The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 55

Sellers, Seminoles Prevail, 24-14 Air Power Lifts FSU Florida Escapes Falcosts, Close Call For Gators y. v. v. 'W -y jv' sr t.St...i!':'i I "ta- 1 a 1 I 'A') V'- llHMV' I i i-: 1NV i-1 Cors' Siiiiift (33) rips through huj hole; Falcons' Eppiiig (77), Shannon (90) taken out of action fTt: s. .1 9 x.

Cappleman TD Insures Victory Tampa Tempo: Untimely Clock R3t ft lit PP' ''Ate. 7 tor jr 9 rJ 9Al (AP) MARYLAND'S FITZPATRICK HALTED IN MID-AIR Seminoles' Dale McCulIers (50) wouldn't budge And, of course, Sellers 'was all that people had heard. Three of his receptions were of the caliber that FSU fans have grown accustomed to seeing two-handed basket catches over the shoulder like Willie Mays in his prime. Sellers teamed with his old buddy Gary Pajcic for the touchdown play, an 82-yard beauty that enters the Seminole record books as the second longest scoring play in the school's history. You guessed it, Pajcic and Sellers combined on the longest 86 yards against Wake Forest two years ago.

Make no bones about it. The Terps came to play and were marvelously prep ared. Quarterback Pastrana, who tossed two touchdown passes in his last collegiate start against FSU two years ago threw another one Saturday, nine yards to Rick Carlson. HIS PASSING and the imaginative defenses thrown at the Seminoles seemed to fire up Maryland to heights not seen since the days of Clark Shaughnessy, Paul (Bear) Bryant and Jim Tatum. Coach Bill Peterson's Seminoles thought they had been hit by all three at once.

"Their scheme was good," admitted Peterson. "They blitzed us. They used everything they had and we had to continually adjust. I'm happy to win." Everything that Maryland had was Pastrana, who completed nine of 21 passes for 108 yards and that TD to Carlson, punter Greg Fries and a swift running back named John King. Just a sophomore, Fries boomed eight punts for a 44-yard average and constantly made FSU march nearly the length of the field.

King, who chose Maryland over FSU after graduating from Marion Institute, haunted Peterson with 86 yards. THE MARYLAND defense gave (Continued On Page 2-D, Col. 4) By BILL BUCHALTER lentlml Stiff COLLEGE PARK, Md. It's a known fact that you can't tell a player without a scorecard, or judge a book by its cover. Florida State University hopes its fans won't judge its 1968 football team by its opening game performance, a 24-14 victory over a Maryland team that was labeled by some as the nation's worst college football squad.

But 33,600 Byrd Stadium fans learned what their hairdressers probably already knew, that the Terrapins are not the worst in the land, and that Ron Sellers probably is the best. SELLERS, THE super flanker for Florida State, impressed the crowd, Maryland's defenders and the Washington press corps with a typical performance that produced five receptions, 182 yards and a touchdown. Still it took a one-yard scoring plunge by No. 2 quarterback Bill Cappleman with 1:25 left to play that insured FSU's ninth straight game without a loss and left Maryland without victory for 14 games. Cappleman was a goat-turned-hero.

The junior rifleman redeemed an earlier pass interception on his first offensive play of the season that Terp defender Henry Gareis turned into a 54-yard touchdown run. He wasn't alone in sharing laurels. Halfback Billy Gunter contributed 133 rushing yards with a determined performance that coach Bill Peterson called "as good as anyone had ever played for Florida State." SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE end Ron Wallace made his collegiate debut one to remember, both for him and Maryland quarterback Alan Pastrana. He was in on a dozen tackles and stayed as close to the Terp quarterback as lox to a bagel. By JIM MacDONALD ExkuIIvi Sporti Editor TAMPA The clock almost struck 12 for the Florida Gators just as the 1968 football season was starting.

But even if it had, none of the record crowd of 52,626 would have seen it. The scoreboard dock was out of order the entire game. But it was another form of timing which created problems for the giddy Gators. Favored by 21 points, Florida had to push over a late fourth-quarter touchdown to escape with a 23-20 victory over a fearless flock of Air Force Academy Falcons. The first impression might be to say that Florida was overrated.

But it would be more accurate to report that the Air Force was underrated. THE FALCONS came to play. ry Smith, hobbling much of the time on a gimpy leg, pulled the Gators from the lower depths. The 221-pound Smith, playing in his home town, lugged the leather 25 times and gained 109 yards. He also scored the only two touchdowns Florida could manage from scrimmage.

But Florida was not without disappointments. The biggest was probably quarterback Larry Rentz, who was finally replaced late in the third quarted by his backup man Jackie Eckdahl. It was Eckdahl, in fact, the southpaw junior, who pumped life into what had been a rather anemic Gator offense. Rentz completed only four passes. He also carried the ball, all in the first half, nine times for a net of minus 30 yards.

These were not designed running plays, but rather forced when Rentz could not locate a pass receiver. But in his defense, it was Rentz who passed eight yards to split end Gene Peek which set up the winning Gator TD. This aerial put Florida on the Falcons' three and Smith banged over for what proved to be the winning marker on the following play. AS MENTIONED earlier, the young Falcons from the Rocky Mountains did not come to aid the Gators improve their No. 6 national ranking.

And they wasted little time improving it. Halfback Curtis Martin caught the opening kickoff on the two in front of his own goal post and didn't stop running until he was in the Florida end zone. The 98-yard touchdown an Air Force record left the Florida linemen standing as pallbearers. Martin broke loose from a pair of attempted tackles inside his 30 and cut up the right sidelines. He picked up a key block at the 40 and suddenly found himself running alone.

The rest was Now it was the Gators' turn and they rattled off two quick first downs on the running of Smith and Tommy when Rentz tried to take to the air. The drive bogged down, however, Christian. Later in the first quarter, the Gators drove to the Air Force 19. But Rentz was trapped twice while trying to pass and Florida had to settle for a 42-yard field goal, that's right, 42 yards, by Jack Youngblood. Actually, the three-pointer turned out to be the margin of Florida's victory.

In the final minutes of the first period, quarterback Gary Baxter passed to Charles Longnecker, who had sneaked behind Steve Tannen, and he moved to the Florida five before Tannen dropped him. The p'ay covered 44 yards. On the next play Baxter went over on a keener around his own left end. Dennis Leuthauser's boot made it 13-3, Air Force. A nifty 64-yard touchdown on a (Continued On Page 3-D, Col.

Panthers Hit Hawks, 28-10 By ED HAYES Stnlintl stiff HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Alabama's Hawks, representing the City of Courtesy, took an inhospitable 10-0 lead over Orlando's Panthers in the first quarter at Milton Frank Field Saturday night. But the red carpet was finally rolled out and the Florida pros rolled to a routine 28-10 victory and a 4-0 position at the top of the Continental League's Atlantic division. Quarterback Don Jonas, who took 15 minutes to sharpen his eye and arm, passed for two touchdowns, ran one and kicked four extra points. About 6,000 fans watched.

(Continued On Page 7-D, Col. 4).