who wound up winless in the Big Eight Conference and 1-9-1 overall in his second year at the Kansas helm.

Although only 5-6, Missouri suffered all but one of its losses to nationally ranked teams. Widenhofer thus appears safe to go into the fourth season of his five-year contract. Missouri jumped ahead 16-0 in its 96th grid encounter with KU. Kansas got its lone touchdown 9 seconds before halftime and the only scoring in the last 30 minutes was a 45-yard field goal by Miz-zou's Tom Whelihan. The referee was John Laurie, Hillcrest High School principal, who moved to Springfield from Kansas.

19 finish eligibility As might be expected, Mizzou's two All-America candidates figure to be the most missed of the 19 seniors who finished their eligibility Saturday. Kicker-punter Tom Whelihan has done all the booting for the Tigers this season and the backup punter also is a senior, Doug Slaughter of Waynesville. There is a promising freshman placekicker on hand, though, Mark Plunkett of Florrisant. Strong safety Erik McMillan, the other likely choice for postseason laurels, may be succeeded at that position by Ronnie Cameron, now the alternate at quarterback. Both starting halfbacks, Darrell Wallace on the left and Robert Del-pino on the right, leave, but there are so many running backs available second-string right half Mike Logan is headed for an outside linebacker spot.

The latter move would leave Sean Moore, freshman from Springfield Central, the probable starter at right half. In addition to the two halfbacks, the starting offense loses tackle Phil Schreiber and guard Jeff Rig-man. Andy Lock, 273-pound sophomore, has filled in for Schreiber on several occasions and Rigman's backup is one of the Tigers' biggest hopes for the future Rob Dryden at 6-foot-9 and 339 pounds, down from 390. Biggest loss on defense besides McMillan will be Reggie Ballard, the inside linebacker who played well after getting his feet on the ground in a transfer from Southern Methodist. Jeff Cross, a starter at right tackle, also departs, but 262-pound sophomore Kevin White should be an able replacement.

Whelihan has been invited to the Blue and Gray Classic in Mobile and the East-West Shrine Game. Delpino and McMillan are scheduled for the Senior Bowl. Marty Eddlemon is a sports columnist for The News-Leader. The Nebraska coach and his top-ranked Cornhuskers took one of the fiercest poundings in years Saturday, de-fensed into oblivion by Oklahoma, 17-7, in a showdown that never was. The Sooners' delight in beating Nebraska for the fourth straight year making Barry Switzer 12-4 against Osborne was almost too much for words.

"We brought a basic offense and a basic defense," defensive end Darrell Reed said. "And they got a basic butt-kicking." Said Osborne, "Of all the losses I've been associated with, this may be the most disappointing. I guess I have to look at myself as a coach. Apparently I didn't have them prepared to play." The 1 1-0 Sooners headed for Orange Bowl to meet Miami, probably for the national championship did it without half their regular backfield. They did it even though they botched enough scoring chances for a month, seven times getting inside the Nebraska 36 without scoring a point.

They did it with the memory of the talking Nebraska's players had done, promising a Corn-husker victory in "our house," envisioning up to 40 points scored by Nebraska's proud offensive unit, the No. 1-ranked in all the land. And when it was over? Oklahoma outrushed Nebraska 419-177, out-gained it 444-235 overall. Perhaps the most shocking statistic of all: Nebraska, powerful Nebraska, had 15 possessions and on 1 1 of them did not get a first down. After a touchdown drive that gave the Cornhuskers a 7-0 lead late in the first period, Nebraska (9-1, headed for the Fiesta Bowl), did not get another first down until late in the third.

Oklahoma tied 7-7 early in the second half with an 11-yard Anthony Stafford TD and went in front to stay late in the the third on Patrick Collins' 65-yard burst down the sideline. "In simple terms," said Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride, "they're just a bet- The Associated Press ning 65-yard touchdown run for Oklahoma on Saturday. The Sooners won 17-7. not going to point fingers." "Now I guess I have to eat my words," said Taylor, who had a horrible game, rushing for only 54 yards, hitting only 6-for-18 for 58 passing yards with three interceptions. Oklahoma's offense came from everywhere.

Collins had 131 yards rushing. Freshman quarterback Charles Thompson 126 and ran the wishbone like the veteran he isn't. "You don't have to be a fifth-year senior to lead a team to the national title, and that's been proven here," Thompson said. Patrick Collins (33) is pursued by Nebraska's Doug Welniak (37) on the game-winter football team on both sides of the ball." That was pretty much proven. The Sooners swore they knew it was coming.

It was the fourth time they'd won here in the past five trips. "We dominated them, offensive and defensively start to finish," Switzer said. Meanwhile, the leading pre-game talkers in the Cornhusker camp quarterback Steve Taylor and defensive end Broderick Thomas were a wee bit more subdued. "I still think we're the best team," Thomas said. "There was just a miscue somewhere.

I'm MU ends with 'sloppy' victory The Associated Press COLUMBIA Missouri avoided ending the season on a down note, and Kansas coach Bob Valesente avoided a worse fate at least for now. Sophomore fullback Tommie Stowers led a ball-control offense that produced 315 yards rushing to give Missouri a 19-7 Big Eight Conference football victory Saturday. Stowers rushed for a career-high 130 yards on 22 carries and his first career touchdown as Missouri snapped a four-game losing streak. The Tigers, who finished at 5-6 overall and 3-4 in the Big Eight, have had four consecutive losing seasons, but Coach Woody Widenhofer said he was encouraged by the team's progress. "We stayed in all but two games," said Widenhofer, whose team lost 17-13 to second-ranked Oklahoma last week.

"If this improvement continues we'll have a terrific team next year." Valesente, who is 4-17-1 in two seasons at Kansas and whose team finished 1-9-1 this year, is scheduled to meet with Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick Monday to evaluate his progress. "Nothing has been said definitely," Valesente said. "I'm planning for business as usual on Monday." Kansas is winless in its last 16 games against Division I-A teams and finished 0-6-1 in the conference. Kansas' last Big Eight victory was against Missouri in the final game of the 1985 season. Missouri beat Kansas 48-0 last season, and had been heavily favored Saturday.

But the Tigers struggled despite coming off a 17-13 loss to Oklahoma and facing a Jayhawks defense that was ranked 102nd out of 104 NCAA Division I teams against the rush. "I thought we played kind of sloppy," said running back Darrell Wallace, who scored on a 1-yard run for Missouri. "I'm not pleased with the way the game went." Running back Robert Delpino fumbled the ball out of the Kansas end zone for a touchback that ended one Missouri scoring opportunity, and dropped a potential touchdown pass from John Stollenwerck in the fourth quarter. All but three of the Tigers' points came in the first half. Stowers ran for 88 yards on 13 carries, scored one touchdown and set up the other as Missouri took a 16-7 halftime lead.

if The Associated Press Kansas quarterback Kelly Donohoe barely sneaks into the end zone before being stopped by the Missouri defense late in the first half of Saturday's game at Columbia. The Tigers won 19-7. Tip of the day The National League champion St. Louis Cardinals will open their 28-game spring training season March 4 against the Texas Rangers at Port Charlotte, Fla. The team's home opener in St.

Petersburg, where they first started holding spring training 50 years ago, will be March 5 against the Cincinnati Reds. High school semifinals Class 5A Rockhurst 18, Jefferson City 16 Hazelwood Cent. 27, Lafayette 1 0 Class 4A Camdenfon 24, Chillicothe 21 St. Louis Sumner 36, St. Clair 6 Class 3A Berkeley 34, Montgomery Co.

0 Branson 30, KC Pembroke Hill 1 7 Class 2A Seneca 54, Carrollton 8 Brentwood 17, Marceline 14 Performer of the day Shannon Crouch rushed 24 times for 321 yards, scored three touchdowns and passed for another as Seneca bombed Carroll-ton 54-8 Saturday to advance to the Class 2A championship football game in Missouri. Today's NFL Atlanta at Minnesota Buffalo at N.Y. Jets Cleveland at Houston Detroit at Chicago Green Bay at Kansas City Indianapolis at New England Pittsburgh at Cincinnati St. Louis at Philadelphia San Francisco at Tampa Bay N.Y. Giants at New Orleans San Diego at Seattle Denver at L.A.

Raiders Miami at Dallas Crouch.