Longview News-Journal from Longview, Texas • Page 29

$rh- Journal. 4 3B Sunday, September 5, 1999 PORTS 9 j. Sixth-rankled Aggies bery LaTecl lLobos find Consistency fon offense nconsistency on offense I marked both of its scrim-X mages as the Lobos tallied just once. Friday against DeSoto, the offense found its groove. Although it was not without its mistakes three fumbles Lobo ran up 50 points and 321 yards total offense in the 50-32 season-opening victory.

mmm Of course By Michael A. Lutz Associated Press SHREVEPORT Randy McCown threw two touchdown passes and No. 6 Texas kept Louisiana Tech's Tim Rattay in check in a 37-17 victory Saturday night. Rattay led nation in total offense and passing yards last season but it was that went to the passing game for a 30-10 half-time lead. Rattay tried to rally the Bulldogs in the second half with a 5-receiver, no-huddle offense that produced an 8-yard touchdown pass to Delwyn Daigre with 9:08 to play in the third quarter.

It was Deaigre's second TD catch. Rattay kept the drive going with a dramatic keeper on fourth down at the Bulldogs 46. Louisiana Tech got another break with 11:19 left in the game when McCown was sacked by Desmond Nunnery and fumbled. Evan Perroni recovered at the Aggies 22. The Bulldogs got a first down at the 3-yard line but two incompletions, a no-gain by Bobby Ray Tell and linebacker Cornelius Anthony's tackle of John Simon on fourth down, gave the Aggies the ball on downs with 8:43 to play.

McCown threw his second touchdown pass with 47 seconds left, a 12-yard into the end zone to Bethel Johnson. Rattay was 45-of-65 for 331 yards with two interceptions. McCown was 17-of-28 for a career-high 252 yards. The Aggies are more noted as a running team but McCown started finding open receivers in the second quarter. McCown completed a 46-yard pass play to Bethel Johnson to set up an 18-yard touchdown run by Dante Hall with 10:32 to go in the half.

After Hall returned the next punt 42 yards, McCown hit Chris Taylor with a 23-yard touchdown pass with 8:38 left in the half and a 20-3 lead. The Aggies held Rattay to a career-low 239 passing yards and no touchdown passes in a 28-7 victory at Kyle Field in 1998. It was the only time in Rattay's 25-game career at Louisiana Tech that he failed to throw a touchdown pass. Rattay didn't allow that to happen again with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Daigre with 5:06 left in the second quarter, cutting the Aggies' lead to 20-10. Ja'Mar Toombs, a Kilgore High School graduate, scored on a 1-yard run with 2:04 left in the half and Terence Kitchens added his third field goal of the game, a 26-yarder as time ran out in the half.

He had kicks of 50 and 51 yards in the first half. The start of the game was delayed 20 minutes by two rain cells that contained lightning. Longview benefitted from seven DeSoto turnovers, capitalizing on six. The Lobos were coming off a 0-0 tie with Austin Bowie in their first scrim- Bob Ward photo Texas wide receiver Leroy Hodge is stopped by Louisiana Tech defender Willie Sheppard during Saturday night's game, played at Independence Stadium in Shreveport. iWi.

Twwwwmi Comets' title on hold, lose at buzzer 68-67 By Mark Rosner Cox News Service HOUSTON Every day after practice, New York Liberty players gather at midcourt to test their acumen their luck, really at heaving a basketball 50 feet toward the basket in case the opportunity for last-second heroics ever pre 2.4 seconds earlier, many of them began littering the arena with confetti. More of it descended from the ceiling, delivered by employees of the building. They had good reason for their excitement: Tina Thompson, who led the Comets with 15 points, had just given them a 67-66 lead with a nine-foot bank shot from the right ISi fmA side. But New York's Kym Hampton sents itself in a game. Point guard Teresa Weath-erspoon rarely sinks one.

She 'Horns bounce back, rough up Stanford, 69-17 By Mark Wangrin Cox News Service AUSTIN The Texas Longhorns had been to this vista before. Second home game of the season, in the heat of September, against a California team struggling to find a way to win. They did not like what they saw that day two years ago in a 63-point whipping by UCLA. Saturday they saw the same thing, only their view was much better. Texas, historically a ground-oriented program, used the forward pass with a skill level normally associated with Saturday's opponent, rolling up 380 yards in the air in a 69-17 win over the overmatched Stanford Cardinal.

The cathartic win, coming before a crowd of 80,654 fans at Royal-Memorial Stadium, marked the Long-horns' biggest win in a nonconference game since a 68-0 win over Virginia in 1977 and was the Cardinal's second-worst loss ever, behind a 72-0 loss in 1954 to here's that name again UCLA. One week after having three punts blocked in a 23-20 giveaway loss to North Carolina State, the Longhorns left little to doubt. On special teams they blocked one punt and deflected another while solving their own punt protection problems. They rolled up 558 yards of total offense; didn't turn over the ball; converted both fourth-down opportunities; and scored touchdowns on each of their first six possessions. They forced two turnovers, leading to 14 points; pressured Stanford quarterbacks and receivers into 19-of-48 passing; and held Stanford to only 10 points in the first half.

Texas quarterback Major Applewhite and flanker Kwame Cavil hooked up for the third-best passing day by a receiver in school history. Cavil, exploiting Stanford's man-to-man coverage underneath, caught six 1 mage, then scored just once a 70-yard catch-and-run by Courtney Tay-l lor from Joe Creal against I Waco. I Creal, who started at quarter- back Friday, and Dustin Wilson each passed for touchdowns against DeSoto. Creal completed a 16-yard screen pass to tight I end Walter Sharpe for a score, and Wilson later lobbed a 7-yard I scoring pass to LaRoyce Howard. In between, Taylor completed an 80-yard halfback option pass I to Howard, who got behind everyone and ran unimpeded I into the end zone.

The 6-4 senior caught three passes for 109 yards, with the Lobos' pass- ing game accounting for 194 on 9 of 16 completions. In the Bowie scrimmage, Creal and Wilson both jun-v iors combined for 34 passes and 150 yards. '1 "Neither one of them was real Consistent coming in," said Longview head coach Robert Bero. "Overall, they made some big plays. That should give them some confidence." The Lobo passing game out- gained the running phase of the offense.

The ground attack fin- ished with just 127 yards. But sophomore Artillious Allison had a sterling debut with a pair of touchdowns covering 28 and 62 yards en route to a game-; high 89 on 12 carries. Senior Calvin Coleman also i found his way into the end zone with a 2-yard burst up the mid-: die. 1 The Taylor-to-Howard option pass was Longview's longest drive of the game, but it used just one play. Its longest series was six plays.

The Lobos' first touchdown came courtesy of the defense. Junior safety Antoine Pickron picked up a fumble and raced 28 yards on the second play from scrimmage. Pickron later added an interception to set up another score. Sophomore Broderick Thomas also had an interception and a fumble recovery his pick leading to a touchdown as well. Another sophomore, Willie Andrews, blocked an Eagle punt that led to another touchdown for Longview.

The Lobos also used a little razzle-dazzle, too. Lining up for an extra point after Pickron 's TD, and then giving the ball Donald Kenney who went around left end untouched for the 2-point conversion. They also snapped to the ball to Sharpe for a first down on fourth-and-one, plus completed the option puss. "We threw a few trick plays in there that turned into big points," said Bero. Bero admits there are plenty of things to improve on before the Lobos travel to Dallas on Friday to face Lake Highlands.

But the good things in a win always outweight those suffered in a loss. Right now, Longview is 1-0. Willi ii Sports hliliir i the hmyvieM News hmrtutl lie hot lie nutileihit passed the ball inbouncls to Weatherspoon; who dribbled twice down the right side and let fly with 0.4 seconds left. "I've never seen a shot like that, never experienced one," said Cynthia Cooper, the Houston guard who hit only one of 10 shots. "When I saw it (in the air) I said, 'That's a Weathersoon made her spectacular shot on a day when most players had difficulty converting even routine ones.

As it turns out, the landmark Title IX legislation passed in 1972 has entitled women to evolve into poor shooters just like the men. New York hit only 39 percent for the game. Houston shot 30 percent, including 23 percent in the second half. "This was a horribly played game," Cooper said. New York missed 12 of its first 13 shots, falling behind 17-2.

The Comets would eventually lead by 14 at the break. had never made one in a game. Until Saturday. Weatherpoon banked in a 52-foot shot five feet beyond midcourt as time expired, giving the Liberty a 68-67 victory over the Houston Comets and stunning 16,285 fans in the sold-out Compaq Center. "When it left my hands, I knew it was good," Weatherspoon said.

"As soon as it left my hand, it looked good. I just watch (teammate) Becky Hammon shooting that thing every day and flipped it up there the way she does." New York's victory evened the WNBA finals series at one game apiece. The Comets, who have won both previous WNBA championships, will try to secure their third one today at home, where they are 7-1 in playoff games the last three seasons. How shocked were Houston fans to finally witness their team losing a playoff game at home? Well, just AP photo University of Texas quarterback Major Applewhite hands off the ball during Saturday's 69-17 victory over Stanford in Austin. passes for a career-high 180 yards and two touchdowns, which came on catches of 78 and 6 yards.

Applewhite, who got much more time to pass than he did last week against the Wolfpack, hit 17 of 27. passes for 353 yards 314 in the first half, a school record and three touchdowns. "This was the best overall game the team's played since our staff came to Austin, Texas, two years ago," UT coach Mack Brown said. Said Stanford Coach Tyrone Willingham: "When you combine their good ability with our errors, it created a very volatile situation." Stanford stubbornly tried to establish a running game but averaged ouiy 2.0 yards per carry in the first half. The Cardinal offense lost its starting center, left guard and tackle to injuries.

Young defensive unit passes initial test for Pine Tree ine Tree head coach Dickey Meeks was understandably concerned about his young defense heading into Friday's season opener against the Gilmer Buckeyes. The Pirates needed just one An interception by Juan Olivares set Gilmer up at the Pirate 41 Jamall Gaines kept for 18 yards, but the play was called back due to a holding penalty, and that seemed to spark the Pirates. Justin Henry's sack of Gaines pushed the Buckeyes back seven yards to the Pirate 36. On the next play Laboris Mitchell threw Johnson for a 4-ynrd loss, and on third-and-31 from the 47, Zach White and Chad Swank teamed up to drop Gaines for another loss of 4 yards. Henry finished with nine tackles and a sack.

White added eight tackles, one sack and four tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Swank was in on seven tackles and was credited with Vi sack, and senior defensive tackle Mario Pirates were on the scoreboard thanks to a 44-yard pass from senior quarterback Tyler Ford to a wide-open Alan Moye. Pine Tree never trailed, and the rest of the half read like a Stephen King horror novel for Gilmer minuB-20 yards and a punt, interception, minus-six yards and a punt, turnover on downs, touchdown, interception. Both interceptions, by the way, came from sophomore Chris Sutton. "I just can't say enough about the sophomore," Meeks said of Sutton, who was also in on seven tackles.

Meeks also had plenty to say about the Pine Tree defense, which allowed just 12 rushing yards on 33 attempts and stopped 14 of Gilm Olvera led the way with 10 tackles, 1 sacks and four stops for losses. "We played with five and six defensive backs at times in the second half. We had to make some adjustments, but the kids did a good job," Meeks said. "We have seven or eight linebackers we consider starters, but Justin Henry probably has the most speed 80 ho was in the game more than we expected." With only two sUulers back on defense White and Olvera that side of the football was supposed to be a question mark for the Pirates in 1999. At least for one week, considor that question answered.

lai Sitilhinl iiiiii ritrrliirthe lwx im-m Nrn.1 Jiiumul lit tanltee nuiiletlat htirmiilUmlVivtiluHi.iim.) er's 55 plays (exactly one-fourth) behind the line of scrimmage. "We feel really good about the way the defense played, because that is where we have most of our young guys," Meeks said. "We had so many positions to fill on that side of the ball, but the kids seemed to adjust well." Despite the solid numbers in the first half, most of the adjusting took place after the break. Gilmer, alternating quarterbacks every play and often going to a five wide receiver set, began moving the ball before Sutton picked off a pass to end the half. After one solid offensive series to open the second half, the Pirate defense rose up with a fury.

Jack Stallard series to put Meeks' mind at ease. Gilmer's Olan Johnson picked up two yards on first down. Shun Jackson and Doug Jones lost those yards back on the next two plays, and the Buckeyes punted the ball away. Less than a minute later the.