The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 15

COURIER NEWS CollegesHigh Schools MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2001 C-5 Vob-'Sams- Un libety HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS Phillipsburg stuns favored IMclair (Hipiraillip panm "TH i i PT1 0 MM) XT 't a fit- $-' i ing to Colorado 39-37 in the Big 12 Conference tide game. Oregon (10-1), with a 17-14 win over Oregon State, moved up one spot to No. 3. The Buffaloes (10-2), most likely headed to the Fiesta Bowl, jumped five places to No. 4 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll, followed by No.

5 Nebraska (11-1), No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Maryland (10-1), No. 8 Illinois (10-1), No. 9 BYU (12-0) and No.

lOTexas. In balloting by the 72 sports writers and broadcasters on the AP panel, Miami collected all 72 first-place votes and 1,800 points. Tennessee had 1,709 points, Oregon 1,624, Colorado 1,557, and Nebraska 1,468. In the USA TodayESPN coaches poll the top five were Miami, Tennessee, Oregon, Nebraska and Colorado. Miami had 59 of 60 first-place votes from the coaches; BYU, tied at No.

8, received the other. The BCS standings deter mine which teams play for a national tide based on a formula that incorporates the AP media and coaches' polls, eight computers, strength of schedule, won-lost record and bonus points for big wins. Oklahoma was No. 11, followed by No. 12 Stanford, No.

13 Washington State, No. 14 South Carolina, No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Georgia, No. 18 Syracuse, No.

19 Fresno State and No. 20 Washington. LSU, which defeated Auburn 27-14 on Saturday, was No. 21, followed by No. 22 Ohio State, No.

23 Louisville, No. 24 Florida State and No. 25 Toledo. The Seminoles (7-4), with a 28-17 win over Georgia Tech, returned to the Top 25 after a two-week absence. The final regular-season poll will be released next Sunday, just before the final BCS standings.

DeFazio's extra-point kick sailed wide right. Following akickoff return by Joe Sandberg, Bergen Catholic marched the ball 16 yards to the Delbarton 28-yard line to set up Hanly's game-winning kick. WEST ESSEX 16 ORANGE 6 West Essex won the North Jersey 2 Group II tide by rallying from a 6-0 deficit. Orange took a 6-0 lead on Daryl Sims 34-yard pass to Marquis Bond in the first quarter. But West Essex rebounded with Mike Hayek's 12-yard run and field goals of 25 and 24 yards by Tim Hughes 25 and Anthony D'Urso.

West Essex finished 11-1, Orange 8-4. SI JOSEPH 49 IMMACULATE CONCEPT. 0 Senior running back James Hargrave scored two touchdowns and rushed for 97 yards as St. Joseph (10-1) shut out Immaculate Conception (9-2) for the Parochial Group I title. It was St.

Joseph's sixth tide in nine seasons. Staff report Phillipsburg High School's football team won its first sectional football tide since 1977 with a stunning 10-7 win over previously unbeaten Montclair on Sunday at Rutgers Stadium to win the North 2 Group IV tide. The No. 5 seed Stateliners scored the game-winning touchdown with just 23 seconds left on a 15-yard touchdown run by junior Leonard Brice. Kevin Papics got Phillipsburg to within 7-3 with a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter.

BERGEN CATHOLIC 10 DELBART0N9 Junior place-kicker Chris Hanly kicked a 45-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to lead Bergen Catholic (10-2) to a hard-fought victory over Delbar-ton in the Parochial Group IV championship game at Rutgers University. Reade Seligmann caught an 1 1 -yard scoring pass from Michael Loree with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter to give Delbar-ton a 9-7 lead. But Michael ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey and the rest of the Hurricanes will play for the national championship in January. heading into final week By The Associated Press Tennessee is closing in on playing for a national championship. The Volunteers (10-1) soared to No.

2 in the AP media poll on Sunday replacing Florida following their 34-32 victory over the Gators at The Swamp. Miami (11-0) was No. 1 again, but this time it was unanimous after completing a perfect regular season with a 26-24 win over Virginia Tech. With the win, the Hurricanes clinched a spot in the Bowl Championship Series' title game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 3.

A win by Tennessee overLSU in the Southeastern Conference tide game on Saturday would send the Vols to Pasadena. Florida (9-2), which dropped to No. 6, wasn't the only top team to fall. Texas (10-2), ranked third entering Saturday's games, tumbled seven spots to No. 10 after los BCS still By The Associated Press Some college football fans prefer the season to end in an orderly fashion.

Others enjoy complete chaos. Three breathtaking two-point games involving the nation's top teams, though, has fans pondering the same question: How will the national tide chase play out after the final big game of the regular season next Saturday? The options are limited: If No. 2 Tennessee (10-1) beats No. 21 LSU (8-3) in the Southeastern Conference tide game, the Volunteers will play No. 1 Miami (11-0) in the Lopresti From Page C-1 There is one last chance for confusion, should LSU upset Tennessee Saturday in the SEC tide game.

If that happens, Oregon or Nebraska would be next in the line of Rose Bowl succession. That aside, it is time for awards for a screwball season. The envelopes please Player of the yean It has been hard to pull the trigger on the Heisman vote. Every contender has flaws. But the moment has come.

Florida's Rex Grossman. OK, he's a sophomore. And Spurrier's passing system is so good, Harry Potter could throw 20 touchdowns. And Spurrier often lets his guys pad their numbers in walkovers. But Grossman topped 300 yards in 10 of 1 1 games, completed nearly 66 percent of his passes and has a touchdown- points for wins over top teams.

A Tennessee win Saturday, and the BCS games should be: Rose: Miami vs. Tennessee Sugar: Nebraska vs. Illinois Orange: Florida vs. Maryland Fiesta: Oregon vs. Colorado If LSU wins, this is what the big bowls could look like: Rose: Miami vs.

Nebraska Sugar: LSU vs. Illinois Orange: Florida vs. Maryland Fiesta: Oregon vs. Colorado For those who want to keep order, start singing "Rocky Top." For all the others, the chant should be, "Go, Tigers!" N. J.

pair give verbals to Rutgers for 2002 By GENE RACZ Gannett New Jersey PISCATAWAY Defensive back Bryan Durango from Memorial High School in West New York and punter Joe Radiganof Hoboken have given commitments to be a part of the Rutgers football recruiting class of 2002. Durango, a 5-foot-ll, 180-pounder, is one of the top sprinters in Hudson Country in the 55, 100 and 200 meter events. As a tailback in Memorial's option game, he an for 14 touchdowns and caught two TD passes. However, he is expected to play as a safety. "Rutgers did a great job recruiting me, before the season was finished they already offered me (a scholarship)," said Durango.

"The coaches were great and you can tell that (head) coach (Greg) Schiano is really going to turn the program around. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't be going there. "He's recruiting the best athletes in the state." Durango received recent interest from Iowa and Maryland. His other offers were "If Notre Dame thinks they can hire someone who can do a better job of winning games, that's certainly their prerogative." BOB DAVIE, Former Notre Dame football coach clined to elaborate. Players sympathize with Davie, who has been heavily criticized by fans.

"We'll stand behind him anytime, anywhere," kicker Nicholas Setta said. Davie leaves without leading the Irish to a top-10 finish in his five seasons. The Irish were ranked at the end of the season only twice under Davie No. 15 last season and No. 22 in 1998.

Davie was never fully embraced by the Notre Dame community after getting off to a tumultuous start. The Irish were 6-15 against ranked teams during Davie's stay, 1-7 against teams ranked in the Top 10. a mess Rose Bowl on Jan. 3. There could be no argument with the Bowl Championship Series standings, which determine who plays for the tide.

The Vols knocked Florida out of tide contention with a 34-32 win on Saturday, while the Hurricanes beat Virginia Tech 26-24. The Gators and Hokies both missed 2-point conversions in the fourth that would have tied the score. If LSU wins, don't be surprised if No. 4 Nebraska (11-1) sneaks into second place over No. 3 Oregon (10-1) in the final BCS standings and winds up playing Miami.

Should the Huskers get in, interception ratio of 34-12. Sounds like a Heisman winner to me. Best player who won't finish in the the top 3 of the Heisman voting: The only major college quarterback to ever both pass and run for 40 career touchdowns, Indiana's Antwaan Randle might have been the most fun player to watch in the country. But his team went 5-6. Coach of the year: This one's a lock.

Maryland had one winning season since 1990. In one season, Ralph Friedgen has the Terps 10-1 and in a BCS bowl. It was a golden season for first-year coaches. Miami's Larry Coker is in the Rose Bowl. BYlFs Gary Crowton is 12-0.

Toledo's Tom Amstutz won the Mid-American Championship and went 9-2. North Carolina State's Chuck Amato and North Carolina's John Bunting both stunned Florida State. Georgia's Mark Richt went 8-3. Game of the year: De ARIZONA STATE 59 RUTGERS 56 67 overtime win over Northwestern State in the semifinals, dished out a season-high 10 assists with just one turnover. And forward Mariota Theodoris tallied eight points and six rebounds off the bench.

Rutgers led 39-32 after Horton converted a jayup off a half-court pass from Chapman with 15:27 remaining in the game. But Arizona State responded behind Johnson, a Pac-10 Player of the Year candidate who came back from a first-half knee injury to score six points in a seven-minute span. Reserve forward Jen Albert's first 3-pointer of the season at the 7:35 mark gave the Sun Devils a 50-48 lead. Rutgers defense came up big down the stretch, forcing Arizona State into two turnovers in the final minute, including a shot clock violation with 26.8 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, Rutgers couldn't get off a game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds.

"We just couldn't execute at the end," said Horton, who made five of six 3-point attempts. "We tried to run a stack-play (for a 3-pointer), but we just didn't execute, disappointing, but Arizona State was just the better team today." The ASU Holiday Classic All-Tbumament team was: Mauri Horton, Rutgers; Dawn McCul-louch, Rutgers; Lauren Fleischer, Fordham; Melody Johnson, ASU; and tournament M.V.P. Amanda Levens, ASU. it would be the BCS' worst nightmare, and party time for those who love college football controversy. How does a team that can't win its own division, much less a conference tide, play for a national tide over a league champion? Nebraska was beaten by Colorado 62-36 two weeks ago, and the Buffs (10-2) won the Big 12 tide Saturday with a 39-37 win over Texas.

In fact, if the Huskers play in Pasadena, they would do so over three one-loss conference champions (Maryland, Oregon and Illinois). Oregon beat Oregon State 17-14 on Satur pends. For games with national tide implications, Tennessee's win over Florida Saturday night in the cauldron of The Swamp will do. But for sheer entertainment, Arkansas over Mississippi 58-56 in seven overtimes, with 80 points scored after regulation, stands alone. Surprise of the year: Who here predicted BCS bowl berths would go to Colorado, Illinois and Maryland? Flop of the yean Oregon State went from Sports filus-trated's preseason No.

1 to 5-6. But the topper at the bottom was Northwestern. In August, the Wildcats were picked preseason Big Ten favorites for the first time in their history. Then came a player death, a rash of injuries, and total collapse. Northwestern finished 4-7, and gave up an average of 48 points a game the final four defeats.

Somehow, this year, it fits. Mike Lopresti is a Gannett News Service columnist Terps WASHINGTON (AP)-Lonny Baxter had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 5 Maryland rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat Princeton 61-53 Sunday in the first round of the Classic. Juan Dixon added 14 points for the Terrapins (5-1), who won their fifth straight game. Andre Logan led Princeton (1-4) with 15 points, and Konrad Wysocki added 13.

No. 6 FLORIDA 81 TULANE65 GAINESVILLE, Fla. After spending the first half on the bench with foul trouble, Udo-nis Haslem scored all 13 of his points in the second to spark the Gators. Freshman James White had 12 points and Matt Bonner led Florida (4-1) with 16 points and eight rebounds, as the Gators struggled through most of the first half and settled for a less-than-over-whelming victory. No.

12 SYRACUSE 91 ALBANY N.Y, 65 ALBANY, N.Y. Preston Shumpert hit eight 3-point-ers and scored a career-high 37 points as the Orangemen remained undefeated. Kueth Duany added 15 for the Orangemen (8-0), whose only deficit of the game was 2-0 after the Great Danes won the tip and Earv Opong hit a jumper. With the score 6-4 less than four minutes into the game, the Orangemen went on an 18-0 run that lasted almost seven minutes. Albany (0-5) got no closer than 20 the rest of the way.

day to win the Pac-10 outright, while Maryland (10-1) is the ACC winner and Illinois (10-1) the Big Ten champion. Should Tennessee fall, the media and the coaches' polls are likely to rank Miami first and Oregon second next week, creating a scenario similar to last season. Miami was No. 2 in the AP's final regular-season poll, but No. 3 Florida State was the team that got to play Oklahoma for the tide.

The BCS standings are based on a formula that incorporates the AP media and coaches' polls, eight computer polls, strength of schedule, won-lost record and bonus Davie From Page C-1 "If Notre Dame thinks they can hire someone who can do a better job of winning games, that's certainly their prerogative," Davie said. "I accept that and I wish them well." Among those mentioned as potential successors to Davie nave been three NFL coaches Oakland's Jon Gruden, San Francisco's Steve Mariuc-ci and Jacksonville's Tom Coughlin. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Oregon's Mike Be-lotti have been among the college coaches mentioned. Notre Dame's assistant coaches were told Sunday morning that the new coach would select his own staff, but that they would continue as university employees at least until a new coach is named. Notre Dame will honor the remainder of Davie's contract, White said, but de- rally TOP25 Women No.

2 TENNESSEE 93 No. 8 N.C. STATE 56 LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. Kara Lawson scored 1 5 of her 20 points in the first half, and second-ranked Tennessee had a 22-4 surge that led to a 93-56 victory Sunday over No. 8 North Carolina State.

Gwen Jackson added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Tennessee (5-0). The poor-shooting Wolf-pack (6-1) were Ted by Carisse Moody's 18 points and nine rebounds. Amy Simpson added 12 points. No. 14 DUKE 76 No.

6 LOUISIANA TECH 64 LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. Alana Beard had 15 points, 11 assists, six steals and six rebounds as Duke built an early lead then held off Louisiana Tech. The Blue Devils (5-2) also got 19 points from Monique Currie and 16 from loss Talis. They combined for 23 points in the second half as Duke repeatedly blunted charges by the Lady Techsters. No.

9 TEXAS TECH 63 NORTH TEXAS 53 LUBBOCK, Texas Jia Perkins had 26 points and 12 rebounds as Texas Tech defeated North Texas. Tech (3-2) struggled to get going in the first six minutes Sunday, hitting only 2-of-10 to top Princeton Scarlet Knights fall in A3U Classic final from Connecticut, Kent State and James Madison. He ran a time of 4.4 in the 40-yard dash at Rutgers summer camp after placing sixth in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions 200-meter event "Bryan was a three-year starter for us, a two-way starter since his sophomore year," said Memorial H.S. coach Ed Sargent. "I think he's a real sleeper.

We talked about his decision and I told him go where they really want you. Rutgers did a nice job." Radigan is a 6-foot-5, 220-pounder who punted 25 times for an average of 43 yards. He also had 1 1 "pooch" punts dropping 10 inside the 20-yard line and nine inside the 10. "I always thought I'd be playing baseball in college," said Radigan, who received letters from several schools as an accomplished first baseman. But his two years on varsity football stirred interest from the likes of Michigan State, Arizona, Iowa, South Carolina, Army, Purdue and Wake Forest.

Michigan State asked if he was interested in making an official visit. for North Carolina (7-1). Ok-iesha Howard led the Lady Monarchs (2-3) with 18 points, Lucienne Berthieu added 16with seven rebounds. No. 25 SOUTH CAROLINA 76 SYRACUSE 58 COLUMBIA, S.C.

Shaun Gortman, feeling better after missing a game, scored 20 points, and Joce-lyn Penn added 15 for South Carolina. Gortman showed no ill effects from the bruised bone in her leg, which caused here to miss Friday night's game against Duquesne. -JZ shots and turning the ball over twice. But the Lady Raiders found the range midway through the first half and took the lead for good. Shannan Stephenson scored 11 points for North Texas (4-3).

No. 10 PURDUE 70 No. 18 LSU 54 BATON ROUGE, Shere-ka Wright had 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks to lead Purdue past LSU. Kelly Komara scored 15 points for Purdue (5-1) Doneeka Hodges led LSU (3-2) with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. No.

11 COLORADO 92 IOWA 83 BOULDER, Colo. Reserve Britt Hartshorn had 17 points and seven rebounds and Sab-rina Scott scored 1 1 of her 15 points in the second half to lead Colorado. Mandy Nightingale also had 15 points for Colorado (6-2), which shot 54 percent. No. 12 BAYLOR 81 BOSTON 56 WACO, Texas Sheila Lambert scored 19 points to lead Baylor to its 20th straight regular-season nonconference win.

No. 16 MICHIGAN 78 No. 23 NOTRE DAME 63 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Alayne Ingram scored 22 points and LeeAnn Bies added 18 as Michigan beat By KEITH SARGEANT Gannett New Jersey TEMPE, Ariz. Playingback-to-back games is tough enough in basketball.

To do it when your team is comprised of mostly first-year players, with no depth, and 2,500 miles from home, is nearly impossible. Even with all those variables against it, the Rutgers University women's basketball team nearly did the improbable winning a pair of nail-biters on consecutive days against a host team with five seniors and two All-America candidates. Arizona State University rallied from a seven-point second half deficit to defeat Rutgers 59-56 Sunday in the ASU Holiday Classic at Wells Fargo Arena. "I'm proud of this team be-cause they worked very hard," Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said.

"I'm disappointed, but I have to understand the situation. That we're very young and today we played against a veteran team that's very talented." Senior center Melody Johnson scored 14 points and senior guard Amanda Levens added 13 as the Sun Devils (6-2) captured their host tournament. Junior guard Mauri Horton led the way for Rutgers (3-2), scoring 21 points on five 3-pointers. Senior Davalyn Cunningham added 10 points, sophomore Dawn McCul-louch contributed nine, and two of Stringer's freshmen also came of age yesterday. Guard Saona Chapman, who sank a pair of game-winning free throws in Ringers' 68- ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO Princeton's Ray Robins, left, tries to shoot past Maryland's Chris Wilcox (54) during the first half Sunday.

Notre Dame. 'Tabitha Pool added 13 points and Jennifer Smith scored 12 for the Wolverines (5-1), who shot 68 percent in the first half to take a 45-27 halftime lead. No. 24 NORTH CAROLINA 95 No. 17 OLD DOMINION 85 NORFOLK, Va.

Nikki Teasley scored the last 10 points in a late 14-4 run, and the Tar Heels pulled away in the matchup between ranked teams. Teasley finished with 27 points and Coretta Brown added 24 and eight rebounds.