The Daily Journal from Fergus Falls, Minnesota • Page 14

Controversy clouds Vikings 17-14 defeat Staubach, Pearson beat odds in Cowboys win BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) Rarely are big money games won in such spectacular and controversial fashion, but Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson beat the odds twice Sunday to keep the Dallas Cowboys alive tor pro football's big payoff. Staubach and Pearson com- bined on a 50-yard touchdown pus with 24 seconds left in the game, hustling the Cowboys to a 17-14 victory over Minnesota and a berth in the National Football Conference champion- ship game at Los Angeles next Sunday against the Rams. "Chances on a play like that are slim and none," said Pear- "Our only hope was to throw and hope for a miracle," said Dallas Coach Tom Landry. And, while Landry got his mir- acle, Minnesota Coach Bud Grant may have earned himself another fine.

Grant said, "it was Just as clear as day and night" that Pearson pushed off on Vikings cornerback Nate Wright to make the catch. "It could have gone either way," admitted Pearson. "I knew there was some contact. I thought I might gel pass inter- ference." Two plays before the dramat- ic game-winning pass, Pearson snagged a 25-yard pass from Staubach on another of the game's several controversial plays when the Cowboys faced a fourth-nnd-16 from their own 25. "That was the critical play," said Staubach.

"Drew had told me he thought he could beat him (Wright) on a corner route." On that play, Pearson made the catch but didn't get either foot in bounds, but the officials ruled Wright forced him out. NFL officials do not discuss any calls based on judgement as in the case where Pearson was bumped out of bounds in the game-winning Dallas drive. And, Minnesota's first touch- doTM came in the midst of con- fusion, which National Football League assistant supervisor of officials Jack Reader tried to clear up at halftime. A punt by Minnesota's Neil Clabo bounced inside the Dallas five and after caroming crazily was recovered by the Vikings Fred McNeill. The Vikes were awarded possession of the ball at the Cowboy four.

Three plays later, Chuck Foreman blasted over for the touchdown. Fred Cox added the extra point kick for a 7-0 Minnesota lead. "The official who made the call was field judge Armen Ter- zian and he said that he ruled the ball hit Cliff Harris of Dal- las on the back of the leg," said Reader. Harris said the ball didn't touch him. A television replay showed it appeared to land closest to Bennie Barnes and the initial report from the field said it was touched by a Cow- boy lineman who thought it had already nicked one of his team- mates.

NFL Commissioner Pete Ro- zelle announced last week that Grant was fined for publicly agreeing with some criticism of the league's officials by Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson. Tarkenton directed Min- nesota's only sustained drive midway through the final peri- od to give the Vikings 14-10 lead. The elusive Minnesota quar- terback picked up three straight first downs passing and then sent Foreman and Brent McClanahan up the middle for large gains setting up McClanahan's one-yard TD burst with 5:11 left. "I was sick when they went ahead," said Landry. "Our de- fense had played a super foot- ball game.

They dominated a great Viking offense." Staubach, who passed for 246 yards on 17 completions in 29 attempts, played superbly in the third period to ignite the Cowboy offense. On a crucial third-down play at the Dallas 35, he connected with Preston Pearson for a 14- yard gain and a first down. A 15-yard roughness penalty against Minnesota linebacker Wally Hilgenberg took Dallas to the Vikings' 36, and Staubach followed with a pass to tight end Billy Dupree for a first down at the Minnesota 19. After three running plays, Doug Dennison rambled four yards through the middle of the Minnesota defense for the first Cowboy touchdown to tie the game 7-7. "We had to get onto the Scoreboard to get some con- fidence," said Staubach.

"We wanted the defense to know that they weren't just fighting out there for nothing." On the next Cowboy drive, Staubach converted two third downs and one fourth down to get Toni Fritsch in range for a 24-yard field goal on the first play of the final period to give Dallas a 10-7 advantage. Terzian again became part of the continuing series of drama seconds after Pearson's game- winning catch, when he was knocked to the ground after being struck by a whisky bottle thrown from the stands. Viking trainer Fred Zamberlettl band- aged Terzian, who suffered a cut on the forehead. But most tragic news came moments after the game with word of the death of the Rev. Dallas Tarkenton in Sa- vannah, Ga.

The elder Tarken- ton died while watching his son try to lead the Vikings back to a third straight Super Bowl ap- pearance. A team spokesman said the Vikings quarterback left the stadium without knowing of his father's death. Claims Wright was pushed Grant walks 'fine 1 line for criticism of playoff Tarkenton Sr. dies while son led BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) Minnesota Coach Bud Grant tried to walk the fine line between comment and criticism of National Football League game officials, after his Vikings lost a pulsating 17-14 playoff game to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday.

Grant and his players said they saw offensive pass inter- ference on Dallas wide receiver Drew Pearson when he grabbed a 50-yard heave from quarter- back Roger Staubach with only 24 seconds to play. Vikings defensive back Nate Wright slipped to the ground as Pearson caught the ball on the 10 and scampered into the end zone, wiping out a 14-10 Min- nesota lead. "It was just as clear as day and night that he (Wright) was pushed," said Grant. "That's the ball game." "From our side of the field, there was obviously no question that he was pushed," Grant said. Later, however, Grant said he did not want to comment Fergus traveling teams break even on weekend Traveling hockey teams from Fergus Falls broke even with two won, two lost and one tie record this weekend.

The two wins came when the Elk's Pee Wees beat Litchfield 5-2 and the VFW Bantams zipped Litchfield 34). Rob Hyslop, Steve Samuelson, Charles Mielke and Mike Andrews with a pair of goals did the scoring against the Litchfield Pee wees. Jay Drechsel and Stu Pemberton were in the nets. For the VFW Bantams, Steve Knutson, Mark Cole and Jim "Moose" Johnson got the goals. Mark Hedstrom and Glen Oliphant were in tbe nets.

At Crookston, however, it was a different story. The Werner Squirt team came through with a well earnedl-ltieona goal by Phil Frederick with only 45 seconds gone in the game. Tom Ness passed high from behind the net and the puck bounced off a defenseman and Frederick before going in. The Crookston goal came in the second period but even a five-minute overtime period couldn't produce a winner. Mike Kane, the Fergus goalie, deserves a lot of credit for keeping his mates in the game.

The Elk's Pee Wee game with Crookston was also a thriller. Crookston jumped off to a 2-0 lead before Fergus got rolling. Crookston won 5-4, however. Fergus' goals were by C. Mielke, Jess Wenller, Dan Snustad and Troy Eggen.

The Bantams lost 13-2 with Jody Wentler and Tim Aho getting the Fergus goals. SQUIRT LEAGUE Black Hawks 4 Bluest Black Hawks scoring: T. Wentworth 3, A. Lider 1. Goalie: Kurt Johnson.

North Stars 3 Bruins scoring: Elaine Rude 4. Goalie: S. EidsvoW and John Greenagel. Stars scoring: Ruskin Golden 2, Jobn Schmidt 1. Goalie: Tim Derek Daryl Leman.

Rangers 2 Penguins 0 Ranger scoring: Trosvig 2. Goalie: Hegerle. PEE WEE LEAGUE Moore Ford 5 Moore scoring: Mike Oehler 2, M. Toso M. Olslager 1, D.

Johnson Johnson. Dieseth scoring: T. Mann 2, T. Barry 1, M. Donley 1.

Goalie: Russ Pastir. First National 7 Surplus Lumber 3 First scoring: Todd Eggen 7. Goalie: Dean Cbristenson. Surplus scoring: Pat Johnson 3. Goalie: Kyle KJellerup.

Service Food 9 Seven Up 1 Service scoring: J. Cranston 2, Kevin Stock 3, C. Johnson, Paul Reck, D. Hoffman, R. Melby one each.

660U4 Viking scoring: T. Evavold 3, C. Buseth 1, T. Lundeen Goalie: B. Anderson.

66 Oil scoring: S. Steinbach 2, D. Hastings 1, R. Nygaard 1. Goalie: Robert Hastings.

BANTAM LEAGUE Wold 00 Soby Construction 3 Wold scoring: Reed Olson 2, Brian Brans 2, J. Mielke 1. Goalie: Jim Soby scoring: Randy Barker 3. Goalie: Mark Johnson. KBRF RadloS Coca-Cola? KBRF scoring: Jeff Mor- tonson 3, Jerry Mortonson 3, Steve Mortonson 2, Tim Mann 1.

Goalie: Ron Reiken. Coca-Cola scoring: J. Muir 6, P. Hauge 1. Knights of Columbus 4 Marks 4 K-C scoring: George Norlin 3, Dan Armstrong 1.

Goalie: Russ Walz and Roger Thompson. Mark scoring: Brad Gilbert 2, Mike Schultz and Tom lirsung one each. Goalie: Paul Evenson. generally on the officiating in the first-rourid playoff game because, "There's too big a club over my head." Grant, who generally choses his words carefully win-or-lose, was fined $600 late in the season for saying the NFL was a multimillion dollar business run by amateurs on weekends. He suggested the league hire fulltime officials.

"I had a clear view," said Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton. "The man pushed his arm out and pushed Nate down. It should have been of- fensive pass interference." "The thing that disturbed me. officials were standing there and watching it happen," added Tarkenton. Game officials said it was a judgment situation and declined to comment on the disputed play.

Pearson said any penalty "could have gone either way." "I was trying to get back to the underthrown ball," he ex- plained. I knew there was some .1 thought I might gel pass interference. It could have gone either way." Both Tarkenton and running Chuck Foreman credited Pete Dallas with playing '-defensive quarter. Brent McClanahan blasted over from the one to put Minnesota ahead 14-10 with 5:11 to play. But Dallas came back.

"The game ended on a sour note," said Foreman. "It's a lot harder to take," Grant said of the long Dallas pass. "It's things that are out of our control that are most frustrating to take." Journal SPORTS Fergus Falls (Ma.) Journal Mon, Dec. 29,1975 SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) The Rev.

Dallas Tarkenlon Sr. died in the company of two of his sons, watching the third lead a team in the National Football League playoffs on television. Funeral services were tenta- tively set for Tuesday in Athens, for the elder Tar- kenton, 63, father of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tar- kenton, who was to return to Georgia today. The father, a Methodist min- Gophers repeat as Pillsbury champs piled up a big statistical advan- tage: 19-12 in first downs and 356-215 in total yardage. "They played very good de- fense all day long," said Tar- kenton, who completed 12 of 26 passes with one interception and 135 yards.

Foreman, who scored the game's first touchdown on a one-yard run but was held to 56 yards in 18 carries, said the Cowboys played "good solid de- fense. They really came off the ball and their pursuit closed things up." "You can't take anything away from them," he said. "They played well. They de- fensed us really well." Minnesota's only sustained drive of the game carried 70 yards in 11 plays and took more than six minutes of the final Ray Scon to air Brewers MILWAUKEE (AP) Ray Scott, who handled Green Bay Packer telecasts for 11 years, has been named to announce the Milwaukee Brewers' 30 televised baseball games next season. Scott, previously a sportscas- ter for several other major league baseball teams, in- cluding the Minnesota Twins, was named to the post by WTMJ-TV, which originates Brewer telecasts.

Bob Decker and Merle Har- mon are the Brewers' radio an- BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) The unbeaten University of Minnesota basketball team heads into the Big Ten season this weekend aware that things are going to get tougher soon. The Gophers staved off a late rally to defeat Creighton 80-74 for their eighth straight win and second consecutive Pillsbury Classic Basketball Tournament title. Butler trimmed Perm State 63-50 for third place. "It was good for us to have a pressure game at this stage of the season," said Minnesota Coach Jim Dutcher.

"I don't think a loss would have hurt us too much either, but I'm glad to get off without one and go into conference play Osborne Lockhart scored 22 Burnsville, Phalen win hockey tourney Burnsville and St. Paul Phalen picked off top honors in the Jaycee-sponsored girls hockey tournament in Fergus Falls this weekend. Burnsville won the Midget division and Phalen the Ban- tam division. Fergus Falls entry, the O'Meara's Sham- rocks, came in fourth in the Midget division and the Kilowatts, sponsored by Otter Tail Power, took third in the Bantam division. The Kilowatts were involved in some of the tightest games of the two-day event They beat East Grand Forks 6-0 before falling to Burnsville 1-0 and Phalen 2-1.

Phalen later beat Burnsville 2-1, indicating very tight competition in the Bantam division. Burnsville took second in the Bantam division and East Grant Forks was last. In the Midget division, New Hope was second and East Grand Forks third. A total of about 180 persons visited Fergus Falls for the two-day event. points, Flip Saunders and Mi- chael Thompson 21 apiece for Minnesota, which watched a 12- point lead shrink to a basket late in the game.

"We've have been inconsist- ent minute-to-minute," said Creighton Coach Tom Apke. "But at least our kids should know they can play after stay- ing in the game against a team like Minnesota." The 6-foot-10 Thompson, who was named the tournament's most outstanding.player, col-, lected 16 of his points after In- termission. He also blocked seven shots including three in the final two minutes. "He's just a great player," said Apke. "We knew we'd have to do a good job on him and we did for awhile.

1 For the first times this sea- son, Thompson appeared frus- trated with some of the defen- sive tactics used against nun. "He's going to have to get over that," said Dutcher. "You can bet everyone in the Big Ten will be playing Michael very physical and he can take care of Three Gophers All-tourney BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) Titlist Minnesota placed three players on the all- tournament team of the Pillsbury Classic basketball tournament. The Gopher delegation was led by 6-foot-10 sophiimore cen- ter Mike Thompson, who was named most valuable player of the tournament.

Other Minnesota players cho- sen by sportswriters Saturday night for the all-tourney team were 5-11 junior guard Flip Saunders and 6-1 sophomore guard Osborne Lockhart. Also named to the honor team were 6-7 forward Barry Collier of Butler University and 6-4 sophomore forward Rich Apke of Creighton. The fourth tournament team, Perm State, did not place any players. himself. He's built up quite a reputation this month." The Gophers open the confer- ence season Saturday night at home against Purdue.

While Minnesota opponents collapse around the high-scor- ing sophomore, Lockhart, Saunders and Ray Williams have been taking up the slack. "It opens things up for them all right," continued Dutcher. "And they're all good shoot- ers." Rick Apte.ithe coaches' kid brothe'r, led Creighton with 19 points and'freshman John Johnson came off the bench to add 18 for the Bluejays, now 8-3. Wayne Burris scored 16 points, Bill Lynch 12 and Barry Collier 11 to lead Butler to its victory in the consolation game. The Bulldogs held Penn State to only five field goals in the first half and cruised to their fourth victory in eight starts.

Tom Doaty notched 16 points for the losing Nittany I Jons, now 5-4. Thompson was joined on the all tournament team by team- mates Lockhart and Saunders along with Creighton's Apke and Butler's Collier. ister, was dead on arrival at a Savannah hospital after family efforts to revive him failed. His son, Fran, left the sta- dium in Bloomington, where the Dallas Cowboys had defeated the Vikings 17-14, una- ware of his father's death, but was told a short time later. A friend of the family said the minister was not particularly interested in football, but ad- ded, "I think he was interested in the games Fran played." "He was Just sitting in a chair," said another son, Dallas Tarkenton Jr.

"I saw him gasp for breath; I could tell he had had a heart attack. We started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and everything we could think of and the ambulance got here very quickly he never came to." A native of Norfolk, the elder Tarkenton served several years as pastor of a church in Athens where his son was a football standout in high school and later at the University of Georgia. He was an official of Oxford College at Emory University and was Rotary International governor for the eastern half of Georgia. Although Hearing re- BOWLING SCORES Leading Team: Pilschmanri Prlschmann 3 high bowlers: (women) Lil Rings Irom 486 PatBratton 459 Betty Hal vors on 45S 3 high 587 StanSwarUltS) S75 Austin Korby) 200) 570 MR MRS. LEAGUE Leading Team: Sleeves 4 Hasbargen 3 high Deb Emery 494 KathyJacobson LaVonucEtten 468 3 high Denny Hasbargen (210) 553 Lloyd Emery 513 Lynn SchulU 508 tirtment, he moved to Savan- nah in September to become pastor of the Pentecostal Holi- ness Church.

"They said they wanted him and needed him down there, so he moved down Uiere even though he was going to retire in Athens," a friend said. Besides his son Fran, Tarkenton is survived by his widow, Frances; sons Dallas Jr. of Athens and Wendell of Rock Hill. S.C., and a brother, James E. Sproull of Tampa, Fla.

Otter JV hockey team 4-0 on year The Otter junior varsity hockey team won its fourth game in as many starts last Saturday afternoon by downing visiting Jamestown 6-0. In previous games the Otters defeated Alexandria 8-2, Fargo Shanley 5-1, and Glenvrood 12-0. Freshman winger, Jon Noack, scored two third period goats to lead the Otter attack. Steve Lundeen, Steve Hed- strom, Dann Larson and Matt Cranston scored single coun- ters in the win. Cory Salvei, Brian Gall and Mark Ferber have shared the goaltending duties in the four contests, allowing only three opponent's goals and recording two shutouts.

AAME SUMMARY FIRST PERIOD SCORING: Hunt 11:11. Krupp THIRD PERIOD SCORING'. FF. Dann J- Jon Mciiterl 11. Sf, FF.

Jon NoJtMTodd FF. ira Ft, J. NOAtk W. PENALTIES: J. Ktvln Wriflhl l.n 7:17, FF.

D. Lirioi leffw 0 4-4 Jjrf.tttswn 0 0 0 GOALIE SAVES COff 4 3 0 4 Briii GA HFF 0 1 1 5 JimPivISOntJI It 17-47 Rose heads list Five down six bowls to go Seven score in I Gophers victory By HERSCHEL NISSENSON AP Sports Writer Five bowls down and six to go. And plenty of questions to be answered as the college foot- ball season winds down to its dramatic conclusion this week. --Can tenanted Ohio State defeat No. 11 UCLA for the sec- ond time this season in the Rose Bowl and nail down the na tional championship? --If the Buckeyes lose, can third-ranked Oklahoma beat fifth-ranked Michigan In the Orange Bowl and capture its second consecutive national crown? --Can fourth-ranked Ala- bama, still nursing national championship dreams, snap its eight-year bowl jinx by down- ing eighth-ranked Penn State in the Sugar Bowl? With the Tangerine, Liberty, Sun, Fiesta and Bluebonnet bowls out of the way, the re- maining six postseason attract- ions wUl be crammed into the period from Monday through Thursday.

Tbe schedule looks like this: Monday night, Gator Bowl at Jacksonville, 13 Flor- ida vs. No. 17 Maryland. Wednesday, Peach Bowl at Atlanta--North Carolina State vs. West Virginia.

Wednesday night, Sugar Bowl at New Orleans- Alabama vs. Penn State. Thursday, Cotton Bowl at Dallas--No. 12 Georgia vs. No.

18 Arkansas. Thursday, Rose Bowl at Pasadena, State vs. UCLA. Thursday night, Orange Bowl at Miami-Oklahoma vs. Mich- igan.

En route to an 11-0 regular season, Ohio State bombed UCLA 41-20 back on Oct 4. Since that time, though, the Bruins have won six of seven games in rolling to an 8-2-1 record and the Pacific-8 cham- pionship. Both Oklahoma and Michigan have been missing from recent bowl games. Michigan is mak- ing its first appearance in any bowl other than the Rose, where they've played six times, the last following the 1971 sea- son. The Wolverines made it to Miami thanks to a new rule this year which permits more than one team from the Big Ten and Pacific-6 Conferences to play in a bowl.

Oklahoma closed out a two- year NCAA probation this sea- son by winning another Big Eight title. The Orange Bowl is the Sooners' first postseason appearance since they defeated Penn State in the Sugar Bowl to conclude the 1972 campaign. The last time Alabama won a bowl game was back on Jan. 2, 1967 when the Crimson Tide trounced Nebraska 34-7 in the Sugar Bowl. Since then.

Bear Bryant has found his troops wanting in three Orange Bowls, two Cottons, one Sugar, one Liberty and one Bluebonnet, al- though 'Bama did manage a 24- 24 standoff with Oklahoma in the 1970 Bluebonnet, The other seven years have produced heartaches. The Cotton, Gator and Peach bowls may well be exciting but none has any bearing on nation- al honors. ST. LOUIS (AP) Min- nesota got goals from seven dif- ferent players to defeat St. Louis 7-5 Sunday night and sweep a two-game collegiate hockey series.

Russ Anderson put the puck into an empty net with 12 sec- onds to play, sealing the victo- ry. SU Louis had collected three goals in nine minutes midway through the final period to pull within 6-5. Reed Larson and Tom Van- neUi scored for the Gophers in the first period. Ken Yackel and Tim Rainey added goals in the second period, and Joe Micheletti and Mark Lambert scored in the final period. Goalie Jeff Tscherne turned back 26 St.

Louis shots. The Gophers, who beat the Billikens 7-4 Friday night, are now 1W. St. Louis is 1J-7. ATTENTION FARMERS Take advantage of our Year-End Reductions for next year tax deductions.

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