The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 37

Scoreboard: 2D fl College basketball: 6D OutdoorsRec: 8-9D I POETS CONTACT: CEDRIC BRYANT, 459-3292 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1994 THE TIMES Scoreline Din romm For up. dated profes- i slonal, college Buyout won't halt DiNardo Vanderbilt coach willing to buy out own contract. Gannett News Service 1 7' and high school sports scores, call 222-6397 and push mailbox number 984 when asked. NASHVILLE, Tenn. Vanderbilt football coach Gerry DiNardo is in the process of finding a way to pay for a new job.

DiNardo wants to become the new coach at LSU, but LSU Chancellor William (Bud) Davis said Saturday that DiNardo must come up with the money to buy his way out of his Vanderbilt contract DiNardo reportedly will pay for the buyout an estimated $400,000 himself. Men UCLA 99, Cal 65 Arkansas 94 Murray St. 69 Kansas 96, N. C. State 91 UMass 85, Maryland 74 Florida 91, Texas 73 Ga.

Tech 112, Lafayette 84 Texas-Arl. 91, Grambling 75 Women Tenn. 78, Penn St. 74 Alabama 99, Texas -Arl. 62 South.

Miss. 93, Florida 92 DePaul 74, Auburn 67 Arkan. 61 SW Missouri 60 NBA New York 107, Phila. 103 New Jersey 108, Boston 96 Orlando 109, Atlanta 98 Cleveland 87, Detroit 79 Indiana 117, Miami 103 Phoenix 103, Minn. 89 Milwaukee 103, Chicago 89 Dallas 99, Charlotte 86 San An.

108, Houston 96 Denver 111, Wash. 89 Lakers 120, Utah 103 Seattle at Clippers (n) Golden St. at Sac. (n) II LSU Athletic Director Joe Dean paid a quick visit to Nashville Saturday, then flew back to Baton Rouge. Asked if he had hired DiNardo, Dean said, "we're still working on it." Eagles leave title mark on Class A before moving up By RUSSELL HEDGES The Times NEW ORLEANS Evangel Christian Academy completed its two-year domination of Louisiana Class A football Saturday afternoon with a 44-14 rout of West St.

John in the state championship game at the Louisiana Superdome. The Eagles, who defeated West St. John 29-22 in last year's title game, won their five playoff games by an average of 36.6 points. Evangel (14-1) won't get a chance to defend this year's title because the Eagles are moving up to Class 3A next year. "I told our coaches about three-fourths of the way through the season that with the way we were playing we might win this thing going Evangel coach Dennis Dunn said.

That's what happened. There wasn't a close ball game throughout the playoffs. "That's the way we wanted to leave Single-A, not leaving a doubt in anybody's mind. That's not a cocky statement. That's a confidence statement." Whatever, the Eagles backed it up with an array of offensive and defensive weapons that leveled West St.

John (12-3). This is awesome," said Evangel linebacker Bubba Alexander, when asked about winning the state title. But Alexander also could have been describing the play of the defense. The Eagles had eight sacks, including three by Alexander, and held the Rams to minus-66 yards rushing. Subtract Ira Jackson's two touchdown passes of 77 and 47 yards and West St.

John finishes with minus-31 total yards. The Rams lost Jackson after Evangel took a 30-14 lead in the third quarter. He complained of dizziness and did not return. "We were just trying to keep the pressure on the quarterback and keep him from throwing to (Tommy) Poche," said Evangel linebacker, vlatt. Merry.

"Because )t got it to him he can make the big plays. We all did our assignments and it worked out all right." The 6-foot-6 Poche caught only one pass the 77-yarder for West St. John's first touchdown. Sophomore Abram Booty, named Evangel's Most Valuable Player, covered Poche beginning late in the first half. Please see EAGLES, Page 7D DiNardo NFL Detroit 18, New York 7 Cleveland 19, Dallas 14 BRIEFS From Wire Reports rgrsrs.

The TimesTIM LOEHRKE DiNardo declined comment. But DiNardo and LSU seem very close. The Baton Rouge Advocate reported LSU officials hope to schedule a news conference Monday. The buyout seems to be the only snag. "DiNardo said that was his problem and he did not expect us to solve that," Davis said.

It's my opinion if a coach enters into that type of agreement, that's his responsibility. We are not participating in a buyout." LSU tried to hire Texas Christian Coach Pat Sullivan earlier in the week, but he couldn't find a way to get out of his $400,000 buyout Dean's visit to Nashville came about four hours after Vanderbilt officials met with Commodores players and told them DiNardo would soon be named the LSU coach. DiNardo was not at the meeting. The former Colorado assistant had informed his players of his decision earlier in the day. He met with some individually.

DiNardo's change of direction comes after an announcement Wednesday he was withdrawing as a candidate when it appeared Sullivan was the choice. "Yeah, it was a big shock," said junior split end Sanford Ware Evangel's Abram Booty looks behind Chidlow as he runs for a touchdown, him at West St. John's Calvin John Booty was also named Eagles' MVP. Louisiana state champions Crawdads to face Tri-City Chinook KENNEWICK. Wash.

The Shreveport Crawdads (1-10) try again today to score their first Continental Basketball Association road -victory when they play'the JU Tri-City Chinook (S6). The Crawdads, whose only win was over the Chinook in Shreveport Dec. 6, lost here 118-105 Friday night. The Crawdads return to Hirsch Coliseum Tuesday night to plays the Rapid City Thrillers in the start of a four-game homestand. CLASS 2 A Haynesville (15-0) def.

Loyola (8-6), 51-3 CLASS A Evangel (14-1) def. West. St. John (13-2), 44-14. More on the Class 4A and 5A championships on 7D.

CLASS 5A Hahnville (15-0) def. Ouachita CLASS 4A Salmen (14-1) def. John Curtis (13-1), 12-7 CLASS 3A Amite (15-0) def. St. James (14-1), 38-21 1 Cowboys fall to Browns Salaam wins Heisman Trophy NEW YORK Rashaan Salaam almost left Colorado after his freshman season and was only a part-time starter as 1 a sophomore.

Now, he's the Heisman Trophy winner. Salaam, who led the nation in rushing, scoring and Dallas trailed 16-7 early in the fourth quarter before driving for its second touchdown. Emmitt Smith's 4-yard run brought the Cowboys within 16-14. Smith provided the bulk of the Cowboys' offense with 112 rushing yards. After forcing a Cleveland punt, the Cowboys had the ball at their own 8.

They reached the 17 before facing fourth-and-1 with less than three minutes remaining. But Aikman never got the snap from center Mark Stepnoski, and the drive was dead. "I don't know (what happened)," Aikman said. "I have yet to have a fumble between a quarterback and center that I did know what happened." That should have sealed the victory for the Browns. It didn't.

They only got a 32-yard field goal from Matt Stover with 1:53 left Stover made all four of his field goal attempts Saturday. Kevin Williams' 42-yard kickoff return to the Dallas 48 with 1:49 remaining gave the Cowboys one last chance. Aikman completed passes of 14 and 15 yards to Michael Irvin in the drive, and his 15-yard pass to Williams put the Cowboys at Please see COWBOYS, Page 4D Dallas may lose homefield advantage for NFC playoffs. By SCOTT FERRELL The Times IRVING. Texas All day long, yards had been difficult to come by for the Dallas Cowboys.

In the end, the inches were even tougher. Jay Novacek caught a Troy Aikman pass and slipped to the turf, an inch from the goal line and a Cowboys' victory, as time expired allowing the Cleveland Browns to celebrate a 19-14 victory. "I knew I had to get it in the end zone," Novacek said. "I knew I had to catch the ball and get it in. I came down and slipped." The Cowboys likely saw any chance of gaining homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs slip away as well.

Dallas fell to 11-3 with the defeat The San Francisco 49ers are 11-2 and own a tiebreaker advantage over the Cowboys. Cleveland improved to 104. The Cowboys' frustrating ending was symbolic of a frustrating day. Salaam vl T1' S' I all-purpose yards, captured college football's top award Saturday night by a comfortable margin over runner-up Ki-Jana Carter of Penn State. The 6-foot, 215-pound junior is the first Colorado player to win the Heisman and the first running back to get the award since Barry Sanders in 1988.

More on Page 3D. The TimesTOM STANFORD Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin Browns corner back Don Griffin moves reaches for a Troy Aikman pass as in. The Browns won 19-14. Getting DiNardo a fitting end to botched LSU search Fans' feedback Apparently not content with 4-7 seasons and a six-year absence from the bowl picture. LSU has set its sights even lower by evidently selecting Gerry DiNardo as its What is i your opinion of former Tennessee coach Johnny Majors at a Volunteers' function.

Mathews once served on Majors' coaching staff. Better yet the coach booted a player off his Vanderbilt team for missing a meeting. It was a player, who served as the chapter leader i for the Fellowship of Christian letes and he was late getting back-from a national FCA meeting. This is what LSU evidently is Wft with. Even if the Tigers have a win-' ning record in 1995, the program may be into the next century before it erases this moment of Kent Heitholt I 1.4 "He's definitely not a people person" one reporter said of DiNardo.

This is a coach who has resorted to such pettiness as refusing to mention the word "Tennessee" in his four years at the school. He allows no orange colors Tennessee's trademark around his team. He once took a microphone and ripped off a strand of tape because it was orange. He demanded Nashville fans, who often try Jo support both Tennessee and Vanderbilt, get off the fence. DiNardo said he didn't want them around if they supported him for 10 games but not the 11th.

DiNardo once had Vanderbilt radio analyst (Doug Mathews, the Commodores' last SEC rushing leader) forced off the radio team because Mathews played golf with subsequent search. The Tigers would have been better off keeping Curley Hallman through his contract rather than embarrass themselves like they have. Dean, who couldn't keep any news quiet was publicly turned down by several big-name coaches, causing his search to become more desperate with each negative response. The latest foul-up was offering the job to TClTs Pat Sullivan before finding out there was a problem being able to cover the $400,000 buyout clause. There were other blemishes before we even get to DiNardo, a coach who has been called "a public relations nightmare" at a school where any coverage is considered good head football coach.

DiNardo, who ranked somewhere behind Jerry Van Dyke in the Tigers' search to replace Curky Hallman, appears headed to LSU without coaching legends. Yes, the same Vanderbilt which lost its season-ending game to archrival Tennessee 650. Just think what the score would have been if the Commodores didn't have extra incentive a possible bowl bid that day. Is this really the once-hallowed LSU football program? Who's running the show, Beavis, Butthead or both? DiNardo's apparent hiring only puts the finishing touch on what has been possibly the worst-conducted search for a head coach by anv major college in history. The LSU effort headed by Athletic Director Joe Dean, was misguided from the start when Hallman was fired, apparently before the LSU administration was prepared for the i how the LSU football coaching search was handled? You may call or tax in your view.

Trie Times will take responses through Thursday Call 222-6397 and push 983 when asked or fax us at 459-3301. Send letters to Fans' Feedback, The Times, 222 I Lake 130-0222. We'll publish responses received by Thursday in The Times on Sunday morning. ever naving a winning season in four years as a head coach. He also comes from Vanderbilt that football machine that produces so many modem-day Kent Hertholt is a Times sports writer.

He can be reached at 459-3298 or by fax at 459-3301..