The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 19

A's cut Giants down to size in quick Series win A XT CD A VrTO- A SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The nananH rosian to Terrv Steinbach. How dominating? All 16 teams that previously took a 3-0 lead in the World Series went on to win. The other three champions did it in five games. Power and pitching usually dominate the postseason, and the A's had both. Oakland tied a four-game series mark with nine home runs and the teams combined for a record 13.

Every Oakland non-pitcher who started in the series hit a home run. Eight different players homered, all but McGwire, who led the team with 33 during the season. Often it's said that in a short series, a team needs just two hot starters to win. So it was again as Oakland, even with the best staff in baseball, used only two starters Moore and Stewart each won twice as manager Tony La Russa, using the earthquake layoff to his advantage, went with his best and, despite some controversy, did not use Storm Davis or Bob Welch. The Giants' starters, meanwhile, gave up 17 earned runs on 22 hits and six walks in 13 innings in the four games.

the majors during the regular season, breezed by Toronto in a five-game playoff and blew away the Giants. The Athletics' franchise won its ninth championship, including five in Philadelphia, tying the St. Louis Cardinals for the second most behind the New York Yankees' 22 The Giants, making their first series appearance since 1962, haven't won one since 1954. Kevin Mitchell and Will Clark, who combined for 70 homers and 236 RBIs this season, did not drive in any runs until the sixth inning Saturday. By then, they had been compared to Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, the Oakland sluggers whose slumps were partly to blame for the five-game loss to the Dodgers in 1988.

Mitchell broke the skid with a two-run homer off Moore in the sixth to make it 8-2. Greg Litton's two-run homer keyed a four-run rally and then Clark and Mitchell each came to the plate representing the tying run, but both made outs, Mitchell on a crowd-gasping fly to the warning track in left The A's got one of them back in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk by Giants relief ace Steve Bed- ics brought the quickest of ends to the longest of World Series Saturday night Their coronation as rulers of the baseball world was merely delayed by the earthquake that devastated northern California, and was never really challenged even as their Bay area rivals, the San Francisco Giants, mounted their first serious threat. The awesome A's, derailed by destiny and the Los Angeles Dodgers a year ago, completed the 14th and possibly most convincing World Series sweep with an 9-6 victory behind the pitching and hitting, too of Mike Moore and the bat of Rickey Henderson. Not so coincidentally, Moore, who gave up two runs and five hits in six innings and joined series MVP Dave Stewart as a two-game winner, and Henderson, who homered, tripled and singled, were the two key players added by the A's this season With one of the most dominating performances ever in a World Series, the A's answered the best way they could any suggestions that this championship was tainted by disaster. The Athletics never trailed in the series and were tied only once, that at 1-all in the third inning of Game 2.

Oakland outscored the Giants 32-14 tying the largest margin ever in a four-game series and outhomered them 9-4. When Henderson led off Saturday's game with a home run, it was a sure sign Oakland would soon win its first championship since 1974. That became even more clear when Moore, who had batted only once in the majors, helped himself with a two-run double, the first World Series hit by an American League pitcher in the 1980s, ending an 0-for-70 slump This World Series took 15 days, 10 of them after the earthquake shook Candlestick Park a half-hour before Game 3 and threatened to extend the baseball season into November for the first time. In the end, even as the A's celebrated without the traditional champagne out of respect for the earthquake victims, there was no doubt about the best team in baseball this season The A's beat San Francisco eight of nine times in spring training, were the winningest team in Sunday, October 29, 1989 AlMranbria Sails tmn I CD) Norte Dame rolls, B-4 1 Levi leads Nabisco, B-5 Vols victorious; Tigers' losing streak running strong st 4 By Glenn Guilbeau 0 9 wJI I rr I ,1 I 1 1 i y- r. i.1.

'iiuaW I 111 a IK Wu, $fpl i I Ji I 3J V. mm vt- A'- S' 1 mi mt nt Stephen Reed Staff photographer Stephen Reed Staff photographer Man reporter BATON ROUGE Only the details change The faces lengthen a little more and the angry frustrations sharpen, but with each Saturday comes the same old thing another LSU loss This week it was to Tennessee, 45-39, before a homecoming crowd of 71,634 at Tiger Stadium, and this one clinched a losing season as the Tigers fell to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee, 6-1 and 3-1 in the SEC, fought off a 14-0 first quarter deficit by driving for touchdowns on four consecutive possessions. The spree took place in a stretch of unabashed domination beginning late in the opening period and not ceasing until five minutes into the final period for a 35-24 lead. In between was a 93-yard kick-off return by Tennessee's Carl Pickens, who walked across the goal with two seconds left in the first half for a 21-17 lead.

LSU coach Mike Archer hung his head after the return, and LSU never saw the lead again Just moments before, the Tigers were threatening to take a 21-14 lead into the locker room with a second-and-goal at the Tennessee 2 Tight end Ronnie Haliburton dropped a Tommy Hodson pass that was a little behind him in the end zone on second down, and tight end Willie Williams missed a deflected pass on third down David Browndyke's 19-yard field goal was good, but it might have been better had he missed it. For then came Pickens' return. "I could've walked the whole way in," said Pickens, who faked out one would-be tackier and outran two others for the score. "No question that was a big momentum swing," Archer bristled. "We could've been up 21-14." "When we scored right before the half, I knew that we were going to win the game," said Tennessee tailback Chuck Webb, who gained 132 yards on 30 carries and scored three TDs on 1-yard runs.

"That really hurt us," said Hodson, who was frustrated as well despite turning in the reddest red later day of his career. He passed for more than 300 yards for the first time ever by completing 31 of 49 passes for a school-record 438 yards He became the first 8,000 yard passer in SEC history (8,077) and set the school mark for completions with 615. And for embellishment he ran for his first my Hodson avoids a tackle James Wilson (72) of Tennessee near LSU's Jimmy Young (5) dives to tackle Tennessee's Chuck LSU quarterback Tom sack as he scrambles away from defensive his own end zone. Webb. Demons upset by Sam Houston State 34-7 herein 1987.

Archer doesn't know what else he can do. On this day he flat bared all the shotgun formation, a double reverse and even a snap to tailback Eddie Fuller while Hodson pretended to be checking off to a different play away from center. Fullback Victor Jones tried a new wrinkle too, but wrestling moves don't always fit on the football field. After a LSU punt in the second quarter, he body slammed Tennessee's Shazzon Bradley. Both were ejected.

With co-starting fullback Jay Egloff out with a hamstring injury, this was not a wise move. Reserve Fred Norfleet had to be brought in Some of the razzle dazzle worked and pleased the fans, who cheered Hodson strongly after the game, but it didn't amount to anything. Neither did the extra time Archer spent on special teams every day last week. "You can practice, practice, practice all you want, but you have to do it in the game," he Please see TIGERS, B-4 Please see DEFENSE a related story, B-3 touchdown on a 1-yard plunge that got LSU within 28-24 with five minutes to go in the third quarter. But no stat could erase his scowl after the game "It's frustrating.

That about sums it up," Hodson said. "I think we've played about every kind of way you can play this year. We play good offense and good defense and bad offense and bad defense. We need to put it together. We're always close.

We just can't pull it off. LSU has indeed tried everything, but the (getting) beat goes on. Archer uncharacteristically stormed onto the field twice after officials. And, uncharacteristically, LSU's third-year head coach was wearing a dress shirt and tie for the first time on game day. "Anything to change our luck," he said.

"I don't know, maybe I'll come out naked next week. I don't know." By Libby Cole Assistant Sports Editor HUNTSVILLE, Texas Northwestern State quarterback Scott Stoker earned his second straight record-setting performance here Saturday, but the latest is one he'd like to forget Stoker, who became NSU's career-passing leader last week against Northeast, threw a school-record six interceptions and the 12th-ranked Demons lost their first Southland Conference game in two years as they fell 26-3 to the Bearkats of Sam Houston State. "Our offensive scheme depends on the quarterback. If the quarterback doesn't play very well, we get beat," said Stoker, who has never thrown more than two interceptions in a college game and had only five this season and 17 in his 28-game career before Saturday. "I didn't do the job.

I can't knock the offensive line or the backs or the receivers. I had a bad day," added the obviously shaken Stoker. The loss all but blew Northwestern's chances of repeating as Southland Conference champions as the Demons dropped to 3-1-1 (4-3-1 overall). Now, Northwestern must depend on league-leader Stephen F. Austin to lose two of its three remaining conference games to repeat Sam Houston, a preseason pick to finish sixth in the conference, is now 2-1 (3-5 overall).

It was the Bearkats, ironically, who last dealt NSU a league defeat when they beat the Demons "This hurt about as bad as the last one," said NSU head coach Sam Goodwin, who points to the Halloween '87 loss as the lowest point of his coaching career. "The fact that it's our first loss in six games makes it a little easier to handle, but it probably knocks us out of the conference race." While the interceptions only accounted for six Sam Houston points field goals of 35 and 53 yards by Mark Klein three destroyed Demon drives in Bearkat territory. Cornerback Charles Boyce picked off two Stoker passes: one in the end zone on the Demons' opening drive and another on the Bearkat 10. Linebacker Darryl Harrison was also a double winner, stealing a Stoker pass near midfield and another on the Bearkat 29 to seal the Demons' fate. "We knew we had to minimize the big play and we came up with a lot of big plays ourselves," said Sam Houston coach Ron Randleman, whose defense kept NSU from scoring a touchdown for the first time in 25 games.

"We went after the ball in the secondary. We got aggressive and made some interceptions Randleman also praised his defensive line, which completely nullified Northwestern's running game. The Demons were held to only 96 yards rushing, a problem Goodwin had Please see UPSET, B-4 Saints ready for Falcon showdown 'Desperation defense' works for Crimson Tide comes off like an easy win for Saturdays games ii STATE Tennessee 45 LSU 39 NLU13 Arkansas St. 7 Southern 31 Nicholls St. 28 McNeese 21 SW Texas St.

7 Sam Houston 26 NSU 3 La. Tech 34 Tulsa 31 Grambling 49 Texas So. 6 Va. Tech 30 Tulane 13 SEC Georgia 34 Kentucky 23 Alabama 17 Penn St. 16 Auburn 14 Miss St.

0 01eMiss24 Vandy 16 TOP 25 Notre Dame 45 Pitt 7 Florida St. 24 Miami 10 Colorado 20 Oklahoma 3 Nebraska 49 Iowa St. 17 Michigan 38 Indiana 10 Illinois 32 Wisconsin 9 USC 19 Stanford 0 Arkansas 45 Houston 39 West Va. 44 Boston Col. 30 NC State 20 So.

Carolina 10 Texas 45 Rice 7 Clemson44 Wake Forest 10 By John D'Aquila Staff reporter KLFY(IO), noon NEW ORLEANS Atlanta Falcons coach Marion Campbell didn't want to be reminded that his team had lost four straight games to the New Orleans Saints. "Don't tell me that," said the Atlanta coach. "Let's don't talk about it." Campbell's 2-5 Falcons will visit the Superdome today for a noon showdown with the 3-4 Saints The Saints, after losing four straight, have won two in a row, including last week's 40-21 thumping of the Los Angeles Rams. The Falcons lost 34-20 to the Phoenix Cardinals last week. "The Saints are a good football team.

They earned that win," said Campbell of the Rams victory. "They played well. That win is no fluke." Against the Rams, the Saints got an early lead and never let up on the Rams. That kind of play concerns Atlanta quarterback Chris Miller, who took note that Rams quarterback Jim Everett was sacked six times and threw two interceptions. The Saints' pass rush, after four weeks of relative Please see JOHNSON a related story, B-6 inactivity, has 10 sacks over the last two games.

"Hopefully our guys can be ready for it," Miller said of the pass rush. "If not, it will be a long game because they will get some pressure on you." Miller said the Falcons have to guard against letting the Saints' emotion rise too high. "We have to get it going early," he said. "If we don't, their crowd will get in the game and they (the Saints) have been playing with a lot of emotion. "We can't get behind because they will be very tough to come back on." Getting a sagging running game going will be paramount to the Falcons The Falcons are last in the NFL in rushing and the Saints are first in guarding against the run "We have to stay with it," said Campbell.

"There is no mystery to it. We have capable people With the Saints on a roll after the Rams victory and the Falcons still hurting from the loss to Phoenix, the game thebaints. But Saints coach Jim Mora doesn't think so "I just told the team, and I believe this, that they are the most talented Atlanta team we've played since I've been in New Orleans," Mora said "They have had some good drafts, and they have some just outstanding young talent, as well as some outstanding veterans guys like Deion Sanders and Aundray Bruce and John Settle and Marcus Cotten, Tony Casillas, Keith Jones, their running back they drafted in the third round; Chris Miller, he's getting better all the time, a fine young quarterback." Miller is off to his best start in his third season in the NFL. He has completed 125 of 204 passes (61 percent) for 1,508 yards, four touchdowns and just two interceptions. "These guys have made this Atlanta team a fine football team.

They've played everybody close, except last week. They had Green Bay 21-0 and lost 23-21. They had a couple of good, tough, close games against the Rams (both losses). "They are a lot like we've been. They've just needed to make a play or two to win STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

(AP) Alabama calls it the Crimson Tide "desperation block" defensive play. It worked. Sixth-ranked -Alabama led No. 14 Penn State by a point with eight seconds left and the Nittany Lions lined to attempt a field goal of 17 yards. Alabama looked dead But 6-foot-7, 286-pound Thomas Rayam broke through to block the kick by Ray Tarasi, who had made three earlier field goals, and Alabama hung on for a 17-16 victory.

By winning, Alabama (7-0) became the first team ever to beat a Joe Pa-terno-coached Penn State team three years in a row. "I almost started crying," said Rayam, who had entered the game a few plays earlier. "I didn't see it. I just threw my hands up. It hit my right hand.

"It stung. I knew it was blocked I knew it couldn't get over (the crossbar) Rayam said he was surprised because his job in the "desperation block" is to clear the way for another player. The loss was the first for Penn State (5-2) loss since an opening-game defeat by Virginia. The snap by Mark Lawn was a little high, but the holder got it down for Tarasi, who earlier had booted a career-best 46-yarder. "I didn't know it was a bad snap until I got off the field," a dejected Tarasi said.

"When I got to the spot where the ball was, it was a little slow. But it was a short-distance kick, the sort I should have made Tarasi had made six of eight field-goal attempts coming in. He's now nine of 12. Alabama coach Bill Curry said the goal of his desparation is simple: "You zero in with every ounce of everyone on the team, and you find a way to block the kick. You believe you're going to block the kick Paterno explained it from his standpoint.

"There weren't any options," he said. "There wasn't anything to do but kick it. I wanted to milk the clock before I kicked a field goal, so Alabama wouldn't have time" to respond, it, ii II.